The New Destiny of the Ming Dynasty

Zhang Chen and Zhang Guogan, leading the left and right flanks of the musketeer team, had already formed two long horizontal lines a few steps ahead of Yang Zhen, with the left flank in front and the right flank behind.

Upon hearing the order, Zhang Chen and Zhang Guogan immediately stepped forward to join the horizontal formation and took charge of the battle.

Zukeyong simply said "Understood," and led the remaining seventy-odd men, half with bows drawn and arrows nocked, and the other half with knives in hand, into two teams to protect the left and right flanks of the musketeer team.

Xu Changyong and Yuan Jin each clasped their hands in a fist salute to Yang Zhenyi, then turned and shouted at their subordinates, "Go!" before quickly turning and retreating.

Their respective squads followed closely behind, crowding around the two men as they surged toward the entrance to the bombed-out camp.

The grenadier squad, having already exhausted all their gunpowder bombs, had no reason to stay any longer. After much deliberation, Li Lu finally obeyed the order and retreated.

Yang Zhan'ao handed over Ma Liu, the one who had identified the Tartar prince Loto on the battlefield, to Li Lu's troops. Li Lu then quickly led Ma Liu away.

Upon seeing the Ming army attempting to raid the camp retreat, the Tartar troops opposite them erupted in shouts: "They're running away! Charge!"

Then, they charged towards the area where Yang Zhen and the others were.

As the hordes of Tartars charged forward, the prince Loto, who was riding behind them, also surged forward, continuing to whip the Tartars and Aha off their horses as he rode.

Without thinking, Yang Zhen straightened up the "Rumi Gun" he was holding, which was loaded with ammunition, and aimed it at Loto.

Just then, a loud bang was heard. Yang Zhen's right hand trembled and no spark was produced. He was about to fire again when he heard three more loud bangs in quick succession.

It turned out that Zhang Degui had fired the shot, and four other Nine-Headed Birds also fired at almost the same time.

However, the fuse of one of the Nine-Headed Birds went out, failing to ignite the tinder, and thus the ignition failed.

However, that no longer matters.

Just after a deafening burst of gunfire, Yang Zhen witnessed the Tartar prince he had aimed at being hit in the air by a bullet from a nine-headed bird-shaped gun.

Even the several mounted Tatar leaders surrounding the Tatar prince fell from their horses after the gunshots rang out, whether from being shot or simply trying to escape, it was unclear.

Regardless of the reason, the fall of these Tartar leaders at the crucial moment immediately caused commotion in the Tartar ranks. The Tartar troops, which had been surging forward like a tide, suddenly stopped and turned to look at their superiors.

Yang Zhen wasn't about to miss this opportunity, and he shouted to the musketeers, "Musketeers, left flank, listen up! Fire! Fire!"

At Yang Zhen's command, the left flank of the 20-man musketeer team at the front immediately opened fire, and the sound of gunfire quickly and densely rang out.

More than a dozen of the Tartar Aha soldiers at the front immediately fell, but the Tartar Aha soldiers were too numerous, and driven by the real Tartars behind them, they still risked their lives to charge forward.

After Zhang Chen's musketeers finished firing on the left flank, they immediately dispersed and retreated, then regrouped and reloaded their ammunition a short distance behind the right flank of the musketeers.

Immediately afterwards, another burst of gunfire rang out, and another group of Tartars fell on the road ahead.

Because the number of Tatars was too large and their formation was too dense, Zhang Chen and Zhang Guogan's left and right flanks took turns firing, without needing to aim, and each time they could take down more than a dozen Tatars charging in front.

After several rounds of firing, Zhang Chen's musketeer squad's left flank had retreated to Yang Zhen's side. Yang Zhen immediately joined them and shouted to Zu Keyong, who had already retreated behind him, "Brother Zu! We'll cover your retreat, you can withdraw! You can withdraw now!"

Upon hearing this, Zu Keyong clasped his hands in a fist salute towards Yang Zhen from a distance, then shouted to those around him, "Withdraw!"

Before following Yang Zhen north to rescue Songshan, Zu Keyong had heard of Yang Zhen's name and knew that Yang Zhen was a fierce general. However, Zu Keyong was always proud and arrogant and never easily submitted to others. Even Wu Sangui, a man of both wisdom and courage, was only acknowledged by Zu Keyong.

But this time, he truly began to admire Yang Zhen from the bottom of his heart.

