The New Destiny of the Ming Dynasty

After Yang Zhen finished speaking, Commander Li Lu, his adjutant Pan Xi, and Yang Zhan'ao and Yan San, who were also there to freeload, all nodded with smiles, indicating that they understood and would follow suit in the future.

Yang Zhen knew they were somewhat dismissive and didn't understand that this coastline was actually a treasure trove, where one could make salt, fish, hunt, and obtain many essential supplies locally.

But now was not the time, and he wasn't in the mood to discuss these matters further. Seeing that they had almost finished eating, he continued, "Tonight we will go to the Tartar camp again! But this time, it's not reconnaissance, it's a surprise attack! I've already made the basic arrangements, but there's one more thing I need to explain to your grenadier unit separately!"

After Yang Zhen finished speaking, he stood up. Everyone else put down their bowls and chopsticks and followed suit, waiting quietly for Yang Zhen's instructions. Yang Zhen then pointed to Yan San beside him and said:

"This Yan San, whose full name is Yan Shengsan, is my newly recruited brother! He's excellent! I'm very satisfied with him! From now on, he'll be my personal guard deputy captain! He'll also receive a captain's salary!"

As soon as Yang Zhen finished speaking, a somewhat surprised Yan San immediately knelt on the ground, kowtowed to Yang Zhen, and said, "This humble one, Yan Shengsan, kowtows to thank you for your promotion, sir!"

Seeing this, Yang Zhen bent down, pulled him up, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Stand up straight! Don't kneel down so easily! This is what you deserve! It's just that the advance battalion doesn't have many soldiers right now, so we can't assign you any duties! But remember, do a good job, and you won't be treated unfairly in the future!"

At this point, Yang Zhen paused, not continuing the topic, but instead said, "Tonight's mission to blow up the Xiaoling River pontoon bridge! I want to assign it to you!"

"Rest assured, sir! I will do anything, even risk my life, to complete the mission!" Yan San replied immediately.

"I don't need you to sacrifice your life! As long as you complete the mission and come back safely!" Yang Zhen was pleased with Yan San's answer, but he did not want to sacrifice a capable subordinate for a pontoon bridge. So he looked at him and continued, "My idea is that after you have taken the helm and delivered us, you should lead your men back to the main river channel, seize the opportunity, and continue upstream, that is, westward."

"Once we storm into the Tartar camp, they will be too preoccupied to pay attention to the pontoon bridge. You can take the opportunity to sail upstream to the pontoon bridge, place several 'Ten Thousand Enemy' pills on it, and then set them on fire to destroy the bridge!"

At this point, Yang Zhen saw that Yan San was about to speak again, so he waved his hand to stop him and continued, "The most crucial thing for you on this trip is to seize the right opportunity! First, make sure that after you light it, you must quickly go down the river to our landing point and wait there!"

"Secondly, we mustn't rush into action! We must wait until the camp is filled with gunfire and flames before we make our move! You can tell me your thoughts now!"

"My lord! After we blow up the pontoon bridge, could we also take advantage of the chaos to attack the Tartar camp? I'd like to earn some merit too!"

After hearing Yang Zhen's arrangement, Yan San suddenly realized that by doing this, he would miss the entire opportunity to raid the Tartar camp.

He had done so much for this moment, but when it finally arrived, he found himself an outsider, which left him feeling very bitter.

"You've already done enough! If you've successfully destroyed the Tartars' pontoon bridge and severed the connection between their northern and southern camps, it's equivalent to you single-handedly halting the Tartar army's counterattack at the Empress's Palace camp! You still think that's not enough?!"

After Yang Zhen finished speaking, he looked at Yan San, and Yan San realized that Yang Zhen valued this pontoon bridge so much. In that case, he might as well not take the credit for breaking through the Tartar camp with the team.

After all, the most important thing is the superior's appreciation!

Yan San said no more and immediately accepted the order after hearing Yang Zhen's words.

Immediately afterward, Yang Zhen said to Li Lu, "Originally, we were going to assign your men to blow up the pontoon bridge, but you haven't been there before, and you're not good swimmers or boatmen, so we assigned Yan San instead! But you have to appreciate this! Today, give Yan San and his men plenty of your newly made 'Ten Thousand Enemy Cannons,' 'Dragon King Cannons,' and various hand grenades, and teach them how to use them to ensure everything goes smoothly!"

