As a state city on the border of the Han and Zhou dynasties, Qinzhou was a hot spot for skirmishes between the border armies of the Han and Zhou dynasties in the early years of the Later Zhou Dynasty. After that, although the city surrendered to the Later Zhou during Chai Rong's first invasion of Han in the first year of Xiande, this border friction did not stop - the only difference was that the conflict after the first year of Xiande occurred between Li Tingxu and his old master.

Originally, with the location of Qinzhou, it was more appropriate for Chai Rong to attack Han this time with this attack or Fenzhou, which was closer to Taiyuan City, as the starting point for the attack. But last year, when the Later Zhou court was in the Northern Expedition to Youyun, it was quite powerless in front of the so-called "Youzhou Righteous Army" that defeated hundreds of thousands of Liao troops, not only failed to put this so-called "Youzhou Righteous Army" under the control of the imperial court, but had to be forced by the strength of the other party to give up the sixteen states of Youyun, making the other party the largest feudal town in the territory of the Later Zhou court. Therefore, five years after the surrender of the Zhou court, he felt that the Hou Zhou court was likely to be completely contained by the extremely powerful Beiping army, and even began to decline under the suppression of the Beiping army. Returned to the arms of the Northern Han court.

Similar situations also appeared in Fenzhou, Shizhou, Liaozhou, Lanzhou, Xianzhou and other places, so that from the second half of the sixth year of Xiande to the beginning of the seventh year of Xiande in just half a year, Chai Rong Xiande's victory in the first year of the Han Dynasty was almost lost, and the situation between Zhou and Han basically returned to the early construction period of the Later Zhou Dynasty -- this is also one of the reasons why Chai Rong sent troops to attack Han again in the rainy season.

For the rebellion of Li Tingzhi and other old ministers, the Northern Han court, which had been suppressed by the Later Zhou Dynasty almost quickly and had no room for survival, naturally could not ask for it, and the Han Emperor Liu Jun not only did not pursue Li Tingxu's surrender without a fight in the previous years, but instead gave Li Tingxue an official and a knight, hoping to attract more former Northern Hanzhou counties that had surrendered to the Later Zhou Dynasty to return to the rule of the Northern Han Dynasty anyway. Later, although the Zhou court was indignant at Li Tingxue's rebellion, and many civil and military ministers were negligent, suggesting that the imperial court send troops to recruit Li Tingxue, who took the lead in the rebellion. However, in the end, Emperor Chai Rong of Zhou did not mobilize the people for a Li Tingzhi Xingshi, but only ordered Luzhou, Jinzhou and other border prefectures and counties bordering Qinzhou to increase their activities in the Zhou-Han border area, and launched a series of small-scale attacks to hit the morale of the military and people in Qinzhou and weaken the local defense of Qinzhou.

And the reason why Chai Rong did this, on the one hand, was that he felt that only sending troops to conquer Qinzhou was only a symptom but not a cure, rather than this, it was better to destroy the Northern Han Dynasty in one go and completely cut off the back road of these "wall grass" places, so as to ensure the stability of the Great Zhou. On the other hand, it was also confined to the embarrassing situation that the Battle of Youyun had just ended, and the Later Zhou army was demoralized because of its lack of achievements in the second half of the Battle of Youyun, and when the so-called "Youzhou Righteous Army" swept hundreds of thousands of Liao troops like the autumn wind sweeping away leaves, he would only be stationed under Youzhou City to watch the lively embarrassing situation, and in the end he could only watch the leaders of the so-called "Youzhou Righteous Army" "Qingyuan" brothers snatch the land of the Thirteen Prefectures of Youyun from their own hands and demoralize. It is simply not appropriate to send troops again at such a short interval. Therefore, in the face of the rebellion of many Northern Han generals, Chai Rong could only swallow his anger for the time being, until the bad morale caused by the Battle of Youyun in the previous year gradually subsided, and then he waved his army north again, and severely punished those places with thunder and swaying from side to side. …,

It is precisely because of this kind of knot that when Li Tingzhi faced the murderous Later Zhou army coming from the city, knowing that he was not the opponent of the other party at all, he proposed to Zhang Zangying and Liu Guangyi, the two generals of the former army of the Later Zhou Dynasty, that they were willing to surrender to the Later Zhou court again, Zhang and Liu ignored it at all. Instead, he commanded his soldiers and horses to surround the city of Qinzhou, and began to set up artillery arrays under the city, preparing to attack the city.

