Late Ming Dynasty: Special Forces in 1645

The effects of the Battle of Shinju are only just beginning.

News of the Xingfu Army's complete annihilation of the Zheng army at the gates of Xinzhou spread through the common people, merchants, spies, and the fleeing Zheng soldiers.

The next morning, Shi Fu was woken up early by his personal guards.

With an impatient look on his face, Shi Fu took the front-line battle report handed to him by his personal guard. He rubbed his eyes, glanced at the report, and put it down. At this point, Shi Fu was not fully awake.

Then, realizing what had happened, he picked up the battle report and looked at it carefully. This time, he broke out in a cold sweat.

"It's fake! It's all fake!" Shi Fu roared in fury, "My Fujian army is full of brave and skilled warriors, how could we possibly be defeated by a bunch of random rabble who appeared out of nowhere!"

Shi Fu crumpled the battle report into a ball and threw it away, muttering, "The scout who wrote the report must have gone mad." He turned to his personal guard and said, "Give that scout twenty lashes, then expel him from the camp!"

The guard hesitated for a moment, but finally said to Shi Fu, "General, two centurions who escaped are waiting for you in the hall. What do you think?"

Shi Fu's expression changed several times, but in the end he decided to meet with the two centurions. No matter how absurd he thought the annihilation of five thousand Fujian soldiers was, he still needed to confirm the truth of the matter.

When Shi Fu arrived at the hall, the two centurions immediately knelt down upon seeing him. Before Shi Fu could even speak, they tearfully recounted their experiences on the battlefield the previous day!

Shi Fu didn't interrupt, letting them talk to themselves. But as he listened, his face grew increasingly gloomy, until it was so dark it looked like ink could drip from it.

What strange bird dropped a thunderous bomb that blew up the musketeers and archers? What enemy has a strange gun with a huge sound that kills anyone it hits?

Shi Fu's face turned ashen as he listened to the bizarre words spoken by the two centurions!

The two centurions' words were bizarre, but Shi Fu was also basically certain of one thing: the five thousand elite soldiers he had sent out had been defeated, and suffered a crushing defeat.

Otherwise, these two centurions wouldn't have fabricated such outrageous lies to cover up their incompetence.

When Shi Fu heard the two centurions say, "The entire army suffered heavy casualties, with only a few hundred managing to break through," he stood up, kicked each of the two centurions, and roared, "Guards! Drag these two traitors out and behead them!"

Then the two centurions shouted "Injustice!" and were held down by the soldiers who came up, dragged out and beheaded as a warning to the public.

Although the centurion was beheaded, doubts remained.

Shi Fu then remembered the battle report he had thrown away, ordered his personal guards to retrieve it, and read it carefully from beginning to end several times.

Strange bird! The battle report also mentioned the strange bird.

However, Shih-fu believed that these were large birds raised by the Restoration Army to intimidate people, and there was nothing strange about them.

Regardless, the five thousand elite troops were indeed completely annihilated, which was hard for Shi Fu, who had been so confident, to accept.

He could accept that five thousand elite troops couldn't take Xinzhou City in a short time, he could accept setbacks in the siege, and even minor defeats were acceptable.

But the idea that five thousand elite troops were wiped out in just one hour is hard to accept no matter how you look at it.

Shi Fu thought to himself, "Could it be that the previous intelligence was wrong, and the Restoration Army has not only a few thousand people, but tens of thousands of elite soldiers?"

Over the next few days, defeated soldiers gradually returned. Shi Fu personally questioned them, and in their final answers, they all mentioned two things: a strange bird that could unleash thunderous lightning, and a strange gun that could fire continuously and hit its target every time!

For a moment, Shi Fu couldn't figure out what this was.

Finally, the supervising officer Zheng Zhibiao stood up to explain to him: "That strange bird may indeed drop thunderbolts, but large birds can do that with training, so it's not surprising."

