Knowing that the unfilial son-in-law is no better than the old man, as the old fox Wang Shichong expected, the treacherous old man will definitely send a messenger out of the city to Luokoucang to contact Wang Xuanying, Chen Fuliang really ordered the night army to deliberately relax some precautions, even if he found a messenger out of the city, he deliberately did not block it, and deliberately let the Zheng army messenger touch the Sui army blockade line, and slipped to the east with a roll.

After confirming that there were indeed messengers in the city who went out of the city overnight, Chen Fu's conscience was determined, and he immediately began to arrange the plan for the eastward expedition, and decided to personally lead 35,000 troops to attack the east to take the Tiger Prison Pass and Luokoucang, and let Yuan Tiangang and Qu Tutong lead the rear army to continue to besiege the Luoyang Imperial City, and also continue to build the unfinished siege fortifications, and explained that once the enemy attacked out of the city, he must not send troops to meet the battle, but only closed the camp to protect himself.

Yuan Tiangang and Qu Tutong both persuaded Chen Fuliang to bring more troops to the Eastern Front, because the Zheng Army not only had nearly 40,000 troops on the Eastern Front, but also had a strong city to defend, and the army brought by Chen Fuliang was really a little stretched in terms of the use of troops, and at the same time, the main force of the Sui Army suffered certain losses in the three major battles, but it supplemented the two partial divisions of Liu Heimin and Qin Qiong, and the total strength was still more than 90,000.

Chen Fuliang declined the kindness of accomplices such as Yuan Tiangang and Qu Tutong, because Liu Heimin and Qin Qiong, the two partial divisions, fought one after another, the soldiers were exhausted, the injuries were also very serious, and the combat effectiveness was greatly affected, and at the same time, the main force of the Sui army was not in the best state now. Therefore, Chen Fuliang insisted on leaving most of the army to surround Luoyang, and also left the two tired divisions of Liu Heimin and Qin Qiong on the battlefield in Luoyang, so that they could undertake the relatively easy task of guarding the camp and give their tired soldiers a chance to rest.

As for the generals on the expedition, the unruly Luo Shixin Chen Fuliang must of course bring him with him to rest assured - otherwise Yuan Tiangang and Qu Tutong really can't convince him, and Wang Fubao, who is good at fighting assault warfare, must also be brought, Wei Chi Jingde, Mulan, Qiu Xinggong, Shi Wanbao, Yin Kaishan and Bao ** generals also accompanied the army, supplemented by Feng Deyi and Sun Fujia and other civilian officials. In addition, Chen Fuliang also unexpectedly brought the newly surrendered general Xu Shichang to the army, and specially selected more than 500 newly surrendered Zheng soldiers from the prisoners of war to accompany him, and handed over these newly surrendered soldiers to Xu Shixian's command.

In addition, there is also a flag problem, originally Chen Fuliang also planned to let Yuan Tiangang and Qu Tutong use his own banner to intimidate the enemy, and he used Qu Tutong's banner to go to the Eastern Front to swagger and deceive, but considering that with the character of the old man, no matter what he does, he will definitely be suspicious, Chen Fuliang simply came to an unchanging response to all changes, swaggering with his own banner of the Tang King with teeth and claws to launch an eastward crusade, and the rear army only built the banner of Yuan Tiangang and Qu Tutong.

Not to mention, Chen Fuliang's hand really made the puppet Zheng court spend a lot of time, and saw the Sui army's partial division on the city wall marching westward under the banner of Chen Fuliang, not to mention the treacherous Wang Shichong, even many civil and military officials of the puppet Zheng court were also full of doubts, wondering whether Chen Fuliang had led the army to leave the Luoyang battlefield - no way, Chen Fuliang's reputation in this area is too stinky. Therefore, when Wang Renze, Zhang Tong'er and Dong Rui and other reckless men suggested taking the opportunity to go out of the city to counterattack, they were not only reprimanded by Wang Shichong, but their colleagues also warned: "Several generals, you can't be reckless, Chen thief is scheming, the best at scheming, he personally led the army out of the main battlefield This is very suspicious, our army must not attack easily, once it is hit, it will be too late to regret it!" ”

