The two armies faced each other inside and outside the city. Although Zhang Yongde has not been in Lanzhou for a long time, after all, he is also a generation of famous generals who can fight well, and he still has some methods and skills in governing the army. As a result, despite the low morale of the Zhenning army in the city, there were no disturbances, mutinies, or other disadvantages that could threaten the city guards. In addition, after Zhang Yongde retreated into the city, he requisitioned all the young and strong men in the city to assist in the defense, but it also made the number of soldiers available to him reach nearly 30,000. These many horses, coupled with the strong fortifications of Lanzhou City, can also compete with Zhao Kuangyin's 70,000 army outside the city.

If it is attacked, even if it can take the city, the price it pays must be quite heavy. This is naturally the most unwilling situation for Zhao Kuangyin, who still hopes to use this male army in his hand to serve his "great cause". Fortunately, now that the defenders of Huazhou have surrendered without a fight, Zhang Yongde is already unable to fly when he is trapped in the city of Lanzhou, but he is not in a hurry to capture the city at this time. Zhao Kuangyin outside the city had enough time to wait, waiting for the slow action of the "Shenji Army" left army siege heavy artillery battalion and the two musket battalions that did not set off with the main force to arrive, and then use the siege heavy artillery to knock open the "turtle shell" in front of him and completely exterminate Zhang Yongde's family.

During the period of waiting for the heavy artillery to catch up, although there were also new members like Zhang Fei and Zhang Shouxin, as well as close confidants like Li Chuyun and Wang Xianqi, they proposed to them that they should fight quickly, so as not to have too many dreams at night and other accidents. Especially the Beiping Army, which once reneged on the alliance and broke the contract and forced Zhang Yongde into such a desperate situation now, it is very likely that it will betray the agreement with the Zhao group and sell its own family like betraying Zhang Yongde before. But Zhao Kuangyin didn't take these exhortations too seriously, because in his heart, Zhang Yongde's situation was not comparable with his own family at all. Zhang Yongde's alliance with the Beiping Army was forced out of desperation, and it was a gamble in a desperate situation. When his own net worth and life were in danger, he went to ask for help from his old opponent who had fought with him for many years, what a stupid decision it was - especially if his righteous daughter had just indirectly killed Fan Wucheng and his wife, one of the other party's righteous brothers, to do so, it was like jumping into the fire pit by himself.

However, Zhao Kuangyin also believes that with Zhang Yongde's wisdom, it is impossible not to see that this is a road that is close to suicide. It's just that, with the situation he was in at the time, he had to gamble with his life. But he is different, he has always had a good relationship with the princes of the Beiping Army, and now Xu Shao'an, Zeng Zhilin and others, who hold military power in the Beiping Army, have also served as generals under him, and there is no grudge or dispute between the two sides. Moreover, this year, he sent people north twice to liaise with the Beiping Army, and both achieved satisfactory results. The Beiping Army not only treated Xu Xinsheng and Zhao Anyi with courtesy to the Xu Xinsheng and Zhao Anyi sent by them, but also expressed their ambition to the north and did not want to go south more than once. In the public domain, there is also no conflict or contradiction between the two sides. In addition, now that he is in the middle of the day, with great power in his hands and strong soldiers in his hands, even if the Beiping Army sells itself to the Chai Zhou Imperial Court, the latter can only rely on the 30,000 soldiers and horses in Kaifeng City now, what can he do. As for whether the Beiping Army will change its mind halfway and send troops south, Zhao Kuangyin is not worried - with the strength of the Beiping Army, if it really has the intention of going south to chase the Central Plains, it would have entered Kaifeng City a long time ago, so why wait until now.

Therefore, at this time, Zhao Kuangyin under the city of Lanzhou was quite relaxed in his heart. In addition to inspecting the barracks every day and cheering up and cheering up the soldiers, he only talked secretly with his subordinates in his own Chinese military tent, and tried his best to improve the jihua he had formulated for the realization of the "great cause", so that he would be hit with one blow and succeed in one fell swoop.

