Ha Feng'a, the banner general of the Qing army in Tianjin, did not guess wrongly, on the question of whether to divert water to trap Tianjin, the Wu army was indeed prepared with two hands, one was to use this lack of morality tactics as a threat to force and lure the Qing army in Tianjin to abandon the city and break through, and the other was to really blow up the floodgates of the Haihe River, divert the water of the Haihe River to surround Tianjin City, and completely trap the Qing army in Tianjin, including the six devils.

What prompted Jiang Zhongji, Li Hongzhang and others to make up their minds was the overly strong city defense of Tianjin City, as well as the Qing army in Tianjin, which performed well in the battle, worried that the casualties of forcibly attacking the city would be too large, and they were not completely sure that they would be able to take Tianjin City, and unlike Wu Chaoyue in those years, they had the concern that they did not want to really trap the Taiping army. Jiang Zhongji's psychological burden was smaller than Li Hongzhang's, so he naturally adopted Li Hongzhang's suggestion without hesitation and immediately began to implement it.

Another important reason why the Wu army dared to implement this plan was that the logistics must be guaranteed, and it was true that the north was short of grain, but thanks to Zeng Guoquan's previous capture of all the grain in Jingcang, the grain of the Wu army could at least be guaranteed to support until the end of this year, and not only would Zhili have ended the autumn harvest, but Wu Chaoyue would also be completely sure that he had opened up the sea transportation, from the low price of grain to the fact that Wu Jun had to reduce taxes in order to encourage farmers to grow grain, and the vast rear of the lake sent grain and grass supplies, so Wu Jun had the confidence to fight against grain consumption with the Qing army in Tianjin.

In order to further force the Qing army in Tianjin to abandon the city and break through, and at the same time, in order to really drink water to besiege the city in the future, send an envoy to the city of Tianjin to show the hole card on the afternoon of the day, Wu Jun has already begun to divert water to besiege the city, organized a large number of local people to dig soil and build a wall, around the city of Tianjin to build a dam connected to the Haihe River embankment at both ends, those outside the city of Tianjin who took the initiative to ask for surrender of the Eight Banners Manchurian also at the request of Wu Jun if the construction site was carried out, but because of the lack of idleness and laziness, In order to receive a few more steamed buns and rice balls, these Eight Banners Manchurian people really worked very hard for Wu Jun, digging soil, picking stones, ramming the embankment, although the efficiency was not very high, but they did do some work for Wu Jun, which was somewhat worthy of the food distributed to them by the soldiers of Wu Jun.

Seeing the Wu army on the city wall and starting to build the siege embankment, of course the Tianjin defenders were in an uproar, and the efforts of the devil six and others to block the news as much as possible suddenly came to naught, fearing that the Wu army would really lead the sea river to trap Tianjin City, the morale of the Qing army in Tianjin quickly plummeted, and the morale of the army began to panic, even in the distance under the city, the Wu army scouts with binoculars in their hands could clearly see the panicked appearance of the defenders in the city, and the situation that the defenders in the city gathered together in small and whispered in twos and threes. And after the news was reported to Jiang Zhongji, Jiang Zhongji, who did not have any psychological burden on the water diversion siege, was of course very happy, and said directly viciously: "It's good to know that you are afraid, before the embankment is built, if you don't give Lao Tzu an obedient abandonment of the city to break through, Lao Tzu will really release water to besiege the city!" ”

There was also something that made Jiang Zhongji happy, and in the evening, Guizi Liu actually sent a Manchu Qing important minister with the title of Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry to go out of the city to negotiate with Jiang Zhongji about surrender, and proposed to sacrifice Tianjin City as a condition in exchange for Wu Jun to give way and allow the Qing army in Tianjin to return to the northeast with weapons, ammunition, property and family. Jiang Zhongji bargained, demanding that all the Qing troops in Tianjin lay down their arms and surrender, and after screening, they would release the Tianjin soldiers and civilians who were unwilling to stay in North China and return to the northeast.

