Late Ming Dynasty: Special Forces in 1645

In Ehu Town, the Restoration Army, personally led by Li Chengming, received reinforcements from Qianshan County, barely restoring its pre-war operational strength.

Although the previous battle inflicted heavy casualties on the Zheng army, causing them to lose nearly two thousand soldiers, it should be noted that the Zheng army originally had tens of thousands of soldiers. Even after losing so many men, the Zheng army still maintained an absolute advantage in strength.

Zheng's army was not a third-rate army from Jiujiang. If it were a third-rate army, it would have been defeated after losing so many men. However, Zheng's army's combat strength had not yet dropped precipitously.

The next day, Li Chengming learned from the heavy casualties of the previous day and changed his tactics, no longer separating the artillery and infantry, nor splitting his forces to attack Zheng's flanks.

Instead, they concentrated all their forces together, using cannons to bombard Zheng's musketeers first, and then suppress Zheng's numerous small breech-loading cannons and tiger-squatting cannons.

Next, musketeers and archers led the charge, followed closely by the other infantry. Their aim was not to defeat Zheng's army in one battle, but to minimize the casualties of the Restoration Army.

This tactic worked as expected. The musketeers fired in three volleys, with archers filling in the brief gaps between them.

Although Zheng's musketeers were numerous, they used matchlock muskets, which had a much lower rate of fire than the flintlock muskets of the Restoration Army. Moreover, they had been bombarded by modern artillery, so the Restoration Army's musketeers and archers routed Zheng's musketeers in a sorry state as soon as they arrived.

In Zheng Jun's view, what he faced was an endless barrage of musket fire and arrows from the Restoration Army.

Seeing Zheng Jun's vanguard falling one after another, Shi Fu became anxious and organized his troops to try to flank the Xingfu Army's formation several times, but they were all driven back by the Xingfu Army's spears, resulting in heavy casualties!

The Restoration Army advanced steadily and calmly, forcing the Zheng Army to retreat continuously.

For a time, the Restoration Army had a significant advantage!

Seeing that Zheng Jun was about to be defeated if things continued like this, Shi Fu hurriedly ordered a retreat!

Shi Fu's ability to command troops was commendable. Although Zheng's army retreated, it did not fall into chaos, and unlike the previous generals, the retreat did not turn into a defeat.

The Restoration Army formed a battle formation as solid as a tortoise shell, but its weakness was that it was slow to move and not flexible enough.

Seeing Zheng Jun retreat, Li Chengming was not in a hurry and did not intend to pursue him. He ordered a halt to the advance and sounded the retreat.

Today's battle resulted in no fewer enemy casualties than yesterday, but the Restoration Army's losses were reduced to less than a third of yesterday's.

Li Chengming was fairly satisfied with today's results. He believed that if they fought again, or at most twice, they could completely defeat Zheng's army!

Shi Fu had a lot of pent-up anger with nowhere to vent it. He had fought for so many years, fighting against the Japanese, the Westerners, the Ming army, and the peasant army. He had encountered so many opponents, but he had never met one as formidable as the Restoration Army.

Over the past two months, Shi Fu has fought the Restoration Army several times, but he has never gained the upper hand. Every time he encounters the Restoration Army, he is either defeated or completely annihilated. The Restoration Army has become a major worry for Shi Fu.

Back at the camp, Shi Fu became increasingly angry and wanted to regroup and fight again in the afternoon, but his men persuaded him to stop.

But Shi Fu always felt like there was a stone pressing on his chest, and nothing he did went smoothly.

So Shi Fu summoned his lieutenant and ordered, "Go and gather two thousand elite soldiers, carrying muskets and tiger-squat cannons, and launch a night raid on the enemy camp!"

General Xu was somewhat puzzled and advised, "General, our Zheng army is not familiar with night fighting, and the two armies are stationed so close together that the enemy will be prepared. If we launch a night attack rashly, I'm afraid things will go wrong..."

