Late Ming Dynasty: Special Forces in 1645

Seeing that Zheng Jun's entire line had collapsed, Li Chengming ordered that the enemy be pursued by squads and by company!

Of the five thousand Zheng soldiers, apart from musketeers and archers, not many died directly at the hands of the Restoration Army.

However, due to the heavy casualties among the musketeers and archers, Zheng's army realized that they were likely to lose the battle.

The final charge of all infantry was merely a last-ditch effort to fight to the death.

Their final struggle only made their deaths more gruesome.

"Kneel down and you won't be killed!"

"Put down your weapons, kneel down and you won't be killed!"

The Restoration Army pursued the enemy while chanting the slogan "Kneel down and we will not kill."

For a time, Zheng's defeated soldiers were chased and fled everywhere by the Xingfu Army.

The first fleeing soldiers encountered Liangzicheng and a hundred infantry and cavalrymen who had just arrived at the crossroads of their inevitable route.

Upon seeing the infantry and cavalry armed with spears and carrying broadswords, the fleeing soldiers' faces flashed with ruthlessness. Relying on their superior numbers, they decided to charge at the group of infantry and cavalry blocking their path.

Three or four hundred routed soldiers swarmed forward and charged once, but the Xingfu Army's infantry and cavalry did not budge. The routed soldiers dared not charge again, leaving behind dozens of corpses before quickly changing direction and fleeing.

......

In the end, apart from a few hundred lightly armed defeated soldiers who ran too fast and disappeared into the mountains and forests and were not caught by the Restoration Army, the rest of the defeated soldiers were either killed in battle or captured.

Looking at the defeated soldiers who could still run swiftly into the mountains and fields, whom the Restoration Army could not catch up with no matter how hard they tried, Li Chengming sighed, "Ah! Those are all talented people, able to run so fast. If only we could capture them!"

He Mingqiu, the machine gunner standing nearby, said, "It's also possible that our Restoration Army's training level isn't high enough. Next, we need to train them in running—sprinting, long-distance running, weighted running, cross-country running, they need to train them in all of them!"

Li Chengming nodded, deeply agreeing.

Fortunately, all of Li Chengming's most prized muskets were captured, and none of the three Hongyi cannons were touched. In addition, more than 400 catties of gunpowder were also captured!

The archers and musketeers who were still alive were mostly captured; they were so terrified that they didn't even have the courage to run away.

The battle was over, but the cleanup work continued until late at night.

Aside from the weapons and equipment captured, the amount of valuables was only so-so; nearly 10,000 taels of silver were found on the corpses and prisoners of war.

As for food, Zheng's army only brought five days' worth of rations. It seems they were very confident in taking Xinzhou City, so much so that the Xingfu Army didn't capture much food.

In this battle, over a thousand enemy soldiers were killed, more than three thousand were captured, and five or six hundred escaped.

Judging from the enemy's casualties, it was already a great victory.

Li Chengming said to Liang Zicheng, "Regarding the prisoners, follow the old rules: select about a thousand to join the Restoration Army, and release the older ones after registering them."

The remaining prisoners shouldn't be allowed to eat and drink for free. First, they shouldn't be allowed to eat their fill, and then they should be made to do all sorts of chores.

The Zheng soldiers who were killed were buried in a large pit dug some distance outside the city. Those who were seriously wounded were left to their fate, while those who were lightly wounded were given strips of cloth and herbs to bandage themselves.

Spare their lives was the greatest act of mercy Li Chengming could show. The Xingfu Army had limited supplies, but he couldn't let them suffer, nor could he obtain supplies by plundering the people. So, he had no choice but to make do with these prisoners for now.

The number of prisoners captured, including those from the original garrison and those captured this time, totals several thousand.

It's impossible to release these prisoners. They are all young and strong. If they are released, it will be fine if they have land to farm. If they don't have land to farm, they will harm the people or rejoin the army, which will indirectly cause trouble for the Restoration Army.

In this battle, the Xingfu Army suffered more than 20 deaths and about 100 wounded, some seriously and some lightly.

