The New Destiny of the Ming Dynasty

Yang Zhen led a few men out of the I-shaped trench where Pan happy was stationed and walked back along the crescent-shaped communication trench.

He looked at the sun in the sky and calculated the approximate time. At this point, almost half an hour had passed since Xu Changyong set off.

He gradually began to feel nervous and kept turning his head to look westward.

The Mongol cavalry led by Xu Changyong were all light cavalry. They used Mongol bows and light arrows, which were the usual type of arrows used by Mongol cavalry, and they did not wear iron armor.

Their offensive capabilities are average, and their defensive capabilities are even worse, but they have one advantage: they are incredibly fast, moving like the wind.

If calculated based on the departure time, and if they had not encountered any interception by the Tartars, they should have already arrived at the foot of Songshan City by now.

However, Yang Zhen knew that their journey would not be smooth sailing, and that they would not be able to advance bravely if they encountered the Tartars' interception.

If Xu Changyong's troops encountered more than one hundred Tatar cavalrymen, they would not engage them and would immediately turn around and retreat.

Since they only had about two hundred men, under these circumstances, engaging the Tartar cavalry would inevitably result in their complete annihilation.

"Could they have been stopped and surrounded by a large contingent of Tartar cavalry? Is it possible they've been completely annihilated?!"

The longer time passed, the more countless questions filled Yang Zhen's mind.

Just as Yang Zhen turned back to look west again, he suddenly saw a person run out of the woods in the distance, holding a red flag high in his hand!

On that red flag fluttering in the wind, there was a thunderbolt that looked as if it had been set ablaze and was emitting smoke!

"That's the grenadier squad's flag! Sir! Guerrilla Commander Xu and the others are back! The Tartars have come!"

Before Yang Zhen could even grasp the connection, Yang Zhanao was the first to shout.

Overwhelmed with emotion, Yang Zhen looked closely and recognized the man waving the grenadier squad flag as Guo Xiaowu, who had been perched on a treetop in the woods ahead, gazing westward.

Guo Xiaowu was seen waving the grenadier team's flag high, clearly warning the rear positions.

Without further hesitation, Yang Zhen immediately issued a loud order:

"Attention all units! Crouch! Crouch! Enter the Mongol camp! Enter the Mongol camp!! Firing only on my command! Firing only on my command!!"

All the soldiers had been waiting in the trenches and reed beds for a long time. The musketeers had already loaded their ammunition and prepared their ignition powder. The grenadiers had lit bonfires in the trenches, the archers had lit campfires and prepared their rockets, and the gunners had lit their torches and loaded their shotguns. They were all aiming at the direction from which the Tatar cavalry might charge, and were fully prepared.

If, at this moment, someone gets so nervous that they lose their composure and accidentally fire a shot, throw a bomb, or set off a cannon, that would be a real problem.

Although Yang Zhen had repeatedly emphasized before the battle that they must wait until Xu Changyong's troops had successfully passed before firing, he was still worried that someone might not be able to resist firing first and make a grave mistake.

Fortunately, after he shouted several times, although the atmosphere in the trenches on the salt flats was extremely tense, no one rushed to fire first.

Yang Zhen was about to shout again when he saw Guo Xiaowu, whom he had been staring at, suddenly turn around and lie down on the ground. At that moment, Yang Zhen, who was standing in the trench, also felt the tremors from the ground.

In a short while, accompanied by the thunderous sound of hooves in the distance, several warhorses suddenly sprang out from where Guo Xiaowu had been lying down!

Immediately afterward, wave after wave of warhorses charged out of the woods and galloped toward the reed marshes!

"Don't fire! Don't fire! The Tartars are behind us! The Tartars are behind us!"

Amidst the thunderous roar of hooves, the riders on the leading horses shouted together in Mandarin:

"I am Xu Changyong! We're on the same side! Don't fire! I am Xu Changyong! We're on the same side! Don't fire!..."

These were words that Xu Changyong and his personal guards, who had agreed beforehand, shouted out at this moment.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!..."

