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

……

Chaozhou Prefecture.

Inside the government office, Li Chengdong had only recently arrived in Chaozhou from Zhaoqing.

After two months of troop deployment, he assembled troops from various regions in Chaozhou.

The elite troops numbered no less than 30,000, while the number of local soldiers, garrison troops, and militia reached as high as 50,000 to 60,000.

Although most of the garrison soldiers and local militia did not go to the battlefield, they were usually responsible for transporting food supplies, guarding the city's rear, and watching over the local people.

But the sheer number of 100,000 people is still awe-inspiring.

This made the local people feel that the imperial court was about to do something big: launch a northern expedition to destroy the Qing dynasty and recover lost territory.

Many local gentry members voluntarily donated grain.

The reason so many Qing troops came to Chaozhou Prefecture was not to attack Zhangzhou Prefecture in Fujian to the north, but to board ships in Chenghai Town, join up with Prince Lu in Fuzhou, and attack Li Tian.

But a message made Li Chengdong change his mind.

"General, good news! Upon hearing that our army is in Chaozhou, the local righteous men of Zhangzhou Prefecture have risen up in response. Zhangzhou Prefecture has now been recaptured by the righteous army, and the Qing troops have all been driven away. Our army may no longer need to cross the sea to bypass Zhangzhou Prefecture!"

Huang Shijun arrived excitedly with a letter from Zhangzhou Prefecture.

"Besides Zhangzhou Prefecture, there were also Tingzhou Prefecture and Quanzhou Prefecture, all of which had righteous men responding, and the Qing army in Fujian was driven away."

"Zhu Chenggong of Quanzhou Prefecture has taken over the entire Quanzhou Prefecture."

"Now all of Fujian is waiting for our mighty army to arrive!"

Huang Shijun's face was slightly flushed, and he was extremely excited.

Li Chengdong was slightly surprised upon hearing this, and then immediately took the letter and scanned it.

These letters were written by the leaders of the uprising to the Ming court, hoping to receive the court's support or rewards.

"Is all of this true? Have you sent someone to make contact?"

"It's true. If our army were to go there, General, we would definitely be able to take over the towns and cities in various places."

"Good, good, good, what a great start!" Li Chengdong's surprise turned into joy.

Before the main army even entered Fujian, so many rebel armies responded. Wouldn't it be as easy as lifting a finger to quell Li Tian's rebellion?

And wouldn't he be deserving of the title of king for his merit in recovering the entire Fujian?

He shall be made a king!

Li Chengdong became more and more excited as he thought about it.

"Now that Zhangzhou Prefecture and Quanzhou Prefecture have been recovered, our army no longer needs to risk taking detours and can transport grain and fodder along inland waterways."

"Go to Zhenhai and tell Shi Lang and Yang Youguang to change course and take over Zhangzhou Prefecture and Tingzhou Prefecture first."

Transporting soldiers and supplies by sea is very risky, especially now that it is the transition from autumn to summer, with unpredictable weather and the risk of typhoons. If a typhoon hits, the fleet is at risk of being destroyed.

Inland waterways are extremely safe; changing the route reduces risks.

Moreover, it can also announce to the entire army that they have recovered the two prefectures, thus boosting morale.

Chenghai Town.

At this moment, several generals of the Yongli Dynasty were gathered in a secluded mansion.

It might not be accurate to say they were generals of the Yongli court; more accurately, they were all generals under Li Chengdong.

The generals who made the greatest contributions when Li Chengdong conquered Guangdong received few rewards.

These individuals are Shi Lang, Shi Fu, Hong Xishan, Huang Ting, and others.

These people all have one thing in common: they were once Zheng family retainers and followed Zheng Zhilong.

After Zheng Zhilong surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, Shi Lang and others followed him. However, those who went to the Qing court did not enjoy any good fortune; instead, they were assigned to the front lines to risk their lives.

Not only were they forced to risk their lives, but they were also assigned to work under Li Chengdong, a northerner.

Li Chengdong, being from the North, showed obvious disdain and contempt for Southerners.

They left all the heavy and difficult work to Shi Lang and others, but the rewards they received were pitifully small, and they were often verbally scorned.

This had already caused resentment to grow in everyone's hearts.

The reason Shi Lang and the others gathered together was not to rebel, but because they had received a special letter.

A letter arrived from Zheng Sen, the young master of the Quanzhou family.

The letter was simple: after learning that Shi Lang and his men had come to Chaozhou, Zheng Chenggong wanted them to leave Li Chengdong and lead their old troops back to join the Zheng family to help him.

"To revive the Zheng family, restore the Ming Dynasty, slaughter all the Tartars, and avenge my mother... I earnestly request your assistance to achieve unparalleled feats..."

