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

……

On a wide stretch of water in the Chongyang River.

The new navy's naval operations upstream required not only the boatmen to exert effort to row upstream, but also the haulers on both banks to pull the boats upstream.

When they approached the confluence of the two streams, Zhou Zhi ordered the anchor to be dropped and the boat to wait for the arrival of the Qing navy.

The new navy consisted of small, agile, and fast-moving boats. They only needed to lure the Qing navy to the designated location according to the plan, and the artillery on both sides of the strait would provide fire support.

"Huh, that's strange. We've made such a commotion, but we haven't seen a single Qing navy soldier."

Zhou Zhi held a monocular telescope and looked into the distance.

The city of Jianyang in the distance was very quiet, and there were far fewer soldiers on the city walls, which seemed very unusual.

Just as he was wondering, a small boat drifted quickly from afar and rapidly approached the new navy.

"Greetings, General. I am an envoy under Wan Deren of the Jianyang Navy. Our commander-in-chief, Wan Deren, hates the Qing army's massacre of the city and has decided to abandon the darkness and join your army."

The envoy sent by the Qing navy contained a wealth of information in just a few words.

Zhou Zhi frowned, while Meng Hezhi, the staff officer beside him, looked pleasantly surprised upon hearing this.

"Commander! This is a golden opportunity!"

"The Qing army's brutality has finally backfired; we should quickly send troops to capture Jianyang!"

Zhou Zhi hesitated, not because he was inflexible, but because he had too little information.

Who knows if this might be an ancient trick of feigning surrender?

The ancients were simply ancient; that doesn't mean they weren't intelligent.

Seeing Zhou Zhi hesitate, the envoy quickly said;

"General, please proceed to Jianyang City as soon as possible. Our Jianyang navy has already secured the water gates, but ultimately, we are outnumbered. Given enough time, the Tartars will eventually retake the city gates. If your army misses this opportunity, there will be no chance of easily capturing Jianyang City. Now is the best opportunity!"

The Qing army massacred the city, and the Jianyang navy defected.

These two sentences may seem unrelated, but something unexpected must be happening in Jianyang City.

Whether it's an opportunity or a trap, you have to investigate to know.

On the battlefield, opportunities are often fleeting.

"What happened with the Qing army's massacre of the city?" Zhou Zhi asked again.

The envoy spoke of this through gritted teeth: "When the Qing army heard that the imperial army was approaching, they feared an uprising among the Han people in the city, so they ordered a massacre before the battle even began!"

"The Manchu Qing dynasty and Kong Youde were a bunch of beasts!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhi no longer hesitated and immediately decided to issue the order.

"Alright, pass on my order: command Liu Zhang to lead the First Fleet to Jianyang City immediately, capture the water gate, and hold out until our reinforcements arrive."

"At the same time, tell Liu Zhang to be prepared to fight alone."

Upon receiving the order, the messenger immediately notified Liu Zhang, the captain of the First Fleet.

Due to the unique nature of the navy, its organization did not follow the army's organization. The First Army of the Shanhe Navy currently has three fleets, each with about a thousand people and more than thirty ships.

Upon receiving the order, Liu Zhang immediately led his fleet upstream.

At the same time, Zhouzhi also relayed the situation at the front to the rear.

Zhou Zhi didn't quite understand the Qing army's bizarre practice of massacring the city before the war.

However, since arriving in this world, he has been constantly gathering intelligence about it, and he is very familiar with the Qing army's penchant for massacring entire cities.

Any town that resisted was massacred; the more intense the resistance, the more ruthless the massacre afterwards.

The same applies to towns that surrender and then rebel again; they might even wipe out the entire population of a town.

The intelligence quickly reached Chu Gang.

"The Qing army hasn't even started fighting yet, and they're already attacking the people within their territory?"

"hiss--"

Chu Gang gasped, finding this inhumane operation utterly incomprehensible.

But when he thought about the relationship between Germans and Jews in later generations, and the relationship between Han Chinese and Manchus in this era, he suddenly understood something.