Seeing that the Zhou army under the city had no intention of accepting his surrender at all, and knowing that it was difficult to gain the trust of the other party because of his repeated rebellion, Li Tingzhi also gave up the idea of making compromises and groveling, and took out the strength of the shareholders who were fighting against the west and not fearing death when he laid this foundation, while commanding his soldiers to strictly defend the city, and on the other hand, he sent people to rush out of the encirclement and ask for help from the Northern Han court, a manifestation of Emperor Liu Jun's determination to defend the city to the death.

Facts have proved that Li Tingyu's judgment is very correct. After receiving his letter of request for help, the Northern Han court also wanted to send troops to support, but it was powerless - the troops in Taiyuan City were a little reluctant to defend the city, let alone support Qinzhou. Although some ministers suggested whether it was possible to borrow troops from the Beiping Army to relieve the danger of Qinzhou, this suggestion was opposed by the majority of the people as soon as it was put forward - not to mention that when the secret alliance was formed, the Beiping Army had stated that if it were not for the precarious situation of the Northern Han court, the Beiping army would not come forward to engage in a head-on conflict with the Later Zhou court. Even if the Beiping Army agrees to send troops, judging from the distance from Lingqiu County to Qinzhou, I am afraid that the reinforcements of the Beiping Army are still on the way, and Qinzhou has been broken by the Later Zhou army. Therefore, in addition to writing an edict to Li Tingxu, the assassin of Qinzhou, to praise his loyalty and bravery, the Northern Han court could only watch the fall of Qinzhou City.

On the afternoon of June 19 of the lunar calendar of the seventh year of Xiande, a section of the city wall of more than 100 steps wide in the south of Qinzhou City finally collapsed unwillingly and helplessly under the bombardment of the artillery and ballista of the "Shenji Army" for several hours, and the city of Qinzhou was breached. At the same time as the southern city wall of Qinzhou City collapsed, Li Tingxu, the assassin of Qinzhou, drew his sword and killed himself.

Perhaps it was the "domino" effect brought about by the breach of Qinzhou City in less than a day, or perhaps it was the full preparation of the Zhou court after the invasion of the Han Dynasty, or perhaps it was the nest bag of the battle of Youyun in the previous year that made the soldiers of the Later Zhou army breathe a sigh of relief in their hearts.

Fortunately, at this time, in addition to the capital Taiyuan, the Northern Han court also controlled Xinzhou and Daizhou, and it was still able to maintain some kind of contact with the Beiping army in the north, otherwise Taiyuan, which was surrounded by the Han army of the Later Zhou Dynasty, would really become a lonely city. Moreover, just one day before the former army of the Later Zhou Dynasty and the Han Dynasty broke through Qinzhou City, a so-called "Beiping Army Military Advisory Group" with nearly 200 members also arrived in Taiyuan City under the leadership of Xin Feiyu, the commander of the Beiping Army's artillery corps, the deputy chief of staff of the Beiping Army and the garrison of Juyongguan, the deputy chief of staff of the "Feilong Army" and the commander-in-chief of the artillery, and Chang Shengjun, the Marquis of the Ma Army, one of the founders of the "Rangers" special forces, and the current deputy chief instructor of the "Flying Dragon Army" special forces.

Rao is like this, in the face of the surging nearly 100,000 Hou Zhou army, the Northern Han Emperor Liu Jun is still nervous and restless. On the one hand, he ordered Yang Ye to assist Xin Feiyu, Chang Shengjun and other members of the "advisory group" to strengthen the city defense and prepare to defend it; On the one hand, he kept asking Xin Feiyu to send someone to Beiping City to send a letter as soon as possible, imploring the Beiping Army to send troops to rescue as soon as possible to relieve the siege of Taiyuan City. On the one hand, Xin Feiyu and others actively assisted Yang Ye in arranging the defense of Taiyuan City, but on the other hand, Liu Jun's request to urge the Beiping Army to send troops was mainly delayed, and everything was subject to the Jihua set by Xin Feiyu's crossing team before departure.

On June 27 of the lunar calendar in the seventh year of Xiande, Chai Rong arrived at the city of Taiyuan, and the Zhou army's battle against Taiyuan began.