After leaving the prisoner camp and returning to the king's tent, Jiang Chuan asked Di Qing, Shanjia, Bai Shan and others to discuss their next move.

"I called you here to discuss the next step. Li Zi's success and failure are too fast, our previous plan will definitely not be used, and now it must be readjusted. Let's talk about it. Jiang Chuan sat behind the handsome case and said in a deep voice.

After the three generals pondered for a while, Di Qing spoke first: "My lord, since Li Zicheng has been defeated and fled, and the main force of the Dashun army is not there, the defenders of Tianjin Wei are naturally not troubled. Tianjin Wei Ke hoarded a large amount of grain, grass, baggage and goods. If we move slowly, the defenders in the city are very likely to set fire to and destroy it, so we must take Tianjin Wei as soon as possible. ”

Jiang Chuan nodded, pondered for a moment and asked, "Do you know who the guards of the Tianjin Guard are?" ”

Di Qing said: "The last general asked several prisoners and confirmed that the guard of Tianjin Wei was Liu Fangliang, Li Zicheng's confidant general. Moreover, Li Zicheng's wife Gao and other generals and daughters of the Dashun Army were all in Tianjin. ”

I don't have any impression of Liu Fangliang Jiangchuan, but I have seen some of this Gao in books, saying that Gao is smart and intelligent, and Li Zicheng often consults Gao when he has anything difficult to decide.

According to the original historical records of that time and space, Li Zicheng's first wife was not Gao, but Xing. This Xing family is also a powerful character, helping Li Zicheng manage logistics. It's just that later this Xing family got together with Li Zicheng's subordinate Gao Jie.

The adultery between the two was exposed, and Gao Jie was afraid that Li Zicheng would kill him, so he took Xing to defect to the Ming army, and threw himself under the command of Shi Kefa, the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department of the Ming Dynasty, and turned into a Ming general.

It's just that I don't know if there is any Gao Jie under Li Zicheng who has a forgiveness hat for him.

However, this is all gossip, Jiang Chuan didn't have the leisure to inquire about this, but continued to ask: "How many troops are there in the Tianjin Guards?" ”

Di Qing said: "Originally, there were more than 20,000 people, but before the decisive battle with us, Li Zicheng allocated another 30,000 people, and now there are more than 50,000 people." ”

Tianjin Wei is the name of Tianjin in ancient times. Tianjin, as a military stronghold, was formally set up in the second year of the Ming Dynasty, and the left guard of Tianjin was set up in the following year, and the right guard of Tianjin was added in the following year.

"Wei" is a military establishment of the Ming Dynasty, which is led by the commander and directly subordinate to the Houjun Governor's Office. There are 5,600 soldiers per guard, and 16,800 soldiers are included in Tianjin.

Although the Wei system did not have administrative powers, it had a certain amount of land (castles and tuntian), a large number of people (sergeants and military dependents of tuntian) and political affairs (military administration and tuntian).

With the increase in population, the development of commerce, the multiplicity of affairs, and the occurrence of word and litigation disputes, the health office can no longer govern this commercial city with a mixture of military and civilian, and the Ming court has successively set up officials, offices, and schools in Tianjin.

In addition, the location of Tianjin Wei is very important, it is the confluence of many rivers, and it is at the mouth of a large river, and it is also the northern end of the Grand Canal connecting from Yuezhou to Gyeonggi, so now Tianjin Wei has become a transportation hub, and it has also become a military town of Gongwei Jingshi.

The Tianjin Guardhouse is tall, and because there are many rivers passing through it, a deep moat has been dug, so the city defense is still very strong.

After listening to Di Qing's introduction, Jiang Chuan got up and walked to the front of the map to look at it, Di Qing also got up and walked over and pointed to the location of Tianjin Wei on the map and said in a deep voice: "Lord, in addition to the four gates of Tianjin Wei, there is also a water gate. Beneath this water gate is the Grand Canal, which leads directly into the city. ”

"If our army plans to attack the city tomorrow, the four land gates will not be a problem. The problem lies in this water gate. If the enemy were to escape by boat along the canal through the Water Gate, we would have no way to intercept it or pursue it. ”

This is indeed a problem.

Jiang Chuan pondered for a moment and asked, "Do you know how many ships the defenders in the city have?" Are these ships cargo or passenger ships, are there any armed ships with threats? ”

Di Qing said: "This last general has also asked the prisoners, and can confirm that the ships in the hands of the defenders in the city are all cargo ships and passenger ships, and when they go north along the canal, these ships are used to transport grain, grass and goods and transport those female dependents. ”

Hearing this, Jiang Chuan knew it in his heart and laughed: "It seems that this Tianjin Wei will soon be in the pocket of our army." ”

Everyone was puzzled and looked at Jiang Chuan suspiciously, but Bai Shan was smart, and said urgently: "Lord, but our army's water division has been completed?" ”

Everyone suddenly looked at Jiang Chuan, waiting for him to announce the answer.

Jiang Chuan nodded and smiled: "Although it is still close to the scale expected by this king, it is enough to carry out this water interception mission to ensure that the enemy cannot escape from the waterway." ”

Jiang Chuan is talking about the fleet of sailors that are now being built in Shanhai Harbor. At the rate of three ships per day, now that six days have passed, the entire naval division has eighteen armed transport ships.

These eighteen armed transport ships had a small draft and had a displacement of only a few hundred tons. Although it cannot be navigated on the ocean because it cannot withstand the strong winds and waves of the ocean, it can be used along the coastline in the offshore waters.

If you want to drive on inland rivers, this is the perfect place. These ships are neither big nor small, and they are equipped with twenty small guns, which are not very useful against unarmed cargo ships or passenger ships.

Moreover, the canal is not very wide, but eighteen armed transport ships are enough to blockade and intercept the river.

After Jiang Chuan explained the situation, Di Qing and the three of them were also very excited, and they all said that tomorrow's siege battle was finally foolproof.

Bai Shan also proposed that the armed transport ships should be loaded with elite troops, and once the water gate of Tianjin Wei was breached, they could drive straight along the canal and directly attack the city, so as to join the army outside the city.

After thinking about it, Jiang Chuan felt that it was feasible, because after all, the water station of the water division was okay, and if the land battle was to fight, not only was the number too small, but also not good at it.

After a careful search on the map, Jiang Chuan determined that he would let the Qinwei battalion board the ship at a wharf on the canal twenty miles away from Tianjin, and then attack with the naval division.

After discussing some relevant details, they returned to the headquarters to arrange for tomorrow.

Jiang Chuan also summoned Bai Mu and asked him to take a few people back to Shanhai Port overnight, and arrange for the armed transport ships that had been launched to pass along the coastline through other inland rivers and then turn into the canal and approach Tianjin Wei.

After Bai Mu received the order, he immediately set off overnight with a few guards and torches.