On 14 May, the news that Donghu had changed its country name to "Dayan" and changed its year name to "Mandate of Heaven" reached Jinhai. In the official Tang Copying Post Newspaper of the Yue Dynasty, Donghu was also referred to as "Pseudo Yan" or "Yan Hu" to reveal his ambition to inherit the former Yan Zhengshuo.

At the same time, the vanguard of the Donghu people forced into Wangdengtai Mountain from the south bank of the Whirlpool River, and began to fight with the Jinhai defenders for Wangdengtai Mountain, the only high ground in the Jinhai Outer Siege.

More than 1,000 elite horsemen on the left and right wings of the Donghu people are skilled in bows and horses, scimitars and bows, and cross-horse armor. Suddenly they gathered, like great arrows that cut through the heavens and the earth; Suddenly, it spread out for several miles, like a dark cloud covering, like a dragonfly dotting water, to pick up the flank of the Jinhai defender's infantry array.

The Jinhai defenders had strong foot bows, but they contracted the inner line and could not be expanded, and the cavalry on both wings was also lightly armored and cavalry.

The Donghu cavalry avoided the front, but only tentatively touched the flanks, and at first the two sides were more likely to shoot with bows and crossbows, and the arrows were like a torrent of locusts, which seemed to fly through the air, making a dense and sharp sound.

The cavalry on horseback are all wearing armor to protect the vital point, and occasionally those who fall off the horse also save the robe, but the horse is hit by arrows and blood gushing like a spring, and I don't know how many horses will be lost in each battle...... The empty arrows were pierced into the ground, as if they had just been cut on the stubble.

Both sides have the courage to be brave and unbearable, Le Ma draws his sword to fight, often a blow, the knife collides, the lightning is slippery, the hand is a little slow, Xu can see the moment when his head and body are separated.

Although the battle for Wang Dengtai Mountain and the two sides of the attack were tentative contact battles, they had the strength to not admit defeat at the beginning of the fight, and they were quite intense. In the field where the grass grows, the blood is mottled, the horse's hooves are trampled, and a stump of the arm is kicked out carelessly, and in each battle, there are almost more than 100 old soldiers on both sides who are killed, injured or disabled.

The Donghu people intercepted the Vortex River in the upper reaches, and the water depth of the Vortex River on the north side of Wang Dengtai Mountain was less than three feet, and the warships stationed in the Jinhai Sea were forced to withdraw from the Vortex River, and the defenders could only rely on foot cavalry to enter the depth of battle.

Seeing that the Donghu soldiers and horses are fighting more and more, the defenders can't withstand such attrition, especially the war horses, which only took two days and lost more than 400 horses - Donghu has many people and horses, and the loss of 4,000 war horses may be distressed, but the defenders only have 3,000 war horses in Jinhai, and the loss of more than 400 war horses, and the cavalry can't even reach the level of one person and one horse - how dare such a war of attrition go on indefinitely for the defenders?

On the 16th, the defenders were forced to abandon Wang Dengtai Mountain and shrink to the inner line of defense.

While the Tianjin navy was shrinking to the inner line, Wu Qi and Zhou Pu led the Huaidong cavalry battalion to jump out of the encirclement and go south along the coastline. If the cavalry is blockaded on the inner line, it will play a very limited role, far less than wandering on the periphery, and it can contain the enemy army and attack the city freely...... As long as the Donghu people could not completely block the coastline, the cavalry camp and Jinhai City could maintain contact at any time through the sentinel ships and fight in coordination.

After the elite of the Donghu people captured Wang Dengtai Mountain on the 16th, they began to repair the half-destroyed sentry fort, with the sentry fort as the core, and built a large-scale camp along Wang Dengtai Mountain. The Donghu people then marched in one after another, and the total number of soldiers and horses in the camp of Wang Dengtai Mountain soon exceeded the Jinhai defenders.

