The New Destiny of the Ming Dynasty

No sooner had Yang Zhen finished speaking than Xu Changyong immediately followed up, "Brother! What about the day after tomorrow? Will the Tartars be ready by then?! Will they wait until they're fully prepared before attacking us?!"

"Hehe! Hehe! -- Hahahaha!"

Upon hearing Xu Changyong's question, Yang Zhen first chuckled, then suddenly burst into laughter.

The laughter was devoid of the tension and repression of the past few days; it was extremely hearty and unrestrained, leaving the assembled generals around him astonished.

At this moment, deep in Yang Zhen's heart, he seemed to have grasped a clue, but he was still a little unsure.

Seeing the astonished looks on everyone's faces, Yang Zhen ignored them and continued speaking to Xu Changyong, "Don't worry, Brother Xu! If the Tartars don't attack us the day after tomorrow, then they'll never come back here! — The Tartars are probably going to retreat!"

Although Yang Zhen was not 100% certain, he still expressed his judgment.

"Huh?! Brother Yang, you mean the Tartars just...withdrew like that?! We killed so many of them, aren't they going to retaliate?!"

Upon hearing Yang Zhen's words, Xu Changyong was first surprised, then delighted.

And soon he broke into a wide grin, shouting, "The Tartars are retreating! The Tartars are retreating! Hahaha! Brothers, the Tartars are retreating! We've won!"

Although Zu Keyong, Yuan Jin, Zhang Degui and others were still somewhat skeptical of what Yang Zhen said, they all admitted that there was some truth to it.

However, they couldn't figure out for a moment whether what Yang Zhen said was actually true, or whether they secretly hoped that what Yang Zhen said was right.

But no matter what, over the past few days, they have basically developed the habit of believing Yang Zhen. Everyone thinks in their hearts that even if Yang Zhen's words are not entirely correct, they are probably not far off.

We can wait two more days, until the day after tomorrow. If the Tartars still haven't attacked, then it's safe to say they're preparing to retreat.

These men were all seasoned veterans. If the Tartars were determined to attack their small force, they wouldn't need to expend so much effort and resources to prepare in just three days.

After hearing Yang Zhen's analysis and Xu Changyong's shouting, everyone felt relieved, at least they could get through today safely.

Just as everyone was beginning to relax, the Tianyou and Tianzhu artillery units of the Three Shun Kings, as well as the Wuzhen Chaoha Battalion of the Han Army Banner, launched another bombardment of Songshan City.

The booming sounds of dozens of cannons bombarding Songshan City reached Yang Zhen and his men's ears through the thick smoke rising from the reeds to the west.

"The Tartars are bombarding Songshan again! If General Jin Guofeng and General Xia Chengde can withstand today's bombardment, then the defense of Songshan will be considered a victory!"

Hearing the continuous booming of the Hongyi cannons coming from the direction of Songshan City, Yang Zhen was completely relieved.

He knew that Huang Taiji, this Manchu pseudo-emperor, liked to read "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and loved to use stratagems to win battles. He was also most skilled at using tactics such as luring the tiger away from the mountain, using a borrowed knife to kill, feinting to the east while attacking the west, and besieging a point to attack reinforcements.

The more fiercely he attacks Songshan City today, the more it shows that he has made up his mind to withdraw his troops.

After everyone basically agreed with Yang Zhen's statement, they continued to prepare for the Tartar attack while worrying about the development of the battle in the direction of Songshan City.

However, the distant booming of cannons could no longer dampen the relaxed and joyful atmosphere on this sandbar island.

At this moment, the hundreds of Ming soldiers stationed on this sandbar no longer felt the same sense of impending doom they had felt the night before when the Tartars burned the reed marshes.

Looking at the sun overhead, which had already moved past its zenith, and calculating the time, it was already past 1 PM. Yang Zhen left Zhang Degui to lead the left flank of the musketeers, the left flank of the grenadiers, and the left flank of the artillery, to continue guarding the already constructed positions. Then he led the rest of his troops back to the camp on the high ground of the sandbar island.

