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

……

Dongyin Village, Chuzhou Prefecture, Zhejiang Province.

Zhong Ge was originally a wealthy farmer in the area. His family owned hundreds of acres of land thanks to the savings accumulated by his ancestors. However, since the war spread to the south, taxes have become increasingly heavy, and his family sold a lot of land to pay taxes.

But the suffering was not over. After the Qing army occupied Zhejiang, Dongyin Village caught the eye of a Manchu nobleman and became his estate.

All of their land was seized, and their family became slaves of the Manchu nobles.

However, this was not the most desperate situation. The most desperate situation was that the Qing army was about to go to war and passed through Dongyin Village.

It seems that because the Manchu nobles who had seized the land died, they lost their protection, and the passing Qing army robbed the entire Dongyin Village. Zhong Ge's wife was even forced into prostitution.

He still can't forget the desperate look on his wife's face when her clothes were torn and she was dragged away that day.

"Old Zhong, what's going to happen in Dongyin Village?!" At this moment, a man sneaked up to Zhong Ge's house.

"Old Zhou, what brings you here? Don't come in. If Sun Er sees us and accuses us of indecent behavior, we'll lose our heads."

Sun Er was the head of the Jia family in Dongyin Village, responsible for looking after ten households.

"Don't close the door! I have some big news for you. The Qing army has been defeated! The new army is coming! I heard that the new army is here to stand up for us farmers! Just like Li Tianwang, they're going to distribute land to us!" Zhou Li pushed open the door and said hurriedly.

"Is what you're saying true? The Qing army was defeated!?" Zhong Ge was both surprised and delighted upon hearing this.

Zhou Li immediately pushed open the door, went inside, and then closed it again.

"We lost. I heard it was a crushing defeat. The new army is coming soon, so I came to talk to you about something," Zhou Li said in a low voice.

Given the atmosphere and the tone of voice, even if Zhong Ge were stupid, he could guess what was going on, but he still asked uncertainly.

"What's going on? Why are you being so mysterious?"

"Of course it's a rebellion!" Zhou Li stared intently at Zhong Ge, his childhood friend.

Upon hearing this, Zhong Ge trembled and quickly shook his head and waved his hands.

"I... I can't do it. If I had that kind of courage, my wife wouldn't have been taken away."

Zhou Li was somewhat annoyed, looking disappointed in him.

"Courage—having this in your hand gives you courage!"

As he spoke, he took out a gleaming kitchen knife from his waist, with the four characters "Made in Jianning" engraved on the handle.

"Think about it, those traitors like Sun Er bully us every day. Now that the New Army has arrived, do they still dare to bully us? If we don't retaliate, wouldn't the New Army's trip have been in vain?"

"Take this knife and follow me to kill Sun Er!"

As he spoke, Zhou Li shoved the kitchen knife into Zhong Ge's hand.

Holding a kitchen knife, Zhong Ge was filled with rage as he thought about how pathetic he looked when his wife was dragged away. With the weapon in hand, a surge of impulse caused him to lose his reason and all his weakness vanished.

"Okay, I'll do it with you!"

Just as the two men made up their minds to rebel, a loud banging sound came from outside the gate.

Boom, boom, boom.

"Zhong Ge, open the door!" came Sun Er's voice from outside the door.

This startled the two people inside, and a ruthless glint flashed in Zhou Li's eyes.

He watched his entire family being murdered by the Manchus, and now that he has finally found a way to take revenge, he will never let it go.

"Let's do it!"

Zhou Li was very decisive. He also had a kitchen knife tucked into his waistband, and it was unclear where he got it from.

Perhaps it was these two kitchen knives that changed him so much, making him obsessed with revenge.

Sun Er knocked on the door, accompanied by two yamen runners in black robes.

"Damn it, how dare you not open the door, sirs! I'll break it down right now and make this lowly commoner pay his taxes."

Just as Sun Er was about to ram the door, it suddenly opened, and a flash of white light appeared before his eyes.

