The envoy sent by Cheng Nan to meet Li Jiangyao quickly returned to Luoyi, the eastern capital.
After listening to the envoy's story that Li Jiangyao seemed quite hesitant after receiving Cheng Nan's letter and immediately issued an order for the entire army to temporarily stop advancing, Cheng Nan couldn't help but feel surprised and happy.
"Where is the Zhenjiang Army currently stationed?" Cheng Nan asked.
"Report to General," the envoy replied: "When I set out to return from my humble post, the vanguard of the Zhenjiang Army was still in Xuzhou, and Li Dadu's military headquarters was located in Xuchang City. The rest of the troops were still being updated. On the long way, we are gradually gathering towards Xuzhou."
Cheng Nan thought for a moment and then asked, "Did Li Jiangyao say something? He suddenly ordered to stop. How did his generals react?"
The envoy said: "He just asked Beizhi about the deployment of the White Tiger Army, and didn't say much else. As for the reactions of his generals, many important figures in the Suppressing Xinjiang Army are still on the way at the moment, so Beizhi has not been able to see them. I don’t know the situation very well. However, from what I heard from some ordinary soldiers, it seems that they are quite afraid of Luoyi and Tongguan, which are guarded by our army, and do not want to be forced to attack by force."
Hearing this, Cheng Nan couldn't help but smile smugly: "Ha, that's natural! Whether it's Luoyi, the eastern capital, or Tongguan Pass, they are both dangerous places in the world. No matter how fierce their army is, they will attack these two places by force. , it is inevitable that there will be heavy casualties. It is normal for soldiers to be timid in fighting. Li Jiangyuan has been in battle for a long time, so he will understand this truth. "
A middle-aged general standing next to him hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand and said: "Commander Cheng, I think it's better to be cautious because of your humble position. Li Jiangyao is a famous general in the world, as brave as a tiger and as cunning as a fox. He is a more dangerous fortress than Tongguan. He has been beaten down a lot. Could the performance in front of him be a deliberate show of weakness to paralyze us?"
Another general also said: "We divide our troops into two places and defend each other, which can easily give the enemy an opportunity. Once they cut off the communication between us, both of us will become isolated. I'm afraid..."
"What are you afraid of?" Cheng Nan waved his hand and said disdainfully: "I am familiar with military books and strategies. How can I not understand the principle of dividing the troops for defense and not caring about the beginning and the end? The reason for this arrangement is to do the opposite. , deliberately tempting the Zhenjiang Army to attack hastily in order to expose its flaws. If he really dared to cut off the Luoyi-Tong Pass, then he would have taken advantage of the situation and waited for work, allowing the opponent to attack both places, and then use the city to consume his combat power . When the Zhenjiang Army cannot attack for a long time and becomes exhausted, my brother will lead the main force of the Forbidden Army to come to the rescue. Huh, Li Jiangyao will definitely suffer a big defeat!"
A captain flattered him: "The commander is really smart! In my opinion, it was precisely because Li Jiangyao saw that this dilemma was unsolvable that he hesitated, and finally decided to be obedient and not move westward easily."
Cheng Nan nodded proudly: "That's right. I had previously abandoned a large area of prefectures and counties south of Luoyi, and concentrated all my forces on Dongdu and Tongguan. It was precisely because I didn't want to give Li Jiangyao a chance to defeat them. He saw that Once you are in trouble, you naturally don’t dare to take risks easily again.”
Hearing what he said, many generals looked at each other, but no one dared to say anything easily. They only thought in their hearts: This guy is so childish and terrifying. The purpose of the Zhenjiang Army this time is just to use the road to go west. It has no intention of attacking the city and occupying the territory. No matter how strong your Luoyi troops are, he can just go around and ignore it at all. Tongguan is such an important road, but it is isolated from the commander of the legion. Once something unexpected happens, there is no backbone for whether to attack or defend, advance or retreat.
It is true that one man can't open Tongguan, but the gate is dead and the people are alive. If you want to capture it, sometimes all you need is a military order that is difficult to distinguish between true and false. So what dilemma is difficult to solve?
However, everyone already knew about Cheng Nan's arrogance, and this time the opponent was the Protector Li Jiangyao, who was well-known throughout the world and had contributed a lot to Shengtang. Therefore, no one wanted to talk too much about it and risk it for themselves or others. It's hard to find happiness for the Zhenjiang Army.
Okay, if you say your strategy is brilliant and foolproof, then just do it. Anyway, the world is in chaos now as to whether the people with the surname Li or the people with the surname Cheng are. We serve as soldiers and eat food, we can only wait and see.
In this way, in the silence of the generals, Cheng Nan became more and more convinced that his four deployments had worked wonders, so he hurriedly wrote to the imperial capital to report the good news to his sister Cheng Wen and take credit.
Cheng Wen was also very happy to hear that the Zhenjiang Army immediately stopped its westward advance because of the warning issued by his brother Cheng Nan. Although she, like other generals, was worried about Li Jiangyao's scheming and other schemes, she was quite satisfied with the deterrent effect of the military: the strength of the 120,000 white tiger army should not be underestimated. , even the arrogant Zhenjiang Army must treat it with caution. Wouldn't the future situation be more beneficial to itself?
However, Cheng Dong, the only sane eldest brother in the Cheng family, doesn't think so.
After seeing Cheng Nan's military deployment, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart: his brother's current planning and deployment can be summed up in one word - fear.