The soldiers and horses gathered by the Donghu people in the outer siege of Jinhai, although they were mainly composed of the Xinfu Han army, but there were more than 10,000 elite cavalry, and Zhou Pu and Wu Ji led the Huaidong cavalry battalion to jump out of the periphery.

The Donghu people obviously learned the lesson of the defeat in the siege of Yangxin, and this time the troops in the Jinhai Sea did not rush to attack the city, but adopted the strategy of advancing layer by layer.

After a large number of soldiers and horses filled the camp of Wang Dengtai Mountain, the Donghu people did not immediately storm the walled city surrounded by Tianjin, but calmly drove a large number of people captured from Yanji and other places to take soil and fill the river on the northeast side of Wang Dengtai Mountain.

In just one day, the second water interception dam across the Vortex River was built more than ten miles away from the mouth of the river, and the enemy Taiwan city on the periphery of Wang Dengtai Mountain camp was built along both sides of the water interception dam, hoping to rely on the water mill strategy of advancing layer by layer to completely block the Jinhai defenders in the inner line.

Although the Donghu people built a dam slightly upstream, the estuary is slightly lower than sea level, and the waterway in the estuary section is still about two feet deep at low tide. Such a water depth is not enough for warships to enter, but it forms a natural obstacle on the north and south banks of the Whirlpool River.

The Jinhai defense system consists of seven walled cities, six of which are located on the north bank of the Vortex River, and there is only one small city on the south bank, which makes the Jinhai defenders unbalanced in terms of troop deployment. The siege camp of the Donghu people was built on the south bank, in addition to taking advantage of the topography of Wang Dengtai Mountain, it was more to form a-for-tat confrontation in the deployment of troops.

When the Donghu soldiers and horses gained a firm foothold on Wangdengtai Mountain, it was difficult for the Jinhai defenders to carry out an effective counteroffensive, and they fell into passive defense from the beginning.

The Donghu people built the nearest enemy platform three or four miles away from Nanzhai, and then drove their troops to attack Nanzhai. The soldiers and horses were unfurled, the black pennant was like a forest, and the simple rejection horses were hastily tied, and they were thrown to block the door and block the road, and the horns, gongs and drums and war horses neighed non-stop.

Although it was a bit of a bluff, it also relied on the strength of the crowd to defeat the counterattack of the defenders of Nanzhai again and again. In the back, there are groups of captive men digging trenches and digging fortifications, digging long trenches around the wall, and piling earth and wood on the outside of the trench to build a chest wall for archery and anti-conflict.

In ordinary offensive and defensive warfare, the attacker fills the ditch and the defender digs a trench.

The Donghu people who attacked this time wanted to give up the plan of attacking the city in a hurry, and wanted to dig a long trench to build a chest wall to block the Nanzhai from the beginning, and then seek a strategy to attack the city; The Tianjin Navy was deeply influenced by Huaidong, and the idea of defending the city in Huaidong was to defend the middle and attack, and to defend the Tibetan attack in the middle of the attack, and would not give up the efforts of the counteroffensive and fall into the passive defense of the city until it was absolutely necessary.

This offensive and defensive battle became a trench for the attacker, and the defender attacked to fill the ditch and level the trench in order to maintain the channel for the external counteroffensive.

Both the offensive and defensive sides are brave and brave, not afraid of death, this trench filling and digging battle, from the beginning of the war is in full swing, very tragic. The battle was rising, the brave generals on both sides wore armor and held swords, went to the battlefield to fight, fought hard for two days, and set up more than a dozen catapult giant crossbows behind the Donghu people, and the defenders were forced to give up the efforts to attack and counterattack from Nanzhai.

Going out from the Nanzhai City, on the battlefield more than two miles wide, there were countless broken limbs and broken arms, rejected horses and cars, broken knives and halberds, and arrows like insect corpses - Lin Xuwen, Huang Jinnian and others who watched the battle at the head of the city were dizzy and frightened; And Gao Zongting, Sun Shangwang, Ma Yigong, Yang Yihang, Geng Quanshan and others who knew the depth of the war were even more bitter in their hearts.

