The New Destiny of the Ming Dynasty

However, Yang Zhen himself had no time to appreciate the reeds under the moonlight, nor did he have time to feel intoxicated or afraid of them, because ever since he learned that Yan San had successfully entered the small river he had crossed during the day, he had been holding the musket in his arms and had fallen asleep peacefully.

The violent jolt that startled him awake, along with the musketeers on board, until his small boat suddenly ran aground on a shallow beach.

At Zhang Chen's low shout, the musketeers on the boat quickly got up and jumped down. Yang Zhen followed suit, stepping through the shallow water in the reeds, and quickly pulled the boat to the side to make room for the boats that followed, allowing them to smoothly break through the waterway and reach the solid shallows.

Yang Zhen, Zhang Chen, and the others disembarked, leaving the rowers behind. Then, led by Yan San, they continued westward into the depths of the reed marshes.

During the day, the areas they traveled through had been marked, and Yang Zhanao and Guo Xiaowu had also marked them.

Not long after the group headed west, Yan San found a patch of fallen reeds and there he discovered the boat left behind by Yang Zhan'ao and Guo Xiaowu, but he did not encounter the rowers who had traveled with Yang Zhan'ao.

However, once they found the direction, things became much easier, and everyone's confidence increased. After waiting for a while and gathering all the musketeers and grenadiers, the group set off westward in a grand procession.

Continuing westward from here, the terrain becomes relatively firm and dry. The power of the rising tide ends where Yang Zhan'ao and his men abandoned their small boat.

So on the way west, Yang Zhen's group arrived at the edge of the reed marshes without much effort or time.

The more difficult task was carrying the numerous "Ten Thousand Enemy Cannons" and "Dragon King Cannons" of the grenadier squad. These things were quite heavy, and the grenadier soldiers had to make several trips back and forth to move them over.

The "Ten Thousand Enemy Cannon" and "Dragon King Cannon" made by the Ming Dynasty's official army were very cumbersome and consumed a lot of gunpowder.

Especially the "ten-thousand-person enemy," the largest of the Ming Dynasty army's "ten-thousand-person enemy," which, if converted to the modern "kilogram" unit, weighed a staggering forty kilograms.

If you remove the earthenware pots that held the gunpowder and barbed wire, as well as the wooden crates used for transport, the gunpowder and other materials that needed to be packed inside would still weigh at least ten kilograms.

If it weren't for the fact that the gunpowder quality was seriously substandard, such a "weapon against ten thousand men" would certainly live up to its imposing name.

This time, Yang Zhen essentially staked all the wealth he had accumulated in Ningyuan City.

All the stockpiled "Ten Thousand Enemy" and "Dragon King Cannons," as well as the "Dragon King Cannons" obtained from Yuan Jin's naval camp, totaling more than two hundred, were transported over.

If this battle is truly lost, there's no need for Xu Changyong and Yuan Jin to persuade him anymore; Yang Zhen himself will voluntarily retreat to the sea to avoid the enemy.

If he cannot achieve merit in this battle, he will have no resources left to continue to achieve merit, not even the resources to set traps or launch ambushes. Since the battle is over, what is the point of going ashore?

However, Yang Zhen firmly believes that his arrangement this time is very likely to succeed.

In the more than 20 years of war between the Ming Dynasty and the Manchus, it was always the Manchus who set traps, lured the enemy, and ambushed the Ming army. There was basically no instance of the Ming army setting traps and ambushes to ambush the Manchus.

For more than twenty years, the Ming army has not even entertained the idea of ​​going out of the city to fight in the field. Even the mighty border army of Liaodong, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, only dared to rely on the strong cities to defend themselves.

These Manchu Tartars, who ravaged the Ming army as if it were nothing and were extremely arrogant, how could they have expected that someone would dare to set up an ambush against them?

Even if there was an ambush, Yang Zhen figured that given their contempt for the Ming army, they wouldn't back down in the face of battle, and they would never have imagined that the ambush Yang Zhen had prepared would be like this.

Yang Zhen led the left wing of the musketeer team and arrived at the edge of the reed marshes. Yang Zhen had been to this place before and was quite familiar with it.

Right at the edge of the sand, Yang Zhen raised his hand to stop the team behind him, squatted down and groped around for a moment, found two pebbles, then took them in his hands and struck them three times.

In the stillness of the night, the sound of stones striking stones, amidst the rustling of the wind through the reeds, was remarkably crisp.

