Although Yang Zhen did not participate in the drafting of the document for Songshan City to report the victory to Ningyuan, he also took the opportunity to toast and banquet with Jin Guofeng, Xia Chengde, and Lu Pinqi last night to communicate with them about the defense of the east gate of Songshan City.

Songshan Castle was expanded based on the original Songshan Fort, which was built on a hill in the remaining range of Songling Mountain.

The current Songshan City has basically been leveled, but the artificial leveling and reconstruction has not completely changed the terrain characteristics of Songshan City, which is higher in the northeast and slightly lower in the southwest.

The east gate of Songshan City is located on a higher ground, and there is a long slope outside the east gate. It is difficult for the Tatar army to attack from above. Therefore, after the Tatars besieged the city, the main attack direction was never placed on the east gate and the north gate.

The Tatars initially attacked the south gate, but after being unable to attack it for a long time, they turned to besiege the west gate.

However, Huang Taiji did not completely ignore the east gate. After he decided to besiege Songshan, he first sent troops to destroy several beacon towers and towers outside the east gate with artillery.

Then, he ordered to dig a wide and deep trench at the foot of the slope outside the east gate of Songshan, and built an earthen wall with the excavated earth and rocks. He sent men and horses to patrol, which was able to cut off Songshan soldiers and civilians from going out to log firewood from the east gate of the city.

The road to mining.

At the same time, Huang Taiji was very relieved and arranged his palace tent in the Empress Palace three or four miles east of Songshan City.

Now that the Tatars have retreated, Yang Zhen has also entered Songshan City. Among the four gates of Songshan, the east gate is the closest to the coast. Therefore, after entering the city, he first took a fancy to this place.

It just so happened that the space in the Chenghuang Temple was a little too cramped. After all the men and horses of the advance battalion were stationed in, it was crowded and it was inconvenient to do anything.

That night, Yang Zhen took advantage of his drunkenness and proposed to Jin Guofeng to open the east gate and let the advance battalion artillery team and grenadier team help garrison the east gate.

Jin Guofeng and Xia Chengde, who were intoxicated with wine, also believed that the more people directly involved in defending the city, the better, so they agreed on the spot.

At present, in Songshan City, the south gate is garrisoned by guerrilla Lu Pinqi with more than 800 men, and the west gate is garrisoned by general Xia Chengde with more than a thousand men.

As for the North Gate with the Wengcheng, Jin Guofeng led a strong camp of rural warriors to personally garrison it on weekdays. At the same time, Jin Guofeng, who was stationed at the North Gate, also acted as a reserve force to lead troops to support the West Gate and South Gate at any time.

As for the east gate, the Tatars blocked the way in and out of the Songshan garrison. The Tatar army did not come to attack. Jin Guofeng did not bother to station heavy troops for defense. He only asked the south gate guard Lu Pinqi to take care of the defense of the east gate, and just sent troops at any time.

Just a patrol.

Therefore, as soon as Yang Zhen put forward his idea, Jin Guofeng and others all agreed on the spot, and they were also happy that Yang Zhen's advance battalion took the initiative to participate in the defense of the city.

Therefore, when he woke up the next morning, Yang Zhen remembered the matter and immediately called Zhang Degui and Li Lu. After telling them about the matter, he asked Zhang Degui and Li Lu to lead the artillery team and the grenadier team.

Climb to the top of the East Gate.

They also asked them to bring the ten Folangjis, ten Tiger Crouching Cannons and five Nine-Headed Birds that were temporarily placed in the City God's Temple, as well as a large number of gunpowder projectiles and other items, to the east gate of the city.

Then after breakfast, Yang Zhen mobilized Xu Changyong and asked him to lead his troops to open the east gate and clean up the earth and rocks that were blocked in the east gate.

After all, war horses have to go out to graze, and they cannot always be tied up in the city to feed them.

Moreover, the east gate is closer to the Queen's Palace and the mouth of the Xiaoling River. After opening this gate, it is also convenient for all members of the advance battalion to enter and exit.

After arranging these matters, Yang Zhen went to discuss it with Zu Keyong in person, and asked Zu Keyong to take the remaining heavy cavalry of Marshal Zu's army around him and go out of the city to the south to take a look in the direction of Xingshan.

He also suggested that if possible, he could contact Xingshan City and report the news that the Qing troops in Songjin had retreated to the defenders of Xingshan City as soon as possible.

The reason why Yang Zhen asked Zu Keyong to lead his team out to scout and deliver information was first of all because that was what Zu Keyong and his Zu Dashou Chinese Army heavy cavalry were supposed to do.

Secondly, it is because Zu Zeyuan, the deputy general currently stationed in Xingshan, and Zu Keyong are from the same ancestral family. They know each other well and are easier to talk to each other than others when they meet.

Furthermore, Zu Keyong, who was relatively upright, was asked to go to Xingshan to meet Zu Zeyuan to deliver the news. Zu Zeyuan did not dare to report the truth to Ning Yuan.

After Zu Keyong led the team to leave under the banner of Zuzi, Yang Zhen asked Zhang Chen, the left-wing adjutant of the Musketeers, whom he directly led, and said to him:

"This morning, you take the brothers on the left wing of the Musketeers and ride out of the city to the north! First, go down along the edge of the Shah River in the north of the city and see if the water in the Shah River can be used to sail boats, and what kind of boats can be sailed?