The enemy situation was unknown, and the Zheng army in Luoyang did not dare to launch a counterattack easily, but the stunned young Chen Fuliang did not care about the tail, and took more than 30,000 soldiers of the Sui army to rush all the way, and it only took one day to rush to Yanshi, and he was in one place with Li Keshi, the cousin of the bird thief who had only seen a few faces. After the meeting, they exchanged gifts to uncles, nephews, and ministers, and Chen Fuliang immediately asked Li Keshi about the latest situation of Luokoucang and Tiger Prison Pass, and Li Keshi hurriedly said: "Your Highness, our army scouts have found out the news not long ago, and just this morning, the king's thief army of about 5,000 people suddenly moved from Tiger Prison Pass to Luokoucang City. ”

"Wang Xuan should send troops from Hujiao Pass back to Luokou Cangcheng?" When Chen Fuliang heard this, he was overjoyed and hurriedly asked, "Why?" Is there a reason for this? ”

"Nope." Li Keshi shook his head, and said very suspiciously: "The last general is also wondering about this, for no reason, how could Wang Xuanying make such an adjustment?" If he is a detective? With the news that Your Highness personally led the army to the east, you hurriedly dispatched troops to strengthen the defense of Luokoucang, and it was too late in time? Your Highness, you only sent troops early this morning, how could he react this morning? ”

"Wang Shichong's old fox was really fooled, and Wang Xuanying's kid was really the same as before, obeying his father's words and not daring to disobey at all." Chen Fu's conscience was secretly happy, and he did not rush to explain the reason to his cousin, but hurriedly asked about the enemy's current troops and subordinates in Tiger Prison Pass and Luokoucang.

Li Keshi replied truthfully, saying that Wang Shichong's eldest son, Wang Xuanying, was currently stationed in Luokoucang, and after reinforcing the troops and accepting the remnants of Zheng Junxi, who had fled from Huiluo, the total strength was estimated at 27,800 people, including about 4,000 cavalry, and the main troops would be Chen Zhiluo, Xi Bian, Guo Shizhu, Ge Yanzhang and others; The Tiger Prison Pass is garrisoned by Wang Xuanying's deputy Yang Gongqing, with a strength of about 12,300 people, of which the number of cavalry is also very small, and the main civil and military forces are Dai Guan, Shen Yue, Wang Xingben, Pei Xiaoda and Zhang Sheng, etc.

The defenders of the primary target Tiger Prison Pass are not more than half of the secondary target Luokou Cang, which of course makes Chen Fuliang's heart even more happy, but after all, the fortified city of the Tiger Prison Pass is placed there, even if the defenders are few, it is not so easy to deal with, and at the same time, the defenders of 123 are also a force that cannot be ignored. Therefore, Chen Fuliang still didn't dare to be negligent, and decided to send 4,000 troops from the Yanshi garrison to the east to participate in the battle to strengthen his own insufficient troops, and at the same time rewarded Hao Xiaode, the general who followed Li Keshi to participate in the war here.

After all this was arranged, the Sui army with only ten days of grain and grass crossed the Luoshui and opened to Luokoucang the next day, and the Zheng army scouts reported the situation to Wang Xuanying, Wang Xuanying did not dare to have the slightest neglect, and immediately ordered the whole city to be under martial law, closed the four gates to prepare for battle, and deployed the four guards and responsible generals early. Then in the afternoon, the Sui army team really arrived at the foot of Luokou Cangcheng, and Wang Xuanying hurriedly climbed the city wall to observe the Sui army's camp.

Wang Xuanying did not see the Sui army set up camp, on the contrary, he also saw that the Sui army soldiers had just arrived on the bank of the Shizi River, and immediately began to build a number of pontoon bridges on the river, as if they were preparing to cross the Shizi River immediately. Wang Xuanying saw Daqi and said in surprise: "Shen Shi is almost halfway through, why hasn't Chen Thief hurried to set up a camp, why is he still building a pontoon bridge?" Could it be that if he wants to build a large camp on the east bank of the Shizi River, it will not be inconvenient for him to attack Luokoucang? ”

