The New Destiny of the Ming Dynasty

"These heartless, traitorous dogs who betray their country and call themselves Han soldiers, what kind of Han army are they! They've tarnished the name of the Han army! If anyone is a true Han army, it's us, the honorable Han army!"

No sooner had Yan San finished speaking than Yang Zhen heard Zhang Chen, standing beside him, angrily curse, "These traitorous bastards who have forgotten their ancestors are the most hateful! Those scoundrels in Liaodong originally had no cannons, but it was them who brought cannons to the Tartars! The Tartars originally had no navy, but it was them who brought them a navy! If those scoundrels hadn't only believed in archery and horsemanship and never used a navy, we would have been in real trouble! Even if we had taken the sea route, we probably wouldn't have gotten here!"

Yan San, who had obviously seen Zhang Chen on the ship, heard Zhang Chen's words and knew that it wasn't directed at him, quickly said to Zhang Chen:

"Lord Zhang is absolutely right! These traitorous dogs are even more hateful than the Tartars! Especially that Kong Youde, who wreaked havoc in Dengzhou and Laizhou back then, and he really ruined our Dengzhou-Laizhou navy! We lost our ships, our cannons, and our men! We, who are from Dengzhou and Laizhou, all want to skin him alive and eat his flesh! Alas—"

Zhang Chen's words surprisingly resonated with Yan San, and the two of them started arguing back and forth.

"Alright! Let's not talk about that now! The Tartars are our national enemies, and the traitors who willingly serve as their second Tartars are our family enemies! In the future, we will avenge both our national enemies and our family enemies!"

"Yes! In the future, when national and personal vendettas arise, we will avenge them together!"

Yang Zhen's words immediately drew agreement from his soldiers, but Yang Zhen gleaned an important piece of information from Yan San's earlier remarks and immediately asked:

"Yan San! Are those traitorous Tartar dogs who come to fetch water camped on the south bank of the Xiaoling River or the north bank?"

"Reporting back to you, sir! We were on the north bank at the time, and the group of Tartars who overheard their conversation came from the Lianying camp on the north bank of the Xiaoling River! However, when we were hiding in the reeds, we also heard a group of people from the southern camp coming to fetch water, and there were many carts and horses carrying water, and they were taking a large amount of water! But we were too far away at the time to hear them speak!"

Hearing Yan San's words, Yang Zhen seemed to have a flash of inspiration, but many questions remained. Therefore, he looked at Yan San and asked, "Is that Niangniang Palace on the south bank or the north bank of the Xiaoling River?!"

In Yang Zhen's memories from the future, the Niangniang Palace on the banks of the Xiaoling River should be not far from the south bank of the river. It is entirely possible that the Tartar general who besieged Songshan set up his rear camp at the Niangniang Palace.

However, during this siege of Songshan, the Tartars' archery and horsemanship were not very useful for the time being. The ones who really played a role were precisely the second-rate Tartars like Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming.

Because these Tartars nowadays happen to possess one of the few offensive weapons available to the Tartar army: the heavy firearm "Red Barbarian Cannon".

It was precisely because the Tartars obtained these heavy cannons that they had the confidence to besiege tall and fortified cities like Jinzhou and Songshan.

Logically speaking, Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming's so-called "Heaven-sent troops" should not be in the rear besieging Songshan and Jinzhou, but should be at the front!

It would be reasonable to at least camp on the south bank of the Xiaoling River! Cannons are heavy and inconvenient to transport; it's impossible to cross the river every day!

Furthermore, the Tartars have always been bold in their approach. Faced with the Ming army, which was stubbornly defending its fortified city and dared not engage in open battle, they would not place their daily artillery units on the north bank of the Xiaoling River out of fear of a Ming raid.

So, what kind of camp was the "Han Army" camp on the north bank of the Xiaoling River that Yan San and his group observed?

Yang Zhen trusted Yan San and had a good impression of him, but he still asked about the location of the Empress's Palace with some doubt, just in case he remembered it wrong.

Yan San never expected that in such a short time, Yang Zhen had already thought of so many questions.

Hearing Yang Zhen's question, and seemingly somewhat disbelieving, he immediately replied, "My lord! The Empress Palace is naturally not far from the south bank of the Xiaoling River! From a secluded spot on the north bank, we could even see the Empress Palace's yellow glazed tile roof shining as we looked south! Rest assured, my lord, there's no mistake!"

Yan San's words made Yang Zhen nod involuntarily—it seemed he hadn't misremembered! Even if the Xiaoling River had changed course in later generations, it couldn't have changed course so drastically.

"Since you heard that group of Tartars talking, what exactly did they say?" Yang Zhen then asked.

