However, as a Han general, Zhang Zangying still advocates "surrendering without a fight". Although judging from all sources, it is unlikely that Cao Jiyun, the current Gu'an defender, will give Gu'an City to the Zhou army, Zhang Zangying still decided to give it a try. Therefore, after he and Xu Shao'an led the army to the city of Gu'an, before they really began to attack the city, they first sent a team of cavalry, led by the most powerful army commander under his command, to shout to the defenders of the city at a stone's throw from the south gate of Gu'an City, persuading them to give up useless resistance and surrender the city.

The army commander with the same surname as Zhang Zangying must have often done this kind of work of persuading surrender before the battle, and led a team of cavalry to run outside the south gate of Gu'an City, led all the knights, and shouted at the top of the city with his throat open. "The emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty responded to the people in accordance with the heavens, and relieved the people of Youyun in fire and water", "The kings and teachers are all elites in a hundred battles, and there is only one way to die if they resist stubbornly", "Everyone is Han, why should they work for the Khitan barbarians", "The official who killed Cao Jiyun was promoted to three levels and rewarded with thousands of dollars", and so on, and a series of words that knew it with reason, moved it with emotion, lured it with profit, and scared it with harm, and flew out through the mouths of this commander Zhang and a group of knights, and poured into the ears of the defenders and soldiers in the city.

To say that the defenders of the city, especially the Han soldiers, were not moved is absolutely false. It's just that in the face of the row of Khitan soldiers behind him who are holding sharp blades and staring at them, the Han defenders in the city can only bury their thoughts in their hearts and answer the persuasion of the Zhou army under the city with silence. It's just that although the Han defenders can keep silent, the expressions on their faces are not as quiet as their mouths, and they all show yearning for the persuasion of the Zhou army under the city. And all this was seen and anxious by Cao Jiyun, who was also commanding in the city. He knew very well that if the Zhou army under the city continued to persuade them to surrender, it would be difficult for these Han defenders of the city to really defect and help the Zhou army deal with himself, an "outsider" who arrested their county order and put them in prison. Moreover, for the sake of stabilizing the morale of the army, it was impossible for Cao Jiyun to punish those Han defenders who were moved to surrender. On the one hand, there are not a few Han defenders who yearn for the surrender of the Zhou army under the city, and if these people are killed, it will make the original defenders weaker and it will be difficult to withstand the attack of the Zhou army. On the other hand, the vast majority of the Han defenders in Gu'an County were locals, and they really wanted to kill all the soldiers who were tempted to persuade them to surrender, and they were afraid that even the people in the city would be indignant and oppose the Liao army. In that case, I'm afraid that this Gu'an City won't be able to hold it for even a day.

The defenders in the city could not deal with it, so in order to interrupt the persuasion of the Zhou army, all Cao Jiyun could do was to aim at the soldiers of the Zhou army outside the city to persuade them to surrender. So, after estimating the distance and thinking that he could shoot an arrow at the Zhou military captain who took the lead in shouting and was dressed in the uniform of the military commander, Cao Jiyun took his treasure carving bow from the hand of his entourage, pulled out a three-edged armor-piercing cone, aimed at the chest of the Zhou army commander under the city, the bow opened like a full moon, and then loosened the bowstring. With a soft sound of "boom", the three-edged armor cone came out of the string and went straight to the commander Zhang who was shouting vigorously under the city.

However, as the saying goes, "man is not as good as heaven". At the same time as Cao Jiyun shot an arrow, the commander Zhang under the city happened to stop persuading him to surrender, and looked up at the city, intending to see the reaction of the enemy troops in the city after he persuaded him to surrender for a long time. And just as he raised his head and looked at the city, he found that a cold light flashed on the city, and then a scream of a sharp blade breaking through the air rushed into his ears. Fortunately, this commander is also a veteran of the battle, and as soon as he heard this sound, he understood that the enemy in the city was releasing cold arrows. Although Zhang Jun's commander believed that the position of himself and his companions was beyond the range of a stone's throw away, the habit he had cultivated over the years, as well as the instinct to avoid danger, still made him make a gesture of bending down and bowing his head and kicking to hide while seeing the cold light and hearing the scream.

However, no matter how fast this commander's movements were, it was not as fast as the arrow that Cao Jiyun shot with all his might. Just when the commander Zhang had only half-done the action of hiding in the pedal, and before his body could fully hide on the side of the horse's body, the three-edged armor-piercing cone had already flown in front of him.