"Jiang Junmen, other conditions are negotiable, even if Prince Gong also surrenders, ......." Wu Ren said with a face full of embarrassment: "Jiang Junmen, forgive the little envoy for saying it bluntly, I'm afraid that our Prince Gong will not agree no matter what." After all, the prince of Zhennan has already named us Gong Wang Ye in the army uprising document, and executed Wen Xiangwen Zhongtang in Hubei, Yin Jian is not far away, and we Gong Wang Ye may not dare to repeat the mistakes of the past. ”

"I can't help it." Jiang Zhongji spread his hands very regretfully, and said: "The pseudo-Prince Gong Yixun is the person named in our article on the rebellion against the army, even if you borrow a hundred guts from me, I don't dare to release people without asking the king of Zhennan." ”

After that, Jiang Zhongji, who was still a little sincere in surrendering, added another sentence and said: "However, I can guarantee that at least I will not hurt your Prince Gong, in front of our King Zhennan, I will also try my best to intercede for him, please King Zhennan For the sake of your Prince Gong taking the initiative to open the city and surrender, the net will spare you Prince Gong from dying." ”

Wu Ren was still very embarrassed, and only after a while did he give up his hand and say: "Jiang Junmen forgives the crime, the matter is serious, and the lower officials really dare not make decisions without permission, they must first ask us Gong Wangye, and then give a reply to the military gate, I don't know if it is possible?" ”

"No problem, you go back and discuss with your prince Gong, when it's time to discuss, come to me to negotiate again."

Jiang Zhongji agreed, and asked people to serve wine and food to prepare to entertain Wu Ren, but Wu Ren politely declined, and proposed to go back as soon as possible to report the matter to the devil Liuyu, Jiang Zhongji was not reluctant, and kept a few words, so he asked his younger brother Jiang Zhongyi to send Wu Ren out of the camp, and Wu Ren thanked him again and again, and then left under the guidance of Jiang Zhongyi. As a result, it was only after Wuren left that Jiang Zhongji asked Li Hongzhang, who accompanied him to meet him: "Shaoquan, what do you think?" ”

"A delaying tactic." Li Hongzhang smiled and said: "A typical strategy to delay the army, wanting to deceive us and take it lightly, and then take the opportunity to cheat. ”

"How so?" Jiang Zhongji asked with some surprise.

"It's very simple, if the puppet Prince Gong of the rebellious party really wants to escape back to the northeast, he can take advantage of the fact that we haven't had time to block the Haihe River and take the Dagu Pass, and run to the northeast by boat, why waste his energy to bargain with us?" Li Hongzhang yawned and said: "Also, the rebellious army in Tianjin City still has the strength to fight, and there is still a great confidence in breaking through, the second general wants them all to lay down their arms and surrender, obviously asking for a price, but Wu Ren is not entangled in this issue, and promises to negotiate, this is not clearly to make you feel at ease for a while?" ”

Jiang Zhongji was silent, only then did he realize that Wu Ren's concession was too big and too painful, and it really seemed that he wanted to deliberately reassure himself temporarily. After waking up, Jiang Zhongji asked again: "Then in your opinion, what is the purpose of the chaotic party's strategy to delay the army?" ”

"What else could there be? I want to break through. Li Hongzhang said contemptuously: "Stabilize us for the time being, let us relax our vigilance, and then take the opportunity to break through and flee to the northeast, keep as many troops as possible, and make it easier to make a comeback after returning to the northeast." ”

"It's a beautiful idea." Jiang Zhongji snorted: "Even if Yongping Mansion is still in their hands, from here to Yongping Mansion for hundreds of miles, Lao Tzu will chase and kill all the way, not only can he kill the chaotic party in Tianjin, but at least let them take off a few layers of skin." ”

"It's better to be careful." Li Hongzhang reminded: "There is news from the detailed work we sent to the northeast, saying that the northeast side had a bumper grain harvest last year, which is enough for the northeast chaos party this year, and if too many Tianjin chaos parties escape to the northeast, after eating and drinking enough to nourish their strength, it will definitely be more difficult for us to take the northeast again." ”

Jiang Zhongji nodded, and after a little calculation, he made up his mind, and decided to send a group of troops and horses to be stationed on the north bank of the Haihe River, so as to intercept the Qing army when it abandoned the city and broke through, and at the same time sent additional scouts to closely monitor the Haihe River bridge in the north of Tianjin day and night.

