Late Ming Dynasty: Special Forces in 1645

Xinzhou Prefecture (present-day Shangrao City), located in eastern Jiangxi, is relatively unknown compared to historical cities like Nanchang.

However, its geographical location is extremely important. To conquer Fujian and Zhejiang from Jiangxi, one must first capture Xinzhou!

Starting from Xinzhou, one can directly attack Quzhou to the northeast, threatening Hangzhou! To the southeast, one can follow the Minjiang River valley down through Fenshuiguan, Nanping, and Yanping, thus threatening Fuzhou.

After crossing the Yangtze River east of Poyang Lake, Li Chengming hesitated about where to enter Fujian, but he was determined to capture Xinzhou Prefecture.

We can rely on Fujian, but we cannot hide in Fujian!

According to the development strategy of the Xingfu Army, the land of southern Zhejiang must be taken, and Xinzhou Prefecture must also be taken!

After marching for five or six days from Hukou County, they arrived at the territory of Xinzhou Prefecture. Then, Li Chengming led nearly three thousand Xingfu Army soldiers across the narrow section of the lower reaches of the Xinjiang River to reach the south bank.

The city of Xinzhou was not very tall, slightly larger than the previous city of Jingmen, but the city walls were much shorter.

As for the garrison, the commander-in-chief of Xinzhou Prefecture at this time was named Shi Fu, a former pirate who was a subordinate of Zheng Zhilong. After Zheng Zhilong was recruited by the Ming court, Shi Fu was also appointed as the commander-in-chief of Xinzhou Prefecture.

Shi Fu was not very famous in the late Ming Dynasty, but he had a very famous nephew named Shi Lang.

By this time, the Hongguang regime had been destroyed, and Zhu Yujian formally proclaimed himself emperor in Fuzhou, changing the era name to Longwu.

After ascending the throne, Emperor Longwu issued an edict to station Shi Fu at Hekou Town outside Fenshui Pass and to fight in the area to protect Fenshui Pass.

Fenshui Pass is the gateway from Jiangxi to Fujian. If the Qing army wanted to enter Fujian through Fenshui Pass, they had to defeat Shi Fu's troops first. Therefore, the strategic location of Fenshui Pass was extremely important, and the main force of Shi Fu's troops was stationed at Fenshui Pass!

Conversely, Xinzhou Prefecture was poorly defended, with fewer than three thousand soldiers, and its commander was a subordinate general under Shi Fu. Nominally, Xinzhou Prefecture had surrendered to the Qing, but in reality, it remained under the control of the Zheng family of Fujian.

The garrison in Xinzhou numbered less than three thousand, and their fighting strength was no greater than that of the Xingfu Army. With the Xingfu Army's fighting strength, they could easily take over Xinzhou Prefecture.

So after some reconnaissance, Li Chengming immediately decided to rest for half a day before launching an attack on Xinzhou Prefecture City!

From the last attack on Jingmen, Li Chengming had already summarized a set of effective methods for attacking cities:

Rifles were used to kill the defenders on the city wall from a distance, while archers suppressed them at close range. This two-pronged approach kept the defenders on the city wall from showing their faces. Then, demolition experts led a team to blow open the city gate. Li Chengming led the cavalry company to break into the city through the main gate, followed by the infantry!

After capturing the main city gate, they did the same to the other three city gates. Before long, the city of Xinzhou fell into the hands of the Restoration Army.

Most of the garrison in Xinzhou City were captured. The commander and deputy commander were killed by drone bombs before the attack on the city, in order to ensure the success of the siege!

After gaining complete control of Xinzhou Prefecture, Li Chengming felt some regret, namely that the civil officials in the city had either been killed or fled, and the prefectural government office was now empty.

Having captured Xinzhou Prefecture, Li Chengming has no intention of abandoning the city.

In the early stages of establishing a new city, it would be best to have the assistance of civil officials to maintain order and manage the lives of ordinary people.

Unfortunately, without the assistance of civil officials, Li Chengming had no choice but to reappoint the original garrison patrol teams to ensure the orderly life of the people in the city.

Most of the money, food, and supplies in the city were taken away by Shi Fu. If the Restoration Army had not brought food into the city, the city's food supplies would only last for ten days at most.

