There are two servants behind Gao Qiong. The one pushing the wheelchair is called "Gao Suihe" and the one carrying the lantern is called "Gao Nianfeng". They are both children he picked up on the roadside when he was young.
At that time, Gao Taixiang was still the prime minister of Dali. Gao Qiong thought about his father's vision, so he gave his servants such names.
Gao Suihe and Gao Nianfeng not long ago took people to escort Gao Qiong's wife to Longhua Temple in the north, which shows that Gao Qiong trusts them.
The reason why Gao Qiong knew that Duan Shi sent people to be with the relic monk was because the relic monk also hid in Longhua Temple.
The situation at that time was a bit dangerous. If Duan Shi's people were to see Gao Qiong's wife and children, they would naturally be found.
Fortunately, Gao Nianfeng was a smart man and would keep an eye on the mountain gate every day. When he saw people around the monk from a distance, he immediately hid Gao Qiong's wife and children.
This is also the reason why Duan Shi has never been able to search Gao Qiong's family.
But Gao Nianfeng and others did not expect that when they came back, they would find Gao Qiong with his hands and feet disabled.
They originally thought that Gao Qiong came here tonight to take revenge on Duan Shi, but in the end, Gao Qiong just gave a faint order.
"Let him commit suicide out of fear of crime."
"Young Master." Gao Nianfeng asked: "Is it possible for a villain to make his life worse than death without leaving any scars? For example, cover his face with paper, pour water on it, and suffocate him to death little by little.
For example, put bees on the soles of his feet, find a sheep to lick them, and make him laugh to death. There are many ways for villains to do this."
"Forget it, there's no need to do anything useless." Gao Qiong said, "Push me out."
"Yes." Gao Suihe felt regretful and slowly pushed Gao Qiong out of the cell.
Duan Shi looked at their backs and was very concerned about the "useless things" Gao Qiong said. Because of this contemptuous attitude, he felt that he had been underestimated.
But on the other hand, he was also a little lucky that at least Gao Qiong would not let him die too painfully.
The next moment, he saw Gao Nianfeng put down the lantern and grinned.
"Come on, we have all night."
Duan Shi was horrified and took a step back involuntarily, feeling goosebumps all over his body...
~~
The mountain behind Longhua Temple.
The relic monk looked at the ten corpses on the ground, clasped his hands together, and recited sutras in a low voice.
"Why must the eminent monk be saved for these Mongolian-Tatar lackeys?" someone asked.
The relic monk murmured: "All living beings suffer."
He used temples to hide and started rebellions in the name of Buddha, but over the years, he really had Buddha in his heart...
The relic monk did not know that it was not the Buddha who changed his destiny.
If it had not been for the death of Wu Liang Hetai, perhaps he should have started another uprising a few years later. Although he would still be defeated, he could still escape with his life and try again. Until the last uprising, he died of Duan Shi's assassination.
But now, Duan Shi is dead.
The Buddha did not protect the relic monk, but someone inadvertently changed his destiny...
~~
Li Xia didn't know that what he was doing was irritating Ye Xian.
At each stage during his march, he would have people dig official roads and dig ditches to trap horses.
The bottom of these horse trap ditches is covered with sharp wooden thorns, and the top is covered with branches and loess. They may not cause many casualties, but once a horse falls into it, two or three people will die at a time.
This was the only way Li Xia could block the cavalry's pursuit speed. It was very simple, but it had some effects. Of course, this was due to the mountainous terrain of Yunnan, so doing so on the plains would not work at all.
Afterwards, Qingfu's army disguised itself as the Dali army and deceitfully opened the Jinma Pass and Gaojiao Pass. They quickly passed through Shanchan City and headed straight to the Wumeng tribe in the north.
From Shanchanfu to Wumengbu, there is basically only one road that can be walked, which is the Five Feet Road.
Before walking into Wuchi Road, Li Xia thought it was necessary to sort out his next plan.
So he sat down with Gao Changshou and spread out the map.
