Your fiefdom gains one soldier every second, what should you do, Queen Mother?

Ying Xuanze looked at the bandits in the distance, tapping his fingers rhythmically on the city wall. The archer next to him whispered:

"My lord, these bandits really take themselves too seriously. Do you want us to take the initiative and attack them to show our power?"

Ying Xuanze shook his head: "No, since he has given us an incense stick of time, then we should wait. I want to see how these bandits are going to break into the city."

Ever since he moved into Gaoliu Castle, he had his soldiers and engineers work together to repair the damaged city walls, and then reinforce them.

Nowadays, the northern part of Gaoliu City can be regarded as a fortress. If the army of Daying were to attack, it would require at least 50,000 troops.

Not to mention that the bandits outside are no match for the imperial court's regular army, it is simply a pipe dream for them, with less than 20,000 people, to capture a city that has a garrison of 10,000 elite soldiers!

Therefore, Ying Xuanze guessed that these bandits were ostensibly giving them time to consider surrendering, but actually wanted to attack through a secret passage and sneak into the city to cooperate with the enemy from inside and outside, but this trick could not be hidden from him.

Although Zhang Liang had already ordered people to cut off the secret passage and leave people to guard it, he still left a surprise for the bandits...

Ying Xuanze narrowed his eyes and calculated the time. He estimated that the bandits should have reached the entrance of the secret passage by now, right?

Zhang Dayong watched his men sweep away the dead branches and leaves, and a secret passage appeared in everyone's sight.

"Haha! This Marquis of Zhenxi doesn't have any ability. He didn't even block our secret passage!" A bandit sneered.

"He is a good-for-nothing marquis who was demoted to Xiliang. What abilities can he have?" Zhang Dayong also smiled with disdain.

"I think Duotian Village and Yunqing Village were destroyed because they were too careless. This time we will attack the city together with Qingfeng Village, and they will not be able to defend it."

Suddenly, a famous bandit cried out, and he quickly looked at Zhang Dayong and said, "Second in command, since the Marquis of Zhenxi couldn't defend the city, then they broke into the city, and you didn't get any credit at all!"

Zhang Dayong kicked the bandit and cursed, "What do you know? If you don't know, stop yelling."

"I will lead you through the secret passage to sneak into the city, and then I can help the brothers outside to destroy the defenders of Gaoliu City. Don't you think this is a great achievement?"

The bandits nodded repeatedly, and Zhang Dayong continued;

"The defenders of Gaoliu City have all gone to the city gates. Does that mean the city is unguarded? When we get to the mansion of the Marquis of Zhenxi, we can rob and kill the people inside. Wouldn't that be another great achievement?"

The bandits nodded again and made sounds of admiration.

"It has to be our second in command! He is more thoughtful than us!"

"You're talking nonsense. How can you be promoted to the second in command by the boss if you don't think it through?"

"Follow the Second In Command to get meat. When we enter the city, show no mercy and kill them all!"

"That is required!"

Zhang Dayong smiled brightly and immediately ordered his men to go into the cave one after another.

Although the secret passage was narrow, it could still accommodate two people at the same time. When the bandits were halfway in, Zhang Dayong also went into the cave.

As a leader, he cannot be the first one to act when something happens, but he can never be the last one either.

At the same time, a soldier ran to the barracks in a hurry and shouted outside the meeting room: "Report to the military advisor! There is a noise coming from the secret passage."

After a while, Zhang Liang came out of the meeting room and asked the soldier, "Do you still have the firewood we asked for from the people?"

"And some more!"

"Get them all, prepare some dry grass and a few torches, and then open the secret passage."

The soldier who was about to go to do something suddenly turned around. He looked at Zhang Liang in astonishment, and then asked in a daze: "Open the secret passage?"

"Yes, since they dare to come, they must pay the price." Zhang Liang then followed the soldiers out of the military camp.

The two men headed towards the secret passage, followed by dozens of engineers carrying firewood.

After a while, the two came to an abandoned house. There were more than a hundred elite soldiers stationed in the huge courtyard.

"Take away the stone on top." Zhang Liang said, pointing to a huge rock in front.

The elite soldiers were all stunned. They had just heard some noise coming from below. It was obviously an invading bandits. They should have guarded the place, but they were actually taking the initiative to move the stones?

But after a brief doubt, they immediately followed the order, and more than a dozen people worked together to move the huge rock.

There was a dry well under the boulder, and at this moment, there was a sound coming from inside.

"It seems to be almost here, right?"

"Yes! We will reach the bottom of the well after climbing for a while. I heard from the Second In Command that there are several hooks at the bottom of the well, which are prepared for the brothers stationed in Gaoliu City."

Zhang Liang asked the engineers behind him to throw firewood and dry grass into the dry well. After all the firewood and dry grass were thrown in, he ordered the torches to be thrown into the dry well.

At the same time, the bandits who were still crawling in the secret passage heard noises coming from the front.

"Wait? What's going on up ahead?"

"I don't know, it seems like something fell on the ground."

"Second Master said that this dry well has not been used for decades. How could something fall into the bottom of the well?"

Thick smoke came from the bottom of the dry well, and after a while Zhang Liang saw fire burning at the bottom of the well.

Zhang Liang ordered people to bring stones to cover the dry well, and asked the previous guards to stay there. He then returned to the barracks alone.

The soldiers in the yard looked at each other in bewilderment, and no one knew the meaning of their military advisor's move.

But the lord respects the military advisor so much that they don’t understand that there is nothing shameful about the military advisor’s strategy, and they just need to execute the orders well.

"Wait? Is something burning up ahead? I smell it!"

"Oh my god! Is it true?! Go! Get out quickly!" The bandit walking in front quickened his pace and finally came out of the secret passage after a moment.

But the moment they came out, they were greeted by blazing flames and lingering thick smoke.

"Fire! What a big fire!"

"Ah! My eyes! My eyes seem to be blinded by the smoke! Ahhhh!"

The first few bandits who came out knelt on the ground in pain, and the bandits behind them heard screams from the front before they could get out of the secret passage.

"Retreat quickly! There's a fire ahead! Run!" Those bandits who had not gotten out immediately turned around and shouted to the bandits behind them.

The bandits who heard the sound wanted to turn around and retreat, but because the secret passage was too narrow, they advanced in pairs.

It is not easy to complete a U-turn in a secret passage. You can only move your lower body first and then move your upper body backwards.

"Brothers at the back, don't go any further! There's a fire in front! A brother has died at the bottom of the well!"

"Go back! Go back! If you don't retreat now, we will all choke to death here!"

At the same time, Zhang Dayong, who had already crawled halfway in, heard a sound coming from the front. When he heard his men in front shouting to retreat, he immediately got angry.

"Why the hell are you retreating? Keep moving forward! This is a great opportunity to make a contribution! I'll chop off the head of anyone who dares to retreat!"