Yanmen Pass

It is located in a place about 40 li in the northwest of Dai County, Shanxi Province, and is divided into east and west mountain passes. "Yanmen leads the nine fortresses in China." The impregnable pass leans against mountain and strategical location, and stands above the Mount Gouzhu. It has east and west wings, and chains of mountains. The ridge Great Wall has a winding trend, passing Pingxing Pass, Zijing Pass and Daoma Pass in the east, straightly to Youyan, and connected to Hanhai; it goes to Xuangang Port, Ningwu Pass and Piantou Pass in the west to the Yellow River bank. The Pass has east and west gates, both of which were built by laying huge bricks for wild gooses and clouds to pass, with a dignified tolerance, and the gate foreheads were carved with embedded horizontal inscribed boards "Natural Barrier" and "Favorable Location", respectively. Towers over city gates high up in the air were built on the west and east gates, with inside sculptured images of a group of characters of Yang Warriors, an ancestral temple and a stone tablet were built for Li Mu outside the east gate, but unfortunately both the towers and the Li Mu Temple were burned on one day during Japanese aggression against China.