Yang Zhen can now conclude that this sandbank is not a temporary or seasonal sandbank. Perhaps tens or hundreds of years later, it will be completely connected with the mainland of western Liaoning.

He basically agreed with Zhang Chen's judgment that this place was the sailor camp of the Jinzhou Ming Army a few decades ago, maybe even a dozen years ago.

Jinzhou and Songshan City are close to the sea. Although they are somewhat distant, the Xiaoling River has an outlet to the sea. The grain and grass from the sea are transferred to Jinzhou and Songshan. You can directly go deep along the Xiaoling River, which is most convenient.

Setting up a sailor's camp here can not only ensure the safety of the waterway around the mouth of the Xiaoling River, but also provide a rest and resting place for the passing fleets.

On this issue, Yang Zhen believed very much in the vision and judgment of the Ming Dynasty, because the "Juehua Island Navy" to Ningyuan City was a similar living example.

Of course, the Ming army in Jinzhou City now has no navy, and there is no need to set up a sailor camp.

And the most important possibility is that the Ming army in Liaodong has long lost the broad vision of combining land and sea.

After Yang Zhen assigned tasks to Zhang Chen, Zhang Guogan, Yan San, Yang Zhan'ao and others, he himself was not idle. Instead, he picked up the shovel he proposed to build and equip, and fought with the left-wing soldiers of the musketeers led by Zhang Chen.

Together, we dug a long trench in this long-abandoned sailor's camp.

Zhang Chen was a frontier soldier in Liaodong who never stopped at night. He had been walking on the border grasslands and even in the hinterland of the captives for many years. This was a common occurrence. His ability to build shelters in the wild was much better than that of Yang Zhen, a later man.

This time, he adopted a semi-underground tunnel construction method. He led his men to dig a long trench along the inside of the stone wall, and sent boatmen and rowers from Yuan Jin's navy camp to cut down the elm trees.

After the long trench was dug, the trunks, branches and leaves of the elm trees were retrieved and erected on the stone wall to secure it, leaving a row of barracks that were half underground and half above ground with roofs.

At night, if the weather is very cold, even if you light a fire for warmth in the long semi-underground trench, it will still be protected by the trench walls and roof, so that the location of the camp will not be exposed.

Yang Zhen was very satisfied with Zhang Chen's use of local materials and adapting measures to local conditions. These subordinates who possess various ancient survival wisdom are his greatest strength in this era.

In early March in Liaodong, the weather did not warm up significantly. In the past few days, it even felt a bit like spring cold.

However, Yang Zhen, who was wielding a shovel and digging hard to build a long trench, was soon sweating profusely. His approach of sharing the joys and sorrows with his soldiers and working together also won him more love.

After all, Yang Zhen was a hereditary commander of the First Guard, and he was the deputy general of Ningyuan appointed by the imperial court. He was only one step away from the chief military officer of the first town, but now he was able to dig long trenches and sweat like rain with them.

, which is not what other generals of this era can do!

While Yang Zhen was performing the drama of "taking the lead" here, Yang Zhan'ao, Yan San and others also rushed to the low-lying area.

Yang Zhan'ao commanded the only three remaining soldiers under his command, found a low-lying place, swung his shovel, and within a few digs, water began to seep out from under the excavated sand and gravel.

However, what disappointed and confused Yang Zhan'ao and others was that the puddles dug in this depression were not fresh water.

Or to be more precise, it tastes like fresh water, but it's not pure fresh water.

The slightly turbid water tastes a bit bitter and choking, but it is not completely sea water.

Yang Zhan'ao didn't want to give up, so he took a sip, and then said to Yan San: "Although the water here doesn't taste good, it doesn't seem to matter after drinking it! Brother Yan, you should try it too

?”

Yan San bent down and picked up a handful of water from the spring, took a sip of water into his mouth, tasted it briefly, and immediately spit it out.

"This is salt-alkali water! It's okay for animals to drink! But if brothers drink it, I'm afraid they'll be upset for a few days!"

Yan San looked around the spring source and the entire depression, and saw that it was covered with saltgrass that had dried up in winter. He bent down and grabbed a handful, pointed at the saltgrass and said:

"Mr. Yang! This is salt wormwood! That's right! This water may not be good!"

