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

……

"It's written in a very literary style, and even the insults are written without using any vulgar language. If only our army had someone with a background in classical Chinese, we could write a proclamation calling for the destruction of the Ming dynasty right now."

In an office in Jianning Prefecture, Li Tian looked at the Ming court's proclamation that he had copied in his hand and sighed, but his mind was full of doubts.

Why did the Ming court want to attack him?

I don't understand.

"Commander, when I was in the Ming court, I found that they were not united. There was always a strange atmosphere. No matter what question you raised or what you did, there was always someone who opposed you. It's a miracle that such a regime has survived until now."

Standing before Li Tian was Liu Er, who had just returned from his mission; the copy of the Ming court's proclamation was the one he brought back.

When Li Chengdong decided to attack Li Tian, ​​they were secretly sent back by the Ming court's civil officials.

He successfully completed his mission, but his skin darkened, he lost a lot of weight, and his whole appearance changed drastically. He also seemed somewhat listless.

He suffered a lot during his mission.

"It doesn't matter, whether it's an army of 100,000 or 200,000, this era will begin to change from this autumn."

"What we need to do is figure out how to govern this vast land of China."

From the very beginning, Li Tian did not take the Ming and Qing courts seriously.

The difficulty lies in governing the world after pacifying it.

Material technology can become advanced through physical means, but people's spirit and thoughts need to be spread and influenced little by little.

Even in the most advanced later eras, there are bosses with slave-owning mentality and so-called advanced and progressive "industrial park" companies.

"Report, Commander, our spies in Nanjing have reported that the Qing government has also issued a proclamation against us. Here is a copy."

Secretary Weiqiang handed Li Tian the Qing court's proclamation to quell the rebellion.

He glanced at it; it looked too literary and required a lot of brainpower, so Li Tian stopped reading.

"Liu Er, go down and rest well. By the way, those women you brought with you, according to the style of this era, it is a polygamous system, you can marry multiple women. If you don't want to let them down, you can marry them."

Upon hearing this, Liu Er's eyes lit up, and a smile involuntarily appeared on his face.

"Thank you, Commander!"

Although this diplomatic mission was arduous, it later brought him good fortune. The Ming court's wicked honey trap ultimately proved too much for this passionate young man, and he ended up having affairs with three women!

When Liu Er and his group returned, Li Tian was stunned to hear the news.

This kid is exceptionally talented.

However, Liu Er's matter also reminded Li Tian that the 100,000 elite soldiers were not dead people. They also had emotions and desires, and as 100,000 brave men, they needed to resolve their personal issues.

It's impossible to leave them alone for the rest of their lives.

Thinking about the issue of spouses, Li Tian's mind wandered to other things: would the children born to the assassins inherit their loyalty?

Will their loyalty change? If they die, will they remain loyal to their children?

These doubts need time to be proven. Li Tian is also a young man in his early twenties, and he has his own needs.

"However, your situation does remind me that it's time for the brothers to take care of their personal problems as well."

"There are also marital issues."

"I respect this era, the system of polygamy, and the principle that relationships between men and women should be based on mutual consent."

"But if there are vested interests involved, then it becomes very complicated."

"In this era, concubines have no status. They are only slightly better than slaves, but they can be discarded or resold by their masters at will. Such a thing must never happen in our new army. This is human trafficking and violates our military laws."

"From today onwards, wives and concubines have equal rights. However, in the event of a property dispute, the will will be given priority, followed by direct relatives such as children and parents. Wives have priority in inheritance, while concubines are ranked after children and wives. Specific regulations will be determined by the Ministry of Justice."

Li Tian elevated the status of his concubine, but she lost her priority right to inherit property.

"Yes, Commander. But what if the Commander marries multiple men?" Weiqiang suddenly asked.

Li Tian raised an eyebrow. This kid really thought things through. But thinking about it carefully, when people are full and have nothing to do, that's when people do things to each other.

"Husband and wives are just legal terms, but let's stick to the standard of this era: men are husbands and women are wives. Anyway, this law is only temporary."

"When information exchange is advanced, correct values ​​are widely disseminated, and the male and female populations are gradually balanced, monogamy will eventually be implemented."

After discussing some future judicial regulations, Li Tian went to the General Staff Headquarters.

A huge map of Fujian was hanging on the wall.

When the staff officers saw Li Tian enter, they all stood up and looked at him.

Apart from Chief of Staff Yao Bing and a few chiefs of staff who were stationed at the General Headquarters, the other staff officers were all staff officers serving alongside the commanders of the major armies.

These temporarily transferred staff officers went deep into the front lines to understand the situation there and the internal workings of the military, playing a significant role in providing policy recommendations.

"Please be seated, everyone."

Li Tian gestured for everyone to sit down, and then got straight to the point.

"I believe everyone has already heard the recent news that both the Ming and Qing governments intend to annihilate our army."

"I don't understand why the Ming court wants to attack our army, but whether it's the Ming court, the Qing court, or any other force that wants to attack our army, our army will make sure they never return."

"Now we begin the formal meeting on how to mobilize all our military forces to defend against the attacks of the two governments."

Yu Yourong, a staff officer of the Second Army of the Longxiang Army, stood up and saluted, thus beginning the first topic.

"First of all, we must distinguish the military strength of both sides."

"Based on our army's combat situation and actual investigation, the weapons of the Qing and Ming armies were mainly cold weapons, supplemented by firearms."

"The only threat they pose to our army is the various types of artillery of this era, such as the Francois cannon, the Tiger Cannon, and the Red Coat Cannon."

"But these cannons all have one thing in common: they use solid shot and rarely fire explosive shells. This is because of the technological limitations of that era, which resulted in a high rate of barrel explosion when they fired explosive shells."

