All the generals surrounded the simple sand table, and Hou Dayong said: "After the Shu army burned the grain warehouse, its strategy was very clear, that is, to wait for labor, to drag down the Western Expedition Army to death, and to achieve the goal of winning without fighting."

Shi Hu said: "The Shu army had good soldiers and sufficient food, strong defense, and it was difficult to succeed in attacking. It seems that we have to find another way."

Guo Jiong said: "The structure of the Shu army camp is like a strong city. The Black Eagle Army is good at fighting in the field. If it is a strong attack, it will be very serious."

The generals were talking about it, and they all felt that a tough attack was not a solution, and it was even more unfavorable to the Western Expedition Army for a long time.

Hou Dayong said: "The words of the generals are actually the same, that is, it is not appropriate to attack the Shu army camp. I also agree with the generals. The most reasonable tactic at present is to find a way to transfer the Shu army out of the camp and fight against it in the wild. I now have an idea, which is to rush to Qinzhou and lure the tiger out of the mountain. What do the generals think?"

After Qian Xiangnan came to the camp, he did not speak, but stared at the sand table. Hearing Hou Dayong's words, Qian Xiangnan slapped the table hard and praised loudly: "I have such a good idea for the defense envoy. Look, the Shu army is now concentrated in the northeast of Fengzhou, using the strong camp to confront our army. Judging from the terrain, Feng, Cheng and Steps are very close to each other, and the momentum of the scattered corners can help each other, but Qinzhou is far northwest." Qian Xiangnan said this, looked up at Hou Dayong and said: "If our army is unexpected and attacking Qinzhou, if we capture Qinzhou, the food stored in Qinzhou can relieve the temporary difficulties and disrupt the deployment of the Shu army."

Hou Dayong smiled and said, "Qian Zhengjun is a soulmate. If Qinzhou is conquered, the general of the Shu army will face great pressure."

Guo Jiong said: "Qinzhou City is solid, and if the Shu army defends it to the death, it will be difficult to fight. I suggest that soldiers should be sent to pretend to be refugees, mingle into the city, and take the opportunity to seize the city gate."

Shi Hu said: "Attacking Qinzhou will cause the whole body to be mobilized, which involves the overall situation. Moreover, the Black Eagle Army lacks enough troops and cannot chew the hard bone of Qinzhou."

The generals of the Black Eagle Army had a fierce debate over whether to fight or not and how to fight Qinzhou. At first, Wang Jiang and Chen Renyi were not used to this kind of pre-war discussion and did not speak. Later, they couldn't help but put forward their own opinions.

After repeated discussions, all the generals realized the benefits of rushing to Qinzhou. Hou Dayong brought money to the south to Wang Jing's camp. After hearing the plan offered by Hou Dayong, Wang Jing compared it with the map and thought about it for a while, then said: "This plan is feasible, but if this plan is used, all the deployments of our army will change. Now please come over to the South Court to listen to his opinions."

Xiang Xun, the envoy of the Southern Court, also thought hard about the way to defeat the enemy every day. After listening to Hou Dayong's plan, he said: "The Shu army has seen the weakness of our army's inconvenient supply of food and grass, and tried to delay time, trying to trap our army to death or force our army to retreat, and then take the opportunity to win. The defensive envoy's plan to attack Qinzhou is very suitable for me." He also said: "If Qinzhou is lost, Shuzhu Meng Chang will definitely blame Li Tinggui. At that time, under heavy pressure, Li Tinggui will definitely take the initiative to fight for me. However, Qinzhou is easy to defend but difficult to attack, with more than five or six thousand defenders, and the Black Eagle Army has only three thousand, so it is impossible to capture Qinzhou at all."

Hou Dayong said: "If you can't conquer Qinzhou in a hurry, you can spread rumors in Shu, saying that Qinzhou is in danger. Li Tinggui refused to save him when he died, so he used this method to force Li Tinggui to send troops."

Wang Jing said: "The defensive envoy divided his troops to attack Qinzhou, and the intention of the drunkard was not to drink. If he could mobilize the main force of the Shu army, he would achieve his strategic intention. As for Qinzhou, as long as the main force of the Shu army was defeated, Qinzhou would be defeated without attack. But if he wanted to threaten Qinzhou, in addition to the Black Eagle Army, he would also have to transfer 2,000 troops and Feiyun Ladder from Fengxiang Prefecture and return to the command of the imperial envoy, so that he could have enough strength."

Wang Jing and Xiang Xun agreed to Hou Dayong's plan to attack Qinzhou. The imperial guards of the guards entered the Hei Diao Army camp at night, and still used the Black Diao Army's flag to prevent the Shu army from seeing the flaws. The Black Diao Army rushed to Qinzhou overnight. After arriving in Qinzhou, the army hid in the mountains, and the soldiers of the Lion Camp came out everywhere and went outside Qinzhou to inquire about the news.

The garrison of Qinzhou was the governor of Xiongwu Jiewu, Han Jixun, who came from a prominent family in Shu. After the Huangniu Bazhai was captured by the Great Zhou army, Han Jixun held the city with high walls and thick walls, and had sufficient soldiers and enough food, and made plans to defend the enemy. In order to prevent the enemy from entering the city, he ordered people to close the city gate and not allow anyone to enter and exit. This made the people in the city suffer. Many daily necessities such as vegetables and vegetables in the city rely on the supply outside the city. After the city gate was closed for a long time, the lives of the people were seriously affected.

