"It can't be climbed."
"This mountain is impossible to climb."
"Even the strongest warriors and best herbalists of our tribe couldn't climb it! Don't even think about it!"
Three denials in a row. To carry out the plan of "climbing up from the treacherous side, circling behind the stronghold, catching them by surprise, and attacking from within and without," the commandant had indeed given Shen Le his support and transferred over several mountain tribes that had defected to them.
Yet even the mountain folk—even those best at crossing mountains and ridges, climbing trees and scaling cliffs—looked at the winding red line on the animal-hide map, then at the steep cliff before them, and shook their heads so hard they nearly flew off their necks.
"Impossible! You can't climb a mountain like this!"
Standing beside him, Shen Le tilted his head back at the cliff. Every so often, he raised a finger and moved it from side to side, calculating silently. To be fair, this cliff was far less perilous than Lazikou—
Of course, the mountain-dwelling Shanyue of Wu and Yue were nowhere near as skilled at climbing as the people of the southwestern frontier.
Not to mention that the twenty-five-thousand-li Long March had only passed through one Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan region...
In short, Shen Le still considered the cliff before him climbable. Naturally, not barehanded. He would need some equipment to help him—and to Shen Le, making that equipment was not difficult.
Thanks to the climbing training the Special Affairs Bureau had given him for crossing snowy mountains.
Thanks to Alloy Master and Professor Zhang for teaching him blacksmithing.
Thanks to a month of cramming in modern education.
Thanks to...
As Shen Le worked away with clinks and clangs, he silently paid tribute to every great master in his heart. Modern education