Yang Zhan'ao also looked at the hay in Yan San's hand. He also recognized that it was salt wormwood. He sighed, clapped his hands, wiped the sand off his hands, and said:

"Let's go! Go back and report to Lord Xie Zhen!"

While Yang Zhen was sweating profusely and digging trenches with his soldiers, Yang Zhan'ao and Yan San came back.

After hearing what they reported about the situation, Yang Zhen leaned on his shovel, sighed, and was speechless.

It seems that nothing is easy in this world. When I think about reading novels in later generations, I see other time traveler protagonists who can do whatever they want and accomplish whatever they want. All kinds of chances and coincidences, God's blessing, everything goes smoothly.

People pointed out that Yang Zhen was really angry - why don't I have such incredible luck!

At this time, Yan San saw Yang Zhen sighing and saying nothing, with a gloomy look on his face, and quickly said: "Master Xiezhen, don't be discouraged! The mouth of the Xiaoling River is not too far away. If it doesn't work, we can get water there!

"In addition, I heard an old man in the army say earlier that where the Xiaoling River enters the sea, it is known as the Baigu River! Judging from my experience, there must be a small river unknown to us in the reed marsh to the west!"

"Going to the upper reaches of the Xiaoling River mouth to fetch water is too risky, so it is a last resort! Yan San, Zhan Ao, you take a centipede boat, go around to the west, cross the waterway in front, and search in the reed marshes to the west first.

Let’s look for it later!”

It was only at this time that Yang Zhen finally figured out the reason why this sandbank was finally abandoned. Without an independent source of drinking water, the cost of stationing here would be very high, and it would be abandoned if there were even the slightest problem.

At the same time, Yang Zhen also figured out that there was probably a reason why the Tatar army or the so-called Han army in the Tatar army did not station even a small group of troops in this place.

This is one of the reasons why the Tatars do not pay much attention to the sea and do not have many sea ships.

At the same time, there is no drinking water source for humans and animals on this sand island, which is probably a more important reason!

Although the low-lying area is located inside the sandbar and is surrounded by relatively high water, it is difficult to submerge it when the seawater rises. However, the entire sandbar is surrounded by seawater, and the filtering effect of the sand and gravel is not enough. Even if it can be dug out,

Wells, the water must have been corroded and polluted by sea water, making it unfit for drinking.

When Yang Zhen thought of this, the illusion that he could easily obtain water was immediately shattered.

"Yan San! You know the situation here relatively well, and you still have some time! You take Yang Zhan'ao and the others on a small boat together and go around to the reed marsh to the west and take a closer look! Find a source of drinking water as soon as possible

Come!"

Both Yan San and Yang Zhan'ao also knew the extreme importance of water sources. If there was no nearby and completely drinkable water source, this sandbank would not be an ideal place for garrisoning.

The two received the order and set off again to find the water source. Yang Zhen put aside other thoughts and continued to work hard with the other soldiers.

Fortunately, Yang Zhen prepared a shovel in advance. Otherwise, even if the sand on this sandbar island is relatively soft and the soil and rocks are relatively soft, it would be easy to dig. If you don't have the tools at hand, you would have to go out on several long dry roads in more than an hour.

Hao Lai is also an impossible task.

The tighter the time, the faster it flies!

Before the rows of shacks inside the stone walls were completely built, I heard Zhang Guogan in the distance suddenly shouting: "Sir! Lord Xie Zhen! Ships! There are ships on the sea! Our fleet has arrived!"

Zhang Guogan led the right-wing soldiers of the Musketeers to the highest point of the stone wall, relying on several remaining foundations and broken walls, and worked hard to build an "arms and ammunition depot" that was crucial to the entire advance battalion.

However, they did not forget to send someone to stand at the highest point to look around the entire sandbank in order to detect sudden dangers as soon as possible.

Fortunately, they never saw any sign of Tatar sentry patrolling the area. On the contrary, they immediately saw Yuan Jin's fleet appearing in the southeastern sea.

"Zhang Guogan! Keep your voice down for me!"

When Yang Zhen heard the news, he was very happy. At the same time, he smiled and cursed at Zhang Guogan's yelling, dropped the shovel in his hand, took a few people, and ran towards the bay where he and his party were docking, holding flags.
Chapter completed!