Cheng Nan sent an envoy to meet Li Jiangyao, and soon returned to the eastern capital of Luoyi.

After listening to the envoy's account that Li Jiangyao was quite hesitant after receiving Cheng Nan's letter, and immediately issued an order for the whole army to temporarily stop advancing, Cheng Nan couldn't help but feel surprised and happy.

"Where is the Zhenjiang Army currently parked?" Cheng Nan asked.

"General Hui," replied the envoy, "when he set off for his return, the vanguard of the Zhenjiang Army was still in Xuzhou, and Li Dadu's tent was set up in Xuchang City. The rest of the troops and horses are still on the farther road and are gradually gathering in Xuzhou. ”

Cheng Nan thought for a moment, and then asked, "Did Li Jiangyao say anything?" When he suddenly ordered to stop, how did his subordinates react? ”

The envoy said: "He only asked about the deployment of the White Tiger Army, and he didn't say much else. As for the reaction of the generals under his command, many important figures of the Zhenjiang Army are still on the way at the moment, so they have not been able to see them, and they are not very clear about the situation. However, as far as I can see, some ordinary soldiers seem to be quite jealous of Luoyi and Tongguan, which are guarded by our army, and do not want to be forced to attack. ”

Hearing this, Cheng Nan couldn't help but smile proudly: "Ha, that's nature!" Whether it is the eastern capital of Luoyi or the Tongguan Pass, it is a dangerous place in the world. No matter how fierce their Zhenjiang army is, it is inevitable that they will suffer heavy casualties if they forcibly attack these two places, and it is normal for soldiers to be cowardly. Li Jiangyao has been in battle for a long time, and he will not fail to understand this truth. ”

A middle-aged general standing next to him hesitated for a moment, then arched his hand and said, "Commander Cheng, I think it's better to be cautious." Li Jiangyao is a famous general in the world, brave as a tiger, cunning as a fox, and a fortress that is more dangerous than Tongguan, and he has not fought down a lot. Will the performance in front of us be deliberately showing weakness and paralyzing us? ”

Another general also said: "Let's divide our troops into two places and defend each other, which is easy for the enemy to take advantage of." Once they cut off the intermediate contact, they will become alone with each other, I'm afraid ......"

"I'm afraid of what?" Cheng Nan waved his hand and said disdainfully: "This general is familiar with military books and battle strategies, how can he not understand the truth of dividing troops for defense and being difficult to take care of?" The reason for this arrangement was to do the opposite, deliberately luring the Zhenjiang army to attack rashly, so as to expose its flaws. If he really dared to cut off between Luoyi and Tongguan, then he would have taken advantage of the situation and let the other party attack the two places, and then use the city to consume his combat power. When the Zhenjiang army could not be attacked for a long time and the soldiers were tired and weak, my brother led the main force of the forbidden army to come to the rescue, hum, Li Jiangyao will be defeated! ”

One of the lieutenants flattered: "The great commander is really clever! In my opinion, Li Jiangyao also saw that there was no solution to this dilemma, so he hesitated, and finally decided to be obedient and no longer go west easily. ”

Cheng Nan nodded proudly: "That's right." Ben Jiang previously abandoned a large area of the state capital and county south of Luoyi, and concentrated all his forces in the eastern capital and Tongguan, just because he didn't want to give Li Jiangyao a chance to break through. He saw the difficulty, and naturally did not dare to take risks easily. ”

Hearing him say this, many generals looked at each other, but no one dared to say anything easily, and only secretly said in their hearts: This guy is simply childish and terrible. The purpose of the Zhenjiang army this time is just to go west, and there is no intention of attacking the city, no matter how strong your Luoyi army is, he can just bypass it, and he doesn't need to pay attention to it at all. And Tongguan is such an important way, but it is isolated from the commander of the army in two places, once it really encounters some unexpected situation, whether it is to attack or defend, whether it is to advance or retreat, there is not even a backbone.

Tongguan is indeed a husband and a man can not be opened, but the pass is dead, people are alive, if you want to take it, sometimes all you need is a military order that is difficult to distinguish between true and false, and what is the dilemma that is difficult to solve?

However, for Cheng Nan's conceit, everyone already knew it, and this time the opponent was Li Jiangyao, who was famous all over the world and had meritorious contributions to the Holy Tang Dynasty, so no one wanted to talk about it and make it unhappy for themselves or the Zhenjiang army.

Okay, you say you're brilliant and foolproof, so do it. Anyway, whether the surname Li or the surname Cheng is in this world is already chaotic at the moment, and we can only wait and see as soldiers to eat food.

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.

Cheng Wen was also very happy when she heard that the Zhenjiang Army immediately stopped continuing its westward advance because of the warning issued by her younger brother Cheng Nan. Although she was also worried about Li Jiangyao's scheming and whether there would be any other conspiracy, the effect of military deterrence really satisfied her: the strength of the 120,000 White Tiger army should not be underestimated, and even the invincible Zhenjiang army had to be treated with caution, so wouldn't the situation in the future be more beneficial to herself?

However, Cheng Dong, the only sane elder brother of the Cheng family, did not think so.

After looking at Cheng Nan's military deployment, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart: his younger brother's current planning and deployment is still one word in the final analysis-fear.

