Yagu Pass hung amid the mountains, an impassable mighty pass, and also like a short blade thrust deep into Jianzhou. With this place as their foundation, the Ming army could strike east at any time, campaigning against the Jurchen tribes in the surrounding heartland of Jianzhou. In fact, seventeen years ago, Han Bin, the Deputy Regional Commander of Liaodong, had gone east from here and campaigned all the way to the upper reaches of the Yalu River. And this majestic pass-city had been completed only thirty years ago. Ever since the pass-city was finished, no Jurchen tribe had ever been able to cross this place by force.
"Main God! On these endless high mountains, they built sheets of high walls, blocking mountain paths where only two or three men can pass. Add stone fortresses and camps to that, then set archers looking down from the heights—such perilous terrain, such enormous fortifications, they truly are an attacker's nightmare!"
"Wooo! Wooo!~~"
The horns carried on and on, command flags waving. Beneath Yagu Pass, the banners of the Ming army answered one another from above and below, and the narrow gate of the pass slowly opened to let the returning two hundred elite riders inside. When Zuwaro reached out and touched the hardness of that pass wall, he could not help but show amazement. Such a solid "stone fort," and he had no idea how it had been built, much less built on such a vast scale. And "skilled at building cities" was Zuwaro's first impression of Great Ming.
"Pass through Yagu Pass and rest for the night. Tomorrow we turn northwest and head to Fushun Pass!"
"Keep your eyes open! This is an important border post. Don't allow these Jurchen envoys to spy around, and absolutely don't let a single one go