In order to seize the initiative in the attack, more than 1,000 casualties occurred within three or four days of the start of the war -- the 20,000 defenders of the Tianjin Navy could not withstand the attrition for a long time. However, if you give up the initiative and let the Donghu people calmly deploy on the periphery, the Jinhai defenders will fall into a more tragic tug-of-war between attack and defense in the later stage.

When the Donghu people fought for control of Wang Dengtai Mountain in the early stage, they were still dominated by the Hu cavalry, but in the later period, when the soldiers came to the village, they were mainly armed by the Xinfu Han army.

Those newly attached troops, fighting one of the pus cells of the Donghu people, were easily killed, and at this time, they were driven to turn the gun around and hit Jinhai, and they were very desperate and fearless of death - I don't know what medicine they took.

"It's not a way to fight like this," Sun Shangwang said to Lin Xuwen, "Even if you passively defend the city, you have to keep Jinhai's strength from being greatly damaged!" ”

Ma Yigong and Yang Yihang are not the masters who are afraid of fighting tough battles, but there are tens of thousands of troops outside the city, and if they fight like this, they will not be able to consume the elite of the Donghu people, but the Tianjin Navy will soon be unable to support it first.

Gao Zongting frowned, and accompanied Lin Xuwen to stand at the head of the Nanzhai City, looking at the enemy troops on the periphery, which meant that he had despised the determination and means of the Donghu people to attack Jinhai before, but he really didn't know who the commander of the Donghu people was this time, and the means were so old and steady.

Seeing that Nanzhai was about to be completely blocked, Yang Yihang, who was responsible for the defense of Henan Village, was not very good-looking.

Although even if this side gave up the effort to go out of the city to fight a counterattack, and let the enemy army blockade and deploy on the periphery, according to the actions of the Donghu people, it would be almost a month later to organize a siege after they were fully deployed, but to completely blockade the inner line and do nothing, he felt very embarrassed in his heart.

"Looking at their movements, it seems to be similar to the battle of Hecheng the year before last, and the Donghu people are also learning from Huaidong!" Sun Shangwang sighed slightly.

After the Zhejiang-Fujian rebels attacked and captured Hecheng, Huaidong organized a counteroffensive and adopted the strategy of first completely blockading and then focusing on breakthroughs. No one on the Jinhai side participated in the Battle of Hecheng that year, but the examples of the Battle of Hecheng have been studied in detail here.

Those who can take a glimpse of the whole picture, and look at the deployment of the Donghu people in the first few days, it is not difficult to speculate on their overall strategy of besieging Jinhai.

The more urgent and hasty the Donghu people attacked, the more opportunity the Jinhai defenders had to take advantage of the counterattack; The more conservative the Donghu people fought, the more brutal and fierce offensive and defensive battles would be delayed, it also meant that they could only defend the city and have nothing else to do. The longer it drags on, the more prepared the attacker will be, the more passive the city will become, the more brutal the battle will be, and the more difficult it will be to defend the city.

The Donghu people have already used large equipment such as catapults on a large scale in the siege, which is not good news. From the Donghu people's accurate use of the terrain of the Vortex River from the beginning, it can be known that the commander of the Donghu people who was responsible for attacking Jinhai this time was a very capable, thoughtful, and familiar with military affairs, which made people worry that he would have more vicious means to catch people off guard in the future.

Sun Shangwang and the others did not realize that it would be Yezier, the Khan king of the Donghu people, who would personally come to supervise the battle, which was an important factor in the extremely fierce fighting of the Xinfu Han army.

"The Donghu people may also have the intention of besieging Jinhai to integrate the subordinate army...... Gao Zongting looked at the banner of the Donghu people dense like a jungle under the clear sky in the distance, and in the past few days, the soldiers and horses gathered by the Donghu people to the periphery have only increased, and they have far exceeded the defenders in terms of strength, and there are signs that the soldiers and horses of the subordinate army have been transferred to Jinhai to participate in the siege.