This involves not only the conflict between the ruling class and ordinary people, but also the conflict between ethnic groups.

"The plan has changed. The entire army will concentrate its attack on Rulin Gate and Shuimen. The cavalry battalion will immediately move to Jianyang City with mortars to provide artillery support to Liu Zhang across the river."

The three armies obeyed the order and immediately changed their strategic direction. The cavalry battalion immediately took action. Jianyang City was only twenty or thirty li away from the new army's position, and they could arrive in less than an hour by marching.

Chu Gang originally planned to deal with the Qing navy, but unexpectedly, the enemy navy betrayed him. This can be considered an unconventional solution.

Meanwhile, in Jianyang City.

After the high-ranking officials of the Manchu and Han Eight Banners reached a consensus, they ordered the massacre of the city.

Jianyang City was like a living hell.

After their defeat, the Qing army rallied its scattered troops, and now there are as many as 70,000 Qing troops in Jianyang.

If no one intervenes, all the people in the closed city of Jianyang could be slaughtered within a single day.

However, the Qing army's brutality also met with resistance from the people of Jianyang.

Most of the Qing army soldiers were from other places, so they had almost no psychological hindrance in slaughtering the people of Jianyang.

However, the Jianyang Navy was different. Most of them were locals, and their families lived in Jianyang City. So when the Jianyang Navy learned that the people in the city had been massacred, they immediately rebelled.

News of the Jianyang navy's mutiny and its occupation of the water gate immediately reached Kong Youde's ears.

He had anticipated this, and he had not informed the Jianyang navy of the massacre of the city before. He even drove them to the water gate to intensify their preparations for war.

But such a massive event as the massacre of a city could not be kept secret in the end.

"Have Ma Degong retake the water gate within two hours," Kong Youde calmly ordered.

He had previously arranged for Ma Degong to lead troops to guard Rulin Gate.

The Confucian School and the Water Gate are close to each other, so any unusual activity can be suppressed immediately.

Upon learning of the Jianyang navy's rebellion, Ma Degong, who was stationed at Rulin Gate, immediately dispatched troops to suppress it.

However, the Jianyang navy resisted fiercely, and soon after the two armies clashed, the new navy arrived and joined the battle.

The situation suddenly turned unfavorable.

Just as the new navy arrived, a cavalry force rushed across the Mayang River from the opposite bank of the Rulin Gate and unleashed a barrage of fire at the Qing troops on the city wall.

At the same time, several soldiers dismounted, carried lightweight mortars, quickly selected shelling positions, picked up military shovels to level the ground, and set up the mortars.

The gunner in position number one calculated the angle, and a few minutes later, all four mortars were in place.

The next second, all four mortars fired simultaneously.

A thunderous explosion suddenly erupted within Jianyang City as a cannonball struck the city wall, blasting a breach in it.

However, the shelling was not over yet; just a second or two later, several more shells were fired.

The Qing troops who were originally stationed at Rulin Gate and heading towards the Water Gate were immediately stunned.

Where did the artillery fire come from?

The Qing soldiers who noticed the New Army cavalry battalion outside the city immediately reacted.

"The new army has attacked!"

"They have heavenly thunder!"

"Run!"

Meanwhile, Wan Deren, who was holding the water gate, saw the artillery support from the new army and his heart was immediately relieved.

He was right not to stop his subordinates from rebelling, nor to refuse the support of the new navy.

He then decisively regained command and gave orders to his subordinates behind him.

"Quickly build a pontoon bridge! Welcome the royal army!"

Upon hearing this, the soldiers of the Jianyang Navy immediately maneuvered their boats, lowered driftwood, and those who were good swimmers jumped aboard, using iron chains to connect the driftwood together.

However, when the proposed pontoon bridge was built, something astonished the entire Jianyang navy.

The newly arrived cavalry reinforcements did not dismount to cross the river, but remained stationary, continuing to provide fire support from the opposite bank.

"What are they doing!?"

"Hey! General Liu! What are your troops doing?!" Wan Deren asked Liu Zhang, his voice filled with shock and anger.