In order to avoid refueling tactics, the army led by Fei Ruhe did not arrive in Tianjin until a full month later.
During this period, troops have been gathering in Bazhou.
The four divisions of Fei Ruhe, Huang Shun, Wan Sitong, and Li Dingguo joined forces, plus some peasant and soldier troops, and there were 50,000 people capable of fighting. There are also a large number of civilians and boats, which come here continuously from the Huitong River and the Grand Canal.
The Huitong River in the late Ming Dynasty must first flow into the Triangle Lake and then connect with the Grand Canal.
In addition to the civilian husbands, more than 100,000 people camped between the Triangle Lake and the Grand Canal, where Li Zicheng camped before.
There is the Triangle Lake in the north, the Grand Canal in the south, and the small river connecting the Triangle Lake and the Grand Canal in the east. It is a narrow strip of seven or eight miles from north to south and tens of miles from east to west.
If Li Zicheng and Hauge wanted to fight over, they had to attack from Sanjiaodian Lake or the Grand Canal. Crossing the small river to the east was the easiest way to attack.
The war is completely deadlocked!
Due to the terrain, whoever attacks will suffer. Li Zicheng and Hauge could only keep filling the river with soil and bombarding the city wall. Moreover, before the Weihe River and the Haihe River were filled, 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 can't continue fighting like this," Dashun General Dang Shousu said. "The military rations of the Puppet Tong can be easily transported from the south along the Grand Canal. We don't have much food in Hebei, and the military rations have to be transported from Shanxi." Come on. If we keep stalemate for a few months, we will run out of food."
Zhang Nai said: "Your Majesty, why don't you lead the cavalry secretly and go around Bazhou and Baoding counties. If the puppet army in Hebei goes out together, Bazhou must be empty!"
Yuan Zongdi said: "No matter how empty Bazhou is, there are still thousands of defenders. How can your cavalry be defeated?"
Zhang Nai said: "If Bazhou cannot be defeated, we will attack Yuanjiakou between Bazhou and Baoding County. It is extremely important there. If you occupy Yuanjiakou, you can cut off the connection between Bazhou, Baoding and Tianjin."
Yuanjiakou was originally called Jiakou Village, which was built by Chai Rong to resist the Khitan.
? Yang Yanlang, the inspector of the Song Dynasty, sent the school Wei Yuangui to garrison Jiakou Village, and built hidden piles in the water to train troops. Jiakou Village was renamed Yuanjiakou after that.
In the story of Yang Jiajiang, Xiyingpan, where Yang Liulang stationed troops, is not far to the west of Yuanjiakou.
How can it be possible not to send troops to garrison this kind of battleground as long as the mind is not confused?
Li Zicheng shook his head and said, "Yuankou Pass is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the waterway is convenient. It is not far or near. It is probably a place where the puppet army hoards food and grass. If you take cavalry to attack, even if you can take Bazhou, you will not be able to take Yuanjiakou." .¡±
"To win in danger, you have to try." Zhang Nai said.
Li Zicheng had no other solution, so he had to say: "If you want to go, you can take two thousand horses. If you have too many horses, you will easily expose your whereabouts. If you can capture Yuankou Pass and burn all the food there, you will have won half of the battle." .¡±
Afraid of being discovered by the Datong Navy in Sanjiaodian, Zhang Nai led 2,000 cavalry and retreated to the vicinity of Yangcun before heading west across the Fenghe River.
Zhang Nai replenished food 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 went south to Xin'an Town. He planned to cross the Huitong River quietly at night, and then rushed to Yuanjiakou by surprise.
"Woo woo woo!!!"
Not far from Xin'an Town, Zhang Nai's face turned ugly. He collided with the Datong dragoons, and the dragoons directly blew their warning horns.
"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, unwilling to engage the enemy at all, and blowing their horns while running.
After chasing two miles to the south, the number of dragoons suddenly increased.
However, in order to protect the army rations, Fei Ruhe left a dragoon here, which would be sent out every day to investigate the enemy's situation.
The general who commanded the cavalry was Jiang Yu, who surrendered first to Li Zicheng and then to Dorgon. During the Battle of Henan, he took his family cavalry and voluntarily surrendered to the Datong Army. In order to cover the Datong Army, he forced Wu Sangui's cavalry to charge, and even his own brother was killed on the spot.
Today, Jiang Yu is already the commander of the cavalry, shouldering the important task of protecting the army rations.
Zhang Nai blew the order to signal the whole army to stop the pursuit.
However, Jiang Yu took the initiative to mount his horse and shouted with a smile: "Which old man is on the other side? Why don't you submit to my Datong court?"
The distance was too far, Zhang Nai couldn't hear clearly.
At this moment, these Datong dragoons only gathered more than 800 cavalry, but they actively approached 2000 Dashun cavalry.
&nbsThe more we dig, the more we dig, and if we go on like this, even if we can cross the river safely, attacking the camp will be the same as attacking the fortress. If it continues to drag on, the rainy season in western Liaoning is coming, and it will be even more difficult to transport the army rations. At that time, it will inevitably be defeated due to lack of food. "
"It costs so much money and food, so this time it's just a waste of time?" Hauge was very unwilling.
Man Dahai asked back: "Otherwise, what else can you do? Can you defeat Tianjin City, or destroy the Nanmanzi on the other side of the river?"
Haug said: "Should we attack Jinghai County first without dividing our forces?"
Man Dahai asked: "How much do you divide to fight? If you divide too little, you won't be able to fight. If you divide too much, there are few soldiers here, so Fei Ruhe will definitely attack."
Hauge said: "Set up many empty camps, divide the troops quietly and leave, at least you can deceive the opponent for several days."
Man Dahai said: "The Nanmanzi has a flying celestial sphere. Standing in the sky and looking through the binoculars, can you see that you are all empty camps? Even if you can't tell, can you guarantee to capture Jinghai County in a few days?"
Fei Ruhe's use of soldiers is quite like Xu Da's.
At that time, Wang Baobao had 100,000 soldiers and was in Taiyuan. Xu Da captured two strongholds and was busy building camps all the time, without the slightest sign of a decisive battle.
It has always been a waste of time and rations, which made Wang Baobao unable to sit still.
So Wang Baobao pretended to go to Dadu to lure Xu Da to send troops to rescue him, and wanted to fight Xu Da halfway. As a result, Xu Da did not go to rescue Dadu at all, but went to attack Taiyuan where Wang Baobao had just left.
Wang Baobao's siege and aid became Xu Da's siege and aid.
Wang Baobao hurried back with his troops, wanting to fight Xu Da decisively. Xu Da didn't move again, and devoted himself to strengthening the camp.
Wang Baobao was very arrogant and impetuous, wanting to fight but not being able to win, so he let down his vigilance because of this, thinking that Xu Da would still stay in the camp all the time.
? Xu Da moved and sent troops to attack at night. Wang Baobao's tens of thousands of troops were wiped out overnight.
As for the timing, Fei Ruhe is still hard to say, but his patience is definitely comparable to Xu Da. Do you want to fight? Hey, if I don't move, I won't move, I'm sick of you!
Fei Ruhe didn't move, but the Datong army in Henan moved, and the direction of the troops was like a broken bamboo.