The New Destiny of the Ming Dynasty

Upon hearing this, Yang Zhen realized that it was true.

At the time, he thought that Nuomuqi was not very reliable, but looking at Xu Changyong, he couldn't say anything to complain.

Given the circumstances at the time, Nuomuqi had already publicly broken ties with Xu Changyong, and the superior-subordinate relationship could no longer be maintained. It was inappropriate for Xu Changyong to send him on the mission of delivering the message.

Upon thinking of this, Yang Zhen suddenly realized that if Nuomuqi defected and betrayed them, he would have no secrets left. If the Tartar commander reacted quickly enough, the second wave of Tartar pursuers might arrive soon!

At this moment, Yang Zhen couldn't care less about complaining to Xu Changyong for not reporting these important details sooner. He immediately shouted out orders:

"All units! Move at full speed! Evacuate this area immediately! All units! Move at full speed! Evacuate this area immediately!"

Immediately afterwards, Yang Zhen, still worried, sent Yang Zhan'ao and Yan San, who had been following him, back to urge the rear guard to speed up, under his own name.

Xu Changyong felt a little guilty seeing Yang Zhen's strong reaction after learning of Nuomuqi's betrayal. However, since the death of a group of his trusted servants, he had been absent-minded and out of sorts, and had not realized the danger involved.

It was only at this point that Yang Zhen's reaction made this veteran general, who had fought for many years, understand the situation.

If the Tartar commander had any sense, and had learned from Nomqi that the advance battalion was stationed on Shazhou Island, he would have certainly sent a second batch of Tartars.

"Brother Yang! If that Nomqi betrays us all, the Tartars will probably come back again! This reed marshland probably won't be safe anymore!"

Yang Zhenxin said, "That's practically a certainty."

However, seeing Xu Changyong's face instantly filled with anxiety and even fear, he didn't want to say anything more, so he just nodded and remained silent.

The group walked a little further when Yang Zhen suddenly remembered that Xu Changyong had mentioned that one of his personal guards had refused to follow Nomuqi and defected in battle, instead fleeing back to report to Xu Changyong. A thought struck Yang Zhen, and he immediately asked Xu Changyong:

"Brother Xu! Where is the person who informed you? Can I speak with him? I want to ask him, to whom did Nomqi surrender? And who exactly are the Tartars' masters in the Empress's Palace?!"

"Alas! My personal guard stayed behind to cover the rear and didn't come back! However, he reported to me that the leader of the Tartar group we encountered in Nomqi was called Arsalan! He was said to be a Jala Zhangjing of the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner Bayara Battalion!"

"Upon receiving the letter, the Jiala Zhangjing sent men to escort Nomuqi to the Tartar camp to meet some Dorobele Nikan!"

"To be honest, I'm quite ashamed! I didn't even meet that Tartar chieftain; I just saw a group of Tartars suddenly appear, and I panicked! I turned back! If it weren't for my loyal servants who are like brothers to me, I would have been killed this time!"

Yang Zhen is currently struggling because he has no one under his command who understands the inner workings of the Manchus. Although he knows some major historical events at the end of the Ming Dynasty, he is almost completely ignorant about the inner workings of the Manchus.

At this moment, after listening to Xu Changyong's absent-minded words, Yang Zhen judged that the so-called Jialazhang Alsalan of the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner Bayara Camp was very likely among the heads of the Tartars he had captured in this battle, but he was troubled by not knowing what this Alsalan looked like.

Thinking of this, he suddenly remembered the bondservant Ahamali that he had captured in the Tartar's grain supply camp the night before last.

He stopped and looked back, only to see Yang Zhan'ao had returned with the order and was following a few steps behind him. He then turned to him and said:

"Zhan'ao! Where is that Han Chinese bondservant, Ahamali, whom we captured in the Tartar's supply camp the night before last?"

Yang Zhen's question surprised Yang Zhan'ao.

He thought for a moment, seemingly recalling how the thin Ma Liu had cowered in front of him, then smiled and said, "If you hadn't asked, I would have almost forgotten that such a person existed!"

At this point, Yang Zhan'ao thought for a moment before continuing, "I was busy carrying flags for the adults at the time, so I left him in the care of Commander Li Lu. Later, I retreated with Commander Li and the others. He should be on Shazhou Island now, helping Blacksmith Wang forge iron balls and doing odd jobs!"

When Yang Zhen learned that Ma Liu was still around, he felt relieved. The reason he asked about Ma Liu again was because he remembered that Ma Liu had said he knew Al-Salan.

This time, let him try to identify the dead heads from among a pile of corpses. If he can't, keeping him around will just be a waste of resources.

