I

Zuo Xiaocheng went to Liaodong once to send gifts to Dorgon on behalf of his lover.

However, no one in the Manchu Qing Dynasty wanted to see him. The traitors there were already in trouble, and they were always on guard against new traitors coming to power.

There was no good development in Liaodong, so Zuo Xiaocheng immediately returned to Chahar.

Although he slept with the wife of the leader of Chahar, he really did not suffer any hostility. The main reason is that Zuo Xiaocheng is good at making friends and can get food from Zhangjiakou. Although there is not much food, it still makes the nobles of Chahar tribe very happy.

By the way, the wool of the Chahar tribe was also purchased by Zuo Xiaocheng and given to Cao Fengji for trafficking to the south.

Cao Fengji transported back salt and tea and asked Zuo Xiaocheng to sell some to the Chahar tribe.

After going back and forth, Zuo Xiaocheng was particularly respected, and he was worshiped everywhere in the Chahar tribe. During this war, he also volunteered to go south with the troops.

Dai Qin was startled, looked around, and whispered, "Do you have a way?"

Zuo Xiaocheng said: "Yes, one of my clan brothers is a minister in the Datong court. The minister is a very high official and can see the emperor at any time."

Dai Qin doubted: "If the Qing Dynasty wins, Dorgon will take revenge on our Chahar tribe."

"The Manchus cannot win," Zuo Xiaocheng asked, "Do you know how many soldiers there are in the Datong court?"

"I don't know." Dai Qin shook his head.

Zuo Xiaocheng said: "The Datong Army has seventeen divisions, each with 10,000 troops. There are also other independent battalions, independent brigades, independent regiments, and garrison units, totaling 200,000 people. These 200,000 soldiers , no farming, no grazing, just training and fighting. They have to train every day and only rest three or five days a month."

Dai Qin was stunned. There were 200,000 soldiers, and they were still only engaged in fighting and training.

Zuo Xiaocheng added: "In addition to these 200,000 soldiers, the Datong court also has peasant soldiers. There are millions of soldiers who are engaged in farming and fighting."

Dai Qin swallowed. He couldn't imagine what an army of one million would look like.

Zuo Xiaocheng continued: "Although the Datong Army here is not as numerous as the Manchu Qing and Dashun. But there are Datong armies fighting in Henan and Liaodong. Now I am afraid they are all fighting against Dorgon and Li Zicheng's lair."

Dai Qin said nothing, weighing the gains and losses.

Zuo Xiaocheng fanned the flames and said: "The Chahar tribe is the tribe of the Mongol Khan. Although the Mongol Khan is dead, how could the Manchus and Qing Dynasties not be on guard? Have the Manchus and Qing Dynasties been suppressing Chahar in these years? In the past, Did the Mongolian tribes who surrendered to Chahar also follow the Manchus in suppressing Chahar? Whether it was the Manchus or the Mongolian tribes, who among them wanted to see the Chahar tribe become stronger again? If they did not surrender to the Datong court, and if things continued like this, Chahar would Does the Hal Division still have a chance to succeed?"

These words really touched Dai Qin.

Among all the Mongolian tribes in the outer vassals, the Chahar tribe is the most difficult. The Manchus were on guard, and so were other Mongolian tribes, fearing that the Chahar tribe would one day be revived.

Zuo Xiaocheng was still nagging: "How many of Chahar's warriors have died in battles over the years? How many of Chahar's pastures have been occupied? Ten, twenty, or thirty years from now, there will be no descendants of Chahar." The pasture is grazing!”

Suddenly, Dai Qin gritted his teeth and said, "Xiaocheng, I will listen to you. The Chahar tribe cannot continue like this!"

The reason why the surrender went so smoothly was because Zuo Xiaocheng told the truth.

Historically, even if the Manchus unified China, the Chahar tribe was eventually forced to rebel, and was dealt with extremely harshly after the rebellion was suppressed.

At that time, all the Chahar nobles were convicted and the Chahar leader was beheaded. The tribesmen were dispersed and migrated to other places to graze. It was also stipulated that the Chahar Banner was not included in the forty-nine banners of Mongolia, officials were not allowed to be hereditary, and affairs were not allowed to take care of themselves. Then, Mongolian herdsmen such as Barhu and Buryat were moved in and mixed with the Chahar tribe. The Chahar tribe was then forced to move westward to farm, changing from nomadic herding to farming.

The most powerful tribe in Mongolia was completely dismembered by the Qing Dynasty.

Dai Qin wanted to call all his subordinates to lecture him, but Zuo Xiaocheng stopped him and said: "There are many people with mixed eyes, so avoid leaking the news. It's not that I don't trust the Chahar warriors, but it is inevitable that someone will say the wrong thing. Just tell a few trustworthy people." Leader, at the critical moment of the war, give the Manchus a fatal blow!"

"good!"

Dai Qin summoned several nobles who led troops, followed Zuo Xiaocheng's words, and made these Chahar nobles filled with indignation on the spot.

They have been dissatisfied for a long time, like barrels filled with gunpowder that will explode if someone stirs them up.

So these nobles quietly told their cronies.

By the time they returned to the camp in Tianjin, more than half of the Chahar cavalry already knew that they were going to defect.

Zuo Xiaocheng, the spy, was not strict in his work.

But it doesn't matter. Although the Manchus and Qing Dynasties have deployed spies in Chahar, they still stay in the prairie. Those who came out to fight were all hard-working wage earners, just fighting for the Manchus.

…

Tianjin City Wall is twelve meters high.

And unlike when Zhao Han went south, both the north and south city walls collapsed and had long been repaired by the local officials and the people.

