The New Destiny of the Ming Dynasty

"In spring, the east wind blows often, bringing swallows to build new nests. In summer, the south wind blows often, making the sun blaze like a basin of fire..."

Yang Zhen can only sing a few children's songs, and this is one of them.

Fortunately, he still remembered this children's song, which taught him that in spring, there is often an east wind, and in Liaodong Bay during the third month of spring, a southeast wind often blows.

With the southeast wind blowing, Yuan Jin's fleet, mainly composed of oarsmen, did not need oarsmen; relying solely on the sails, they were able to maintain a certain speed and sail towards the sea off Songshan.

Ningyuan City is not far from Songshan City; the land distance is at most 150 li.

If Yang Zhen's forces were all cavalry, they would have arrived in a day and a night no matter what.

If the pace is a mix of horsemanship and footwork, and they are carrying guns, cannons, and supplies, the speed might be slower. In addition, if they camp at night and don't travel, it might take more time.

But in any case, three days is enough.

This is the speed and time under normal circumstances, that is, without the Tatar cavalry ambushing and surrounding them.

So, taking the sea route might be a bit longer, but it would allow for a day and night march, and there would certainly be no Tartar ambushes or interceptions. Therefore, it would not be slower than the advance of the "cavalry and infantry taking the land route".

So, after two sunrises and sunsets, on the morning of the third day, just as the sun rose above the sea, Yang Zhen roughly calculated the time and had Yuan Jin summoned again.

"Brother Yuan! I've calculated the time, and it should be about right! Shouldn't we send out a few small boats to check the situation towards the coast? If we miss the best landing spot, it might delay us for a day or two!"

"Brother Yang, don't worry! I know what I'm doing! Since I took up my post at the Juehua Island naval camp, I haven't had a chance to visit Songshan City or Jinzhou City yet! But I have been to the military grain city on Bijia Mountain twice! Before, to ensure that the transportation of grain would not go wrong, I also personally scouted the terrain around the mouth of the Xiaoling River. I know exactly where the boats can sail and where the shore is safe! You can relax!"

Yuan Jin, a former pirate leader, served in the navy in the Dengzhou and Laizhou area after being recruited by the government. He was most concerned about the hydrological conditions along these coastlines. Seeing Yang Zhen's concern, he immediately said these words.

However, as a supporting actor on this trip, Yuan Jin followed Yang Zhen's advice and quickly issued orders for all ships to lower their mainsails, slow down, and gradually begin to regroup the fleet.

Then, two small boats—centipede boats—were dispatched, rowed with fine oars, and headed towards the western coast.

Early this morning, as the ship passed the waters off Bijia Mountain, in order not to disturb the garrison at Bijia Mountain Military Grain City and to keep the news of Yang Zhen's group heading north by sea from leaking out, Yuan Jin specially instructed the ship leading the expedition to sail far away from the waters off Bijia Mountain and into the depths of Liaodong Bay for a period of time and distance.

Judging by the time, we've long since passed the waters off Bijia Mountain, and it's indeed time to head west and find a suitable place to dock.

For Yuan Jin and his sailors, sailing and circling at sea for two days and three nights was just routine, nothing special.

For them, it was common to spend ten days or half a month at sea without landing or docking, and even without seeing islands or land.

But for Yang Zhen's group of landlubbers, especially for the three hundred Mongol soldiers led by guerrilla Xu Changyong, the past two days and three nights were like being in hell.

The problems of wind and waves, seasickness, food, vomiting, and the stench of the horses' excrement were driving these people to the brink of madness.

When the fleet slowed down and began to regroup, everyone ran to the deck to catch their breath. They all looked like they had just recovered from a serious illness, listless and half-dead.

Yang Zhen's men and Zu Keyong's men were in a much better situation. Although they were not having an easy time, they were still able to hold on.

Most of these Han Chinese soldiers came from military households in Liaodong garrisons, and some were even fishermen from the Liaodong coast. They were not so unfamiliar or afraid of traveling by sea, the wind and waves on the sea, or the vast and unfathomable ocean.