Xu Changyong, Yuan Jin, and Zu Keyong returned to their respective camps with a light heart to take stock of their gains and losses and to rest their troops.

Yang Zhen returned to his shack, put down the musket, ammunition pouches, and the six iron grenades that Li Lu had brought him that morning, and immediately felt a sense of relief.

Those six iron grenades were still spherical, and were forged from red-hot iron bullets from the Portuguese engine.

The spherical sheet of iron was filled with gunpowder, scrap iron, and other lethal materials prepared by Pan Wenmao and his accomplices.

The overall shape looks more like a medium-sized pomegranate, except that it has a short wooden stem.

There is a hole about the thickness of a little finger in the middle of the wooden handle. Inside the hole is a fuse soaked in gunpowder, which is the detonator of the grenade.

The only essential difference between this grenade and the wooden-handled grenades of later generations is that this grenade requires a torch to ignite with an open flame when used; otherwise, there is no essential difference.

The explosive power of this grenade is far greater than that of traditional thunder grenades, cast iron grenades, and ceramic grenades.

That day, Li Lu ambushed the enemy in the trenches in the woods. At the critical moment when the Tartar cavalry charged, he ignited a batch of grenades that had been thrown. These were the only batch of iron grenades that the grenadier team had.

Li Lu, who already had some experience in making grenades, was convinced of his idea at the time: when gunpowder explodes, the better the seal, the greater the explosive power; and the stronger the material used to seal the gunpowder, the greater the destructive power after the explosion.

And so, starting yesterday afternoon when they returned to the island, Li Lu and Pan happy, along with several skilled members of the grenadier squad, went into the dugout shack of blacksmith Wang Shoutang and his son.

Li Lu and Wang Shoutang discussed the production of a new type of iron-plated, wooden-handled grenade, while Pan Xi urged Wang Shoutang's blacksmith son, Wang Duan, to lead the Liu brothers, Da and Er, to continue working day and night to produce more iron-plated grenades for future use, based on the original designs.

A few mornings later, of the dozens of iron grenades that had been produced, Li Lu kept a batch of misshapen and poorly shaped ones, while selecting the best-looking ones and giving them to Yang Zhen for self-defense.

Li Lu and Pan Xi also thought of carrying these grenades with them. Even though Yang Zhen completely forgot to remind them, they actually came up with a method similar to that of later generations—

The ammunition pouches carried by musketeers and matchlock gunners were cut in half from top to bottom, and then a few stitches were sewn in the middle, turning one ammunition pouch into a pouch for two grenades.

By sewing several together, one person could carry six to ten tin grenades on their chest and waist.

Although this method of carrying is simple, even a bit rudimentary, once we land and enter the city, with a large number of tailor shops and blacksmith shops, and standardize and regulate the grenade pouches and grenades, the individual firepower of the grenadier squad will be formidable.

In his dugout, Yang Zhen held the tin grenade that Li Lu had given him that morning. He admired and marveled at the creativity of these people, while pondering and planning his future after entering Songshan City.

Relaxed and enjoyable times always pass quickly.

Yang Zhen enjoyed a rare moment of peace and quiet for most of the hour in his shack, but his peaceful and leisurely time was soon interrupted.

This time, Xu Changyong, Zu Keyong, and Yuan Jin came together again.

Their purpose in coming together was to advise Yang Zhentong to quickly report his achievements in Ningyuan City.

"Brother! It's past 1-3 PM now. According to you, the Tartars definitely can't come today! The cannon fire from Songshan is intermittent but hasn't stopped! I guess if the Tartars could break through Songshan in one fell swoop, they would have done so already!"

"Take today for example, we've been fighting for several hours now. As the saying goes, 'One should strike while the iron is hot,' but the morale will decline with each attack, and eventually be exhausted. The longer the Tartars fight, the lower their morale will become, while the longer Jin Guofeng and his men hold out, the higher their morale will rise! I think it will be difficult for the Tartars to break through Songshan today!"