Before Xu Changyong and the others could finish speaking, a series of explosions suddenly rang out from the woods where they had just rushed out.

Li Lu made his move!

This means that the Tartars have followed Xu Changyong and his men to the edge of the woods!

No sooner said than done, at the same time as the explosion rang out to the west of the woods, Yang Zhen hurriedly looked west and saw the Tartar cavalry appearing in the area where the horse trap had been dug!

When Yang Zhen turned around again, Xu Changyong's cavalry, numbering about a hundred men, had already shouted as they crossed the trench and rushed into the reeds!

Only then did Yang Zhenfang pick up the iron bell hanging around his neck, put it in his mouth, take a deep breath, and blow it with all his might.

Suddenly, a series of sharp whistles pierced the already tense atmosphere and resounded throughout the land!

Even the violent explosions coming from the direction of the woods and the horse trap could not drown out the distinctive sharp whistle of the Iron Whistle!

"Fire! Fire! The Tartars are coming! Fire!"

Yang Zhen's whistle was an order; it was a signal that Yang Zhen had already discussed with the various teams in the trenches.

Upon hearing Yang Zhen's sharp and urgent whistles, Pan happy, Yang Zhan'ao, Yan San, Zu Keyong, and even Zhang Chen and Zhang Guogan, who were a little further away, all gave the order to their subordinates to fire!

Meanwhile, the Tartar cavalry, a dark mass, had already crossed the area where the horse trap was located.

Despite the fact that many Tatar warhorses had already suffered a broken leg after one of their hooves sank into a two-foot-deep crater, falling to the ground and neighing in agony, even more Tatar cavalrymen, amidst the thunderous sound of their hooves, trampled over the fallen warhorses and the bodies of the fallen Tatars, and charged across the area riddled with craters.

The Tartars' hordes of warhorses arrived in an instant.

Yang Zhen was just looking westward when he suddenly saw the Tartar warhorses charging towards him!

Yang Zhen suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs, "Grenadier! Pan happy! Crouch down! Crouch down! Crouch down!"

As Yang Zhen shouted, he quickly crouched down and hid himself in the trench. When he looked up, he saw a warhorse with a glossy black coat on its belly suddenly leap over his head.

Horses are intelligent animals, especially warhorses. When they encounter obstacles while galloping at high speed, they will cross the obstacles on their own without the rider's command.

The same thing happened when they encountered the trenches. One after another, the Tartar warhorses galloped over and crossed the first trench in groups, and not a single horse fell into the trench.

Yang Zhen raised the musket he had been holding for a long time and fired a shot haphazardly in the direction the Tartars were charging towards. After a loud bang, before the smoke had even cleared, Yang Zhen saw a gray-white warhorse about to cross the crescent-shaped moat, carrying its rider, hurtling towards Yang Zhen's location!

The warhorse was shot in the abdomen, and its blood instantly stained its belly. The horse, which was galloping at full speed, was severely injured and lost its strength, falling directly from the trench it was crossing.

Yan San, who was right behind Yang Zhen, reacted quickly and pulled Yang Zhen away. The two of them scrambled to get out of the way.

Just as Yang Zhen dodged, there was a loud "thud," and the warhorse, shot in the abdomen, carrying the Tartar knight who hadn't had time to dismount, fell heavily onto the spot where Yang Zhen had just been standing and fired the shot.

This scene left Yang Zhen, who had traveled from the future, speechless. As he watched the Tartar knight, who had fallen into the ditch on his warhorse, struggling to stand up with his bow and arrow in hand, Yang Zhen could only frantically reload his ammunition and couldn't think of any other way to help him.

Fortunately, just as the burly Tartar man was struggling to get up, Zukeyong, who rushed up with a saber, chopped off his head.

As the head fell, it separated from the helmet that had been part of it, and with no loss of force, it rolled to Yang Zhen's feet.

Yang Zhen looked closely and saw that on top of that bald head was a long, thin rat tail!