Late Ming Dynasty: Special Forces in 1645

Li Chengming appointed Zhang Xiyan as the prefect of Xinzhou Prefecture, entrusting him with civil affairs, people's livelihood, and the implementation of new policies.

The area under the actual control of the Xingfu Army is not large, currently only Xinzhou Prefecture and a few nearby towns, plus Yushan County, which was just captured.

The next step is to extend the influence of the Restoration Army to every township and implement new policies at the township level.

Zhang Xiyan was the person chosen by Li Chengming to oversee the entire operation.

An official with experience in governing a local area can play a crucial role in the implementation of new policies!

Zhang Xiyan transferred his entire administrative team from Yushan to Xinzhou Prefecture, leaving only the county magistrate in Yushan to assist Chen Shaoping in managing Yushan.

Next, Zhang Xiyan took charge of the overall planning, while Yang Xuedong took charge of the specific implementation, and the promotion of the new policy accelerated.

Li Chengming was also freed from his heavy political duties and could focus his energy on military strategy.

The Restoration Army has sent 1,000 troops to Yushan to assist in implementing the new policies and deterring villains.

If troops need to be dispatched, 1,000 troops must be left in Xinzhou City, so in reality, only 3,000 troops can be mobilized.

Li Chengming decided to recruit 3,000 people from the surrounding towns and villages and incorporate them into the Restoration Army.

Throughout history, sons of good families have always been the most loyal and strongest soldiers.

The soldiers that the Restoration Army is recruiting this time are the sons of tenant farmers who have obtained low-rent land after the implementation of the new policies, and the lower-class people who have been relieved of various taxes and wages.

In the dozen or so townships under his control, a thousand men were quickly recruited. Li Chengming decided to train these newly recruited soldiers first, and leave the subsequent recruitment work to Zhang Xiyan.

Time waits for no one; you can't expect the enemy to attack only when everything is ready.

In order to gain an advantageous position in any future battles, Li Chengming decided that he had to capture both cities.

One is located upstream of Xinzhou, in Yushan County, and the other is located downstream of Xinzhou, in Qianshan County!

Yushan County has surrendered; the next target is Qianshan County!

Having captured these two cities, one in the south and one in the north, the Restoration Army finally had some strategic room to maneuver when facing a powerful enemy!

The biggest difference between Qianshan City and Yushan City is that Qianshan City was occupied by Zheng's army and was heavily guarded!

Especially after the Xingfu Army captured Xinzhou Prefecture, Zheng's army lost a strategic foothold in Jiangxi. If Qianshan City were to be captured as well, Zheng's army would only have the isolated Fenshui Pass left.

Therefore, Shi Fu learned from the lesson of Xinzhou City being captured and sent troops to strengthen the defense of Qianshan City.

Shi Fu's Zheng army was mainly stationed in three places: Fenshuiguan, Qianshan County, and Ehu Town, ten kilometers east of Qianshan County.

The largest force was at Fenshuiguan, with tens of thousands of troops, followed by Qianshan County, and then Ehu Town.

The three garrisons form a strategic defensive position, and attacking only one of them would inevitably provoke a counterattack from the garrisons in the other two locations, forcing the enemy to engage in a decisive battle with their entire force in unfavorable terrain.

Therefore, Li Chengming faced the following situation:

To capture Qianshan County, the enemy forces in Ehu Town must first be defeated. However, once Ehu Town is attacked, the enemy troops stationed at Fenshui Pass and Qianshan County will send reinforcements, forcing the Xingfu Army to engage in a decisive battle with Zheng's army.

Even though the Xingfu Army was stronger than the Zheng Army, Li Chengming was unwilling to engage in a decisive battle with the Zheng Army.

Because engaging in a decisive battle with Zheng Jun prematurely would result in heavy losses, which is not something Li Chengming wants to see.

Li Chengming looked at the map and pondered: Goose Lake Town has the fewest troops and the simplest fortifications, making it the easiest to attack. However, if Zheng's army cannot be completely defeated within an hour, the garrisons in the other two places will surely come to its aid quickly.

