#451 - Cicada Mantis Yellow Bird
Niu Bei Mountain, Niu Bei Mountain...
Looking at the stretch of low mountains on the sand table, Wei Changtian pondered for a long time.
As Chu Xianping said, this was indeed the weakest link in the entire plan.
Firstly, although he had already set a trap here, no one could say for sure whether it would achieve the desired effect.
Secondly, even if they could severely damage the rebel army here, it was not certain whether the latter would retreat to Guanghan County as planned.
Han Zhao's side would definitely not have any problems, but what if Ning Yongnian intervened?
And if the imperial army did not retreat, then the 100,000 demon beasts hidden in the Shiwan Mountains would be useless.
Unlike the 10,000 demon beasts that made up the Tiangou Army, these 100,000 demon beasts, although barely able to obey Qingxian's command, were not very intelligent, and their bestial nature was still the most basic motivation for their actions.
To put it bluntly, once a fight broke out, they would not be able to distinguish between friend and foe, and would only attack everyone in front of them.
This was normal in itself, after all, if every demon beast under Qingxian's command could "obey orders and win battles", then the demon race would not have been trapped in the Shiwan Mountains for thousands of years, and would have flattened Da Ning long ago.
Therefore, it was already not easy for Qingxian to find 10,000 demon beasts that could cooperate with humans, and Wei Changtian did not ask her for more.
It doesn't matter if they can't distinguish between friend and foe, as long as there are only enemies in front of these demon beasts, that's all he wanted... This was his previous thought.
But now...
If the imperial army did not choose to retreat after the Battle of Niu Bei Mountain, but instead continued to advance towards Shuzhou City, then the use of these 100,000 demon beasts would need to be carefully considered.
If things went wrong, the Shu army might even be wiped out before the imperial army.
To make matters worse, Shuzhou City might even be attacked by a beast tide.
And once this happened, the result...
"Brother Chu, Uncle Liang."
After an unknown amount of time, Wei Changtian suddenly looked up and asked, "When will the imperial army arrive?"
"General Han said that if there are no accidents, three days."
Chu Xianping quickly replied, "Including the time for rest, the formal attack on Guanghan should be in five days."
"Hmm."
Wei Changtian nodded and asked, "After the war begins, according to our plan, how many days will it take for the imperial army to enter Niutou Mountain?"
"Eight to ten days."
This time it was Liang Zhen who answered: "There is no certainty on the battlefield, but this time should be about the same."
"Five days, eight days..."
Wei Changtian pondered for a moment, then slowly stood up: "That is to say, at the earliest, thirteen days later, the imperial army will enter Niutou Mountain."
"Yes."
Chu Xianping and Liang Zhen looked at each other: "Young Master, do you have any plans?"
"Yes."
Wei Changtian reached out and picked up a green flag from the sand table, gently placing it behind Niutou Mountain.
"I will tell Gui Peian to let the 100,000 people of Da Li rush to Niutou Mountain within thirteen days to set up an ambush."
"Even if not so many can arrive, I think there shouldn't be a problem with half of them coming first."
"Also, I have to go to Niutou Mountain again, and you will stay in Liuguanghan to continue to deploy defenses according to the plan."
"I will be back in four days at the latest."
"..."
With the war about to begin, Wei Changtian was going to Niutou Mountain again, which was obviously to do something big.
However, neither Chu Xianping nor Liang Zhen asked any more questions.
"Changtian, when are you going to leave?"
Liang Zhen said solemnly: "Do you need to send a team to go with you?"
"No, the fewer people who know about this, the better."
Wei Changtian shook his head: "Time is tight, I'll leave now."
"Okay, then I'll order someone to prepare a carriage."
Suddenly, Chu Xianping slowly said a sentence.
Wei Changtian turned his head to look over, as if he had already guessed what Chu Xianping wanted to say, his expression did not change much.
The two looked at each other silently, and then simultaneously turned their attention to another location on the sand table.
The green flag representing the Shu army and the red flag representing the imperial army confronted each other on both sides, and behind the green flag was a large area of green flags.
The small green flag was embroidered with the word "Li", which just formed a pincer attack with the red flag, surrounding all the green flags that were not many in the first place.
Da Li...
As the saying goes, the praying mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
There is nothing wrong with this sentence itself.
The only problem is that, in many cases, both the "mantis" and even the "cicada" mistakenly believe that they are the "oriole".
At dusk, a carriage quietly left Guanghan County and went straight to Niutou Mountain, five hundred miles away to the south.
From entering the city to leaving, five hours, Wei Changtian didn't even eat a bite of food.
He didn't care about this, of course, but Xu Sui Sui was unwilling to "fool around" with him, so she took the initiative to stay in Guanghan County.
As a result, Wei Changtian was finally given the opportunity to be alone with Shen Ran.
"..."
"Young Master Shen, thank you for your trouble."
"It's okay, this is what I should do."
On the bumpy carriage, Wei Changtian had already said the matter of "hoping that the Da Li reinforcements could arrive within thirteen days" again.
Shen Ran also solemnly agreed, and in front of Wei Changtian, he took out the zimu jade and began to send a message.
Almost a quarter of an hour later, as Shen Ran put away the zimu jade, the matter came to a temporary end.
The next thing to do was to wait for Gui Peian's reply.
The car fell into a brief silence, and several distant mountains outside the car were out of reach, vaguely mixed with the gradually dimming sky.
Shen Ran looked at the empty scenery through the car window, and then looked at Wei Changtian, who was thinking about something with his head down, feeling a little puzzled.
He didn't understand why Wei Changtian wanted to invite him to Niutou Mountain.
If it was just for the matter just now, he could have told him before leaving, why did he have to drag him along?
What's more, Wei Changtian obviously had important things to do on this trip, but he was strictly just an "outsider", why was he so relieved of him?
Since seeing Wei Changtian's famous scene of "showing his holiness in front of people" at the Chunlong Poetry Meeting, Shen Ran had been full of interest in such a noble son who was known to everyone in Da Ning.
His poetic talent was the best in the world, he had the ability to kill a second-rank master, and he had a handsome and unrestrained appearance...
These advantages were obvious, but on the contrary, there were various rumors about Wei Changtian in the streets.
A guilty son who killed the prime minister, indiscriminately killed the innocent, colluded with foreign enemies, was inhumane, and was lecherous...
Although Shen Ran understood the principle of "no wind, no waves", he had never felt the above in Wei Changtian.
This contradiction was like a thick fog, shrouding Wei Changtian, making Shen Ran unable to see the former's true face.
And the most important thing was that Wei Changtian was the only person Shen Ran had ever seen who could also see the Tiandao Cloud Goose.
Based on this alone, Shen Ran knew that Wei Changtian must be extraordinary.
"Young Master Wei..."
After hesitating for a while, Shen Ran finally opened his mouth and asked: "Since we parted at the last Chunlong Poetry Meeting, there is one thing that has always troubled me, I wonder if you can solve my doubts?"
"Young Master Shen, I know what you want to ask."
Raising his head, Wei Changtian's expression was calm.
He shook his sleeves and waved his hand casually, and then three white lights suddenly appeared in the car, and then slowly turned into the appearance of a cloud goose, a gu carving, and a yellow dragon.
"This, this is!"
Shen Ran suddenly widened his eyes, only feeling that his heartbeat had stopped at this moment.
Wei Changtian just smiled, and then slowly said a sentence in Shen Ran's shocked expression.
"Young Master Shen, there are actually thirteen people like you in this world."
