The New Destiny of the Ming Dynasty

On the third day of the third lunar month, Yang Zhen, as the main commander of this northward rescue mission, barely had a chance to lie down and rest for a moment throughout the entire night.

Li Lu, Zhang Chen, and Zhang Degui came to Yang Zhen one after another, reporting on the progress of their teams' intense preparations and asking Yang Zhen for instructions on matters they were unsure about.

Yang Zhen served as the commander of the vanguard battalion and concurrently as the commander of the musketeer team, but he had no time to directly manage the preparations for the musketeer team's northward march.

Fortunately, during the flag-giving ceremony in the morning, he had a sudden idea to assign adjutants to the commanders of each team; otherwise, he would have been even busier.

However, even so, there are still many things that require his personal approval as the commander of the advance battalion and the officer in charge of the musketeers.

After hearing what Yang Zhen said to them on the small training ground, Zhang Guogan seemed to have discovered a new world in his mind. He became obsessed with changing the "matchlock" ignition to "flintlock" ignition and was single-mindedly determined to modify the "Lumi Gun".

Therefore, all the preparations for the right wing of the musketeers to head north were recklessly pushed onto Zhang Chen.

As the left-wing adjutant of the musketeer team and in charge of the team flag, Zhang Chen felt it was his duty to take on this responsibility.

This time, Zhang Chen came to see Yang Zhen about the matter concerning the left and right flanks of the musketeer team.

"My lord! I have already arranged for people to handle the quantitative dispensing of gunpowder! However, there is another matter that is also urgent! After all, we are to depart tomorrow at dusk, and if we are any later, it may be too late!"

"Our musket squad has a total of forty Rumi guns, and with you, sir, that makes only forty-one! Although the Rumi gun has a long range and great power, I think that with only forty-one Rumi guns, the firepower is far from enough!"

"The matchlock muskets equipped by the Ningyuan army, although not as long or accurate as the Lumi muskets, have the advantage of being numerous. When it comes to critical moments, they can be pre-loaded and prepared. As long as the bullets are dense, their firepower should not be underestimated!"

"The structure of the matchlock musket is largely similar to that of the Lumi musket. If Zhang Guogan could modify the Lumi musket from matchlock ignition to flintlock ignition, then those matchlock muskets could probably do the same! Besides, matchlock muskets are numerous and inexpensive to manufacture. If they can fire a single shot and kill an enemy in a critical moment, it's worth it!"

"However, I am but a lowly official and cannot mobilize them. I beg you, sir, to speak with General Zu again and see if we can obtain another hundred or two hundred muskets for the musketeer unit as spares!"

Yang Zhen nodded repeatedly at Zhang Chen's words, understanding their meaning perfectly: the Lumi guns were powerful, but their numbers were still too few.

In the open field, the Tartar cavalry can arrive in an instant. If the ammunition reloading speed cannot keep up, even if they are equipped with Lumi guns, their firepower will be cut off at critical moments, and they will be no different from fire sticks.

At this point, the numerical advantage of ordinary matchlock guns comes into play. As long as there are two hundred pre-loaded matchlock guns, with the match cord lit and at hand, the ammunition firepower of one's own musket team can be maintained continuously for a period of time.

Moreover, this period of time does not need to be long. As long as it can last for a quarter of an hour or two, the damage inflicted on the Tartars will be considerable, and it may even turn the tide of a battle at a critical moment.

Taking this into consideration, Yang Zhen immediately asked for pen, ink and paper, and wrote "two hundred matchlock guns" in a crooked hand. After signing his name, he immediately had Yang Zhan'ao take his flag and followed Zhang Chen to ask Zu Keyong for help.

Having just seen Zhang Chen off, Zhang Degui, along with Pan Wenmao and Yang Shen, rushed into Yang Zhen's residence.

"My lord! What time is it?! Zu Keyong patted his chest and promised to get us the nine-headed birds and breech-loading cannons, but not a single one has been delivered! I've been waiting outside Commander Zu's mansion with Yang Shen until now, but we still haven't seen Zu Keyong! Zu Dale is leading the Ningyuan Cart and Artillery Battalion, which has all kinds of firearms, but no matter how much we ask to see him, he just won't show his face!"

"When Pan Wenmao went to look for him at noon, he did manage to catch Zu Keyong. After much pleading, he finally got 800 jin of gunpowder! But the adults also promised to give Li Lu's grenadier team another 400 jin! Let alone the fact that we don't have all the tiger-squatting cannons and breech-loading cannons right now, even if we do get them all in the next phase, this little bit of gunpowder won't be enough!"

"If we had more time, we could wait and see! But now, we've gathered the manpower, but we don't have any equipment. What's the point of having so many men? Sir, do you think we should go see the governor or Physician Yuan tonight and put in a good word for us?"

As soon as he entered the room, Zhang Degui's loud voice rang out, but Yang Zhen immediately felt a headache coming on after hearing what he said.

