The road to Shu is difficult, and it is difficult to reach the blue sky.
Approaching Heiyan Ridge, Qi Ning finally understood why the officers and soldiers had not launched an offensive against Heiyan Ridge. Putting aside the inside story, one could tell just by looking at the terrain near Heiyan Ridge.
The road is rugged and narrow, and there is no official road leading to Heiyan Ridge, so there is no smooth road approaching the mountain.
It is overgrown with thorns and weeds. There are many places where it looks like a road covered with weeds. In fact, once you step on it, it is likely to be a huge pit.
The terrain near Heiyan Ridge is so difficult, so you can imagine what the scene will be like on the mountain.
There is no road leading to Heiyan Ridge, which means that transportation in Heiyan Ridge is not smooth. Life in the village is quite congested, but because of this, it is not easy for the officers and soldiers to attack.
Fortunately, Eve was very familiar with this area and led the way. After walking along a narrow weedy road for a while, she heard a "swish, swish, swish" sound, and a burst of arrows shot messily from the side. Shooting over, after everyone approached the Black Rock Ridge, they were already on guard. The arrow suddenly shot out. Everyone drew their swords in their hands and swung their swords to chop the arrows.
Although this burst of arrow rain came suddenly, fortunately it did not last long and was not very sharp. For a moment, the arrows stopped and only a sound was heard. A group of people rushed out from the woods on the side, and another group of people rushed out from the woods on the side. Suddenly, dozens of officers and soldiers emerged from the weeds on one side.
"Don't act rashly!" Qining said in a deep voice.
There were forty or fifty people in total. The officers and soldiers rushed up and surrounded Qi Ning and others. All the Miao and Han people held swords in their hands and were ready.
Eve approached Qining and whispered: "What should we do? Do we want to kill them? Our number is not much less than theirs."
Qi Ning shook his head slightly and said in a deep voice: "Who is in charge here?"
Among the crowd of officers and soldiers, a man walked out. He was in his early thirties, holding a big sword in his hand, and shouted to Qining: "Are you accomplices of the rebels in Heiyan Cave? If you know the truth, immediately drop your weapons and capture them without mercy, otherwise Kill them all.”
Qi Ning smiled and said: "You are going to kill people regardless of whether they are innocent or not. Are you bandits on this mountain?"
"What did you say?" The man suddenly changed his color and pointed at the armor on his body, "Are you blind and didn't see what this is? We are officers and soldiers of Xichuan, specializing in suppressing bandits."
"It turns out they are not bandits." Qining said with a smile: "Just now you suddenly shot arrows, I thought they were bandits."
"Bold." The man looked at Qining with a cold face, "Are you a Miao? You speak fluently, tell me honestly, what are you doing here? Oh, I understand, you are rescuers, come to rescue Black Rock Ridge?”
When the Miao people speak, they still have some Miao accent, but Qining's words are straight and round, but there is no Miao accent at all.
"Get out of the way immediately." Qining didn't want to delay here too much, "I have something urgent to go in."
"It's a joke, you can go in if you want?" The man sneered: "Don't talk about going in, you can't go back now if you want to." He was about to wave his hands to signal his men to rush forward, but saw Qining suddenly raise his arm. , under the setting sun, Qining's hand was shining with golden light. He saw Qining taking a few steps forward and asked in a deep voice: "Can you see clearly?"
The man was stunned, and couldn't help but stepped forward, reaching out to take it. Qining's face turned cold, and the man smiled and said: "Okay, you dare to bribe the officers and soldiers here, with such a big piece of gold as bribe, you are really brave. "I want to snatch the gold medal, "I want to confiscate it and keep it as evidence of your bribery."
Only then did Qi Ning understand that Ganqing knew the imperial gold medal, and sneered: "If you don't want to die, you can give it a try."
The man was startled, seeing that there seemed to be writing engraved on the gold medal, and seeing Qin Ning's stern expression. He felt that something was wrong, and couldn't help but ask: "What... what is written on it?"
"Who is in charge here?" Qi Ning asked lightly: "Is it you? Or is there someone else?"
The man heard that Qining's pronunciation was fluent, but he happened to be accompanied by a group of Miao people. He felt more and more strange. He hesitated, turned around and walked back, and whispered a few words to a soldier. The soldier turned and left quickly.
Qi Ning knew that he was probably going to inform his superiors, so he kept going non-stop along the way. Knowing that there was no rush anymore, he motioned for everyone to take a rest first, but the officers and soldiers still surrounded him and did not dare to relax.
"Come here." Qining waved to the man. The man was a little annoyed, but he couldn't help but took a few steps closer and asked, "What are you doing?"
"Have you not attacked Black Rock Ridge yet?"
The man immediately said: "Is this something you can ask?" But he still said: "There is no military order from above, so we can only stay here. Damn it, it's been several months, staying in this stupid place... I won’t fight, I won’t retreat, I don’t know... I don’t know what the higher-ups are thinking.”
Qi Ning was slightly relieved. Not long after, he heard the sound of footsteps again and saw a middle-aged man in gray armor hurriedly coming with four or five soldiers. He saw the officers and soldiers surrounding a group of Miao people and frowned. With a stern expression on his brows, he asked in a deep voice: "Which village are you from?"
Qi Ning didn't say much and once again showed off his imperial gold medal.
The gray-armored general frowned, took two steps forward, took a look, his face changed drastically, and suddenly he knelt on the ground and said respectfully: "Yue Qianliang, the captain of Lord Wei, the governor of Xichuan, pays homage to the emperor!"
As soon as this statement came out, everyone was stunned.
Eve and Bai Yali opened their mouths and looked at Qining. Their minds went blank for a moment and they were speechless.
The officers and soldiers surrounding him were stunned for a moment, and had already knelt down on the ground, shouting in unison: "Long live the emperor, long live the emperor!"
