The New Destiny of the Ming Dynasty

Just as Yang Zhen, Zu Keyong, Xu Changyong, Yuan Jin, and others finished discussing the deployment of troops, they suddenly heard a series of thunderous sounds coming from the direction of the western shore.

The group of people who were having a discussion were startled and stood up to look westward. They were only slightly relieved when they realized that the thunderous sounds were not coming from the edge of the reeds.

"The Tartars have begun bombarding Songshan City!"

As Yang Zhen spoke, he continued to gaze at the setting sun in the west, a little puzzled in his mind. But after a moment's thought, he understood, and then continued to speak to the crowd:

"But don't worry! At least we don't have to worry about Songshan tonight! It's already late afternoon! The Tartars shouldn't launch a strong attack at this time! I guess the Tartars are firing their cannons now to adjust the firing angles in order to adjust their artillery formation!"

"Tomorrow! I suspect it's very likely tomorrow, the Tartars will launch a new round of bombardment and assault on Songshan City!"

Just as Yang Zhen finished speaking, the sound of cannon fire came from the distant west!

Xu Changyong and the others were slightly relieved after hearing Yang Zhen's words, but they were also somewhat skeptical. They gritted their teeth and remained silent, looking westward with worried expressions.

Songshan City is about eight or nine miles away from the reed marshes on the coast, and about ten miles away from the sandbar island where Yang Zhen and his group are. Although they could hear the booming cannons clearly, they could not see anything when they looked to the west.

At this moment, Zu Keyong said, "General Zu means that we should send a message into the city as soon as possible! Before, the Tartars didn't have cannons, especially the Hongyi cannons, so the General wasn't worried that the Tartars could capture Songshan or Jinzhou. But now the Tartars have heavy cannons! This is something we have to worry about! If Jin Guofeng and Xia Chengde's will to hold out wavers under the bombardment of heavy cannons, then we'll be in trouble!"

At this point, Zukeyong looked at Yang Zhen and said solemnly, "Commander-in-Chief! Harassing and drawing the Tartars to attack us can certainly help relieve Songshan! But the most urgent task is probably to first send someone to inform the Songshan garrison that reinforcements have arrived and that we are out there!"

After Zukeyong finished speaking, everyone turned to look at him, thinking to themselves, "This Zukeyong is really a restless fellow!"

"Brother Zu! Last night we made such a commotion in the Tartar's supply camp, even if Jin Guofeng and Xia Chengde in Songshan City were deaf, they should have heard it! Even a fool could guess that something was wrong with the Tartars outside the city! Did we really need to go to the city walls and send another messenger?!"

Xu Changyong knew that delivering a message would require cavalry, but Yang Zhen's old troops had no cavalry, and Yuan Jin was from the naval forces. If they had to go, the only option would be to send someone from either him or Zu Keyong, so he immediately objected.

"I, Old Xu, am not a coward! Nor am I unwilling to go to Songshan to deliver the message. The problem is that doing so at this time is not only redundant, but practically walking into a trap! If the message fails to be delivered and we are intercepted and killed, what's the point?!"

Immediately afterward, Yuan Jin also stepped forward and echoed Xu Changyong's opinion, saying, "Brother Yang! According to what you said before, we should launch a large-scale harassment of the Tartars tomorrow, luring them to attack us. Isn't that tantamount to rescuing Songshan? Xu Youji's light cavalry is also tasked with the important mission of actively harassing and attracting the Tartars to pursue us tomorrow. If we send them ashore tonight for a fierce battle to deliver a message, even if they return tomorrow, they may not be able to fight on schedule. Wouldn't that delay the important matter?!"

The meaning is quite clear: it's saying that Zukeyong should go deliver the message, but it wasn't explicitly stated.

Even the thickest of Zu Keyong's nerves would have caught on by this point. He glanced at Xu Keyong and Yuan Jin, then clasped his hands in a fist salute to Yang Zhen and said, "Since it was my suggestion, I will naturally lead the men!"

As soon as Zu Keyong finished speaking, Yang Zhen said decisively, "You can't go! No one else needs to go today either!"