When he opened the map, he was a little confused...
Li Xia sometimes felt that he and Gao Mingyue were falling in love on a map.
Since entering Yunnan, there were too many place names that he had to talk to Gao Mingyue carefully before he could figure them out.
This took two people a lot of time. They were traveling day and night, and when they had a little free time, they were talking about it.
But this is not an easy task. There are too many "wild lands" here, and the place names are vague. They are full of names like Wumengbu, Wushabu, Yiniangbu, and Yuyabu, and the scope is confusing.
In short, thanks to Gao Mingyue organizing the map for Li Xia, he gradually got a clue.
…
"Let's talk about another thing first. I have to rename these places."
Li Xia said: "The Wumeng tribe will be called 'Zhaotong' from now on. We will build a city here in the future. Zhaotong is the key point of the Five Feet Road, the key to Sichuan and Yunnan, and the gateway to control Bashu. It is also located in the hinterland of Wumeng Mountain, so it can be relied upon.
as a base."
"Zhaotong will be the center point of our entire base, stretching north and south along the Wuchi Road."
After Li Xia wrote "Zhaotong", he marked it along the winding road of Wuchi Road.
"The farthest north is Qingfu County. I am an official here, absorbing the strength of the Song Dynasty and facing the main battlefield of Sichuan and Shu; and then, Junlian County. Now our private salt business is here, and other businesses can also be done in the future.
Put it here; to the south, Yanjin County, Daguan County, this area is now a land of control, we can control them.
These are the four counties north of Zhaotong. After you, Muru, gain a foothold in Zhaotong, it will not be difficult to master the counties between Qingfu and Zhaotong. Next, let’s talk about the south of Zhaotong..."
Li Xia pondered for a while and said: "Zhao leads to the southwest and faces the Luo Po tribe, but there are high mountains in between. Don't worry too much. In the future, you can win over the Luo Po tribe again through trade;
Let’s talk about Shicheng County in the southeast of Zhaotong. The Mongols renamed it “Momi Wanhufu”. Hey, let’s call it “Qujing” from now on.
The border between Zhaotong and Qujing belongs to the territory of the ‘Wusa tribe’. The Wusa tribe was once the control area of the Song Dynasty, and later came under the control of Dali. Now it belongs to the land regardless of the parties. We call it ‘Weining’...”
Li Xia was marking while talking, and finally marked all the twists and turns of the five-foot road with his new name.
From north to south they are, Qingfu, Junlian, Yanjin, Daguan, Zhaotong, Weining and Qujing.
"Okay, next we have to decide where the dividing line is between our territory and the Meng people's territory."
Gao Changshou listened for a long time and felt a little dizzy, but in the end he found that it was indeed much clearer just by looking at the place names written by Li Xia.
"We must occupy the north of Zhaotong; we cannot occupy the south of Qujing." Gao Changshou said: "We must occupy Weining, so that we can give Zhaotong a buffer space... Then we should set one south of Weining.
Demarcation.”
"Can cross the border."
Gao Changshou knew that he could cross the pass. During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Liang was marching south and ordered Li Hui to take the road to Jianning. When Nanzhong was pacified and the army returned, they could cross the pass.
"Can the crossing be fifty miles south of Weining?"
"Yes, my goods and caravan are staying there now."
"The location is just right." Gao Changshou said: "In this way, it is more convenient for us to build a city in Weining to support it than it is for the Mongols to send troops from Qujing."
Li Xia nodded and said: "Then the scope of our next base is very clear. It starts from Qingfu in the north, to Kedu Pass in the south, to the Jinsha River in the west, and to the east is the vast mountains at the junction of Sichuan and Guizhou.
."
"While the Mongolian army is attacking Jiaozhi, take advantage of this territory?"
"yes."
Li Xia's face became more serious and he clicked on the map with his finger.
"To occupy territory, the first thing is attitude. We can keep running away in Dali, but after we reach Kedu Pass, we can no longer let the Mongolian army advance..."