If we can quickly defeat the garrison of Goose Lake, then we can surround and attack the other two reinforcements, defeating them one by one!

The question is how to quickly defeat the garrison at Goose Lake?

It should be noted that although Zheng's army was not strong in combat, it was extremely wealthy and had a considerable number of firearms and cannons.

In Ehu Town alone, there were five Hongyi cannons, and even more smaller Frankish cannons and small tiger squat cannons.

Moreover, the fortifications were meticulously designed and constructed to withstand long-range attacks from crossbows, so they probably could no longer suppress all artillery with just a rifle, as they had done under Xinzhou City.

After thinking for a long time, Li Chengming realized that the way to quickly defeat the garrison in Ehu Town and deal with the numerous guns and cannons of the Ehu Town garrison with the least casualties was to use firearms against them in the same way!

The cannons couldn't be built in a day or two, but once everything was ready, all that remained was the step of casting the cannons, which didn't take too long.

The steel mill in Liangzi City can now produce molten steel on a small scale. As long as enough molten steel is produced, it shouldn't be a problem to build one cannon a day.

After discussion among the commando team members, they decided to cast a breech-loading smoothbore cannon.

Referring to the 19th-century Krupp 80mm field gun, the initial design parameters for the gun were set as follows: caliber 80mm, barrel length 2 meters, and combat weight controlled within 500 kg.

They got right to work; the day after the design was completed, they began casting the first cannon.

This time, unlike the casting of the cannons used to attack Yushan County, no carelessness was tolerated. Every step was personally supervised by Liang Zicheng, allowing no room for error.

After the blanks are cast, they need to be polished, heat-treated, assembled, and finally tested. Only after passing the test firing can the casting of the next cannon continue.

Liang Zicheng personally supervised the construction, and Li Chengming added manpower. Working day and night, they successfully cast eight cannons in just five days.

After the cannons were cast, Li Chengming immediately had the artillerymen he had selected familiarize themselves with and practice using the eight new cannons.

In Liangzicheng, they continued to cast hollow shell casings. Filling them with cement made solid shells, and filling them with gunpowder and iron shot made explosive shells!

To make the shell fit the gun barrel better, increase the range, and reduce barrel wear, the surface of the shell was even coated with copper.

During this period, Li Chengming sent all the craftsmen he could find in Xinzhou City to the steel mill in Liangzi City to assist in casting cannons and cannonballs.

The purpose was to build the cannons before attacking Qianshan and to enable the artillery to initially form combat capability!

After the first batch of eight new cannons were cast, Li Chengming convened a meeting with the assault team members and invited Zhang Xiyan to attend.

Li Chengming first analyzed the advantages of both sides, saying: "The Zheng army has 5,000 troops stationed in Ehu Town, 7,000 troops in Qianshan County, and 10,000 troops in Fenshui Pass. The three places are mutually supportive. The Zheng army has many soldiers and generals, and strong firepower!"

Our objective this time is Qianshan County. The restoration army we've dispatched totals four thousand troops, armed with eight modern cannons, five hundred flintlock muskets, three hundred archers, and a cavalry company!

Before the other assault team members could speak, Zhang Xiyan swallowed hard and couldn't help but say, "General Li... Commander-in-Chief Li, we only have four thousand troops, yet we dare to launch a preemptive attack on Zheng's army of over twenty thousand. Even if the Xingfu Army is unstoppable, isn't this a bit too arrogant?"

He Mingqiu said, "Prefect Zhang, don't be anxious. Our Restoration Army is well-trained. Let alone the mere Zheng army, we dare to challenge even the Eight Banners army. Those eight new cannons are far superior to the Zheng army's Hongyi cannons. Although those five hundred muskets were captured from the Zheng family army, after being modified by us, their rate of fire has more than doubled! Apart from having more men, what else is the Zheng army better than us?"

Li Chengming nodded in agreement with He Mingqiu's words.