Late Ming Dynasty: Special Forces in 1645

Early the next morning, Xiao Gongchen led tens of thousands of Zheng soldiers to surround the four gates of Xinzhou City. A team of soldiers was sent out from each gate to test the city. After seeing the new cannons on the city walls fire, leaving behind several corpses, they quickly retreated!

The second team immediately moved forward, but after several men were killed by the new cannons, they quickly retreated!

Watching the retreating troops outside the city, Liang Zicheng said gravely, "The enemy commander is very clever; he's testing us!"

Yan Huidong stared at the tablet, frowning, and said, "More than just smart, we still don't know who the enemy commander is or what his name is. The drone scanned the enemy formation and didn't find anyone dressed as an officer!"

He Mingqiu asked in surprise, "Does the enemy know about the existence of the drones?"

Song Yourong said, "Even the dumbest person would have learned their lesson after suffering so many losses. We've used drones and dropped so many grenades in full view of everyone; even the enemy general would be afraid of being blown up!"

Zheng Jun went from initially disbelieving the existence of drones, to being skeptical, to finally believing in their existence.

The intelligence provided by Shi Fu mentioned the existence of strange birds in the Xingfu Army capable of dropping devastating bombs, specifically targeting important objectives. Upon learning this, Xiao Gongchen, being cautious and taking a "better safe than sorry" approach, ordered his officers, including himself, to change into ordinary soldier uniforms to reduce the risk of being targeted.

As expected, Yan Huidong's drone failed to locate Zheng Jun's main general, and he could only curse Zheng Jun's cunning in his heart!

Outside the city, in Zheng's army camp, Xiao Gongchen, with his excellent eyesight, looked up at the black dot hovering high in the sky.

Those black dots were drones. They weren't flying very high, but they were hard to spot unless you had excellent eyesight.

"Is that the strange bird?" Xiao Gongchen muttered to himself, "Indeed, the world is full of wonders!"

Xiao Gongchen knew he had no way to deal with the drones, so he simply stopped paying attention to them. He saw that the teams had all gone forward to probe and had suffered casualties in each team.

After gathering the reports from the four city gates, Xiao Gongchen summarized: "Each city gate has two cannons, which pose the greatest threat to us. There may also be muskets and bows on the city walls, which are also a significant threat. The cannons have a range of five hundred paces..."

Soon, Xiao Gongchen analyzed the approximate performance of the cannons on the city wall.

Next, Xiao Gongchen began to deploy troops, sending small groups of soldiers to the south, north, and west gates to launch feigned attacks, and then concentrating his superior forces at the east gate to launch a major assault on the city.

Xiao Gongchen was experienced in combat, but Yan Huidong had seen through Zheng Jun's deployment.

Zheng Jun only knew that drones could drop explosives, but he didn't know that drones had reconnaissance capabilities.

Yan Huidong looked at the tablet and said solemnly, "Although the enemy's first wave of troops was roughly equal, only the East Gate was their main attack direction; the other gates were just feints."

Liang Zicheng asked, "What do you mean?"

Yan Huidong said, "A large number of troops have been transferred to the east gate, and large siege weapons have also been transported there!"

Upon hearing this, Liang Zicheng assigned tasks: "Hui Dong, you come with me to the east gate to oversee the battle. Ming Qiu and You Rong will be responsible for the other three gates. Although it's a feint attack, most of our defenders are new recruits, so they need someone to hold them off!"

Apart from Li Chengming, Liang Zicheng has the highest military rank and grade. Therefore, Liang Zicheng is now in charge of Xinzhou City. After Liang Zicheng assigned the tasks, everyone began to carry them out.

Sure enough, the number of enemy troops at the east gate increased, and the two cannons on the city wall began to struggle to keep up.

There were a total of eight new cannons, but when divided equally, each city gate only received two cannons.

Moreover, moving a cannon weighing over a thousand pounds onto the city wall was no easy task, so cannons placed on other city walls could not be transported over in a short time.

