Wei Shutong's expression was constricted, and he immediately said: "Hou Ye, rest assured, the military power of Chengdu Mansion is still in the hands of the lower officials, and he Li Hongxin can't turn the sky upside down." Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoFrom today onwards, Xia Guan will send heavy troops to guard Hou Ye's safety until Hou Ye leaves Xichuan territory. ”

Qi Ning smiled faintly and asked, "Master Wei, if Li Hongxin suddenly rebels now, how will you deal with it?" ”

"Rebellion?" Wei Shutong snorted coldly and said: "Master Hou, forgive the lower official, although Li Hongxin holds the handle of the lower official, he also knows the bottom line of the lower official, and he doesn't dare to force him too much, and the lower official will never allow him to have the slightest rebellion." At that time, Li Hongxin returned to the imperial court, and the horses were released in Nanshan, and the imperial court disbanded most of the soldiers and horses under his command. Li Hongxin only kept a thousand Jinguanwei under his hand, and the money and food of these Jinguanwei were all borne by Li Hongxin himself, but their armored weapons have always been allocated by the imperial court, and the armor and equipment are replaced every three years. ”

Qi Ning said: "In this way, the equipment in Li Hongxin's hands is in the heart of Master Wei?" ”

"Exactly." Wei Shutong said: "When the Shu army was disbanded, all the armor and weapons were confiscated, and the court compensated for the severance pay, most of these people went home to farm, and these people were exempted from paying taxes for three years. It's been 20 years, and those soldiers have already been naturalized in the township, and it is impossible for Li Hongxin to let them pick up weapons. ”

Qi Ning said with a smile: "Without weapons, those veterans can't be recalled, so Master Wei feels that it is impossible for Li Hongxin to rebel." ”

Wei Shutong seemed to be very confident in this, and said: "Don't hide it from the Hou Ye, there are more than 40,000 soldiers and horses guarding various places in Xichuan Town, and these soldiers and horses are all paid by the imperial court, and most of the leading generals are also transferred from the imperial court and appointed, and they are assigned by the lower officials. After a pause, he said: "In order to prevent accidents in Xichuan, the first emperor mobilized more than 1,000 soldiers and horses, and he had to play the Ming Imperial Court, and the military department signed an order to transfer troops before they could be mobilized. Even if he is a lower official, he can only mobilize 4,000 soldiers and horses in Chengdu to quell the turmoil at any time. ”

Qi Ning bowed slightly, and said, "In other words, Li Hongxin has no possibility of mobilizing troops and horses?" ”

"Naturally, it's impossible." Wei Shutong sneered: "The first emperor sent the old marquis of brocade to pacify Bashu, and he knew that this Li Hongxin was not a good type. After Xichuan was pacified, although Li Hongxin was greatly rewarded, a large fief was given to him, so that he could enjoy glory and wealth, and retained a thousand brocade official guards, but the first emperor was very wary of this person and would never allow this person to have the right to transfer troops. Although Li Hongxin proposed to place his generals as tigers and wolves, and the imperial court did give them a place for those people, they were scattered everywhere, all of them served as deputy positions and were under surveillance. ”

Qi Ning was thoughtful, and Wei Shutong asked cautiously, "Is Master Hou worried about anything?" ”

Qi Ning shook his head and smiled: "I'm just thinking, if the Pujia Pavilion didn't stab Ben Hou to death, what means will Li Hongxin use next." ”

"The lower officials will definitely send someone to investigate this matter." Wei Shutong said: "If we can find evidence to prove that Li Hongxin was behind Li Hongxin's assassination of the Hou Ye in Pujia Pavilion, there will be evidence of Li Hongxin's rebellion, and then this person can be arrested justifiably, which can be regarded as a major scourge." ”

"Since Li Hongxin has arranged it this way, it will not be easy to find a handle." Qi Ning said lightly: "None of the assassins are alive, and there is no human and material evidence, and Li Hongxin is not worried that he will find out the evidence of his guilt at all." After thinking for a while, he suddenly said, "Master Wei, I still have to ask you about the temple." ”

"Does Master Hou suspect that there is something wrong with the temple donated by Li Hongxin?" Wei Shutong asked.

Qi Ning said: "You said that he has donated more than a dozen temples, do you know the specific location?" After a slight pause, without waiting for Wei Shutong to speak, he continued: "Do you have a map of Xichuan here?" ”

"Yes." Wei Shutong immediately got up, went out, found someone to deliver a map of the terrain of Xichuan, and returned to the house, Qi Ning took the map and spread it on the table.

This era is different from later generations, maps are extremely rare, and there are very few maps in circulation.

However, Wei Shu is also a Xichuan assassin, and there is naturally an extremely accurate topographic map of Xichuan in the house.

On the map, the sixteen counties of Xichuan are described in detail, especially the terrain of Shu County, where Chengdu Prefecture is located, the mountains, rivers and mountains are outlined very clearly, and the cities of each county are also clearly marked.

"Lord Wei, can you mark the location of Li Hongxin's temple on the map?" Qi Ning stared at Wei Shutong.

