However, when Guo Yan led an army of more than 100,000 people to the city of Zhengzhou, they were attacked by fierce artillery fire from the city tower. The artillery shells poured down like raindrops, destroying his army and causing heavy casualties. Guo Yan was shocked. He did not expect the defenders of Zhengzhou to be so tenacious. He tried to fight back with the fifty artillery pieces in his hand, but because they were stolen weapons, he was not skilled in using them. Although some shells also fell on the city wall, most of them fell outside the city wall and did not pose much threat to the defenders. Unable to capture Zhengzhou for a long time, Guo Yan had to order the withdrawal of troops. After he returned to the camp with the remaining defeated generals, he was ridiculed by Zhu Zhenhai. Zhu Zhenhai sneered: "General Guo, I didn't expect you to be here today! It's so embarrassing to attack Zhengzhou but return without success!" Guo Yan was angry in his heart, but he said: "Victory and defeat are common matters for military officers. Although we failed to capture Zhengzhou in today's battle, it is not without gain." Zhu Zhenhai said disdainfully: "Huh! You still have the nerve to talk about gains? I think you have no shame!" Guo Yan knew that he could not break up with Zhu Zhenhai at this moment. He needed to stay calm and come up with better strategies to deal with the next battle. So, he suppressed his anger and said to Zhu Zhenhai: "General Zhu, I know you are eager to make meritorious deeds, but the opportunity to fight is not yet mature. We need to wait patiently."
Zhu Zhenhai refused to give up: "Wait? How long do we have to wait? We can't let other armies take the lead!" At this moment, a deputy general entered the camp and brought a piece of news. "Report to the general that Wanyan Zonghan of the Jin Kingdom has sent a hundred thousand troops south to capture Cizhou. They plan to join the other four armies in Kaifeng on March 10th, so they sent a letter to our army to capture Zhengzhou as soon as possible. Arrive in Kaifeng no later than March 10th." Guo Yan was shocked. He never expected that Wanyan Zonghan had already captured Cizhou! It is now February 30th. If it is delayed any longer, not only will we not be able to reach Kaifeng, we may not even be able to capture Zhengzhou. Wanyan Zonghan's letter was like a sharp knife thrust into his heart, but the city of Zhengzhou in front of him was like a stubborn rock, blocking his way. Although King Xin Zhao Zhen's army only had 150,000 troops, they possessed artillery with astonishing lethality, leaving Guo Yan's 250,000 troops helpless. "If you want to take Zhengzhou City, you must destroy the opponent's artillery." Guo Yan secretly calculated in his heart. He summoned his confidants and whispered: "Sneak into Zhengzhou City and find a way to destroy the artillery on the city walls." His confidants took the order and left, but Guo Yan was still uneasy in his heart. He knew that the success of this operation would be directly related to the outcome of the entire war. As night fell, the city of Zhengzhou fell silent. Guo Yan's henchmen sneaked into the city and carefully searched for the location of the artillery. However, just when he was about to succeed, he accidentally discovered a secret that shocked him. In a remote restaurant, he saw Zhu Zhenhai's confidant Xue Mang being in secret contact with Xin Wang Zhao Zhen. He held his breath and leaned against the window to eavesdrop on their conversation. "Three days later, Zhu Zhenhai deceived Guo Yan into believing that the king would surrender," Xue Mang said in a low voice, "while Guo Yan led his army into the city, we joined forces to kill him." Guo Yan's confidants were shocked. He ignored the task of destroying the artillery, hurriedly and quietly exited the restaurant, sneaked out of the city, and told Guo Yan this important news. However, he didn't know that all of this was actually a trap set by Xue Mang and Zhao Zhen. Their purpose is to make Guo Yan doubt Zhu Zhenhai and provoke internal fighting between them. When Guo Yan heard the news from his confidants, his face instantly turned pale. He had long suspected that Zhu Zhenhai's motive for surrendering to the court was impure. Now it seems that this suspicion has come true. "This Zhu Zhenhai actually wants to use my head to surrender to Her Highness the Princess again!" Guo Yan gritted his teeth and said, "It's really hateful!" His heart was filled with anger and murderous intent, and he decided to take advantage of Zhu Zhenhai's unpreparedness and kill him. However, he did not know that Xue Mang had already whispered in Zhu Zhenhai's ear and told Zhu Zhenhai that Guo Yan suspected him and wanted to kill him tonight. Zhu Zhenhai was furious after hearing the news. He rushed directly to Guo Yan's camp with a knife in hand and asked loudly: "Guo Yan! Why do you want to kill me?!" Guo Yan also looked confused when he saw Zhu Zhenhai rushing in with a knife. He thought to himself: "How did he know in advance?" But he said calmly: "General Zhu is joking, when did I say I would kill you?"
Zhu Zhenhai's eyes widened angrily and he shouted: "Stop pretending! You sent people into Zhengzhou City to communicate privately with King Xin in an attempt to take credit for my head and use this as a condition to surrender to Her Royal Highness, right?" "General Zhu, please calm down first." Guo Yan spoke slowly, his voice echoing in the silent camp, "There must be something fishy about this matter. We cannot fall into other people's tricks." Zhu Zhenhai's originally angry face showed some doubts. He looked at Guo Yan with wide eyes, seeming to be trying to digest these words. Although he has a rude personality, he is not completely brainless. He realized that if Guo Yan really wanted to harm him, he could have tied him up in public and let the court deal with him, instead of choosing to get rid of him in the middle of the night. "You mean..." Zhu Zhenhai's voice was trembling, and he couldn't believe his ears, "Someone wants to drive a wedge between us?" Guo Yan nodded, a sharp look flashed in his eyes: "Yes, we must deal with it carefully." At this moment, a loud noise suddenly sounded in the camp, which made the two people's eardrums buzz. Zhu Zhenhai turned his head in shock and saw a blood flower suddenly blooming from Guo Yan's chest, and his face instantly turned pale. "General Guo!" Zhu Zhenhai exclaimed. He reached out to help the fallen Guo Yan, but it was too late. Guo Yan fell to the ground with an expression of surprise and unwillingness. His eyes were still open, but they had lost the luster of life. Zhu Zhenhai stared at this scene blankly, his mind going blank. Suddenly, he noticed the figure standing at the door of the camp - his confidant Xue Mang, holding a smoking gun in his hand. Zhu Zhenhai understood everything instantly, his eyes widened, and his anger quickly erupted like a ball of fire. "Xue Mang! You... why are you doing this?" Zhu Zhenhai roared. He suddenly pulled out the knife from his waist and rushed towards Xue Mang, but he heard another bang. He felt severe pain in his chest, and then He saw his own blood dyeing the ground under his feet red. Zhu Zhenhai swung his knife in disbelief, trying to hit Xue Mang, but he fell down in the end. Xue Mang put away the gun and sneered at the two corpses and said, "Zhu Zhenhai, do you think you and Guo Yan can capture Zhengzhou together? It's really ridiculous. His Highness King Xin just used a little trick to let you kill each other. , If you want to deal with Her Royal Highness, you don’t have the ability yet.”