The New Destiny of the Ming Dynasty

Yang Zhen didn't want others to see that he was still shaken, so he gritted his teeth and didn't say anything. He just bent down and pulled a short dagger out of his dirty right boot.

He put down the musket and pressed it against the forehead of the round, bald head. With a swift stroke, he peeled off the piece of rat tail along with the scalp and stuffed it into his pocket.

Outside the trenches, the sounds of violent explosions and the sharp crack of musket fire were already deafening.

The thunderous hoofbeats of the Tatar cavalry continued unabated amidst the sounds of gunfire and cannons. Groups of Tatar knights charged forward, firing arrows as they sped, relentlessly venturing into the open ground.

Yang Zhen had shot and killed an enemy with a musket during the night raid the previous night, but this kind of terror that was right before his eyes was something he was experiencing for the first time, so he couldn't help but feel nervous and flustered.

As the initial tension and panic subsided, Yang Zhen, hiding in the trench, regained his composure, squatted down and reloaded his ammunition, then quickly stood up, picked up his musket, and pulled the trigger again towards the Tartar's herd of warhorses.

The flint on the dragon head struck the iron block in front of the fuse box, creating a spark. The spark fell into the adjacent fuse box, igniting the gunpowder, and then another "bang" of gunfire rang out.

In response to the gunshot, another warhorse neighed and fell to the ground. After the galloping horse fell, it rolled several times, crushing the Tartar knight on its back beneath it, who groaned in pain.

Now, before each loading, he first tears open the powder pack and pours some into the flintlock groove, then loads it into the barrel, and finally wraps a bullet in the oiled paper of the powder pack and pushes it in with a cannon, which is a little faster than before.

However, Yang Zhen has only fired two shots since the start of the war. The three people standing not far from him, Yang Zhan'ao, Yan San, and Zu Keyong, fired much faster.

Before the three of them stood a torch burning fiercely in the wind. On the edge of the trench, level with their chests, lay two piles of arrows: a small pile of rockets wrapped with tung oil cloth strips, and a large pile of regular arrows.

While Yang Zhen was loading ammunition, Yang Zhan'ao repeatedly drew his bow, nocked an arrow, and shot it, firing eight arrows in total, two of which were rockets that took a little longer to fire.

Zu Keyong and Yan San shot arrows at the same speed, which astonished Yang Zhen. At that moment, he seemed to understand why the Ming Dynasty's military generals did not like to use muskets and firearms in field battles.

Because it's very possible that the aircraft will disappear while you're bending down to load ammunition, or you yourself will be killed by the Tartars' mounted archers.

When Yang Zhen stood up again and fired the third shot, the group of armored cavalrymen who were pursuing Xu Changyong's troops, except for those who had fallen in the horse trap, had all crossed the "crescent trench" and rushed into the "minefield" that Yang Zhen had set up.

After firing his third shot, Yang Zhen squatted down again to reload. Outside, another earth-shattering explosion rang out, and the neighing of the Tartar warhorses continued, interspersed with a series of incomprehensible shouts from the Tartars.

Yang Zhen finished loading the ammunition and was about to stand up when he saw Zu Keyong, Yan San, Yang Zhanao, and Pan Xi and others who had already run into their trench quickly squat down. He squatted down as well, and before he could figure out what was going on, the ground shook.

Suddenly, sand, gravel, and severed limbs rained down from the sky, like a sudden hailstorm, covering Yang Zhen from head to toe.

This is a massive, ten-thousand-person enemy loaded with new gunpowder.

Its explosion created a huge crater more than ten feet in diameter in the ground where it was buried, and blew a dozen warhorses and the Tartars on their backs into the air.

At the same time, it also caused the officers and soldiers of the advance battalion in the trenches within a radius of several feet to immediately lose their hearing.

Yang Zhen and others could only hear a buzzing sound in their ears. They watched as Pan happy and the others shouted something at them, but they couldn't hear what they were saying at all.

