Late Ming Dynasty: Special Forces in 1645

With the rigorous training and tight organization of the Restoration Army, they were never afraid of any enemy, even in cold weapon warfare!

Zheng Jun's plan to use contact warfare to regain his lost ground is likely a miscalculation.

Even if the musketeers used bayonets, they were still better than Zheng's spearmen!

Five hundred musketeers, their muskets already fitted with bayonets, faced the heavily armored infantry charging from Zheng's army...

The musketeers retreated quickly—yes, quickly—because using bayonets against heavily armored infantry was not an advantage.

The musketeers made way, and next up were the Restoration Army's large spears, which required two men to carry!

These large spears were used to break through the shield formations of the Zheng army under the walls of Xinzhou, and they are perfect for dealing with heavily armored infantry here.

Two Restoration Army soldiers, wielding large six-meter-long spears, charged and stabbed the heavily armored infantryman to the ground!

The disadvantage of heavy infantry is that while their armor is thick and provides high defense, it also makes them inconvenient to move around and less agile. Once they are knocked to the ground, they have a hard time getting up, regardless of whether they are injured or not.

The heavily armored infantrymen were knocked to the ground by large spears, and the musketeers stepped forward to finish them off with bayonets, hitting their targets one by one, thus easily breaking through Zheng's heavily armored infantry.

Thanks to drone reconnaissance, Li Chengming already knew that Zheng Jun was gathering in the rear, and he was very familiar with Zheng Jun's military formation and weaponry.

Li Chengming saw everything about Zheng Jun as transparent, and he had already devised a way to deal with and counter Zheng Jun's actions before they even began.

In addition, given the well-organized structure and strong execution capabilities of the Xingfu Army, if they could still lose, then Li Chengming would have no face to lead troops anymore.

All Li Chengming wanted was to minimize casualties.

Zheng Jun's performance in close combat was not weak, or rather, his momentum in the first round of attacks was overwhelming, even the well-trained Xingfu Army had to temporarily avoid his sharp edge.

Amidst the deafening shouts of battle, Zheng's army's first charge failed to break through the Xingfu Army, causing their morale to wane slightly. Their second charge also failed, further diminishing their morale!

Do it all at once, second time tired, third time exhausted!

Zheng's army failed to break through the Xingfu army's tight formation on their third attempt. Instead, they were surrounded from both sides by the Xingfu army, and Zheng's army finally began to panic.

Zheng Jun's garrison commander, Zhang Zhongliang, looked anxious and kept glancing back.

Then a flash of fire appeared over the artillery position, followed by a deafening explosion, and then silence returned.

Zhang Zhongliang originally planned to turn the cannons of the Red Barbarian Cannons around and bombard the rear of the Xingfu Army when the two armies were engaged in close combat!

But how could Li Chengming not be prepared?

While Zheng's loader was loading gunpowder into the Hongyi cannons, he threw a grenade. The grenade exploded, igniting the gunpowder and causing it to explode along with the cannons, directly blowing over the three cannons and sending the artillerymen flying.

The thought that even the Hongyi cannon, his last reliance, had inexplicably exploded made Zhang Zhongliang's face turn deathly pale.

After the infantry charged the Xingfu Army's formation several times without success, they were surrounded and divided by the Xingfu Army, and their defeat was already evident!

If this continues, Zheng Jun's army in Ehu Town will be completely wiped out!

Knowing that reinforcements would not arrive, Zhang Zhongliang hurriedly ordered a retreat.

Unfortunately, Zheng Jun's biggest weakness was that he had never experienced a major battle and had too little experience in defeat.

An orderly withdrawal is more difficult than an advance!

Ordering a full-scale attack might offer a glimmer of hope, but when soldiers in the midst of battle hear of a retreat, their morale collapses, often leading to an uncontrollable rout.

Zheng Jun was in this situation. Although signs of defeat were already evident, the Restoration Army would have to go through some difficulties to completely defeat the stubbornly resisting Zheng Jun.

After Zhang Zhongliang ordered the retreat, Zheng's army's retreat quickly turned into an uncontrollable rout, and then the fleeing soldiers scattered and fled in just ten minutes.

