In the next day or so, the Liao army seemed to be tired of walking all the way, not only did its main army stop motionless in Baoxingzhuang, but even the distant scout horse never appeared in the sight of the Zhou army's scouts, which made Xu Shao'an, who was already confused by the Liao army's actions, even more confused. However, at this time, neither Xu Shaoan nor Zhang Zangying had the heart to think about this matter anymore, because Chai Rong's car and the main force of the Zhou army had already arrived outside Gu'an City. As the chief and deputy commanders of the vanguard troops, Zhang and Xu's top priority was to properly place the Son of Heaven's car in Gu'an City.

On the evening of March 22 of the lunar calendar in the sixth year of Xiande (the ninth year of the calendar), Chai Rong was stationed in Gu'an City.

The first thing Chai Rong did when he arrived at Gu'an City was to summon Zhang Zangying and Xu Shao'an and other vanguard generals to the imperial front to learn about the process of conquering Gu'an City and the current movements of the main force of the Youyun Liao Army - although the situation about the battle of Gu'an had already been sent to him, it was still necessary for Chai Rong to listen to the direct reports of the front-line generals. Zhang and Xu naturally didn't dare to slack off when they asked, and immediately organized their language, and told Chai Rong about the capture of Gu'an City, as well as the current situation of the main force of the Youyun Liao Army in the hands of the vanguard troops - of course, the two of them did not mention the matter of Zhang Zangying's order to bombard their own soldiers, and Xu Shaoan did not explain that part of the Liao army news he reported came from the "Qingyuan" brothers.

After listening to the reports of Zhang and Xu, Chai Rong and the ministers of civil and military affairs who accompanied him lamented the difficulty of their siege and the resoluteness of the enemy's defense of the city, and at the same time, they also expressed their incomprehension and doubts about the situation of the main force of the Youyun Liao army not advancing or retreating. Many ministers once again repeated the same old tune, and re-took out the arguments such as "enough is enough" and "this is the class teacher" that they had put forward at Waqiao Pass, intending to persuade Chai Rong to stop here, and try to avoid a decisive battle with the main force of the Liao army, which was far superior in numbers, while keeping the "fruits of victory" that had already been achieved. Because according to the news from the previous Tanma, although the 100,000 Liao army reinforcements led by Yelujing, the "sleeping king" of the Liao State, have been moving slowly, delayed for many days in Bei'anzhou, and have not yet continued to go south, but after all, it is a cavalry-based army, if the Zhou army really threatens the safety of Youzhou, then the four or five hundred miles from Bei'an to Youzhou is only a four or five day journey for the fast Liao army. Once the Liao army sent reinforcements south, the Zhou army would face an unfavorable situation of using 100,000 troops mainly infantry against 160,000 troops mainly cavalry. At that time, even the slightest mistake may cause serious consequences, not only can you not take Youzhou in the next city, but even the states and counties that have already been handed over will be lost.

In the face of the persuasion of a group of ministers, in the face of the lack of confidence of some generals in a decisive battle with the main force of the Liao army, and in the face of even vague hints from individual courtiers, the Great Zhou may follow the mistakes of the Later Jin and be destroyed by the Khitans, but Chai Rong was unmoved. He has always been very confident in himself, his generals, and the Great Zhou Forbidden Army, and he finally overrode public opinion and made a final decision, saying that no matter what tricks the Youyun Liao army played, no matter whether the Liao army reinforcements outside the fortress continue to move south, the goal of conquering Youzhou City and recovering the sixteen states of Youyun is unshakable. Seeing that his lord was so "stubborn" and "did not listen to advice", although the ministers were confined to the courtesy of the monarch and ministers and did not insist on their own opinions, they were not really convinced while saying "the ministers obey the order" and "bixia shengming". Among all the ministers of civil and military affairs, only Xu Shaoan had the most positive attitude, showing absolute support for Chai Rong's decision.

