I

In order to avoid adding fuel to the tactics and actually being besieged by the enemy for reinforcements, the army led by Fei Ruhe did not arrive in Tianjin until a full month later.

During this period, they have been gathering troops in Bazhou.

The four divisions of Fei Ruhe, Huang Shun, Wan Sitong, and Li Dingguo joined forces, plus some peasant troops, and there were 50,000 people capable of fighting. There are also a large number of people and boats arriving here continuously from Huitong River and the Grand Canal.

The Huitong River in the late Ming Dynasty first flowed into the Triangle Lake and then connected with the Grand Canal.

Including civilians, more than 100,000 people camped between Triangle Lake and the Grand Canal, where Li Zicheng had camped before.

There is the Sanjiang Lake in the north, the Grand Canal in the south, and the small river connecting the Sanjiang Lake and the Grand Canal in the east. It is a narrow strip of seven or eight miles from north to south and dozens of miles from east to west.

If Li Zicheng and Hauge wanted to fight, they could either attack from the Triangle Lake or the Grand Canal. It would be easiest to cross the small river to the east.

The war is at a complete stalemate!

Due to the terrain, whoever attacks will suffer. Li Zicheng and Hauge could only continue to fill the river with soil and bombard the city wall. Moreover, before the Wei River and Hai River were filled up, they had to shell from the outside. The distance was too far, and whether they could hit the city wall depended on God's will.

"Your Majesty, we cannot continue fighting like this," Dashun General Dang Shousu said. "The puppet military rations can be easily transported from the south along the Grand Canal. We don't have much food in Hebei, so the military rations have to be transported from Shanxi. Come on. If the stalemate continues for a few months, we will run out of food."

Zhang Nai said: "Your Majesty, why don't you secretly lead the cavalry and go around Bazhou and Baoding County (northwest of Wen'an). With all the puppet troops in Hebei coming out, Bazhou will definitely be empty!"

Yuan Zongdi said: "No matter how empty Bazhou is, there are still thousands of defenders. How can your cavalry defeat them?"

Zhang Nai said: "If Bazhou cannot be conquered, we will attack Yuanjiakou between Bazhou and Baoding County. It is extremely important there. If we capture Yuanjiakou, we can cut off the connection between Bazhou, Baoding and Tianjin."

Yuanjiakou was originally called Jiakou Village and was built by Chai Rong to resist the Khitans.

Yang Yanlang, the inspector general of the Song Dynasty, sent school captain Yuan Gui to garrison Jiakou Village and built hidden stakes in the water to train troops. Jiakou Village was later renamed Yuanjiakou.

In the story of the Yang family generals, Xiyingpan, where Yang Liulang stationed troops, is not far to the west of Yuanjiakou.

As long as there is no confusion in this kind of battleground for military strategists, how can they not send troops to garrison it?

Li Zicheng shook his head and said: "Yuankou Pass is easy to defend but difficult to attack. The waterway is convenient and it is not far or near. It is probably a place where the puppet army hoards food and grass. If you lead the cavalry to attack, even if you can capture Bazhou, you will not be able to capture Yuanjiakou." .”

"To win in danger, you have to give it a try." Zhang Nai said.

Li Zicheng had no other solution, so he had to say: "If you want to go, just take two thousand riders with you. Any more will easily expose your whereabouts. If you can capture Yuankou Pass and burn all the food there, half of the battle will be won." .”

Afraid of being discovered by the Datong navy in Triangle Lake, Zhang Nai led two thousand cavalry and retreated to the vicinity of Yangcun before crossing the Feng River to the west.

Zhang Nai resupplied grain and grass in Dong'an County, and then crossed the Hun River to Yongqing.

Yongqing also belonged to Li Zicheng's territory. After a little supply, he moved south to Xin'an Town. Prepare to cross Huitong River quietly at night, and then kill Yuanjiaou unexpectedly.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!"

Not far from Xin'an Town, Zhang Nai looked ugly. He collided with the Datong Dragoon, and the Dragoon directly blew the warning horn.

"Eat it!"

Zhang Nai gave an order and rushed forward with the Dashun cavalry. He has two thousand cavalry under his command, but the dragoons in front of him only have a few dozen cavalry.

Those dragoons turned around and ran away, unwilling to engage the enemy at all, and they blew their horns as they ran.

