[{"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-191":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},1205480,1561,"Chapter 191: Artillery Train and Baggage Train","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-191",191,"\u003Cp>A light snow drifted from the sky, falling everywhere from Baoanzhou city to Shunxiang Fort. From time to time the festive crackle of firecrackers rang out, and the streets bustled with soldiers and civilians buying New Year goods. Acquaintances who met could not help but exchange pleasantries. Every merchant beamed with joy — business in the prefectural city had been much easier this year. Seeing Baoanzhou’s thriving momentum, they figured they should expand their operations next year.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The city’s bathhouses were also packed with people washing up. No one disliked being clean; it was just that water had been hard to come by before — where could anyone find a place to bathe? Fortunately, the Garrison Commander was benevolent and had these bathhouses built for everyone. For just two wen, people could enjoy themselves thoroughly inside and wash away a year’s weariness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As they bathed, they also loudly discussed how, with this year’s fields tax-free, they finally had some grain stored up for the New Year. They could make some white-flour steamed buns, and perhaps even buy some meat for a rare feast. So many years had passed without such good days — thinking about it truly filled them with emotion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every military household had also reclaimed fifty mu of wasteland this year. With the draft oxen and the irrigation well waterwheels, by next autumn’s harvest they could bring in several tens of dan of grain — and next year was still tax-free… Thinking that they could bring home several tens of dan of grain next year, everyone’s words brimmed with anticipation for the future.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although taxes would begin the year after next, the rate of one to two dou per mu, with no extra surcharges, could still guarantee everyone a life of basic comfort. In these times, having enough food and clothing after a year of hard labor was already heaven. Bad news kept coming from all over — if not great disasters, then severe droughts, and the government tax collectors were relentless, driving soldiers and civilians everywhere to the brink. Every day, streams of refugees fled into Baoanzhou. Watching these refugees, the soldiers and civilians of Baoanzhou all cherished their present lives.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, everyone’s unanimous conclusion was that everything they now had was brought by the Garrison Commander. As long as the Garrison Commander remained in Baoanzhou, their livelihood was secure. Their only worry was that if one day the Garrison Commander were transferred away from Baoanzhou, the consequences would be unfathomable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides the men’s bathhouses, there were three women’s bathhouses in the city, and they too were currently overflowing. Coming and going were all the women of the prefectural city’s military and civilian households — a profusion of charm, full of young maidens and young wives. It made the men of the prefectural city passing by unable to resist glancing that way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When these women’s bathhouses were first built, they were so deserted you could catch sparrows at the door. The women, pressured by idle gossip in the city, were too embarrassed to go bathe there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How could this be allowed? The cleanliness and hygiene of the prefectural city’s soldiers and civilians was a matter of epidemic prevention. Wang Dou quickly came up with a solution: besides having the theater troupes publicize it widely, he had his own wife, Xie Yike, lead a group of officers’ wives to be the first to go bathe, setting a vanguard example. With Xie Yike and the others as models, the women of the military households all rushed eagerly to the women’s bathhouses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If anyone dared gossip, they would retort that even the Garrison Commander’s wife had gone to bathe — why couldn’t they? That instantly shut those people up. Who had eaten the gall of a bear and the heart of a leopard to dare criticize Xie Yike and the others? In the end, going to the bathhouse for a soak whenever free became a fashionable part of life for the soldiers and civilians.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the New Year approached, the young men of each household also returned. While their parents ached to see how much darker and rougher their sons had become, they were also delighted to see them sturdier, their bearing full of tiger-like vigor, with an air of proud self-assurance. Compared to the listless, dispirited state they were in before, it was a world of difference. And everyone wore brand-new mandarin-duck battle jackets, all finely stitched, warm and thick, brightly colored. Each also wore a leather coat, a leather hat, leather boots, and so on — every one of them looked dashing and spirited, brimming with vitality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These soldiers walked the streets in twos and threes, adding a uniquely masculine scenery that drew the eye.