Li Lu and Pan happy immediately accepted the order.

Yang Zhen quickly arranged these matters, leaving Yan San behind for the time being. He then returned to his hut with Yang Zhan'ao and two other personal guards. He then summoned Zhang Degui and Pan Wenmao to give them instructions on continuing to boil saltpeter and prepare gunpowder.

After Zhang Degui and Pan Wenmao left, Yang Zhen fell asleep immediately. For the past few days, what he lacked most was sleep.

Of course, the entire advance team, including Xu Changyong's light cavalry and Zu Keyong's heavy cavalry, had been exhausted by Yang Zhen's fast pace these past few days.

When Yang Zhen fell asleep, the entire island of Shazhou was filled with snoring in the four camps, except for Yuan Jin, who was still carefully selecting the so-called "Marine Suicide Squad".

The Mongol soldiers under Xu Changyong's command were exhausted. They couldn't eat or sleep well on the ship, and after finally getting off, they were immediately subjected to extremely heavy physical labor.

The first half of the night was spent setting up the pier and dock, and the second half was spent getting their warhorses off the boats. The three hundred Mongol soldiers were already full of resentment. They heard that tonight would be a life-or-death battle to raid the Tartar camp, so everyone put aside everything and lay down to sleep in order to conserve their energy.

The same was true for Zukeyong's troops. After arranging the shifts for guards and patrols, the others also took the time to rest.

Yang Zhen slept soundly, as if the world had turned upside down.

I slept for five or six hours straight, from sunrise to sunset, making up for all the sleep I'd missed over the past few days.

Those around him knew he was tired, so no one disturbed his sleep.

Moreover, he can't and doesn't want to manage the other units in the advance battalion. The musketeer, artillery, and grenadier units formed by his own old subordinates don't require him to handle any specific matters now.

Besides, Yang Zhen has already assigned enough tasks to the team leaders and adjutants; it is enough for them to complete the tasks they already have.

Yang Zhen himself was quite at ease, so he slept for a whole day. When he woke up in the evening, he was startled to find that the sun had already set.

After thinking for a moment, and finding nothing urgent to do, he simply continued lying there, pulling the thin, tattered quilt tighter around him. Looking at the ceiling of the makeshift, semi-submerged shack he was lying in, he began to organize his thoughts: "What if I lose tonight? What if I win tonight?"

After thinking for a long time, he finally realized that as long as he could successfully break into the Tartar camp tonight and burn down their grain supplies, he would have won.

As for how many troops could be withdrawn, that was beyond his control.

Even if the existing forces suffer heavy casualties, it would be enough to break through the Tartar camp by surprise.

In other words, as long as we arrive at the Tartar camp smoothly tonight, just like last night, it doesn't matter whether we win or lose; in other words, we've already won.

As for what happens next, we'll just have to adapt to the situation.

Regardless of whether this operation is a success or a failure, as long as his men and his intentions are exposed, the Tartars will certainly not allow his men to continue to be stationed at Xiaolinghekou.

So, next, our small force will probably have to face the Tartar army's relentless and fierce attacks.

When the time comes, should I retreat immediately, or hold out for a while before retreating?

If we choose to hold our ground and then retreat, then our current defensive depth is insufficient. We need to find a battlefield in advance and proactively construct one.

So, where should we choose as the battlefield for the second battle? Or rather, where would the Tartars' inevitable route be to drive us away or annihilate us?

Yang Zhen thought about it for a long time, but still couldn't come up with a solution. Just then, Yang Zhan'ao peeked out from outside and noticed that Yang Zhen had woken up. He immediately came over to ask about the dinner arrangements.

In this era, the army eats two meals a day in peacetime and three meals a day in wartime. Now that it is wartime, of course it eats three meals a day.

After thinking for a moment, Yang Zhen decided to follow the established rules and led Yang Zhan'ao and the others to the row of shacks on the left flank of the musketeer team.

Fortunately, Zhang Chen had prepared a fairly thorough dinner, including savory multigrain porridge and stacks of mixed flour pancakes.

After arriving at the destination, Yang Zhen didn't stand on ceremony with Zhang Chen and the others who came out to greet him. He jumped into the shack where the stove was located, made himself a large bowl of salty porridge, tore off most of a flatbread, and began to eat it with slurping, holding the old wooden bowl.