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

……

What is a defensive counterattack? It is, of course, when someone throws a punch, you return it a hundredfold.

The 100,000-strong army led by Li Chengdong was defeated head-on, causing the Ming army's overall deployment to collapse.

The fleeing soldiers were pursued for more than twenty miles, their blood flowing like a river and corpses littering the ground.

Li Chengdong sat disheveled on his horse, his hair in disarray, completely lacking the imposing presence he once held as a Duke and commander of 100,000 troops.

The horse neighed, foaming at the mouth, and then collapsed to the ground from exhaustion.

Li Chengdong, who was on horseback, was thrown off and rolled on the ground, covered in mud.

"Duke!"

The accompanying guards immediately dismounted and helped Li Chengdong up.

Li Chengdong was weak and breathless, his face covered in blood and filth. He could feel that his arms and legs were broken.

"Where is Yuan Yin? Where did he go?"

Li Chengdong asked weakly.

"I don't know. The eldest young master commands three thousand iron cavalry; he should be fine."

"There's a village right in front of the Duke's residence. Let's help the Duke over there to rest."

Then someone suggested it.

Li Chengdong responded and then allowed his personal guards to carry him into the village.

This is a small village with only a few dozen households. At this moment, a group of soldiers, like hungry wolves, broke in.

This caused panic among all the villagers.

As Li Chengdong's personal guards, these men were not exactly benevolent people either.

Having just suffered a defeat, I was burning with anger and needed to vent it.

Du Huan, the commander-in-chief of the personal guard, looked at the others;

"The Duke cannot be lost. We cannot let any of the people here go. We should also capture a doctor while we're at it."

"Keep it down."

"Yes, sir." Dozens of soldiers grinned and charged into the village with their swords drawn.

Du Huan led the group to a relatively quiet courtyard.

Outside this mansion, however, lies a completely different scene.

The soldiers killed anyone they saw, sparing neither the elderly nor children. Young and beautiful women were captured on the spot, defiled, and killed. These men had slaughtered countless cities; this small village was nothing more than an appetizer to them.

Soon the village quieted down. An old doctor was dragged into a house. Two soldiers pushed him, and the doctor staggered a few steps, almost falling.

Upon seeing this, Du Huan stepped forward to help them up and reprimanded the two soldiers.

"What are you doing? Show some respect to the elderly."

The two soldiers quickly admitted their mistake and left the courtyard.

"Doctor, could you do us a favor? My lord is injured and we hope you can help treat him."

However, the old doctor suddenly knelt on the ground and burst into tears.

"General, please order your soldiers to stop! Stop killing us!"

However, Du Huan was greatly shocked upon hearing this, and then said angrily.

"What?! These soldiers dared to slaughter villagers! We just told them to behave themselves, yet they dared to do such a heinous thing."

"Old man, don't worry, I will definitely discipline my men. I will not let any of those soldiers who have spilled the blood of the people go unpunished."

"However, my words are still insignificant. Please, sir, heal my Duke as soon as possible."

Du Huan helped the old doctor up and brought him to Li Chengdong.

Seeing Du Huan's appearance, the old doctor believed him somewhat, thinking that his subordinates were disobedient.

"Alright, General, please capture those evil soldiers quickly. I will definitely rescue the Duke."

Du Huan nodded slightly, then instructed two soldiers to watch over the old doctor before walking out of the courtyard. However, he did not go far, but simply stood at the door.

To restrain subordinates, and to joke around.

It was just an act for that old man's benefit.

The smell of herbs wafted from inside the room, where the old doctor was treating Li Chengdong's injuries.

However, several days later, Li Chengdong's condition did not improve; instead, he continued to have a fever and his consciousness became increasingly blurred.

"General, may I go back and get some medicine?" The old doctor had been locked in the courtyard for several days, and Du Huan wouldn't let him out even a step.

"Tell me what medicine you need, and I'll have someone get it for you."

"But old man, why is my Duke's health getting worse and worse?"

Du Huan's tone was unfriendly at this moment.

Previously, he had only suffered a fall, but now Li Chengdong's persistent high fever has made him lose patience with the old doctor in front of him.

The old doctor gritted his teeth and said, "The general wants me to go out. I need to go home and see my granddaughter one last time."

