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

……

Two months is neither a long nor a short time.

After the army was reorganized, Huang Zongxi was assigned to the Shenji Battalion of the First Army of Longxiang.

He was very lucky, or perhaps he was highly regarded by his superiors, so after joining the Shenji Battalion, he directly became a company commander.

My immediate superior was a battalion commander named Wei Desheng.

The mission of the Longxiang First Army was to capture Yanping Prefecture and build a defensive line in the area.

It's just the beginning of autumn; it's hot at midday but cool in the mornings and afternoons.

The group marched through the countryside in an orderly fashion, without damaging or forcibly harvesting the golden rice in the fields.

When the villagers saw the army arrive, they all hid in their homes and dared not come out.

However, the new army soldiers would not forcibly plunder.

Seeing the disciplined new army, Huang Zongxi was convinced that Li Tian would lead this royal army to sweep across the world.

At the same time, I believe this is a team with firm beliefs.

Thinking of his beliefs, Huang Zongxi couldn't help but recall the ideological education he had received in the new army over the past two months.

When he and a group of intellectuals decided to join the new army, Li Tian immediately arranged for them to enter the local military academy.

They had no objection to entering military academy, after all, they understood the need for tactical training and integration with the military.

But when they heard that they would also have to attend classes at a military academy, and that they were originally a group of well-read literati who would have to become students, it caused many people to look down on them, doubt them, or even ignore them.

However, their worldview was greatly impacted after they started attending classes.

He still remembers the first lesson, when the master asked them why they were fighting.

Everyone already knew the answer in their hearts.

"Of course, the leader fights for the people of the world. The people of the world have suffered endless slaughter at the hands of the Tartars, with no clothes to cover their bodies and no food to fill their stomachs. The people of the world have suffered for too long."

All the students in the hall gave the same answer: to fight for the people of the world, to fight to end this chaotic world.

The sect leader replied, "What you said is correct, but the person who said it is wrong."

The moment these words were spoken, the atmosphere in the classroom immediately turned sour, and all the students became angry.

Isn't this insulting them?

However, the sect leader continued, "I may be a bit direct, but I can see that when you say you are fighting for the people of the world, it comes out so naturally, like a child saying he wants to be prime minister."

"Oh? May I ask what advice you have for me, sir?" a student asked angrily.

"When I say I'm fighting for the people of the world, it's not just a phrase, but a heavy responsibility, a serious and rigorous topic, not just something to talk about or a catchphrase."

The sect leader immediately became serious, and the students below also became more attentive.

"To establish a heart for heaven and earth, to establish a destiny for the people, to continue the lost learning of the past sages, and to usher in an era of peace for all generations"—these four phrases are on the lips of all scholars, who even regard them as the guiding principles and the highest pursuit in life.

"But I want to say that these four sentences are correct, but the people who constantly repeat them are wrong. These people are hypocrites who deceive the people, seek personal gain, and simply like to put on airs!"

"If you truly want to create lasting peace, you must think about the people who work the land and labor at the very bottom of society."

"Focusing on the people's food supply, ensuring they have enough to eat, enough dry rice, and even meat every day—that's what truly brings peace and prosperity to future generations!"

Recalling that first lesson, Huang Zongxi was shocked. The lofty academic theories he had once held seemed to turn into mud on the ridges of a field in front of the headmaster, as if telling you that even the noble and beautiful imperial concubine had to eat, urinate, and defecate.

But this feeling has a sense of profound simplicity.

This made Huang Zongxi understand why they were fighting: for the people's livelihood.

Make sure everyone has enough to eat, and then let them eat meat. Only when the people have meat to eat will they have time to study and inherit the wisdom of the sages, thus ushering in an era of lasting peace.

Huang Zongxi was well-versed in the five thousand years of Chinese history. In this long history, the years when people could eat their fill were pitifully few, and these periods of food security only occurred during peaceful and stable times.

Of all the dynasties in this period, the Ming Dynasty lasted the longest and had the widest range of stable areas, but it still declined and eventually perished.

Thinking of all this, Huang Zongxi and the others couldn't help but reminisce about the Ming Dynasty.

But in the next class, the headmaster threw out another shocking topic: why did the Ming Dynasty perish?

This sparked a long discussion, but ultimately failed to satisfy the sect leader.

The sect leader finally told them: "There are many reasons for the fall of the Ming Dynasty: disunity, natural disasters, demoralization, the deep-rooted landlord class ideology, land annexation, financial collapse, deception of superiors and subordinates, and class contradictions. But these are not the main reasons."

"The core reason is that the leadership does not have a firm and advanced ideology."

"The New Army has this concept, which they call...the concept of socialism with Chinese characteristics."

After receiving instruction, Huang Zongxi and others felt as if a door to a new world had been opened in their hearts.

At the time, Huang Zongxi felt sorry for his friend Wan Tai, who had not joined the new army and heard such groundbreaking and groundbreaking ideas.

What Huang Zongxi found even more incredible was that believing in this idea and carrying it out would not have been impossible to usher in an era of lasting peace.