What he did intentionally, what he did to lure the enemy in, it's all nonsense. Cheng Nan was worried that Tongguan Fortress could not stop the Xinjiang Army from marching westward, and was also afraid that the eastern capital Luoyi would be violently attacked by Li Jiangyao, so he came up with such a bad idea of shrinking his troops and evenly deploying them.
This stupid trick of focusing on one thing at the expense of the other, if Li Jiangyao is serious about it, he will not be able to escape from either place, and he will have to be dumped by the Zhenjiang Army. At that time, even if I want to lead troops to rescue, I'm afraid it will be useless.
For this reason, he quickly wrote to Cheng Nan, asking the other party to make adjustments as soon as possible, or decide to temporarily abandon Luoyi, the eastern capital. The entire army immediately concentrated on Tongguan, backed by Guanzhong Chidao, and could retreat or receive support from the imperial capital at any time. Or, set up two or three strategic fulcrums between Luoyi and Tongguan to form a rivalry with each other and form a complete defense network to resist Li Jiangyao's forced invasion.
Unfortunately, Cheng Dong's letter was still a step late. After a brief show of weakness, the Zhenjiang Army suddenly launched a big move.
On the third day of October, the day after the imperial capital received Cheng Nan's report, 40,000 light cavalrymen of the Kuangsha Ninth Army attacked for 600 miles overnight and penetrated directly into Lingbao County of Shaanzhou, located east of Tongguan, and immediately blocked the road leading to Luoyang. All major arterial roads in the city were shut down, and all exchanges of military orders and information were suspended.
On the early morning of the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, an assault detachment composed of three thousand ghost-faced white-robed troops, disguised as Cheng Nan's reinforcements, made a surprise attack on Tongguan. The pass defenders didn't even have time to sound the alarm before they lost the city gate. The main force of the defenders gathered in a hurry and launched an armed confrontation with the white-robed troops, but they did not dare to launch a counterattack and recapture the city gate. By noon, 20,000 cavalrymen from the First Gale Army arrived; around evening time, the main force of the Second Army from Liehuo also arrived at Tongguan, and General Du Jian officially took over the fortress.
On the same day, more than 100,000 soldiers and horses from the three legions of Jushi, Nulang and Cold Wave arrived at the southern suburbs of Dongdu with great fanfare to launch this year's routine military exercise, codenamed "Gurtis".
Guertis is a Xijiang language, which means: an apprentice who has not yet started his apprenticeship. The mockery towards Cheng Nan was self-evident.
The next day, before Cheng Nan and others recovered from their panic, Xingluocang east of Luoyi was occupied by the Zhenjiang Army again. Li Jiangyao cut off the military supply to Dongdu in the name of "borrowing grain".
In three days, people mistakenly thought that the Zhenjiang Army, which was squatting in Xuzhou, waiting for new orders from the court, actually launched multiple attacks and concealed raids, and blinded the still complacent Cheng Nan and the White Tiger Army with just a raise of their hands.
Tongguan was captured without bloodshed, and the eastern capital was intimidated by the main forces in Zhenjiang. Lingbao County in the west and Xingluocang in the east all fell into Li Jiangyao's hands overnight.
The 60,000 white tigers in Luoyi City were unable to move at all.
Not only can't move, but also don't dare to move.
At this time, if you lead your army out of the city to challenge the opponent, there will be almost no other result except a beating.
Cheng Nan was completely confused at this time. It was not that he had not considered the possibility of Li Jiangyao's deception at all, but he never imagined that hundreds of thousands of troops could move so covertly and quickly.
The cruelty and horror of war are sometimes not only reflected in bloody killings, but also often reflected in ruthless reality.
The Xinjiang generals who had experienced hundreds of battles and the Xinjiang force tempered by fire and blood used the most basic operations to teach Cheng Nan, who had never been on the battlefield, a lesson:
Our opponents are the cunning and cruel Western Xinjiang rebels, the brave and tenacious Turkic cavalry, and the equally proficient Jiangnan rebels. And you are not qualified yet.
Not qualified, the harshest slap in the face, the most ruthless contempt.
"What should we do next?" Cheng Nan finally let go of his pride and asked several legion generals around him.
Everyone, look at me and I look at you. After waiting for a long time, someone whispered: "It's best... to stick to Luoyi."
"Yes, yes, persistence is the best, persistence is the best."
"You are absolutely right! Li Jiangyao will never dare to attack Dongdu. As long as we don't go out, what can he do to me?"
Cheng Nan looked at everyone blankly and said depressedly: "But if we let them go west smoothly and threaten the safety of the imperial capital and the empress, how will we explain to the court?"
The deputy general hesitated for a moment and said in a deep voice: "Commander, if we blindly go out of the city to pursue and intercept the Zhenjiang Army, what should we do if we accidentally get ambushed by Li Jiangyao?"
Another general also said quickly: "Yes, Commander-in-Chief. The White Tiger Army is your team and the Queen's direct lineage. Once it is lost in vain, it will be a big disadvantage."
"What do you mean...don't care?" Cheng Nan asked in surprise.
"It's not like we don't care," the deputy general consoled him, "General, we can let the Suppressing Army pass temporarily. If they really have bad intentions towards the Emperor, then when the Forbidden Army resists their attack, the White Tiger Army will cover up and kill them from behind. To, how can we protect the emperor and the queen and achieve a complete victory?"
