Late Ming Dynasty: Special Forces in 1645

Feng Erlei was originally from Hanzhong, born into a small landlord family. His family owned a lot of fertile land and was relatively well-off from a young age. Although they couldn't afford to eat lavishly, they were able to have enough to eat every day.

His original life trajectory was that if he had literary talent, his family would fully support his studies in the hope of passing the imperial examinations and becoming a scholar or even a provincial graduate. If he did not have literary talent, he would follow his uncle to join a merchant guild and become a merchant.

After making money in business, they returned to their hometown to buy land, expand their family property, and live a good life of keeping their home and collecting rent.

Young Feng Erlei had no idea how fortunate he was to have a family paving such a path for him.

But the path he was supposed to take was cruelly disrupted by the times when he was still quite young.

First, disaster struck northern Shaanxi and Gansu, and civil uprisings broke out everywhere. Although Hanzhong, located in the "Little Jiangnan" of the Northwest, had not yet been affected by the disaster, Feng Erlei remembers that everyone in his family lived in fear and trepidation from that time onwards, fearing that the civil uprisings would spread to Hanzhong.

Later, bad things came instead of good. The climate in the Northwest got worse year by year. Although Hanzhong was known as the "land of fish and rice" in the Northwest, the grain harvest during the Chongzhen era was worse year by year.

Fearing the spread of popular uprisings, the Feng family tried their best to feed their tenants and farmhands during the busy farming season, even though grain production was reduced, and significantly reduced their land rent.

Those years were actually the best years for Feng Erlei's family compared to their tenants; sometimes, Feng Erlei and his family's food was not much better than that of the tenants.

People far and wide all praised the Feng family for their benevolence and kindness.

But later, the peasant uprising army still attacked. First, Li Zicheng attacked and wiped out their family's savings of many years.

The only good thing is that the land is still there, and the family is still here!

Unfortunately, not long after, Zhang Xianzhong attacked and kidnapped Feng Erlei and his family!

Then they became Zhang Xianzhong's cannon fodder troops. Whenever they encountered government troops, Zhang Xianzhong would drive these cannon fodder troops as the vanguard, sending them to the government troops to shield them from swords and arrows.

Feng Erlei's family members died in battle after battle, driven away by Zhang Xianzhong and killed by government troops.

In one of Zhang Xianzhong's major defeats, Feng Erlei finally escaped the fate of being cannon fodder, and at this time, only he and his father remained in his family.

Misfortune struck Feng Erlei once again. He thought that he could escape back to his hometown and live a good life after getting rid of Zhang Xianzhong. Who would have thought that he would fall into the hands of the government army again after getting rid of Zhang Xianzhong? The government army had promised to properly resettle them, the refugees who were being coerced.

Who would have thought that the government troops would turn around and raise their butcher knives against them? That night, these cannon fodder soldiers of Zhang Xianzhong and the refugees who were taken hostage had nowhere to escape in the face of the government troops' butcher knives. They were slaughtered until blood flowed like a river, and not one in ten survived!

Thanks to his father's desperate protection, Feng Erlei was able to feign death and escape disaster. When he struggled to crawl out of the pile of corpses the next day, he saw a ground full of cold bodies, including his father's body!

From then on, alone, Feng Erlei harbored deep hatred for Zhang Xianzhong and the Ming Dynasty.

Feng Erlei, who could have been the young master of a landlord's family, watched his relatives die one by one, and in the end, he was left alone to wander the barren land of the Northwest, eating tree bark and digging grass roots, living a life of hunger and uncertainty.

He had considered returning to his hometown, but when he learned that his family's original fertile land had been occupied by peasant rebels and had changed hands several times, he gave up the idea of ​​going back.

That memory of hunger changed him a lot. For a bite to eat, he stole, robbed, begged, was beaten half to death, and worked like a slave for officials and gentry.

But how many people in the Northwest are starving, and how many would sell themselves for a bite to eat?

There's no such thing as a free lunch if you abandon your dignity.

So for those two years, Feng Erlei felt like he was living a life that was neither human nor ghost. He was short, thin as a skeleton, and had lifeless eyes. He was like a zombie.

Later, when the rebel army recruited soldiers, Feng Erlei joined the rebel army's cannon fodder soldiers.

With his physique at the time, he either had to agree to be assigned as a filler soldier, or he had to get out!

