After the incident, the governing Qing realized how little control they had over remote regions of the island; they sent Shen Baozhen to Taiwan, who proposed building three east–west trails across the Central Mountain Range.

Shen hoped that these trails would encourage Han people to live in the mountains to better subjugate the indigenous population as well as strengthen the Qing dynasty's hold on the island.

When they reached Dashuiku[e] in July, Wu looked at the treacherous terrain ahead decided to call for another team led by Deng Guozhi (鄧國志) to start at the east in Yuli[f] and build the road westwards.

Around this time, a much flatter path bypassing Fenghuang Mountain through modern-day Shuili was built, and the trail between Zhushan and Aiguo was rendered obsolete.

[4]: 62–67 [5]: 48–51 When Japan took control over Taiwan in 1895, the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office sent a lieutenant named Nagano Yoshitora (長野義虎) to walk the trail from Yuli.

[5]: 140–143  However, the number of travelers dwindled when the Japanese forcefully moved the Bunun out of the mountains to prevent further uprisings, and the trail's condition deteriorated quickly.

[4]: 95 After Japanese rule in Taiwan ended in 1949, the Forestry Bureau reported that very few people still lived along the trail, and many bridges have already collapsed due to typhoons.