"Is Thief Chen's target really Luokoucang?" Guo Shizhu also said suspiciously: "If he wants to attack Luokoucang, he must place the camp west of the Shizi River. ”

"Could the real target of the Tang thief be the Tiger Prison Pass?" Chen Zhiluo, who likes to bite the text and chew words, saw the doorway and said: "Do the opposite, bypass Luokoucang and take the tiger prison first, and after you succeed, you will form a trend of closing the door and fighting the tiger, and then turn around and attack Luokoucang?" ”

Hearing Chen Zhiluo's words, Wang Xuanying was somewhat shaken, but after thinking about it carefully, he shook his head and said: "No, our army has made a detailed report, and the Chen thief's army has not brought a lot of baggage vehicles this time, if he goes directly to attack the Tiger Prison Pass, once he can't get grain and grass for a long time, he will inevitably be in a hurry, and with us nailed to his grain throat, it will be difficult for him to supply grain and grass." Besides, the father has already found out that the real target of the Chen thief this time is Luokoucang, and it can never be the Tiger Prison Pass, and the father will not be wrong. ”

After discussing for a long time, he couldn't guess Chen Fuliang's true intentions, so Wang Xuanying simply came to respond to all changes with the same, sat back and watched the Sui army build a bridge and cross the river, waiting for his brother-in-law to make a new move before deciding how to deal with it. As a result, the Sui army really crossed the Shizi River on the same day, and set up a temporary camp ten miles east of the Shizi River in the evening for the night, and then some Zheng army generals proposed to rob the camp by night, but Wang Xuanying remembered his father's order to stick to Luokoucang, and was afraid that this was a trick by the treacherous brother-in-law to lure the enemy, so he categorically refused.

Wang Xuanying repented of his decision the next day, and in the early morning of the next day, nearly 40,000 Sui troops under the leadership of Chen Fuliang continued to march towards the Tiger Prison Pass, and it did not take much time to arrive at the Tiger Prison Pass, and set up camp only five miles away from the gate. The scout reported the news to Wang Xuanying, Wang Xuanying was dumbfounded, and suddenly fell into a dilemma, attack, not only gave the deceived brother-in-law the opportunity to fight in the field, but also had to disobey his father's order that he was only allowed to defend the city and not to fight, not to attack, once the Tiger Prison Pass fell, Luokoucang was completely isolated and helpless, not to mention, the reinforcements that Dou Jiande was about to send could no longer directly reach Luoyang City to relieve the siege. is in a dilemma, and Wang Xuan, who is very ordinary in his own right, should be completely helpless.

When Wang Xuanying was in a dilemma, Chen Fuliang couldn't wait to come to the Tiger Prison Pass to peep at the enemy's situation, and found that the Tiger Prison Pass really made certain precautions against the gunpowder blasting tactics of the own army, and built a sheep and horse wall under the city to prevent the pointed wooden donkey from approaching the city wall, and also deepened the moat, installed Yaksha and built a large number of horse rejection antlers, and tried every means to prevent the Sui army's siege weapons from approaching the city wall. Chen Fuliang, who did not carry heavy artillery this time, was still not as sure as last time.

Looking at the sturdy fortifications of the Tiger Prison Pass and frowning, Chen Fuliang called Xu Shiyun, who was accompanying him by name, and asked him: "General Xu, remember that Li Mi won the Tiger Prison Pass by tunnels, and how many tunnels did he dig?" ”

"As far as the last general knows, it's one." Xu Shiyun replied truthfully: "But that tunnel leads to the east gate of the Tiger Prison Pass, and after succeeding, Li Mi also ordered that tunnel to be refilled so as not to be reused by the enemy." ”

Although he basically didn't have much hope for this, after getting this ruthless answer, Chen Fuliang was still very disappointed. Over there, Xu Shiyun quietly looked left and right, and asked Chen Fuliang in a low voice: "Your Highness, the last general took the liberty of asking, do you want the last general to lead these new soldiers into the Tiger Prison Pass to surrender?" If so, when? ”

