The New Destiny of the Ming Dynasty

Nikan rode his horse and hesitated for a long time on this saline-alkali land. For a moment, he didn't know how to report this matter to Huang Taiji.

This was a situation that the Manchu Eight Banners army had never encountered in many years.

He rode his horse from outside the woods to inside the woods, and then to the saline ground between the reeds, silently counting the already cold remains of Gabushi Xianchaoha on the ground.

The initial shock, followed by anger, then calm, and a sliver of fear welling up from the depths of his heart, swirled repeatedly in Nikan's mind.

Once he calmed down, he became so focused that he didn't need the help of the Jiala Zhangjing and Niru Zhangjing from the Bordered Yellow Banner Bayara Camp who had come with him. He calculated the number of Bordered Yellow Banner Gabuxi Xianchaoha who had died in this place on his own.

"Four hundred and twenty-six! The elite of my Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner Bayara Battalion, all of them have died here!"

After counting the corpses on the ground, Nikan finally ordered the soldiers of the Bordered Yellow Banner who had brought him to dismount and collect the remains of Gabuxi Xianchaoha.

While the others dismounted to collect the bodies, Nikan looked thoughtfully at the crisscrossing trenches and sand pits of various sizes on the ground and said to Nomqi:

"What is the name of the commander of this Ningyuan vanguard battalion? What is his background? Why are there so many trenches and sand pits? These trenches are not wide and cannot stop the warhorses, so what is their purpose?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, the commander of this advance battalion is named Yang Zhen! As for his background, this humble servant—no, this servant—does not know! I only heard from the people in the camp that he comes from the Yizhou Garrison and has a hereditary title of Garrison Commander!"

"This time, I—ah, no, I, your servant—accompanied him by ship northward and had little contact with him, but everyone in the advance camp knows that Yang Zhen values ​​firearms! These trenches and sand pits are probably related to the fact that all of Yang Zhen's troops use firearms!"

This Nomqi surrendered to the Manchus this morning, and now, only past noon, it has already begun to try to emulate the Manchu masters and their lackeys.

However, having spent many years in the Ming army, he couldn't completely change his tune anytime soon.

However, Nikan didn't seem to care about Nomuqi's mistake in addressing him. After hearing Nomuqi's words, he turned to look at him and asked, "Does Yang Zhen's men all use firearms?! How many men do they have in total?!"

"Reporting to Your Highness! Yang Zhen's own troops originally numbered less than two hundred! After the last raid on the camp on the Hebei border, a number of them were killed or wounded, and now, at most, there are only one hundred and sixty or seventy left!"

Nomuqi knew that if he was of any use to this Manchu nobleman, it was because he was familiar with the original Ming army. So when Nikan asked him a question, he immediately told him the truth.

"One hundred and sixty or seventy musketeers dared to ambush Al-Saran?! One hundred and sixty or seventy musketeers could wipe out the entire Al-Saran army?!"

Upon hearing Nomuqi's words, Nikan looked at Nomuqi with disbelief and confusion, muttering to himself.

It's unclear whether he was asking himself or Nomuqi.

"Your Highness! When I was still on the island, I heard that Yang Zhen's old subordinates were tinkering with gunpowder every day, making quite a few 'Ten Thousand Enemy Cannons,' quite a few 'Dragon King Cannons,' and I heard they even had some kind of hand grenades! Although I haven't seen them, I did go with them during the last raid—their newly made gunpowder shells are quite powerful! If they had buried them here beforehand, they could have lit them when Lord Alsaran led his troops here—"

Nomuqi paused briefly, glancing at Nikan's extremely unpleasant expression, before continuing, "In my humble opinion, these craters in the ground were most likely blasted out by those so-called 'Ten Thousand Men' and 'Dragon King Cannons'!"

Nikan nodded involuntarily after hearing Nomuqi's words.

He rode his horse across the long trench in front of the reeds and rode to the edge of the reeds, where he saw the reeds trampled and flattened by the cavalry, as well as the traces left by the artillery positions.

