Chapter 244 Sishui Pass
Jining, the ancient capital of the State of Lu, is a strategic pass connecting the north and south of the Grand Canal. It is a rare valley basin in western Shandong with well-developed water and land transportation and a dense population.
Everything here is good except for one thing, which seems to be that it is not easy to defend.
Because Jining City is located in the center of a mountain basin, it is connected from north to south, the plains on both sides are more than ten miles wide, and there is also a large canal separating the middle.
It would be easy for them to block the canal. They just need to extend the city wall a few miles westwards and block the east bank of the canal. However, if the imperial army takes the land route and passes through the basin west of the canal, the defenders of Jining City on the east bank of the canal can only watch helplessly!
Chen Jiu used his spiritual sense to carefully scan the terrain around Jining City and couldn't help but frowned slightly.
There would be no problem for them to block the east bank of the canal, because the city wall of Jining City was five or six miles wide, extending a few miles on the left and another ten miles on the right, blocking the entire basin on the east side of the canal.
The problem is, what to do with the basin on the west bank of the canal? Most of it is farmland, there is not even a small city. The flat land of more than ten miles wide is enough for hundreds of thousands of troops to pass through.
He frowned and pondered for a long time, then sighed helplessly: "It's useless to build a strong pass here. The west bank cannot be defended."
At this time, his eight disciples were all there, as were Luo Li's siblings, and even the seven people including True Lord Wuyun. They came to see how to build a few strong passes between Dongchang Prefecture and Xuzhou to block this north-south thoroughfare.
Luo Li also sighed slightly and said, " It would be great if Jining City could be moved a few dozen miles north. There is a three-way river mouth there, and both sides of the canal are blocked by the river. In addition, the mountains on both sides are not far from the two banks of the canal. Just build two city walls along the left and right rivers to block it."
Chen Jiu shook his head slightly and said, "We can't move the city there because the terrain there is too narrow, there is too little arable land, there are continuous mountains on both sides, and transportation is not convenient. It is impossible to support so many people."
Upon hearing this, Chang Er Zhen Jun was quite puzzled and said: "Isn't this simple? You can make the terrain whatever you want it to be. The city doesn't need to be moved."
Chen Jiu was stunned when he heard this.
Yes, true gods can move mountains and seas, and for true masters, moving mountains and rivers is a piece of cake. They can make the terrain around Jining City whatever they want!
He scanned the area with his spiritual sense again, then stretched out his hands, crossed them into an eight-shaped shape, and said with hope on his face, "Master Rabbit, if I want the canal to split to the left and right, extend to the edge of the mountains on both sides, and then flow to the middle and flow to Nanyang Lake in the south, is there any problem?"
Chang Er Zhenjun said without hesitation: " No problem, even if you want to turn the canal into a square and flow around Jining City, it's no problem. Our boss is the best at this, just let him show us his skills."
Upon hearing this, True Lord Wuyun frowned and said, "It's fine if you want the canal to be anything you want it to be, but the problem is that there has to be water in the canal. There isn't much water in the canal to begin with, and if it suddenly splits into two rivers thirty or forty miles long, the water won't be very deep, and I guess people will just have to wade across the river."
This canal really cannot be without water. He did not want to destroy the canal by diverting it or completely cut off the north-south waterway. He just wanted to build a strong pass to prevent the enemy from crossing.
Chen Jiu simply raised his hand and said, "Map."
The two elders of the Qinglian Sect quickly unfolded a huge map in front of him.
He looked at the map, scanned it with his spiritual sense, and couldn't help but smile: "There is plenty of water here, Grandpa Turtle, look, isn't there a Zhaowang River in the northwest, isn't there an Lao , there is also a Guangfu River in the east, and there is also a Sishui River in the southeast. We can change the course of all of them and inject them into the four sides of the canal from four directions, so that the water in the canal will be sufficient, right?
Moreover, the Lao Zhaowang River, Guangfu River, and Sishui River originally flow into Nanyang Lake in the south. Let them turn a corner and flow into the four sides of the canal. The canal water will flow into Nanyang Lake in the same way. There should be no floods in the future."
True Lord Wuyun looked at the map, scanned it carefully with his spiritual sense, and nodded repeatedly, "Well, not bad, not bad. As long as we divert these four rivers and inject them into the canal, there will be no shortage of water in the canal."
Upon hearing this, Chen Jiu couldn't help but said with interest: "Master Turtle, let us see your magical powers."
True Lord Wuyun couldn't help but said modestly: "It's just a little trick, it's nothing, it's far inferior to Master Jiu's ability, Master Jiu, please forgive me for making a fool of myself."
