Previously, Li Yanqing assigned a question to his officers, asking everyone to think about where they would retreat if the Liangshan Army gave up Shen County. Afterwards, Li Yanqing got answers from the generals one after another. More than 80% of the generals believed that the Liangshan Army would retreat to Bozhou. After all, Bozhou was the base camp of the main force of the Liangshan Army when it attacked Hebei.

In fact, Li Yanqing also believed that the Liangshan army would retreat to Bozhou, but he had a clearer understanding than his subordinates. In fact, the Liangshan army had the only choice to go east to Bozhou, attack Daming Prefecture north or go west to Xiangzhou.

With the morale and strength of the Liangshan Army, they can no longer capture Daming Prefecture, while the capitals of several other counties of Daming Prefecture are dilapidated and cannot be defended at all, and they are even further away from the Yellow River.

Going to Xiangzhou will be separated from the sphere of influence of the Liangshan Army. Unless they want to go to Taihang Mountain to occupy the mountains and become kings, if there is really no way to go, it is not impossible to go to Taihang Mountain to become kings, but at least they still have a road to Bozhou now.

Liaocheng County and Gaotang County in Bozhou are both tall and strong cities, especially Gaotang County, which was the old nest that the Liangshan Army worked hard in Hebei. It has a good public opinion foundation and sufficient food and grass in the city. If you guard the city, it will be fine for one or two years to defend it. You can even withdraw from the Yellow River Wharf in Gaotang County to the south bank of the Yellow River at any time.

Unfortunately, Song Jiang made an extremely wrong strategic decision, abandoning Gaotang County and allowing the troops of Gaotang County to go south to Daming Prefecture and joining the Daming Prefecture army, but was completely wiped out by Li Yanqing halfway.

However, the Liangshan Army in Hebei still has a chance. There are only 500 soldiers in Gaotang County, which can't stop the army from siegeing the city. If Song Jiang crosses the Yellow River from Gaotang County, he can completely occupy Gaotang County again. Unfortunately, Song Jiang makes one mistake, and he will not be able to occupy Gaotang County again now, and it is far from the defenders of Shen County in Daming Prefecture.

The opportunity was left to the Liangshan army in Shen County, and it depends on whether they were determined to give up Shen County and go north and recapture Liaocheng or Gaotang County?

This decision made Zhang Cen, the chief general of Shen County, think about it for seven days. Since the reinforcements were frustrated across the river, Zhang Cen was considering whether to give up Shen County to head north. He was indeed worried. On the one hand, Shen County's walls are tall and strong, easy to defend and attack south, and there is sufficient food in the city. It is a pity to give up like this. Moreover, he did not know the situation in Gaotang County. There was sufficient food and grass in Gaotang County before, but now, is it still the same as before?

What made Zhang Cen even more embarrassed was the attitude of his elder brother Song Jiang. Should Song Jiang still support him? If he had to send reinforcements over, he would not be able to leave Shen County. However, Song Jiang was indeed vague and just asked him to stick to Hebei and wait for rescue. Should he stick to Daming Prefecture or Bozhou? Song Jiang never had a clear reply, which really made Zhang Cen undecided.

At night, Zhang Cen stood on the city wall with his hands behind his back, looking at the field outside the city that was particularly clear by the moonlight. He turned around and asked, "Do they still appear?"

Two days ago, the defenders found that the officers and soldiers were active in a hundred steps away. Zhang Cen sent several spies to check, but they all went but never returned. Zhang Cen wanted to send troops out, but he did not dare to act rashly, for fear of being annihilated by the opponent's cavalry. He had to be depressed and observe the movements of the enemy at the top of the city.

The leader came forward and said, "Report to General, I didn't notice their movement today, and it seemed that they had stopped."

Zhang Cen shook his head, "How could they stop if they didn't achieve their goal?"

"Damn, what are these bastards doing?" A general couldn't help but curse.

"General, will they be digging holes to attack the city?" the commander said carefully.

Zhang Cen turned around and slapped him, cursing: "I see your brain is shit! There is a moat three meters deep under our city. Are they digging holes for death?"

The commander was so shocked that he didn't dare to say anything. Zhang Cen watched for a while, and became impatient, and said to him: "Continue to observe, please notify me immediately if there is any abnormal enemy situation!"

After saying that, Zhang Cen turned around and went down to the city. The commander kicked the soldiers next to him a few times, "You continue to observe for me. I will notify me immediately if there is any abnormal enemy situation!"

He yawned, and went downstairs to find a place to drink.

In fact, there was no movement outside. The soldiers of Liangshan Army had been fighting with the officers and soldiers for almost a month. The officers and soldiers had never shown signs of siege, and even had no siege ladders. The soldiers guarding the city had long been slackening.

When the generals went down to the city to drink or go to fool around with women at night, the soldiers also found their own places to sleep, leaving only a few soldiers patrolling and guarding the night.