"Captain Yue, get up." Qi Ning shook his head and said, "I am not the Holy Emperor, but you can recognize this gold medal. It is indeed a gift from the Emperor."
"It turns out it's the superior." Yue Qianliang said respectfully, "I wonder if the superior is here, what are your orders?"
Bai Yali and Eve looked at each other and realized that it was a misunderstanding. Qining was not the emperor, but even so, Qining held the gold medal given by the emperor, and his status was definitely extraordinary.
"Is Mr. Wei here?" Qining asked.
Yue Qianliang shook his head and said: "Back to the mission, the governor is still in Chengdu City and ordered Commander Yao to be responsible for the siege of Heiyan Ridge."
"Commander Yao?"
"Exactly." Yue Qianliang said: "Since the end of last year, the officers and soldiers have been deployed under the Black Rock Ridge and surrounded the Black Rock Ridge. The east, west and north sides are blocked by officers and soldiers, and the south is the Jinguan of the King of Shu. The guards are in charge of the blockade, and they are besieged on all sides, and the water is blocked. I am afraid that before long, all the Miao people on the Black Rock Ridge will starve to death."
Eve couldn't help but take a step forward, with an annoyed look on her face, but her eyes were full of worry.
She naturally knew the situation in the village. Although the village had made various preparations, the most lacking thing for Heiyan Cave was food.
In the past, Heiyan Cave would exchange medicinal materials and gift furs with the outside world for food and necessities of life. However, once Black Rock Ridge was blocked, the source of food was cut off.
Although some food is stored in the mountain, and people can even be sent to hunt wild animals in the mountain, there are still five to six thousand people, old and young, in the entire Black Rock Ridge. The amount of food consumed every day is not a small amount, plus from now on. A few months have passed since last year. Heiyanling is not afraid of attacks by officers and soldiers. What he is most afraid of is that the food will be exhausted and the people in the village will starve to death.
It was precisely because Eve realized this before that she took the initiative to lead people to break out and ask for help.
It had been almost ten days since she left, and there was not much food at that time. Eve knew that after ten days, the food on the mountain was now stretched thin, and it would not last long.
"You didn't attack Black Rock Ridge because you wanted Black Rock Cave to run out of food and starve them to death?" Qining asked with a frown.
Yue Qianliang hesitated for a while, and finally said: "Reporting to the superior, what the governor wants is that Black Rock Ridge is easy to defend and difficult to attack. If we attack, there will probably be a lot of casualties, so we will surround them first, and when they run out of food, we will definitely support them." If they don't hold back, they will inevitably break out. At that time, we will guard the main roads and wait for work, and we will be able to catch them all in one fell swoop."
"Despicable!" Eve's face was as pink as ice.
Yue Qianliang glanced at Eve, but since Eve had followed Qining, Yue Qianliang couldn't say much.
Qi Ning was wondering, could Wei Shutong really have such thoughts
From a strategic point of view, Wei Shu joined the siege instead of meditating and waiting for Heiyan Cave to run out of food, but it was also an excellent method. After all, the officers and soldiers had sufficient food and grass, and the logistics supply was continuous. Every time the Heiyan Cave Miao Village consumed one point, one point was lost. When the troops in Heiyan Cave are out of food and can break through the encirclement, the officers and soldiers will be at ease waiting for work, and victory will be certain.
But in this way, it will definitely take a very long time.
Is Wei Shutong so confident that nothing else will happen during this waiting time? Or could it be said that by encircling Wei Shu without fighting, he was just leaving time for something unexpected to happen
"Why did the King of Shu send troops to surround the mountain?" Qi Ning frowned and said, "Jin Guanwei is his personal soldier and is only responsible for protecting him. How can it be used to attack Black Rock Ridge?"
Yue Qianliang lowered his head and said: "I only know that there is a land south of Black Rock Ridge that belongs to the King of Shu. After the rebellion of Black Rock Ridge, the King of Shu mobilized 600 soldiers and horses to assist the officers and soldiers in blocking the access to the south of Black Rock Ridge."
Qi Ning thought for a while and then said: "Captain Yue, you immediately send someone to Chengdu to report to Governor Wei and ask him to come to Heiyan Ridge as soon as possible. I want to go into the mountain to see the master of Heiyan Cave."
Yue Qianliang suddenly raised his head and said in surprise: "For superiors, you must not enter the mountain. Heiyandong has rebelled. Bai Tangling, the magistrate of Danba County, was killed by Heiyandong. Not long ago, the Miao thieves from Heiyandong also attacked a camp in the north at night. , seemed to want to send people to break out from the north and kill dozens of brothers, but fortunately the reinforcements arrived in time."
"This matter has been reported to the court. Let me ask you, could anyone be caught alive at that time?" Qi Ning said solemnly: "We raided at night and killed dozens of people. Didn't we catch a single person alive?"
Yue Qianliang said with some embarrassment: "Reporting to the superior officer, in fact... In fact, not only did not a single person be caught alive that night, but... And not even a Miao thief was killed...!"
"You don't want to have a Miao thief on the left and a Miao thief on the right. We still don't know who the thief is." Eve was angry in her heart and scolded coldly: "Dozens of people died, but the other party didn't hurt a single person. Either Either your officers and soldiers are too incompetent, or the murderers are highly skilled in martial arts, and you can't hurt them at all."
Yue Qianliang frowned and stopped talking.
"There is no need to argue, Captain Yue. We are going into the mountain now, and you will lead the way." Qining said, "I have something to discuss with the owner of the Black Rock Cave. You should also quickly send someone to report to Governor Wei."
Yue Qianliang saw Qin Ning's serious expression and his tone of voice that did not allow for negotiation. He hesitated for a moment and finally said: "I humbly obey my orders!"