[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army":3,"chapter-a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-146":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","A Little Soldier of the Late Ming Border Army",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1205435,1561,"Chapter 146: A Pay Riot","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-146",146,"\u003Cp>\"Such a fine place, yet the soldiers and civilians live in such bitter poverty — it truly makes one sigh!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, Wang Dou stood on the bank of the Sanggan River as he uttered this lament. Over the past ten days, Wang Dou's footsteps had covered every part of Bao'an Department — inside and outside the department city, every military fort within its borders, the garrison farmlands and mines everywhere. He had seen them all, and the poverty of the soldiers and civilians inside and outside the city had deeply shaken him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The irony was that the local conditions were so superior, especially near the department city, where vast stretches of land were all fertile fields.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So why, with all this land, were the lives of the soldiers and civilians so bitterly poor?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing Wang Dou's sigh, the people around him all sighed together.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beside Wang Dou stood the department city Garrison Farmland Officer Zhang Gui, along with Han Chao, Xie Yike, and the rest of his guard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not far in front of them was a canal called the Henan Huimin Canal, winding out from the Sanggan River, irrigating a large area of land on the river's southern bank. But the condition of this canal was far from optimistic. Many sections had already silted up and been abandoned. Judging from the canal's state, the Henan Huimin Canal had not been dredged or repaired for many years, and its water-diversion effectiveness had greatly diminished. Not only that, but most of the several major canals on both banks of the Sanggan River were in similar condition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To safeguard the garrison farmlands, starting from the Xuande reign, the imperial court had successively dug and built five major irrigation canal systems on both banks of the Sanggan River: the Beiping Slope Canal, the Henan Huimin Canal, the Middle Huimin Canal, the South Huimin Canal, and the Public Works Canal. Around these five river canals, various small ponds and channels had been densely constructed, irrigating tens of thousands of mu of surrounding farmland. But after many years without maintenance, these canals could now function at less than thirty percent effectiveness. Wang Dou saw that much originally fine farmland had become wilderness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the last ten days of the tenth lunar month, the weather grew ever colder. Zhang Gui rubbed his face, covered in a full curly beard, and reported to Wang Dou: \"My lord, the finest garrison farmlands of our Bao'an Department city are mostly located on the plain between the Hun River and the Yang River. What is lamentable is that the greater part of the land here consists of tax-exempt fields from which no grain tax can be collected.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>According to Zhang Gui, the garrison farmlands near the department city had originally belonged to ordinary military households and civilian households, who each year delivered large amounts of summer tax and autumn grain to the imperial court.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But by now, of the vast stretches of fertile land here — the garrison farmlands of the military households — more than half had been seized by military officers at every level from the department city and the guard city. Of the civilian households' land, more than half had been seized by local literati, gentry, and powerful landlords. The military and civilian households originally on that land had for the most part become their tenants. Very few soldiers and civilians who still owned their own military or civilian fields remained near the department city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From Zhang Gui's account, Wang Dou learned that the garrison farmlands of the military households in Bao'an Department had originally amounted to over thirty thousand mu. By now, nearly over twenty thousand mu had been encroached upon by military officers at every level. The civilian households under the department city's jurisdiction fared no better — their civilian fields had originally amounted to over thirty thousand mu, and the greater part had likewise been seized.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These powerful literati and military officers, having seized most of the fertile land, used every possible means to evade grain tax levies. The heavy burdens were all shifted onto the lowest-level military or civilian households who still owned farmland, driving them into even deeper poverty and bankruptcy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Gui said: \"My lord, I will speak frankly with you. The garrison grain levy for the military households of our department city has a fixed annual quota of 2,100 shi. Yet since I took office, the annual grain collected has not exceeded 1,200 shi, and it grows less year by year. The military households, unable to bear the exploitation, flee in an unending stream. This summer the Tatar soldiers invaded again. By next summer, the department city's military grain collection will likely not reach 1,000 shi.