Before the war, there were 60,000 or 70,000 people in the newly attached Han army organized by the Donghu people, and the winter war has continued until now, and the total number of troops surrendered in Jizhen and Datong is more than 100,000.

If it is really as Gao Zongting said, the Donghu people completely blocked Jinhai in the inner line, and then transferred all the newly attached Han troops and surrendered troops to the Jinhai siege for integration...... Lin Xuwen frowned, only then did he know that he wanted to defend Jinhai at first, which was somewhat fantastical.

Judging from the ability and means of the commander of the Donghu people to dispatch the Xinfu Han army to participate in the battle in the past three or four days, in addition to being able to transfer elite cavalry to sit in the center, the Donghu people are likely to mobilize more than 100,000 Xinfu Han troops to continue to attack Jinhai City.

Obviously, the Donghu people have already controlled most of the prefectures and counties such as Yanji and Jinjun, so it is impossible to easily withdraw from Guanwai. If the Donghu people do not retreat, Jinhai is the nail that must be pulled out - that is, there are three or four hundred thousand displaced people participating in the defense of Jinhai, and how sure are they that they can defend it?

Thinking of this time, Lin Xuwen had completely given up his intention of sticking to Jinhai, and secretly said in his heart: As long as the three or four hundred thousand displaced people and refugees in the city are evacuated, he will do his duty.

Of course, if they can drag Jinhai until Yanjing is lost and then give up, no one in the world can blame them for not fulfilling their duties as courtiers.

Sun Shangwang asked: "Should we send someone to contact Wu Ye and Leopard Ye, and send someone to sneak to Beijing to report the situation here?" ”

Gao Zongting looked at Lin Xuwen and said, "Please arrange it for Lord Lin—no matter what the price is, let Jingzhong know the situation here." Jinhai is no longer a good direction for Yanjing to break through, and according to the deployment of the Donghu people in the siege of Jinhai, it is likely to use Jinhai as a trap to lure Yanjing to break through here. ”

The Donghu people transferred the newly attached Han army and the captured army to this side to participate in the attack on Jinhai, which indicated that there would be no foot soldiers to encircle Yanjing, which would inevitably try to break through before the food ran out.

Although Gyeonggi is close to Jinhai, when the perimeter is blockaded and the enemy situation cannot be accurately judged, the breakout soldiers and horses are most likely to crash headlong into Jinhai.

When the breakout troops march day and night to the outer siege of Tianjin, and find that the Donghu people have an unimaginable number of interception forces in the outer encirclement of Tianjin, they will fall into a desperate situation where they cannot advance or retreat, and then they will only be left to break the Donghu cavalry in the field and then strangle them.

Ma Yigong, Yang Yihang and others were reminded by Gao Zongting, and they all realized it, and secretly said: The methods of the Donghu people are really ruthless, and they will inevitably do everything possible to lure Yanjing soldiers and horses to break through in the direction of Jinhai and rout them in the wild. Only by sending someone to infiltrate Beijing to report the situation here can Yanjing be prepared for the breakout.

Lin Xuwen frowned and asked, "Even if we pass on the news at all costs, will Yanjing accept it?" ”

Once upon a time, Yanjing was very much looking forward to the Huaidong army landing from Jinhai to support Yanjing from the eastern front and King Qin, but Huaidong fake King Qin's name was a strategy to attack the west with a voice, and Jiangning was forced to acquiesce due to the situation, but after Yanjing knew the truth of the matter, he went up to the kings and ministers of the palace and temples, and went to the peddlers and pawns in the streets and alleys, all of whom denounced Lin Jian and Huaidong as traitors and thieves.

Even if Yan Jing finally chose to remain silent on this matter, and did not send out the edict of asking for guilt - perhaps knowing that the edict of asking for guilt would be detained and not passed on after arriving in Jinhai - Yan Jing's attitude towards Jinhai changed from high hopes to hatred and vigilance.

Although Yanjing is likely to be forced to break through in the direction of Jinhai in the end, the news of Jinhai in the past is difficult for Yanjing to accept without reservation.