The New Destiny of the Ming Dynasty

Yang Zhen can now conclude that this sandbar is not a temporary or seasonal sandbar; perhaps in a few decades or a hundred years, it will become completely connected with the mainland of western Liaoning.

He basically agreed with Zhang Chen's assessment that this place was, decades ago, or even just a dozen years ago, still the sailors' camp of the Ming army in Jinzhou.

Jinzhou and Songshan are both located by the sea, and although they are somewhat far apart, the Xiaoling River has an outlet to the sea. It is extremely convenient to transport grain and supplies from the sea to Jinzhou and Songshan directly along the Xiaoling River.

Setting up a sailors' camp here would not only ensure the safety of navigation in the Xiaoling River estuary area, but also provide a place for passing fleets to rest and stay.

On this issue, Yang Zhen had great faith in the vision and judgment of the Ming Dynasty, because the "Juehua Island Navy" was a living example of this kind of situation in Ningyuan City.

Of course, the Ming army in Jinzhou City no longer had a navy, nor was there a need to set up a sailor battalion.

Moreover, the most important possibility is that the Ming army in Liaodong today no longer has a broad vision that combines land and sea operations.

After assigning tasks to Zhang Chen, Zhang Guogan, Yan San, Yang Zhanao, and others, Yang Zhen himself did not remain idle. Instead, he picked up the shovels that he had suggested being made and equipped, and together with the left-wing soldiers of the musketeer team led by Zhang Chen, they dug a long trench in this long-abandoned sailors' camp.

Zhang Chen was a former border scout in Liaodong. He had spent many years traveling on the grasslands beyond the border and even in the heart of the Jurchen territory. It was commonplace for him. His ability to build shelters in the wild was far superior to that of Yang Zhen, who came later.

This time, he adopted the method of building semi-underground dugouts. He led his men to dig a long trench along the inside of the stone wall, and sent boatmen and oarsmen from Yuan Jin's naval camp to cut down the elm trees.

Once the long trench was dug, the trunks and branches of the elm trees were retrieved, attached to the stone wall, and secured, forming a row of barracks that were half underground and half above ground with roofs.

At night, if it gets too cold, even if a fire is lit for warmth in the semi-underground trench, the trench walls and roof provide protection so as not to reveal the location of the camp.

Yang Zhen was very satisfied with Zhang Chen's resourcefulness and adaptability to local conditions. These subordinates, who possessed various ancient survival wisdoms, were his greatest asset in this era.

In early March, the weather in Liaodong did not warm up significantly; in fact, there was a bit of a cold snap in the past few days.

However, Yang Zhen, who was wielding a shovel and digging the long trench with all his might, soon became drenched in sweat. His approach of sharing weal and woe with his soldiers and working together earned him even more respect and affection.

Yang Zhen was, after all, a hereditary commander of the First Guard, and a deputy general of Ningyuan appointed by the imperial court. He was only one step away from becoming the commander-in-chief of a town. Yet, he was able to dig long trenches and work hard alongside these people. This was something that other generals of this era could not do!

While Yang Zhen was putting on a show of "leading by example," Yang Zhanao, Yan San, and others also arrived at the low-lying area.

Yang Zhanao directed his three remaining soldiers to find the lowest-lying spot, and with a few digs, water began to seep out from under the sand and gravel.

However, to Yang Zhanao and his colleagues' great disappointment and some confusion, the water pits dug out in this depression were not fresh water.

Or to be more precise, it tastes like fresh water, but it is not pure fresh water.

The water was slightly murky and tasted bitter and pungent, but it wasn't entirely seawater.

Yang Zhan'ao refused to give up, forcing himself to take a sip. He smacked his lips and then said to Yan San, "The water here doesn't taste good, but it doesn't seem to have any negative effects! Brother Yan! Why don't you try some?"

Yan San bent down, scooped up a handful of water from the spring, took a sip, tasted it briefly, and immediately spat it out.

"This is saline water! It's fine for the livestock to drink! But if the brothers drink it, they'll probably get stomach problems for days!"

Yan San looked around the spring and the entire depression, noticing it was covered with withered saltwort stalks from winter. He bent down, plucked a handful, and pointed to the stalks, saying:

"Commander Yang! This is saltwort! That's for sure! This water probably won't do!"

