I

"Rush over and light the tents everywhere!" Feiyanggu shouted, holding a torch.

There are many Jurchens with the same name. The Fei Yanggu in front of him is not the younger brother of Concubine Dong E. He is the son of Haha Na, the founder of the second and fourth generals of Xianghongqi. His father is Nurhaci's favorite general, and his mother is Nurhaci's niece.

After breaking through three trenches and climbing over three low walls, the Eight Banners soldiers encountered only sporadic resistance, while the Datong troops panicked and fled with one shot.

Fei Yanggu's blood was already boiling. The feeling of fighting with the Ming army finally came back at this moment!

Some of the 1,200-man night attack vanguard rushed towards the fourth trench, and some stopped to light torches with fire knives. The fourth trench was also easily breached, and the Eight Banners soldiers at the front were already heading towards the fifth trench.

"ah!"

"My feet!"

The Eight Banners soldiers who rushed into the fifth trench suddenly screamed repeatedly. But the trenches and narrow passages were actually filled with caltrops, which could be pierced even with boots.

Feiyanggu quickly stopped and shouted: "Take it away, take it away!"

There are holes in the center of the caltrops, which are strung together with ropes for easy placement and removal.

The momentum of the charge of the Eight Banners soldiers came to an abrupt end, and the soldiers who followed up caught up with torches, lighting up the trenches and collecting the caltrops. Collect them into a bunch and stack them in several places, leaving wounded soldiers to guard each place to remind the friendly forces behind not to step on them.

The sixth trench was already filled with firewood, and the Datong soldiers were pouring oil on the firewood.

Fei Yanggu crossed the low earth wall and led his troops to rush over. The Datong army hurriedly threw torches into the pile of firewood. The firewood in the trench was immediately ignited, but the fire was still relatively small. The Eight Banners soldiers fled into the trench and continued to rush forward on the flames.

"Bang bang bang!"

There is no trench in front, but there is an earth wall. Datong soldiers lie down behind the earth wall and shoot freely.

"There is an ambush, retreat quickly!" Fei Yanggu was shocked.

The caltrops and firewood may have been prepared long ago and thrown into the ditch temporarily in case of a night attack. But the firecrackers behind the earthen wall were obviously well prepared, and they definitely didn't look like they were being attacked at night.

At this moment, the follow-up troops sent by Mandahai, totaling more than 3,000 people, were approaching the first trench. They couldn't figure out what was going on. They only heard the scattered sound of gunfire from the front. They thought the Datong Army was stubbornly resisting, so they accelerated their speed and rushed in.

The two groups of Eight Banners soldiers met in the third trench.

Feiyanggu shouted: "Get back quickly, there is an ambush ahead!"

"Boom boom boom!"

The gunfire suddenly sounded, but it was fired towards the other side of the river, where Haug was trying to cross the river.

Whether it was Mandahai attacking from the west or Hauge attacking from the south, they would react when they heard the sound of gunfire. The Datong Army's position must have been prepared.

"woo woo woo woo!"

The trumpet sounded, and the two Tatar princes ordered their troops to retreat at the same time.

At this moment, in the northwest of Mandahai, hundreds of Datong sailors rowed small boats, carrying more than a thousand Datong troops, and lit torches in the reeds. Each person held four torches and landed ashore. Less than two thousand people surrounded and attacked, instantly creating a formation of nearly ten thousand people.

They stuck torches in the mud on the shore and shot at the main force of Mandahai from a distance. The distance is too far, it is impossible to hit, it is purely to scare people.

Mandahai was blowing the trumpet to withdraw his troops, and suddenly something like this came from behind, and the Eight Banners soldiers were frightened out of their wits.

"Go south and retreat along the Grand Canal!" Mandahai wanted to join forces with Hauge.

Although he guessed that the Datong Army was bluffing, Mandahai didn't dare to gamble at all. What if the main force of the Datong Army did not chase Li Zicheng, but came back quietly to ambush him?

Mandahai's main force quickly retreated south, and the more than 4,000 night attack troops were directly abandoned by the general. This is a desperate attempt to survive. If we wait for the whole army to gather before leaving, the main force will most likely be sacked!

More than a thousand comrades gathered behind to build momentum, slowly reloading their ammunition by the light of torches.

They waited for the main force of Mandahai to withdraw, and then fought towards the trench to block the retreat of the Manchu night attack troops.

"kill!"

The Datong troops in the camp stepped on temporary wooden planks and crossed over the burning trench to chase down the more than 4,000 enemy night attack troops.

About two hundred Eight Banners soldiers were unlucky enough to step on a barbarian. They were in pain and could not run fast, and were quickly overtaken by Datong soldiers and stabbed to death without any resistance.

Feiyanggu finally led his troops to take out the trench position, but saw "thousands" of Datong troops in front of him holding torches, but the main force of his friendly forces had already withdrawn.

Under attack from both sides!

what to do?

Fei Yanggu drew his sword out of its sheath: "Manchu warriors, follow me and fight out!"

"Bang bang bang!"

Faced with a hail of gunfire, Feiyanggu, who was desperately trying to break through, suddenly fell down after running more than 20 meters.

Some Eight Banners soldiers did not dare to charge straight anymore and turned and ran towards the south. Plop, plop, as if dumplings were being dropped, one by one they jumped into the Grand Canal.

The Grand Canal is not wide, only about twenty meters, so you might be able to cross it by stepping on the bottom of the river.

Of course, more people drowned and couldn't float wearing armor.

There are still some brave people who are still rushing forward, but they have long since fallen out of formation. A few in the east and a few in the west were divided and surrounded by Datong troops with bayonets attached.

A few miles to the south, on both sides of the Grand Canal.