Of course, after Yang Zhen shouted "We'll cover your retreat, you retreat" to Zu Keyong, he immediately turned around and opened fire, completely ignoring the complex look Zu Keyong was giving him behind him.

Yang Zhen directed the left and right flanks of the musketeer team and Zhang Degui's musket team to take turns firing while retreating rapidly. After the previous chaos, the Tartar troops quickly regained their morale.

A Tatar general who had fallen from his horse in the chaos of Loto's death got back on and quickly took control of the situation.

At this moment, the Manchu "Niru Zhangjing" was riding on horseback, loudly shouting at his men: "Charge! Charge! If these barbarian dogs escape, you will all be buried with the Prince!"

These words were, of course, a gibberish Manchu language, which Yang Zhen couldn't understand at the moment. However, judging from the Manchus' actions, he knew that his troops should retreat.

Zhang Degui's musket squad fired several shots at the Manchu leader who had stepped forward to direct the attack, but missed. Instead, they killed several of the Manchu's attendants.

Upon seeing this, Yang Zhen knew that although his men had fought alongside him to the very end, they were now panicking. Therefore, he immediately said, "Fight one more round! Then we retreat! Open fire!"

After saying this, the left flank of Yang Zhen's musketeer team immediately opened fire, and at this moment, the nearest Tatar Aha team had already rushed to within a dozen steps of Yang Zhen and his men.

In the firelight, Yang Zhen could even see the狰狞 faces of those Aha, filled with both fear and excitement.

After firing his musket, Yang Zhen immediately turned and ran.

At this point, no one cared about formation anymore; they only wanted to quickly leave the battlefield and get away from the shouting and charging Tartars.

Yang Zhen and his men had been fighting and retreating, and were actually not far from the place where they had "broken through the camp". Now, abandoning everything, they ran for their lives, and naturally everyone ran very fast.

As Yang Zhen ran, he took out the whistle he had prepared earlier and blew it loudly: "Whoosh—whoosh—"

One after another, extremely sharp and piercing whistles ripped through the sky, which was reddened by the fire, and lingered in everyone's hearts.

Those Yuan Jin's and Xu Changyong's men who were scattered in the Tartar camp heard the whistle for retreat, but it was too late for them.

Yang Shen, the artillery adjutant on the right wing who had been waiting at the breach in the camp for a long time, immediately ordered the cannons to be fired, waiting for Yang Zhen and the others to rush out so that the cannons could repel the pursuers behind them.

However, Yang Shen had already seen them from afar. The large group of Tartars pursuing them were right behind Yang Zhen and his men, at a distance of only a dozen steps.

If Yang Zhen and his men were to break through, the Tartar troops would swarm in, and he and the artillerymen would probably only have one chance to fire.

Just as Yang Shen was hesitating, he saw a group of people suddenly dart out from beside him, each holding a torch in their left hand and something in their right, rushing towards the breach without a care in the world.

Upon closer inspection, Yang Shen recognized the man at the front as the deputy captain of Yang Zhenxin's newly recruited personal guard, the very same appointed battalion commander named Yan San.

Startled, Yang Shen was about to call out to Yan San to stop causing trouble for himself when he suddenly heard Yan San shout, "My lord, fall down! My lord, fall down!"

Upon hearing this, Yang Zhen recognized Yan San and saw that he was holding a large, flaming ball in a tattered fishing net. Knowing that it was the Dragon King Cannon, he immediately obeyed and fell to the ground.

The others behind Yang Zhen, unaware of what was happening, also fell down when they saw Yang Zhen fall.

At that very moment, the Dragon King Cannon that Yan San was swinging flew over Yang Zhen's head with a "whoosh" and fell into the crowd of Tartars chasing behind him.

A deafening roar nearly knocked Yang Zhen off the ground.

Before Yang Zhen could get up, he heard several more earth-shattering booms.

The Dragon King Cannon was used to blow up ships, and it used just as much gunpowder as a regular cannon, so its power was also astonishing.

Seven "Dragon King Cannons" were suddenly launched, blasting the real and second-class Tartars following closely behind Yang Zhen and his men into a chaotic mess, with many dead and wounded.

Yang Zhen himself, along with the musketeers on the left and right flanks and the musketeers behind him who were also stunned and bleeding from their mouths and noses by the loud noise of the "Dragon King Cannon," seized this critical opportunity to get up and scramble away from the Tartar camp, finally escaping with their lives.