Compared to the more than 100 deaths in the Battle of Jiujiang, this result is much better.

Of course, the disparity in troop strength between the enemy and ourselves during the Jiujiang Campaign was also due to the fact that the assault team members were experiencing large-scale cold weapon warfare for the first time and lacked command experience.

In comparison, this time the assault team has greatly improved in terms of the relative strength of the enemy and ourselves, the overall strategic planning, and the tactical command level, so the casualties are much lower than in the Jiujiang Campaign.

Li Chengming was fairly satisfied with the casualties; war always results in death, and minimizing casualties is the best outcome.

As for zero casualties, that only exists in dreams; it's impossible in reality.

Li Chengming instructed that the soldiers who died in battle should be properly buried, and that families with relatives should be given a sum of money as compensation. For those without relatives, their names should be noted down and compensation should be given later when their families are found.

After Liang Zicheng left, Li Chengming slapped his forehead: He had been dealing with post-war matters and forgot to check the situation inside the city at that time.

So they called in observer Yan Huidong to inquire about the situation.

"Captain, you finally remembered me!" Yan Huidong said loudly as soon as he arrived. "I've been wanting to report to you, but you haven't had time. By the time your army returned to the city, everything had been taken care of. Did everyone think nothing had happened in the city?"

Li Chengming smiled sheepishly: "Sit down. That's why I asked you to come and find out what's going on."

Yan Huidong wasn't truly dissatisfied with Li Chengming; he just wanted to vent a little. Seeing that Li Chengming had asked, he replied seriously, "There's a group of spies hiding in the city, and some more spies infiltrating the defending soldiers. They just jumped out to cause trouble when the Zheng army attacked!"

Li Chengming thought for a moment: "How many people are there respectively?"

Yan Huidong said, "Over a hundred people were captured or killed from the gaps hidden within the city! The city's garrison soldiers uncovered seventeen spies."

"So many?" Li Chengming was taken aback.

Yan Huidong nodded: "They first set fire to the city, then gathered in front of the city gate, attempting to seize the gate amidst the chaos with the help of spies among the defending soldiers."

Li Chengming asked, "Did you interrogate them? How did you manage to sneak in?"

Yan Huidong replied, "They were interrogated separately. The spies hidden in the city were able to hide because some of the city's residents secretly helped them, and quite a few of them knew about and concealed this information."

"What about the spies among the city's defenders?" Li Chengming had already guessed the answer. "Were they selected from the original city-defending troops to join the Restoration Army?"

Yan Huidong nodded and said, "That's right. Also, I think there must have been a mastermind and a contact person behind their antics in the city, but when we went to arrest them based on the interrogation, they had already hanged themselves, and the trail went cold!"

Li Chengming didn't ask anything more, but fell into deep thought: On the surface, what happened in the city was caused by the fact that the Restoration Army was not well-established in the city, but it also exposed a weakness of the Restoration Army, that is, the lack of an intelligence system, or in other words, the lack of a dedicated intelligence team.

If the Restoration Army hadn't come out of the city to fight, if the Restoration Army had been weak, and if the Restoration Army hadn't made so many preparations inside the city, then this time it really might have been a big mess caused by these spies.

As the Restoration Army grows stronger, this problem will only become more serious, and it seems that intelligence work must be put on the agenda.

Li Chengming said to Yan Huidong, "Tomorrow, let's execute all the spies."

Yan Huidong asked in surprise, "Killed them all? Not a single one left?"

Li Chengming nodded and said, "We can take in enemy prisoners, since we have fought them fair and square on the battlefield. But we cannot tolerate these undercover spies and traitors. They are like rats in the gutter; we should kill them if we can."

Tomorrow, not only will they all be killed, but their crimes will be publicly announced, and then they will all be beheaded.

Yan Huidong pondered for a moment, then asked, "What about the civilians who were helped to hide? How should we deal with them?"

Li Chengming said, "The ringleader has been beheaded, and the accomplices have had their homes confiscated and been expelled from Xinzhou City. Those who make mistakes must pay the price!"

Only by killing these spies can we deter those who are secretly causing trouble.