The New Destiny of the Ming Dynasty

When Yang Zhen's order arrived, Zhang Chen and Li Lu, who were closely following Zu Keyong, had already advised him several times, telling him that the task of burning down the grain and fodder was almost done, and it didn't matter if they couldn't defeat the Tartars. They could fight and retreat at the same time, and then leave the artillery to deal with them.

However, Zukeyong was worried that if he retreated, the Tartars would immediately pursue him, and the consequences would be uncontrollable, and the current situation would likely be reversed immediately.

Therefore, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and resolutely refuse Zhang Chen and Li Lu's suggestion, insisting on waiting until this group of Tartars had been driven back or scattered before he could retreat with peace of mind.

When Yang Zhen's order came, Zu Keyong had nothing to say and had no choice but to agree to the arrangement of fighting and retreating at the same time.

At this moment, Li Lu and Pan happy's grenadier team once again proved their worth. The grenadier team, which had only forty-odd men left, threw out all the homemade "grenades" they were carrying.

A large number of homemade "grenades" landed in the Aha team and the real Tartar team, and soon a series of dense explosions occurred, which caused great chaos in the Second Tartar team that had been charging ahead. The real Tartars who were hiding in the Second Tartar team also took cover and stopped throwing arrows.

Amidst the dense explosions, Zukeyong's troops seized the opportunity to quickly break away from the increasingly large number of Second Tartar bondservant Aha, and followed closely behind Zhang Chen and Li Lu's forces, rapidly retreating back to where they came from.

On their way back, Zukeyong and his men encountered Xu Changyong, who was in disarray and looking disheveled, and Yuan Jin, who was covered in dust and looking miserable. Upon asking, they learned that several hundred more real Tartars had urged a large number of bondservant Aha Tartars to come as reinforcements!

At this moment, Zu Keyong turned to look at Li Lu, who was following closely beside him, and exclaimed, "Brother Li Lu! This time, you've saved my life again!"

At this point, Yang Zhen's banner had been displayed, and the Tartar generals in the camp knew where Yang Zhen and his group had come from.

At the same time, Yang Zhen gained a true understanding of the situation in the Tartar camp, and so, not long after, the chaotic situation in the Tartar camp came to an end.

The true Tartars, driving a large number of bondservants in the camp, gradually rallied together, becoming the majority force, and began to press towards the direction where Yang Zhen's banner was raised.

Meanwhile, Yang Zhen's scattered soldiers, who had been setting fires and causing trouble throughout the Tartar camp, had begun to retreat gradually, even before receiving Yang Zhen's whistle.

A fire also broke out in the direction of the stables, but the Tartar prince Loto, who was in charge of the camp, already knew that the number of people raiding the camp was not large, so he no longer panicked and sent troops to rescue them.

Moreover, the grain silos and haystacks had already caught fire and burned, and the losses were already inevitable.

There weren't many horses left in the stable, so let it burn. The most urgent task was to wipe out the Ming troops who had launched the night raid. Only in this way could he have a chance to save his life.

The Tartar prince, Lord Loto, was riding a horse, flanked by his attendants. At this moment, this great-nephew of the wild boar skin had a face that was both dark and red, filled with barely suppressed rage. His narrow eyes stared viciously at the flag fluttering in the wind amidst the firelight in the distance, and he kept plotting how to wipe out these damned Ming soldiers.

To this day, he still cannot figure out where this Ming army suddenly appeared from, or how they managed to do it.

How could they possibly bypass the heavily guarded camps surrounding Jinzhou, Songshan, and Niangniang Palace, and suddenly appear in the very last and safest camp that I was in charge of?

So at first, when he received the report that there was a fire in the camp, he thought it was just that the bondservant huqa had accidentally started the fire and that someone had put it out.

Later, he received a report that shouts of killing were coming from the northeast of the camp. He assumed that it must be the Han Chinese idiots in the camp who were not under their masters causing trouble, and that he should just have them arrested and killed.

Loto, the prince of the Tartars, never took the bondservants' troop he temporarily led in the camp seriously. In his eyes, these servants belonging to different masters were no people at all, just talking livestock, and other people's livestock at that.

Therefore, he was not stingy at all and often killed people with military law. Everyone in the camp feared him like a tiger, and there were many who wanted to rebel against him and kill him.

Even Loto himself was well aware of this, but he didn't take it to heart.

