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

……

It's utterly unbelievable that a high-ranking official of the Ming Dynasty would be frightened to death.

But that's exactly what happened.

Zheng Cai's influence in the court was known only to the officials deeply entrenched in the court.

But Zheng Cai, who was far away on the front lines, was unaware of this.

If he knew that a single sentence from him could scare a high-ranking official to death, he would be ecstatic.

However, Zheng Cai didn't care about this matter at the moment; there were more important things waiting for him.

"Wu Hui, any news from the front? Is Jianning Prefecture safe and sound?"

Wu Hui looked troubled and said with a worried expression, "Your Excellency, the situation at the front seems to be bad. Jianning Prefecture was occupied by the rebel army half a month ago."

"Moreover, the enemy's firepower is extremely strong, and our army cannot easily get close."

"Jianning Prefecture has already been lost?" Zheng Cai's face darkened upon hearing this.

He originally intended to join forces with Wang Qi, who was stationed in Jianning Prefecture, to encircle and annihilate the rebel army in one fell swoop.

But I never expected that Wang Qi would be such a useless person as to lose Jianning Prefecture.

The situation has turned bad.

Field combat and siege warfare are completely different things.

If the former is handled well, the enemy can be wiped out in one fell swoop, while the latter requires various means, and directly attacking the city is very difficult and will cause great losses.

"Are the enemy's firearms really more powerful than ours?" Zheng Cai asked.

Their firearms, while not the best in the world, were still superior to those of the Qing army.

The most advanced forging workshops were all located along the coast, where people from foreign countries such as the Franks were also active, and they could buy many rare and improved firearms.

"It's more powerful than our own firearms, even more powerful than our newly forged firearms. If you're hit within a hundred paces, even if you're wearing armor, you're unlikely to survive," Wu Hui said solemnly.

He led the vanguard to scout ahead and saw several bunkers on the hillsides blocking the way.

So he sent a hundred-man unit to probe the attack. The hundred men charged, but were all killed in the crossfire from several bunkers. Wu Hui was so frightened that he hurriedly fled back to the rear.

With that kind of firepower density, even tens of thousands of people couldn't break through!

"Is that so?"

Zheng Cai was somewhat skeptical, so he rode to the front line, found the clairvoyant, and hid at a distance to observe what was ahead.

On either side of the road ahead, there were raised hills with several fortresses resembling yurts perched on them, each with long openings in the middle.

There were people moving around inside; there were about twenty people in each fortress.

These fortresses were built after discussions within the New Army Staff.

By specifically guarding key passages, they could not only keep watch on the enemy but also delay their advance.

Dozens of such fortresses were built around the main roads of Jianning Prefecture.

These fortresses are currently guarded by the New Army's suicide squad.

"Duke, should we bombard it with cannons?" Wu Hui suggested at this moment.

At this time, the main force was in the rear, and various cannons were also in the army. As long as the cannons were lined up and a fierce attack was launched, the small fortresses would surely be destroyed.

Zheng Cai put down the telescope and shook his head.

"Forget it, if we need cannons to attack such a small fortress, by the time we reach the walls of Jianning Prefecture, we'll have run out of gunpowder."

"So what should we do?" Wu Hui asked.

After a moment's thought, Zheng Cai said, "Fire a few shots on the outskirts, then go back and seize Liu Zhongzao's territory again, and finally return to Fuzhou."

In this way, they will definitely not lose out.

After returning, he could claim that he had fought a battle with the bandits in the wild and won a great victory, causing the bandits to flee into the city in fear and dare not leave.

The royal army returned victorious, reaping a great harvest and killing thousands of enemies.

As for how these thousands of heads came about, they could only be obtained by borrowing heads from fellow villagers.

After discussing it, the two decided on this.

Meanwhile, Zhang Wei, the company commander guarding the fortress, was nervously watching the Ming army outside.

They had more than 300 men and were ordered to guard this road intersection.

Having just repelled one wave of enemy troops, they were surprised to find that more and more enemy soldiers were arriving soon after.

This is something that their three hundred men cannot withstand.

"Has the distress signal been sent? When will headquarters send troops to provide support?" Zhang Wei hurriedly asked the communications officer beside him.

"Company commander, the signal has been sent. The support troops will arrive in less than two hours."

The headquarters command center of Jianning Prefecture.

The General Staff has received a distress signal from Zhang Wei's troops.

"Commander urgently reports: enemy troops have been discovered in the direction of Fuzhou to the south, numbering over 50,000."

A secretary entered Li Tian's office and handed him an urgent report.

A battle involving tens of thousands of people is no small matter.

Li Tian was extremely busy, so busy that he was overwhelmed. At this moment, the small court in Fuzhou suddenly caused him trouble, forcing him to take it seriously.

Right now, he just wants to develop his resources quietly. He needs to make the final decision on projects such as building hydroelectric power stations and shipyards.

With unlimited copper and nickel, the technology department can manufacture important industrial products such as wires, batteries, and radios, each of which is of paramount importance.

If they could create some modern tools, they would have even greater power in this era.

They also settled Yun Richu and other prisoners of war.

Just a few days ago, Li Tian captured Xu Yun's 2,000-strong force. The conflict did not result in any casualties, and Xu Yun's troops surrendered after only a few exchanges.

The ringleaders of the rebellion were naturally executed on the spot, but when Yun Richu was about to be executed, the people of Jianning Prefecture spontaneously pleaded for him, asking Li Tian to spare Yun Richu's life.

This made Li Tian realize Yun Richu's influence in Jianning Prefecture, as well as the influence of the literati in this era.

Yun Richu enjoyed considerable prestige in Jianning Prefecture. He was fair in his dealings, upright and incorruptible, and often helped set up soup kitchens to help the people. In the local area, his words carried more weight than those of the emperor.

That is why Li Tiancai is paying even more attention to this matter and wants to get involved personally.

At the same time, ideological education should also begin in Jianning Prefecture to attract more like-minded people.

However, at this very moment, war broke out again.

"These bastards, they only have this little territory left, and they still dare to cause trouble! Instead of dealing with the Qing army, they come after me first, huh?"

Li Tian's eyes were gloomy. It wouldn't be difficult to wipe out the Ming army in Fuzhou, but now was not the time.

The newly formed army is not strong enough and needs at least a month of training. It also lacks complete weapons. Qian Weicai of the Ministry of Internal Affairs recently found several grain merchants along the coast who are willing to sell grain to the new army.

The timing for a fight at this point is not particularly good.

He could no longer allow his assassins to take risks.

He had risked his life to eliminate the Qing army in order to buy time for development, but now the Ming army has emerged from behind him.

Li Tian pondered for a moment before giving the order.

"Send the Second Army of the Dragon Cavalry to provide support. They are only allowed to defend, not attack."

"Yes, Commander."

"Have Wang Qi and Yun Richu come to see me."