After reading the contents of the letter, Shi Lang looked at the others.

Hong Xishan and Huang Ting's eyes gleamed, and they seemed quite agitated.

"Everyone, the young master wants us to go back. What do you think?" Shi Lang asked in a deep voice.

"I'm definitely going back! What's so good about following Li Chengdong? That bandit thinks he's something special just because he's from the North, and he's making things difficult for us at every turn. I've wanted to go back to Fujian Road for a long time!" Hong Xishan said angrily, clearly having suffered a lot of mistreatment in the past.

Li Chengdong was from Ningxia. In his youth, he followed Gao Jie, a subordinate of Li Zicheng. Li Chengdong's Shun army was called a bandit by the Ming court at the time, so he also bore this unpleasant title.

"I agree, I also want to see the young master." Huang Ting also agreed.

Shi Lang, prejudiced against his younger brother Shi Fu, also wanted to agree, and finally spoke up himself.

"Alright, we'll gather the brothers tomorrow night and return to Fujian to support the young master!"

Everyone agreed.

The following night, he led several thousand of his former troops to Kinmen by boat.

This matter was also discovered by Hao Shangjiu, who was keeping an eye on them, and he immediately reported it to Li Chengdong.

"General, Shi Lang and his men disobeyed orders and left by boat without permission. The incident happened suddenly. My troops intercepted them, but we suffered hundreds of casualties. They still managed to escape. My men have learned that they are going to seek refuge with Zhu Chenggong in Fujian."

"This is outrageous!" Li Chengdong roared in fury, slamming the table down. "How many people and how many ships did they take away?!"

"No fewer than three thousand people, and hundreds of ships."

Li Chengdong clenched his fists, trembling with rage; "Zhu Chenggong, Zheng Sen! The son of that traitor Zheng Zhilong!"

"Well, now that they've gained some influence, they dare to oppose the imperial court."

In a fit of anger, Li Chengdong ultimately chose to swallow his anger; this was not the time to deal with Zheng Chenggong.

"Once I enter Fujian, I will petition the court to bring back Shi Lang and the others—no, I'll have you lead the vanguard," Li Chengdong thought to himself, a chilling smile creeping onto his lips.

Several days later, Li Chengdong learned that the Qing army at the front had indeed been killed by the rebel army.

So he led his army to decisively enter Fujian territory and occupy cities without any problems.

The Qing army genuinely fled; it wasn't some kind of conspiracy or trick by the Qing army.

What puzzled Li Chengdong was that the Qing army was very restrained when they left and did not carry out a large-scale massacre.

"Has the Qing army changed its ways? They only committed a dozen or so acts of arson, murder, and looting, and only injured a few hundred civilians."

Li Chengdong was originally a Qing army general and one of the main perpetrators of the Jiading Massacre.

He knew all too well how much the Qing army enjoyed massacring cities.

Although his soldiers were bound by benevolence and morality after surrendering to the Ming court, some of them were inherently evil and bullied the common people in private.

He turned a blind eye to these things.

Regardless of what the Qing army was planning, the fact that the two prefectures remained almost intact benefited them.

The army recovered many prefectures and the population under its rule increased by more than a million. It just so happened that it was the autumn harvest season, so the army no longer needed to transport grain from Chaozhou and could collect grain locally.

However, before that, Li Chengdong submitted a memorial to the imperial court.

"Now that you've recovered several prefectures, let's see where you can run, Shi Lang."

Li Chengdong sat at the table, dipping his brush in ink and writing.

"Our army marched straight into Fujian, defeated the Qing army, and recovered 26 lost cities. Tingzhou Prefecture, Zhangzhou Prefecture, Quanzhou Prefecture, Yanping Prefecture, Xinghua Prefecture, and Fuzhou Prefecture are all in the hands of our Great Ming."

"However, there are those in the army who have violated military regulations. Twenty-three generals, including Shi Lang, Shi Fu, Hong Xishan, and Huang Ting, have privately led their troops to desert and defect to the Guo family. This act shows a disregard for military regulations and the imperial court. With the national war imminent and the army's generals dwindling, and having no intention of antagonizing the Guo family, I request Your Majesty to issue an edict to recall Shi Lang and the others to our army..."

After finishing the letter, Li Chengdong smiled slightly, hoping that Zhu Youlang would issue an order to recall Shi Lang and the others.

Zhu Chenggong must release them. If Shi Lang and the others return, they will be punished by military law; if they do not return, they will be disobeying the imperial decree.

If Zhu Chenggong refuses to release the man, it would be considered harboring a criminal at best, and at worst, defying imperial orders and rebelling. Then Zhu Chenggong would have a reason to deal with him.