Sun Er instinctively raised his hand to block, but the sharp steel knife severed his wrist.

This scene terrified Sun Er, his pupils contracted, and his soul almost flew out of his head.

"Zhou Li!"

He immediately recognized the person in front of him and cried out the person's name in terror.

"What do you think you're doing! I'm the head of the village! Are you trying to rebel? Put the knife down right now!"

The two constables beside him also noticed something was wrong and immediately drew their knives.

Seeing the blood on his blade, Zhou Li's eyes turned bloodshot, and he shouted, "Kill!"

One person rushed out, and Zhong Ge, who was behind him, gritted his teeth, grabbed a kitchen knife, and rushed out as well.

The shouts of killing immediately attracted the attention of the surrounding villagers.

Covered in blood, Zhou Li shouted, "The New Army is here! Kill the Tartars!"

Someone in the village shouted again, "The new army is here! Peace will reign! Kill the Tartars and divide the land!"

"kill!"

Encouraged, the villagers rushed forward when they saw someone carrying a wooden stick, and one by one they also grabbed their weapons and joined in beating Sun Er and the two tax collectors.

The two people hiding in the crowd watched the scene unfold with calm expressions.

"Ye Tao, quickly contact the main force to explain the situation here and send people to support the villagers of Dongyin Village."

"Okay, Captain, be careful."

These two men were spies sent to Zhejiang by the new army. With the army about to arrive, they hid in the shadows and incited the people to rebel.

Similar situations to those in Dongyin Village are occurring in various parts of Zhejiang.

At this time, the Longxiang Ninth Army and the Longxiang Seventh Army, which had broken through the main force of the Qing army, joined forces and entered Zhejiang Province, beginning their advance.

The Fifth and Sixth Armies, which came to support from the rear, took over the prisoners, pacified the people, and restored order to the city.

By instigating rebellion in the enemy's rear, while the main force attacked and seized cities and territories, and the reserve force took over land and people, Zhang Biao not only successfully completed his mission in about half a month, taking over Chuzhou Prefecture and Wenzhou Prefecture, but also the neighboring Taizhou Prefecture and Jinhua Prefecture.

Wherever he went, the people rose up in response to the new army. Zhang Biao then applied for permission to take over the entire territory of Zhejiang in one fell swoop.

After reviewing the document, the General Staff immediately agreed and dispatched the 8th Army of Longxiang to provide support.

The new army's rapid offensive not only made great progress in Zhejiang, but also in Jiangxi, directly capturing Jianchang Prefecture and Guangxin Prefecture.

However, after capturing the two prefectures, the new army ceased its advance.

Upon hearing that the New Army was fighting the Qing Army, Jin Shenghuan in Nanchang seized the opportunity to stir up trouble behind the Qing army's lines, attacking and seizing territory. When the Qing army suffered a crushing defeat, they surrendered one by one.

Jin Shenghuan's power expanded rapidly, bordering the territory of the new army, and both sides tacitly agreed not to advance any further.

At this time, Jin Shenghuan set his sights on Ganzhou, wanting to avenge his previous humiliation.

"Brother Jiang, if you go on my behalf to the New Army, our army is willing to befriend them and fight against the Qing together. Also, please help me find out the strength of the New Army and why they were able to wipe out the Qing army in such a short time."

Jin Shenghuan felt a strange sense of awe towards Li Tian, ​​the rebel leader he had never met, after Lekedehun's disastrous defeat in attacking Fujian with several princes, dukes, Manchu nobles and an army of 200,000.

"Very well, I have long admired Lord Li's name and have wanted to meet him in person for a long time." Jiang Yueguang was also eager to meet Li Tian, ​​this extraordinary man who had appeared out of nowhere.

Jin Shenghuan wanted to take advantage of the Qing army's defeat and low morale to recover as many cities and prefectures in Jiangxi as possible. Ganzhou Prefecture was his persistent nightmare, and he was determined to take it in this battle.