The New Destiny of the Ming Dynasty

Zhang Chen has figured out Yang Zhen's current temper.

On matters that Yang Zhen cares about and values, one must never be careless or perfunctory. However, on matters that Yang Zhen doesn't care about, one doesn't need to follow others in adhering to formalities such as respect for superiors and inferiors.

Therefore, Yang Zhen started eating by himself. Zhang Chen didn't say anything when he saw this. He picked through the food himself, found a relatively clean wooden bowl, and asked the cook in charge of cooking today to make him a big bowl of salty porridge. He squatted down next to Yang Zhen and started eating with a flatbread.

The other soldiers on the left flank of the musketeer squad, seeing that their two leaders were already eating, stopped being polite and offered to each other. They rushed over, each grabbing a large bowl and a flatbread, and went to find a sheltered spot to squat and eat.

With a major battle imminent, Yang Zhen wanted to take this opportunity to say something to boost morale, but after thinking it over, he felt that saying anything would be pointless and that actions would be more effective.

Since we said before that we should share weal and woe with the soldiers of the advance battalion, we must never cook separately for ourselves. We must eat with everyone and let all the soldiers see that we eat and live the same way as them. That is what it means to share weal and woe.

As long as you keep doing this, you won't need to give them pep talks every day, and their morale won't be low. When it comes to crucial moments, they will naturally follow you without hesitation.

Zhang Chen was highly respected and commanded respect within the musketeer corps precisely because of this.

Therefore, it's not Zhang Chen who's learning from Yang Zhen, but rather Yang Zhen who's learning from Zhang Chen.

Now, Yang Zhen finished the large bowl of porridge with his flatbread, feeling quite satisfied. He looked at Zhang Chen and said, "The musketeers are making their debut tonight. What are your thoughts?"

Upon hearing Yang Zhen's question, Zhang Chen didn't rush to answer. Instead, he tilted his head back, poured the remaining porridge from the large bowl into his mouth, swallowed it, and then tucked the remaining half of a flatbread into his pocket before saying:

"I tested this modified Rumi musket at sea, and it's sure to make a name for itself and become famous after this battle!"

"Oh—you're that confident?! But to be honest, I'm afraid I'm not as confident in this musket as you are!"

Now that Yang Zhen has arrived in this parallel universe, he has seen many things that are not what they seem. After test-firing the Lumi gun, he has been so busy that he has not had the opportunity to test-fire the modified musket again.

Tonight I'll use it to kill enemies and achieve merit again. If my performance tonight is unsatisfactory, I'll have to change many of my previous plans.

"My lord, you've been so busy these past few days! This afternoon, I came to see you, hoping you could take another look at the new propellant, ammunition, and powder packs for this musket! But you were sleeping too soundly, and I didn't dare wake you! So I had you look at them too!"

Seeing that Yang Zhen was quite interested, Zhang Chen continued, "Last night, after the artillery and grenadier teams landed, they hadn't even settled into their camp and didn't even have time to cook. They set up several large pots and continued to boil saltpeter!"

"From last night until just now, Pan Wenmao worked tirelessly and produced a lot of high-quality gunpowder! The newly prepared gunpowder and igniter are far superior to the gunpowder of the past! If the Tartars still hold onto their old impressions of the government army's musketeers, they will be in big trouble!"

"Even the 'Ten Thousand Enemy' grenades made with new gunpowder by Commander Li are not the same 'Ten Thousand Enemy' or 'Heaven-Shaking Thunder' grenades I knew before! Once they're used, they'll definitely blow the Tartars to smithereens!"

Hearing Zhang Chen's confidence, Yang Zhen's mood immediately improved: "Great! That's good! It seems we have a lot to thank for you and Pan Wenmao!"

"If the advance battalion's firearms can demonstrate their prowess and shine brightly tonight, then our advance battalion will have an absolutely limitless future!"

After leaving the left flank camp of the musketeers, Yang Zhen, along with Yang Zhan'ao and other personal guards, headed towards the right flank camp of the musketeers.

Today, the artillery, grenadier, and musketeer wing are all encamped around the "ammunition depot" located at the highest point of the sandbar where the musketeer wing is located.

The name "ammunition depot" was naturally first coined by Yang Zhen. Originally, Yang Zhen's camp also had a place to store gunpowder, but unlike now, everyone had switched to firearms, and there was more ammunition. There were also dedicated personnel and warehouses for boiling saltpeter, making gunpowder, storing, and allocating it.

Now, Yang Zhenguan calls this place an ammunition depot, and once he started calling it that, the name "ammunition depot" quickly became popular in the advance camp.