"Clever, this king really misjudged you." Laughing and praising Xu Shixian, Chen Fuliang calmly admitted that he did have this plan, and then said: "But this matter can't be rushed, the enemy is not a fool, as soon as our army arrives in the city, you will run to surrender, anyone will suspect that you are surrendering, not only will your life be in danger, even if the enemy believes in you temporarily, he will definitely disarm you and detain you temporarily." If you want to succeed, you have to wait for the opportunity to arise. ”

Xu Shiliang agreed, and then hurriedly retreated a little in Mulan's tiger gaze, keeping a certain distance from Chen Fuliang to avoid melon fields and plums, Chen Fuliang quickly calculated in his heart, and secretly pondered, "There are only ten days of grain and grass, today is the third day, even if the distance is not far away and I can withdraw to Yanshi to replenish grain and grass, I only have six days left at most to take this Tiger Prison Pass, if I miss this opportunity, the enemy will definitely re-strengthen the Tiger Prison Pass, my time is very precious." Now my advantage is that I am not afraid of field battles, and the enemy should still doubt my real target, and will definitely doubt that I have any way to break through the city quickly, how can I ......? ”

When Chen Fuliang looked up, he saw that there were several richly dressed Zheng Jun Wenwu in the city, and at the same time, there were soldiers flying to report that Wang Xingben came forward to invite him to come over to answer. Chen Fuliang wanted to agree, but as soon as the horse moved, Chen Fuliang changed his mind and said secretly: "I can't go, I also have an advantage that the enemy must still be doubting whether I came to the Tiger Prison in person, and my appearance at this time will only let the enemy confirm this suspicion, and can only let them continue to be suspicious." ”

Thinking of this, Chen Fuliang reined in the war horse again, and after a little calculation, he ordered Xu Shiyun to come forward, declaring that he didn't want to deal with Wang Xingben, and by the way, he released wild words to let Wang Xingben wash his neck and wait for death, and within seven days, he would definitely take off Wang Xingben's head to avenge his ancestral grave! Xu Shiyun stepped forward to answer according to the order, but as a result, insults quickly sounded in the tiger prison gate, and some people pulled their bows and released arrows to shoot the traitor Xu Shiyun, but fortunately, Xu Shiyun reacted quickly and escaped early.

After fleeing back to Chen Fuliang's side in embarrassment, Xu Shiyun wiped the sweat on his face and said to Chen Fuliang: "Your Highness, the last general forgot a very important person before, or did I suddenly remember when I saw him just now, there is this person in the Tiger Prison City, and it may be difficult for the last general to succeed in defrauding him." ”

"Who is so powerful?" Chen Fuhao asked curiously.

"Wang Shichong's military squire, Dai Guan." Xu Shichong replied truthfully: "This puppet is very cunning, can be regarded as resourceful, scheming, Wang Shichong defeated Li Mi in the war, many victories actually rely on his advice, is Wang Shichong's chief strategist, even Li Mi is a little jealous of him." ”

Chen Fuliang has heard the name Dai Zhou more than once, but because he has not appeared on TV, Chen Fuliang? I really didn't pay much attention to this person, but after listening to Xu Shichong's introduction, of course, I was interested, and when I quickly asked about the details, I learned that Dai Zhou was a strategist who gradually rose under Wang Shichong after he entered the customs, and once became Wang Shichong's mastermind, but he was only assigned to serve in the Tiger Prison Pass because he strongly opposed Wang Shichong's claim to be the emperor. But even so, Wang Shichong still gave Dai Zhou an important position as a military squire, which can also be Dai Guan's weight in the Zheng army.

After listening to Xu Shiyun's introduction, Chen Fuliang seemed to suddenly see a direction in a fog, but how to determine this direction Chen Fuliang couldn't do it for a while, and he didn't want to stay in the city for too long to be confirmed by the enemy, so Chen Fuliang simply ordered to withdraw to the camp, and after returning to the camp, he carefully pondered how to break the city. But what Chen Fuliang really didn't expect was that his unintentional move would create an opportunity for him............