This result somewhat chilled Chai Rong, he didn't expect that those civil and military generals who had eaten the imperial court and inherited the royal favor for many years, faced with not invincible difficulties, when they needed their support the most, they were so pushy, so cowardly, and their performance was not even as good as Xu Shao'an, who had only returned from overseas for five or six years and had only been in the imperial court for three years. It's just that although Xu Shao'an's performance made Chai Rong very satisfied, the dislike of the monarch and ministers caused by the "corn incident" in Waqiaoguan not long ago made Chai Rong feel pleased with his performance today, but at the same time, he had to secretly think about whether the other party's practice of obviously offending his colleagues and isolating himself by other ministers had other purposes. ,

Of course, after thinking about it, now Chai Rong, the minister who only supports him, still has to praise and win over Xu Shaoan, the only minister who supports him. Therefore, after overwhelming the ministers to agree with his decision, Chai Rong immediately appointed Xu Shaoan to replace Zhang Zangying, who was not active in the court meeting just now, as the commander of the vanguard capital, and led 15,000 men and horses as the vanguard to open the way for the army. And Chai Rong personally led the main force to move slowly in the next fifteen miles. In this way, even if Xiao Siwen really had any conspiracy, Zhou Jun could echo back and forth and take care of each other, so that his conspiracy could not succeed easily. However, I don't know whether he was afraid that Xu Shao'an's vanguard troops would suffer losses from the Liao army's plots, or out of the precaution against Xu Shao'an, a military general who somewhat made him mutter, Chai Rong appointed Xu Shao'an as the commander of the vanguard capital, and did not classify his headquarters "Shenji Army" into the vanguard army, but used the pretext that the vanguard troops should be lightly armed and fast, and left this most powerful team in all the armies of the Great Zhou Dynasty in his mind, and commanded it by himself, but completely ignored the "Shenji Army" A day earlier, it had been part of the original vanguard under the joint command of Zhang Zangying and Xu Shaoan.

Xu Shaoan didn't care about Chai Rong's arrangement. First, Zhang Weixin's previous training of a series of ancient knowledge of the brothers, as well as his experience as an official in the Later Zhou Dynasty in the past few years, made him clear that the king of this era has both wooed and guarded against his subordinates, and Chai Rong's actions were expected by him. Second, through close contact with the committee, he also knew very well that the Southern Route Army led by Qian Yuanshan and other brothers had successfully moved to the flank of the main force of the Youyun Liao Army led by Xiao Siwen, and would give it a fatal blow at any time. And once the main force of the Youyun Liao Army is annihilated, the situation of the entire Youyun War will undergo major changes, and if he still directly commands the "Shenji Army" at that time, it may have an adverse impact on this firearms unit in the true sense of the word, which was created by him and is the first real firearms unit among all the regular troops of all countries in this era - when the emperor is suspicious, he will not care about the so-called "historical significance" of a force of only about 5,000 people. Therefore, after hearing Chai Rong's appointment, Xu Shaoan did not hesitate, and immediately knelt down and received the order to thank him.

Xu Shao'an's performance made Chai Rong feel quite relieved and think that he was not wrong, but he also felt a little sorry for Xu Shao'an, who had not behaved abnormally at all, since the "corn incident" in Waqiaoguan. So, while appointing Xu Shao'an as the commander of the vanguard capital, Chai Rong also used Xu Shao'an's outstanding performance in the battle of Gu'an and his first contribution to conquering Gu'an. In this regard, although Xu Shaoan showed the flattery that a minister should have on the surface, he was very dismissive of this general Yunlu who did not have any actual powers, and did not take it to heart at all.

Early in the morning of the 24th day of the third lunar month in the sixth year of Xiande (the ninth year of the calendar), Xu Shao'an, who had been fully prepared, bid farewell to Chai Rong, led 15,000 Mabu troops to leave Gu'an City, and killed the camp of the Youyun Liao army, which had been stagnant in Baoxingzhuang. Fifteen miles behind him, Chai Rong also led the main force of the Zhou army of 70,000 people to march slowly, echoing Xu Shao'an. In addition, in order to ensure the safety of his flank and guard against the harassment of the Northern Han army, Chai Rong also ordered Li Chongjin to lead 15,000 men to the west while advancing north, occupy Zhuozhou, and wait for an opportunity to develop in the direction of Hedong.