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among these three thousand newly trained recruits, there were men from the prefectural city, from the Five Forts, and from Zhangjiabao. When they returned home, their wives, children, siblings, and parents were overjoyed, but also puzzled: how had their sons grown sturdier after only three months of drill? In their impression, soldiering and drill had always been grueling, the food terrible, and the officers constantly scolding — a hellish life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing their families’ words, the recruits scoffed. They laughed and said, “The drill is hard, that’s true. But as for officers scolding and bad food — not really.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They explained that while drilling in the Shunxiang Fort army, they had their fill of food every day, and even had meat every day. In their spare time they watched plays and listened to storytelling. That was why, after these months, their bodies had grown so much sturdier. Their families listened, full of longing. Such good days in the military — how extraordinary.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And once back home, the recruits realized how poor their own families were. Their wives and parents joyfully made them white-flour steamed buns, even planned to buy some meat, and calculated again and again whether to buy a bolt of cloth to sew new clothes for the children — all while looking at the low, dilapidated, shabby house.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The recruits recalled the scenes they had witnessed at Shunxiang Fort. The veteran soldiers there, after many bandit-suppression campaigns and battles against the Qing troops, had each received generous rewards. At least for this New Year, every one of their households could comfortably buy meat and New Year goods, and get new clothes for the old and young at home. Then they looked at their own homes…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the past, when the recruits drilled at Shunxiang Fort, they had heard the veterans boast endlessly about the army’s rewards after a campaign’s spoils, but they had no real concept of it. Now they understood what going out to war meant for them. After this New Year, who knew how many recruits secretly swore in their hearts: for their families’ good days, if the chance came, they must go to war, must seize spoils, must earn rewards.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou now had over five thousand troops under his command, but the three thousand newly trained soldiers had not yet been carefully reorganized — that was a matter for after the New Year.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the recruits finished training, apart from Han Chao and Han Zhong’s First and Second Company troops in the prefectural city, and Sun Sanjie’s Fourth Company troops at Shunxiang Fort, who remained on guard duty, Wang Dou let all the remaining soldiers go home for the New Year. They would likely only reassemble after the spring plowing. This was the trouble with soldiers who had not left agricultural production: the troops under Wang Dou were mostly the able-bodied laborers of military households. Every spring plowing season, he had to grant them leave to go home and work.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This problem still needed solving, but for the New Year of the eleventh year of Chongzhen, apart from the three companies kept on duty, all the other soldiers were dismissed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though the soldiers who stayed in camp could not go home to reunite with their families, they were not lonely in the army. Many activities were organized in the barracks. Wang Dou and officers of all ranks went deep into each barrack to offer greetings. In each company barrack, several pigs and sheep were slaughtered, so the soldiers all ate until their mouths dripped with grease, and they enjoyed baskets full of white-flour steamed buns. From the first day of the New Year, theater troupes came to their barracks to perform plays for them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to home, the food in the army had always been better, the provisions and treatment excellent, leaving every soldier on duty thoroughly satisfied.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From the first month all the way to the Lantern Festival, Wang Dou was busy paying New Year calls — paying respects to his superiors, and receiving New Year greetings from his subordinates. On the day of the Lantern Festival, Wang Dou summoned the prefectural city’s officers to discuss matters: the reorganization of the new troops, and the various affairs of Baoanzhou for the coming year.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at the hall full of officers, Wang Dou smiled and said, “I have decided to appoint Han Chao, Han Zhong, and Wen Fangliang as Company Commanders of the prefectural city. Each will have three Squad Commanders’ worth of troops under him — three companies form a division. Han Chao, Wen Fangliang, each of you three will lead one division of troops.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now that Wang Dou held the rank of Garrison Commander, the troops under his command could be appropriately adjusted. Hearing Wang Dou’s appointment, Han Chao took it calmly, but Han Zhong and Wen Fangliang beamed with joy — promoted again. They loudly accepted their orders. Following the Garrison Commander was simply the best; promotions and wealth kept coming. Everyone else’s eyes also lit up, looking at Wang Dou with hopeful expressions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou pondered and said, “My Baoanzhou’s original one company had three hundred and twenty-four men. Three companies in the prefectural city form one division — that is nine hundred and seventy-two men. I have decided that each division shall add one squad of eleven Night Scouts, one Provost Marshal with five attendants, four medical officers, ten personal attendants for the Company Commander, and twelve flagmen and drummers. Additionally, one gunpowder artisan, one iron file artisan, and one veterinary surgeon. Also, one additional baggage train and one artillery train…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou said, “How many men should this artillery train and baggage train have, and how many carts and cannons within them? Let’s discuss.