The First Prince of the Ming Dynasty

Zhang Yong was about to lead the few remaining men to a new position.

Because the north of the city was the main battlefield where the two sides clashed, and the city wall to the east behind them didn't even have a gate, they could only retreat to the south of the city.

Before they had taken more than a few steps, they saw heavily armored Tatar warriors charging toward them from afar.

"Brother, don't worry about me, you go first." Zhang De showed respect for his elder brother at this moment.

Zhang Yong, supporting his younger brother, said loudly, "Am I, your elder brother, the kind of person who fears death? Brothers united!"

They're still showing their deep brotherly bond here.

Tang Yin saw that three tall and burly Tatar armored warriors were charging towards him. These men seemed to have no way to retreat and could only rush forward.

The Ming soldiers were in large groups, yet they couldn't do anything about these three strongmen.

Two archers rushed over from a distance and fired two arrows, both hitting their mark, but neither arrow penetrated the armor. The warrior's stance was very stable, his body remained unmoved, and he fought with increasing ferocity.

"what!"

One of them tried to sneak up on the Tatar warrior from behind with a spear, but was discovered.

The strongman swung his arm, and the long spear he was holding sent the Ming soldier flying.

A strongman rushed over, stomped down, and pierced the soldier's chest with his nearly unsharpened longsword, killing him instantly.

Before the man was completely dead, the strongman used his small knife to cut off his ear.

It was as if cutting off ears was more important than eliminating the enemy's manpower.

When Zhang De saw this, his legs went weak, and he gritted his teeth, wanting to continue following.

"Use the divine gun!"

Seeing the three strongmen rushing towards them, Tang Yin quickly warned them.

A Ming soldier carrying a box, who appeared to be a household guard brought by the Zhang brothers, threw the box on the ground, picked up a musket, and fiddled with it for a long time but couldn't get the fuse in.

"I'll do it!" Zhang Yong exclaimed with murderous intent. He stepped forward and steadily inserted the fuse into the hole, then took out a tinderbox from his pocket.

"Aim... Brother, I'll help you!" Zhang De couldn't run away at this point, so he could only help Zhang Yong steady the musket.

The three men firing a single musket only made things more chaotic.

Seeing that the other side was rushing over and getting closer little by little, the fuse on this side was burning extremely slowly.

This made the Zhang brothers extremely anxious.

Tang Yin originally intended to ignore the Zhang brothers and save his own life, but after he got past the ruins in front of him, he found that there were still two Tatar armored warriors killing and plundering on the other side.

Each armored warrior was like a mobile fortress. Even though their numbers were small, the Ming soldiers who passed by in groups simply ran away.

Some soldiers tried to shoot with the simplest bows and arrows, but because the enemy's armor was very thick, it had no effect at all.

Tang Yin finally realized that in this chaotic battle within the city, no Ming soldier was willing to risk their life.

They're all a bunch of seasoned soldiers.

Although the military merit reward for killing a Tartar is very generous, one's life is one's own. When facing enemies with thick armor that cannot be penetrated, it is best to watch from the sidelines and wait for others to charge in while you reap the benefits.

The more they have this mentality, the easier it is for the Tatars to defeat them one by one.

"Damn it! These Tartars have surrounded us with such a small force?"

Tang Yin deeply felt what it meant for the battlefield situation to change in an instant.

"Bang!"

After fiddling with it for a long time, the Zhang brothers finally managed to fire the musket.

A muffled thud was heard from the other side, and the Tatar warrior was hit directly by the fireball from the musket. He staggered back two steps, but did not fall down.

The only difference was that the armor on his chest had an extra dent.

Now, not only the Zhang brothers, but even Tang Yin felt the looming threat of death.

"Even a divine gun can't penetrate it?"

Zhang Yong was completely dumbfounded.

He could no longer feign composure. He threw the musket to the ground, grabbed his brother, and ran outside, shouting as he ran, "Whoever stops the Tartars will be richly rewarded!"

Even with generous rewards offered amidst the chaos, brave men were no longer spared.

Enraged, the Tartar who had been shot earlier charged towards the Zhang brothers.

Tang Yin watched helplessly as the Zhang brothers ran towards him, and he was so anxious that he stamped his feet.

Zhang Yong shouted, "Mr. Tang, use the musket! Fire now!"

Tang Yin then realized that he also had a weapon.

He quickly picked up the musket, only to realize he hadn't inserted the fuse. After inserting the fuse, he couldn't find the flintlock pistol anywhere. Finally, the fuse was lit...

He discovered that the musket was extremely heavy, almost impossible for a person to fire, and even if he picked it up, he couldn't aim it.

"Bang!" The fuse burned out quickly, a speed that caught Tang Yin off guard.

Zhang Yong's call lasted a long time, so why did mine ring so quickly?

With the loud bang, Tang Yin felt his ears ringing and his vision went black. He had to hold onto the wall to steady himself.

Looking at the strongman opposite, he wasn't even scratched.

This shot... missed.

"Load the explosives!" Zhang Yong gave nonsensical instructions.