Despite experiencing various physical discomforts, they continued to complete the tasks assigned to them by Yang Zhen.

In the past two days, taking advantage of the relatively calm time at sea, the musketeers, under the command of Zhang Chen and Zhang Guogan, finally completed the task of converting the matchlock muskets to flintlock mechanisms.

On another large ship, Zhang Degui and Yang Shen managed to pack hundreds of packets of the maximum safe dosage of the Tiger Crouching Cannon and the Frankish Machine Gun, using oil paper and silk packets (which they had somehow acquired), respectively. This ensured that they had enough for their urgent needs upon landing.

Pan Wenmao, who also belonged to the artillery unit, never even went aboard one of the unit's ships. He was completely focused on setting up a brazier and an iron pot in the hold to continue boiling saltpeter.

During the process of boiling saltpeter day and night, the smell emanating from the ship's cabin was extremely unpleasant, not only pungent to the nose and mouth but also irritating to the eyes.

But no one dared to say anything. Even Yang Zhen himself could only silently endure it, because the gossipy Zhang had already leaked the news, saying that Pan Wenmao was ordered to develop a new propellant.

If they can't develop this new propellant, their modified "Rumi gun" will be no different from a fire poker.

As for Li Lu, apart from visiting Yang Zhengang once when he boarded the ship, he did not show up at other times. He was also single-mindedly focused on loading and sealing various types of homemade bombs with his adjutant Pan Xi.

All sorts of wine jars with large bellies and small mouths, as well as various iron boxes and porcelain bottles that they had collected in Ningyuan City, were treasured by Li Lu and Pan happy.

Li Lu and Pan Xi seemed to have suddenly become enlightened, and even the various large conch shells filled with sand and gravel used as ballast on Yuan Jin's fleet were salvaged by Li Lu and Pan happy.

The sand was dumped out, then stuffed into gunpowder packets wrapped in oil paper, and filled with stone fragments knocked off various ballast stones, which became the "grenades" that the grenadiers were ready to throw.

In just two days and two nights, they loaded three or four hundred of these "conch shell" grenades.

On the seventh day of the third month, at noon, one of the two small boats that Yuan Jin had sent out to scout the shore returned and reported that about six or seven li west and slightly north of where the fleet was anchored, was the estuary and mudflats where the Xiaoling River flows into the sea.

South of the river mouth, near the shore, lies a sandbar covered with withered reeds, facing the land across the swamp. On it stands a dilapidated camp, with no flags or cooking smoke visible in the distance.

Upon hearing the report from Yuan Jin's naval scouts, Yang Zhen was overjoyed and exclaimed repeatedly, "Excellent! Excellent! This is truly heaven's help! Brother Yuan! Let's raise the sails immediately, turn northwest, and head to that sandbar to anchor!"

For Yang Zhen, what delighted him most was not that their current anchorage was close to the mouth of the Xiaoling River, but rather the sandbar not far south of the mouth of the Xiaoling River.

Moreover, there was a former camp on that sandbar.

No matter how dilapidated the camp was, even now that it's in ruins, it at least shows that the sandbar could be used to garrison troops; it wasn't a temporary or seasonal sandbar.

Yang Zhen had no idea about the situation around Songshan City, so he dared not just haphazardly find a place to dock, moor his ship, and set up camp. What if he encountered the Tartars?

The sandbar near the mouth of the Xiaoling River provided him with a place to settle down.

So upon hearing this news, he was overjoyed and immediately urged Yuan Jin to direct the fleet to adjust its course and head to the sandbar to anchor.

However, Yuan Jin did not immediately issue the order. Instead, he remained silent and gazed into the distance towards the coast, seemingly deep in thought.

Seeing this, Yang Zhen was puzzled and looked at Yuan Jin, saying, "Brother Yuan! Is there something wrong with this?!"

"Brother Yang! The weather is fine and the waves are calm today, which is usually a good thing! However, for a fleet as large as ours, anchoring at this time is not a good thing! If the Tartars have set up watchtowers on high ground along the coast, given the current situation, our large ships will inevitably be spotted as they approach the sandbar, even if we lower our sails!"