"After arriving at the mouth of Shahe, we went straight down the Xiaoling River to meet Yuan Jin, and tried to transport all the saltpeter, sulfur, and willow charcoal we brought with the boat to Songshan, as well as the food and wages of our advance camp.

!

"At the same time, you also tell Yuan Jin that I told him to ask him not to return in a hurry and to wait until Ning Yuan's order or the imperial court's decree is issued before making a decision!

"He can also take advantage of this free time to manage the sandbank where we were stationed before! Demolish the Tatar camp on the north bank of the river mouth, use those materials to build a dock and set up a camp!"

Zhang Chen was very sensitive to the fact that Yang Zhen must be planning something, but Yang Zhen did not tell him clearly, and it was not convenient for him to ask directly.

However, he also knew very well that it was definitely better to follow a Shangguan who was far-sighted and had long-term plans than to follow a Shangguan who didn't want to make progress and just muddle along.

Zhang Chen received the order, ordered his men and horses, raised the flag of the advance camp musketeers, and rode out of the south gate like a gust of wind, then turned north and went to investigate along the river.

If the water surface of the Shahe River is deep enough and the boats of Yuan Jin's navy camp can go upstream along the Xiaoling River, and then turn along the Xiaosha River to outside the north gate of Songshan, it will be much more convenient in the future.

At the same time, if Yuan Jin can listen to his advice this time and properly manage the sandbank where the advance battalion was once stationed, he will have a second transfer station to transport grain and grass to Songshan and Jinzhou through the Xiaoling River in the future.

, and it is also a closer transfer station.

Of course, this sandbank island is just a little small, so it can't station many people or store much food.

The most important thing is that Yang Zhen doesn't know how much area of ​​the sandbank island will be left in the summer when the water volume of the Xiaoling River increases and the typhoon tide rises.

For Yang Zhen, this situation can only be truly understood after the summer of the twelfth year of Chongzhen.

If by then, this sandbank island can still maintain its current area, Yang Zhen will make up his mind to carry out major construction projects on it.

Originally, during the second Battle of Songjin in history, Hong Chengchou was stationed in Ningyuan City to command the army's counterattack, and he had a certain advantage at the beginning.

It was not until the imperial court repeatedly pressed for a decisive battle that Hong Chengchou had to lead the army north to Songshan. The situation in which the Ming army had the upper hand began to change.

Hong Chengchou was very worried that he would repeat the mistake of Yang Hao's past when he attacked separately and was defeated, so he paid great attention to joining forces in one place on the way north.

Hong Chengchou gathered all the 130,000 troops from the Ming Dynasty outside the Pass, carrying a large amount of food, grass and baggage, and marched north together. Although the momentum was huge, it caused a serious consequence, that is, the rear was empty.

Sure enough, after the slave chief Huang Taiji detected this information, he quickly sent a partial army to go around the back of Hong Chengchou's army.

First, they seized the supplies and grain stores that had fallen behind Hong Chengchou's army, and then dug long trenches from west to east, cutting off the pay and return routes of Hong Chengchou's 130,000-strong army.

You must know that the "Western Liaoning Corridor" from Shanhaiguan to the northeast to Jinzhou is about four hundred miles in length, but its width, from the mountains in the west to the sea in the east, is only thirty miles.

The narrowest point is only a dozen miles.

The Tatar army went around the back of Hong Chengchou's army and cut off the army's food route, immediately forming a "closed door and beaten dog" situation.

The originally good situation of the Ming army was suddenly reversed, and instead they were surrounded by the Tatar army. In the end, they could no longer hold on and collapsed.

Analyzing the reasons, it was found that the interruption of food routes was the main culprit for the collapse of morale of the Ming army.

If it weren't for the fact that the food route was cut off, the general officers under Hong Chengchou would not have panicked and would have thought of retreating.

At the same time, if the Ming army had not completely lost hope because Bijia Mountain, a maritime grain garrison, had not been captured, the general officers under Hong Chengchou would not have fled and collapsed on their own.

Therefore, Yang Zhen himself knew very well that if he wanted to change the tragic ending of the Second Battle of Songjin, the easiest place for him to start would be to find a better place to store grain than Beacon Mountain.

Even if the sandbank island where Yang Zhen and the others were stationed before cannot replace Beacon Mountain, they can't put all their eggs in the basket of Beacon Mountain!

Before starting such a battle that would determine the fate of the Ming Dynasty, at least a preliminary plan should be planned in advance.

Regarding this issue, Yang Zhen felt that he had found a reasonable preliminary plan, which was the sandbar island at the mouth of the Xiaoling River.

As long as this sandbank can withstand typhoons and the high water level at the mouth of the Xiaoling River and still exist after this summer's rainy season has passed, then Yang Zhen's preparation plan will be feasible.

Now that you have this idea, you should make some preparations now - from the east gate of Songshan to the Empress Palace, and then to the sailor camp at the mouth of the Xiaoling River, this prepared supply line must be carefully managed.

This preparation work is naturally left to Yuan Jinxian now, which is more appropriate.

This time Yuan Jin has made great achievements and should be able to stabilize his position in the Juehua Island Naval Camp.

As long as Yuan Jin can control the naval camp on Juehua Island, even if Yuan Shu is transferred from his position as governor of Liaodong in the future, Yang Zhen's idea will still have a chance to be realized.
Chapter completed!