By this time, he had basically realized that both the letter sent from Nomqi to Songshan and the horse caravan escorted by Xu Changyong were scams.

The goal was to lure Arsalan's army, or any other army they encountered, into this pre-arranged battlefield.

This used to be a specialty of the Manchu Eight Banners when fighting against the Ming army, but now, this Ming army has turned the tables on them.

Having seen and heard this, Nikan's observation was essentially complete. He had a general understanding of the situation and was gradually comprehending it. He secretly thought to himself, "This Yang Zhen from the advance battalion is quite a ruthless character!"

Thinking of this, Nikan knew that this situation would eventually have to be reported to Huang Taiji. This time, all the Gabuxi Xianchaoha from the Xianghuang Banner Bayalali died here, and it was impossible to hide it.

At that moment, he ordered a bayara from a Niru to continue collecting the corpses and severed limbs on the ground, while sending a Niru zhangjing with men back to report to Huang Taiji.

He then rode his horse up into the woods and stood on a relatively high spot, immediately looking eastward.

Under the afternoon sun, the endless reeds swayed in the wind, and beyond the reeds stretched a vast sea.

Nomuqi was riding not far from Nikan at this moment. When he saw Nikan looking east, he immediately spurred his horse up to him and said:

"My lord! Yang Zhen, Xu Changyong, and Zu Keyong's group should be on a sand island east of this reed marshland right now! I've been with them on the island for a few days and am very familiar with the situation there. Apart from Yang Zhen's troops, none of the other units have a camp on the island!"

"My lord! It's low tide at the beach now, and there's no water in the reeds. If your elite troops can launch a surprise attack on the island, you'll catch them completely off guard! Their small force is no match for you!"

Upon hearing this, Nikan turned to look at Nomqi, then simply rode his horse around the woods a few more times, glancing at another long trench hidden at the edge of the woods, but remained silent.

Seeing that his suggestion had not been accepted by Nikan, Nomuqi dared not say anything more.

Huang Taiji had previously ordered Nikan to lead the Bayara soldiers of the Bordered Yellow Banner to annihilate Yang Zhen's vanguard, but the scene before him made Nikan somewhat terrified.

This Nikan was one of the sons of Chuying, Nurhaci's eldest son.

His father, Chu Ying, was persecuted to death when he was very young, so he grew up in a very dangerous political environment. He is not very old now, only around thirty years old, but he is very shrewd and cautious.

Arsalan, leading the most elite troops of the Bordered Yellow Banner Bayara Battalion, Gabuxi Xianchaoha, had just been ambushed by Ming army firearms in this very place, and more than four hundred of them had been wiped out. How could he possibly dare to blindly follow the retreating Ming army into the reed marshes?! What if there were traps inside?!

In fact, Nikan's caution really saved him.

As soon as Nikan and his men appeared, they were spotted by Yang Zhan'ao and Guo Xiaowu, who had stayed in the reeds to continue observing the enemy's situation.

Especially when Nikan led his men to the edge of the reed marshes, Yang Zhanao and Guo Xiaowu retreated deeper into the reed marshes while hoping that the battle scene deliberately left outside the reed marshes would provoke the newly arrived Tartar general and make him rush into the reed marshes to pursue them.

If Nikan and his gang dared to do that, Yang Zhanao and Guo Xiaowu would not hesitate to add fuel to the fire.

When Yang Zhen evacuated to the island with the main force, he left them behind to continue guarding and assigned them this task.

Therefore, they secretly hoped that Nikan would become enraged and chase after them into the reed marshes, since their advance troops had already left the reed marshes and returned to the sandbar island.

During this season, the southeast wind blows almost all day long over the reed marshes by the sea, and the dense reeds are extremely dry and flammable. Once a fire starts, it is beyond anyone's ability to put it out.

Once they light the fire, they can run upwind without worrying about being trapped by the fire.

However, to their great anxiety and regret, Nikan, leading more than a thousand Tatar cavalry, lingered at the edge of the reed marshes for a long time, but ultimately did not dare to charge in.