I

   Chapter 541 538 [Tianjin War]

Beijing.

   Li Zicheng came to this city again, seeing dilapidation and desolation.

   Once a large city with a population of one million, it has experienced wars, plagues, famines, and looting. Many died and fled. Now the city has fewer than one hundred thousand people.

   This is the result of Liu Zongmin's two years of governance in Beijing.

   But the ecology around Beijing has improved. The once bare mountain peaks are now covered with vegetation. The occupation of woodcutter reappeared, and the residents of Beijing did not need to burn coal for cooking every day.

   "The Tartars haven't moved yet?" Li Zicheng asked.

  Liu Zongmin said: "Haoge sent someone to deliver a letter, let us go to fight Bazhou first. As long as Bazhou is surrounded, they will cooperate to fight Tianjin, and let the puppet army take care of one thing and lose another."

   "It doesn't matter whoever strikes first, you have to work together to win." Li Zicheng's tone was rather helpless.

  The troops of the Datong Army in Hebei are deployed on the front lines of Tianjin, Bazhou, Baoding, Zhending, and Shunde. The west and north of this line all belong to Li Zicheng's territory.

  Li Zicheng can retreat to Shanxi at any time and rely on the mountain to defend. However, the Datong army could not retreat, and there was a great plain behind them, so they could only defend the city with heavy troops.

  Li Zicheng's total army strength is about 100,000, which is already the limit for raising troops in Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu.

  He didn't dare to divide his troops to attack Henan, so he could only concentrate on attacking Hebei, and he had to cooperate with the Manchus.

   Li Zicheng has never experienced the combat power of the Datong Army, but he has defeated the Eight Banners Army many times, and everyone knows that it is a first-class strong soldier.

Liu Zongmin said worriedly: "This battle is not easy to fight. Bazhou has Fei Ruhe, and Tianjin has Zhang Mingshan (Zhang Tieniu). Both of them are famous generals in the world. After listening to the news from Xiaozuo, Fei Ruhe has been appointed as the rear army general Commander, take command of the battle in Hebei. If we go to fight Bazhou, it is equivalent to attacking the commander-in-chief of the puppet army."

   "How about besieging the city and fighting for aid?" Li Zicheng asked.

   "I can only try it." Liu Zongmin didn't hold out hope.

   Fei Ruhe's first division is stationed in Bazhou.

  Zhang Tieniu's second division, stationed in Tianjin.

  Huang Shun's seventh division, stationed in Baoding (Fucheng).

   Wan Sitong's Sixteenth Division, stationed in Xiong County.

   Li Dingguo's Seventeenth Division, stationed in Shunde.

   There are also counties such as Baoding, Xin'an, Anzhou, and Jinghai. Each city has a garrison of at least 3,000 troops, all of whom are farmers, soldiers and police forces. Including the regular army, there are as many as 70,000 to 80,000 people in total.

  The Datong army did not move out, and they all stayed in the city.

   And Li Zicheng had a total of 100,000 people, and he had to stay at the pass to prevent the Datong army from Henan from attacking Shanxi. He can bring about 80,000 people to the Hebei battlefield.

  With a one-to-one force, how do you storm the cities?

  Of course, Li Zicheng brought a large number of civilian men and auxiliary soldiers, and he claimed to "send 500,000 troops."

Li Zicheng looked at the map and said: "If we encircle Bazhou, all the puppet troops in Beizhili will come to attack us. At that time, the Tartars will be able to surround Tianjin with heavy troops, and there will be no puppet reinforcements there. Can the Tartars Fight as soon as you fight, and leave if you can’t fight, the tough battle is all ours. How can there be such a good thing?"

   This is related to the situation of the three parties. The Manchu Qing sent troops to attack North China, and they had to fight Zhang Tieniu in Tianjin. However, when the Datong army was attacked, they could only save Bazhou first. If they directly rescued Tianjin, they would be blocked by Bazhou, and it would take time and effort to spare the road from the south.

  How could Li Zicheng stand in the front by himself and let the Manchus take advantage of it quietly?

  Since ancient times, the coalition forces have always been like this. They are all calculating each other, and it is impossible to work together.