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He sighed: \"The higher officials press urgently and constantly reprimand me. I have a bitter lot.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou nodded: \"After the ravages of war, nine houses out of ten stand empty; the fields return to the rich. The rich grow richer, the poor poorer. With such a cycle of polarization, how can the soldiers and civilians not suffer? When the grain tax cannot be collected, your position becomes difficult to manage. Old Zhang, I understand you.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, Zhang Gui was even more moved to tears of gratitude. The awkwardness of a former subordinate becoming his direct superior had now completely vanished. He only wanted to cling tightly to Wang Dou's coattails and make a career for himself, to make Wang Dou feel that valuing him had been a good choice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou looked at the vast fields before him and sighed silently. Collecting grain from these literati and military officers was impossible — the massive backlash of interests would tear Wang Dou to shreds. A single glimpse reveals the whole leopard. From Wang Dou's investigations these past days, in every place across the department city where profit could be extracted — commerce, mining, and so on — everything had already been carved up completely by powerful landlords, literati, and military officers. If he wanted to make the soldiers and civilians prosperous, he would have to blaze a new trail.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Han Chao had followed Wang Dou for a long time and naturally understood the situation before them. He said: \"Near the department city, there should still be large tracts of wasteland. Instead of collecting grain from those literati and military officers, we could follow the old method of Shunxiang Fort — open up new wasteland and distribute it to those military households and civilians who have no fields. We should be able to carve out a new domain.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Gui said: \"Brother Han Chao, that is easier said than done. How much money and grain would it take to open up wasteland? The places near water sources are all already occupied by powerful interests. To open up farmland in places without canals, the investment would be enormous.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Along the Sanggan River and the Yang River, the local literati and military officers were unwilling to put up large sums of money and grain to build water conservancy works. For places where irrigation was inconvenient, they did dig irrigation wells, but when the investment was too great, they likewise chose to give up. For ordinary military and civilian households, they had even more will than means. In truth, the Great Ming had always encouraged the opening of wasteland, but the reclaimed land would eventually be seized by the powerful again, and the increasingly heavy taxes and corvée labor forced them to abandon their farmland and flee to other regions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the output could not match the input, the result was that large tracts of wasteland lay idle near Bao'an Department, yet no one was willing to go and reclaim them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Along the two rivers, the literati and military officers were unwilling to put up money and grain to repair the water conservancy works. Wang Dou likewise had no interest in spending money and grain to dredge these canals, doing useless work for fields from which no grain tax could be collected. He said: \"There is no other way. Opening up wasteland is the only path. Though the investment is large, as long as we endure this initial hurdle, matters will be easier to handle in the future.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou estimated that to open up wasteland in places far from the canals, one would have to dig deep brick-and-stone wells. With all costs included, each well would require over twenty taels of silver, and each well could irrigate twenty-some mu of land. Although Wang Dou could think of various ways to save on expenses, the final investment would still be very large.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, he missed intensely those high-yield, drought-resistant crops of later ages — sweet potatoes, potatoes, and the like. Unfortunately, transplanting such high-yield crops was an extremely difficult matter. Without suitable improved seed varieties adapted to the local geography and climate, even if he found these crops and forcibly planted them, the yields would not achieve satisfactory results.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During the Chongzhen reign of the Great Ming, when Yang He, Hong Chengchou, Zhang Yixian, and others governed Shaanxi, in order to produce results, Zhang Yixian had forcibly promoted sweet potatoes and white potatoes in Shaanxi. The result, however, was a popular uprising. In fact, high-yield crops like sweet potatoes were not widely promoted in northern China until the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou reckoned that for the next several decades, he need not even think about those high-yield, drought-resistant crops. However, from the experience of Jingbian Fort and Shunxiang Fort, he knew that with a sound system and planning, allowing the soldiers and civilians to farm in peace, solving their food problem was not difficult. Especially since Bao'an Department was so rich in resources — if well managed, it could absolutely become a prosperous land within Xuanfu Garrison.