After spending a relatively calm midwinter and most of the spring, it was just April, and the clouds of war once again hung over the Central Plains. To put it more precisely, the cities around Luoyang are facing unprecedented pressure.

That's right, it's the pressure that never existed. Because this time the Vietnamese army is no longer just a one-way march, but in just ten days, three consecutive marches, and the soldiers will look straight at Luoyang and the surrounding cities.

This first road is naturally from Kaifeng, which is close to Luoyang, with nearly 50,000 people, and the goal is Luoyang City, which is only 500 miles away.

On the second road, the Vietnamese army followed the route of marching in battle last year, sending troops from Nanyang, taking the two small cities of Yi and Xing as the front-line strongholds, and the soldiers and horses pointed to Xingyang, a key city protruding in front of Luoyang. There were also 50,000 soldiers and horses along the way, but they claimed to be 200,000, which put a lot of pressure on the Xingyang defenders.

And the third road of soldiers and horses is even more unexpected by the people in Luoyang, this road the same 50,000 troops actually went north first, and then turned eastward, it seems that they are going to put on a posture of storming the tiger prison pass in the east of Luoyang City.

If there is some truth in the first two ways of dividing troops to attack, the movement of the third route army makes Zhao Guangxiao and them a little confused.

Not to mention that the Tiger Prison Pass, as a thousand-year-old Xiongguan Pass and the first pass in the Central Plains, is not at all something that can be easily won by just 50,000 soldiers and horses. Even if they took 10,000 steps back, the Vietnamese army really forcibly took the Tiger Pass, and their threat to Luoyang actually did not increase much.

Yes, there are still some cities between Luoyang and Tiger Prison Pass, and once the Tiger Prison Pass is taken, these cities will be taken down without much effort. However, even if there is no such thing, in fact, Zhao Guangxiao and they have no intention of protecting these small counties without any strategic and tactical purposes.

And in the end, this road of soldiers and horses is just a matter of meeting with the other two soldiers and horses under the city of Luoyang, it is better to kill Luoyang directly with the soldiers and horses of Kaifeng at the beginning.

However, Xingyang City, because of the mutual aid with Luoyang, and the fact that there are enough materials hoarded in it for Luoyang warehouse, it is reasonable that it is targeted by the Vietnamese army.

However, the Vietnamese army made such an unreasonable choice, which made a cadre of generals and officials in Luoyang City feel uneasy, and in the past few days, in addition to constantly transferring troops and sending generals to defend to the death, they have been discussing the real purpose of their use of troops in this way.

Rao was based on the experience and resourcefulness of Zhao Guangxiao and others, and he couldn't see any answer from it for a while. The only conjecture left is that this is a strategy of the Vietnamese army to distract their troops and horses in order to disturb their own minds.

After all, there are only 100,000 defenders in Luoyang now, and on the premise of defending Luoyang and dividing troops into Xingyang, if another elite army is divided to defend the tiger prison, its strength will inevitably be greatly reduced.

"General, in fact, the last general thinks that he doesn't need to pay too much attention to their actions at all, with the danger of the tiger prison, as long as there are five thousand soldiers and horses, it is enough to defend it impregnable. However, Xingyang's side is the key, and more troops and horses must be sent...... Moreover, we must not blindly hold on, otherwise the morale of the people will fall, and it will be a matter of time before it is lost. ”

After some discussion, someone finally bluntly rejected everyone's worries and conjectures, and said the most correct coping strategy.

Zhao Guangxiao nodded secretly when he heard this, and when he raised his eyes, he realized that it was Wu Xunhong, one of the three most useful henchmen under his command.

This person is a good hand at leading troops to fight, and he has a considerable sense of the overall situation, and he has always won the trust of Zhao Guangxiao.

But it doesn't mean that everyone will accept his statement, and at this time, another person also followed: "Brother Wu's judgment is certainly reasonable, but it can't really be completely ignored by the situation over there in the Tiger Prison.

"The Tiger Prison Pass is indeed majestic enough, but it is too big to only use 5,000 people against 10 times the enemy. Don't forget, the tiger prison, as the throat of Luoyang, is where everyone's hearts are at ease. Once the Tiger Prison Pass is really lost, it is not only a pass and a few cities that follow it that are lost, but the bigger problem is the loss of military morale. ”

This was to the point, causing everyone to nod their heads again.

As long as you are a person who has settled in Luoyang, who does not know what the Tiger Prison Pass means to this place. If the news of the fall of Tiger Prison Pass suddenly comes one day, I am afraid that the soldiers and civilians in the city will be in chaos first.

Is there ever been less such a thing in history?

At the end of the Han Dynasty, when Dong Zhuo was in turmoil, after the Kwantung Coalition Army defeated the Tiger Pass, he could only choose to move the capital to Chang'an.

There is also Li Tang who opened the country, and Wang Shichong, who was in Luoyang, was also after Li Shimin won the Tiger Prison Pass in the first war, and the next war was to destroy the withering and decaying.

Obviously, the significance of this tiger prison itself is still above its pass, which makes people have to be solemn and upright.

Zhao Guangxiao's expression froze: "In this way, even if the tiger prison is there, we must also divide heavy troops to guard it?" ”

Wu Xunhong nodded: "What the general said is that the last general is not talented, and he is willing to share his worries for the general." I don't need too many soldiers and horses, as long as the general gives me 10,000 men, I will be able to stop the 50,000 enemy troops, otherwise I will raise my own head to apologize to the general. ”

The Tiger Prison defenders will be increased from 5,000 to 10,000, which is not a small problem.

Not only the transfer of troops, but also a series of logistical arrangements after that, in today's Luoyang, it is indeed a bit tricky.

But after careful consideration and weighing, Zhao Guangxiao still made a decisive decision: "Okay, I can trust Xun Hong, so it's decided, and I will entrust you with all the power after the tiger is closed!" ”

Wu Xunhong immediately got up and bowed deeply: "The general can rest assured, the last general will not disgrace his mission!" ”

After deciding on the defensive strategy of Tiger Prison Pass, everyone finally settled down a little, and the next thing was nothing more than to discuss how to hold key cities such as Xingyang and Luoyang without hurting morale.

In this regard, it is nothing more than two strategies, one is to delay, and the other is to send troops and horses to resist the Vietnamese army's offensive head-on, and then think of harassing it and cutting off its food routes.

However, these tactics cannot be completely decided by a meeting at this time, and they have to wait until the battle really starts, and then make contingencies according to the situation on the spot.

Colonel Zhao just told the overall plan, and then arranged for his generals to lead the troops to guard everywhere, and let them make their own arrangements.

Among them, Zhao Qianhui's eldest son, this time he was not entrusted with heavier responsibilities to guard Xingyang, but stayed in Luoyang City and was responsible for security affairs inside and outside the city.

As for Xingyang, it was handed over to another confidant general of Zhao Guangxiao, Ju Bojie, who has always been steady, especially good at guarding, and Song Qiyun of the Liangzhou Army can be called a moment of brightness.