To the north is the Wei River and to the east is the Hai River. Due to the need for canal transport, there are no bridges on the river. Firstly, it is too troublesome to fill in the Haihe River and Weihe River. Secondly, after filling in the outside, there is still a moat inside. Moreover, the entire process of filling the river was within the attack range of the city defense artillery, making it an almost impossible task.

Li Zicheng and Hauge decisively gave up attacking the city from the east and north.

After allocating the battlefield, Li Zicheng attacked the west wall and Hauge attacked the east wall.

For several days, they were carrying soil to fill the river.

The attacker's artillery is more like cheering for the civilians. Because they wanted to besiege the city for reinforcements and had no real intention to capture Tianjin, they had to save their artillery and ammunition - the city wall was too high and thick and could not be destroyed in ten days and a half.

The real battle breaks out first in Triangle Lake!

During the Jiajing period, due to the continuous construction of canal dams, Yongding River, Daqing River, Juma River, Huangcha River, Wangjiatuo River, Juhe River, Yueshen River, Liudaokou River... a lot of rivers poured into the Triangle Lake. A large lake with a radius of dozens of miles is formed.

Also due to the regulation of water transportation, the Triangle Lake gradually dried up in the mid-Qing Dynasty.

Now, it has become the first battleground.

Whether it was Li Zicheng or Hauge, the ships collected or built along the way were thrown into Triangle Lake to fight against the Datong Navy.

Both sides are small boats, and it is really easy for a large ship to run aground.

Although Triangle Lake is very large, the water depth is less than three meters, and even less than one meter in some places.

As the commander of the Datong Navy, Gu Jianshan has not fought a war for a long time, and the fleet is basically helping to transport supplies. This is probably his last inland water battle. After the fight, he will either become a naval general or capture water bandits in the Yangtze River.

However, there have been no water bandits in the Yangtze River for a long time. It was all the result of Gujian Mountain being idle and bored, so they would sail out to suppress the bandits when they had nothing to do.

"Fire!"

Signals resembling fireworks rose into the sky among the reeds, and countless small boats rushed out upon hearing the sound.

Triangle Lake is just ten miles northwest of Tianjin City. The Datong Navy has been familiar with the terrain here for two years. But the soldiers of Dashun and Manchu Qing seemed to be in a maze, and they didn't even know where the ship was going.

Shallow lakes with lush aquatic plants, reeds and other aquatic plants sticking out of the water are everywhere!

What is more beneficial to the Datong navy is that Li Zicheng's troops come from the northwest and Hauge's troops come from the northeast. A bunch of landlubber troops are now engaged in a water war, and those who can swim are temporarily transformed into naval forces.

"Bang bang bang!"

The Datong Navy's small boat appeared like a ghost, quickly surrounded and annihilated the enemy, and immediately hid in the reeds after seizing the boat.

The whole fighting process was like beating a child.

Before Tianjin's moat had been filled in, Li Zicheng and Dorgon's soldiers were completely driven out of Triangle Lake.

"Your Majesty, we can't camp here anymore," Zhang Nai, the adopted son, advised. "We are all from the northwest. How can we beat the southerners in a water fight? Once the Sanjiang Lake is lost, the puppet reinforcements can just take the boat. Come here and arrive ten miles northwest of Tianjin via Triangle Lake. Behind our camp, there are dozens of miles of water, and puppet troops may attack at any time."

Li Guo, Tian Jianxiu and other Dashun generals stayed in Shanxi to defend against the Datong Army in Henan.

Liu Zongmin is in the north of Baoding, moving his camera.

Zhang Nai was the number one general who followed Li Zicheng and commanded all of Li Zicheng's cavalry.

"It's hard to get off the tiger!"

Li Zicheng was extremely depressed. His troops were coming to Tianjin, but there was a severe drought in the north and the Triangle Lake completely dried up and turned into a bathtub.

Although it was said in detail that there was a large lake near Tianjin, Li Zicheng never imagined that it was actually a large lake with a radius of dozens of miles.

If I had known this, I would have beaten up Tianjin!

There is a river to the north, a river to the east, and a lake to the northwest. Everywhere is disadvantageous to the attacker.

After thinking about it, Li Zicheng ordered: "Move the entire army to Dingzigu and burn the reeds on the east bank of the Triangle Lake. Burn the reeds that can be burned and cut off the reeds that cannot be burned. Build a fort on the bank and keep sentries on alert at all times. If there is any enemy, Fire immediately!"

Hauge was stunned when he received the news from Li Zicheng.

Brother, you are on the north side of the canal and I am on the south side. We have agreed to attack the city together and support each other when encountering puppet reinforcements. You said nothing and retreated to Dinggu. Why the hell am I still here? If the puppet reinforcements really come, I, the Manchu warrior, will be made a dumpling!

But Li Zicheng didn't dare to stay. Triangle Lake had been occupied by the Datong Army. As long as there are enough ships, the 10,000 Datong troops can sit in small boats and use the cover of reeds to appear behind Li Zicheng anytime and anywhere.

"Move to the east!" Hauge could only retreat.

Hauge not only wanted to withdraw to the east of the city, he even wanted to withdraw directly to Liaodong. What the hell kind of war was this?

If the west and south sides of Tianjin are set aside, where can we still count them as a siege? Reinforcements and grain can be continuously transported into Tianjin through the canal.

Li Zicheng withdrew to the north, and Hauge withdrew to the east. These were the two most difficult walls to attack. The Wei River and Hai River are enough for them to slowly fill in, and then they can fill in the moat.

Zhang Tieniu stood on the tower, looked at the moving enemy troops with a telescope, and suddenly laughed: "You are just kidding me."