Warm and sweet days always fly by, and September is here in a blink of an eye.

During this period, Zu Keyong took his own men and horses and the newly assigned Ao Rijin and Yu Lewu troops to form two sentry cavalry, and brought a large number of horses and camels entrusted to them for herding.

It has moved to Rufenggang as scheduled.

Yang Zhen selected the strong bows, crossbows, spears, and three-eyed muskets that were available in the advance battalion of the Eastern Expedition, and equipped Ao Rijin and Yu Lewu according to the specifications of Liaodong's heavy spear and iron armor cavalry.

Long spears and armor were the standard equipment of Liaodong heavy cavalry. For Yang Zhen, he had plenty of long spears, but only a few armors, and there were not many full body armors, almost all of which were waist-length half body armors.

But even so, Yang Zhen gathered the entire force of the advance battalion to conquer the east and equipped Ao Rijin and Yu Lewu with half-length iron armor, which made them both extremely grateful.

Ao Rijin originally had 1 or 200 troops, but he didn't even have a pair of iron armor.

As for Yu Lewu, not to mention, he himself was a martial artist, so of course he had armor, but the Qixia soldiers he brought to Songshan City didn't even have a set of leather armor.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court's ban on the possession of swords, bows, and crossbows among civilians began with Emperor Chongzhen's edict allowing localities to organize their own regiment training. Even if it was relaxed, there were still strict restrictions on armor only.

Now that he has half-panel armor, he looks like a heavy cavalry at least.

When Zu Keyong led the troops from the Empress Palace to move to Rufenggang, An Qinghou, the former leader of the Songshan Minzhuang Battalion who was single-handedly promoted to the garrison position by Yang Zhen, also brought his first sentry grenadiers and two teams

A total of 500 auxiliary soldiers were organized into the reserve team and moved to the Rufenggang Camp on Luhong Mountain.

As a result, 1,500 regular soldiers from five sentries were stationed in the Rufenggang area, plus at least two sentry auxiliaries and miscellaneous servants, making the total number more than 2,100.

Of course, after the troops of Li Ma, Hu Tuge, and Meng He were reorganized into a leather-armored light cavalry sentry, they were paired with a team from the Anqing rear grenadier sentry, and were sent to Hongluo by Zu Keyong.

The mountain camp is permanent.

Strictly speaking, the Greater and Lesser Hongluo Mountain areas are already outside the border area. There have been no official troops from the Ming Dynasty for a long time, so they should not be within the scope of the Manchu Tatars' attention and attack.

But Zu Keyong did not dare to take it lightly. Yang Zhen entrusted him with the heavy responsibility of the route army in front of Songshan. He did not want to lose sight of one thing and abandon the Hongluoshan camp that Yang Zhen attached great importance to.

Throughout mid-to-late August and until early September, the entire Songshan Front Army, under the command of Zu Keyong, completed the relocation and reorganization, completed the fortification construction of Rufenggang and Hongluoshan, and the storage of food and ammunition, and was ready at any time.

The Tatars came to attack.

Correspondingly, the garrison in Songshan City, that is, the various units of the Songshan Middle Route Army under the personal command of Yang Zhen, also completed their reorganization and training according to what Yang Zhen said that day.

Xia Chengde's troops were organized into three sentry posts, including one sentry for infantry firearms and gunners, one sentry for heavy cavalry with spears and iron armor, and one sentry for infantry city-defending archers. There was also one sentry for auxiliary troops, baggage and heavy chores. A total of four sentries, 1,200

people.

The composition of Lu Pinqi's troops is very similar to that of Xia Chengde, so the troops after reorganization are almost the same as Xia Chengde's, and they are also organized into three sentry soldiers.

Among them, there is one sentry for infantry firearms and gunners, one sentry for heavy cavalry with spears and iron armor, one sentry for infantry defenders and archers, and one team of miscellaneous and baggage auxiliaries. A total of three sentries and one team, a thousand people.

The so-called infantry firearms gunners are equivalent to the mixed firearms soldiers of their subordinates. They include those who handle heavy red barbarian cannons, some who handle general cannons, Franco machine guns, and some who use old-fashioned matchlocks, as well as various other weapons.

Soldiers with Firearms.

The men and horses under them are both small and comprehensive. The men and horses themselves are not many, but the division of labor is very detailed, and they can do everything.

It stands to reason that these two people are stationed in the city and are fighting a city defense battle relying on the fortified city. There is no need to organize a single heavy cavalry.

However, these two traditional generals who came from the Liaodong Army regarded the heavy cavalry under their command, which was not large in number and could not play any role in the city, as more important than their own lives and took them very seriously.

Yang Zhen really wanted to mobilize the heavy cavalry under them and hand them over to Zu Keyong for unified command, in order to play the decisive role of the heavy cavalry at the critical moment, but he was never able to do so.

As for the men and horses belonging to the advance battalion of the Zhengdong Army in the Central Route, Yang Zhen felt more at ease.

The original musketeers were expanded as scheduled to three sentry regulars, and almost all of them were equipped with modified flintlock Rumi muskets with bayonets.

In addition to the three sentry regular soldiers, Zhang Chen and the others also organized a sentry auxiliary reserve team in addition to the three sentry regular soldiers, and assigned them a batch of official and military standard shotguns that were also modified with flintlock ignition.

