The New Destiny of the Ming Dynasty

Yang Zhen ignored everything and rushed forward with the Mongol soldiers under Xu Changyong's command, prompting Yang Zhan'ao, who was guarding him, to hurry up and follow with a flag.

Zhang Guogan, shouting and yelling, led his right flank of the musketeer squad close behind, running forward while yelling to his left and right, "Maintain formation! Maintain formation! You damn well better maintain formation!"

In this day and age, individual musketeers are basically ineffective in combat. To achieve combat effectiveness in the field, they must maintain a relatively dense formation and rely on the dense barrage of bullets fired from that formation to inflict casualties on the enemy.

From this perspective, it seems that Zhang Guogan, who claims to be an expert in firearms, does indeed have some real skills.

However, although Yang Zhen heard Zhang Guogan's shouts and realized that as the supreme commander of the musketeer team, it was wrong to rush forward recklessly, he simply couldn't stop at this moment.

As the commander of the advance team, if he stops and waits at this crucial moment when he is pressing forward, it will definitely have a negative impact on those around him.

So Yang Zhen had no choice but to grit his teeth and charge forward over the collapsed fence into the Tartar camp, while slowing down and waiting for Zhang Guogan and Zhang Degui's rear guard, hoping they would catch up with him as soon as possible.

During this process, several explosions occurred in the Tartar camp, and haystacks and grain storages were set on fire. The haystacks and grain storages that Yuan Jin's troops had poured tung oil on were ignited as soon as they were lit, and flames shot into the sky.

Yang Zhen rushed into the camp and looked around. He saw that the huge Tartar grain and fodder camp was full of people and fires everywhere!

Yuan Jin's "Marine Suicide Squad" held torches in one hand and tung oil in the other, setting fires everywhere, while the wind from the sea continuously expanded the flames.

The three hundred Mongol soldiers under Xu Changyong's command had long since lost the density and formation they had when they charged into the Tartar camp. They had scattered throughout the Tartar camp and disappeared without a trace in an instant.

Amidst the sounds of explosions, wind, shouts of Tartar soldiers, and curses from a real Tartar man in his pajamas with a rat-tail pattern, Yang Zhen, through the dispersed crowd, saw Xu Changyong, protected by a group of personal guards, jumping up and down, shouting something at the top of his lungs.

Even Zukeyong's most disciplined troops were now charging in disarray towards a group of Tartars who were wearing undergarments but carrying knives, axes, and maces!

Seeing the chaotic situation, Yang Zhen simply gave up his attempt to organize and command, letting the various units fight each other in disarray.

Fortunately, at this moment, he finally encountered Zhang Degui's musket squad and Zhang Guogan's musket squad on the right flank.

Since entering the Tartar camp, Zhang Degui and his nephew Zhang Guogan had been searching for Yang Zhen among the throngs of people.

In the eyes of people like them, winning or losing this battle doesn't matter, as long as Yang Zhen doesn't get into trouble, everything else is negotiable.

Zhang Degui approached Yang Zhen and shouted, "Sir! The Tartar camp is in chaos! Just stay behind me and direct the operation! Don't rush in any further! Our objective isn't to kill, but to burn the supplies!!"

Zhang Degui's arrival brought Yang Zhen back to his senses somewhat. Upon hearing Zhang Degui's words, Yang Zhen immediately pointed to a watchtower in the distance and shouted, "Guerrilla Zhang! Have your musket squads set up their 'Nine-Headed Birds' (a type of musket) and aim at that watchtower! Take it down! Quickly!"

After Yang Zhen stormed into the Tartar camp, he had been searching for the highest point in the camp. Soon, he discovered the watchtower in the northeast corner.

Below that watchtower were rows of grain storages, but the Tartar archers on the watchtower were very active. In the short time that Yang Zhen saw them, six or seven members of Yuan Jin's "Marine Suicide Squad," carrying tung oil and holding torches, had fallen on their way to set fire to the grain.

As soon as Yang Zhen finished speaking, Zhang Degui turned and ran towards the watchtower, shouting to the pairs of soldiers carrying the nine-headed bird beside him, "All gunners! The watchtower to the right! Find your positions and fire!"