Seeing the white-robed knight suspected of Chen Fuliang returning to his horse and leaving from a distance on the city wall, Wang Xingben, whose eyes were in pain, had no choice but to give up, rubbing his painful eyes and saying: "It's too far away, I can't see if it's the traitor, it's a bit like, but it's a little unlike, did the thief Chen come to the Tiger Prison in person?" ”

"There is no doubt about it, it must be a thief." Dai Xuan said confidently: "The design of the tiger to leave the mountain, deceived our army to weaken the Tiger Prison Pass and strengthen Luokoucang, and then surprised the troops under the Tiger Prison Pass and killed us by surprise, this is obviously Chen Yingliang's traitor's military style." The refusal to meet with His Royal Highness King Jing is just to pretend to be a ghost, so that we can't figure out his reality. ”

Dai Zhou has this self-confidence, but Yang Gongqing and Wang Xingben do not dare to have such confidence, in the case of the defenders of Tiger Prison Pass being weakened by themselves and the defenders of Luokoucang not daring to attack easily, finding out the enemy's specific reality naturally becomes the top priority. Therefore, Wang Xingben and Yang Gongqing still discussed in a low voice, and Shen Yue, the ordnance management officer, also suggested: "Your Highness, General Yang, if you want to find out whether Chen Yingliang's traitor came to this tiger prison in person, it is not impossible, just send a person who is familiar with Chen Thief to sneak out of the city, go to the thief army camp and falsely claim that he is going to surrender the city on behalf of Guanzhong, then Chen Thief must meet in person, and then get out and come back, whether Chen Thief personally went to the Tiger Prison Pass, can't the truth be revealed?" ”

"I don't need to!" Dai Xuan immediately objected and said: "Now it doesn't matter whether the thief Chen is in person under the Tiger Prison Pass, the important thing is to hold the Tiger Prison Pass and keep the road of Dou Jiande's reinforcements!" Chen thief's army traveled nearly seventy miles a day, the army must have lacked grain and grass, Luokoucang choked his grain throat, it is bound to not last long, we only need to fortify the city and defend, within ten days, the thief army will definitely retreat on its own! ”

"Dai Shilang, the lower official thinks it is very important." Shen Yue, who was under Dai Guan, insisted, and said with a heartfelt voice: "If we can confirm that the thief Chen is here in person, then we only need to send the news into Luoyang City, and Your Majesty can immediately launch a counterattack and storm the rear army of the thief army, the rear army of the thief army is in a hurry, and the thief will definitely retreat, and we will take advantage of the situation to cover up and kill, and we will win a big victory!" ”

"Easy to say! If the thief can be defeated so easily, he still has to wait for you? ”

Dai Xuan sneered and continued to object, but Shen Yue didn't take Dai Guan, the boss who had fallen out of favor, in his eyes at all, and said to Wang Xingben and Yang Gongqing: "His Royal Highness King Jing, General Yang, Your Majesty is trapped in Luoyang City, in danger, and what you think about is how to fight back and break the enemy, if you can find this opportunity for Your Majesty, Your Majesty will definitely be happy, and the Luoyang crisis can be resolved immediately." And if we do this, even if we fail, we will only lose a small messenger, a million profits, why not do it? ”

Shen Yue's words hit the heart of Yang Gongqing and Wang Xingben, in order to invite favor in front of Wang Shichong, after discussing in a low voice, Yang Gongqing and Wang Xingben decided to gamble on the reality of the Sui army - anyway, even if it fails, it will be a loss of a messenger at most, and no one will definitely feel distressed except for the unlucky messenger's family. However, after agreeing to this suggestion despite Dai Guan's resolute opposition, Yang Gongqing and Wang Xingben said in embarrassment: "Then who will be sent to serve as this messenger?" There doesn't seem to be anyone under our command who is particularly familiar with Chen Yingliang's traitor? ”

"It's easy to do." Shen Yue said very easily: "The two family members brought by Xia Guan from Luoyang, when they were in the previous dynasty, they often accompanied Xia Guan to participate in the early dynasty, and they often saw Chen Thief outside the gate of the imperial city, and they were very familiar with Chen Thief, so just send one of them to go." One of them is named Shen Jian, who is quite clever and has a bit of a talent for tongue discernment, and should be able to do this job. ”

"Okay, let's ask Shen Sibing's family to work hard." Wang Xingben was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly said: "Quick, there is still some time now, let's hurry up and sum up, how can we deceive Chen Yingliang's treacherous thief." ”