Shi Fu interrupted angrily, "Unfamiliar with night battles? The enemy army is familiar with night battles? You personally led two thousand men and that wasn't enough? The enemy army only has a little over two thousand men! If you can't achieve victory in this battle, you don't need to come back. Go and prepare immediately, this is a military order!"

Lieutenant General Xu wanted to persuade him further, but seeing Shi Fu's gloomy face, he held back and finally bowed, saying, "This subordinate obeys!"

Shi Fu was not only angry about the defeat, but also about the repeated defeats. Zheng Zhilong had given him many chances, and if he lost this battle again, he would have no choice but to commit suicide to protect his family.

After General Xu left, Shi Fu regretted whether he had been too impulsive, but when he thought of the strength of the Restoration Army, he felt both angry and sometimes desperate.

It seems that the Restoration Army can win no matter how they fight. When you attack and they defend, the Restoration Army can win. When you defend and they attack, the Restoration Army can also win. When both sides attack each other, the Restoration Army can still win!

Shi Fu even lost confidence in the upcoming battle, so he thought of a night raid. Without an ingenious plan, Shi Fu couldn't think of a way to win.

......

In the middle of the night, Li Chengming was woken up by his personal guards who reported that a signal flare had been fired from a hidden sentry in the southwest, indicating that an enemy was launching a night attack.

As Li Chengming got up and put on his bulletproof vest, he ordered the troops to assemble immediately!

Organizing night battles in ancient times was very difficult, and the Restoration Army had only trained for night marches. After some consideration, Li Chengming found that night battles were not cost-effective at the present stage.

As for the Restoration Army, I can win with fewer troops during the day, so why wait until night to take action? Therefore, I did not consider night fighting for the time being.

However, not engaging in night battles did not mean Li Chengming was unprepared for enemy night raids. Whether day or night, Li Chengming deployed numerous sentries, both visible and hidden, around the military camp to prevent enemy ambushes.

Upon seeing the sentry fire a signal flare, Li Chengming immediately gathered his troops to prepare for battle.

Then Li Chengming released his small drone, a self-destructing drone that had defused the bomb.

Perhaps the manufacturer thought that since it was a self-destructing drone, the materials used would naturally not be very good. Although this drone has night vision capabilities, the night vision capabilities are not strong, and it looks blurry from a distance.

Li Chengming maneuvered the drone toward the location where the signal flare had been fired. Since it was too far away to see clearly at night, he thought, "I'll lower the altitude and fly over your head. Surely I'll be able to see you then!"

The drone flew to within a mile of the camp and indeed spotted a large force of people, carrying a large number of muskets and cannons.

Li Chengming deduced that the group consisted of approximately two thousand people. To conceal themselves, they were not carrying torches. It was a dark and windy night with no moonlight. Zheng Jun carried a dim lantern and slowly advanced.

Of course, they also spotted the signal flares fired by the Restoration Army and realized they had been exposed. So they stopped trying to hide, lit their torches, and quickened their pace.

Upon seeing the size of the enemy force, Li Chengming breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to himself that such a small number of people were a gross underestimation of the Restoration Army.

Although Zheng Jun had two thousand men, the Xingfu Army had always won with fewer troops, and Li Chengming thought these two thousand men were nothing to fear!

Before long, the Restoration Army had assembled.

They rose without warning in the middle of the night, donned their armor, and assembled with their weapons; the Restoration Army had practiced this many times before.

So from the moment the signal flare was fired by the sentry to the moment the Restoration Army completed its emergency assembly and entered combat readiness, less than five minutes had passed!

The artillerymen were even more extreme; they would get up and, before they were even fully dressed, enter their artillery positions, load shells, and adjust the muzzles to aim at the direction from which the enemy would attack.

At this time, many artillerymen were still only wearing underwear.

Because artillery is a special force that does not engage in close combat with the enemy, and considering the ease of loading shells, Li Chengming required artillerymen not to wear armor. In case of emergency, everything must be done quickly, and they must be ready to fire at any time.

That's why there were situations where artillerymen loaded shells while wearing only their underwear.

Everything was ready; we were just waiting for the enemy to walk right into our trap.