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone present fell into thought. According to the thinking of men like Wen Fangliang, of course the more troops under their command the better, but they also had to consider Baoanzhou’s actual capacity to sustain them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Han Chao said, “In my humble opinion, each Company Commander should lead one artillery train, containing five breech-loading swivel guns, ten small bronze cannons, and fifteen crouching-tiger cannons. That would be sufficient.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Han Chao calculated for Wang Dou: currently, Baoanzhou together with Shunxiang Fort had over fifty sets of bronze and iron breech-loading swivel guns, about ninety small bronze and iron breech-loading cannons, and over a hundred crouching-tiger cannons. Even if a portion were taken for field use, the firepower for defending the city would still be no problem.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for the issue of gunners, the walls of Baoanzhou had five “Divine Might Invincible Grand General” iron cannons — those were red-barbarian cannons, weighing several thousand jin, impossible to take for field use. The remaining breech-loading swivel guns were all medium cannons weighing about three hundred-plus jin, firing shot under two jin, and could be taken for field use.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each of these cannons required about three gunners. And those small breech-loading cannons and crouching-tiger cannons, weighing from over a hundred jin to several tens of jin, each required two gunners. Adding the squad officer and guards, an artillery train for one Company Commander would thus be no more than seventy men.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, all these cannons had to be pulled by mules and horses. Currently, all the cannons in the Baoanzhou area had been converted to use two-wheeled gun carriages. Even the breech-loading swivel guns weighing over three hundred jin could be pulled by a single horse. Thirty cannons required thirty mules and horses. These horses could be tended by the gunners themselves, with the artillery train assigned one horse groom to assist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou nodded. This way, each Company Commander would now command one thousand and eighty-nine men.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Han Chao continued, “As for the Company Commander’s baggage train, in my humble opinion, fifty single-wheel side-box carts and forty horse-drawn wagons would suffice. Counting one man per single-wheel cart and two men per horse-drawn wagon, plus officers, guards, and one horse groom, the Company Commander’s baggage train would total one hundred and thirty-six men.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When soldiers went out to war, if they carried their own rations, they could only sustain operations for a few days. If the campaign lasted over ten days, or even a month or several months, and was far from supply bases, a baggage train became essential.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a Company Commander’s unit of over a thousand men, each soldier consumed about one kilogram of grain per day. There were also nearly a hundred mules and horses, each consuming about ten kilograms of grain and fodder per day. That meant a daily consumption of twenty-three dan of grain, and nearly seven hundred dan of grain and fodder per month. There was also the transport of various munitions, tents, weapons, and armor, plus estimated losses of all kinds. Therefore, the baggage train’s fifty single-wheel side-box carts and forty horse-drawn wagons were absolutely indispensable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reason Han Chao recommended Wang Dou use both single-wheel carts and horse-drawn wagons was that the roads here were rugged and uneven, making single-wheel carts the best choice. A single-wheel cart could generally carry 150 to 200 kilograms — two dan of grain in current Great Ming measure. A horse-drawn wagon could carry 500 to 600 kilograms — four to six dan of grain in Great Ming measure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for other tools like handcarts, their load capacity was greater than single-wheel carts but less than horse-drawn wagons. They did not travel well on narrow, rugged paths, and on open plains they were inferior to horse-drawn wagons, so Han Chao did not recommend them. As for pack mules and horses, they generally carried no more than 150 to 200 kilograms, offering no advantage over single-wheel carts, and pack animals ate a great deal. Unless in terrain where even single-wheel carts could not pass — where some pack mules and horses could be assigned — they were generally not recommended.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone discussed this animatedly and all agreed with Han Chao’s suggestion. Thus the troop strength for one prefectural city Company Commander was set: including the baggage train and artillery train, it totaled one thousand two hundred and twenty-five men. The three divisions led by Han Chao, Han Zhong, and Wen Fangliang together totaled three thousand six hundred and seventy-five men.