What is deliberate, what lures the enemy to advance, is all nonsense. Cheng Nan was not only worried that the Tongguan fortress would not be able to stop the pace of the Zhenjiang army going west, but also that the eastern capital Luoyi would be fiercely attacked by Li Jiangyao, so he came up with such a bad idea of shrinking the number of troops and allocating them evenly.

This kind of stupid trick of taking care of one thing and losing the other, but if Li Jiangyao gets serious, he can't run away from either of the two places, and he has to be dumpled by the Zhenjiang army. At that time, even if I want to lead troops to rescue, I am afraid it will be useless.

For this reason, he hurriedly sent a letter to Cheng Nan, asking the other party to make adjustments as soon as possible, or make up his mind to temporarily abandon the eastern capital Luoyi, and the entire army immediately concentrated on Tongguan, with its back to the Guanzhong Road, and could retreat or get the support of the imperial capital at any time. Or, set up two or three strategic fulcrums between Luoyi and Tongguan to form an angle with each other to form a complete defensive network in order to resist Li Jiangyao's hard break.

It's a pity that Cheng Dong's letter was still a step too slow, and after a short period of weakness, the Zhenjiang army suddenly made a big move.

On the third day of the first month of October, that is, the day after the imperial capital received Cheng Nan's report, the 40,000 light cavalry of the Ninth Army of the Wild Sand ran 600 miles overnight, directly penetrating Lingbao County in Shaanzhou, located in the east of Tongguan, and immediately blocked all the main roads leading to Luoyi, and all military order information exchanges were interrupted.

In the early morning of the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, an assault detachment composed of 3,000 ghost-faced white-robed troops, disguised as Cheng Nan's reinforcements, attacked Tongguan by surprise. The defenders of the pass didn't even have time to sound the alarm, and they directly lost the city gate. The main force of the defenders hurriedly assembled and launched an armed confrontation with the white-robed army, but they did not dare to launch a counterattack and recapture the city pass. At noon, 20,000 iron horsemen of the First Army of the Wind arrived; Around evening, the main force of the Second Army of Agni also arrived at Tongguan, and the general Du Jian officially took over the fortress.

On the same day, more than 100,000 soldiers and horses of the three regiments of Boulder, Fulang, and Cold Wave arrived in the southern suburbs of the eastern capital with great fanfare to carry out this year's routine conventional military exercises, codenamed "Gultis".

Gultis is a Western Xinjiang language that means: an apprentice who has not yet been discharged. The taste of ridicule for Cheng Nan is self-evident.

The next day, before Cheng Nan and the others recovered from their panic, Xingluocang in the east of Luoyi was occupied by the Zhenjiang army, and Li Jiangyao cut off the military supply of the eastern capital in the name of "borrowing grain".

In three days, people mistakenly thought that the Zhenjiang Army, which was honestly squatting in Xuzhou and waiting for the new instructions of the imperial court, actually attacked in multiple ways, concealed raids, and raised their hands to defeat Cheng Nan and the White Tiger Army, who were still triumphant.

Tongguan was taken in one fell swoop without bloodshed, and the main force of Zhenjiang was deterred in the east, and Lingbao County in the west and Xingluocang in the east all fell into the hands of Li Jiangyao overnight.

The 60,000 white tigers in Luoyi City couldn't move at all.

They can't move, and they don't dare to move.

At this time, if you lead the army out of the city to challenge the other party, there is almost no other result except for a beating.

Cheng Nan was also completely stunned at this time. It wasn't that he didn't completely consider the possibility of Li Jiangyao's deception, but he never imagined that hundreds of thousands of troops could act so covertly and quickly.

The cruelty and horror of war are sometimes not only reflected in bloody killings, but also in the ruthless reality.

The battle-hardened Zhenjiang generals and the Zhenjiang powerhouse 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 rebels of Western Xinjiang, the brave and tenacious Turkic iron cavalry, and the Jiangnan rebels who are also good at fighting. And you, not enough qualifications.

Not qualified, the most ruthless slap in the face, the most merciless contempt.

"What's next?" Cheng Nan finally let go of his pride and asked about several legion generals around him.

Everyone, you look at me, I look at you, and after waiting for a long time, someone whispered: "It's best to ...... Or stick to Luoyi. ”

"Yes, yes, yes, stick to the top, stick to the top."

"That's right! Li Jiangyao absolutely did not dare to attack the eastern capital. As long as we don't go out, how can he bear me? ”

Cheng Nan looked at everyone blankly, and said depressedly: "But if they are allowed to go west smoothly like this, threatening the safety of the imperial capital and Niangniang, how can we explain to the imperial court?" ”

The adjutant general hesitated for a moment, and said in a deep voice: "Great Commander, if we blindly go out of the city to pursue and intercept the Zhenjiang army, in case we mistakenly hit Li Jiangyao in an ambush, then what should we do?" ”

Another general also hurriedly said, "Yes, Grand Commander." The White Tiger Legion is your team, and it is also the power of the queen's descendants, once it is lost in vain, it will be a big disadvantage. ”

"What do you mean...... Whatever? Cheng Nan asked in surprise.

"It's not that it doesn't matter," the adjutant general comforted: "Great Commander, we can let the Zhenjiang army go over for the time being." If they really have ill intentions towards the emperor, then when the forbidden army army resists their attack, the White Tiger Army will cover up from behind, and it will not be able to protect the emperor and queen and win a complete victory? ”