  Li Zicheng said: "Contact the Tartars, let's encircle Tianjin with him, and fight for aid in the besieged city of Tianjin."

  …

   Liangcheng Institute.

  This place is to the north of Ninghe District, Tianjin City, and now it has become the place where troops and food were stationed after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs.

  From Shanhaiguan to here, there are not many people along the way, and it is impossible for the Tartars to solve the military ration problem on the spot. It can only be transported from the west of Liaoning. The journey is very long, and it is easy for the Datong army to land on the Duanliang Road by boat, so Hauge is extremely cautious.

  Funing, Changli, Luanzhou (Luanxian), Kaiping (Tangshan), these cities along the way, the Manchus and Qings stationed at least 3,000 people, directly more than 10,000 Eight Banners soldiers were forced to stay and guard the food road.

  Manchurian nobles are scared by the Datong Navy!

  The army brought to Liangcheng by Hauge was only more than 60,000. More than 10,000 of them were Mongolian cavalry from the Outer Domain. These people no longer wanted to fight against the Manchus.

   "Li Zicheng wants to fight Tianjin with us, what do you think?" Hauge asked.

  Man Dahai said: "What else can I think? If we disagree, Li Zicheng may withdraw his troops. Isn't it a waste of time for us?"

   "Then the two sides join forces, more than 100,000 people, and surround Tianjin to death!" Du Erhu said.

  Du Erhu is the great-grandson of Nurhachi and the eldest grandson of Chu Ying.

  If it weren't for Chu Ying's ambition and being placed under house arrest by Nurhachi, he would probably be able to be the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and Du Erhu would be the grandson of the emperor.

  Chu Ying’s family has been suppressed for decades. Now that the Manchu Qing Dynasty is declining, in order to balance the factional struggle, Du Erhu was restored to lead the military, otherwise he can only honestly serve as the assistant prince in the rear.

  The Manchu nobles discussed repeatedly, and finally accepted Li Zicheng's proposal.

   Immediately, Hauge took the lead and moved to Yangcun in the north of Tianjin to station, and at the same time collected and built ships of all sizes. The place of Yangcun was later Wuqing District of Tianjin City.

  Li Zicheng also moved, and asked Liu Zongmin to guard against the Datong army in the direction of Baoding, and he personally led an army of 50,000 to march towards Tianjin.

  After the two forces joined forces, they went straight to Dingzigu, seven miles north of Tianjin City.

  Dingzigu used to be a grain transshipment hub, as evidenced by poems: Thousands of miles of clouds and sails rippling in the blue sky, village smoke and fishing fires moor Wu boats. Layers of javelins are gathered in Sanguli, and clusters of scales are clustered on both sides of the bank. The northwest group hangs around Haidai, and the southeast giant dips Gong Youyan. The shape of Fengcheng is thousands of miles away, and only Xu Yongnu overflows Guangchuan.

   Nowadays, there are few people.

   There are still a few people left, but they are all transferred to Tianjin City in advance.

   "Have you found out the enemy's situation?" Zhang Tieniu asked.

The sentry replied: "The enemy's cavalry covered the battlefield, and it was difficult to get close to the investigation. We still used hot air balloons and binoculars to detect the enemy's situation from a distance. The main forces of the pseudo-compliance and the pseudo-qing should be in Dingzigu. The camp over there stretches for ten miles. .”

  Zhang Tieniu said: "Tell Dudu Fei the news immediately!" He then said to the herald, "Let Jinghai County strengthen its defenses. The enemy may divide their troops to attack Jinghai County after encircling Tianjin."

   After another two days, it is estimated that Li Zicheng and Hauge had discussed it, and finally brought the army to the outside of Tianjin.

  After the two sides joined forces, the number of soldiers reached 110,000, and there were nearly 200,000 civilian and auxiliary soldiers.

  Li Zicheng's army camped between the canal and Sanjiaodian. Haug's army camped south of the canal. The camps on both sides are clearly separated, with the Grand Canal in the middle, and the city walls must be assigned to each when they attack the city.

  In the first few days, the inside and outside of the city bombarded each other, and the attacking party organized civilians to fill up the moat.

  The troops of Fei Ruhe, Huang Shun, Li Dingguo, and Wan Sitong gradually moved closer to the Tianjin battlefield after gathering in Bazhou.

