After crossing this beam and walking into the ditch, there are countless mountains and ditches in front of you. Walking in such a place for half a day will make people feel desperate, as if they can never get out.

The fragmented terrain and endless ditches and ridges are not just on the Loess Plateau, but also on the Songshan Mountain remnants between the two capitals, and the same is true for these low earth mountains.

Xu Ping rode on his horse and looked up at the mountains ahead. The mountains are not high, at most dozens of feet, and the mountain is very smooth, so you can ride a horse and rush up straight up. This mountain is not terrible, and it can even be directly reclaimed into terraces. The soil layer is extremely deep, and as long as it can be watered, it is a fertile field. What is terrible is that there are endless such mountains. There are countless ones in front of them, and it seems that they will never be able to walk.

Not long after entering the mountain, Xu Ping asked the guide the guide where the village was. The guide leisurely said that he would arrive after climbing the two hills in front. Seeing that the mountain could rush up with the reins, Xu Ping felt that the two villages were not far away, but he didn't expect that he had walked for more than half an hour.

Later, Xu Ping learned his lesson. He didn't ask how many mountains he had just passed, but asked how many miles he had left. These inconspicuous hills were gone six or seven miles away, which was completely different from the concept of flat roads. If you look at it from the map, it was obviously a straight line distance of less than ten miles, but in fact, it was less than twenty or thirty miles away.

When Guo Zi first talked to Xu Ping about luring Luo into Bian, he said that the water diversion port of Luoshui should be in Shakou Town. Neither Xu Ping nor others had any objection to this. The reason was that it was closest to Sishui County.

The terrain between Sishui County and Shakou Town is fragmented, and you can only use brute force to dig hard and block. The shortest straight line is the best route. After seeing it here, Xu Ping truly understood this point. This is good, no need to bother to find the best route, just dig it straight.

Lu Fang frowned beside Xu Ping and looked at the endless hillsides and ditches, and couldn't help but sigh: "Zhi Niang, this ghost place is even more strange than the terrain of our Yongzhou, and it seems like we can't walk all the way!"

Xu Ping smiled: "In Yongzhou, you can just walk along the river valley. You can only circle around the river valley here, and you will get lost if you are not careful. When you walk in Yongzhou, you are most afraid of going up the mountain, but here is the opposite. What you fear most is that you don't go up the mountain and only turn in the valley, which is different in geography."

After saying that, he took the reins of the horse and led people to the opposite mountain.

The road here is sometimes along the river valley, and when it is coiled around, it goes up the mountain again. It is the most suitable route that local residents have found for thousands of years, and outsiders are confused at all. The terrain here is already so difficult, and what is the more broken northwest? Xu Ping felt a headache when he thought about it.

When we arrived at a large sycamore tree on the top of the mountain, the guide pointed to the front and said, "Officiale, climb over the two hills in front and go to Shakou Town in Gong County. Let's hurry up and we should be able to get there before noon."

"Okay, let's go to Shakou Town first to take a look and clarify the water diversion route."

The guide touched his head, looked at the surrounding valleys, and said to Xu Ping: "Officials, do you really want to open a canal here? Look at the ditches of all sizes, how can the canals be passed? I am so stupid, but I can't think of them."

"How to pass? Of course, it's like mountains and ditches blocking ditches! These ravines are all caused by mountain torrents over the years. They usually don't look like nothing. When encountering a flood-heavy New Year Festival, they rely on them to discharge mountain torrents! The straighter the river canals here, the better, the shorter the better. What I fear most is that water accumulates here. If a mountain torrent is used, no dam can stop it!"

Moreover, there is another difficult thing. You don’t know which valleys have heavy floods. Who knows which clouds will rain? This kind of thing is simply unprepared for. The best way to deal with it is to shorten the distance and straighten the river so that the flood can flow out of the mountains quickly when it comes.

Seeing that it was not far from Shakou Town, Xu Ping ordered everyone to take a break on the top of the mountain. There were large pine forests here, which just happened to be able to avoid the sun. Speaking of which, the mountains here are all earthen mountains, with deep soil layers and lush trees on the mountain.

Chen Youzhong, the county magistrate who accompanied him all the way, stepped forward and said, "Officials, there have been tigers and wolves in this area recently. Why not we should hurry up and go directly to Shakou Town in front to rest."

Xu Ping turned over and dismounted and said to County Magistrate Chen: "What are you afraid of? There are nearly a hundred people here, and all the wild beasts are here to clean up. It can be regarded as eliminating the harm to the local area. Take a rest with peace of mind and relieve the heat."

Chen Youzhong promised to arrange the archers and guides who accompanied him.

Xu Ping looks young, but now he is a long-lasting marquis of Longtu Pavilion. In Chen Youzhong's eyes, he is a noble figure. He was pointed out and followed Xu Ping out. Chen Youzhong was cautious all the way, afraid of making any mistakes. Fortunately, although Xu Ping was successful at a young age, he was not domineering, and did not make Chen Youzhong feel difficult to do.

A few people watched the horses scattered on the grass on the hillside, and the others all arrived in the pine forest on the top of the mountain. Liu Xiaoyi immediately took a chair and found a ventilated place to set up it up early, so that Xu Ping could sit.

After a moment, Chen Youzhong carried a basket in his hand and walked over, and went to Xu Ping and said, "To be prepared, these are some local fruits and fruits. Although they are not very sweet, they can at least quench their thirst and heat up."

Liu Xiaoyi took it over, found a place with mountain spring stream and washed it, and brought it back to Xu Ping.

Xu Ping looked at the basket. Apart from the half-ripe peaches and apricots, some of the melons and fruits could not be named by themselves. I think they were all locally produced here. They were probably melons and the like. These were really grown by farmers themselves. They didn’t look good at all. The melons were small and were all crooked and almost didn’t have any perfect roundness.

There is basically no business in this kind of mountainous areas, and it is even more impossible to plant fruits and vegetables to sell. The effort it takes is far less to do some farm work when selling. Of course, it is not very particular about eating yourself. You can calculate as much as you plant and calculate what you get. You can eat whatever you get. It's just a meaning.

The transportation is inconvenient, and all vegetables, fruits and melons that need fresh food have no meaning to the mountain people. If it is autumn, no one will pick the persimmon trees covered with red persimmons all over the mountains and fields, and let them fall to the ground and turn into soil.

It’s not because the mountain people are lazy, but picking is useless. A few trees in front of and behind the houses are enough, and picking them on the mountain will not make money.

Deep in these mountains, there is a paradise that some literati admire. A house with a few acres of land, farming is enough for family food, and green mountains and waters are beautiful. There are all kinds of wild game and various wild fruits in the mountains. You can have a tooth sacrifice when you have nothing to do. But it is limited to this. In addition to satisfying yourself, there are very few things that can be exchanged for money. To be continued.
Chapter completed!