After Chen Tianhua's Southern Army captured Kaifeng Fucheng, it formed a comprehensive siege of Zhili Prefecture-Zhengzhou.

Zhengzhou is one of the centers of the entire Central Plains. It is an important transportation thoroughfare and strategic location. In order to learn from the lessons of Kaifeng Prefecture's burning of the city, the Southern Army General Staff Headquarters decided to capture Luoyang City first.

Luoyang City is also a famous historical city. Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty and later Zhou Dynasty established their capitals here. It is the capital city of Henan Prefecture and has jurisdiction over ten counties including Yiyang and Mianchi.

This is one of the main rice producing areas in Henan Province.

The General Staff Headquarters decided that the commander of the Right Route Army would personally lead more than 40,000 elite troops into the area under the jurisdiction of Henan Prefecture and wipe out all the counties surrounding Luoyang City.

In this way, the Central Plains War will begin again.

The original siege force of Luoyang City was the Hunan Army general Jiao Dafeng. He had three brigades and about 20,000 Southern troops as the main force.

After Luo Erhu swept through the counties surrounding Luoyang City, he joined forces with Jiao Dafeng and prepared to completely surround Luoyang City and completely isolate it.

The original Hunan Army under Jiao Dafeng was of the same clan, while the other two brigades were expanded and were composed of a large number of mixed soldiers, that is, the People's Liberation Army, and their combat strength was relatively weak.

Most of the 40,000 soldiers and horses led by Luo Erhu are mainly officers from Zhejiang and Hubei. They have been carefully cultivated for many years and have been with him for many years. They are the best choice in terms of combat power and morale.

"General Da Feng, when will Luoyang City be captured?" Luo Erhu frowned and stared at Luoyang City standing in front of him.

The Great Qing Panlong flag and Zhang Zishuai flag flying on the city looked particularly dazzling.

Jiao Dafeng smiled silently and said in a deep voice:

"General, Your Excellency Commander, Luoyang has always been a battleground for military strategists. The city is strong and dangerous. Since Zhang Biao retreated here from Xiaogan and Xinyang, he has been operating in Luoyang for another year and a half, and the city defense has been greatly strengthened.

."

"He has learned from the experience and lessons of the city's defense losses in the past, and he has enough troops and sufficient reserves of food, grass and equipment. If he fights hard, he will not be sure of the end. The tactics are as follows: attack ten times, encircle five times, and now at the end

Even if the general besieges the city, he still has more than enough ambition but not enough power!"

Luo Erhu said with some dissatisfaction:

"Brother Da Feng, although you are young, you can still be considered a veteran. We have been fighting in Yu Province for more than a year and a half. The only ones left on the right are Luoyang City and Zhengzhou. We have spent a lot of food, grass and luggage, but the progress is slow.

, look at the Luo Longyun Division of the Left Route Army, they fought vigorously, they captured Shangqiu, and then defeated Kaifeng Fucheng, the scenery is endless."

"I heard that the commander-in-chief is quite dissatisfied with our progress on the right. You can see that he is not willing to come over to see us, which fully illustrates the problem. The Northern Army has lost troops and generals in the Central Plains. Now only these two major cities are left. How can they still

How many men and horses are there? Zhang Biao is guarding Luoyang. The main force is 30,000 men, which can be considered as high as the sky!"

Facing the scolding from the commander of the Right Army, Jiao Dafeng's face was full of grievances. His heart skipped a beat, and a flash of light suddenly flashed in his mind, as if he remembered something.

He just opened his mouth, but before the words came out, Luo Erhu roughly blocked him back, "Brother Da Feng, it's a good thing that you are steady, but if you go too far, you become more steady and less aggressive. Too much

Learn from Luo Longyun on the left. He is also a young general. You see, how fast he has improved, and he is almost above my head. I hope you can capture Luoyang City as soon as possible."

Luo Erhu's words were a little vinegary.

