Late Ming Dynasty: Special Forces in 1645

Zheng's army at Fenshuiguan was defeated in a way that even Li Chengming could not have imagined.

Even when it was broad daylight and the sun came out, Li Chengming still felt like he hadn't fully woken up.

It wasn't until his subordinates came to inform him that they had "pursued for ten miles and captured countless prisoners" that Li Chengming realized that this time they had truly won, and the crisis at Fenshui Pass was completely resolved.

From the first attack on Ehu Town, to the capture of Qianshan City, the second attack on Ehu Town, and then the two battles with Shi Fu's army.

Li Shiming felt exhausted. He had seen too much blood and gore, severed limbs, and life-and-death separations during this period.

The physical and mental exhaustion I've been going through lately is finally coming to an end today.

No, we cannot rest yet. Xinzhou City is still under siege. Only when the enemy forces in Xinzhou City are defeated can the siege be lifted.

Li Chengming ordered an inventory of the spoils, the dead enemies to be buried in one place, and the wounded to be carried away quickly, with the lightly wounded helping the seriously wounded. The Restoration Army was responsible for looting the corpses, and the prisoners were ordered to dig pits to bury the bodies.

All captured silver, armor, shields, and weapons were handed over for safekeeping.

After several battles, the Restoration Army became increasingly familiar with this process.

Unfortunately, because this place was too close to Fenshui Pass and supplies were readily available, Zheng's army did not bring much food or supplies.

The Restoration Army didn't capture much supplies, not even as much as when they captured Ehu Town. After cleaning up the battlefield, it was already noon when they returned to their base in Ehu Town.

I contacted Xinzhou City via walkie-talkie. Today, both the Xingfu Army and the Zheng Army were relatively restrained. There were small-scale probing and clashes, but no large-scale battles occurred.

Li Chengming understood that the attacks of the previous two days had likely dealt a severe blow to the Zheng army outside the city.

Li Chengming decided to leave 1,000 troops in Ehu Town, while the rest of the troops rested for an afternoon and then set off for Xinzhou City after dinner in the evening.

As before, Li Chengming took away the musketeers and archers, leaving behind Feng Erlei, a fierce general whom he had personally trained, to garrison Ehu Town.

Li Chengming's 1,500 troops, plus the 2,500 troops sent from Xinzhou City, were enough to repel the Zheng army outside Xinzhou City.

The distance from Ehu Town to Xinzhou City is not far, only about forty kilometers. Li Chengming led his troops to hurry and finally returned to the outskirts of Xinzhou City in the middle of the night.

Upon returning to the outskirts of Xinzhou City, Li Chengming did not immediately launch an attack. Instead, he rested for two hours. Many of the soldiers were so exhausted that they fell asleep immediately, which was the main reason why Li Chengming did not launch an attack right away.

At night, Liangzicheng happily moved four new cannons down from the city wall.

Under the cover of night, they used a silenced pistol to kill the Zheng army scouts monitoring Xinzhou City, and then sent the four cannons out of the city.

When Li Chengming arrived outside Xinzhou City, he met up with the artillerymen who had come out of the city.

Zheng Jun placed most of his scouts on Xinzhou City, and Li Chengming took over four cannons in order to catch Zheng Jun off guard.

Two hours later...

The Restoration Army outside the city and the Restoration Army inside the city are both fully prepared.

Yan Huidong piloted the drone into the sky. Under Yan Huidong's guidance, Li Chengming used a silenced pistol to take out Zheng Jun's sentries and slowly approached Zheng Jun's camp.

The Restoration Army inside the city had also quietly opened the city gates, and 2,500 Restoration Army soldiers rushed out and disappeared into the darkness.

Zheng Jun was extremely vigilant. When Li Chengming approached to within 500 meters of Zheng Jun, he was exposed. Zheng Jun blew his warning bamboo whistle, and the sharp sound carried far away.

Seeing this, Li Chengming simply ordered the Restoration Army to light torches and no longer conceal themselves.

At the same time, orders were given to speed up the march and move the four cannons to a position 300 meters away from Zheng's army camp.

The Xingfu Army's charge pushed the cannons to a distance of 200 meters from Zheng's army camp.

The artillerymen acted swiftly, quickly setting up their cannons and loading shells, and firing them before Zheng's army could react.