Two days later, in the early morning, when the officers and men of the Wu army had not had time to eat breakfast, the news of the Qing army's departure from the south gate suddenly arrived, and Jiang Zhongji, Li Hongzhang, Jiang Zhongyi, and other high-ranking Wu army leaders were of course killed by surprise. What makes people even more speechless is that because the Wu army scouts have not had time to find out the scale of the Qing army's troops, Jiang Zhongji once thought that the Qing army was preparing to raid the siege fortifications of the own army, and without much consideration, he sent his youngest brother Jiang Zhongshu to lead two battalions to meet the battle.

The consequence of a mistake in judgment is to lose the opportunity, and when the scouts of the Wu army reported that the Qing army in Tianjin was almost out of the nest, although Jiang Zhongji and Li Hongzhang immediately understood that the Qing army in Tianjin was in a hurry to jump over the wall to fight a decisive battle with the self-army, but the time was already late, Jiang Zhongshu's troops had already surrendered the fire under the city of Tianjin, and then hurriedly retreated the troops was equivalent to showing his ass and asking the enemy to kick, so Jiang Zhongji had no choice but to order Jiang Zhongshu to form a phalanx and retreat slowly, while hurriedly organizing the main force that was having breakfast to assemble and prepare for battle. Fight this decisive battle with the Qing army in Tianjin, which was unprepared in advance. - Fortunately, the Wu army still has a camp to defend, no matter how unprepared it is, there is still the last choice of only defending and not fighting, Jiang Zhongji doesn't need to worry too much.

The firm determination of the Qing army once again killed Jiang Zhongji by surprise, and it didn't take much time for the Wu army scouts to hurriedly report again, saying that although Jiang Zhongshu's army formed a phalanx in time to resist the enemy, the Qing army immediately surrounded Jiang Zhongshu's army on all sides, and Jiang Zhongshu's army tried to withdraw to the camp several times but was resolutely repelled by the Qing army, even if it used a few bitter acid weapons and failed to blow up the neat queue of the Qing army, at the same time, the Qing army was also putting relatively light mountain splitting artillery into the front line, and the situation of Jiang Zhongshu's army was very critical. If reinforcements cannot be obtained in time, I am afraid that there will be a danger of being annihilated by the Qing army.

The difficult choice was placed in front of Jiang Zhongji, if he did not send reinforcements to rescue, the youngest brother Jiang Zhongshu might die, and if he sent too few reinforcements, it would be useless, and if he sent too much, he might be dragged into the field by the Qing army in Tianjin, and he would be forced to fight with the Qing army without much psychological preparation. As a result, although Li Hongzhang strongly opposed taking the risk of fighting this decisive battle, Jiang Zhongji, who had already sacrificed a brother on the battlefield, still did not want to watch his younger brother die, and after hesitating for a while, he yelled, "The main force is out of the camp and fights a decisive battle with the rebellious party!" ”

In this way, although he knew that he was not sure enough, Jiang Zhongji still took the main force of only more than 7,000 people out of the camp to assemble, and at the same time, Li Chendian also panicked and took the four battalions of troops under his command out of the camp to assemble on the right flank of Jiang Zhongji's army to help Jiang Zhongji fight this decisive battle. However, it is a pity that all this is exactly the situation that the Qing army in Tianjin wants to see, so after finding out the news that the main force of the Wu army has left the camp in a big way, Chen Guorui, who was ordered to command this decisive battle, not only did not panic at all, but sent an order to the Qing army camps surrounding Jiang Zhongshu: "Slow down the attack, continue to encircle, and wait for the main force of the Wu thieves to come to save them!" ”

The order was conveyed that the battalions of the Qing army, which were originally besieging Wu Jun Jiang Zhongshu's troops on all sides, immediately adjusted their tactics, successively changed their offensive to defensive, and no longer attacked with all their strength, but gave priority to preventing Jiang Zhongshu's army from breaking through. As a result, the Qing army in Tianjin certainly lost the opportunity to annihilate the Jiang Zhongshu division of the Wu army, but when the main force of the Wu army arrived at the scene, the Qing army in Tianjin was able to meet the main force of the Wu army with a strict formation, and did not give the main force of the Wu army any chance to reorganize the chaos.

