However, the guy surnamed Zhang also knew that his temporary cobbled together townsmen were basically a rabble, and only a few dozen of his men could be regarded as ruthless characters who had seen blood, so if he went to fight hard with the Xingtian Army, he would definitely not be as good as the last time, so he didn't dare to lead his troops to kill the ancient town, but just pulled these villagers to the east of the ancient town in Xiejiazhuang, blocking the way for the Xingtian Army to attack eastward next, and planned to come to wait for work, drag the Xingtian Army here, and wait for the arrival of the official army.

The fine work of the Xingtian Army soon discovered the local armed forces of Xiejiazhuang, and informed Xiao Tianjian of the news, Xiao Tianjian once again set his sights on this large area east of the ancient town after readjusting the generals, this time Xiao Tianjian decided to attack Yuanqu County, there are several reasons, the first is to expand the power of the Xingtian Army, the second is to fight for a ferry port in the south of Shanxi, and the third is to attract the attention of the government to Yuanqu County through this battle, and create conditions for the summer harvest on the Yangcheng side, lest the government take advantage of the summer harvest season to attack Yangcheng County and sabotage their summer harvest affairs.

And this time to take the ancient town, in addition to obtaining a large number of urgently needed materials for the Xingtian Army, it also greatly reduced the demand for grain and straw for the Xingtian Army to send troops to Yuanqu County this time, so although it was delayed for a few days, it was also worth it, but Xiao Tianjian also knew that this matter could not be delayed any longer, he must sweep the northeast of the ancient town as soon as possible, and completely wipe out the area east of Yuanqu before a large number of officers and troops rushed to Yuanqu County, otherwise, his soldiers and horses are likely to fall into the situation of being attacked by the enemy.

And if he wants to sweep the eastern part of the ancient town, Xie Jiazhuang has become the first target he chose, the Zhang surnamed Haoqiang's vision is still quite good, Xie Jiazhuang just firmly holds the area east of the ancient town, if the Xingtian Army bypasses Xie Jiazhuang and does not fight, they can use Xie Jiazhuang to cut off the back road of the Xingtian Army and cut off the grain route of the Xingtian Army, so as long as the Xingtian Army wants to attack the east of the ancient city, then Xie Jiazhuang is the most critical stronghold.

After Xiao Tianjian and his subordinates studied the terrain in this area, they all realized the importance of Xiejiazhuang, so Xiao Tianjian ordered Diao Zheng to lead the recruited recruits to guard the ancient town, while he himself regrouped the two sentinels of Luo Li and Yan Chongxi, and immediately crossed the Yun River and rushed to Xiejiazhuang.

When Xiao Tianjian led his troops to arrive outside Xiejiazhuang, after seeing the situation of Xiejiazhuang, he couldn't help but have a headache secretly, speaking of which this Xiejiazhuang is not too big, but this Xiejiazhuang has a very strong and tall wall, which is very easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it is no wonder that the gentry in this area will station their Zhuang Ding Xiangyong in Xiejiazhuang, it seems that if you want to capture Xiejiazhuang, I am afraid that a vicious battle will be inevitable.

And Zhang Dachuan, led by Zhuang Nei, had also learned the news of the coming of the Xingtian Army in advance, and had already prepared to resist in Xie Jiazhuang, and transferred all the crossbowmen in Zhuang to the top of the Zhuang wall, and at the same time prepared quite a lot of rolling wood and stones, ash bottles and oil to prepare for resistance.

After Xiao Tianjian inspected Xiejiazhuang, he sent someone to inform these people in Xiejiazhuang to surrender immediately, but they were immediately shot back by the townsfolk in the village with a bow and crossbow, making it clear that they wanted to fight to the death with the Xingtian Army here.

Luo Li saw that the people in the village refused to surrender, so he immediately asked Xiao Tianjian to fight and launched a strong attack on Xie Jiazhuang, Xiao Tianjian nodded and agreed, and ordered Luo Li to lead his troops to attack Xie Jiazhuang, and at the same time ordered the accompanying artillery team and gunners to support outside the village.

Suddenly Xie Jiazhuang became a battlefield, Luo Li was wearing two layers of heavy armor, and personally led his troops to carry the temporary long ladder and rushed to Xie Jiazhuang, and the cannon of the Zhuangwai Xingtian Army fired a cannon and hit the Zhuang wall.

The firepower of the Xingtian Army was so fierce that even if it caused a lot of damage to the villagers guarding the village, the villagers on the village wall were killed and injured more than 20 times, which frightened the remaining villagers and villagers to shrink down the village wall and dare not show their heads easily.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Zhang Dachuan knew that if they couldn't stop the attack of the Xingtian Army, the foundation of their family would definitely be completely ruined, so he relentlessly and drew his knife to cut a few Zhuang Ding who were afraid of the battle, forcing the remaining Zhuang Ding to return to the wall to resist the attack of the Xingtian Army.

Although the Zhuang Ding Xiangyong were afraid, they also knew that if this battle could not stop the Xingtian Army, they would still die, so under the persecution of Zhang Dachuan, they returned to the Zhuang Wall, and desperately fired arrows and guns at the attacking Xingtian Army, and fought fiercely with the Xingtian Army.

Although Luo Li was brave and fierce enough, and most of the people in the Xingtian army were not afraid of death, but after all, they were attacking the tall Zhuang wall, even with fire support, or under the desperate resistance of the Zhuang people in the village, they were repelled several times in succession.