It wasn't until another violent explosion rang out that Yang Zhen's hearing suddenly returned. He heard Pan happy shouting hoarsely from not far away, "Sir! Blood! You're covered in blood!"

Only then did Yang Zhen realize that his face was sticky. He wiped it with his hand and looked at it; it was covered in blood.

He was startled and immediately stood up, patting his head and body. He didn't want to do anything that would lead to his untimely demise.

At this moment, Pan happy also jumped over on the warhorse that was no longer neighing, patted Yang Zhen all over, and then immediately shouted joyfully in Yang Zhen's ear:

"Sir, you're not hurt! This isn't your blood!"

Yang Zhen then remembered that a shower of blood had just fallen on his head, face, and body.

It was unclear whether it was the blood of the Tartars or the blood of their warhorses, but the black and red blood rain soaked Yang Zhen almost completely.

However, once Yang Zhen confirmed that he was really alright, he suddenly became bolder, and his previous panic disappeared. He laughed loudly, raised his musket, and fired a shot at a Tartar who had fallen from his horse.

The man was only a dozen steps away from him, and seemed to be injured, lying on the ground unable to move.

Yang Zhen didn't even bother to aim properly, but the shot hit the back of the man's head, instantly ripping off his skull!

The battlefield was in complete chaos, with only about two hundred warhorses carrying the Tartars, charging around the battlefield.

The trench where the musketeers were located was now filled with heavy cavalry archers under Zukeyong's command, as well as light Mongol cavalry archers from Xu Changyong's forces who had successfully escaped. Their firepower was far more intense than that of the musketeers alone.

The Tartar cavalry seemed unable to withstand the charge at this point. Instead of charging headlong into the reeds, they turned and headed south a few dozen paces from the edge of the reeds.

From the trench where Yang Zhen was located, he could see the rump of the Tartar warhorse and the back of the Tartar rider several hundred paces away.

Although the remaining two hundred Tartar cavalry were charging in the opposite direction, Yang Zhen knew that the Tartars couldn't get through there. If they couldn't escape through the woods, they would definitely come back.

With the troops and firepower currently in the crescent-shaped trench, they probably wouldn't be able to stop the remaining half of the Tatar cavalry from escaping.

Thinking of this, Yang Zhen looked around and saw Yan San nearby. He rushed over and shouted at him, "Quickly pass on the order! Tell Zhang Chen, Zhang Guogan, and Xu Changyong to send all their men into this trench! Hurry!"

The original plan was to use Xu Changyong's escape and the banner of the vanguard battalion to lure the Tartars pursuing Xu Changyong to the edge of the reed marshes, and then bombard them with artillery.

But the Tartars weren't stupid. After realizing they had been ambushed, they discovered that the firepower was particularly intense at the edge of the reed marshes, so they decided to maneuver out of the encirclement.

Meanwhile, Yang Zhen sent Yan San to find Zhang Chen and the others to deliver the order. He had already seen the remaining two hundred Tartar cavalry rushing into the woods.

However, to the surprise of the Tartars and Yang Zhen, just as the Tartar warhorses completed their turn while galloping, a rain of "grenades" was thrown from the woods!

Amidst a series of booming explosions, the lead warhorses suddenly turned and galloped up the slope leading to the woods, heading towards Yang Zhen and the others.

The group of Tartar knights following behind also instantly changed direction while galloping, closely following the warhorses in front, and rushed towards the direction where Yang Zhen and the others were.

Yang Zhen panicked and shouted to Pan happy, who was nearby, "Send someone to relay the order again! Quickly get Zhang Chen and the others over here! Pan Xi! Prepare to throw grenades! Leave none alive, set them all on fire and throw them in front of the Tartar warhorses! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!"

No sooner had Yang Zhen finished speaking than Pan happy, who had not yet found a suitable messenger, saw Yan San leading Zhang Chen and a large group of people, rushing over along the trench.

Yang Zhen was overjoyed upon seeing this and immediately ordered, "Scatter quickly! Use muskets, arrows, and gunpowder shells to attack them! Stop them at all costs!"