The empire has strict laws for the transfer of troops and horses in the local area, although Wei Shutong is the assassin of Xichuan, but the soldiers and horses that can be mobilized are only 2,000 people directly under his command, and the soldiers and horses stationed in various parts of Xichuan must have the transfer order of the military department in their hands if they need to be transferred, otherwise the transfer of troops without the transfer order of the military department is equivalent to rebellion.

However, this special purpose in Qi Ning's hand is naturally more effective than the dispatch of the military department.

Wei Shutong didn't dare to transfer troops easily, because he was worried that the imperial court would be held responsible, and now that there was an order from the emperor, he naturally had no scruples.

"Master Wei, how many soldiers and horses can be mobilized by Xichuan at the moment?" Qi Ning took a sip of tea before asking.

Wei Shutong immediately said: "Back to the lord, the manpower directly transferred by the lower officials is the guard of the Assassin's Mansion, with an establishment of 2,000 people, and in addition, the soldiers and horses stationed in various parts of Xichuan add up to no less than 30,000 people. ”

"30,000 .....!" Qi Ning groaned slightly.

Wei Shutong said again: "This is a soldier subordinate to the Ministry of War, in addition to the Yacha Xiangyong, the entire Xichuan combined, can also make up 20,000 people." ”

"Not really." Qi Ning said: "The local government officials protect the local security, Lord Wei, among the 30,000 people, can 10,000 people gather in ten days?" ”

"Ten thousand?" Wei Shutong thought for a moment, and then said: "If the order is issued immediately, within ten days, all the soldiers and horses around Chengdu Mansion can be mobilized, and it is not difficult to have 10,000 soldiers and horses." ”

Qi Ning said: "What is the combat effectiveness of these generals? ”

Wei Shutong said with a smile: "Don't worry, sir, Xichuan is an important place in the empire, and the imperial court has always attached great importance to Xichuan. Fu Xu said: "This Sichuan people are already brave, soldiers are not afraid of death, don't look at them as strong as the northerners, but when it comes to fighting, the courage is not inferior to the Northern Han people." ”

Qi Ning said with a smile: "This is very good, then you immediately issue an order, and within ten days, you must mobilize 10,000 soldiers and horses." ”

Wei Shutong got up and said, "Go and do it immediately." He was about to get up, but Qi Ning said, "Don't worry, Master Wei, there is one more thing, please arrange it." ”

"Sir, please command."

"Tomorrow night, I want to borrow your mansion, and you can help me prepare a table of wine and banquet." Qi Ning smiled: "I don't know if hemp, troublesome? ”

"Sir, I'll prepare a banquet for my lord now." Wei Shutong hurriedly said: "The lord came this time, the time is urgent, I went to the Black Rock Cave in a hurry a few days ago, and the lower officials can't do it if they want to catch the wind for the lord, ...... tonight!" ”

"Master Wei misunderstood." Qi Ning shook his head and said, "I asked you to prepare a table of wine banquet because I wanted to be a treat." ”

"A treat?" Wei Shu was stunned, thinking that Qi Ninggui was the Duke of the Empire, with a high and powerful position, and if he wanted to invite him, he could only be invited by others, so how could it be his turn to invite others? can let Xiao Guogong be a treat, but he doesn't know where the guest is sacred?

Qi Ning said: "You send someone to write an invitation again, arrange for someone to send it to the Shu King's Mansion, and invite the King of Shu to come to the banquet tomorrow night, and say that I will personally make the east and invite the King of Shu to eat wine." ”

Wei Shutong was even more surprised, and lowered his voice and said, "Sir, do you want to invite Li Hongxin?" ”

Qi Ning bowed slightly, Wei Shutong's lips moved, he wanted to speak and stopped, and arched his hand: "Xiaguan will arrange it." After thinking for a while, he said: "It's just that after Li Hongxin beat his son and was stabbed, he closed the gate of the Shu Wang's Mansion, according to the people in his house, Li Hongxin stayed in the Buddha hall day and night, chanting and chanting Buddha, thinking that it was for his son to chant sutras and go to the ..... I was only worried that Li Hongxin would refrain from coming to the banquet. ”

"Then let people say, I will wait for him at the banquet tomorrow night, and if he does not come, I will wait until dawn." Qi Ning smiled and said: "I'm also the Duke of the Empire, the King of Shu won't even give this face, right?" ”

Wei Shutong sneered: "The lord gave him such a big face, if he really pushed back, the lower officials directly asked people to tie him up." ”

Qi Ning laughed, knowing that Wei Shutong was just talking, although Li Hongxin already had the scenery of the year, but he still retained the title of King of Shu, this prince is higher than the duke, Wei Shutong is not the history of Xichuan Thorn, let him tie up the King of Shu, he really doesn't have such courage.

That night, Qi Ning went to bed in the Assassin's Mansion, and asked Wei Shutong to find a map of Xichuan and look at the map with the help of an oil lamp.

Chu does not have a complete map of the world, but there is a general outline, especially the territory of the Northern Han Dynasty, which can only outline the general lines on the map of the Chu State, but the Han State has this relatively complete map of the universe under the auspices of Beitang Yu.

Survey map is of course a big project, and the map of the universe has always been only owned by the imperial court, belongs to the confidential documents, the period of the previous dynasty naturally has a more detailed map of the universe, after the Beitang Tianwei army conquered Luoyang, because the soldiers and horses plundered in the city, the fire intersected, although the map of the universe was found, but it was already incomplete, fortunately, the fragmented part of the map of the universe was only in the northern territory, but the south was preserved quite complete, the Northern Han Dynasty was presided over by Beitang Yu, spent a lot of manpower and material resources, and finally restored the map of the universe.

