Late Ming Dynasty: Special Forces in 1645

In Xinzhou City, Li Chengming was also awakened by the guards, and there was activity on the walkie-talkie.

Without activating a small radio station as a relay, one cannot make direct calls from Qianshan City to Xinzhou City; only text messages can be sent.

Therefore, what Li Chengming saw was the text message sent by Zhou Lei.

"Taking civilians hostage to attack the city?" Li Chengming muttered to himself, "Even the Zheng army has never done this before. It seems that Jin Shenghuan's bottom line is much lower than that of the Zheng army."

Jin Shenghuan came from Zuo Liangyu's army, which was known for its poor discipline, even worse than that of bandits. Therefore, one could not expect Jin Shenghuan to have any moral bottom line.

Li Chengming thought to himself: It seems that we should send troops to Xinzhou City soon, otherwise if Jin Shenghuan is left in Qianshan County, who knows what he might do!

After all, if we can stop him from robbing people once, why should we stop him a second or third time?

Li Chengming immediately called Liang Zicheng at the steel plant to inquire about the progress of firearms manufacturing.

Liang Zicheng replied, "Ten new cannons have been cast, but only two hundred and forty new muskets have been made. The remaining sixty will take another two or three days to complete."

Li Chengming knew that because they were in a hurry to manufacture guns and cannons, the steel mill was operating on a three-shift system, producing firearms non-stop from morning till night.

Li Chengming said, "The guns and cannons are ready. Now let's start producing bullets and shells at full speed. Make as many as you can. I'm preparing to send troops out the day after tomorrow!"

Liang Zicheng asked, "Is it in such a hurry?"

Li Chengming said, "It's urgent. If the intelligence provided by Yuan Daguang is correct, then Jin Shenghuan will launch an even larger-scale siege tomorrow. If the siege fails again, I can't imagine what Jin Shenghuan might do in a frenzy!"

Liang Zicheng: "Understood. I'll have the steel mill produce bullets and shells at full capacity right now. Send someone over tomorrow to haul these weapons away!"

After putting down the walkie-talkie, Li Chengming analyzed the situation. If the information provided by Yuan Daguang was correct, then the Jin army's attacking force would reach about 25,000 men tomorrow.

If the Jin army took civilians hostage to the battlefield, Zhou Lei would not dare to fire his cannons easily. Even if he used exploding shells, he would be hesitant to fire.

If Jin Shenghuan's plan succeeds, he might actually be able to take over Qianshan City, unless Zhou Lei chooses to disregard the lives of the civilians...

When Zhou Lei is unsure of what to do, he will probably pass the question to Li Chengming.

What will Li Chengming choose then?

Li Chengming sighed, thinking to himself that it was fortunate he knew about Jin Shenghuan's plan in advance, so he wouldn't have to face that kind of choice.

Now that Li Chengming knows He Mingqiu has already sent troops, he can only wait for news from He Mingqiu.

......

He Mingqiu learned from Yan Huidong that more than 10,000 civilians had been abducted and taken to a valley nine kilometers away from Ehu Town, where they were guarded by about 2,300 Jin soldiers.

He Mingqiu mustered three battalions of soldiers, plus a musketeer company, to prepare for rescuing the civilians.

There were many Jin scouts monitoring the Xingfu Army around Ehu Town, but fortunately it was nighttime, and the force of a thousand men was not large. They were all lightly armed, so it was not difficult to avoid the Jin army's notice.

After easily dispatching several Jin scouts, He Mingqiu headed straight for the valley.

More than an hour later, He Mingqiu led his troops to the valley. It was surrounded by cliffs, narrow on both sides and wide in the middle. As long as the people were driven inside and the exits on both sides were blocked, it would indeed be an excellent place to imprison a large number of people.

However, since the Jin army was stationed at the two exits and there were a large number of civilians in the middle, He Mingqiu's thousand men had to split into two groups to attack at the same time and quickly eliminate the two thousand three hundred Jin soldiers so that they would not have the opportunity to harm the civilians!

