Cuan Gu met with the main force when he took down the Eastern Front, which was withdrawn after Xiangwu.

Learning from the lessons of the failure of the first siege, the Han army's partial divisions took careful preparations to launch the war in Xiangwu again. Relying on the pointed wooden donkey that was difficult to break in this era, they dug down the Xiangwu city wall and attacked the city into the city. Then they killed Han Zhi, the prefect of Longxi, Jinting, who insisted on surrendering. Then Cuan Gu did not have time to attack even Shouyang and Didao on the west side, so they hurriedly arranged for Cuan Xiong to take charge of the aftermath of Longxi County, and immediately took the Han army's partial division back to the east line to reinforce the main force.

Fortunately, relying on Mao Jiong's troops' tenacious resistance, the situation on the eastern front that had taken a sharp turn for a while also became beneficial to the Han army again. After the main force and the partial division, although the total strength of the Han army was still at a disadvantage, the disadvantage was no longer so obvious. He had the power to fight head-on with the main force of the Jin army. At the same time, the city of Lueyang was still controlled by the Han army, and helped Zhang Zhi restrain a large amount of Jin army's troops. Therefore, Zhang Zhi was very happy to express his opinion, "Seeing the four counties of Longxi, Mao Jiong and his soldiers must remember their first contribution!"

After harshly praising Mao Jing's troops, Zhang Zhi quickly brought about a total of about 60,000 Han army's main force to rescue Lueyang, and sought a decisive battle with the Jin army. However, Zhang Zhi once again underestimated Chen Qian's prudence. When the main force of the Han army headed north to near Lueyang, the Jin army had already built their already very solid camp to a greater extent, and welcomed the arrival of the Han army in a state of iron walls, and had already put on a long-term confrontation with the Han army.

After learning about this situation through scout investigation, Zhang Zhi had no choice but to ask the Han army to set up a camp twenty miles away in the south of Lueyang, and also ordered the deep ditch and Gaolei to prepare for a long confrontation with the Jin army. Then he smiled helplessly and said with a wry smile: "It seems that this battle cannot be decided in three to five months. If the Jin thieves are not allowed to run out of food and grass, they will definitely not easily fight or retreat."

"Chen Qian should be trying to bet with us, and who can't hold on to our food and his food first." Yan Yu also saw Chen Qian's plan and asked again: "Can you tell us clearly how long our food and food can last?"

"Not much, I can eat for thirty or forty years." Zhang Zhi sighed and said, "But this kind of confrontation is too boring. If I don't waste time, I will be restrained here and I can't spare my hands to solve other problems."

"The latter general, be patient." Yan Yu advised: "The battle of Hanzhong for two years was fought for two years, and the capture of Yizhou for three years. How can one achieve great things if it is not patient?"

"I know this, but I just don't like this boring confrontation tactic." Zhang Zhi yawned and added: "It's a waste of time, and it's also a waste of my time for having a son."

"But there is nothing we can do." Cuan Gu spread his hands beside him and smiled: "Chen Qian clearly wants to compete with us for patience. Unless you can come up with any way to lure Chen Qian into the battle, we can only waste time here."

Cuan Gu’s words reminded Zhang Zhi. After a brief calculation, Zhang Zhi asked: “General Yan, if you were Chen Qian, under what circumstances would you send troops to fight a decisive battle with us?”

Chen Qian and Cuan Gu shook their heads together and said, "We will not take this risk no matter what, because our Han army is good at decisive battles, especially infantry battles. In terrain such as Longxi, where cavalry is difficult to exert its power, we will not take this risk."

"If I were Chen Qian, I would take this risk and I would have to take a gamble anyway."

Zhao Quan suddenly spoke, Zhang Zhi turned his head strangely and asked, "Why?"

"Because I know that our Han army has endless food, and it will definitely lose as much as we compare to ours." Zhao Quan replied with a smile: "So in order to regain the four counties of Longxi and re-open the connection with Liangzhou, I will make a bet no matter what."

Zhang Zhi didn't say anything, blinking the treacherous triangular mung bean eyes and then thought for a while, Zhang Zhi quickly made up his mind and said to his master Bo Xue Rang: "Zhi Zhubo, immediately write a letter of war for Chen Qian, and ask him to send troops south tomorrow to fight us to the death."

Although he didn't understand why Zhang Zhi had to do such useless work, Xue Rang agreed immediately, and Zhang Zhize explained: "Remember, first, try to be as short as possible. Second, don't leave a date. Third, deliberately write a word wrong."

After the letter was quickly written according to Zhang Zhi's request, a Han army envoy immediately took the letter of war north to Lueyang City to contact the Jin army. As a result, Chen Qian also took time to meet the Han army envoy and opened the letter signed by Zhang Zhi. He saw that there was only a very short line on the letter - tomorrow morning, our military camp will fight to the death, dare?

After laughing at the Han army's letter of appointment and wrote the word "快" in the camp incorrectly, Chen Qian handed the letter of appointment to the Han army envoy and said with a smile: "Please return it to the general after that. I said that I am not interested in fighting with him. If I ask him to be smart, I will immediately return to Hanzhong, otherwise I will kill him so much that I will not leave any armor."