As for the strange gun, it's easier to explain. Perhaps the thieves obtained a batch of high-precision firearms from somewhere, but judging from the fact that they only used that strange gun at crucial moments, it was probably very precious and couldn't be used all the time.

It must be said that there is no shortage of clever people in any era, and Zheng Zhibiao's guess about the strange gun was very close to the truth. His misjudgment of the drone was simply because he couldn't find a corresponding object in this era, so he could only guess at a "big bird."

Regardless of the circumstances, Shi Fu dared not conceal the loss of five thousand elite soldiers. He had no choice but to record the cause, process, and outcome of the matter in detail and then write it in a memorial. Ostensibly, it was sent to Emperor Longwu in Fuzhou, but in reality, it was sent to Zheng Zhilong, who controlled the Longwu court.

......

The people of Xinzhou City who had fled the city to seek refuge were initially incredulous upon hearing the news of the Xingfu Army's great victory. The next day, they cautiously returned to inquire and discovered that the Xingfu Army had indeed achieved a great victory.

Upon learning that Xinzhou City was safe and sound, the fleeing people returned to the city. Although they had gone through a lot of trouble, everyone was still happy. After all, they were no longer suffering from displacement, and who wouldn't be happy?

These people all owned their homes in the city and were forced to leave. If war broke out, no one knew whether they could protect themselves. So when they saw that the Restoration Army had achieved a great victory in such a short time, saving Xinzhou City from the destruction of war, they were all sincerely happy.

It's not that the people support the Restoration Army. If Zheng's army could easily defeat the Restoration Army and recapture Xinzhou City, preventing the flames of war from spreading into the city, the people would still be overjoyed.

Of course, that's human nature; there's no need to delve too deeply into it.

The day after the battle ended, more than half of the displaced civilians had returned to the city.

The returning citizens saw that the city gate was surrounded by crowds of people, who were watching something.

Upon closer inspection, a large execution platform had been erected there, where more than a hundred people were kneeling with their hands tied behind their backs, their faces ashen.

A young man dressed in gray-blue clothes was reading out their crimes.

This young man was Yan Huidong, because he was the one who arrested these people, so he was in charge of presiding over this trial.

"...These people were the ones who set fires, burned, killed, and looted in the city yesterday. They are all spies of the Zheng army. They are hiding among the city's residents and the Restoration Army, intending to create chaos through murder and arson, and then seize the city..."

After reading out their crimes, Yan Huidong announced the final verdict: "I now declare that they are all sentenced to death, to beheading immediately!"

More than a hundred people were temporarily selected from the Xingfu Army to serve as executioners. Yan Huidong held a token with the word "execution" written on it and shouted, "Execute!" before throwing the token away.

The onlookers fell silent. Some turned their heads away, too afraid to look at the execution platform; some covered their children's eyes to prevent them from seeing; and some stared intently at the execution platform with wide eyes.

As the token fell to the ground, more than a hundred executioners simultaneously swung their swords and beheaded people, their blood splattering across the execution platform.

Of course, there are also executioners who are not skilled enough. They may be too nervous and their swords fall with insufficient force or miss the neck. The traitor under the sword is not killed and struggles and screams in pain.

Compared to a traitor being beheaded with a single blow, this agonizing scream is far more chilling.

The matter was not over until other executioners, having realized what was happening, came to help and delivered the agonizing spy with a single blow.

The scene on the execution platform greatly shocked the onlookers.

Since the Restoration Army entered the city, it has always maintained strict military discipline and never actively disturbed the people. Occasionally, some idle street urchins would offend the officers and soldiers of the Restoration Army, and at most they would be given a verbal warning and then released.

The approachable demeanor shown by the Xingfu Army over the past two weeks has led the people to believe that the officers and soldiers of the Xingfu Army are easy to talk to.

But the beheading of more than a hundred people at the city gate this time instilled fear in the people once again:

It seems we can't cross the line with the Restoration Army, otherwise even the seemingly mild-mannered Restoration Army will start killing people!