"On the other hand, there is the issue of our army's weaponry. Currently, only the Longxiang Army's First and Second Armies are equipped with Jian'an-made weapons in large quantities. Other units mainly use cold weapons, supplemented by outdated firearms."

"Besides the Jian'an rifle, there is also the unlimited Hanyang rifle of our new army. This is our trump card, which can be used in various units."

"Regarding firearms, I heard that the Ministry of Military Industry has already begun formal production of Jianning-made heavy machine guns. If Jianning-made heavy machine guns can be deployed to the battlefield before the official start of the war, I will count them in."

"In terms of artillery, our army does not have large-caliber cannons, but it has dozens of mortars."

After Yu Yourong finished recounting the firepower figures on paper for both sides, everyone felt that their own firepower was still insufficient.

Some even complained, "Why is it that the Longxiang Army only has two armies equipped with Jian'an-style armor?"

Han Liyu, staff officer of the Second Army of Longxiang, then spoke.

"Now that I've covered firepower, let me move on to the strategic deployment."

"Our army occupies Jianning Prefecture and Shaowu Prefecture. The territory is small, and there are not many places to defend."

"According to intelligence gathered from the Qing army, if the Qing army wanted to mobilize troops, it could only gather troops from places such as Nanjing, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Huguang, and Fujian."

"We held our ground against the attacks from Zhejiang, including Xianxia Ridge, Songxi, and Shouning. On the Jiangxi side, we defended Cenyang Pass, Jiaoling Pass, Gukou Pass, Fenshui Pass, Shan Pass, and Lixinbao Town."

"Regarding Fujian, I suggest taking the initiative, capturing Yanping Prefecture, and pushing the garrison forward."

"If the Ming court launches an attack, we only need to hold Xixi Town and the Chouling area."

The prefectures of Tingzhou, Yanping, and Zhangzhou in Fujian, as well as half of Quanzhou, were in the hands of the Qing army.

The territory of Lu Jian Guo and the Zheng family encompassed the area around Quanzhou Prefecture, Xinghua Prefecture, Fuzhou Prefecture, and half of Funing Prefecture.

The most likely scenario for the Ming army to send troops would be through the Lu Regent's court.

Han Liyu marked all the towns to be defended in detail.

Yao Bing then said, "Let me chime in."

"Currently, the main combat role of our army is played by the Longxiang Army. The original new army has been gradually dismantled, with some members either infiltrating the Longxiang Army, becoming local police officers, or engaging in clerical work."

"Currently, only the Third and Fourth Armies maintain a relatively complete organizational structure in the new army."

"The actual number of troops that can be deployed to the battlefield is only about 150,000."

After Yao Bing finished speaking, he sat down, and Yang Yiming, the staff officer of the Fourth Army of Longxiang, stood up to speak.

"Before the battle, we also need to consider issues such as troop assembly and logistical production."

"Based on the war patterns and mobilization efficiency of this era, I predict that the battle will likely take place in the autumn, which is the rice harvest season."

"That is, two months later, if our army does not take the initiative to attack, the troops will assemble faster. We only need to wait for the enemy to arrive. Our army will defend as an offensive and use its weapon advantage to annihilate a large number of enemy troops."

"These two months are enough for us to produce more equipment. According to the production data of the Ministry of Military Industry, Jian'an can currently produce about 12,000 to 14,000 pieces per month, about 60 mortars per month, and 100 heavy machine guns per month."

"That means that in two months, including the weapons produced before, we will have about 40,000 Jian'an rifles, 180 mortars, and 200 heavy machine guns."

"When distributed among the various units of the Longxiang Army, roughly every two people had a Jian'an-made mortar, and each army had eighteen mortars and twenty heavy machine guns."

Currently, only the Longxiang First, Second, and Third Armies have cavalry battalions, which are staffed by suicide soldiers. Other Longxiang armies do not have cavalry battalions.

"Leaving aside other weapons, the Jian'an-made ones are far from sufficient, so I propose that the army needs to be reorganized."

After Yang Yiming finished speaking, he looked at Li Tian, ​​who was the only one capable of reorganizing the army.

"Staff Officer Yang is right, the army needs to be reorganized."

Li Tian listened carefully to everyone's analysis, and when he heard the proposal to adapt the text, a solution immediately came to mind.

"The cavalry battalion was reorganized into a reinforced battalion, and the heavy machine guns and mortars were put under the management of the reinforced battalion. The reinforced battalion was directly under the command of the corps commander, and the personnel of the reinforced battalion were still our own people. If other units needed to call them up, they had to apply to the corps commander, and the personnel who used them had to be our own people."

The "one of us" that Li Tian was referring to were, of course, the 100,000 elite warriors.

"Then, regarding the distribution of firearms, if there are 40,000 Jian'an rifles two months later, they should be prioritized for distribution to the Shenji Battalion and Rear Guard Battalion of each army. This will make up for the firepower problems of other armies. The Vanguard Battalion will still mainly use cold weapons."

"After the reorganization of the reinforced battalion, it no longer needs more than two thousand horses. The extra horses will be given to the vanguard battalion to facilitate their pursuit and charge."

After discussing issues such as military reorganization, defense deployment, and logistical support.

The meeting adjourned, and the various armies began preparing for the upcoming battle.

As the brilliant strategist predicted, during the two months of sweltering summer heat, neither the Ming nor the Qing army intended to wage war; they merely mobilized personnel and prepared supplies in various locations.

After receiving the proclamation from the Yongli court, both Lu Jianguo and Zheng Cai temporarily put aside their grievances and prepared to deal with Li Tian.

The port lease fell through, but the new fleet of ships still bought two and moored them on the Chongyang River.

However, before the battle even began, the new army took the initiative to fire the first shot.

The First Army of Longxiang captured Yanping Prefecture within a single day.

(Defense Line Diagram)