The father-in-law knows that he is unfilial to his son-in-law. As the old fox Wang Shichong expected, the treacherous father-in-law would definitely send a messenger out of the city to Luokoucang to contact Wang Xuanying. Chen Sangliang indeed ordered the night army to deliberately relax some precautions. Even if he found that a messenger had left the city, he deliberately did not stop him. He deliberately asked the messenger of the Zheng army to touch the blockade line of the Sui army and rolled and crawled to the east.

It was confirmed that there were indeed messengers in the city that left the city overnight. Chen Sang was determined to make a big decision and immediately set up an eastward plan. He decided to personally lead 35,000 troops to attack Hulao Pass and Luokou Cang in the east, so that Yuan Tiangang and Qu Tutong would lead the rear army to continue to siege Luoyang Imperial City, and continue to build the unfinished siege fortifications. He also explained that once the enemy was out of the city and counterattacked, he would never send troops to fight, just close the camp and protect himself.

Yuan Tiangang and Qu Tutong both advised Chen Sangliang 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 strong passes to defend. The troops brought by Chen Sangliang were really stretched in the use of troops. At the same time, even though the main force of the Sui army suffered certain losses in the three major battles, it also added two partial divisions, Liu Heita and Qin Qiong, and the total strength was still more than 90,000. Even if Chen Sangliang sent tens of thousands of troops to the Eastern Front, the strength of the rear army was enough to trap Wang Shichong to death in the imperial city.

Chen Sangliang declined the kindness of the accomplices such as Yuan Tiangang and Qu Tutong, because the two partial divisions Liu Heita and Qin Qiong fought one after another, and the soldiers were exhausted and their injuries were very serious, and their combat effectiveness was greatly affected. At the same time, the main force of the Sui army is not in the best state now. While always guarding against Wang Shichong, he also had to take on the heavy responsibility of escorting grain, guarding the camp and urging the people to build fortifications. The pressure was no less than attacking Hulao Pass and Luokou Cang. Therefore, Chen Sangliang insisted on leaving most of the troops to surround Luoyang, and also left Liu Heita and Qin Qiong, the two tired troops, on the battlefield of Luoyang, allowing them to undertake the relatively easy task of guarding the camp, giving the tired soldiers under their command a chance to rest.

As for the generals going to fight, the rebellious Luo Shixin and Chen Sangliang must certainly bring him with him to rest assured- otherwise Yuan Tiangang and Qu Tutong would not be able to submit to him, and Wang Fubao, who was good at fighting assaults, must also bring him with him. Yuchi Jingde, Mulan, Qiu Xinggong, Shi Wanbao, Yin Kaishan and the generals of the National Army also accompanied the army, supplemented by Feng Deyi and Sun Fujia and other civil officials. In addition, Chen Sangliang unexpectedly called the newly surrendered general Xu Shiji to the army, and specially selected more than 500 newly surrendered Zheng soldiers from the prisoners of war to accompany them, and handed these newly surrendered soldiers to Xu Shiji commander.

There is also a banner problem. Originally, Chen Sangliang planned to let Yuan Tiangang and Qu Tutongxu use their own banner to intimidate the enemy, but he used Qu Tutong's banner to go to the eastern front to cheat. However, considering that he would definitely be suspicious no matter what he did, Chen Sangliang simply came to a banner of Tang Wang who was unchanging and swaggeringly attacked the Tang Dynasty flag that was swaying and swaying. The rear army only established the banner of Yuan Tiangang and Qu Tutong. In fact, it was real, and it was empty, so that the cunning father-in-law could suspicion.