Seeing Zheng's army in defeat, Li Chengming ordered his cavalry to pursue Zheng's officers and generals.

The Restoration Army infantry pursued the fleeing troops like autumn leaves in the wind, but they were all on foot, and having marched for half the night, the Restoration Army had no advantage.

This still caused most of Zheng's defeated soldiers to scatter and flee.

The cavalry ultimately failed to catch up with Zhang Zhongliang.

Li Chengming didn't care. His original plan was to quickly defeat Zheng's army in Ehu Town with minimal casualties, and he had succeeded.

There's no point in fighting a decisive battle at this point, because we still need to defeat the reinforcements that are on their way, and the ultimate goal is to capture Qianshan County!

Yan Huidong had already used drone reconnaissance to learn that troops had been dispatched from Qianshan County and were rushing to Ehu Town.

Li Chengming had no time to clean up the battlefield, nor even to rest.

This reinforcement force from Qianshan County must be defeated quickly!

Even if the reinforcements see that Zheng's army in Ehu Town has been defeated and do not want to fight the Xingfu Army, the Xingfu Army must find an opportunity to defeat this reinforcement from Qianshan County!

The less defenses Qianshan County has, the less difficult it will be for the Xingfu Army to attack the city!

After the Restoration Army assembled and lined up, they followed the routed troops without stopping and headed towards Qianshan County.

To get from Ehu Town to Qianshan County, you have to cross the Qianshan River, which has a unique wooden bridge!

Li Chengming's orders to the cavalry included not only pursuing Zheng's generals and officers, but also capturing the wooden bridge.

Although the Qianshan River is not deep, it still takes some effort to wade across it. Therefore, capturing the wooden bridge means being able to cross in the shortest time and gain the upper hand!

It was a pity that the cannons couldn't cross the wooden bridge, but they could only be transported there by boat later.

Many of the routed soldiers fled towards Qianshan County, while Zhang Zhongliang fled towards Fenshuiguan.

This is also why the Xingfu Army cavalry company failed to catch up with Zheng Jun's Zhang Zhongliang!

The cavalry company overtook all the routed soldiers and successfully captured the wooden bridge leading to Qianshan County.

Li Chengming's infantry followed, crossing the bridge quickly in pairs.

After crossing the bridge, the Xingfu Army dismantled the wooden bridge. If reinforcements from Fenshuiguan were to arrive, the Qianshan River could hold them off for a while.

At this time, the reinforcements from Qianshan County should not have known about the defeat of Zheng's army in Ehu Town, because the wooden bridge had been captured and all the fleeing soldiers were blocked on the other side by the Qianshan River.

After the Xingfu Army had crossed the bridge, the reinforcements from Qianshan County arrived hastily, numbering about three thousand.

There's not much to say; the two armies clashed as soon as they met.

The Restoration Army used musketeers and archers as the vanguard, followed by spearmen.

Soon the reinforcements from Qianshan County suffered repeated defeats, eventually leading to a complete rout. They were no match for the Restoration Army!

The spearmen were proof of the Xingfu Army's strength. Without cavalry and firearms units, Zheng's army would have been no match for the Xingfu Army in a head-on confrontation!

After the reinforcements from Qianshan County were routed, the cavalry cut off their retreat and killed the general who was trying to escape back to Qianshan County.

The cavalry's objective was not to annihilate the reinforcements from Qianshan County, but to ensure that the fleeing soldiers could escape anywhere but towards Qianshan County.

After quickly defeating the 3,000 reinforcements, the Xingfu Army continued its advance towards Qianshan County!

After another continuous march, the Xingfu Army finally arrived outside Qianshan County!

At this time, Qianshan County was unaware that the defending troops in Ehu Town had been completely defeated, and that the reinforcements sent by Qianshan County had also been completely crushed!

No one could have imagined that just four thousand Xingfu soldiers could completely defeat five thousand Ehu Town garrison troops and then three thousand Qianshan City reinforcements in a single morning!

In the blink of an eye, the Restoration Army had arrived at the gates of Qianshan City!