Feng Erlei had no choice but to either die filling in the lines or starve to death; he chose to die filling in the lines.

After joining the rebel army and experiencing several battles, Feng Erlei was fortunate enough not to die while filling in the gaps, but to survive.

Thanks to the fact that he could eat coarse grains like pig feed in the rebel army, Feng Erlei's physique gradually shed his skinny appearance.

When the rebel army suffered its last major defeat at the hands of the government forces and its forces were greatly weakened, Feng Erlei, who was lucky enough to survive once again, escaped the fate of being a lowly soldier and became a formal member of the rebel army.

Later, when the rebel army became the Shun army and marched towards Beijing, Feng Erlei stayed in Xi'an. When Li Zicheng was defeated and retreated from Beijing, Feng Erlei followed Li Guo to guard northern Shaanxi, fought against Ajige, and contained the Qing army.

Later, Feng Erlei followed Li Guo in retreating south, capturing Taiping, Dongxiang, Dazhou, Kuizhou, and Xinning, and fighting in Huguang!

Along the way, Feng Erlei could be considered a veteran of many battles. Although he was still a common soldier, the rebel army always had a full meal before each major battle, and over the past two years, Feng Erlei's physique had become much stronger.

That year, Feng Erlei was nineteen years old!

When Li Chengming was selecting people from the rebel army, Feng Erlei was chosen not because he was strong and healthy. At that time, he was not even as strong as other rebel soldiers of the same age. He was chosen by Li Chengming purely because he was young and had no family!

Feng Erlei didn't have any deep feelings for the rebel army. The rebel army had robbed his family of their accumulated property over generations, but later they gave him some food. In Feng Erlei's view, they were even.

Feng Erlei didn't feel anything about Li Chengming choosing him. At the time, he only asked Li Chengming one question: Can you give me a full meal every day?

Li Chengming paused for a moment, then replied: Yes!

Because Li Chengming promised to provide him with a full meal every day, this was the most direct reason why Feng Erlei was willing to follow Li Chengming.

After joining Li Chengming's new army, Feng Erlei saw a completely new face of the army.

Li Chengming and the other commandos, whom Feng Erlei considered "officers," were able to eat, live, and train with these soldiers.

Even more incredible is that they were able to ensure that every soldier could eat to their heart's content at every meal!

Outside of training, I can also tell these soldiers stories, crack jokes, and listen to their past experiences, whether lucky or unlucky!

He could also use simple and common language to analyze the general situation of the world with these soldiers, talk about the gains and losses of the Ming Dynasty, the successes and failures of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, and the strength and brutality of the Manchu Qing Dynasty!

Feng Erlei personally witnessed how the new army transformed from a disorganized guerrilla force into a disciplined and orderly army after half a month of training!

And the first battle surprised even Feng Erlei and his men. They easily captured Jingmen City and, after entering the city, did not commit any offenses against the people. This was unbelievable to Feng Erlei!

In the past, whether it was Zhang Xianzhong or Li Zicheng, they all had to sacrifice lives to conquer a city, and after conquering the city, they would always plunder it.

Therefore, seeing the strict discipline and impeccable conduct of the new army after they occupied the city, even as a member of the new army, Feng Erlei still found it incredible!

A "drone chicken" that can fly into the sky and look down at the ground;

A musket capable of easily taking a person's life from hundreds of feet away;

A "tablet brain" capable of displaying all sorts of amazing images.

A person with "super hearing" who can talk to people from a great distance.

These things deeply moved Feng Erlei and his fellow soldiers in the new army, who revered Li Chengming and his comrades as gods!

Feng Erlei originally had no interest in grand principles like "family, country, and the world." His family was gone, and all he had seen over the years was natural and man-made disasters, and the country was on the verge of collapse!

What does the rise and fall of the nation have to do with me?

But seeing the new army's various performances, Feng Erlei began to believe what Li Chengming had said:

"The new army is an army of the people; it stands up for the people and brings peace to the world for them!"

Heaven's justice will prevail, and China will surely prevail; the people's hearts will follow suit, and even the most humble person will avenge any wrong done to them!

Everyone's misfortunes have their reasons. The Restoration Army will sweep away all the misfortunes that people have experienced in the past!

Drive out the barbarians, eliminate the traitors within, revive China, and let everyone be like a dragon!

The new army will fight for the restoration of China, hence its name: the Restoration Army!