At the fourth update, it was the most sleeping moment at night, and it was also the time when the garrison at the city was weakest. Only four teams of soldiers were left patrolling the city, with a team patrolling the city, southeast, northwest and north, each of the four city walls. The soldiers of Xuanwu Camp had long discovered this feature, and they acted at the fourth update.

Outside the north city, a slope about a hundred steps away from the city wall, several soldiers slowly pushed open a large rock and exposed a dark hole. The commander at the city head was actually guessing that the army outside the city was indeed digging a tunnel. They spent ten days digging a tunnel of hundreds of steps, but they were accidentally discovered by the soldiers on the city head two days ago. However, the soldiers of Xuanwu Camp responded properly and killed every soldier who came out to check the situation, without revealing their intentions.

In mid-spring, the weather in the north is relatively clear and it rarely rains, especially at night when the moonlight is bright. The silver moonlight shines on the fields outside the city, and it is particularly clear on the top of the city. It is easy to be discovered by the top of the city when it is active within a hundred steps outside the city at night.

Li Yanqing wanted to approach the city wall at night, so he could only find another way. Zhang Cen was not wrong. There was a moat outside, so digging a hole could not enter the city at all. It was just that the soldiers in Xuanwu Camp digging holes did not mean to enter the city, but to get as close to the moat as possible.

This is a detail discovered by Li Yanqing. After the fourth update, the defenders at the city were changed to patrol systems. The patrol soldiers did not walk close to the battlements, but were about one foot away from the battlements. This would form a dark state under the lights, and the defenders at the city could not see the moat and the walls.

As long as they dig an authentic tunnel to reach the moat, they can directly enter the range that the soldiers guarding the city cannot see. This is called details determining success or failure. As long as they dig deeper into the details, they will often have unexpected gains.

At this time, Li Yanqing led hundreds of soldiers to appear in the woods dozens of steps away from the tunnel entrance. This is also a place where Liangshan soldiers lacked experience. They did not expect to clear the land in advance and cut down the forest. Of course, before Li Yanqing led the Xuanwu Camp to appear in Daming Mansion, the Liangshan army had always had an offensive advantage. Even if they had experience, they would not have had to work hard to clear the land in the world. Even if they found something wrong now, it was too late.

Li Yanqing waved his hand, and more than twenty soldiers ran towards the tunnel entrance with five thunders wrapped in oil cloth. The tunnel entrance was a slope, and a hundred steps away. The defenders on the city could not see the situation here at night. More than twenty soldiers entered the tunnel one by one.

In the woods, Li Yanqing watched the situation at the top of the city. The day before yesterday, he had deployed 14,000 township soldiers to Liaocheng County and Gaotang County in Bozhou, commanded by Wang Gui and Niu Gao respectively. They were responsible for defending these two important cities. The next step is to invite Liangshan Army out of Shen County.

Li Yanqing only had two thousand troops, so it was not easy for him to completely defeat the Liangshan army in Hebei. Zhang Cen had obviously learned his lesson and would never divide his troops. He used two thousand troops to fight against the well-trained 5,500 troops, and even if he had one thousand cavalry in his hand, Li Yanqing was not sure.

Even if they perform well and defeat the enemy, it will inevitably be a miserable victory. They will suffer heavy casualties and injuries themselves. This is not the result that Li Yanqing wants, so to defeat the Liangshan Army, extraordinary means must be used.

At this time, more than twenty soldiers drilled out of the ground from the exit five feet away from the moat. The exit was finally dug an hour ago. A dark hole appeared on the ground, covered by a large wooden plate. Three soldiers took the lead in drilling out. They took off their clothes and slid quietly into the moat, and dragged the large wooden plate into the river.

The soldiers on the top of the city could not see the situation in the moat. Several soldiers used the big wooden plate to send heavy thunders across the moat. The twenty-five soldiers divided into five teams and began to run close to the city wall. According to Li Yanqing's plan, a thunderstorm would explode under each city wall, and the last one would be used to blow up the northern city gate.

The soldiers brought iron hooks and pry sticks. After they used the iron crow rod to loosen the bricks in the city wall, they could easily hook a complete brick. After repeated practice in advance, they were already very skilled.

In just one quarter of an hour, a few soldiers dug a big hole two feet square and three feet deep into the city wall, which was filled with sand and soil. Although the walls of Shen County were very thick, even if five thunders could not collapse the city wall, they would seriously damage the city wall. Faced with the broken city wall and the powerful thunderstorm, Li Yanqing believed that his judgment would not be wrong, and the Liangshan Army would definitely choose to leave.

At this time, five soldiers under the northern city wall jumped into the water one after another. Li Yanqing also saw a burning spark. He shouted to the soldiers around him, "Cover your ears and squat down!"
Chapter completed!