The decisive battle that determined the direction of the Tianjin battlefield began, and the result was that the Wu army soldiers continued to be caught off guard by the fact that the Qing army in Tianjin not only launched an attack first, but also put on a posture of playing with life from the beginning, as soon as the battle was engaged, the Qing army general Wei Jun immediately personally led the army to rush the left flank of the Wu army, and the Qing army that had been trained after a hundred battles was firm and resolute, and one after another to meet the Wu army's bullet rain, with basically equal musket equipment and the Wu army to fight and line up to shoot, and quickly seize the upper hand by relying on fearless courage and morale that is not dead or alive, The left flank of the Wu army was crushed and retreated, and a battalion of the Wu army was routed in less than twenty minutes, seriously threatening the stability of the position of the left flank of the Wu army.

Finding that the situation on the left flank was not good, Jiang Zhongji not only hurriedly sent some remnants of picric acid weapons to the left flank for emergency relief, but also ordered Li Chendian on the right flank to attack the Qing army's encirclement against Jiang Zhongshu, wanting to rescue Jiang Zhongshu who was surrounded by the Qing army first, and then plot a counterattack. As a result, although Li Chendian, the number one fierce general under Zeng Guoquan, attacked immediately without any bargaining, but after handing over the Qing army, Li Chendian's army was unexpectedly stubbornly blocked by the Qing army, and at the same time, Chen Guorui also decisively dispatched his own left-wing army, which also rushed to the flank of Li Chendian's army, and almost without hesitation, he pulled this decisive battle into an entangled war of attrition.

The guns shook the sky, the soldiers of the Qing and Wu armies lined up in a neat queue, strode forward with all kinds of earthen guns and foreign guns, like rows of robots, raised their guns to aim when they heard the order, and then fired neatly, bullets of different sizes and calibers shuttled back and forth, constantly splashing waves of blood in the dense horizontal ranks of both sides, and the roars and screams of being shot and shot came and went, and the soldiers who fell to the ground and died were also one after another. During this period, there were cavalry shuttles, cannons exploded, and a passionate symphony of blood and fire was played.

Under the efforts and command of the Qing generals at all levels of the Qing army, the officers and men of the Qing army, who basically had no way out, followed one after another, relying on the superiority of troops, morale and fighting spirit, they launched a wave of fierce attacks on the positions of the Wu army, and even the miracle that more than half of the battalion casualties had not collapsed and continued to attack. The officers and men of the Wu army, who were seriously ill-prepared psychologically, were extremely passive, and were rushed back again and again by the unexpected offensive of the Qing army in Tianjin, and the hollow hedgehog array, which relied on its fame, was also broken by the Qing army three times in a row, and the morale of the army was greatly shocked and their morale was seriously affected.

"Oh no, am I going to lose this battle?" Jiang Zhongji, the old sparrow on the battlefield, saw that his army had fallen into passivity, and he suddenly complained in his heart, regretting that he was too light on the enemy, and he did not expect that the Qing army in Tianjin, which had been defeated in successive battles before, would dare to go out of the city and fight desperately, and was completely caught off guard by the Qing army in Tianjin.

"Underestimated." Li Hongzhang next to him also clenched his fists so that his knuckles turned white, his face was so gloomy that he almost dripped, and said secretly in his heart: "Blame me, I wishfully think that the Tianjin Chaos Party only wants to break through, and forget that the Tianjin Chaos Party can also jump over the wall in a hurry and fight a head-on battle with us." ”

"There is hope! There is hope! We have great hope for this battle! Diametrically opposed to Jiang Zhongji and Li Hongzhang, who were like falling into an ice cellar, Chen Guorui, the commander of the Qing army, who was also an old sparrow on the battlefield, was ecstatic in his heart, knowing that there was great hope for the army in this battle, and it was no longer a pipe dream to directly kill the main force of the Wu army to keep Tianjin, and he would also become one of the famous generals in the world with this battle. However......

"Chen Junmen, look at the back! There is a fire in the city of Tianjin! ”

However, at this critical moment, the panicked roars of his subordinates suddenly shattered Chen Guorui's beautiful vision, and when Chen Guorui quickly looked back, he saw at a glance that there had been a thick smoke in the sky in Tianjin, and there were several flames and smoke that were already clearly visible. Soon, of course, Chen Guorui screamed loudly......

"Wouldn't it? Masters, we are working hard for you, you won't come back to pull my hind legs, right? ”