Zhang Shen was very surprised by Liu Weifu's arrival, lifted the iron kettle and poured a bowl of tea for Liu Weifu and asked, "You are now the representative of King Yun, why do you have time to come to me?"

"Zhang Suo and Sun Ang talked to Liu Ziyu, and I was an ornament on the side, so I came out to take a look. The two have worked together for more than ten years, Liu Weifu didn't say anything sensational, and said with a wry smile: "I understand now why Yang Zhi would rather go to Chang'an than agree to come to Xingzhou." ”

Zhang Shen nodded and said: "With the method of war, ten will encircle it, five will attack it, and multiple it will fight; even if it gnaws books, it is impossible to storm Xingzhou without 400,000 people; but Zhang Suo and Sun Ang are so meritorious that they don't even see such obvious flaws." With the strength of the Western Xia army in Xingzhou, it may not be impossible to fight with us, after all, it is a siege, and it is impossible for our 200,000 troops to be concentrated at a certain point, and the cavalry of Western Xia can look for fighters. It's just that it's useless to say anything now, Qu Duan and Li Heng's morale has been discharged, and they can only see if Sun Ang can create a miracle. ”

Liu Weifu asked tentatively: "Sun Ang's approach must be to attack with a swagger, and I am worried that the military information will be leaked." ”

Zhang Shen said disapprerovingly: "There is no need to be suspicious now, our army is already under the city of Xingzhou, and all the actions cannot be concealed from a famous general like Brother Richard, the question is whether Sun Ang's attack can be effective, the siege of the city, we have a record of breaking the enemy by 200,000, and Western Xia also has a case of winning more with less." The first battle was the key, Sun Ang's army did not have the tenacity of Yang Zhi's troops, and once it lost the opportunity, it would fluctuate greatly. ”

"What's the plan?" Liu Weifu couldn't help but ask when he saw that Zhang Shen was silent in thought at the end; Zhang Shen came back to his senses after a while, and suddenly asked: "Of Sun Ang's 80,000 troops, are there 20,000 cavalry? If he can put these 20,000 people behind, the possibility of defeat will be much smaller." ”

"This requires a premise. Liu Weifu said without thinking: "Sun Ang's infantry army must be able to block the impact of the iron cavalry of the Western Xia army, if it is defeated in a battle, then there is no difference between the cavalry in front and behind." ”

Before the words fell, Zhang Shen immediately thought of Liu Ziyu: "Will Sun Ang let Liu Ziyu's 20,000 people as a striker?"

Zhang Shenyu is not shocking and endless, Liu Weifu's face has changed greatly, if Sun Ang does this, it seems to be a good move to shirk responsibility, Liu Ziyu won because he arranged it well, if Liu Ziyu was defeated, it was the original Shaanxi army was too poor; but Sun Ang ignored a premise, the Shaanxi army defeated most of the Western Xia, for the combat effectiveness of the Shaanxi army, even Zhao Kai, the king of Yun, also thought that there was no problem. Sun Ang's move will not relieve his responsibility at all, and it will also make Zhao Kai have a different opinion.

The result of Sun Ang's discussion with Liu Ziyu caught Liu Weifu off guard, Sun Ang still regarded his 80,000 army as the main force, Liu Ziyu was responsible for attacking the castle south of Xingzhou as the vanguard, Quduan's men and horses were transferred to the west of the city, and Li Heng was transferred to the east of the city, leaving Zhang Shen's army to guard Beilingzhou. Liu Weifu hurriedly rushed into the big tent to ask Zhang Suo, who reluctantly told Liu Weifu that the reason why he agreed was that he was afraid that something would happen to Sun Ang's 80,000 troops, after all, Quduan and other troops were battle-hardened troops.

Liu Weifu patted the table in front of Zhang Suo hatefully and said: "Zhang Suo, you are confused, if these elite soldiers are consumed by Quduan, once there is an accident in the future, the army will not even have room to fight back." ”

The battle of Xingzhou was far more fierce than the Dingbei army imagined, at dawn, Sun Ang's army was only twenty miles out of Beilingzhou, more than an hour later, the scouts in front came with the news, had encountered the cavalry of the Western Xia army, Sun Ang did not hesitate at all, immediately ordered Liu Ziyu, who was in the forefront, to launch an attack on the enemy, hoping that the battle after departure would be fought neatly and neatly, and win the opportunity for the army to attack the city next.

Originally, this was a battle without suspense, the Dingbei army had an absolute advantage in terms of strength, Liu Ziyu won very easily, and suddenly hit the three outer cities such as Nanping Fort controlled by the Western Xia army; the Western Xia army in these three castles was only 600 people at most, Liu Ziyu set up a ladder to attack in the case of the situation. Under Sun Ang's urging, the armies from all walks of life also launched an attack like a wild hurricane.

In the afternoon of the same day, Liu Ziyu captured Nanping Fort, Quduan captured three post stations and Weiwu Village west of Xingzhou, and Li Heng seized the wharf on the edge of the Yellow River, and the main force of the Dingbei Army made progress in three directions. The gate of Xingzhou was close at hand, and Sun Ang reported the victory to Lingzhou on the one hand, and decided to attack overnight, taking down the two castles that Liu Ziyu had attacked for a day; Liu Ziyu's team was replaced and returned to the camp to rest.

The Dingbei army attacked the city overnight, just to take advantage of the exhaustion of the Western Xia defenders to take the two castles, Liu Ziyu was not without the ability to fight, but Sun Ang replaced him, nothing more than to let his descendants make some contributions; Liu Ziyi was worried that the eldest brother was in a bad mood, so he went to Liu Ziyu's camp to greet him, and unexpectedly saw Liu Ziyu arranging his soldiers to dig trenches to arrange the camp, and asked curiously: "Have you become used to it?"

Liu Ziyu nodded and said: "This is still the front line, since the village must be a little bit of a village, there are no rules." ”

"Is this necessary?" Liu Ziyi didn't want to argue more on this issue, and asked: "I heard that you have a detailed work in Xingzhou, why is there no information to pass on?"

Liu Ziyi felt very aggrieved, Liu Ziyu said disapprerovingly: "The fight has started, who can guarantee the smooth flow of information, Xingzhou is closed, even if there are such people, they can't get out." ”

Because Zhang Yanyi was transferred to Dingyan Mansion, Cao Qianli did not get the information he needed, and the war in Xingzhou became extremely anxious; as the seven castles in the south of Xingzhou were conquered, because Sun Ang was scruples, Zhang Suo could only transfer Quduan back to Beilingzhou, and transferred Liu Ziyu to the west of the city to mix with Quduan's men and horses, and let Liu Ziyu be in charge of the whole army. As a result, Sun Ang's army of 80,000 did not fail to settle the outcome in a battle, and was defeated by Li Chage under the city of Xingzhou, and the armies of Liu Ziyu and Li Heng did not suffer the slightest blow.

The atmosphere on the front line became very strange, Liu Ziyu specially wrote to Zhao Kai and Zhang Suo, Liu Ziyu expressed his opinion very calmly, Sun Ang's army and the original Shaanxi army can not be compared in terms of combat effectiveness, and the cautious attitude towards the Western Xia army is even more different. Zhao Kai can understand this reason, Sun Ang's army itself has the psychology of picking fruits, and is actually not prepared for a vicious battle, but if Sun Ang is defeated again, it will have an impact on the entire Dingbei army.

Zhao Kai thought about it all night, and still sent Gao Shiyu to Chang'an to find Yang Zhi for help.