Seeing that Chen Qian had refused flatly, the Han army envoy did not force himself. After receiving the letter, he bowed and left. Chen Qian smiled and ordered: "Send scouts to closely monitor every move of the thief army camp. If there is any abnormality, come and report it immediately."

The next few days were calm. The Han army simply reinforced the camp and never dispatched a soldier to fight north. At the same time, the Jin army remained silent and confronted the Han army twenty miles away. There were only a few contacts between the scouts of the two armies, and both sides suffered losses. However, more than ten days later, the generals of the Jin army suddenly reported to Chen Qian that a scout of the Jin army was captured and fled back from the Han army camp. He also said that there was important information to report to Chen Qian.

After receiving this report, in order to understand the internal situation of the Han army, Chen Qian of course immediately received the captured and fled back Jin army scout. The Jin army scout reported truthfully to Chen Qian: "After the general, the villain was captured, he was taken to the gate of the central tent of the thief army for interrogation. At the gate of the tent, he heard a thief general asking Zhang Zhi when the thief would send troops to fight. He also said that their food was only enough for less than a month, and urged Zhang Zhi to find a way to repel us as soon as possible."

"Then how did you escape back?" Chen Qian asked quickly.

"The thief army only gave the villains raw beans eaten by war horses, and even beat the villains. The villains took advantage of their defense at night and quietly escaped from their camp." The scout of the Jin army quickly answered truthfully.

Chen Qian nodded and waved his hand and said, "I understand, go down and receive the reward."

When the scout of Jin army was overjoyed, he quickly retreated. As a result, the scout had just left, Wang Hun next to him immediately said: "General, be careful, our scout is probably released by the thief army deliberately, and deliberately abused him and forced him to escape."

"Of course I understand this." Chen Qian sneered: "How treacherous Zhang Zhi's traitor is? How could a prisoner eavesdropping on important conversations with his subordinates? I bet that if there is insufficient food and grass, he must have deliberately let us, the scout, eavesdropped."

"What does Zhang Zhi's thief want to do?" Sima Jun said in great confusion: "While hoping to fight with us as soon as possible, we deliberately took the news to make us think that he lacked food and supplies, and tempted us to continue to persevere without fighting. Wouldn't this be contradictory?"

Chen Qian refused to answer and said in his heart: "What exactly is Zhang Zhi's traitor trying to do? Logically speaking, if he is eager to seek a war, it should be that the news of the holiday makes us think that he has enough food and supplies. Why do we have to do the opposite? The news of the holiday makes us think that he has insufficient food and supplies? What is the purpose of his doing this?"

It was also coincidental that just when Chen Qian and others were puzzled by Zhang Zhi's actions, Sima Yan suddenly sent someone to send an edict from Luoyang, asking Chen Qian to report the progress of the war at any time. As a result, Wang Hun, Sima Jun and others immediately understood Sima Yan's implicit voice and said to Chen Qian: "General, Your Majesty, on the surface, requires us to report the war at any time, but in fact, they are probably urging us to fight as soon as possible and get rid of the burden of money and grain from the court as soon as possible. Transport grain from Hedong and Central Plains to the Longxi front, and at the same time, we must solve the problem of famine in Guanzhong. The burden on the court is too great."

"Precaution doesn't understand." Chen Qian said helplessly: "The terrain of Longxi is not strong with the cavalry, and the bandit army is famous for being good at head-on decisive battles. We will never take risks until the last moment."

A few days later, the Han army sent envoys to send a letter to a fight again. While Chen Qian refused again, he immediately discovered a small detail, that is, the second letter of the Han army's appointment was not only exactly the same as the first one, but also the same typos, as if it was the same letter. Chen Qian was suspicious, and after a little calculation, he simply returned the letter to the Han army envoy to take it away, and then patiently waited for the third party of the Han army.

During this period, something happened. Li Yan, the prefect of Tianshui who shamelessly surrendered to the Han army, sent county soldiers to escort a group of civilians to meet the Han army near Lueyang. A few days later, Chen Qian received shocking news through the work of lurking in Qingshui that Li Yan sent county soldiers and civilians to the north to escort a group of compressed dry food back to Tianshui.

"How is it possible? Is the pseudo-Han thief army transporting food and grass to Tianshui in reverse?" Chen Qian was shocked and said to himself: "Why does it seem like something is wrong? Logically speaking, if the thief army really has endless food and still transporting food and grass to Tianshui in reverse, Zhang Zhi's thief should deliberately let us know, why did he still secretly supply food to Tianshui in secret?"

"Does the thief army wants to deliberately drag us down?"

With more suspiciousness in his heart, Chen Qian suddenly came to the correct conclusion and said to himself: "The thief really can never finish eating or can guarantee that we can consume our food. He doesn't want to take a risky battle with us. He just wants to take advantage of the opportunity of the shortage of food in Guanzhong to completely destroy us. Then they can easily eat Longxi, then annex Liangzhou, and then expand cavalry, and break into the Guanzhong plain from a high point. Therefore, Zhang Zhi's thief repeatedly pretended that he had insufficient food and grass, and tempted us to confront him patiently."