The musket was long and large, and was a type of firearm that fell somewhere between a musket and a cannon.

Because the barrel is very long and the gun body is more than ten feet long, it is quite heavy and cannot be operated or moved by one person alone; it requires two people to work together.

Therefore, this type of firearm, which requires two people to carry it and to operate it with close cooperation, is called a musket.

Because the gun barrel and shaft of the musket are very long, it has many disadvantages, but it has one advantage that other muskets cannot match: its range and power.

The range of the musket can be more than twice that of a regular matchlock musket, and its power is far superior to that of a regular firearm.

The watchtowers in the Tartar camp were all made of wood. Although they were surrounded by wooden planks, these planks could stop arrows, but they couldn't stop bullets from spears.

As the distance between the gunner and the watchtower continued to close, a bullet finally struck the wooden planks of the watchtower, sending splinters flying and screams echoing throughout the tower.

The Tartar archers on the watchtower also stopped to hide. Taking advantage of this moment, Pan happy, holding a torch in his left hand and a large conch shell "grenade" with a lit fuse in his right, rushed to the bottom of the watchtower and threw it with force, sending the simple "grenade" in his right hand into the Tartar watchtower, which was more than ten feet high.

Moments later, an explosion rang out, and the only high point in the northeast corner of the Tartar camp was instantly turned into a fireball.

Four or five Tartar figures fell from the watchtower to the ground amidst the explosion, and were finished off by Yuan Jin's troops who had quickly followed up.

The collaboration between Zhang Degui's musket squad and Pan Xi's grenadier squad destroyed the only high ground in the northeast corner of the Tartar camp. Yuan Jin's "arsonists" were suddenly granted a reprieve. Without the arrow rain that had previously suppressed them, they jumped out from their hiding corners and continued to set fires everywhere.

Fueled by tung oil and strong winds, large grain storage areas in the northeastern part of the Tartar camp quickly turned into a sea of ​​fire, illuminating the surroundings with a bright red glow.

Under the light, Yang Zhen could see a large cluster of torches moving rapidly toward the granary area to the southwest of the Tartar camp, quickly approaching the only unit on the battlefield that had maintained its formation, namely Zukeyong's troops.

A rough estimate suggests there are probably around a thousand people!

Yang Zhen knew that the southwest direction was the main gate of this Tartar camp, facing the main channel of the Xiaoling River, and across the Xiaoling River, it was in sight of the Tartar camp in the Niangniang Palace area.

This group of people should be the main guard force in this Tartar camp!

Upon realizing this, Yang Zhen quickly stopped Zhang Guogan, who was taking cover and firing sniper shots around him. Pointing to a cluster of rapidly moving torches in the distance, he said to Zhang Guogan, "See that? That's the fire! I suspect that's the main force of the Tartars in this camp! Our formation is broken. If we let them charge in, we'll be in danger! We must find a way to scatter them so we can continue to fish in troubled waters!"

"Take the right flank of the musketeers and immediately go to support Zhang Chen! Tell Zhang Chen to use the dense formation of the musketeers on both flanks to break them up! If you can't break them up, at least stop them from advancing!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Guogan shouted, "Follow me!" and then led the other nineteen men on the right flank of the musketeer squad, quickly running towards the direction where Zhang Chen and the others were.

The chaotic situation within the entire Tartar camp is beginning to become clearer.

The Tartars' defenses were mainly concentrated along the main channel of the Xiaoling River. The few genuine Tartars and a large number of bondservants were mainly stationed along the river from their camps.

In other words, the living tent areas of the entire Tartar camp were mainly concentrated in the west and south, while the stables were not far from the living tents.

The eastern part mainly consisted of haystacks, which were the fodder reserves for the warhorses brought by the army.

To the north of the camp were vast stretches of grain storage.

This location, situated on the land route and closest to the Tartar territory in Liaodong, was chosen as a place to store grain.

After Zhang Guogan led his team away, Yang Zhen was left with only Yang Zhan'ao and two others, who had fallen far behind everyone else.