In fact, if Yang Zhen looked at it from a different perspective, he could understand and sympathize with Zu Keyong's current difficulties.

Zu Keyong was an honest man who thought things through directly and was rather simple-minded. He thought that with the passwords from Zu Dashou and Fang Yizao, it wouldn't be difficult to get some nine-headed birds, breech-loading cannons, and tiger-squatting cannons from Zu Dashou's army.

However, Yang Zhen knew very well that in this era, between different factions of the government army, and even between different battalion leaders of the same faction, everyone was vying for resources, competing for credit, and scheming against each other. There were all sorts of petty tricks and dirty deeds. To achieve true harmony and cooperation, and for everyone to help each other, was simply as difficult as climbing to heaven.

The things you want, even if people don't use them, they won't give them to you for free.

Even if you're going to rescue their own base or stronghold, if your interpersonal relationships aren't good enough or you don't reciprocate the gifts properly, they'll still make things difficult for you.

"Don't rush, tell me first, how many Nine-Headed Bird guns, Tiger Crouching guns, and breech-loading cannons do you have on your left and right flanks? With the current manpower, how many of these things do you need to equip?"

Seeing that Zhang Degui was truly anxious, Yang Zhen had no choice but to temporarily set aside other matters and take charge of the artillery's preparations for battle.

"Reporting to Your Excellency! According to Your Excellency's previous arrangements, Lord Zhang, Lieutenant Pan, and I have jointly decided that the artillery flanks will be equipped with a total of five Nine-Headed Birds, ten Tiger Crouching Cannons, and ten Frankish Machine Guns!"

"Among them, the left wing is equipped with ten tiger crouching cannons, with three people per cannon, for a total of thirty people. Each tiger crouching cannon is equipped with one cannon commander and two gunners!"

"The right wing is equipped with ten breech-loading cannons, with four men per cannon, for a total of forty men. Each breech-loading cannon has one gunner and three gunners."

"Lord Zhang will command five Nine-Headed Bird helicopters, two people per helicopter, for a total of ten people! As per your orders, each Nine-Headed Bird helicopter will have one sniper rifleman and one deputy!"

The man who said these words was Yang Shen, the right-wing adjutant of Zhang Degui's artillery unit.

Moreover, Yang Zhen immediately recognized that this Yang Shen was now the person in charge of Zhang Degui's artillery unit.

Zhang Degui was an old man from the former Guangning Houtunwei. He was highly respected and had great prestige among the officials under Yang Zhen.

Pan Wenmao, on the other hand, was highly respected among the ordinary soldiers and was deeply loved by most of the lower-ranking soldiers.

However, neither of these two people are the type to micromanage everything.

Although Zhang Degui was the commander of the artillery unit, he often had to represent Yang Zhen in dealing with various people in Ningyuan City.

Especially in the temporary advance camp, he also had to represent Yang Zhen to handle various camp affairs, deal with Xu Changyong and Zu Keyong, and deal with the officials under the Imperial Treasury Supervisor's Office.

They were so busy all day long that they didn't have much time or energy to focus on the artillery's combat readiness.

As for Pan Wenmao, he was somewhat indifferent to fame and fortune, and had a rather aloof personality. The person who actually handled the affairs of the artillery battalion was Yang Shen, who was relatively young and ambitious.

As Yang Zhen watched Yang Shen speaking eloquently, he pondered these questions and considered how to resolve them.

Finally, Yang Shen changed the subject and said, "Sir! These are just some ideas for our artillery. Right now, the manpower on the left and right flanks is complete, but the artillery currently only has four tiger crouching guns! Two of them were delivered this afternoon by Xu Changyong, the guerrilla commander!"

"As for the nine-headed bird that you requested, sir, the artillery unit doesn't have a single one right now! And the same goes for the breech-loading cannons!"

"However—, the artillery has now acquired two bronze bells of moderate size. This evening, I sent men to secretly remove them from the bell towers of the Confucian Temple and the Martial Temple."

"If we can't gather all the tiger-squatting cannons and breech-loading cannons by tomorrow, I suggest we rearrange the orchestra! These two bronze bells, with a little modification, can also be used then!"

Yang Zhen was left speechless, both amused and exasperated by Yang Shen's final words.

He did know that the bronze bell in the temple could indeed be dismantled and used as a cannon; if properly installed, its power would be no less than, if not greater than, the tiger-squatting cannons used by the army.

However, the current situation has put Yang Shen in such a difficult position, making him increasingly restless and uneasy.

You asked me to rescue Songshan and relieve the siege of Jinzhou, and I agreed, but you have to provide me with some assistance.

We have no manpower, no guns, no cannons, and we're not even given enough gunpowder. Aren't you just sending me to my death?!

Thinking of this, Yang Zhen felt a wave of frustration and exhaustion. Even though he had done many unpleasant things as the office director in his previous life, he still felt a deep sense of powerlessness at this moment, as if there was a fire burning inside him with nowhere to vent it.