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The troops under each man, apart from the company they originally led, would consist of two more companies: one would be a Squad Commander’s unit each from Gao Shiyin, Sun Sanjie, and Yang Tong of Shunxiang Fort. Yang Tong had now also been newly promoted to Squad Commander, and was naturally overjoyed. The other would be one company of troops formed from the newly trained recruits. The personnel lacking for the baggage train and artillery train would likewise be selected from the trained recruits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the newly formed baggage train, one baggage soldier had to supply ten combat soldiers — clearly a heavy responsibility. But they were not ordinary civilian laborers; they were specialized. And the treatment these men enjoyed was clearly the same as that of ordinary combat soldiers — only the division of labor was different.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three divisions formed one battalion. Everyone also discussed the troop allocation for the battalion headquarters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou decided that the Night Scouts of Baoanzhou and Shunxiang Fort would all be selected from the various divisions and combined into two squads totaling one hundred Night Scouts, with Wen Daxing as their Chief, all transferred to the prefectural city under his direct command. Then the battalion headquarters would also have fifty guards, twenty flagmen and drummers, the various medical officers under Wang Tianxue, and Provost Marshal Chi Dacheng with five attendants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It would also directly command one baggage train and one artillery train. The battalion baggage train would have over a hundred single-wheel side-box carts and eighty horse-drawn wagons, plus officers, guards, horse grooms, etc., totaling about three hundred men. Wang Dou decided to reassign Zhong Diaoyang as the Squad Commander of the baggage train. Having him lead troops to guard miners at the silver mine was truly a waste. The silver mine operation was already on track; there was no need to keep several hundred men there on guard. Leaving one squad of a few dozen men there would suffice. For any manpower shortages, Zhong Diaoyang could fill them from the recruits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon hearing Wang Dou’s appointment, Zhong Diaoyang stood up and cupped his fists with a steady air. Wang Dou had always trusted his cousin’s ability to handle matters; entrusting the battalion baggage train to him would ensure nothing went wrong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Managing the battalion baggage train was also a cushy post. Everyone present looked at Zhong Diaoyang with envious eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for the battalion artillery train, it would contain fifteen breech-loading swivel guns, twenty-five small bronze cannons, and thirty crouching-tiger cannons, requiring a total of one hundred and fifty-five gunners. Adding squad officers, guards, etc., it totaled one hundred and sixty men. Wang Dou assigned this battalion artillery train to Zhao Xuan. Able to lead the artillery train he had dreamed of, Zhao Xuan was so delighted he kept rubbing his hands together.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Calculating, the current troop strength was now set at over four thousand three hundred men. As Wang Dou discussed and planned with everyone, his mind wandered a little. With several thousand troops under his command, in Lu Xiangsheng’s eyes he would surely appear to have strong and sturdy forces. Lu Xiangsheng had promised him the rank of Mobile Corps Commander. In the campaign this coming September, nine chances out of ten, he would follow Lu Xiangsheng into battle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Historically, Lu Xiangsheng died in battle, plagued by difficulties from all sides. In the end, having only a few thousand weak troops under him was one reason; running out of ammunition and provisions, isolated and without aid, was the other. If he wanted to avert all this, he would have to make a major effort with provisions and fodder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Setting aside allied forces, just feeding his own several thousand troops for several months was no small figure. Historically, Lu Xiangsheng had silver but could not buy provisions. If history did not change and the battle was still fought around Julu and other places, the distance from Baoanzhou to Julu was a full thousand li. For a campaign lasting several months, the enormous quantity of provisions for several thousand to ten thousand men — transporting grain solely from Baoanzhou was unrealistic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if he set up several supply points at Yizhou, the closest place to Baoanzhou, Yizhou was three hundred li from Baoanzhou and still six to seven hundred li from Julu. Empty carts traveled seventy li a day, heavy carts fifty li a day. Transporting grain from Yizhou to Julu would take over ten days, and one also had to consider Qing troop interceptions… Perhaps he should consider setting up several supply depots in the various places of Baoding Prefecture.\u003C\u002Fp>",3262,"2026-06-03T14:05:19.908Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","419c939f589aee7072ff6719794c535e9610c874e3481205347859419838eff1","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-192","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-190",896,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fa-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-cover.jpg"]