The New Destiny of the Ming Dynasty

The current Manchu Eight Banners consist of two main forces under each banner. The largest of these is the Aliha Chaoha Battalion, which is led by the Gushan Ejen of each banner and is mainly composed of Manchu Tartar cavalry armored men.

The camp currently has seven ranks: Gushan Ejen, Angbang Zhangjing, Meile Zhangjing, Jiala Zhangjing, Niulu Zhangjing, Bashiku, and Fende Bashiku.

This army was already in existence when the Jurchen Eight Banners were first established. To this day, only the name has changed slightly, and nothing else has changed much.

Besides the Alihachaoha Camp, the most significant change was in the Bayala Camp, which was personally led by the banner lords and princes of each banner.

The original Bayara soldiers were elite warriors temporarily conscripted from various Niru (military units) under the Jurchen banner during battles, and they would return to their respective Niru after the battles ended.

Now, under the Eight Banners and outside of Alihachaoha Camp, a separate Bayara Camp has been established. The Bayara Camp has one dedicated Bayara Banner Commander, two Jiala Commanders, and several Niru Commanders.

These Bayara soldiers were the personal guards of the banner lords and princes, and were all brave and elite banner soldiers or armored men selected from the Aliha Chaoha.

The Bayala Battalion is small in number, but it is different from the Alihachaoha Battalion, which was conscripted for wartime expeditions. It is now a standing elite force under the Eight Banners, equivalent to the guards of each banner.

The troops currently guarding the area around the Huangtaiji Niangniang Palace camp are the Bayala Camp of the Two Yellow Banners.

Among them, the Bayala Banner Commander of the Plain Yellow Banner was Tulai, who had already gone out to deliver the imperial edict, while the Bayala Banner Commander of the Bordered Yellow Banner was Turge, whom Huang Taiji had just mentioned.

This time, Turgh led the main force of the Bordered Yellow Banner's Bayara Battalion to guard Huang Taiji's palace tent in front of the Songshan Army. Therefore, he was not punished because of Arsalan's defeat and death, and was able to continue serving as the Bordered Yellow Banner's Bayara Banner Commander.

After Huang Taiji made up his mind to withdraw his troops, he suddenly felt much more relaxed. He no longer went to Songshan to supervise the battle, but returned to his palace to have a meal and rest.

At the same time, although Yang Zhen guessed that the Tartar leader who ordered the burning of the reed marshes the previous evening was Huang Taiji, he did not guess correctly the decision Huang Taiji made the following morning.

He had no way of knowing about this decision.

As the sun rises and a new day begins, Yang Zhen feels a deep sense of gratitude for being able to witness the newborn sun once again.

At this moment, large swathes of reeds were still burning north of the mouth of the Xiaoling River and along the long coastline south of this sandbar island, continuing to emit a pungent smell and billow thick smoke.

However, the reed marshland directly opposite the sandbar where Yang Zhen and his men's camp was located had been mostly burned black, and as the tide gradually receded, large areas of mudflats were exposed beneath the reeds.

After breakfast that morning, Yang Zhen sent Yang Zhan'ao and Guo Xiaowu out again, instructing them to take a small boat and continue deeper into the western coastal mudflats.

There were many narrow waterways there, which large ships could not navigate and warhorses could not pass through. Only small boats that could only carry a few people could move freely through them.

Fortunately, Heaven was on Yang Zhen's side. The wind came from the sea and was always a southeasterly wind, which carried the thick smoke and ashes from the burning reeds toward the Tatar camp at Niangniang Palace and Songshan City.

Otherwise, the thick smoke from the burning reeds stretching for miles along both sides of the Xiaoling River estuary might have made it impossible for Yang Zhen and his group to continue their foothold on this sandbar island.

At this time, the tide had begun to recede, and there were still about two hours before the best time for the Tartar army to launch an attack, which was around noon.

After having a simple breakfast, Yang Zhen sent Yang Zhan'ao and Guo Xiaowu out to continue patrolling. Then, he took Zhang Degui, Zhang Chen, and Li Lu and went straight to the west bank of this sandbar island.

At the site where Yuan Jin's naval camp had once built a pontoon bridge, he assigned Zhang Chen, Li Lu, and Zhang Degui areas to be defended by the musketeer team, grenadier team, and artillery team, respectively.

The entire defensive area marked by Yang Zhen looks like the Chinese character "王" (king), and each horizontal stroke of this "王" character requires a trench dug by manpower to reach chest height.

As for how important the "vertical" line connecting the three trenches was, after yesterday's ambush, Yang Zhen and his old subordinates understood it even more deeply—it was a passage used to save lives in critical moments.