On the way back to Shazhou Island, all the troops except Xu Changyong's Mongolian cavalry were filled with laughter and joy. However, the time and effort spent by each troop was no less than that on the way there.

They brought a lot of ammunition when they came, which was difficult to carry, but when they returned, they lost all that ammunition and gained more than four hundred Manchu heads, as well as the good bows, arrows, knives, armor, and even good clothes and shoes of these Manchus.

Of course, there were also seventy-one healthy, lively warhorses.

Those bows, arrows, swords, and armor were easy to carry, as were the warhorses, which could be led around. But those four hundred or so real Tartar round heads were not so easy to carry.

In fact, Yang Zhen had already thought of this, so the spoils he obtained were all scalps with rat tails cut off from the tops of the Tartar heads.

These things are much easier to carry; you can just tuck them into your pocket and take them with you. Moreover, they serve as a warning and deterrent to the Manchu and Second-Class Tartars who keep the money-tailed rats.

However, apart from Yang Zhen, the others did not think that way. They did not follow his idea and almost all of them cut off their heads and took them as spoils of war.

In the past, the head of a real Tartar was very valuable among the rewards offered by the Ming Dynasty's government army. Although the court can no longer fulfill that reward, it has formed a habit in the army that is not easily changed.

Moreover, the heads of genuine Tartars are extremely rare, and being able to cut one off is a symbol of bravery.

Even if the imperial court couldn't fulfill the reward, bringing back a real Tartar head was something they could boast about to their peers, and it was an honor in itself.

Yang Zhen was somewhat dismissive of this, but he didn't want to go against everyone's wishes. He figured if people were willing to go through the trouble, they could, as long as it didn't affect the overall situation.

Yang Zhen was unimpressed by the more than four hundred real Tartar heads he had taken away, but what he didn't know was that not long after they left, a second Tartar patrol arrived at the "battlefield".

Between 9 am and 11 am, the series of violent explosions and cannon fire that occurred here alarmed the Tartars outside Songshan City, especially Huang Taiji, who had come from the Niangniang Palace camp to personally supervise the battle outside Songshan City.

Now, Huang Taiji, upon learning that the grain and supplies camp had been burned, knew that he could no longer besiege the city for a long time, and the idea of ​​besieging the city and attacking reinforcements was basically over. After thinking it over, he could not think of any better way, so he could only gather all the "Red Barbarian Cannons" in the army and bombard Songshan City, attempting to break through the city and establish a foothold in one fell swoop.

This is why Yang Zhen and his men repeatedly heard the booming sound of cannons coming from the direction of Songshan in the morning.

However, no matter how intense the cannon fire was on the Songshan Castle side, it would eventually stop.

Especially between 9 am and 11 am, the sound of the explosion of the "Wanrendi" guns loaded with new gunpowder on Yang Zhen's side was even louder than the sound of the "Hongyi Cannon".

These violent explosions were heard not only by the Tartars outside Songshan City, but also by Jin Guofeng, the commander of the garrison inside Songshan City, and Xia Chengde, the deputy commander.

In fact, as early as the night of March 8th, they heard a huge explosion coming from the direction of Xiaoling River Estuary, but they were not sure if it was reinforcements from Ningyuan.

Because that direction was too suspicious; it wasn't on the road from Ningyuan to Songshan or Jinzhou.

However, the huge explosion that night did indeed boost the confidence of all the soldiers and civilians in Songshan City in defending the city.

Although Jin Guofeng, Xia Chengde, and other generals defending the city were not certain, they publicly claimed that it was the sound of cannons fired by the Ningyuan reinforcements attacking the Tartar besieging camps. This statement greatly boosted the morale of the soldiers and civilians in the city.

On the morning of March 10th, the heavy artillery positions of the Three Shun Kings and the Manchu Tartar Wuzhen Chaoha outside Songshan City bombarded the city walls repeatedly, causing heavy losses to the soldiers and civilians in the city.

Moreover, after each round of bombardment, Huang Taiji would personally supervise the Manchu and Mongol troops and the Han army to take turns attacking the Songshan city wall while the "Red Barbarian Cannons" needed to be cooled down and the barrels cleaned.

Several times, the Tartars' baturu led their troops to attack the city walls, only to be repelled by the larger Ming army defending the city, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides.

The reason why the defending generals Jin Guofeng and Xia Chengde fought so hard, and why the morale of the soldiers and civilians in the city remained high despite the heavy bombardment by the Tartars, was largely due to the huge explosions and cannon fire they heard coming from the direction of the coast.