Unsuspecting people might think the ammunition depot was a huge place, but in reality, it was just a slightly larger shack.

There were some original foundations and broken walls here. Zhang Guogan received orders to occupy this place. After building an ammunition depot, he dug three or four feet deep into the ground inside the original rectangular foundation, laid stones on the original foundation, and combined them with the remaining stone walls to create a semi-underground, semi-above-ground "earthen enclosure".

Then, they cut down trees and trunks, laid them on the wall, covered them with harvested reeds, and weighed them down with stones to make it look like the reeds were being blown away by the wind. After all this work, they finally created a spacious, dry, and shaded warehouse.

The artillery pieces from the artillery unit, and the jars and cans filled with gunpowder, gravel, porcelain shards, iron pieces, and nails from the grenadier unit, are all stored here.

Moreover, the high-quality saltpeter and newly prepared gunpowder that Pan Wenmao and his team produced were also stored here.

When Yang Zhen arrived, a pungent odor could be smelled from a distance. Upon closer inspection, it appeared that wisps of white steam were rising from a shack.

White vapor drifted out of the hut and was quickly dispersed by the wind blowing from the sea, but it left a pungent and unpleasant smell in the camp.

"Sir! Zhang Guogan and the others are probably still boiling saltpeter! The smell is too strong!" Yang Zhan'ao said while covering his mouth and nose.

No sooner had he finished speaking than several people jumped out of the shack, covering their mouths and noses as they exclaimed, "It's too pungent! It's too pungent! Should we go and invite Old Pan over so he can personally oversee the inspection?!"

These words also reached Yang Zhen's ears, but just as Yang Zhen was about to speak, he couldn't help but cough.

Yang Zhen's series of coughs startled the people in the distance. Even in the twilight, they were still able to see who the newcomer was.

"My lord! You've arrived!? Come quickly upwind! Come quickly upwind!"

Yang Zhen quickly moved to the upwind side and carefully examined the group of people. He discovered that one of them was Zhang Degui, another was Zhang Guogan, another was Li Lu, and the third was Yan San.

"There's a big battle tonight. How are you all preparing? Where's Pan Wenmao? I haven't seen him." Yang Zhengang asked as soon as he met everyone.

"Lieutenant Pan has been working tirelessly for a full day and night since we landed yesterday! There's another big battle tonight, so I'm sending him back to catch up on his sleep!"

Upon hearing Yang Zhen's question to Pan Wenmao, Zhang Degui immediately replied, and then, seeing Yang Zhen looking at the shack that had just been smoking, he added:

"Lieutenant Pan is resting, and the other large pots have all been extinguished; they should rest too! Guogan, on the other hand, was thinking of getting more igniter, so he set up his own stove and is boiling saltpeter here! We were worried the fire was too big and too pungent inside, so we put it out and came out for some fresh air!"

Hearing that the fire was out, Yang Zhen was no longer worried. He then pointed to the location of the ammunition depot and said, "The artillery and ammunition needed tonight, those that need to be loaded onto the ships, contact Yuan Jin's men immediately and load them onto the ships as soon as possible! Don't wait until the last minute to remember and delay things!"

After saying all this, Yang Zhen looked at Zhang Degui, thought for a moment, and then said, "When Pan Wenmao wakes up, tell him to get a good rest tonight and not to go into battle with the army! The breech-loading cannons won't be needed for the time being! Let him lead the brothers on the left flank of the artillery to guard our camp and the ammunition depot!"

"Also, you guys, once you've finished arranging your camp affairs, you should take a rest! There's no rush to make saltpeter!"

At this point, Yang Zhen turned to Zhang Guogan, whose face was covered in soot from the smoke, and asked, "What about the blacksmith father and son?! Is the musket modification finished?!"

Zhang Guogan quickly stepped forward and said, "Sir! All the Lumi guns currently in use by our musket team have been modified! The muskets that General Zu acquired later are still being modified! We've probably finished modifying about a dozen today!"

"Both Wang the blacksmith and his son Wang Duan said that there were no suitable conditions on the island. There was no furnace, no coal, and not even a decent anvil. They were like a skilled cook without rice—it was difficult to do anything!"

"That's enough! These are the conditions on the island right now. Do what you can for now! Don't give up just because the conditions aren't good!"

Hearing Zhang Guogan's complaints, Yang Zhen didn't want to say anything more.

This is the current situation, and Yang Zhen has no other choice. Thinking of this, he said to Zhang Guogan, "Go and ask that old Mr. Wang Shoutang if they can produce a batch of iron whistles as soon as possible under the current conditions. I need them urgently! If possible, we must get one or two before we set off!"