After saying that, he simply closed his eyes and expanded his spiritual consciousness.
I saw two rivers more than ten feet wide and five or six feet deep suddenly growing on both sides of the canal a few miles north of Jining City. They extended obliquely to the left and right, each extending for more than ten miles, all the way to the edge of the mountains on both sides, then slowly turned and converged from the left and right to Nanyang Lake more than ten miles south of Jining City.
This is equivalent to drawing a diamond around Jining City, but this diamond is larger, with each side being more than ten miles long.
The common people who were farming and working on the surrounding plains were stunned when they saw this. A river more than ten feet wide had actually grown on the ground. They really didn't expect that. Some people were right in the river channel. They just felt their feet sink and they sank to the bottom of the river in an instant.
Fortunately, Lord Wuyun was always paying attention with his spiritual consciousness. Once someone got stuck in the river, he would immediately pull them out with his spiritual consciousness. Moreover, at this moment, the canal suddenly split into three channels. The water in the river was not enough and flowed very slowly. He had created a new river channel, but the water in the river was less than half a person deep.
At this time, he blocked both ends of the original river channel, and then wrapped it with his spiritual sense, and the water in the original river channel suddenly disappeared. Then, he raised his hands, and the old canal flowing from the west of Jining City disappeared instantly and turned into flat ground.
This confused everyone at the canal dock.
The canal suddenly disappeared. How will they make a living in the future?
The sailors who were sailing in the canal were even more dumbfounded. How could the boat suddenly sail onto flat land?
These were naturally a trivial matter for True Lord Wuyun, but he could not throw the boat into the new river channel because there was not much water in the new river channel.
He moved his spiritual consciousness again, and the Zhaowang River in the northwest grew a river channel heading south, which was directly inserted diagonally to the west of the fork of the canal. With a splash, the water of the Zhaowang River rushed in, and the water level in the newly opened river channel in the west began to rise immediately.
Immediately afterwards, his spiritual consciousness moved again, and the Guangfu River immediately extended a river channel, which was directly inserted diagonally on the east side of the fork of the canal. With a splash, the water of the Guangfu River rushed in, and the water level in the newly opened river channel on the east side began to rise immediately.
Next, he changed the courses of Lao Zhaowang River and Sishui River, directly connecting them at the bends of the canals on both sides, and the water in the canal was almost filled up.
Now, the surroundings of Jining City became spectacular.
The huge diamond-shaped canal was like a moat, directly separating Jining City from the basins on both sides. There were five forks at the fork at the top of the north side of the diamond, and it was almost impossible for the enemy to get through. The corners on both sides of the diamond were also connected to a river. Even if the enemy entered the mountains on both sides, they had to build a bridge over the river to get across.
The defense of the moat was already terrifying enough, but Master Ma Teng smiled slightly and said, "The boss has shown off his skills, so I'll show off my skills as well."
After saying this, he moved his spiritual sense, and an earthen wall more than ten feet wide and ten feet high began to grow on the inner side of the diamond-shaped canal. The earthen wall extended rapidly like a giant dragon arching the earth. Before long, a circle of earthen walls more than ten feet high grew on the inner bank of the canal.
Master Ma Teng moved his spiritual consciousness again, and the sides and top of the earth wall gradually petrified and turned into rock!
The foundation of the city wall, which was seventy or eighty miles long, was built in an instant.
Seeing this, Master Bilu smiled and said, "Second brother, take a rest first. Let me show off my ugliness."
After saying this, he moved his spiritual sense, and arrow battlements, parapets and gate towers began to grow on the foundation of the city wall. In less than half an hour, a city wall with a length of seventy to eighty miles was completed!
Seeing this, Chen Jiu couldn't help but sigh inwardly, if only these True Lords were present when Jiuling Mountain City was built. It would be as easy for the True Lords to use their divine power to build this mortal city as eating and drinking water.
When True Lord Qiushou saw this, he touched his head anxiously. It seemed that he had nothing to do!
Lingya Zhenjun smiled slightly and said, "I'll show off my ugliness too."
His spiritual sense moved, and neat rows of barracks slowly grew out from the inner circle of the city wall.
Upon seeing this, Jin Guang Zhen Jun pondered for a while, then slapped his forehead and waved his hand. Immediately, a small hill over a hundred feet high appeared at the intersection of the two northern city walls.
He smiled proudly and said, "Master Jiu, give this pass a name and I will carve it for you so that the enemy can see it."
Well, this guy was really thoughtful, even going so far as to carve a mountain of names.