"We were a bit far away at the time, so we couldn't hear clearly. We only heard something like they were saying that some Tartar's sister had caught the eye of his master and was about to become rich! We couldn't tell whether the Tartars were envious of him or laughing at him!"

Yang Zhen stared intently at Yan San as he spoke, and finally shook his head, setting aside any distractions, concluding that Yan San was not lying.

Yang Zhen knew that his repeated questioning had made Yan San feel distrusted, so although he still had doubts, he did not press the matter further.

Yang Zhen immediately stopped thinking about the problem and said, "Brother Yan, you've worked hard! Draw the terrain you see! Also, draw the terrain of this sandbar! Give it to Guo Xiaowu in a bit, and have him take men back to Commander Yuan's fleet as soon as possible!"

After saying this, Yang Zhen glanced at the sunlight and sky, estimating that it would be more than an hour before it got dark. He then said, "When night falls, Zhang Chen—Yan San—you two will come with me to the area around the Empress's Palace and take a good look around!"

Before coming here, Yang Zhen had a plan, but after hearing about Yan San's investigation, he had to change his original plan.

However, he was still undecided about what to do next. Only by personally inspecting the Tartar camps around the Niangniang Palace tonight could he make a decision.

Zhang Chen and Yan San immediately accepted the order.

Yan San withdrew and took Guo Xiaowu to draw a topographical map.

Zhang Chen remained by Yang Zhen's side, watching him deep in thought, and said, "Sir! This old camp is very likely the site of the Jinzhou sailors' camp during the Wanli era, but it has been abandoned for a long time now. There isn't even an old house, or even a shack. I'm afraid it can't be used directly!"

Seeing that Yang Zhen only nodded without speaking, Zhang Chen continued, "If General Zu, Lieutenant Xu, and Garrison Commander Yuan come together tonight as agreed, I'm afraid we'll have to start working now!"

"Fortunately, the situation on this island is not bad. The ground is dry and it's all sand and gravel. With the shovels that the adults had arranged beforehand, we were able to make about ten dugouts in this earthen enclosure before dusk to spend the night. That shouldn't be a problem!"

Yang Zhen looked around and felt that this was the only place that was both dry and safe, and also located at a higher elevation, so there was no need to worry about the camp being flooded by seawater at high tide at night. Therefore, he nodded, indicating his approval of Zhang Chen's arrangement.

Although he had already decided to personally visit the area around the Empress's Palace tonight, the immediate problem needed to be solved, so he had to temporarily put aside his other ideas.

Seeing Zhang Chen, Zhang Guogan, and Yang Zhanao around him, Yang Zhen immediately instructed them: "Zhang Chen! Just as you said, take the left wing of the musketeer team and the boatmen and oarsmen of the naval camp, and cut down trees and dig trenches along this stone wall to build a few huts!"

"Zhang Guogan! Take the right flank of the musketeer unit and find the highest point in the camp to build an ammunition depot! Although we don't have to worry about rain or snow, we still need to guard against high tides! When the artillery and grenadier units arrive, we need a place to store the ammunition!"

Upon receiving the order, Zhang Chen and Zhang Guogan turned and left without saying a word. They called over the men on the left and right wings who were resting nearby, as well as the boatmen and oarsmen of the naval camp, and assigned them tasks to find places to work.

At this moment, Yan San, from the naval battalion, led several oarsmen from the naval battalion toward Yang Zhen.

Yang Zhen saw him coming and said, "Guo Xiaowu and the others have set off?"

Yan San nodded and said, "Don't worry, Lord Yang! Everything is arranged! Guo Xiaowu has already set off with a centipede-shaped boat!"

Yuan Jin's men are all top-notch.

Needless to say, Yan San is clearly a very shrewd and capable person. Even Guo Xiaowu, the junior oarsman, is efficient in his speech and actions and does everything decisively and efficiently.

After hearing Yan San's reply, Yang Zhen nodded to him, then pointed to the depression in the distance that he had seen earlier and said to him:

"Very good! Now, take your men and accompany Yang Zhan'ao and the others to that depression and take a look! See if you can dig up any water. And check if the well water you dig up is seawater or water we can drink! If it's not drinkable, while you're at it, check the surrounding reed beds for any hidden streams!"

Yang Zhen's meaning was clear: both Yan San and Yang Zhan'ao knew that this matter was of great importance.

If there is no drinking water source on or in the vicinity of this sandbar, then it will be a problem.

At that time, we either had to send people on a risky boat trip to the upper reaches of the Xiaoling River estuary to fetch water, or we had to abandon this campsite, which was both offensive and defensive.