Yan Chongxi couldn't look at it, so he asked for orders to fight, replaced the tired Luo Li into battle, and continued to attack Xiejiazhuang, but for two whole days, although the Xingtian Army caused a lot of casualties to the villagers in Xiejiazhuang, and also paid a great price, they failed to attack Xiejiazhuang as they wished.

And the people of Xiejiazhuang also made a bloody investment this time, killing pigs and sheep every day, rewarding these villagers in the village, and letting them eat and drink vigorously with large pieces of meat and wine, in order to let these villagers work hard for them, and this world can eat such meals every day, many Zhuang Ding feel that it is worth it to die, and Zhang Dachuan also offered a reward in public, killing one of the heavenly army, rewarding ten taels of silver, and carrying out two large boxes of silver on the spot, rewarding those Zhuang Ding villagers who dare to fight and kill.

Under the temptation of such a heavy reward, these Zhuang Ding villagers in the village are also crazy, as long as the Xingtian army attacks, they will resist desperately, and even twice Luo Li and Yan Chongxi both attacked the Zhuang wall, and were led by Zhang Dachuan Zhuang Ding to hit it hard.

Facing such a fierce resistance to Xie Jiazhuang, Xiao Tianjian was angry and anxious, but there was no better way, but on the third day, the gopher who watched the battle with the army found Xiao Tianjian.

"Master Xiao, let's do something this time! I think it's better to attack such a Zhuangzi, otherwise the brothers will suffer too many casualties! The drill gopher said to Xiao Tianjian.

Xiao Tianjian saw that the drill gopher took the initiative to ask for war, so he was happy, the reason why he attached so much importance to the drill gopher, but also saw their craftsmanship, originally brought them this time, it was for this purpose, now the drill gopher took the initiative to ask for war, it can be said that it was just what he wanted, so even if he agreed, he said to the drill gopher: "Since Brother Liang is willing to go out, it is the best to do it, we can't delay here for too long, we must lay down Xie Jiazhuang as soon as possible, and level the area east of the ancient city, this time there will be Brother Lao Liang!" ”

The gopher Liang Tietou immediately hugged his fists and said: "Since we have already become a big leader, we should do something!" You're welcome! ”

"According to Brother Liang, if you start digging a hole in the ground and entering the village, how long will it take?" Xiao Tianjian pointed to Xie Jiazhuang and asked the drill gopher.

After visually measuring the distance, the gopher replied to Xiao Tianjian: "This attack on Xiejiazhuang is not the same as what we did before, we used to secretly choose one place in advance to dig a hole into the village from a distance, so it will take at least three or four days to open a tunnel into the village, and no one can find it in the middle!"

But today, there is no need to hide it, let's start nearby, ask Brother Luo and Brother Yan to make a feint head-on to contain the people in the village, it should take a day to dig into the village! However, the tunnel is relatively narrow, and there are not many people entering at one time!

There are a lot of Zhuang Ding in this Zhuangzi, and if there are too few people in it, I'm afraid it won't help! Whoever goes in will probably die! You can't send out the dead! ”

After Xiao Tianjian thought for a while, he shook his head and said, "I don't think you have to send dead soldiers into the village!" We have a lot of gunpowder at the moment, as long as you can dig a hole under the village gate, we can bury a few barrels of gunpowder under the village gate and directly blow up the village gate, and Xie Jiazhuang will be self-defeating! ”

When the gopher heard this, he also said with a happy face: "This is very good! In this way, we don't have to risk digging into the village, and it saves a lot of work! If it's fast, we'll be able to dig under the gate during the day today! ”

"Good! So do it! Then there is Brother Laoliang, you brothers! Xiao Tianjian immediately laughed after hearing the words of the gopher.

Xiao Tianjian actually understands very well that things like digging tunnels are not a simple thing, the underground situation is actually very complicated, if it is a layman to do this, the progress is not to mention the speed or slowness, if you are not careful, it will cause a landslide, resulting in the destruction of the hole, even if it is smooth, it is difficult to ensure that the direction of the excavated hole does not deviate underground, sometimes as long as it deviates a little, it may cause the excavation of the tunnel to fall short, and it is impossible to dig into the enemy's village, so this kind of thing must be done by insiders, The gopher gang did this, and it can be said that there is no more suitable person than them.

After deciding the matter, the gopher did not slack off, and immediately beckoned the twenty or thirty brothers under him, and began to work in a ditch outside the village, while Xiao Tianjian continued to supervise the army and make a feint attack on Xiejiazhuang to attract the attention of the people in Xiejiazhuang.

And the gopher is an insider, digging the tunnel is a piece of cake for them, and the soil here is not very hard, for them who have been mining all year round, it is not difficult at all, so the gopher took his twenty or thirty people to pick up a short pickaxe and other tools, led by the gopher, and immediately dug down, and these people are very organized, digging in front, the people in the back will transport the soil out of the hole, the people in front are tired, and the people in the back will replace them, The speed of the project made Xiao Tianjian, a layman, look a little straight, and he saw that the gopher group was like a mountain carapace, and soon sank into the hole, and the excavated earthwork was continuously transported out of the hole.

The people in the village didn't know what the Xingtian Army was doing outside, or resisted the attack of the Xingtian Army on the Zhuang wall desperately, and the arrows and guns were released in the distance, and the nearby ones were desperately throwing rolling wood lime bottles and fire pots down to prevent the soldiers of the Xingtian Army from approaching the Zhuang wall, and Luo Li and Yan Chongxi knew that they were feints this time, and they did not attack with the strength of death, but kept shouting outside the village, and kept bombarding the Zhuang Ding on the Zhuang wall with birds and cannons, so the people in Xie Jiazhuang didn't notice that there was a tunnel at all. is digging towards Zhuangzi.