"Old man, as long as you cure my Duke, you can go back. Don't worry, you won't be shortchanged in the slightest, and you'll be able to see your granddaughter immediately." Du Huan stood in front of the old doctor.

"No, I need to go back to see my granddaughter right now!" The old doctor seemed to realize something and his attitude was very firm.

Du Huan narrowed his eyes slightly; "Alright, now I'll let you go see your granddaughter."

The next second, Du Huan drew his sword and slashed directly at the old doctor.

The old doctor's aged eyes widened, and when he realized the danger, he collapsed to the ground, powerless, and died.

"Commander, this is the only doctor in the village. It would be a waste to kill him," a soldier said.

"Are you teaching me how to do things?" Du Huan said coldly.

"Hurry and pack your things, the bandits have found us."

Du Huan didn't say much, and immediately fled with the sick Li Chengdong and a group of soldiers.

Before long, a group of men arrived, and as soon as they reached the village entrance, they smelled a pungent stench of corpses.

"Damn it, why are these Ming Dynasty soldiers so ruthless towards their own people!"

When the soldiers entered the village, they found it deserted; everyone had been killed.

"Captain, there are clear footprints here. The enemy left not long ago. There were about a hundred horses and about a hundred men."

"Alright, contact the other teams and let them come with us to hunt them down." The captain wasn't stubborn and decided to contact the other teams to hunt down the remaining enemies.

The Longxiang First Army defeated Li Chengdong's 100,000-strong army and pursued them all the way. The Tenth Army, which was stationed in the rear, sent more men to take over the city.

It was impossible to kill all 100,000 people. Some surrendered, some went into hiding in remote mountain villages, and some gathered to become bandits.

In short, once the Longxiang First Army annihilated the main force of the Ming army and fired the first shot of the counterattack, the new army began to take full control of Fujian.

Wherever they went, they surrendered at the mere mention of their name, with very few resisting.

Meanwhile, on the other two fronts of the Ming army, Hao Shangjiu's attack on Shaowu failed, and he also suffered a fierce counterattack. His entire army of 15,000 was wiped out, and Hao Shangjiu was also killed by stray bullets in the chaos.

On the other side, Liu Zhongzao and Zheng Cai led their troops through Xixi Town, where they were ambushed. As soon as the two armies clashed, the Ming army was stunned by the powerful firepower of the new army.

The commander of the Fifth Army of Longxiang decisively seized the opportunity and pursued the enemy all the way to Fuzhou Prefecture. This frightened Prince Lu, who led his officials to flee Fujian by boat overnight and once again drifted on the sea.

At this point, the Ming army and the imperial court had no more soldiers capable of fighting in Fujian.

The New Army's Ninth and Tenth Armies, along with the Longxiang First, Fifth, and Seventh Armies, successively captured Fuzhou, Fuzhou Prefecture, Yanping Prefecture, Tingzhou Prefecture, Zhangzhou Prefecture, and areas north of Quanzhou Prefecture.

Li Tian gave Zheng Chenggong's family time to consider the situation in Quanzhou Prefecture, which they had occupied.

Either surrender or fight to the death.

The Ming army's swift defeat shocked even the Qing army.

Just as the Qing troops in northern Fujian, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and other places had finished assembling, they received intelligence that the Ming army had been defeated.

And it wasn't just an ordinary defeat, it was a crushing defeat.

The capital of Guangxin Prefecture is Shangrao.

Lekedehun, Hong Chengchou, and other important Qing Dynasty officials gathered together.

They were dealing with a very difficult situation at that moment.

Chen Shaozong, a mele officer under Geng Zhongming, reported that he was harboring fugitives. The investigation revealed that the matter was serious and involved more than 300 people.

The capture of fugitives was the Qing Dynasty's top priority. Geng Zhongming, as the Prince of Huaishun, held a very high position, making this matter difficult to handle. After discussion, everyone decided to leave the decision to Dorgon.

However, at this critical juncture in the battle, before the imperial court had issued an edict of punishment, Geng Zhongming decided not to implicate his family and committed suicide in the army.

It wasn't until the next day that someone discovered Geng Zhongming's cold body hanging in mid-air.