This mission requires killing the most enemies in the shortest amount of time, and a company has been assigned to ambush at the crossroads, so that even the fleeing Jin soldiers cannot be let go!

Many of the soldiers in Qianshan City and Ehu Town were recruited from nearby areas, so many of the abducted civilians might be family members of the Restoration Army soldiers. Therefore, from any perspective, He Mingqiu should try his best to minimize the harm to the civilians.

Guided by Yan Huidong's drone, He Mingqiu assigned tasks to each company.

Since the Jin army was backed by civilians, using firearms could easily injure civilians, so firearms could not be used for the time being. He Mingqiu ordered that all firearms be fitted with bayonets and used as cold weapons!

They split into two groups, first taking out the Jin army's sentries, both visible and hidden, and then using the sound of bamboo whistles as a signal, they attacked from both sides simultaneously!

"Beep—"

A sharp bamboo whistle rang out in the valley, and countless torches were lit on both sides of the valley, illuminating the exits on both sides!

The battle cries of the Restoration Army soldiers were deafening. They formed ranks and charged forward, spears in hand!

The people in the valley were awakened, or perhaps out of fear of the unknown tomorrow, many of them had not fallen asleep at all. When they saw many people rushing out of the darkness with torches, they were all terrified, their faces turning ashen. Some cried and some shouted.

The Jin army was not much better off. Although many Jin soldiers did not remove their armor and slept fully clothed, with their weapons placed aside, it seemed that they could get up and fight at any time.

But when the Xingfu Army rushed over, many Jin soldiers were still rubbing their eyes, unaware of what was happening.

It wasn't until someone was pierced through the body by a spear and screamed in agony that the other Jin soldiers were fully awakened and hurriedly picked up the weapons beside them to fight back.

However, the Jin army, lacking discipline and organization, haphazardly swung their swords and spears, making them no match for the well-organized and disciplined Xingfu Army.

The Jin army's resistance posed little threat to the Restoration Army. When they encountered the Restoration Army, they were no better than pigs waiting to be slaughtered, and the battle was one-sided.

Even when the Jin army was on high alert, it was no match for the Restoration Army, let alone when they were completely unprepared.

"kill!"

Some officers in the Jin army tried to organize a counterattack, but the truly intelligent ones were thinking about how to escape.

Some tried to escape through the gaps in the Restoration Army's formation, but most were stabbed or hacked to death on the spot, and only a few lucky ones managed to escape.

Those who were quick-witted immediately took off their armor and retreated into the chaos of the crowd.

Seeing one person hide among the people, others who reacted quickly followed suit, taking off their military uniforms and armor and hiding among the crowd.

This scene left He Mingqiu dumbfounded. He had considered that the Jin army might take civilians hostage and then threaten the restoration army, which would be the most troublesome situation.

But he never imagined that the Jin army would hide among the people, leaving the Restoration Army helpless for a time!

It can only be said that the wisdom of the people is boundless. Although the Jin army was the enemy, they were also the people, which makes perfect sense!

Soon, most of the Jin army was annihilated by the Restoration Army, while a small number of Jin soldiers were lucky enough to escape at the right moment.

Some of the Jin soldiers infiltrated the civilian population, leaving the Restoration Army temporarily helpless.

Some Jin soldiers attempted to take civilians hostage, but were immediately killed by muskets on He Mingqiu's orders.

At such close range, finding the right angle and accurately shooting the enemy with a musket shouldn't be difficult.

However, innocent civilians were also accidentally injured by the gunfire. In the end, it was estimated that eight civilians were killed and twenty-seven were injured.

He Mingqiu sighed. It was inevitable that some civilians would be killed or injured by mistake.

In the end, tens of thousands of people were rescued.

As for the Jin soldiers who had infiltrated among the civilians, they could only be identified after dawn.