Although the new cannons had a long range and high accuracy, the two cannons were insufficient when facing an attack from thousands of enemy troops.

To make matters worse, since they hadn't anticipated the siege of Xinzhou, Li Chengming had taken away all the musketeers and archers, leaving the city walls with nothing but two cannons and no other ranged weapons.

Liang Zicheng and Yan Huidong had arrived at the East Gate city wall and looked at Zheng Jun, who had already crossed the moat, with serious expressions!

Yan Huidong frowned and asked, "Most of the Restoration Army are new recruits. Can they hold out?"

Looking at the Zheng army that was about to reach the city walls, Liang Zicheng gritted his teeth and said, "We have to hold on, even if we can't. If things get really bad, we'll use rifles!"

Yan Huidong shook his head slightly: "With so many enemy troops, how many bullets will we have to expend to reverse the tide? Is it worth it?"

Liang Zicheng knew he couldn't rely too much on rifles. They could be used to decide the outcome of a battle or to save his life, just like Li Chengming had done before. He had always calculated when to use a rifle, how much ammunition to consume, and what kind of results to achieve.

However, we cannot rely solely on rifles to turn the tide of battle. If we consume too much of them and still fail to achieve the desired results, it is better not to use them at all!

Liang Zicheng shook his head, setting aside his many thoughts, and said, "Prepare for battle. I've reported the situation to the captain. If we really can't hold on, let the captain make the decision!"

Yan Huidong said nothing more, simply nodding and saying, "Then, let's fight!"

Zheng Jun didn't use the drawbridge over the moat at all. Instead, he used a long ladder to cross the moat. Then, each of them carried a thick wooden plank and, after crossing the moat, they pieced the planks together and held them over their heads to reach the foot of the city wall!

There are also large wooden components behind it, which can be assembled to form a siege ladder!

Fortunately, the artillery reacted quickly, firing two shots that directly destroyed the enemy's siege ladders.

But the enemy persisted and continued to transport ladder components. Once the enemy's ladders were assembled, the artillery continued to bombard them!

For Zheng's army, which had already crossed the moat, the cannons on the city wall could not hit them due to the angle, but once the siege ladders were set up, they became the best targets for the cannons.

The cannons were used to deal with the siege ladders, and without the threat of cannons, the Zheng army was able to cross the moat much faster!

With a wooden plank on his head, Zheng Jun was already digging under the city wall with various tools, and soon a layer of bricks and stones were removed from the bottom of the city wall.

Upon seeing this, Liang Zicheng's expression changed slightly, and he hurriedly ordered the Xingfu Army to throw stones and pour boiling excrement on the ground!

Stones were thrown down, and boiling excrement was poured down. Immediately, screams of agony came from below. Enemy soldiers who were not killed by the stones were also drenched in excrement, their skin torn open, rolling on the ground in a gruesome sight!

The Zheng army below the city reacted quickly, immediately shooting arrows at the city walls to cover their efforts to dig up the walls!

Because of the archers' cover, the Restoration Army dared not show themselves recklessly.

In response to Zheng Jun's attempt to undermine their forces, the Restoration Army had another powerful weapon: the exploding shells from their new artillery. Once ignited and thrown, they were like homemade grenades with considerable power!

Although it was filled with black powder, the quantity was large and the power was considerable. A single exploding shell could detonate a large area, with an immediate effect.

Stones, excrement, and exploding bullets were all used in a coordinated attack, which finally temporarily stopped Zheng Jun's attempt to undermine the wall.

The two armies were locked in a stalemate beneath the city walls, neither able to gain the upper hand.

Although Zheng Jun suffered heavy casualties, he truly threatened Xinzhou City.

Although the Xingfu Army suffered fewer casualties, its forces were far fewer than Zheng's army.

If Zheng Jun's generals harden their hearts and disregard casualties, the Xingfu Army in Xinzhou City will be exhausted sooner or later!