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

……

Jianyang City.

The city of Jianyang was in ruins after the war.

Those who survived wore mourning clothes.

It resembles a dead city.

After the war, the new army disposed of the bodies in a unified manner, taking them to a hillside outside the city and burying them on the spot.

Although the new army dealt with the corpses in the city in a timely manner, as the weather gradually became hot, after a sun shower, a faint smell of blood could be clearly smelled on the streets.

In addition to the Qing army's massacre of the civilians in Jianyang City,

The new army also carried out a bloody massacre against the Qing army.

The 30,000 captured Qing soldiers were brought out and made known to the people of the city. Anyone identified as having participated in the massacre was shot on the spot.

This terrified the surrendered Qing soldiers, some of whom even tried to seize weapons, create chaos, and flee Jianyang City.

However, these Qing soldiers had been starved for two days and were all too weak to move. In addition, the New Army guarded them with guns, and if they made any unusual movements, several bloody holes would instantly appear on their foreheads.

This was also the direct reason why the 30,000 captured Qing soldiers dared not rebel even after two days without food.

"It was him! They were the ones who killed my parents!" a child shouted, pointing at several Qing soldiers.

Police officer Dong Xishan remained expressionless and gestured to the officers beside him to pull out the people he was pointing at.

Due to a shortage of manpower, the Jianning Prefecture Security Department was also transferred to assist.

"Kid! Don't make false accusations! I'm a good man, officer. I haven't taken a single needle or thread from the people!"

"Kid, you mustn't smear us."

The Qing soldiers who were called out were so frightened that their legs went weak; they had never been afraid of a child before.

"Shut up, all of you!" Dong Xishan looked at the three of them with icy eyes, as if they were three dead men.

So what if a child lies?

In this kind of situation, it's better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free.

"What's your name? Where do you live? When will you suffer?"

There was a girl next to the little boy, who was obviously his sister.

"My name is Wang Zhixing, and this is my younger sister, Wang Jiajia."

"It was those few who broke into my house and killed my father and mother."

Wang Zhixing and his sister Wang Jiajia hid in the cellar. When they heard their parents screaming outside the cellar, Wang Zhixing was filled with grief and indignation, but he dared not go out because he had his sister to protect.

Thinking that he didn't want to let his enemy go, Wang Zhixing peeked through the cracks and saw the faces of the Qing soldiers as they searched the house.

He would never forget these enemies for the rest of his life.

"Kid, you're talking nonsense!" The burly man was clearly nervous, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

"What direct evidence is there, or are there any other witnesses?" Dong Xishan asked.

"Yes! They must have my mother's copper hairpin!" Wang Zhixing asserted.

These beasts ransacked the place, even taking things from the dead. They would never let go of a hairpin, which was obviously made of precious metal.

Everything on the prisoners was confiscated and registered; it was easy to find out the contents with a simple check.

Sure enough, upon inspection, the group was found to have several hairpins and a considerable amount of gold and silver jewelry, including a twisted copper hairpin stained with blood.

Seeing that they were doomed, the men tried to fight back before they could reach Dong Xishan, but before they could reach him, several gunshots rang out. Two men fell to the ground, and one man crouched down in fear, covering his head.

"Drag it down."

Dong Xishan looked at the two children; "Do you have any relatives to rely on?"

Wang Zhixing looks no more than eleven or twelve years old, but he witnessed his parents being murdered, which made this teenager mature, with hatred in his eyes and less liveliness.

"No, they're all dead. Uncle, Grandma, Aunt, they're all dead." Wang Zhixing shook his head.

"If you have no relatives to take care of you, come to my New Military Academy. There you will have food to eat and teachers to teach you to read."

Dong Xishan summoned a subordinate and arranged for Wang Zhixing and his sister to go to the National Academy.

Chinese Academy of Sciences is the first school established by the Ministry of Education.

Currently, there are very few students in the school, most of whom are orphans, and a small number are children from nearby farmers' families.

After arranging things for Wang Zhixing and his sister, Dong Xishan continued to conduct trials of the Qing soldiers.

After several days of investigation, more than 3,000 serious criminals who had committed murder were finally selected and executed on the spot.

Anyone who commits robbery or assault but has no criminal record will be sent to a labor camp.

Ultimately, only 15,000 men remained and were qualified to be directly reorganized into the Longxiang Army.

These people were lucky. When Jianyang was massacred, they were assigned to defend the city or were in the reserve force and were not able to participate immediately. After Jianyang fell, the commander fled without taking them with him. They were considered peripheral troops.

"Reporting to the commander, the interrogation of the prisoners has concluded. A total of 3,220 people were executed, and 12,000 who behaved improperly and were considered accomplices have been sent to labor camps..."

After listening to the report, Yan Naichao ordered: "Give the remaining 15,000 men a meal, disperse them and keep them under guard. Don't let them be idle. Send them to farm, dig water conservancy projects, build fortifications, etc., and wait for instructions from higher authorities."

"Yes."

"By the way, submit all these reports together."

After Yan Naichao finished giving his instructions, a messenger took the intelligence and rushed to Jianning Prefecture.

At this time, inside Jianning Prefecture.

The new army's first three-pronged operation went very smoothly, achieving its objective in less than a month.

The entire territory of Jianning Prefecture, as well as the entire territory of Shaowu Prefecture, were brought under actual control.

News of the New Army's great victory had already spread like wildfire throughout the Jiangnan region.

Meanwhile, news from the outside world continued to reach Jianning Prefecture.

For example, a local uprising of the rebel army used the name of the New Army.

For example, a certain family supported the new army and organized the people to donate money and grain to the new army.

For example, a certain rebel army is attacking a county town and wants the support of the new army.

Various messages flooded in, as if the world was in chaos and countless people would respond to the call of the new army.

As long as the new army arrives, it will gain the support of the local people.

It's no wonder that as soon as Chu Gang and the others returned, they urged Li Tian to continue the attack.

Li Tian wanted to continue the offensive, but there were still a lot of internal problems.

The treasury is almost empty. The new army's transactions with grain merchants are not going smoothly. They originally planned to buy 100,000 shi of grain, but only received 40,000 shi.

Summer is approaching, and the hot weather is not suitable for combat. At the same time, the buckwheat and other crops planted earlier are almost ripe and need to be harvested.

Currently, most of the land in Jianning Prefecture is directly cultivated by the military.

There were also political and diplomatic issues. As the New Army gained fame, many righteous soldiers and patriots wanted to join it.

Some people have already formed teams of thousands and cannot be ignored, while others have brought all their family wealth to join, which also requires negotiation.

In addition, the Ministry of Military Industry needs a large amount of coal and manpower. A steel plant has been built to produce railway steel. The first railway will be just a prototype and will only connect to the docks outside the west city.

Jianning Prefecture has a well-developed water system, so the demand for railway transportation is not urgent.

There are two mines in Jianning Prefecture: Longtoushan Iron Mine in Songxi County and Yuliangling near Pucheng.

The ore from these two mines can be transported by waterway.

Finally, there is another major reason: internal strife has broken out in the Lu Regent's government. Just yesterday, Lu Regent Zhu Yihai personally wrote a letter asking him to send troops south to assist the Ming army in suppressing the rebellion of Zheng Cai's forces.

Li Tian looked toward Fuzhou Prefecture, thinking to himself that this might be an opportunity to acquire an overseas port.