Dushikou Pass, a mighty frontier stronghold beyond the Great Wall, stood in Chicheng County of Xuanfu Garrison, amid the outlying ridges of the Yan Mountains, with Bashang to the north and the imperial capital to the south.
With the grasslands lying north of Chicheng, its mountainous terrain provided an excellent natural barrier, making it an important defensive zone protecting the Central Plains from the north.
It had been a strategically contested location since ancient times.
Its mountains and rivers were magnificent and beautiful, a dazzling pearl north of the Great Wall.
Dushikou lay north of the county seat, named for a solitary rock that rose abruptly at the pass.
The solitary rock towering before the pass bore two large inscriptions, "Lofty and solitary" and "A stone flown from afar." The pass was known as "the throat of Shanggu and the right arm of the imperial capital."
Dushi City stood between two rivers flowing north to south, the Yellow Dragon River on the left and the Azure Dragon River on the right, with Spider Mountain at its back, hence the description "two dragons playing with a pearl."
Since the late Yuan and early Ming, it had been renowned throughout the land as "the northern bulwark."
On the vast grasslands ten li outside Dushi City's pass, the Mongolian army was quietly assembling under cover of night.
The orders had come from Altan Khan and Kudeng Khan.
Everyone gathered in the central command tent.
Holding the message the Poison King had sent back earlier, Altan Khan laughed heartily. "Good! Cha Taiji"-the title Altan Khan had bestowed on Toghto-"is exceptionally capable. He deserves the foremost credit for taking this pass!"
"We must act without delay!"
Beside him, Kudeng Khan, Dailaisun, was brimming with excitement. He immediately said, "Since the plan is settled, I say