Chen Jiu scanned the surroundings with his spiritual sense and immediately had an idea.
He smiled and said, "This majestic pass is formed by the confluence of four rivers. Let's name it Sishui Pass after the Sishui River."
Jin Guang Zhen Jun nodded without hesitation and said, "Okay."
As soon as his spiritual consciousness moved, three large golden characters "Sishui Pass" appeared on the hillside. Each character was probably more than ten feet in size and could be clearly seen from more than ten miles away.
There seems to be nothing next.
Chang Er Zhenjun thought about it carefully, and then he suddenly had an idea and said, "Oh, right, there are no city gates or drawbridges yet. We can't trap ourselves inside and be unable to get out. Master Jiu, how many city gates do you think should be opened?"
I can actually do this kind of little thing.
However, Chen Jiu did not take action himself. He smiled and said, "Just open one gate each in the northeast and northwest, and three gates each in the southwest and southeast."
Soon, the city gate, which was ten feet high, was opened, and the suspension bridge, which was more than ten feet wide, was erected quickly as if it had grown out of nowhere.
At this point, the city wall of Sishui Pass was completely completed.
Chen Jiu looked around and sighed, "Ah Li, I'm afraid half of the basins on all sides will be destroyed. When a war breaks out, the food in the farmland in the north will definitely be destroyed. There's no need to waste time and energy planting it.
You ask the elders and guardians in charge here to pass on the order to have all the people north of the city wall move into the city. We will give each of them 100 taels of silver and let them build courtyards in the city and make a living."
Luo Li nodded without hesitation and said, "Okay, I'll explain it to them in detail later."
Wuyun Zhenjun suddenly slapped his forehead and said, "Oh, right, there are also those ships and docks. I can move the ships to the canal outside, but I can't move the docks. Ah Li, why don't you tell them to build a dock at the canal corner in the east and west of the city. Build it on the south side of the Sancha River estuary, so it won't be destroyed by the war."
Luo Li nodded repeatedly and said, "Okay, I'll arrange this."
Chen Jiu used his spiritual sense to scan the surroundings again, and then said decisively: "Dayou, from now on you should just lead the eight battalions of troops to garrison here. This is such a large pass, with such good defenses, plus the 50,000 elite soldiers of the Qinglian Sect, two true gods, and more than ten earthly immortals. If we can't defend it, we can't defend other places either. We will fight to the death with the imperial court here and see how they can break through this pass."
Yu Dayou nodded slightly after hearing this, and then said carefully: "Master, why don't we ask Master Qi to come over and engrave some magic arrays? In this way, the defense here will be stronger."
Chen Jiu nodded without hesitation and said, "Well, you can consider these by yourselves. You can also use the Qinglian Sect's talismans. In short, before the imperial army arrives, you just need to strengthen the defense of Sishui Pass as much as possible."
Tang Shunzhi thought for a moment and reminded, "Master, if several of you uncles can change the river course and create mountains, then the True Lord of Hongmeng Sect should also be able to change the river course and flatten the mountains, right?
If they don't go this way, but directly carve out a road through the mountains, what should we do?"
Yes, what should we do?
Upon hearing this, Chen Jiu couldn't help but look at Wuyun Zhenjun and others and said awkwardly: "Master Turtle, it seems that we have worked in vain."
True Lord Wuyun said calmly, "Master Jiu, don't worry. They won't waste a lot of divine power to do this kind of thing. You should have seen that we are trying to save divine power as much as possible. We didn't build a river hundreds of feet wide and more than ten feet deep, nor did we build a city wall hundreds of feet high.
Because that would be too energy-consuming. If they were to clear a path through the mountains, it would be even more energy-consuming. An army of 500,000 or 600,000 cannot pass through a road a few feet wide. There are also mountains hundreds of feet high everywhere in the mountains. I estimate that clearing a path of dozens of miles would tire a True Lord to death. Would they risk their lives for mortals like this?"
Yes, in the eyes of the True God, mortals are just ants. In the eyes of the True Lord, mortals are even worse than ants. Why do they work so hard to pave the way for mortals?
To put it bluntly, if Master Wuyun and the others did not have a brotherly relationship with him, they probably would not bother to waste their divine power to help him build the Sishui Pass.
Thinking of this, Chen Jiu nodded slightly and said: "Well, don't worry about this, they shouldn't spend a lot of divine power to open the way for mortals.
It doesn’t matter if they really do that. If they can repair it, we can destroy it. We will destroy as much as they repair, and then they will be exhausted to death.”