Yang Zhan'ao also glanced at the dried grass in Yan San's hand. He recognized it as saltwort, sighed, clapped his hands to remove the sand, and then said:

"Let's go! Let's go back and report to Commander Xie!"

While Yang Zhen was sweating profusely and digging trenches with his soldiers, Yang Zhan'ao and Yan San returned.

After hearing their report, Yang Zhen leaned on his shovel, sighed, and remained silent.

It seems that nothing in this world is easy. Thinking back to reading novels in his later life, seeing how other transmigrators could get whatever they wanted and accomplish whatever they wanted, with all sorts of coincidences and divine favor, making their success outrageous, Yang Zhen was really furious—why don't I have such heaven-defying luck!

At this moment, Yan San saw Yang Zhen sighing and remaining silent, looking gloomy, and quickly said, "Lord Xiezhen, don't be discouraged! The mouth of the Xiaoling River isn't far away. If all else fails, we can go there to fetch water!"

"Furthermore, I've heard from veterans in the military that the place where the Xiaoling River flows into the sea has always been known as the Hundred-Stream River! In my experience, there must be some unknown small river in the reed marshes to the west!"

"Going upstream to fetch water from the mouth of the Xiaoling River is too risky; it's only a last resort! Yan San, Zhan Ao, take a centipede-shaped boat, go around to the west, and after passing the waterway ahead, search the reed marshes to the west first!"

It was only at this point that Yang Zhen finally understood why this sandbar was ultimately abandoned: without an independent source of drinking water, the cost of stationing there would be very high, and it would be abandoned at the slightest problem.

At the same time, Yang Zhen also figured out that there was probably a reason why the Tartar army, or the so-called Han army within the Tartar army, did not station even a small force in this place.

One reason is that the Tartars did not value the sea and had few ships.

At the same time, the lack of a water source for drinking on this sand island is probably an even more important reason!

Although that low-lying area is located inside this sandbar and is relatively high on all sides, making it difficult for the sea to submerge it during high tide, the entire sandbar is surrounded by seawater, and the filtering effect of the sand and gravel is insufficient. Even if a well could be dug here, the water would inevitably be eroded and polluted by seawater and would be undrinkable.

Once Yang Zhen thought of all this, his previous illusion that he could easily obtain water was immediately shattered.

"Yan San! You are relatively familiar with the situation here, and we still have some time! Take Yang Zhan'ao and the others, board a small boat, and go around to the reed marshes to the west. Take a close look and find a drinking water source as soon as possible!"

Yan San and Yang Zhan'ao both knew the extreme importance of water sources. Without a nearby and perfectly drinkable water source, this sandbar would not be an ideal place to station troops.

The two men received their orders and set off again to find a water source, while Yang Zhen put aside his other thoughts and continued to work hard with the other soldiers.

Fortunately, Yang Zhen had prepared shovels in advance. Otherwise, even though the sand and rocks on this sandbar island were relatively soft and easy to dig, it would have been an impossible task to create several long trenches in just over an hour without the right tools.

The more urgent the time, the faster it seems to pass!

The rows of dugouts inside the stone wall were not yet fully erected when Zhang Guogan suddenly shouted from afar, "My lord! Commander-in-Chief! Ships! Ships at sea! Our fleet has arrived!"

Zhang Guogan led the right-wing soldiers of the musketeer team, relying on several remaining foundations and broken walls at the highest point inside the stone wall, and worked hard to build an "ammunition depot" that was crucial to the entire advance battalion.

However, they did not forget to send someone to stand at the highest point to keep watch over the entire sandbar, so as to detect any sudden dangers as soon as possible.

Fortunately, they did not see any signs of Tartar scouts in the vicinity. Instead, they spotted Yuan Jin's fleet in the southeast sea immediately.

"Zhang Guogan! You better keep your voice down!"

Upon hearing the news, Yang Zhen was overjoyed. He chuckled and cursed at Zhang Guogan's shouting, then dropped his shovel, led a few men, and carrying a flag, ran towards the bay where his group was about to reach the shore.

By this time, most of the crimson sunset had already sunk below the western mountain ranges, leaving only the fiery clouds in the western sky to illuminate this sandbar between the sea and land with their remaining light.