A moment later, a figure suddenly emerged from the grove of trees a hundred paces ahead, crouching low and running swiftly toward the reeds like a leopard.

Zhang Chen immediately raised his gun and aimed at the figure, while Yang Zhen immediately pressed down on the long gun that Zhang Chen was holding. This was the communication signal that he had agreed upon with Yang Zhan'ao and Guo Xiaowu long ago.

Sure enough, the figure arrived very quickly, rising and falling several steps ahead of everyone. At this moment, Zhang Chen also realized that the person was Guo Xiaowu from Yuan Jin's naval camp.

"Sir! Battalion Commander Yang is leading the others to secretly dig the horse trap in the clearing at the end of the woods ahead! This area is perfectly clean tonight; we haven't seen a single Manchu scout! Battalion Commander Yang said that the group of Manchus you and he encountered yesterday probably crossed the river yesterday and headed north! In short, it's perfectly safe here now! Sir, you can lead everyone to work without worry!"

That figure was none other than Guo Xiaowu, whom Yuan Jin had borrowed from the naval camp to steer and pilot Yang Zhan'ao's ship.

After Guo Xiaowu ran over, he spoke from a few steps away. When he reached Yang Zhen, he immediately knelt on one knee and quickly reported what they had observed.

"Has there been any movement in the camp outside Songshan City tonight?! Have you looked west? Is there anything unusual?!"

Hearing Guo Xiaowu's words, Yang Zhen felt reassured, but then asked, "I'm also worried that the peace and tranquility here might be an illusion."

After all, less than ten miles away was the Tatar camp at Niangniang Palace outside Songshan City, on the south bank of Xiaoling River. He was very worried that if the Tatar scouts unexpectedly came here at night while he was directing everyone to dig trenches and horse traps, then all their efforts would be in vain.

However, at the same time, he dared not send his men too far west. After last night's surprise attack, the Tartars would definitely strengthen their patrols in the Niangniang Palace camp. If the Tartars did not discover their construction work in this area, but instead discovered the scouts he sent out, then the plan to ambush the Tartars would also be exposed and die.

Yang Zhen looked at Guo Xiaowu under the moonlight and finished his question. Guo Xiaowu immediately replied, "I was willing to go and scout! But Commander Yang was worried that we might alert the Tartars and ruin your important plans, so we didn't dare to go! Since arriving here, I've been following Commander Yang's orders to keep watch, and I've been guarding that grove of trees up ahead without moving!"

Hearing Guo Xiaowu say this, Yang Zhen finally felt relieved. He then called Zhang Chen and Zhang Guogan, as well as Li Lu and Pan Xi, who had already arrived to join him. Under the moonlight, he led the officers and adjutants of the two teams to the salt flats and sandy land in front of them. He divided the area and assigned tasks to each team, and then let them quickly split up and take action.

The shovels that Yang Zhen had Zhang Guogan make and buy in Ningyuan City earlier now proved to be of full use.

Only the portion of these shovels used by the musketeers was made by a blacksmith in Ningyuan City according to the design drawn by Yang Zhen.

The remaining dozens of swords were all purchased with silver from blacksmith shops in Ningyuan City, and they came in various shapes and sizes.

Regardless of its shape, it was extremely useful for digging trenches and communication trenches on sandy soil.

The shovels equipped in Yang Zhen's camp were far inferior to the multi-functional military shovels and combat shovels that became popular all over the world in later generations, but they were sufficient for the current advance battalion.

Yang Zhen first assigned the digging tasks to the left and right flanks of the musketeer team and the left and right flanks of the grenadier team. After they started moving, they went forward to find Yang Zhan'ao under the guidance of Guo Xiaowu.

Yang Zhanao knew almost all of Yang Zhen's plans, and he had prepared shovels in advance when he brought Guo Xiaowu and others to stand guard here.

Upon arriving at the designated location, Yang Zhanao simply instructed the quick-witted Guo Xiaowu to climb a sturdy tree in the woods and survey the surrounding area, while he himself led the rowers to the area where the horse traps were to be set up and began digging.

When Yang Zhen arrived, the open area between the grove of trees and the main channel of the Xiaoling River was already covered with horse traps that they had dug during the first half of the night.

"Sir! This whole area is sandy soil, loose and easy to dig. The seven of us have already dug about two hundred! We haven't even had time to cover them with dry grass yet. Look how big and deep we've dug, is that enough?"