Not to mention, Chen Sangliang's move really made the fake Zheng court think a lot. When he saw the Sui army's partial army advancing west under the banner of Chen Sangliang on the city wall, let alone the treacherous Wang Shichong, even many civil and military officials of the fake Zheng court were full of suspicion, doubting whether Chen Sangliang had led his army to leave the battlefield in Luoyang - there was no way, Chen Sangliang's reputation in this regard was too bad. Therefore, when Wang Renze, Zhang Tonger and Dong Rui and other reckless men suggested taking the opportunity to go out of the city to counterattack, they were not only scolded by Wang Shichong, but their colleagues also warned: "Several generals, you can't be reckless. Chen thieves are scheming and are the best at using tricks. This is very suspicious that he personally led his army to leave the main battlefield. Our army must not attack easily. Once he fell into the trap, it would be too late to regret it!"

The enemy situation is unknown, and the Zheng army in Luoyang did not dare to launch a counterattack easily. Chen Sangliang, a naughty young man, ignored his head and tail, and rushed with more than 30,000 Sui army soldiers. He rushed to Yanshi in just one daytime and met with Li Keshi, a cousin who had only met a few times. After meeting, he told each other about the ceremony of uncle and nephew. Chen Sangliang immediately asked Li Keshi about the latest situation in Luokoucang and Hulao Pass. Li Keshi quickly said: "Report to your Highness, our scouts found out that not long ago, just this morning, the king's thief army had about 5,000 people suddenly moved from Hulao Pass to Luokoucang City."

"Wang Xuan should draw troops from Hulao Pass to the Luokou Cang City?" Chen Sangliang was overjoyed when he heard this and asked, "Why? Is there any reason for it?"

"No." Mr. Li shook his head and said in confusion: "The General is also wondering about this. For no reason, why would Wang Xuan make such adjustments? If he was a detective? Your Highness, you personally led the army to the east, and then he quickly transferred the army to strengthen the defense of Luokoucang. It would be too late to go? Your Highness, you just sent troops early this morning, how could he react this morning?"

"The old fox Wang Shichong was indeed fooled, and that boy Wang Xuanying was exactly the same as before. He obeyed his father's words and did not dare to disobey at all." Chen Sangliang was secretly happy and did not rush to explain the reason to his cousin. He just quickly asked about the current situation of the enemy's military subordinates in Hulao Pass and Luokou Cang.

Li Keshi replied truthfully, saying that Wang Shichong's eldest son Wang Xuanying was currently stationed in Luokou Cang, strengthening his troops and accepting the remnants of Zheng's army who fled back to Luo. After the total force was estimated to be 27,800, including about 4,000 cavalry, the main generals were Chen Zhiluo, Xibian, Guo Shizhu and Ge Yanzhang. The Hulao Pass was stationed by Wang Xuanying's deputy Yang Gongqing, with a force of about 12,300, and the number of cavalry was small. The main civil and military officials were Dai Zhou, Shen Yue, Wang Xingben, Pei Xiaoda and Zhang Sheng. Among them, Wang Xingben was also Wang Shichong's nephew, and was named King Jing, but he had no battlefield experience and could not entrusted the important task, so Wang Xuanying let the experienced general Yang Gongqing serve as the chief general of Hulao Pass.

The primary target of Hulao Pass is not as much as that of Luokoucang, which of course makes Chen Sangliang even more happy. However, the solid city of Hulao Pass is placed there, and even fewer guards are not so easy to deal with. At the same time, the 12,300 defenders are also a force that cannot be ignored. Therefore, Chen Sangliang did not dare to be careless at all, and decided to draw 4,000 troops from the Yanshi garrison to join the war to strengthen his somewhat insufficient troops. At the same time, he also rewarded Hao Xiaode, a surrendered general who followed Li Keshi here to participate in the war.

After all this was arranged, the Sui Army's partial division, which had only ten days of food and grass, crossed the Luoshui the next day and drove to Luokoucang. The Zheng army scout reported the situation to Wang Xuanying. Wang Xuanying did not dare to be negligent. He immediately ordered the whole city to be martial law, closed the four gates to prepare for battle, and deployed the four gates early. Then in the afternoon, the Sui army troops indeed arrived at the Luokoucang city. Wang Xuanying hurriedly climbed the city wall to observe the Sui army's camp establishment situation.