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his later life, Wang Dou had been a history teacher and had deeply researched late Ming history and the geography of Shanxi, Hebei, and other places. Based on Wang Dou's understanding of Bao'an Department's geography, this Bao'an Department — that is, the later Zhuolu County — had over five hundred thousand mu of arable land within its borders, most of which was irrigated land. From the Longqing reign onward, Bao'an Department had also begun planting rice, earning the saying: \"For a thousand li along the Sanggan, only Zhuolu is rich.\" Even if tens of thousands of mu of fields had been seized by powerful interests, opening up the remaining land could fully meet the farming needs of the soldiers and civilians.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not only that, but Bao'an Department also had vast expanses of forestland and pasture within its borders, amounting to nearly two million mu, providing an excellent foundation for Wang Dou to raise cattle, sheep, and horses. The livestock industry of later Zhuolu County was also very developed. Bao'an Department also had rich coal and iron resources within its borders, which could supply Wang Dou with large quantities of raw materials for developing military handicraft industries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In later times, Zhuolu County had a population of over 330,000. At the end of the Qing dynasty, the population had also been around 100,000. With so much arable land, feeding 330,000 was uncertain, but feeding a population of 100,000 could certainly be done.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gazing at the vast land before him, Wang Dou felt a surge of heroic passion in his heart. Within two years, to feed all the soldiers and civilians within the territory and to train an army of five thousand men — this was Wang Dou's long-range goal as Garrison Commander. To achieve this goal, he would sweep away every obstacle with the force of a thunderbolt!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the twenty-sixth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of Chongzhen, the weather grew even colder. Bone-piercing gusts of wind blew in from time to time through the thick cloth curtains, bringing a chill into the room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I hear the Garrison Commander has returned from outside the department city. In such freezing weather, I wonder what he was doing out there.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were at the residence of Squad Commander Chi Dengshan. A roaring charcoal fire burned in the room, and with the mellow, strong liquor, the several men there could not help feeling somewhat drunk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gathered around the table, besides Chi Dengshan, were Squad Commander Huang Xianen and the Guard Provost Zheng Yu. The one speaking now was the extremely corpulent Squad Commander Huang Xianen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing Huang Xianen's words, Chi Dengshan mused: \"I hear the Garrison Commander, together with the Garrison Farmland Officer Zhang Gui, has been inspecting the fields everywhere. He wouldn't be planning to levy grain taxes on those fields of ours, would he?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Guard Provost Zheng Yu said: \"On this matter, you may rest assured. That Wang Dou does not have the nerve, nor would he be so rash. If he truly did such a thing, he would be making an enemy of all the literati and military officers in the entire department city. Does he still wish to remain in this city?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A cold sneer appeared on his somber face: \"Wang Dou is still young and lacks governance experience. In a place like the department city, he cannot make his way.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chi Dengshan slowly nodded: \"Brother Zheng speaks most truly.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since Wang Dou had taken office, apart from appointing personnel related to Shunxiang Fort, all the other officers in the department city and the various forts had remained untouched. As the saying goes, a new official lights three fires upon taking office, but Wang Dou had not lit a single one. While everyone breathed a sigh of relief, they could not help feeling some contempt for Wang Dou. In the view of the department city officials, Wang Dou's wandering about outside the city these past days made him seem unlike someone who dared to manage affairs, which put them even more at ease.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Yu and the others had already reached a conclusion: Wang Dou was formidable in battle, but he was merely a simple military man. The department city's people and affairs were complex. Wang Dou was so young and had risen from the ranks of common soldiers. Having arrived in this dazzling world, his eyes had probably long since been bedazzled; he could scarcely keep up with enjoying himself — how could he have the mind to care about anything else?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was just as well that Wang Dou was like this. They could once again enjoy themselves and act recklessly in the department city as they always had.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Guard Provost Zheng Yu thought for a long while, then said: \"Judging from these recent days, that Wang Dou is likely the sort who is fierce in appearance but cowardly at heart. Why don't we test him once more? If afterward he is at a loss, then we can truly rest easy.