Although the Great Chu Empire was built, but so far, the Chu court only has a map of its own territory, in fact, the map of Xichuan is still filled in after the conquest of the land of Bashu.

Wei Shu is also a history of Xichuan Thorns, so he naturally has a more detailed map of Xichuan.

The terrain of Xichuan is complex and the mountains are extensive, but Qi Ning has set his sights on the north of Xichuan.

The two rivers of Bajiang River and Jialing River meander and flow in Guanghan County, Xichuan, between Xichuan and Hanzhong is a majestic dragon, the left is Micang Mountain, the right is Daba Mountain, between the two mountains is Micang Road, it is one of the two roads leading to Hanzhong, and the other road is located in the west of Micang Mountain, it is the Golden Bull Road, and Jianmen Pass is guarded in the meantime.

Now Hanzhong is under the control of the Chu State, and there are soldiers and horses stationed in the south of Hanzhong, but from Hanzhong to the north, it is eight hundred miles of Qinling Mountains that have become a tiger blocking the road, and Qi Ning wants to enter the northwest to attack Xianyang, it must pass through the Qinling Mountains, Qi Ning saw that the map indicates several main roads through the Qinling Mountains, from left to right are the old road, the Bao Slope Road, the Fu Luo Road and the Meridian Road, and the Meridian Road goes north, out of the Qinling Mountains, it is already close to Xianyang, if it is from the old road and the Bao Slope Road, it is to turn to the east, through the northwest territory.

Qi Ning knew that if he wanted to make a surprise attack on Xianyang, he would not be able to make a long journey in the northwest by the Chu army, once the traces of the Chu army were discovered by the Han army in the northwest, and then he wanted to conquer Xianyang, it would not be a surprise attack.

When the Chu army entered the northwest, what was required was a quick battle and a quick victory, and it must not be delayed in the northwest.

As long as the Chu army conquers Xianyang in a short period of time, then the northwest will soon be under the control of the Chu army, but once Xianyang cannot be taken for a long time, it will inevitably lead to the organization of soldiers and horses from all over the northwest to aid Xianyang.

And if Xianyang cannot be taken, there will definitely be serious problems in the logistics of the Chu army.

Qi Ning knew that this was an extremely risky military gamble, once it succeeded, it would naturally be famous all over the world, but once it failed, it would inevitably bring extremely serious consequences, and he knew that this surprise attack must be considered again and again, and there must be no mistakes.

This time, he brought Duan Canghai, which had a deep meaning.

He has never been on the battlefield, and he has never experienced leading troops in battle, even if he is a military genius, it is really difficult for a strong man to carry out such a military adventure in the first battle, not to mention that Qi Ning never felt that he had any extraordinary talent in military affairs.

And Duan Canghai is a veteran who survived on the battlefield, when the Black Scale Battalion fought in a bloody battle, which made the Northern Han people frightened, Duan Canghai After the baptism of blood and fire, he was naturally a fierce general with excellent quality.

Qi Ning naturally has great trust in Duan Canghai, such a trustworthy veteran with rich battlefield experience, in this surprise attack, Qi Ning naturally has to rely on it a lot, so after arriving at the Assassin's Mansion, Qi Ning asked Wei Shutong to send people to the Black Rock Cave to let Duan Canghai rush back to Chengdu as soon as possible.

This night, Qi Ning only saw the middle of the night when he looked at the map, and he had a lot of thoughts.

The next day, Wei Shutong sent people to pass the chefs of the three largest restaurants in the city to the Assassin's Mansion, so that the three of them prepared a banquet in the Assassin's Mansion, and at dusk, the three chefs fully showed their skills, just waiting for Li Hongxin, the king of Shu, to come.

There is a special flower hall in the Thorn History Mansion, which is very elegant, Wei Shu is a scholar and pays attention to elegance, so this flower hall is simple and elegant, and a round table for six people is made of pear blossom wood, which is very exquisite.

As the sun set, Qi Ning went to the flower hall to wait, and Wei Shutong waited at the main gate of the Assassin's Mansion, waiting for Li Hongxin to come and welcome him in.

Although Li Hongxin has not been seen, Qi Ning is still calm, the lights are lit in the flower hall, Qi Ning has not invited anyone else except Li Hongxin, so the flower hall looks extremely deserted.

Just after the unitary hour, Qi Ning finally saw Li Hongxin, who had arrived belatedly and came to the flower hall one after the other with Wei Shu.

I haven't seen him for a few months, but Li Hongxin seems to be several years old, he doesn't have brocade clothes, just a very simple Tsing Yi robe, with a blue belt tied around his waist that can be seen on ordinary people, tied in a bun, after entering the house, Qi Ning has already gotten up and said with a smile: "Prince, I came to Xichuan a few years ago, thanks to the prince's banquet and hospitality, today I am also here to borrow flowers to offer Buddha, and invite the prince to eat a glass of water and wine." ”

Li Hongxin did not smile, his expression was also calm, he bowed slightly, went to the table and sat down, and said calmly: "Lord Qi was promoted to the protector of the country, this king did not congratulate the lord in time, don't be surprised, come tonight, just borrow the wine here to toast the lord." It's just that this king is dedicated to worshipping the Buddha and only eats fasting, so when he came, he used some fasting, and he was late, so don't be surprised. ”

"It's good to come." Qi Ning sat down diagonally opposite Li Hongxin and glanced at Wei Shutong, Wei Shutong immediately went out to serve wine and food, then returned to the hall and sat down at the table, the three of them were triangular, the lights flickered, reflecting on the faces of the three people, and their expressions were different.