Late Ming Dynasty: Special Forces in 1645

A dog's head appeared in the crosshairs of the scope, and it was clearly visible in the scope with infrared night vision!

That's right, it's a dog's head. In fact, the key to the whole operation is whether or not this hunting dog can be taken down silently.

At night, dogs are more than ten times more alert than humans. Only by successfully eliminating this hunting dog can the next step be taken.

The scope on this crossbow is not a sniper rifle, but a military crossbow with a draw weight of over 200 pounds, which requires foot to cock!

Aim, breathe steadily, the crosshair stops moving, and the dog's head in the crosshair also stops moving.

Li Chengming pulled the trigger, and with a soft twang, the crossbow bolt flew out rapidly!

At a distance of 100 meters, the accuracy of a military crossbow is no worse than that of a sniper rifle!

In the stillness of the night, the hunting dog keenly caught the sound of the bowstring twanging and the crossbow bolt whistling through the air! But the crossbow bolt came too fast; before the dog could react, the sharp arrowhead had already pierced its eye socket, broken through its hard skull, and emerged from the other side!

The incredibly alert hunting dog lay limply down, not even having a chance to howl before it died, when a crossbow bolt silently ended its life!

Seeing that the hunting dogs had been dealt with silently, Li Chengming secretly breathed a sigh of relief, waved his hand forward, and several assault team members quickly stepped forward!

Li Chengming remained where he was, cocking his military crossbow. This time, he aimed at a sentry. Li Chengming was much more confident in dealing with sentries than with hunting dogs, after all, he had killed more people than dogs.

With one arrow, one sentry was eliminated; then another arrow was nocked and shot, eliminating another sentry.

At this point, the two hidden sentries had been eliminated, and the other seven assault team members had also rushed to the Qingbing checkpoint and successfully took out the four visible sentries with silenced pistols.

Then, gripping the 191 military knife in reverse, he sneaked into a makeshift tent nearby.

The commandos are not only familiar with various firearms, but also adept at close-quarters combat with melee weapons. After passing the test of life and death, their combat capabilities and fighting will far surpass those of ordinary soldiers in ancient times.

After entering the tent, there was little commotion. Soon, the makeshift tent became quiet. Every knife of the assault team was stained with blood. The twelve Qing soldiers inside the tent had all died, and blood was everywhere!

Commando Liang Zicheng reported, "Captain, all targets have been successfully eliminated!"

Upon receiving the message on the walkie-talkie, Li Chengming called to Li Zicheng and his two guards, who were not far away, to spur their horses away!

After picking up the remaining seven assault team members, everyone left according to the pre-planned route.

Because it was too dark, everyone's pace was slow at first, and they did not notice the enemy's camp!

But because it was too dark and the road was too narrow, the horse of Li Zicheng's guard following behind stumbled and neighed.

The neighing of horses was particularly loud in the open mountains, which alerted the military camp stationed at another intersection not far away!

Li Chengming's breath hitched, and he stared intently at another military camp!

Sure enough, after the hissing sound, someone came out with a torch to investigate and walked towards this side!

Li Chengming gave the order over the walkie-talkie: "Assault troops, snipers, get ready!"

Li Chengming held up his crossbow, aimed it at the Qing soldier holding the torch, and silently chanted in his mind: Don't come any closer, stop, stop!

Unfortunately, the Qing soldier holding the torch could not hear Li Chengming's thoughts and continued to walk towards them with unwavering steps!

Seeing that the Qing soldiers had crossed the warning line that Li Chengming had drawn for him, Li Chengming decisively pulled the trigger. A crossbow bolt flew out of the darkness and accurately pierced the Qing soldier's head. The Qing soldier, who was holding a torch, fell down without a sound.

The two Qing soldiers following behind were about to shout a warning when the assault soldier and the sniper fired simultaneously. Two faint gunshots rang out at the same time, blowing their heads off before they could even raise their alarms. Thus, all three Qing soldiers who came out to patrol were eliminated.

Although the silencers reduced most of the sound of the two gunshots, they would definitely be heard in the open mountains if someone was paying attention.

Li Chengming knew that the Qing army camp would react quickly, so he ordered: Withdraw, everyone withdraw immediately!

Regardless of whether they would be discovered, the assault team members pulled out their flashlights, turned the beams to their lowest setting, and shone them on the road ahead. The assault team members and Li Zicheng then spurred their horses and sped away!

Sure enough, when the three men who went out to patrol fell one after another, the Qing army camp realized something was wrong. They also saw a light source appear in the direction of the flashlight and heard the sound of horses' hooves. They judged that there were about ten riders, so they sent out about twenty cavalrymen with torches to chase after the light source!

At a bend in the road, the demolition team quickly laid a booby trap. When the Manchu cavalry passed by, the trap was triggered, and a deafening explosion instantly killed five or six Manchu cavalrymen.