After chasing two miles south, the number of dragoons suddenly increased.

However, in order to protect the army supplies, Fei Ruhe left a group of dragoons here and would go out every day to explore the enemy's situation.

The general in charge of the cavalry was Jiang Yu, who surrendered first to Li Zicheng and then to Dorgon. During the Henan War, he took his servant cavalry and voluntarily surrendered to the Datong Army. In order to cover the Datong Army, he withstood Wu Sangui's cavalry charge. Even his own brother was killed on the spot.

Today, Jiang Yu is the commander of the cavalry regiment, shouldering the important task of protecting military rations.

Zhang Nai sounded an order to signal the entire army to stop the pursuit.

However, Jiang Quan took the initiative to ride forward and shouted with a smile: "Who is our old friend across from you? Why don't you surrender to my Datong court?"

The distance was too far for Zhang Nai to hear clearly.

At this moment, these Datong dragoons only gathered more than 800 riders, but they took the initiative to approach 2,000 Dashun cavalry.

"Withdraw Yongqing!"

Zhang Nai clearly had the advantage in troops, but he directly ordered a retreat.

Because the Datong Dragoons have been blowing their horns all the time, who knows how many there are nearby.

Both sides chased and fled, Zhang Nai successfully withdrew into Yongqing City, and Jiang Yu had no choice but to suspend his troops and return to Bazhou.

Over in Tianjin, the confrontation is still going on.

Zhang Nai returned to the Dingzigu camp and said with a depressed look on his face: "Your Majesty, the boy did not complete the military order. Just after passing Xin'an Town, he encountered the puppet cavalry. Bazhou and Yuanjiakou must be heavily guarded."

"It makes sense, I don't blame you," Li Zicheng frowned. "I received a report from Liu Zongmin this morning. He led his men to attack Xin'an but also failed. The Hebei defense line of the pseudo-communists is very particular. Some scholars said a few days ago, The front line of defense for the pseudo-communists was the Great Water Wall of the Song Dynasty.”

"Great Water Wall?" Zhang Nai heard about it for the first time.

Li Zicheng nodded and said: "It is the Great Water Wall, used to defend the Khitans."

The so-called Great Water Wall is to dig river embankments and divert river water to connect the swamps in Hebei. They also set up hidden piles in the water to block the passage of ships and prevent the Khitan army from going south.

When the Qing Dynasty withdrew to Liaodong, Zhao Han did not send cavalry to attack and seize Beijing because Beijing was difficult to defend.

Today, the Hebei defense line of the Datong Army roughly coincides with the Great Water Wall of the Northern Song Dynasty. But some of the land has changed, swamps have turned into farmland, rivers and lakes, and some rivers have fully formed.

Basically, troops were stationed at strategic locations along rivers for defense.

If Li Zicheng wants his army to move south, he must attack them one by one. No matter where he attacks, he will have to pay a price. Or like now, join forces with the Eight Banners of the Manchu Qing Dynasty to annihilate the main force of the Datong Army!

The confrontation continued for a month and a half. Li Zicheng tried various means and even pretended to be tempted, but Fei Ruhe did not order the pursuit.

Why chase?

In Fei Ruhe's eyes, the battlefield situation was very clear.

The enemy has more soldiers, but you have fewer soldiers. But the enemy's food route is longer and has to be transported from Shanxi and Liaodong. With two large rivers at its back, ships can be used to transport military supplies at any time, and the consumption during transportation of food is far less than that of the enemy.

Then consume it slowly. Whoever's military rations cannot last will definitely show flaws first.

Anyway, I am bordered by a lake to the north, a canal to the south, and a small river to the east. If the enemy wants to die, he can cross the river and attack him. It will be more comfortable to strike halfway across the river every time.

"Captain, there's something strange happening with the Tatars!"

Fei Ruhe said: "Let's raise the hot air balloon and observe the enemy's situation."

A hot air balloon slowly rose into the sky, pulled by a rope, and floated over the battlefield.

Each hot air balloon can last up to 25 minutes. Several hot air balloons rotate, one is about to fall, and the other rises. As long as there is enough fuel, it can last a whole day.

"It's that kind of ascending ball again. I don't know how it flew up." Hauge rode his horse and looked up at the sky in front of him.

