With 100,000 elite soldiers at the start, what should you call me?

……

"Two hundred and twenty-eight people died, and more than eight thousand fell ill..."

This is not a string of cold numbers, but a collection of living, breathing people.

Li Tian is able to sit safely in this position today thanks to the sacrifice of these 228 people, no, we should also add the nine people who sacrificed themselves before.

The total number of deaths in the new army is currently 237.

lost heavily!

"Next are the enemy soldiers captured in normal battles. The Ming army captured a total of 820 people, and the Qing army captured more than 370 people."

"The current number of residents in Jian'an City is unclear, but it is estimated to be around 30,000."

Zhang Yonghao continued to chair the meeting, presenting the collected data item by item.

"The following is about the seized items."

"A number of weapons and more than one hundred horses were seized."

"More than two thousand muskets, more than twenty cannons, more than one hundred solid cannonballs, more than two thousand sets of damaged armor, and a number of swords, spears, and halberds."

"There are still 2,500 shi of grain left... The grain in the warehouse is not plentiful."

"This concludes our military's summary of this operation."

Li Tian frowned slightly; the problem of food supplies remained unresolved.

Including the remaining grain in the army, there were only a little over four thousand shi of grain in Jianning Prefecture.

Each person receives one pound of grain per day; for 130,000 people, this would only last about four days.

Grain reserves are severely insufficient!

This time, the burden of feeding 130,000 people fell on Li Tian's shoulders, making it hard for him to breathe.

Zhang Yonghao is the deputy commander of the First Army, but he manages the army's supplies, and he is also very worried about the issue of food.

"Commander, I have a few suggestions for solving the food problem."

"First of all, one thing is clear: we have very little food. This problem cannot be delayed and must be solved within a few days."

"There are only two main directions to solve this problem."

"The first direction is to seize it."

The saying "murderers and arsonists wear golden belts" is absolutely true in this context.

Zhang Yonghao was clearly prepared. He picked up a wooden stick and pointed to the map in the middle.

"The nearest large towns to us are Jianyang, Zhenghe, and Yanping Prefecture. We can attack them along the Jianxi or Songxi Rivers, but the cost of attacking them is high and it takes a lot of time. Therefore, this decision can only be a last resort."

"Another option is to seize the Qing army. The closest Qing army to us right now is located a dozen miles outside the city."

"The amount of food and fodder consumed by these hundreds of thousands of people every day is astronomical, so there must be a lot of food in the camp."

"If this battle is planned properly, our army should be able to defeat the Qing army; it's just a matter of how many casualties we will suffer."

At this point, Zheng Youren interjected, "This plan is feasible, but based on my experience fighting the Qing army, our army is good at defense but lacks offensive capabilities."

"Moreover, the Qing army has a large number of cavalry in the field, which are highly mobile. Our army will probably find it difficult to gain an advantage in the field."

Zhang Yonghao nodded slightly. He had only suggested a direction for solving the problem. Once the direction was decided, the specific details of how to solve the problem were not the point of discussion at this time.

"Another direction is trading."

"We seized a large amount of gold and silver treasures, which amounted to 600,000 taels of silver. Selling some antiques and paintings could bring in another 200,000 taels."

"The other inferior swords, spears, halberds, armor, and cannons could probably fetch an additional 100,000 taels if sold."

"If we use this money to buy about 400,000 shi of grain, it will be enough to solve our current food problem. It's just that the process is slower than seizing grain, but it's safer."

After Zhang Yonghao gave his suggestion, everyone offered their own opinions.

"Commander, I suggest we seize the Qing army's food supplies. After all, our army is short on time. How about we entrust this mission to our army?" Feng Wei, the commander of the Fourth Army, was eager to go. He was envious of the others who had made contributions.

"With so many Qing soldiers, how can your one army be enough? I, Li Jie, must lend a hand."

"Heh, what's this? Everyone's trying to steal the credit and ignoring me, Monk Zhao? I'll lend a hand in this too!"

"Three armies aren't enough, my 10th Army also wants to apply to join the war," Duan Dapeng retorted, not to be outdone.

Several army commanders who had not been on the battlefield were eager to seize this opportunity to participate in the war.

"Since you all choose to fight the Qing army head-on, then I'll go and exchange the cold money for hot food." Chu Gang pushed up his glasses. The Eighth Army had contributed to the city's capture, so he wouldn't compete for it, but he still needed to find something to do.

"Commander, we have a large number of people, so we can implement both plans simultaneously," Kong Yunfei suggested.

Li Tian nodded and gestured for silence.

"Commander Kong is right, we can implement both plans simultaneously."

"However, I have one request when attacking the Qing army: in any charge or battle, let the prisoners of war go first, and do not let our new army do dangerous things."

These 100,000 elite warriors are not expendable resources in war; they are the tools by which Li Tian controls the world.

Everyone in the world can betray and deceive him, but these 100,000 people will not.

Therefore, he cherishes each and every one of them immensely.

Zhang Yonghao patted his chest and assured, "Commander, no problem. We will reorganize these thousand-plus prisoners as quickly as possible in the next two days."

The number of prisoners of war in the new army has remained at around 3,500, with one increase and one decrease.

To achieve stable development, battles must be fought, and Li Tian no longer hesitated on this point.

After making the decision quickly, Li Tian suddenly felt much more relaxed than when he issued orders before.

He felt a little uncomfortable with this sense of detachment.

"Besides the upcoming battles, there's also the matter of trading."

Li Tian led 100,000 men to survive in the wilderness, and they knew nothing about this world. Therefore, intelligence was very important to the new army, as it was related to the fate of the entire new army.

One hundred thousand people on this land of China—it's not a large number, but it's not a small number either.

Since ancient times, the land of China has always been a must-conquer territory for emperors, with no fewer than a thousand large-scale battles recorded in history! The rights and wrongs are difficult to determine.

"Zhang Yonghao, find a few brothers with experience in both business and reconnaissance, and have them gather intelligence while conducting business."

"Yes, Commander." Zhang Yonghao accepted the mission.

"In addition, we cannot give up the villages we previously occupied around Jianning Prefecture."

"This area is mostly mountainous and forested, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. We need to set up a defensive perimeter around this area and establish a firm foothold here."

Li Tian pointed forcefully to Jianning Prefecture on the map.

"Therefore, I decided to distribute the land near Jianning Prefecture and cultivate it into arable land."

"Therefore, I have decided to establish the Bureau of Statistics and the Ministry of Agriculture tonight."

"The Statistics Bureau is specifically responsible for collecting information on population, farmland, and means of production."

"The Ministry of Agriculture is specifically responsible for issues such as planting, breeding, and land allocation."

Li Tian paused at the end of his sentence, his gaze sweeping over everyone present, his expression solemn.

"Gentlemen, whether we can lead China out of this dark age, whether we can start building a new nation that belongs to us from this moment on, depends on you."