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chi Dengshan asked: \"How shall we test him?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Yu said coldly: \"A pay riot!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He said: \"The drill-ready government troops of the department city have not been issued their grain pay for several months. Wang Dou is the superior officer — demanding pay from him is perfectly justified.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Xianen was startled. He said in alarm: \"A pay riot? This is no trivial matter. We must think it over carefully. We must not let things get out of hand.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chi Dengshan pondered for a long moment, then said: \"This matter is feasible. Among the Great Ming's government troops today, from Bao'an Department Guard to Huailai Guard and elsewhere, which year does not see a few pay riots? And nothing ever comes of it. As long as the matter is kept under control, there is no cause for worry.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Yu said: \"Indeed. We need not appear in person; we need only incite the soldiers under our command. After we see how Wang Dou handles the situation, we will then come out to settle the aftermath.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chi Dengshan drank bowl after bowl of wine. Finally, he slammed his wine bowl onto the table and said: \"Demanding pay is perfectly justified. The soldiers of the department city have indeed not been issued their grain pay for several months. With only those fields, how are we to support our retainers? Soldiers must eat. Even if the matter blows up and reaches the higher authorities, we can still explain ourselves.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Chi Dengshan's shout, the few men fell silent again, weighing the pros and cons of the matter. Huang Xianen's breathing grew rapid; he poured cup after cup of wine down his throat. Suddenly he shouted: \"A pay riot it is, then! My two brothers, whatever you say we do, we'll do.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Good.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Let's do it, let's do it!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sound of several wine bowls shattering on the floor. Guard Provost Zheng Yu said in a low voice: \"I have a plan. Come close and listen.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"A pay riot? Hmph. A bunch of fools. Do they think that Wang Dou is so easy to deal with?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the residence of the department city's Assistant Regional Commander, the Company Commander Tian Changguo, who managed the training affairs of Bao'an Department's battalions, Tian Changguo now let out this cold laugh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His inner chamber was as warm as spring. Tian Changguo leaned lazily against a thick cushioned chair. His two large, puffy eyes, which usually seemed half-asleep, now emitted a sharp, keen light — all his usual muddle-headedness was gone. The government troops under Tian Changguo's command shared the same military camp as the troops under Chi Dengshan and the others. The news of the officers and soldiers creating an uproar in the camp today had quickly reached Tian Changguo's ears through his trusted personal officers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He instructed his personal officer: \"Keep your men under control. Do not let them get involved in stirring up trouble. Otherwise, if something happens, even I won't be able to protect you!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After receiving the order, that trusted personal general lowered his voice and said, “My lord, should we send someone to notify the Garrison Commander?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tian Changguo said, “No need. We’ll just pretend we know nothing of this matter.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tian Changguo could not quite fathom Wang Dou as a person either. He wanted to use this incident to see what kind of man Wang Dou was and how he would handle this sudden event.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, Tian Changguo had once analyzed the trajectory of Wang Dou’s promotions, and he could be certain of one thing: beneath Wang Dou’s amiable exterior lay a decisive and ruthless heart. Every step of his rise had advanced over heaps of corpses. Tian Changguo had no wish to make an enemy of such a man. In any case, he himself had close ties with the former Garrison Commander Xu Zucheng; Wang Dou would surely show some consideration for that connection. As long as the glory and wealth of the prefectural city remained unchanged, he would be perfectly content.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That trusted personal general grasped the meaning, took his leave, and withdrew.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After he left, in the empty inner chamber, a hair-raising, shrill laugh rang out: “Chi Dengshan, Huang Xianen, Zheng Yu — you three fools! Usually you throw your weight around and don’t take this official seriously. Now this official will see what end you come to!”\u003C\u002Fp>",3205,"2026-06-03T14:05:19.908Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","0c2219d6260b111facb2a14379f61d5f5fc4858588e3e87aa8ff622cf94224d4","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-147","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-145",896,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fa-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-cover.jpg"]