During these days of confrontation, the hot air balloon has taken off many times.

Although it is only used to observe the battlefield, every time it takes off, it will bring a morale blow to the enemy. Some Dashun and Manchu soldiers felt that the thing was a divine object, and the Emperor of Datong must have been blessed by the gods.

More than twenty minutes later, the first hot air balloon landed, and the observer came to report: "Captain, the Tatars have returned to the south again, and they seem to want to confront our army across the river."

"They don't feel tired even after running around." Fei Ruhe said with a smile.

The Manchu and Qing army returned to their original encampment. In order to prevent themselves from being dumped, they had to send thousands of cavalry to the south and west for more than ten miles to investigate.

Hauge was also helpless. If he didn't come back, let alone fight, he wouldn't even be able to see the Datong Army.

As long as he comes back, he might be able to attack from both sides with Li Zicheng.

The siege of the city and the reinforcements were considered a complete failure at this level.

Datong reinforcements arrived, but they were not in a hurry. They camped seven or eight miles away from Tianjin and had no intention of rescue at all. Because there is no need to save, Tianjin is not in danger at all. This city is too difficult to defeat.

From the day the Datong Navy took control of Triangle Lake, Li Zicheng and Hauge had been in a passive situation, and all the favorable terrain was occupied by the Datong Army. They didn't even dare to take the initiative and intercept Fei Ruhe's reinforcements halfway. That was their only chance to win.

On both sides of the canal, shelling continued every day, and sentries ran back and forth every day.

Both sides were preparing for the enemy to cross the river, and they were always planning to send small groups of troops across the river for sneak attacks.

Another half month passed.

Mandahai said to Hauge: "Withdraw your troops. If Tianjin cannot be defeated, then Fei Ruhe belongs to the tortoise. The camp is getting stronger and stronger, and more trenches and earth walls are being dug. If this continues, even if we are allowed to cross the river safely, Attacking a camp is the same as attacking a fortress. If we continue to delay, the rainy season in western Liaoning will be here, and it will be even more difficult to transport military rations. By then, we will definitely be defeated due to lack of food."

"After spending so much money and food, this trip will be in vain?" Hauge was very unwilling.

Man Dahai asked back: "Otherwise, what else can you do? Can you defeat Tianjin City, or can you destroy the Nanmanzi on the other side of the river?"

Hauge said: "How about dividing the troops and attacking Jinghai County first?"

Man Dahai asked: "How much do you allocate to fight? If you allocate less, we won't be able to defeat them. If we allocate more, there will be fewer soldiers here, so Fei Ruhe will definitely take action."

Hauge said: "Set up many empty camps and quietly divide your troops to leave. You can deceive the opponent for at least a few days."

Man Dahai said: "The Southern Barbarians have a flying ball. If you stand in the sky and look with a telescope, can you tell that your camps are all empty? Even if you can't tell, can you guarantee that Jinghai County will be captured in a few days?"

Fei Ruhe's use of troops is quite like Xu Da's.

At that time, Wang Baobao had 100,000 troops and was stationed in Taiyuan. Xu Da captured two strongholds and was busy building camps without any signs of a decisive battle.

It has always been a waste of time and military rations, which makes Wang Baobao unable to sit still.

Wang Baobao then pretended to go to Dadu and lured Xu Da to send troops to rescue, hoping to have a fight with Xu Da halfway. As a result, Xu Da did not go to save Dadu at all, but went to attack Taiyuan, which Wang Baobao had just left.

Wang Baobao's siege and reinforcements became Xu Da's siege and reinforcements.

Wang Baobao quickly brought his troops back and wanted to fight Xu Da. Xu Da stopped moving again and concentrated on strengthening the camp.

Wang Baobao was so arrogant that he wanted to fight but could not win. Instead, he relaxed his vigilance and thought that Xu Da would remain in the camp.

Xu Da moved and sent troops to attack at night. Wang Baobao's tens of thousands of troops were wiped out overnight.

It's hard for Fei Ruhe to grasp the timing yet, but his patience is definitely comparable to Xu Da's. Do you want a decisive battle? Hehe, if I don’t move, I won’t move, I’ll disgust you to death!

Fei Ruhe did not move, but the Datong army in Henan moved, and the front was overwhelming!