Zhao Kuangyin's wish is naturally beautiful, but as the saying goes, "things in the world are unsatisfactory nine times out of ten", the development of many things is not transferred by the will of an individual or even a group. Just when Zhao Kuangyin was looking forward to a bright future for himself and his cronies, a series of unexpected news messed up his dream.

The earliest news from Kaifeng was that Huainan Jiedu made Li Chongjin have bad intentions and secretly sent his staff Zhai Shouxun to Luzhou, wanting to raise troops together with Li Yun of the Zhaoyi Army, echoing Zhang Yongde in Lanzhou, and winning the greatest benefits for himself in this chaotic situation.

In fact, in terms of his heart, Li Chongjin was still loyal to the Later Zhou court and the old Chai family. It's just that now in the face of the increasingly obvious determination of the imperial court to cut the feudal domain, and the increasingly chaotic situation caused by it, especially the current situation of Zhao Kuangyin's family, he is worried about his future. Yes, Zhang Yongde's side is together, and he can no longer sit still - in Li Chongjin's opinion, it is better to let his nephew, the nephew of Taizu, inherit the unification than to let the Great Zhou Jiangshan be taken away by the surnamed Zhao. However, what Li Chongjin didn't expect was that Zhai Shouxun agreed well in person, but he repented halfway through, and went to Kaifeng with Li Chongjin's letter to Li Yun to report to the Later Zhou court.

It is said that knowing the evidence of the general's intention to rebel, the Later Zhou court should immediately issue an order to condemn him as a rebel and send a large army to fight against him, just as he did when he received Zhang Yongde's letter of "Qing Jun's side and eliminate traitors". It's just that now that the main force of the imperial forbidden army is fighting in Lanzhou, it is impossible to turn around and go south to Huainan in a short time. Therefore, the Later Zhou court secretly sent Zhai Shouxun back to Huainan to slander Li Yun in front of Li Chongjin, lying that the other party was inadequate and plotting, so as to stabilize the former, so that he would not dare to raise troops in the short term, and buy enough time for the imperial court to transfer troops and horses. On the one hand, he ordered the Chai family's most trusted and most loyal guard to the Later Zhou court, Ma Bujun, to command Han Tong to secretly prepare the forbidden army left behind in Kaifeng City, in case Zhai Shouxun failed to persuade Li Chongjin, who rebelled before Zhao Kuangyin returned to the division.

Li Chongjin - and perhaps Li Yun - intended rebellion, which had both advantages and disadvantages for Zhao Kuangyin. On the plus side, before quelling these rebellions, the imperial court still needed him to lead the troops to fight, so that he could continue to take charge of the military power of the Later Zhou Forbidden Army and strengthen its penetration in the forbidden army, so that he could use this army more easily and handily in the process of achieving the "great cause". On the downside, he had to spend extra time quelling these rebellions before he could achieve the "great cause", thus increasing the uncertainty in the process of achieving the "great cause". However, in general, this news is not enough for Zhao Kuangyin to have a serious impact on his current actions.

Compared with the news that Li Chongjin and others rebelled, which can be regarded as a mixed pros and cons, the other news that came later was absolutely negative news for Zhao Kuangyin.

According to the report of the commander of the rear army who had just arrived in the city of Lanzhou, the imperial court recalled the siege heavy artillery battalion and two musket battalions of the left army of the "Shenji Army" that had been assigned to the command of Zhao Kuangyin and had left Kaifeng on the grounds that Li Chongjin intended to rebel and Kaifeng needed to strengthen the garrison, and ordered him to stay in the capital. This was obviously a blow to Zhao Kuangyin, who was waiting to use the siege heavy artillery battalion to break the tall and thick walls of Lanzhou City, so as to reduce the casualties of his own soldiers and save more liliang for his own "great cause". More importantly, such a move by the imperial court almost clearly told Zhao Kuangyin that the imperial court did not trust him and was wary of him, a general with heavy troops.