"But General..." Jiao Dafeng didn't say a few words before he was interrupted by Luo Erhu, "Okay, okay, I also know your difficulties. Tomorrow I will lead the army to attack Zhang Biao's cousin's headquarters.

Expelling them from Henan Prefecture, all contact between Luoyang City and the outside world will be cut off. He will no longer receive any external assistance. He is an isolated city. If General Jiao still fails to capture it, then Commander-in-Chief

But you have to question the general’s ability!”

Seeing Luo Erhu riding away, Jiao Dafeng had a bitter look on his face.

Is there anything so easy to fight in Luoyang City?

Kaifeng Mansion suffered heavy losses, and the commander was so heartbroken that he didn't want to do anything without it.

The same applies here. If we don't add 10,000 to 20,000 lives, it will be impossible to conquer it.

The current coach in the city is not the ambitious and talented Yin Zhiping, but the wily and experienced Zhang Biao, who is an old rival of the Southern Army.

Over the years, Zhang Biao had fought against the Confederate Army several times, and he had become very good at it. He had a very clear understanding of the Confederate Army's siege tactics, and he was very familiar with the defensive battles, almost to the point of proficiency.

The deputy next to him, Major General Ai Jiaxin, asked hesitantly: "General Jiao, are we really going to fight?"

Jiao Dafeng snorted, "General Ai and Commander Luo have said so. What will happen if you don't fight? Give it a try. Give it a try! Maybe it is as the Commander said, Zhang Biao is at the end of his game, so he said

It may not be worn as soon as you poke it."

A few days later, 40,000 elite Southern troops led by Luo Erhu attacked Zhang Biao's subordinate Zhang Asan's troops.

Zhang Asan saw that something was not going well and immediately led his troops to flee and retreat into Nanyang City.

At this point, Luoyang City finally became a completely isolated city.

Just when Zhang Asan's troops were forced to retreat, Jiao Dafeng immediately launched an offensive against Luoyang City.

After three consecutive days of brutal siege, fierce artillery fire and several mounted attacks, all the outer defense lines under Luoyang City were destroyed.

The war advanced to the gates of Luoyang City.

"General Jiao, we can attack the city directly tomorrow!" Ai Jiaxing pointed at the tall city in front of him, "Zhang Biao is nothing more than that!"

There was no joy on Jiao Dafeng's face. After three consecutive days of fierce fighting, his troops suffered casualties of more than 2,000 soldiers, and the result was that they only advanced to the city walls.

And he always intuitively believed that Zhang Biao's combat power should not be like this. The outer defense line seemed to be the opponent's intention to resist and retreat step by step.

Why do you feel this way?

Jiao Dafeng himself couldn't figure it out for a moment. Maybe when he surrounded and annihilated Zhang Asan and other northern troops, the combat effectiveness of his troops was a notch lower than the opponents he encountered today.

Logically speaking, Zhang Biao has worked hard for decades, and his direct subordinates should never lose to Zhang Asan in combat power.

"Tomorrow, let's try fighting first!" Jiao Dafeng raised his riding whip, nodded at the head of the opposite city, and said cautiously.

He could only test it cautiously.

Annihilate one thousand enemies and lose eight hundred to yourself. This kind of strategy of losing troops and generals is not advocated by Commander-in-Chief Chen Tianhua. So what if you take Luoyang Fucheng? If he doesn't appreciate something, no matter how hard you try, it will be useless.

In Luoyang City, Zhang Biao was humming a ditty and enjoying the singing and dancing of several singers. His face did not show the pressure of the army. Luoyang had become a lonely city.

In the past three days, while resisting, he had withdrawn the main force of the peripheral defense line step by step into the city. The performance of the soldiers was still satisfactory, at least they did not arouse the suspicion of the opponent's general.

Commander-in-Chief Duan Gong's plan was to close the gap and defeat at least part of the Southern Army's right or left army in order to reverse the passive situation on the battlefield in the Central Plains.
Chapter completed!