In light of the fact that his own army needed to cross mountains and ridges to transport grain for thousands of miles, Chen Qian certainly thought the more he thought that this was possible. In addition, the consumption of food and grass transportation by the Jin army was indeed too huge, Chen Qian's heart began to gradually start to shake, and he thought to himself: "If this is the case, then my best choice is to take a risk. Otherwise, once my food and grass supply cannot be supplied, I will be forced to withdraw my troops."

When Chen Qian finally began to shake, the Han army envoy also came to Chen Qian for the third time and once again brought Zhang Zhi's letter of appointment signed by Zhang Zhi. Chen Qian took it and looked carefully, and immediately recognized that the letter was the letter of appointment that he had rejected twice before. He immediately said in his heart: "It seems that Zhang Zhi's son really wants to deliberately stabilize us and pretend to make a repeated appointment, making us think that as long as we keep the camp, we can have a stable chance of victory, but in fact, he is perfunctory, so he is too lazy to change the letter of appointment."

At this time, a sudden change occurred. The Han army envoy who came to deliver the letter suddenly knelt down at Chen Qian with a pounce, and said loudly: "Great General, help the general, help the general, the little envoy is brave, and wants to ask the general to show mercy and let the little envoy live a way out."

He looked at the Han army envoy strangely, and Chen Qian asked strangely: "What's wrong? If you have something to say, as long as you report it truthfully, this general will naturally consider giving you a favor."

"Thank you, General." The Han army envoy quickly thanked him, and then said: "General, you must have heard that our pseudo-Han army sent troops to fight, and there was no need to carry food and grass. We just need to find a place without a person or a few empty tents to let our pseudo-Han army go in and pray. Prime Minister Zhuge will give instant noodles, lunch meat and compressed dry food and other foods to help our big Han army solve the food and grass problem."

"I've heard of it, keep talking." Chen Qian quickly ordered.

"Report to the general, as far as the young envoy knows, this method is no longer effective." The Han army envoy said: "The young envoy saw with his own eyes that Zhang Zhi had entered the empty tent several times before, but after he came out, he still had empty tents. He didn't tell him the reason. He just barely could produce some food every few days, which forced Zhang Zhi to order the army to save food so that he would not suddenly lose food. Moreover, the young envoy also knew that Zhang Zhi had not produced food for at least three days."

"So the little envoy dares to conclude that it may take a few days to get out of food." The Han army envoy continued: "It's a thousand miles from Longxi to Yizhou. Without food, you will definitely not be able to withdraw. The little envoy took the initiative to report this news to you. I hope that after you defeat the thief army, you will be willing to spare the villain's life for the sake of the little envoy's contribution to the informing, and let the villain return to his hometown to reunite with his family."

"So that's how it is." Chen Qian smiled slightly and said, "Okay, I think that you have made contributions to the rumor, after I led my army to defeat the thief, I will definitely spare your life."

"Thank you, General, thank you." The Han army envoy quickly thanked him and said, "General, every sentence that the villain said is true. Don't withdraw your troops, and don't take the risk of a decisive battle with Zhang Zhi. Zhang Zhi's decisive battle is almost crazy now. "

Chen Qian smiled and nodded, asked for some details, and then handed the letter of the battle to the Han army envoy and said, "Go back and report, just say that I am still not interested in a decisive battle with him, Zhang Zhi."

The Han army envoy said goodbye and left with great gratitude. As soon as he left, Chen Qian immediately turned to Wang Hun next to him and asked, "What do you think?"

"It's so fake that it can't be fake anymore." Wang Hun said expressionlessly: "If Zhang Zhi's rebels really couldn't make any food, they would definitely block the news tightly. How could such a small envoy know?"

"What is the purpose of Zhang Zhi's son?" Chen Qian asked.

Wang Hun sighed, and then said, "General, don't blame the general for saying things you don't like to hear. Zhang Zhi's rebels deliberately tried to get, and his purpose was to stabilize us. He used the opportunity of Guanzhong's food shortage to rely on the Central Plains to waste us to take the initiative to attack the toughest, or be forced to withdraw troops, so that he could completely eat the four counties of Longxi and then calmly plot against Liangzhou."

Chen Qian, who had long been suspicious, nodded slowly and asked again: "If we send troops to fight, how likely do you think we have to win?"

Wang Hun was silent for a moment before saying, "I don't know, the last time I followed Sima Lao Governor and the bandit army to fight against Nanzhong, I was defeated by the bandit army. All the bandit army were wearing armor and not firmly established, and the food and supplies were snatched away by the bandit army. Therefore, during the retreat, the situation is different now, and I don't know how much we have to win."

Chen Qian didn't say anything anymore, just closed his eyes and thought about whether he should take this risk. As a result, a personal soldier suddenly rushed into the tent in panic and shouted to Chen Qian before he could salute: "General, horse! horse! thieves, countless war horses have come from the traitor!"

Chen Qian suddenly opened his eyes and said in surprise: "There are countless war horses coming? Where are so many war horses coming from Zhang Zhi's rebels?"
Chapter completed!