After the arrival of Fengxiang Army, Hou Dayong adopted Guo Jiong's strategy and selected forty Fengxiang soldiers who could speak Shu, preparing to mingle in the city. However, the gate of Qinzhou was closed and no one was allowed to enter and exit. The plan of mingle in the city could not be implemented. Hou Dayong sent Guo Xuan to lead the soldiers of the Lion Camp to the city at night, prepare long ladders, grab ropes, and prepare to quietly climb up the city wall.

Qinzhou was short of water and there was no moat. The soldiers of the Lion Camp climbed over the trench and came to the city. As soon as they set up a long ladder, the defenders of Qinzhou City discovered this small unit. There was a gong sound on the city wall, and the defenders lit countless torches, revealing the true form of the sneak attack army under the city. Guo Jiong was agile, but he saw that the sneak attack could not be successful. Before the Shu army could fly, he had already taken the soldiers of the Lion Camp back to the outside of the trench. The soldiers of the Lion Camp outside the city did not go far, but lined up outside the trench and insulted the city. The Shu army guarding the city did not show weakness and started to curse the soldiers of the Lion Camp.

When the governor of Xiongwu Jiewu, Han Jixun, heard that someone was attacking the city, hurried to the city wall. After observing for a while, Han Jixun said to the observer Zhao Sui: "There are not many attacking enemies, so it should be a strategy to lure the enemy. The large army must be ambushing not far outside the city."

The observer Zhao Ji was in his thirties, wearing soft armor and a long sword that was not commonly used in the army. Zhao Ji Ji was a literati, but after he joined Han Jixun's army, he was resourceful and made many military achievements. He became Han Jixun's confidant. Hearing Han Jixun's question, Zhao Ji took his eyes back from outside the city and said, "What the governor said is very true. If I guess correctly, the war in Fengzhou must have been deadlocked, and the Zhou army fell into a passive position, so he sent his army to attack Qinzhou."

Han Jixun sneered and said, "The battle situation in Fengzhou is not yet determined, and the number of troops attacking Zhou will not be too large. I ordered all troops to strengthen patrols and not give the enemy the opportunity to take advantage of it."

The next day, the Black Eagle Army and Fengxiang Army appeared at the East Gate.

Han Jixun looked at the city wall for a while and said, "As expected, the Zhou army had only about 5,000 troops, and our Qinzhou had six thousand defenders. If you want to break through Qinzhou, you're probably a fool."

Zhao Sui said: "The enemy attacked was the banner of Wang Jing's border army, but in terms of equipment, only one of them was Wang Jing's troops. The other one had a strict formation and many cavalrymen, and it seemed that they were good at field battles. We can avoid their edge and wait for work in the city."

Han Jixun said: "There are not many Zhou troops, so you can send two thousand troops to fight with the Zhou army to test the truth."

Hou Dayong was observing the movements in the city. With a cannon, the east city gate opened and a team of Shu troops rushed out.

Shi Hu brought a horse out of the line. When the Shu army entered the crossbow process, he ordered: "The crossbowmen of the Right Army are ready, the left army and the central cavalry attack."

The Right Army had already prepared thousands of crossbow arrows. After Shi Hu ordered, he took turns to shoot. The Shu army did not expect that the Zhou army's crossbow arrows were so powerful that they were shot down as soon as they joined the formation. At the same time as the crossbow arrows were shot, the left and central troops each dispatched 500 cavalry to encircle them from both wings. The Black Eagle Army's cavalry was well-trained and shot arrows freely on the running horses. The Shu army was all infantry. After being attacked, they set up a shield formation to block the dense rain of arrows. The archers hid behind the shield formation and fought back with bows and arrows.

Han Jixun could see clearly in the city that the Zhou army's crossbows and bows were too severe, and the Shu army was completely passive, so he ordered the withdrawal of troops. The Black Eagle Army followed the retreating Shu army to the east gate. Five hundred Shu army crossbowmen at the east gate were already ready to fight and shoot fiercely at the Black Eagle cavalry.

Shi Hu saw that there were a large number of crossbowmen at the east gate, and many of the Black Eagle cavalry were shot and killed, so he ordered the troops to withdraw their troops and return to the camp. After this battle, Hou Dayong ordered the Black Eagle Army and Fengxiang Army to set up camp outside the east gate, leaving no soldiers or soldiers outside the west gate, the south gate and the north gate. The Black Eagle Army went to the city to challenge every day, but the Shu army in the city did not make any counterattacks.

The heavy siege weapons such as flying cloud ladders, bed crossbows, stone cannons provided by Fengxiang Mansion were gradually transported outside Qinzhou City. Hou Dayong asked the Fengxiang army to safeguard the stone cannons, launch them into the city if they have anything to do, and carry out harassing attacks. Among the weapons sent by Fengxiang Mansion, there were actually a batch of rockets, which made Hou Dayong overjoyed.

Hou Dayong called Qian Xiangnan and said, "Hurry to Fengxiang Mansion and receive all the black fires in Fengxiang Mansion to Qinzhou. The more the better."

Qian Xiangnan suggested: "Rockets are not very useful for siege. There are fire prevention measures on the city gates and walls. It is better to transport more artillery vehicles."

Hou Dayong said: "I have my own trick. Come to Fengxiang quickly. If there are not many fires, bring all the rockets."

After Qian Xiangnan received the order, he rushed to Fengxiang Mansion to collect the black fire.

Every night after Qian Xiangnan walked, Hou Dayong ordered the sergeants to toss outside the east gate, while a small group of sergeants quietly dug tunnels outside the west gate. Eight days later, the tunnels had been dug under the west gate.
Chapter completed!