The evil wind was blowing, and this commander Zhang secretly screamed in his heart, and at the same time tried his best to twist his waist and shrink his head, in order to avoid this fatal arrow. Perhaps due to the distance, Cao Jiyun's arrow slightly deviated from the target; Perhaps this military commander should not stop his mission, and God will not let him be hit by this arrow. In any case, this Commander Zhang finally dodged the arrow shot by Cao Jiyun. However, although his life was saved, the three-edged armor cone still made a cut in it when it flew past the left cheek of Commander Zhang, and with a few drops of his blood, it pierced into the dirt not far behind him. After being frightened by this, the commander Zhang didn't care about the left cheek that was still leaving blood, so he immediately stopped persuading him to surrender, pulled out his horse, and ran back to his own army formation with a group of cavalry. ,

And the return of this Commander Zhang's envoy to the camp seemed to be a signal, and at the same time as he pulled out his horse and ran back, the formation of the Zhou army under the city also changed. The spearmen who had been standing at the front of the array split in two from the middle and began to move to the left and right, and the flintlock musketeers, who had been hiding behind them, began to move forward, forming three rows in front of the spearmen and the open space they formed, and behind them, the gunners, with the help of the entourage, pushed one cannon after another to the place where the spearmen had just lined up, and began to set up their cannons under the cover of the flintlock musketeers in front, the spearmen on both sides, the sword and shield men behind them, and the cavalry wandering farther away.

At the forefront of the artillery array are 30 small artillery pieces similar to the Tiger Squat Cannon of the previous life, which are specially designed to fire shotguns and suppress the enemy's dense shock formation, and weigh only more than 30 catties -- their name in the "Shenji Army" is also called the Tiger Squat Cannon. Behind the tiger squat cannon, there are eighteen six-jin guns (the so-called six-jin cannon refers to the projectile it fires weighs six catties), twelve nine-jin cannons (the projectile weighs nine catties), and the six twelve-jin cannons with the most power and the longest range (the projectile weighs twelve catties). Under the general flag behind the artillery position, Zhang Zangying, Xu Shaoan and their entourage were surrounded by a group of personal guards.

Unlike Zhang Zangying's relaxed face, Shi Shiran watched the gunners busy, and an expression of victory was in hand, but Xu Shao's peace of mind at this time was a trace of unease. Of course, Xu Shao'an was not worried that the Khitan cavalry in the city would rush out of the city before the artillery was erected. It is said that the other party does not know what kind of preparation process is required before the artillery is fired, and even if they do, they will not use the Khitan cavalry with at most about 400 people left to attack the Zhou army formation with more than the total number of rangers on both wings after a big battle with Zhou Lang and others. Xu Shao'an is now worried about the weather, which has been gloomy since dawn.

Before dispatching troops this morning, Xu Shao'an had proposed to Zhang Zangying to postpone the siege of the city and wait until the weather had completely improved before going into battle -- the "Divine Machine Army" that used black powder as propellant was most afraid of rain, and once it encountered rainy days, especially when the rain was heavy or even cloudy, the firing of both flintlock muskets and artillery would be seriously affected, and its combat effectiveness would be greatly reduced. Without the strong support of firearms, a siege war would turn into a war of attrition. This would not only cause unnecessary losses to the vanguard troops, but also dampen the fighting spirit of the Zhou army and boost the morale of the Liao defenders.

However, Zhang Zangying, who was full of confidence, did not accept his suggestion, but thought that Xu Shaoan was fighting more and more, but his courage was getting smaller and smaller. In his opinion, although the day was a little gloomy, according to his judgment, the rain would not fall for a while and a half. The vanguard troops, both in terms of numbers and combat effectiveness, far surpassed the Khitans defending the city. Coupled with the dozens of artillery pieces to help the battle, I am afraid that before the rain starts to fall, the Zhou army will have already broken through the city defense and occupied Gu'an. Therefore, although Xu Shaoan patiently reasoned with him and laid out the facts, he still could not stop his decision to send troops to attack the city. And Xu Shaoan, as a deputy general, was not able to repeatedly block the commander's decision to send troops, and finally had no choice but to lead the "Shenji Army" to battle.

When the Zhou army was completed and Zhang Zangying sent people to persuade him to surrender, the already poor weather became more and more gloomy, and the wind blew on his face and became more and more cool. When the gunner's rack was halfway through, the sky was already overcast, and the sky was gradually darkening, which made Xu Shaoan, who was already uneasy, secretly scream badly, and hurriedly looked up at the sky. And at the same time as Xu Shaoan looked up, he suddenly felt a chill on his cheeks, but it was wet when he touched it with his hand - it was raining!