Unlike the Jin generals who only knew how to kill, Han Qinghe was more or less able to listen to his subordinates' advice.
After all, they were attacking a city like Zhending. Without sufficient siege equipment, if they relied solely on human lives, their casualties would be at least three to four times that of the Song soldiers within the city to take it.
"Yes!"
Since everything had been discussed, everyone dispersed.
The continuous days of siege had indeed lowered the morale of the Song army in the city, but the screams of the wounded soldiers from the rear camp every night made it difficult for their own soldiers to sleep.
Their advance on the road had been too smooth, so they had rushed forward, carrying only a small amount of grain and some necessary supplies, and chased directly to the walls of Zhending.
They had originally thought that Zhending would fall with a mere proclamation, but they had not expected that Li Mao, that stubborn fool, would stubbornly hold out with these over 2,000 men and defend Zhending City.
Although they had already occupied several small towns nearby, almost all the medicinal herbs and grain in the Hebei region had been plundered by Tan Zhen and his men. Even if they dug three feet deep, the recovered supplies were not enough!
Without sufficient medicinal herbs, their wounded soldiers could only endure. It was better during the day, but at night, the wails of the wounded soldiers were like a devil's music that seized one's mind!
Finally, after enduring until the middle of the night, the soldiers who had suffered all day in the camp could finally sleep.
However, three li outside the Jin camp, a detachment of about 3,000 men was silently approaching the Jin encampment.
"Brothers, do you see that? That is the Jin grain depot! As long as we set that place on fire, we can then directly charge into the city amidst the chaos!"
Looking at the ragged soldiers behind him, Liu Xu lowered his voice and pointed to the distant lights.
"General, how do you know that is the Jin grain depot?"
Looking at the continuous lights in the Jin camp in the distance, a few soldiers looked at Liu Xu with some curiosity.
"This is something you may not know. The terrain outside our Zhending City is special. Now that it is summer, once it rains, the area outside the city will quickly become a swamp. The best place to store grain and fodder is on that small hill behind Kaiyuan Temple!"
Seeing their doubtful expressions, Liu Xu smiled and said again.
"But General, even if they really stored the grain depot there, they must have heavily guarded it, right? With our small number of men, if we are discovered, we might not even be enough for them to fill their teeth..."
Although these defeated soldiers had been through a period of adjustment and had completely submitted to Liu Xu, undertaking such a task of an egg hitting a rock still made them feel very uneasy.
"I'm not doing anything as foolish as an egg hitting a rock. You should have all heard that the Guanyin statue that grants children at Kaiyuan Temple is very efficacious!"
"I have heard of that. There was a family on our estate whose wife could not conceive after being married for three years. Later, they went to Kaiyuan Temple to burn incense several times, and finally, they conceived a child!"
As soon as Liu Xu finished speaking, a minor officer lowered his voice and said.
"I have had dealings with that bald donkey at Kaiyuan Temple. There are two secret passages in Kaiyuan Temple that allow those bald donkeys to enter the secret chamber beneath the Guanyin Hall directly from outside the temple!"
As soon as Liu Xu finished speaking, the officers surrounding him were all stunned.
"Damn it, I knew those bald donkeys were not good people. After all this talk, they are actually doing such things!"
"Hahaha, that family you mentioned, wasn't it your own wife?"
"Get lost, I already have four children at home, why would I need the help of those bald donkeys!"
"All of you, shut up. Tell the brothers to keep their eyes wide open and not to make a sound. You guys watch carefully, I will personally lead men to sneak in through the tunnel and catch the Jin soldiers off guard. When you see fire in the Jin camp, charge in immediately! Head straight for the South Gate. We will rendezvous at the gate. I have already arranged for the commander to meet us at the South Gate. As long as you follow me into the city and hold this Zhending City, I guarantee you will all be promoted and get rich!"
"Yes!"
Although they knew this might still be very dangerous, after hearing Liu Xu's words, everyone's eyes began to gleam with greed.
Tan Zhen's defeat was sudden, which also implicated them, the low-ranking officers, who had all become deserters. Whether they wanted to or not, this label now made them unable to hold their heads up.
Unlike ordinary soldiers, in this chaotic Hebei, no one would care about the life or death of a common soldier.
But for them, the officers, it was different. If they were discovered to be deserters, their families would be directly exiled to the frontier and enslaved as armored soldiers!
After discussing the plan, Liu Xu selected 300 men and followed him, cautiously moving towards Kaiyuan Temple.
The remaining men were all left in place, keeping a close watch on the Jin camp.
Although it was night, and there was not even a moon in the sky, Liu Xu was still able to lead the soldiers to carefully skirt around places that might be ambushed, and safely reached the entrance of the secret passage.
Following the location in his memory, he carefully opened the mechanism, and feeling the breeze blowing from inside the secret passage, Liu Xu finally breathed a sigh of relief.
It seemed that those bald donkeys had not revealed the matter of this secret passage!
"Brothers, follow me. No matter what the situation, do not make a sound!"
Taking a deep breath, Liu Xu gave another instruction.
Receiving his command, the 300 soldiers behind him cautiously followed him and moved along the secret passage into Kaiyuan Temple.
In just a quarter of an hour, Liu Xu emerged from the Guanyin Hall.
He listened carefully, confirmed that there was no one around, and then tapped the ground three times.
Following this, the soldiers in the secret passage began to cautiously emerge.
Although the Guanyin Hall was not the highest point in Kaiyuan Temple, the first thing the Jin soldiers did after occupying Kaiyuan Temple was to demolish all the surrounding walls.
They used those bricks and stones to pave the foundation of their grain depot, which now conveniently helped Liu Xu.
After observing for a moment, he had already confirmed the location of his target.
On this silent summer night, even though this was a critical grain storage area, the soldiers on guard were now taking turns dozing off.
After all, the wounded soldiers were too bothersome. The men in the front camp were relatively far away, but these men were different. For the convenience of taking care of them, the wounded soldiers' camp was only separated by a wall.
Listening to their wails day and night was an ordeal for them. Let alone ordinary mortals, even gods would feel dizzy after listening for seven days...
"Try not to use force if possible. If you must use force, then do it cleanly and quickly!"