Tang Yin was filled with immense regret. At this moment, he seemed to recall the wonderful time he spent boating on Nanhu Lake in Nanchang, the Princess Ning whom he admired so much, and the peach blossoms outside Suzhou...

"boom!"

The armored warrior opposite him used his long spear to knock down a Zhang family soldier who was blocking his way, and then charged towards Zhang Yong with his spear raised.

Tang Yin couldn't help but feel a sense of relief.

Yes, these Tartars know that to catch the thief, you must first catch the king. They definitely want to kill someone wearing official robes to take back and claim credit. I'm not wearing official robes, so I'll just have to wait it out with them.

I don't need to be particularly agile; as long as I'm agile than the Zhang brothers, that's fine.

Zhang Yong and Zhang De will definitely be the first to have their ears cut off!

Tang Yin immediately abandoned loading gunpowder, threw away the divine gun, and joined the fleeing army.

Although the surrounding space was not large, it was still enough to hold off these heavily armored Tartars who were very clumsy on their feet.

"Protect the Emperor! Protect the Emperor!"

In desperation, Zhang Yong could only shake off his younger brother and run away, shouting all the while.

But he was getting old, and like Tang Yin, he was the type whose mind was more agile than his legs.

……

……

The situation has become extremely critical.

"Eunuch Zhang, it is I who have arrived!"

In the distance, Xu Tai's shouts could be heard.

Xu Tai, leading a group of infantrymen, was using his divine muskets to take down a Tatar armored warrior. However, four or five men fired muskets in succession, and then six or seven men surrounded him and chained him with iron chains. Only after tearing off a piece of his armor did they deliver the fatal blow.

However, when the Ming soldiers tried to replicate this tactic later, the Tatar armored warriors had learned their lesson and did not give the Ming soldiers the opportunity to lasso their horses.

The Tatar warriors were able to fight back, throwing spears and other weapons they had picked up into the Ming soldiers' ranks.

Just a few people held off Xu Tai's thirty or forty men.

Zhang Yong's situation is giving him a headache.

He rushed over, grabbed Tang Yin, and shoved him forward.

Tang Yin stumbled and fell to the ground.

His mind was buzzing, and all he could think about was, "Didn't that old man say he was going to take me back to the capital to meet the emperor?"

Instead of protecting me in a life-or-death moment, they pushed me out to my death?

Just as Tang Yin was struggling to climb down, only to find himself with nowhere to retreat and his brain had entered a state of mental stagnation... he heard a muffled "bang" from afar.

The Tatar armored warrior, who had been less than ten steps away from Tang Yin, suddenly stopped in his tracks and fell to the ground.

"Mr. Tang, are you alright?"

Zhu Yi's voice came through.

Tang Yin was in a daze and didn't know where he was. When he looked up, he saw Zhu Yi's head peeking out from behind the ruins.

Zhu Yi was still moving his hands up and down, completing the process of wiping the gun barrel and loading it.

Tang Yin, still shaken, stood up, leaning on the ruins. Looking outside, he saw Min Ershisi, a guard from the Prince's Palace who had traveled north with them, leading several guards from the Prince's Palace's ceremonial guards, using flintlock muskets to shoot at the Tatar armored warriors.

For some reason, every sound would create a hole in the armored warrior on the other side.

The seemingly invincible armored warriors were so weak and vulnerable within the range of flintlock muskets.

"Third Young Master?" Tang Yin asked, panting heavily.

For some reason, seeing Zhu Yi made him feel at ease.

It felt like I had escaped death and survived a catastrophe.

Zhang Yong, now steely, rushed forward and shouted, "Little Prince, quickly drive back the Tartars!"

"Don't worry, Eunuch Zhang, it's already being done!"

As Zhu Yi spoke, he finished loading the flintlock bullets in his hand and then raised the flintlock musket. Because of the modification to the ignition method, this musket was much lighter and more convenient in such a hasty battle.

Even someone like Zhu Yi, who has no combat training, can easily load and launch weapons by himself.

The biggest change was that, because flintlock muskets did not require external openings for fuses, the chamber was more airtight, resulting in a higher muzzle velocity for the flintlock bullet even with the same amount of gunpowder.

In terms of close to medium range firepower, the flintlock musket was far superior to the almost firecracker-like divine musket used by Ming soldiers.

"Bang!" Another shot was fired.

A Tatar armored warrior fell to the ground.

Tang Yin even wondered, "Is this kid really that brave?"

They've already taken down two right in front of me?

If I hadn't witnessed the Tartar's might with my own eyes, I would have thought it was an actor this kid had hired to put on a show in front of everyone!

"Little Prince, what divine power!" Zhang De scrambled to the side of the ruins, watching Zhu Yi unleash his divine power with a flintlock musket, and stood by as the atmosphere-setter.

To others, Zhu Yi's greatest achievement was killing two Tartars and gaining merit in battle.

But for Zhang De, this was a genuine act of saving his life.

With the help of several guards from the Prince Ning's Palace Guard, Xu Tai's side also managed to defeat the remaining armored Tatar warriors.

The soldiers finally arrived and joined Zhang Yong.