Hearing Yang Zhen's words, Xu Changyong and Yuan Jin's expressions relaxed, especially Xu Changyong who secretly breathed a sigh of relief. However, Zu Keyong was about to say something else.

At this moment, Yang Zhen stopped Zu Keyong and then said to everyone, "It's not that we're not going! We're going tomorrow! We heard the cannon fire just now, and I'm sure the soldiers of the vanguard and the naval forces heard it too! When we get back, tell them that the Tartars are launching a fierce attack on Songshan, and tomorrow our entire army will go ashore to cover the vanguard's scouts as they go to deliver a message to the Songshan garrison!"

This was a ready-made reason and excuse for sending troops, and Yang Zhen quickly linked the distant cannon fire from the west with tomorrow's ambush.

As soon as Yang Zhen spoke, Xu Changyong understood.

Soon, Yuan Jin understood as well.

This combines the mission of delivering a message to Songshan with the mission of ambushing the Tartars tomorrow.

Moreover, sending troops tomorrow under the pretext of delivering a message to Songshan City will not only convince everyone to persuade their soldiers, but also make the behavior of Xu Keyong's Mongol soldiers seem more authentic.

If we tell them to lure the enemy, who knows if one of them will fall from his horse, be captured alive by the Tartars, and reveal the truth? Wouldn't all our efforts have been for nothing?

After Xu Changyong and Yuan Jin figured out the intricacies of the situation, they gained a deeper understanding of Yang Zhen.

If Yang Zhen's previous crooked ideas and schemes could have been suggested by people like Zhang Degui and Li Lu, then his current on-the-spot reactions were something no one else could have helped him with.

At this moment, Zukeyong also realized what was happening.

However, he was still worried about the safety of Songshan City. He said again, "Lord Commander! Tomorrow's main objective is to lure the enemy. There's a high chance the message won't be delivered. What if Songshan City doesn't know reinforcements have arrived and something goes wrong?!"

"No! Brother Zu, you must believe me! Jin Guofeng and Xia Chengde have persevered this long, they won't waver easily!"

After saying this, Yang Zhen stared at Zu Keyong and continued, "Brother Zu, if you have the letters that Commander Zu wrote to Jin Guofeng and Xia Chengde, why don't you take them out tomorrow and give them to Brother Xu's men so they can take the letters with them! Otherwise, you might really never have the chance to send them out again!"

Yang Zhen's words startled both Xu Changyong and Yuan Jin.

However, what surprised them even more was Zukeyong's answer.

After a moment's hesitation, Zukeyong finally said, "Alright!"

Zu Keyong's answer not only confirmed Yang Zhen's conjecture but also surprised the others. It turned out that Commander Zu had such a plan!

Xu Changyong glanced at Zu Keyong, then at Yang Zhen. Seeing that Yang Zhen was still smiling, his expression unchanged, showing neither surprise, disappointment, nor displeasure, Xu Changyong secretly admired Yang Zhen's composure.

If it were Xu Changyong, and he were nominally appointed as the commander of the vanguard battalion, but Commander Zu had secretly given instructions to others, and someone could take out Commander Zu's order at any time to replace him, he would definitely feel very uncomfortable.

What does it mean to be distrusted?

This is what it means to be distrusted.

However, Yang Zhen had already considered this possibility.

Although he was born in Guangning Houtunwei of Liaodong Commandery and could be considered a Liaodong native, to the current Ningjin Army or "Guanning Army", he was just an untrusted outsider.

As for whether Zu Keyong had any other secret military orders from Zu Dashou besides those to Jin Guofeng and others, Yang Zhen couldn't guarantee.

Perhaps one day I will make a mistake, and Zukeyong will issue another military order to replace me!

But he didn't care anymore.

Because now the main force of the advance battalion is his old subordinates, not Zu Keyong and Xu Changyong.

Without their own musketeer, artillery, and grenadier units, Zukeyong and Xu Changyong's small cavalry force was of little use.

Their cavalry, from the moment they decided to head north by sea, had become a useless burden, neither worth keeping nor worth discarding.

At this time, the sound of the Tartars bombarding Songshan from the west had stopped for quite some time. Only then did everyone believe that the Tartars were just testing the cannons, and that Songshan City would probably be in grave danger starting tomorrow morning!