As a result, the total number of regular musketeers plus auxiliary troops in the advance battalion reached an unprecedented number of 1,200.

Of course, among these people, the musketeers who have actually been in battle and can be considered serious soldiers are only two sentry men at best, and the rest are almost all rookie musketeers who have never experienced battle.

Therefore, after the reorganization was completed in August, Zhang Chen led the newly recruited musketeers in batches to the Shazhou Island south of the mouth of the Xiaoling River for intensive training.

From the end of August to the beginning of September, on the sandbank island south of the mouth of the Xiaoling River, the crackling sound of musketry hardly stopped for a day.

Fortunately, Yang Zhen and the others had intercepted a lot of general black powder from Xuguan Fort in southern Liaoning and the Zhangjiakou caravan, which was enough for these rookie musketeers to practice their skills.

Similar to the rapid expansion of the musketry team, although the artillery team was expanded to three sentries of regular soldiers, in fact, only a small number of them had actually been on the battlefield and had combat experience.

Especially the gold digger Yu Keji, who was newly recruited into the artillery team, had never been exposed to artillery before, and now he was learning from scratch.

Yang Shen had no choice but to take the opportunity to continuously test-fire the newly-cast cannons and let the newly recruited gunners on the artillery posts take turns to test their skills.

Fortunately, these gold diggers from Dengzhou were hard-working, hard-working, and obedient. They did whatever they were told, which saved Yang Shen a little worry.

Different from the reorganization and training of musketeers and gunners, the reorganization and training of the grenadiers' two-post regular soldiers and two-post reserve teams left behind in Songshan City is much easier.

Li Lu handed over the novice training to Pan Xi and Jin Shijun, while he led the old men in the team to re-examine and dredge the semi-underground tunnels outside the east gate of Songshan City that lead directly to the Empress' Palace.

Once again, the damp fuse buried near the Empress' Palace was replaced with a new one.

In addition, the Songshan rear route army, that is, the fleet posts led by Qiu Zhenhai, also made new progress one after another.

After Qiu Zhenhai received Yang Zhen's instructions and Yang Zhen's faintly revealed plan, he quickly asked Qiu Guangyi to bring a group of ships to operate Xiaobijiashan Island, build a dock on the side of Xiaobijiashan that faces the ocean, and

Dig and build shacks in low-lying leeward areas of the island.

At the same time, he personally led more than a dozen boats and took several Tatar prisoners who were former Liao soldiers as guides, bypassing Dabijiashan Island and heading all the way to the sea outside Tashan and the Lianshan coast to continue surveying. Sure enough,

Two more islands were discovered that were neither stationed by soldiers nor inhabited by anyone.

The one off Tashan is called Dayushan Island. The situation of this island is somewhat similar to Dabijiashan Island. They are both land-connected islands not far from the coast.

That is to say, when the tide rises, it is an island hanging on the seamounts. When the tide recedes, the original sea surface becomes a tidal flat connected with the coast, and the former island becomes a tidal flat standing upright.

A hill on the coast at the end.

Dayushan Island is a land-connected island close to the west coast of Liaoning where Tashan City is located.

The one outside Lianshan is called Jiulushan Island, which is located on the sea at the end of the coast where Lianshan Fort is located.

Of course, the names of Dayushan Island and Jiuzhenshan Island were all based on the opinions of the captive Tatar guides from western Liaoning brought by Qiu Zhenhai.

Although Yang Zhen had no impression of these unknown islands, since they already had conventional names, there was no need for him to rename them.

In addition to the discovery of these two small islands, Qiu Zhenhai also told Yang Zhen very excitedly that on the coast opposite Jiulu Mountain Island, except for a few abandoned fishing villages and the abandoned Wanghai pier, there was not a single soldier.

Not a single soldier, not a single commoner.

And that winding coast is actually a long and narrow peninsula lying on the sea like a gourd.

After listening to Qiu Zhenhai's report, Yang Zhen looked at the curves on the topographic map of the western Liaoning coast he drew, and recognized the place at just one glance.

That was Huludao hundreds of years later, a natural harbor.

Huludao is not an island, but a long and narrow gourd-shaped peninsula that protrudes into Liaodong Bay to the east of Lianshan.

As for Dayushan Island and Jiuzhenshan Island, they were both so small that they were not marked on the maps hundreds of years later. Therefore, Yang Zhen, a reincarnated person, had little impression of them.

But Huludao is different. The peninsula terrain surrounded by the sea on three sides, which is rare in western Liaoning, has long been imprinted in Yang Zhen's mind.

For this reason, Yang Zhen did not hesitate to name the long and narrow gourd-shaped section at the front of this peninsula surrounded by sea on three sides Huludao.

However, what made Yang Zhen happy at the same time, but also secretly lamented that it was a pity that the Lianshan Fort was not in his hands at this time, and the Lianshan Fort happened to be stuck at the place where this narrow peninsula connected with the Liaoxi Corridor.

Without Lianshan Fort, this long and narrow gourd-shaped peninsula, despite its superior geographical location, could only serve as a temporary base for the advance naval forces of the Eastern March, but could not become another base for itself.

However, in general, Yang Zhen was very satisfied with the discovery of Qiu Zhenhai's fleet. On the one hand, he warned them not to expose their whereabouts easily, and on the other hand, he asked them to build ports on Dayushan Island and Jiulushan Island.

Camp for future use.
Chapter completed!