As Li Chengming flipped through the population register, he said to his comrades, "Taking Xinzhou Prefecture is not difficult; the difficulty lies in holding it!"

Commando Liang Zicheng spread out a large map and pointed to it, analyzing: "There are four directions from which the enemy is most likely to come: first, from Nanchang; second, from Fenshuiguan; third, from Jiujiang; and fourth, from Quzhou!"

Enemy forces coming from Nanchang would first have to pass through the vicinity of Fenshui Pass. Nanchang was under Qing control, while Fenshui Pass was under Zheng's control. If the Qing army wanted to pass through Fenshui Pass, they would inevitably clash with Shi Fu, a general under Zheng.

Furthermore, Jin Shenghuan and Wang Tizhong in Nanchang will soon engage in civil war, so Nanchang will not pose a threat to us in the short term!

Quzhou has not yet been captured by the Qing army, and the Ming army in Zhejiang is in dire straits, so Quzhou will not pose a threat to us in the short term.

The most likely threat comes from Jiujiang and Fenshuiguan!

When we left Jiujiang, the Qing army already knew of our Restoration Army's existence and sent out many scouts to find out our situation and movements. Several nearby forces that had already surrendered to the Qing were also making moves.

If our restoration army's strength is discovered, the Qing army will definitely come and try to destroy our stronghold in Xinzhou Prefecture!

Finally, the most likely and direct threat to us is the power of the Zheng family at Fenshui Pass!

Li Chengming nodded. "Currently, the Longwu court forces in Fujian and the Qing-surrendered forces in Jiangxi have reached a delicate balance. In fact, the Qing-surrendered forces in Jiangxi may later return to the Ming. Neither side wants to see a third party occupy such an important strategic location as Xinzhou. Therefore, the forces in northern Jiangxi and the Zheng family forces at Fenshui Pass are most likely to send troops against us!"

Observer Yan Huidong said, "While deploying troops to deal with potential threats, our most important task now is to strengthen our forces, recruit more soldiers, and expand our army. In a while, even if others don't attack us, we'll be the ones attacking them!"

Medical worker Song Yourong said, "Recruiting soldiers and buying supplies is the most important thing. The garrison in the city doesn't even have as much food as we brought, and they don't have much silver either. If we expand the army, I'm afraid we won't have enough money and supplies!"

Li Chengming: "Although we could only transport half of the grain captured in the Battle of Jiujiang, that half is enough to feed us for a year. Even if we double our army, it will still be enough for half a year. I propose that we double our army first, expanding the number of combat soldiers to five thousand. What do you think?"

The other assault team members unanimously agreed with Li Chengming's proposal!

The messenger, Zhou Lei, sighed, "So much grain is sitting there in Jiujiang. Even if we notify the nearby people to move it, who knows how much they can actually carry! If it falls into the hands of the Qing army before it's all gone, what a tragedy!"

Machine gunner He Mingqiu said with a wry smile, "I do hope the people don't move too much. If they do, those bandits will just plunder it all back. If that happens, we'll have done more harm than good."

Sniper Chen Shaoping said, "Just burn it all down, no more trouble, but you all can't bear to part with it!"

"Aren't you afraid of having a guilty conscience if you burn all that pure white grain?"

"A merciful general cannot command an army. I also think it's better to burn it down. If the people take too much grain away now, it might bring disaster upon themselves!"

The commandos started arguing about the leftover food that hadn't been moved, each with their own version of events.

Li Chengming slapped the table and advised, "Just do good deeds and don't worry about the future. Stop arguing and let's move on to the next topic!"

Everyone realized that there was no point in continuing the argument, so they immediately fell silent.

Seeing that everyone had quieted down, Li Chengming said, "The next topic is that there are quite a few craftsmen in the city, and with the craftsmen we brought, we can try to research and manufacture firearms!"

We're all pretty high achievers, with majors in chemical engineering, electronics, mechanical engineering, materials science, and medicine. Let's start tomorrow by organizing and writing down everything we've learned in our lives, so we don't forget it later.

Then we broke down the manufacturing process and steps of firearms and artillery, and each person was responsible for implementing one of them.

Everyone must take this matter seriously!