Wang Xuanying did not see the Sui army establishing a camp. On the contrary, he saw that the Sui army soldiers had just arrived at the banks of the Shizi River and immediately started to build multiple floating bridges on the river, as if they were about to cross the Shizi River immediately. Wang Xuanying saw Daqi and said in surprise: "Shen Shi is almost half over. Why didn't Chen thief hurry up and build a pontoon bridge? Is it not convenient for him to attack Luokoucang?"

"Is Chen Thief really the target of Luokoucang?" Guo Shizhu said suspiciously: "If you want to attack Luokoucang, he must place the camp west of Shizihe River. He immediately crossed the river as soon as he arrived at Luokoucang. No matter how you look, he doesn't look like he is preparing to attack Luokoucang?"

"Will the real target of the Tang thief is Hulao Pass?" Chen Zhiliu, some Chen Sangliang's family, who likes to be quainted with words, saw the trick and said, "Take the opposite way, bypass Luokou Cang first to get Hulao Pass, and after success, it will form a closed door and fight against tigers. Turn around and attack Luokou Cang?"

Hearing Chen Zhiluo's words, Wang Xuanying was a little shaken, but after thinking about it carefully, he shook his head and said, "No, our army made a detailed report. The Chen thief's army brought not many supplies this time. If he went directly to attack Hulao Pass, if he could not fight for a long time, it would be in a hurry. If we nailed it to his food channel, it would be difficult for him to replenish food and grass. Besides, his father has found out that Chen thief's real target this time is Luokoucang, and it is absolutely impossible for Hulao Pass. His father will not be wrong."

After discussing for a long time, I couldn't guess Chen Sangliang's real intention. Wang Xuanying simply responded to the changes with the unchanging situation. He sat down and watched the Sui army cross the river, waiting for his brother-in-law to take a new move before deciding how to deal with it. As a result, the Sui army troops actually crossed the Shizi River that day. In the evening, they set up a temporary camp ten miles east of the Shizi River to spend the night. Then a general of the Zheng army proposed to rob the camp at night. However, Wang Xuanying remembered his father's order to stick to Luokoucang, and was afraid that this was a treacherous brother-in-law's plan to lure the enemy, so he flatly refused.

Wang Xuanying regretted his decision the next day. The next morning, nearly 40,000 Sui troops continued to open to Hulao Pass under the leadership of Chen Sangliang. They arrived at Hulao Pass without much time and set up camp at a location five miles away from the gate. The scout reported the news to Wang Xuanying. Wang Xuanying was stunned and suddenly fell into a dilemma. Let's attack, not only give his brother-in-law the opportunity to fight in the field, but also have to violate his father's order to defend the city and not fight. If Hulao Pass falls, Luokoucang will be completely isolated and helpless. The reinforcements that Dou Jiande will send can no longer be able to directly reach Luoyang City to rescue the siege. In a dilemma, Wang Xuanying, who is very ordinary, is completely helpless.

When Wang Xuan was in a dilemma, Chen Sangliang could not wait to come to the city of Hulao Pass to peek at the enemy situation. He found that Hulao Pass had indeed taken certain precautions against the gunpowder explosion tactics of his own army. He built a sheep and horse wall under the city to prevent the pointed wooden donkey from approaching the city wall. At the same time, he deepened the moat, installed yaksha sieves and built a large number of red-repelling deer antlers, and tried every means to prevent the Sui army from siegeing weapons from approaching the city wall. The defense was very tight. If he attacked head-on, Chen Sangliang, who did not carry heavy artillery this time, was as sure as last time.

Looking at the solid fortifications in Hulao Pass and frowned, Chen Sangliang called Xu Shiji who was accompanying him and asked him: "General Xu, remember that Li Mi relied on the tunnel to seize Hulao Pass. How many tunnels did he dig?"

"As long as I know, it's one." Xu Shiji replied truthfully: "But that tunnel leads to the east gate of Hulao Guan. After succeeding, Li Mi ordered that the tunnel be refilled so as not to be reused by the enemy."

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Chapter completed!