Wei Shutong saw Qi Ning's grim expression, knew that things were not simple, thought for a while, and then said: "Master Hou, the lower officials know that Li Hongxin donated more than ten temples, and he also remembers some, but ....... Not all temple locations are well remembered. ”

"Mark the location of the temple that you know." Qi Ning's voice was serious: "If Li Hongxin donates to build three or two temples, it may be to hide people's eyes and ears and show that he has no desire and no contention and is dedicated to the Buddha." Hehe, his Li family has been based in Xichuan for a hundred years, and Li Hongxin is a generation of heroes, with blood on his hands, how can he put down the butcher's knife so easily. ”

Wei Shutong frowned, took the brush, dipped it in ink, thought about it carefully, and lightly touched the ink spots in many places on the map.

Qi Ning saw him click on the ink spots, obviously very familiar with the geographical environment of Xichuan, and secretly thought that Wei Shutong was not a mediocre and incompetent person after all, just looking at his understanding of the terrain of Xichuan, he knew that this person had indeed worked hard in Xichuan.

Wei Shutong was very cautious in ordering eight ink spots, but the ninth place did not fall for a long time, and finally put down the brush and said: "Master Hou, there will be no mistakes in these eight places, I can't be sure of a few places in the remaining places, and there are a few places where the lower officials really can't remember." ”

Wei Shutong is the history of Xichuan Thorn, managing the sixteen counties of Xichuan, everything is complicated, Li Hongxin repaired and repaired the temple, Wei Shutong obviously didn't care too much about it before, but it is really not easy to remember the eight locations.

Qi Ning bowed slightly, took a closer look, swiped his fingers lightly, suddenly raised his head, and said, "Master Wei, take a closer look, what is wrong with the locations chosen by these temples?" ”

Wei Shutong put his hands behind his back at this time, bent over to observe carefully, and frowned: "Of the eight temples known to Xiaguan, six are near Chengdu, and the remaining two are ....... in Brazil County and one in Jiangyang County!" Squinting his eyes, he suddenly raised his head and said: "Yes, Xia Guan remembered, the rest of the temples, although the detailed location of Xia Guan can't be determined, but it seems that they are all in Pasir County and Jiangyang County." ”

"Not to mention Brazil County and Jiangyang County." Qi Ning pointed to the temples in Shu County on the map, "Six temples surround Chengdu Mansion, and almost all of them are built behind the mountains, hehe, Lord Wei, don't you think these six temples seem to enclose Chengdu?" ”

Wei Shutong took a closer look, his body was shocked, and he lost his voice: "Master Hou has good eyesight, it turns out that this is really the case, Xiaguan ...... Xia Guan had never found out about this before. ”

"That's no wonder." Qi Ning said: "Lord Wei, when did Li Hongxin start donating to build the first temple?" ”

"The first temple donated by Li Hongxin is here." Wei Shutong pointed to an ink spot near Chengdu Mansion, "This is Qingcheng Mountain, which is the first temple donated by Li Hongxin. After thinking about it, he said, "That should have been four years ago." ”

"Four years?" Qi Ning sneered: "In just four years, Li Hongxin has donated more than ten temples, which is really generous." ”

Wei Shutong said: "When he returned to the imperial court, the imperial court left him a large fief, and also rewarded him with countless gold and silver, so that he could enjoy all the glory and wealth. As far as I know, Li Hongxin also sent people to do some business in private, and there are a large number of entries every year, after all, he still has a thousand Jin officials and guards, and he also raised some doormen, although the number is not much, but they are extremely expensive, if there is no entry, these people will only drink the northwest wind. ”

"No wonder he has so much money to donate."

Wei Shutong frowned and said: "Li Hongxin has always been bold, and he fought against the imperial court and scattered his family wealth, so it is not strange that he spent a lot of money. A few years ago, Li Hongxin's main room passed away, a big funeral, invited hundreds of monks to exceed, since then, Li Hongxin every three or five times to invite the monks to the palace to say the Dharma, the lower officials have also met a few times, it is indeed a profound Buddhist monk, so he began to donate to build a temple, the lower officials did not care too much, and the lower officials sent people to see, there is nothing wrong, so .......! ”

Qi Ning thought to himself that this Li Hongxin was really scheming, but before doing things, he was taking steps to confuse the opponent, and then it was logical to do things, which made people careless.

"Lord Wei, these six temples surround Chengdu Mansion, what do you think is the intention?" Qi Ning thought thoughtfully, "His choice of such a location will never be a whim, it must have been planned in advance." ”

Wei Shutong nodded and said: "What Hou Ye said is right, Xia Guan didn't think it before, but now looking at the map above, there is a lot of weirdness in it." I couldn't help but raise my hand to stroke my beard, "But what can six temples do?" ”

"Look at the ...... of Brazil County and Jiangyang County again!" Qi Ning raised his hand and said: "Chengdu is in Shu County, Brazil County is in the northeast of Shu County, and Jiangyang County is in the southeast direction. Speaking of this, he reached out and picked up the brush and connected the three counties on the map, and when Wei Shutong stood up, he saw a triangle jumping on the paper, and couldn't help but say: "This is...... It's a triangle! ”

"This triangle encompasses Shu County, Qianwei County, Zitong County, Jiangyang County and Brazil County at once." Qi Ning said: "And these five counties are the core area of Xichuan, Lord Wei, we should understand by now how much evil intentions are hidden in this." ”