He knew that the Aha people feared him far more than they hated him, and that even if swords were handed to them, they would not dare to take them up and fight back.

However, it wasn't until the explosion occurred in the direction of Xiaoling River that he was shocked to realize that this time it wasn't Aha causing trouble, but that someone had actually raided the camp.

So he assigned a Niru to guard the main gate of the camp to prevent any attack, and then took a Niru with him to the rear camp to quell any rebellion or eliminate any enemies who raided the camp.

Although this Loto was a Beizi, a title second only to Beile, he was only Nurhaci's grand-nephew. Among the current Manchu nobles, a Beizi from a branch family was not considered a big shot, and his status was not high.

Therefore, he could only command a few Tatar regiments, actually only two, and the rest were the large number of bondservants in this camp.

However, these bondservants were extremely servile. They could do any hard, tiring, or dirty work well, but they were far from capable of taking up arms and fighting.

Therefore, Prince Loto, riding on his horse, watched as his servants, who were about to surround the enemy, were blasted back by the enemy's "gunpowder bombs." Enraged, he picked up his whip and indiscriminately lashed the faces of the retreating servants.

Loto whipped the animals while cursing, "You damned bastards! You can eat like madmen when it's time to eat, but you're all useless when it comes to fighting!..."

Although the Tartar camp was large, it didn't take long for the enemy and our forces to meet face to face.

Xu Changyong, who had returned to Yang Zhen's side, pointed to Loto, who was riding a horse and hiding behind the Tartar cannon fodder, cursing incessantly at his men, and said to Yang Zhen:

"Brother! See that Manchu Tartar? He has about two Niru (units of military units) of genuine Tartars under his command, which should be the strongest force in this camp! Once we wipe them out, the other Akha (Manchu) forces, no matter how many there are, won't be worth mentioning!"

Xu Changyong's words resonated with Yuan Jin and Zu Keyong. Zu Keyong simply nodded without speaking, while Yuan Jin said:

"Indeed! Brother Yang! My men suffered heavy losses when we encountered them! In my opinion, only your musketeer squad, or Brother Zu's men, can now contend with these real Tartars!"

Yuan Jin's so-called "Marine Suicide Squad" has suffered heavy casualties, and now there are less than a hundred of them still alive and able to gather under the banner of Yang Zhen's "vanguard battalion".

Xu Changyong's Mongol soldiers, true to their veteran status, had long since fled during the previous head-on clash, but now, more than two hundred of them had returned sporadically.

"Our soldiers have already suffered considerable casualties! This is not my intention! Revenge is not our goal this time! There's no need to engage them in a direct confrontation now!"

After saying this, Yang Zhen ignored Xu Changyong and Yuan Jin's words and directly ordered, "Zhang Degui, listen to my command! You command the musket team, aim at those Tartars on horseback, find the right opportunity, and give them a good beating! Take down a few Tartar leaders first!"

Zhang Degui was right next to Yang Zhen. After receiving the order, he immediately made the arrangements.

Actually, there was no need to make any special arrangements, because the five nine-headed muskets—that is, the slingshots—had already been set up in front of the battle lines.

Zhang Degui personally held a nine-headed bird gun, pointing the muzzle at Prince Loto of the Manchu Tartars, constantly adjusting and aiming.

The other four snipers and their assistants from the Nine-Headed Birds also received orders and began searching for angles, aiming at Loto as well.

Unfortunately, the two sides are currently facing off at a considerable distance. Even though the effective range of the Nine-Headed Bird exceeds two hundred paces, it is still not enough to reach that high-ranking Tartar official.

Because the Tartars and the hordes of sergeants in front of them already knew how sharp the Ming army's muskets were, no matter how much Loto whipped and scolded them, they hesitated and dared not go forward.

However, the stalemate was soon broken, because the real Tartar from the Niru that Loto had previously sent to guard the main gate of the camp arrived with torches.

With the addition of this genuine Tartar force, the troops under Loto's command stirred once again and began to surge forward.

At this moment, Yang Zhen immediately ordered: "Zhang Chen, Zhang Guogan, and Zhang Degui, stay here with me! Zu Keyong's troops will guard the flanks of the musketeer team and advance or retreat with me! Xu Changyong and Yuan Jin's troops can now withdraw from the camp! Li Lu, your grenadier team, also withdraw! This is an order!"