Linji City and Linzi City are only fifty miles away. The difference between the two cities is only one word, but from a military point of view, they have completely different values and meanings.

If Linzi City is compared to the heart of Qingzhou, then Linji City is the navel eye of Qingzhou. The importance of the heart is undeniable, but the belly button is not easy to say. This thing is really useless on weekdays, except for a dark, smelly nest.

Yuan Shao really didn't want to stay in the position of the navel, but Kong Rong occupied the position of the heart and did not move, so he had to stay in Linji for the time being. As long as Yan Liang and Wen Chou's two armies take Xuzhou Xiapi, he will not hesitate to lead the army south, no longer looking at Kong Rong and being distraught.

It's a pity that what Yuan Shao didn't know was that this simple wish was completely unrealizable, and even the shattering of a good dream was only an overnight moment, because Tai Shici had already gone ashore!

It seems that the shadow in his heart after seeing Liao Taocheng blown up by Zhao Xing has always remained in his heart, and Yuan Shao now habitually protects himself in three layers inside and three layers outside no matter where he goes. Linji City was originally a medium-sized city, and the overall defense was naturally not as good as that of the big city Linzi, but since Yuan Shao came, he captured a large number of people from nearby to strengthen Linji City day and night, and now the defense has been greatly enhanced.

In order to prevent the Jin Kingdom's ironclad cars and chariots (pronounced as "dividing clouds") from easily blowing up the city gates, Yuan Shao specially ordered his subordinates to widen and deepen the moat outside Linji City, and its scale was even close to the moat of Crouching Tiger City.

What is even more terrifying is that Yuan Shao used most of the gunpowder produced secretly as a secret weapon to protect Linji, not only allowing people to store a large amount of gunpowder in various key parts of the city, but also planting explosives under the streets near the city gates. The mentality and approach of Yuan Shao, an upstart person, really makes people feel speechless. However, in order to deal with the strong Jin army, it seems that only by putting on such a posture of dying with the enemy may be able to survive in death.

In the face of Rinzai City, which is so tightly defended that it can even be called terrifying, how should Tai Shici say it?

According to the standard siege steps of Professor Crouching Tiger Wutang, Tai Shici first sent a large number of secret agents to infiltrate Linji City before making a move on Linji, and conducted a meticulous reconnaissance of the situation in the city. Yuan Shao had not occupied Linji for a long time, and there were two large armies fighting abroad, so it was difficult to control the personnel entering and leaving Linji, which provided great convenience for the actions of the Shadow Members.

Through the covert investigation, the Shadow Team not only figured out the defense of Yuan Shao's mansion, but also basically grasped the location where Yuan Shao planted explosives everywhere in the city. They secretly reported this important intelligence to Tai Shi Ci, which immediately attracted Tai Shi Ci's great attention.

As for how to maximize the combat effectiveness of gunpowder, Tai Shici can now be called an expert on this point. Because Zhao Xing required that the large warships of the Jin naval division must have the ability to project explosives remotely, this required Tai Shici, as the main general, to have very rich experience and insights on how to use dangerous gunpowder on wooden ships.

In order to realize Zhao Xing's instructions to install firearms on warships, Tai Shici followed the master of the shipyard to conduct experiments and program demonstrations throughout the year. He lit the arquebus with his own hands again and again, looking at the wooden ship models that were instantly ignited or blown up by gunpowder due to improper operation, and repeatedly sought a breakthrough between frustration and discouragement.

It was only recently that gunpowder weapons that could be safely fired appeared on the Sea Dragon warship, but the shape of this weapon was completely different from the catapult used by the Jin Army, because its shape looked like a long bucket, and the thunderbolt was sprayed out from the middle of the stout "bucket", instead of being thrown out as before.

Although the speed of the jet is not as fast as that of the projectile, the distance is farther than that of the catapult, and once the two sailors are fighting on the water, the side with the fist extended far is naturally more advantageous than the fist with a short fist. As soon as the wooden hull is kissed by the thunder, the raging flames will immediately incapacitate the ship.

After learning that Yuan Shao had stored a large amount of gunpowder in Linji City in order to protect himself, Tai Shici thought about it for a while and discovered Yuan Shao's weakness. He instructed the Shadow Officers to sneak into Rinzai City again with a small amount of high explosives and quietly light it in the dead of night. Because of the small number of these explosives, it is not only easy to mix with other things to conceal and carry, but also does not pose much danger to the carriers themselves.

Tai Shi Ci's method of dealing with Yuan Shao was to use the method of "striking the grass and startling the snake", and let the shadow team members ignite large "firecrackers" around Yuan Shao's mansion at the same time, which would only make a huge explosion sound, but would not cause casualties, just to scare Yuan Shao into doubting the safety of the gunpowder buried in the city. Once Yuan Shao realized that it was unsafe to bury a large amount of gunpowder in the city, he would definitely quickly send someone to dig out the gunpowder and transfer it, and then Tai Shici's opportunity would come.

The Shadow Squad members who sneaked back to Rinzai City carefully carried out this action of "scaring the grass and scaring the snakes". They either disguised themselves as farmers from the nearby countryside who came to the city to sell vegetables, or disguised as homeless people who came to the city to join their relatives, or disguised themselves as wandering in the streets and alleys of Linji City, and when they arrived at night, they would honestly find a place to live. Their words and deeds were no different from those of other ordinary people, which greatly deceived the eyes of a large number of spies that Yuan Shao had planted in the city.

One night, Yuan Shao, who had been asleep, suddenly heard the explosions one after another, which made him feel so frightened that he hurriedly found his personal guard to ask what happened. A short time later, the general in charge of security guards in the city rushed to report to him, saying that someone had secretly sabotaged and used explosives in the area where a large amount of gunpowder was buried and around Yuan's mansion, but fortunately no further explosion was caused.

Yuan Shao's mind calmed down for a while, and he pondered it carefully, and then he felt afraid. Originally, he thought that as long as he buried gunpowder under important intersections and streets in the city, if the Jin army broke through the city gates, he could ignite a large amount of explosives and cause huge casualties, but now it seems that this idea is very dangerous. In case the gunpowder was ignited by the spies sent by the Jin State this time, it would be really self-defeating and shooting himself in the foot.

So Yuan Shao called several generals overnight and ordered them to take advantage of the night when no one was paying attention, dig out all the gunpowder that was originally buried in the city, transport it out of the city overnight, and send it directly to Yan Liang and Wen Chou, who were still fighting on the battlefield in Xuzhou.