  Three-party large army battles, division of troops and surprise attacks, etc., can only be regarded as small fights.

  Whoever dares to send thousands of troops around the back will never return, or they will simply be trapped to death due to lack of food.

   Coupled with the issue of battlefield allocation, neither Li Zicheng nor Hauge wanted to suffer, so they could only choose to have a decisive battle in Tianjin.

  Of course, other battlefields are not idle, and wars have already begun.

  In Liaodong, several divisions have come out and are besieging Haizhou and Phoenix.

  On the other side of Henan, the same divisions went out together, trying to break through the checkpoint and go straight to Shanxi.

  It is equal to Man Qing and Li Zicheng, who took the initiative to attack in Hebei. The Datong Army took the initiative to attack in Liaodong and Henan.

  …

   "Boom boom boom!"

   Outside the city of Tianjin, artillery fire raged.

  Thousands of Eight Banners cavalry and Outer Domain Mongolian cavalry were sent to Jinghai County for a surprise attack. If you can't take it quickly, then you don't need to attack by force, just plunder the villages and towns in Jinghai County.

  Thousands of cavalry rushed to the outside of Jinghai County. Seeing that the city gate was closed, they immediately gave up the idea of ​​​​taking the city.

   "The thieves have retreated."

   “Not to be taken lightly.”

  The two people talking at the head of the city, one is Yan Yingyuan, the county magistrate, and the other is Gao Eryan, an old acquaintance.

  Gao Eryan was supposed to be Tanhua in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, but because he took refuge in Li Zicheng, he was labeled a traitor by the Nanming court. With Li Zicheng or failure, Nanming had no way to go, so he chose to join the Manchu Qing, and finally became the Minister of the Ministry of Officials and Zaifu of the Manchu Qing.

  Zhao Han took his younger sister to the south to escape, and met the peasant army in Jinghai County. Gao Eryan even disguised himself and killed the leader of the thief.

  He also failed to pass the exam for Daming Tanhua, because Chongzhen hanged himself early.

  After the Datong Army occupied Jinghai County, Gao Eryan immediately came out to be an official, but was told that he could only start as a small official. This guy felt ashamed, reluctantly held back for a year, but still came out to be a small official, and now he has just been promoted to the county magistrate.

  As for Yan Yingyuan, he took the city alone in Shandong and has been the prefect of Jinghai County for two years.

  After this land expansion, Yan Yingyuan will definitely be promoted.

  Yan Yingyuan wore civilian clothes, carried a sword to patrol the city defense in person, and handed over the dispatch of supplies in the city to Gao Eryan. As for the real "generals" who lead the troops, one is the county Dianshi (the chief of the public security bureau), leading the police force of the whole city; the other is the retired military officer in charge of the county's farmers and soldiers.

  Thousands of soldiers, even ordinary people came to assist in the defense. Rolling logs, falling stones, gold juice, and vegetable oil were all prepared.

  Unfortunately, the enemy ran away.

  Thousands of cavalry, scattered into three groups, went to the countryside of Jinghai to plunder.

   After the cavalry of the Chahar Department separated from the Eight Banners cavalry for two miles, Zuo Xiaocheng caught up with Daiqin on horseback.

   "Daiqin, I said, there is no one around, and the Han people have already evacuated," Zuo Xiaocheng said, "This is the consistent strategy of the Datong Army. The counties near the battlefield will fortify their walls and clear their fields in advance."

  Dai Qin said: "Go farther away before dismounting and resting, don't be seen by those Eight Banners soldiers."

   After running another mile, Daiqin sent out spies, who scattered around to watch, and the rest all got off their horses to goof off.

  Since there is nothing to grab, why bother?

  Zuo Xiaocheng said: "Daiqin, let me answer, which side do you think can win?"

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

  Zuo Xiaocheng asked again: "If the Qing Dynasty wins, what benefits can Chahar have?"

   Dai Qin said: "There is no benefit. Our Chahar tribe has always been guarded by the nobles of Manchuria. We are the ones who fight tough battles, but we are not there when we encounter benefits."

   "Then why fight? Join the Datong Army!" Zuo Xiaocheng blurted out.

  (end of this chapter)