The four cannons fired simultaneously, and four exploding shells flew rapidly toward Zheng's army camp, landing and exploding inside.

This round of firing caused dozens of casualties among Zheng's unprepared troops!

But Zheng Jun reacted quickly. After the first round of shelling, they all hid in the shallow ditches that protected them from the cannons, putting on their armor as they hid.

Li Chengming sighed inwardly upon seeing this, realizing that the quality of this Zheng army was far superior to that of the Zheng army at Bishui Pass.

At the same time, we feel saddened by this. This relatively strong army was cowardly before even engaging in battle when facing the Qing army. The Zheng brothers were terrified. Zheng Hongkui abandoned his army and fled, while Zheng Zhilong was determined to surrender.

Zheng Jun's serious strategic miscalculation ultimately led to the easy capture of Xianxia Pass, the most formidable pass in Fujian and Zhejiang, by the Qing army, and the demise of the Southern Ming Longwu regime!

Zheng's army, which was utterly cowardly in the face of the Qing army, showed some commendable skill when dealing with the Restoration Army. The Restoration Army's subsequent artillery bombardments did not achieve the desired effect, and Zheng's army camp did not fall into chaos.

Li Chengming ordered the cannons to advance again, bringing them within 100 meters to bombard the rear of Zheng's army.

Then have the musketeers and archers get ready and line up to enter Zheng's army camp.

After several battles, the artillerymen, musketeers, archers, and other infantrymen of the Restoration Army had become extremely skilled in tactical coordination.

Zheng Jun's commander-in-chief, Xiao Gongchen, was no ordinary man. After discovering that his camp had been attacked, he first used strict military discipline to suppress the Zheng army to prevent them from falling into chaos. Anyone found shouting, yelling, or running around was executed on the spot.

Despite the brutal measures, Zheng's army did not fall into chaos. Those in the shelling zone sought cover, while those outside the shelling zone rallied to prepare for a counterattack.

Therefore, as soon as the Xingfu Army entered the camp, they encountered resistance from Zheng's army.

The Restoration Army used the same three tactics: artillery bombardment, musketeers and archers, and finally spearmen.

The strongest force in the Restoration Army was not the artillery or the musketeers, but the spearmen. In every battle, the artillery was always left to bombard from the rear, while the musketeers and archers led the charge.

But when it really comes down to the decisive moment, it's always the spearmen who charge in, killing gods and Buddhas alike!

The Restoration Army under Li Chengming's command had fought their way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Although the Zheng army led by Xiao Gongchen was not bad, it was no match for the Restoration Army.

When the Restoration Army of over a thousand men formed their battle formation, breaking through it required either a massive human sacrifice to push them apart, a barrage of firearms, or a charge by cavalry leveraging their mobility.

Zheng's army lacked both firearms and cavalry, so they could only push forward by sacrificing lives.

Zheng Jun's commander-in-chief, Xiao Gongchen, personally directed the counterattack, but several of his troops were repelled by the Xingfu Army.

Even the usually calm Xiao Gongchen could no longer sit still. He ordered four thousand-man squads to surround the Xingfu Army from four directions, determined to annihilate this invading Xingfu Army at the cost of heavy casualties.

But at that moment, a personal guard came to report that a large number of troops had also been mobilized from the direction of Xinzhou City and had made contact with the rear guard of Zheng's army.

Xiao Gongchen's expression changed drastically. The troops in Xinzhou City had just made contact with the rear army. Where did this incredibly powerful Restoration Army come from?

Could they be the Restoration Army from Ehu Town?

Has the battle at Goose Lake Town ended?

When Xiao Gongchen arrived at the city of Xinzhou, he sent someone to communicate with Shi Fu at Fenshui Pass. At the same time, he learned that Shi Fu would personally lead an army of 10,000 to attack the bandit leader Li Chengming.

If the restoration army in front of us is the one personally led by the bandit leader Li Chengming, then Shi Fu's 10,000-strong army has been completely annihilated.

Upon realizing this crucial point, Xiao Gongchen broke out in a cold sweat.

Moreover, because the elite troops were all transferred here to besiege Li Chengming, the rear army was left empty, and the restoration army that came out of the city made rapid progress and soon attacked the central army of Zheng's army.

The two restoration armies attacked from both sides, seemingly poised to join forces in Zheng's army camp!