Xu Hour, a small courtyard at the Wei Residence.
The jujube tree's fresh leaves rustled in the wind.
Lamplight illuminated the main room, where Wei Nisheng sat behind his desk.
He wore an everyday Zhiduō Robe, his hair secured with a Silver Hairpin, and held a brush in his hand.
It hovered above the Ningxia Garrison on the map, its tip poised to fall yet lingering, as though weighing the calculations in his heart.
A moment later, the brush descended, lightly drawing a circle around the Three Garrisons of Gansu.
The circle was small, enclosing Xiliang Prefecture, Ganzhou, and Suzhou neatly at its center.
Then the brush moved east and placed a dot on the Ningxia Garrison.
It moved again toward Datong Prefecture, paused for a breath, and only then withdrew.
Five place names, three lines.
The map imprinted itself on his mind; with a map and lines, he could spare himself some mental exertion.
As he studied it now, Wei Nisheng naturally connected them into an invisible arc in his mind.
To wrest the Three Garrisons back from the Tanguts, he first had to secure Ningxia.
To secure Ningxia, he needed a capable general.
And that general was in Datong.
Until Song Yue's political promises had been fulfilled, he could never trust them completely.
"Song Yue wants Kaifeng. I want Ningxia," Wei Nisheng murmured to himself.
"The Prefectural Judge of Kaifeng controls the Military Authorization Tokens for Grain Transport. If Song Zhao really reaches Kaifeng, every covert route of the North-South Arms Transport will lie beneath Song Yue's eyes."
"But if Zhou Quan reaches Ningxia..." Wei Nisheng trailed off.
As he sank into thought, a knock came at the courtyard gate.
Cui Fu opened it, asked a few quiet questions, then hurried back.
From outside the room, he