Hauge and Mandahai successfully reunited, and both felt a sense of panic.

Haug asked: "How much damage was done?"

Man Dahai said: "Twelve hundred people attacked the camp, and another 3,500 people were sent to assist. I don't know how many of them can escape."

You can't send too many troops to attack the camp. First, they will be easily discovered. Second, even if you fail, you won't suffer much loss.

However, the Datong Army was so dirty that they abandoned four trench positions and only spread caltrops in the fifth trench. Mandahai thought that the night attack was successful, so he sent more than 3,000 people to help, hoping to completely capture the Datong Army's camp.

Hauge stopped talking and sat slumped on the shore.

There are a total of 4,700 people, and they are all carefully selected warriors. They are all the elites of the Eight Banners Army. This battle has been very painful.

That is to say, Wan Sitong has few soldiers. If there are more soldiers, he dares to let Hauge come over and attack him halfway!

There was also Wan Sitong in history, who edited "History of the Ming Dynasty" as a commoner, and together with Zhang Dai and others, he was known as the "Four Great Historians in Eastern Zhejiang".

Wan Sitong, the division commander of the Datong Army, was a native of Jiangxi. Although he has high qualifications, his military merit is not enough. Many people said strange things when he was promoted to division commander. He finally proved himself in this battle tonight.

The next afternoon.

The Qing army's rear camp and baggage troops gathered around Deshengdian. Hauge was afraid of an accident and sent a cavalry team to respond.

At the same time, the reconnaissance force brought news that Li Zicheng did not arrive at the joint attack site as scheduled.

Man Dahai thought: "Did Li Zicheng be stuck by the Nanmanzi, or did he lead his army to escape? If he is stuck, we can still rescue him and attack the main force of the Nanmanzi from behind. If he leads his troops and escapes, we can You have to fight the barbarians alone."

This is a big problem, and Hauge is hesitant.

Mandahai asked directly: "Are you still fighting?"

Hauge said: "First send the cavalry to inquire about Li Zicheng."

As a result, the Qing army once again withdrew to the east of Tianjin, where the entire army could flee at any time.

The cavalry was sent north by Hauge, hoping to get information about Li Zicheng. However, the cavalry of the Datong Army also came overwhelmingly, directly blocking the northern battlefield.

The next two days were a battle between cavalry, fighting for control of a large area from Dingzigu to Yangcun.

Two miles north of Dingzigu, the Chahar cavalry was releasing water. When they saw the Datong cavalry, they immediately hid far away.

Zuo Xiaocheng was very depressed. That night, when the Datong army appeared from behind, he wanted the Chahar tribe to take the opportunity to defect.

Unexpectedly, not only the Manchu soldiers were frightened, but the Chahar cavalry were also frightened. They even forgot that they could defect and retreat with Mandahai. Zuo Xiaocheng kept urging him, but Dai Qin felt that it was not easy to rebel in the dark. Wouldn't it be bad luck if he was shot and killed by the Datong army?

"Next time you get a chance, you must switch sides immediately!" Zuo Xiaocheng couldn't help but repeat this sentence every day.

Dai Qin said impatiently: "I know, I know, I will do it next time."

The two men were discussing when to defect, but Badali, the leader of Tuxietu of the Horqin tribe, led his troops all the way north.

There were more than two thousand cavalry, and the Datong cavalry quickly blew whistles to gather troops.

Bada politely asked his troops to wait, rode a long distance away alone, and said to the Datong cavalry: "Tu Xietu is willing to submit to the Celestial Empire, take me to see your commander-in-chief!"

This is an unexpected surprise, the leader of the Horqin tribe!

Fei Ruhe called Zhang Tieniu, Li Dingguo and others to receive Badali together, and the two sides met in Yangcun.

Badali immediately dismounted and knelt down, kowtowed and said, "Badali of the Horqin tribe, come and bow to the general of the Celestial Dynasty!"

"Friends, please wake up, hahaha!" Fei Ruhe was overjoyed.

Fei Ruhe took Badali's hand, introduced several other generals, and asked casually: "My friend was bullied in the Puppet Qing Dynasty?"

Badali stated: "When my father defected to the puppet Qing Dynasty, he was named Tuxietu Khan by Nurhaci. When I succeeded to the throne, he was named Tuxietu Jinong (deputy Khan) by Huang Taiji. He only worked as a Jinong for three years. , and was demoted to Prince Tuxietu by Huang Taiji!"

Fei Ruhe immediately cursed: "Huang Taiji is really nothing!"

From Tuxietu Khan, to Tuxietu Jinong, and then to Prince Tuxietu, one can imagine the anger in Badali's heart!

The Horqin tribe initially followed the Chahar tribe, and Badali's father and grandfather both participated in the war against Nurhachi. Later, Nurhaci won over the Horqin tribe through war, trade, marriage and diplomacy, and fell out with the Chahar tribe from then on.

For this reason, Badali's father, Oba, was named Tushetu Khan by the Manchu Qing Dynasty and had complete control over the entire Horqin tribe.

However, after Oba's death and the third year after Badali succeeded to the throne, Huang Taiji forcibly split the Horqin tribe into six banners. Badali's territory was divided into six parts, and several of his brothers and uncles took over.

It was a bit of a push for grace, but it went too far, at least in Badali's opinion.

Badali led his troops to defect to the Datong Army. The news quickly spread back, surprising Haoge and Mandahai.

"Let's run too." Dai Qin said.

Zuo Xiaocheng said: "Why don't you defect before the formation and perform meritorious service?"

Dai Qin said: "That would be too dangerous. It would be better to just throw it over."

As a result, the Chahar cavalry also gave up their baggage and fled, imitating Badali and heading to Yangcun to join them.