heard that Hao Zhao was in charge of defending it. He had heard of Hao Zhao's reputation as a highly capable general and realised that he could not take Chencang easily. Zhuge Liang then ordered his troops to surround Chencang and then sent Jin Xiang (靳詳), who was from the same hometown as Hao Zhao, to persuade him to surrender. Hao Zhao replied, "You're familiar with the laws of Wei and you know me well as a person. I've received much grace from my State and my house is important. There's nothing you can say (to change my mind). Return to Zhuge (Liang) and tell him to prepare to attack." After Jin Xiang reported to him what Hao Zhao said, Zhuge Liang sent Jin Xiang to try to persuade Hao Zhao again and tell him that he stood no chance against the Shu army and that there was no need for him to seek death and destruction. Hao Zhao replied, "I stand by what I told you earlier. I may recognise you, but my arrow won't." Jin Xiang then left. The odds were drastically against Hao Zhao – he had only about 1,000 men to resist the Shu army numbering tens of thousands, with no sign of Wei reinforcements heading towards Chencang. Zhuge Liang then ordered his troops to use an escalade tactic by scaling Chencang's walls with siege ladders. However, Hao Zhao countered by ordering archers to fire flaming arrows at the siege ladders, setting them aflame and burning the soldiers on them. When the enemy used battering rams, Hao Zhao ordered his troops to link rocks and boulders with chains and roll them down the walls to smash the battering rams. The Shu army then resorted to filling up the moat around Chencang for their siege towers to get close to the walls and allow soldiers to climb up. Hao Zhao countered this tactic by ordering his men to build an interior layer of walls behind the exterior walls to prevent the enemy from advancing further in. Zhuge Liang then thought of getting his troops to dig tunnels leading directly into Chencang, but Hao Zhao was prepared for this again as he ordered his men to dig tunnels in a perpendicular direction to block the enemy. The siege lasted for over 20 days. Zhuge Liang was unable to do anything to overcome Hao Zhao and capture Chencang. After