However, he hasn't studied it deeply enough, because to fully understand and implement this unique concept, it also needs to be combined with so-called advanced technology.

He doesn't know much about science and will have to learn it later.

However, the lessons on striving taught by the sect leader later made him feel excited, as if he had returned to his youthful days.

To struggle with the heavens is a joy, to struggle with the earth is a joy, to struggle with people is a joy.

Whenever Huang Zongxi thought of this sentence, he felt full of energy.

"Company Commander Huang."

A voice brought Huang Zongxi back to his senses, and he looked at a panting messenger.

"What is it?" Huang Zongxi didn't realize that his way of speaking had changed, becoming like that of the new army soldiers.

"Reporting to the company commander, the battalion commander has a mission. Our company is to protect the Second Company of the reinforced battalion and prevent them from being counterattacked by the Qing troops on the city wall. We must suppress the enemy with firepower."

"I see."

Huang Zongxi nodded slightly, then called to his troops.

After reorganization, the Longxiang Army's structure differed significantly from that of the New Army's Tenth Army.

A company has about 300 people, and six companies make up a battalion, which has about 1,800 to 2,000 people.

Four battalions form a Longxiang Army, and each Longxiang Army consists of four basic battalion-level units: a reinforced battalion, a vanguard battalion, a rearguard battalion, and a divine machine battalion.

Each battalion has its own specific duties, which allows for greater flexibility and facilitates command and control of operations.

Huang Zongxi looked toward the distant city.

"We've arrived at the battlefield without even realizing it. Isn't it a bit too hasty to start fighting now? Perhaps we should wait until tomorrow..."

Huang Zongxi shook his head and immediately rejected the idea.

"With the creation of new weapons through technology, the way we fight is no longer the same as before."

Soon Huang Zongxi led his men to the designated location and began constructing fortifications.

A reinforced company marched by, their aura completely different from the surrounding soldiers.

Three or four people carried a heavy object, while a few others set up a small iron cannon on the newly leveled ground.

While studying at the military academy, Huang Zongxi also handled these two items, which were new weapons of the new army. The former was called a heavy machine gun, which could fire rapidly in bursts and was even more powerful than a rifle. The other was called a mortar, which was more powerful than the Red Coat Cannon. What was even more amazing was that this cannon fired in a high-arc curved trajectory, which the city walls could not defend against at all.

Just as everyone was building the fortifications, the Qing troops in Yanping Prefecture also noticed something was wrong.

The prefect of Yanping immediately ordered a cavalry force of 500 men to charge out and fight, determined not to let the enemy succeed no matter what they did.

Soon, a force of 500 elite cavalrymen charged in.

The reinforced 2nd Company was responsible for the area in front of Yanping Prefecture, which was only three or four hundred meters away from the city gate.

This distance is suitable for cavalry to accelerate and charge; without shield carts, an army with shields can be easily routed with a single charge.

Five hundred iron cavalry may not seem like many numbers, but when they charge, they are like a torrent of steel, shaking the earth.

Huang Zongxi immediately panicked. Although he had received military training, he was still instinctively afraid of cavalry when he was actually on the battlefield. Moreover, there were no shield carts or city walls in front of him that could prevent the cavalry from charging.

"Company Commander Huang, don't panic. They're just a few hundred cavalrymen. The machine gunners are firing. Company Commander Huang, your company should get ready quickly too." Mo Han, the company commander of the Second Company of the reinforced battalion, remained calm and composed.

The next second, bursts of gunfire rang out.

Three heavy machine guns began spewing fire, and the surrounding soldiers also aimed and fired freely.

The next moment, something terrifying happened. Before the five hundred elite cavalrymen had even charged a hundred meters, they fell in rows, like harvested rice.

The machine gun bullets hit the cavalryman and exploded instantly. The cavalryman screamed and died on the spot. The bullet that hit his head exploded like a bursting watermelon, splattering red and white, which frightened the surrounding soldiers into a daze.

The cavalry in the rear realized the danger and tried to retreat, but it was too late. In less than a few minutes, all five hundred cavalrymen were killed!

The prefect of Yanping, who was on the city wall, gasped when he saw the scene.

"What kind of demonic weapon is this!?"

"Close the city gates immediately!"

However, by this time, several companies under the reinforced battalion had already set up mortars.

The cannons roared, and before the Qing soldiers on the city wall could react, a large number of them were killed, including the prefect of Yanping.

Without command, the Qing army was thrown into chaos.

Before the city gates could be closed, Jiang Tao, the commander of the vanguard battalion, seized the opportunity and ordered an attack.

More than a thousand cavalrymen charged out and rushed straight to the city gate.

A thousand infantrymen followed behind, and within a day, Yanping Prefecture was captured by the First Army of Longxiang.

Such a rapid siege broadened Huang Zongxi's horizons, and he exclaimed in amazement.

"Fortunately, such a powerful weapon is in the hands of the new army. If it had fallen into the hands of the Qing army, all the Han people in the world would have been wiped out."