At the same time, the explosion also alerted other Manchu military camps. After a quick reaction, they sent more cavalry to chase after the assault team members who had not yet escaped far!

The commandos withdrew along the pre-planned route. Although the Qing dynasty sent cavalry in hot pursuit, they could not catch up for a while.

As the mountain path narrowed, eventually requiring them to dismount to pass on a hillside, Li Chengming dismounted and came to the back of the group. Glancing at the pursuers behind them, he said, "This mountain path is difficult to traverse. There must be about a hundred riders chasing us."

Commando Liang Zicheng analyzed, "Perhaps they've discovered that the rebel leader has escaped. The hundred or so riders are just the vanguard; the main force will follow!"

The sniper said, "Due to the terrain, their advance is in a long, single-file line. We can easily pick them off one by one. Captain, should we take them all out?"

After thinking for a while, Li Chengming nodded and said to the sniper, "Your marksmanship is good, kid. Sniper ammo is precious, so you can use my precision rifle. It's perfect for taking out enemies carrying torches!" He then handed his rifle to the sniper.

Then he turned to the demolition expert and said, "Later, you'll lay a booby trap here, with plenty of steel balls. If you don't have steel balls, just pick up some pebbles. Try to cause as much damage as possible!"

Demolition expert Huang Longkun: "Yes! This time, we're going to use 1 kilogram of explosives. If it doesn't cripple ten cavalrymen, I'm quitting demolition!"

More than 300 meters away, there was a narrow and steep winding road along the mountain. When the Manchu pursuers passed through here, they had to slow down!

This gave the sniper a great opportunity to aim.

It was still pitch black, but fortunately the precision rifles had infrared night vision capabilities. In other words, all the sights and observation equipment carried by the assault team had infrared night vision capabilities, so the darker it was, the more advantageous it was for the assault team to fight!

"Bang!"

A gunshot rang out, and the Manchu cavalryman at the front fell down!

Under the torchlight of the Manchu cavalry, some people were shocked to see their captain fall from his horse without warning.

It wasn't until a gunshot rang out that they realized they were under attack.

At that moment, another cavalryman holding a torch had his head explode silently, his brains splattering onto the Qing soldiers behind him. The torch fell to the ground, and then another gunshot rang out!

Bullets travel faster than sound, so the Qing soldiers often only heard the gunshots after someone was hit and fell to the ground, which terrified them even more!

Finally, some Qing soldiers reacted: "Enemy attack! Take cover! We must take cover!"

Where could they hide on this mountain road? To their left were cliffs, to their right valleys, and behind them were rows of cavalrymen. It was difficult to turn around, and they didn't know how many people were lying in ambush ahead.

But the gunshots, like death knells, kept ringing out, one every three or four seconds. After each shot, a Qing soldier would fall, his death gruesome!

The gunfire put immense psychological pressure on the Qing soldiers. They had seen muskets before, but never muskets that hit the target every time. They had seen cannons before, but cannons had area-of-effect damage, and besides, the sound didn't sound like cannons.

Moreover, the gunfire seemed specifically targeting the torchbearers; almost all the people holding torches in front of them died from the gunfire.

Finally, some people realized what was happening and threw away their torches to avoid being killed, while others dismounted to escape. In an instant, the fierce Qing soldiers were thrown into chaos.

Unfortunately, it was too late. Several more gunshots rang out, and all the Qing soldiers holding torches were killed. The Qing army was plunged into darkness!

The surviving Qing soldiers trembled in panic, abandoning their horses and tumbling into the roadside bushes. Some even rolled down the ravine in their haste.

The sniper lowered his rifle and handed it back to Li Chengming, saying, "Reporting, Captain, thirteen bullets, thirteen men taken care of, including twelve torches!"

Thirteen bullets, thirteen men killed – that’s the skill of a sniper. But it also depends on the right distance, the right angle of fire, and minimal interference. Li Chengming believes that several members of the assault team could do the same, but they might not be as relaxed and composed as a sniper!

Li Zicheng, who witnessed the entire process later, was dumbfounded:

He was deeply impressed by the coordinated actions of the assault team when they stormed the checkpoints set up by the Qing soldiers.

When he saw those terrifying firearms, he was so shocked that he was speechless.

No need to reload, no need to change ammunition, no need for cooldown time, it can fire more than a dozen shots in a row, each shot can accurately kill a Qing soldier a hundred feet away. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed it!

More importantly, he saw that every assault team member was carrying one of those terrifying muskets, and even when only one of them was firing, the others looked relaxed and took the muskets' lethality for granted.

A thought suddenly occurred to Li Zicheng: If they become my enemy...

A chill ran through his body. He thought that if these people were to become his enemies, even a thousand troops would not guarantee his safety. After all, the methods he had already seen were so incredible, so what about the ones he hadn't yet seen?