Around 9 a.m., Xu Changyong and Zu Keyong's troops, who had heard the news, did not wait for Yang Zhen's order to mobilize. They found their tools and began to work enthusiastically with the musketeers, artillerymen, and grenadiers to build defensive fortifications.

Before noon, Yang Zhen came to inspect again. The sandy land on the western side of Shazhou Island, separated from the reed marshes by a waterway, had been divided into a maze-like position by barricades, breastworks, and trenches.

Yang Zhen, along with Xu Changyong, Zu Keyong, and Yuan Jin, the garrison commander of the naval camp, stood on the completed position and looked westward together.

Yang Zhan'ao and Guo Xiaowu, who were sent out by Yang Zhen early this morning to scout the enemy's situation, have yet to receive any news back.

For Yang Zhen, unless something serious happened to these two people, the fact that there was "no news" was good news in itself.

If the Tartar army is determined to attack Yang Zhen and his men, there must be signs to be found.

The Tartar army either needs to assemble a large number of troops in advance, or it needs to send troops to search for ships or doors in advance.

Even if the Tartar army were to cut down trees in the vicinity to prepare for building a pontoon bridge, they would certainly make some noise.

As long as they make some noise, it will definitely catch the eye of Yang Zhanao and Guo Xiaowu.

If that happens, then based on Yang Zhen's understanding of Yang Zhan'ao, he will definitely try his best to send these messages back in advance.

However, there has been no news so far.

"Brother! Will the Tartars come today or not? It's already noon, and the tide in the mudflats ahead has completely receded! If the Tartars were going to attack us today, they should be here by now! Why is there not a sound at all?!"

Although Xu Changyong was somewhat mediocre as a military commander, he had served in the army for over twenty years. Over those twenty years, the fact that he had managed to survive in the Ming army in Liaodong and rise to the position of guerrilla commander was certainly not without reason.

The scene before him gave him no indication whatsoever that the Tartar army might be about to attack, so after looking around, he simply asked Yang Zhenfa directly.

At this moment, Yuan Jin also said, "Brother Xu is right! It's noon now, and judging from the situation on this coast, it should be the best time for the Tartars to attack us!"

"If the Tartars were going to attack, they would probably have already begun preparations! If they don't arrive by noon, then they probably won't come today!"

The Tartars did not return, which surprised Yang Zhen and also left him with a slight sense of regret.

Although he couldn't guarantee that his troops could withstand the Tartar attack, he could assure them that if the Tartars attacked, he would inflict casualties no less than yesterday.

The longer Yang Zhen spends in this parallel universe, the clearer his strategic vision for the future becomes.

He doesn't need to care too much about the gains and losses of individual cities or places. Even if Jinzhou City and Songshan City are both lost this time, it may not necessarily be a bad thing.

What he urgently needs to do now, or what he will urgently need to do in the future, is to inflict heavy casualties on the Tartar forces, especially the Manchu Tartar forces.

How many able-bodied young people did the actual Manchu Eight Banners population actually have?

Based on the 400 Niru (military units) that Huang Taiji had at his peak before becoming emperor, the total number of able-bodied young men suitable for armored combat was only 120,000.

If you include men, women, and children, it would be good if the population were at most one million.

Even if we include the Han Chinese bondservants, Korean bondservants, Mongolian bondservants, and the population of other Jurchen tribes in the Heilongjiang River basin, the total population of the Manchu Tartars was only about two million.

Compared to the hundreds of millions of Han Chinese during the Chongzhen era, they were, in any case, a tiny minority.

Moreover, among this small population, the core Manchu Eight Banners population numbered only a few hundred thousand.

If we kill off a batch of them today, and another batch tomorrow, how many able-bodied men will we have left to use in the long run?!

Once the power of the Manchu Eight Banners is weakened, and the myth that the Jurchens are invincible with less than 10,000 men is shattered, will the subordinate Mongol Eight Banners, as well as the Han Eight Banners that will be subordinate to the Manchu Eight Banners in the future, still obediently follow the command of the Manchu Tartars?

Therefore, if space could be exchanged for time, and if small victories could be accumulated into a major victory, Yang Zhen would not actually mind if Songshan and Jinzhou were occupied by the Tartars.

Listening to what Xu Changyong, Yuan Jin, and the others said, Yang Zhen thought for a moment and made his own judgment: "What you said is indeed correct! If they're not stupid, there's a 99% chance the Tartars won't come back today after noon! And—"

At this point, Yang Zhen first turned to look at Xu Changyong, Zu Keyong, and Yuan Jin, and then continued, "Moreover, in my opinion, if the Tartars don't attack us today, they won't attack us tomorrow or the day after!"