[{"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-55":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},1205344,1561,"Chapter 55: Honoring Public Warfare","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-55",55,"\u003Cp>After Wang Dou's wedding date was set, the Zhong family naturally took charge of the arrangements. Once the news spread, everyone in Jingbian Fort rejoiced.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now all the military households in the fort regarded Wang Dou as their master. In ancient times, great importance was placed on the continuation of the bloodline. Only once Wang Dou was married and had heirs to carry on the line would everyone truly feel at ease.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That evening, Wang Dou hosted a welcome dinner for Wang Tianxue, Zheng Jinglun, and the others.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing wine and meat at the feast, Wang Tianxue was naturally overjoyed. That night he drank himself into a stupor and did not wake until noon the next day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Wang Dou sent someone to summon him, he was still half-asleep. Wang Dou's arrangement for him was to treat the fort's military households in peacetime and accompany the army in wartime. In addition, an herbal medicine shop would be set up in Jingbian Fort, and in the future some medical apprentices would be trained to gather and prepare medicines.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Currently, the Ming army commonly used certain medicines to treat wounds and injuries, but Wang Dou yearned more for something like the Yunnan Baiyao of later ages. He also hoped to develop medical alcohol and military-use gauze and the like. These things would of course take time. Wang Dou first had Wang Tianxue select some clever young people from the fort and get the herbal medicine shop opened first.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for Zheng Jinglun, Wang Dou persuaded him to stay in the fort for two days. When he left, a night scout from the fort accompanied him on the journey.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During this time, Han Chao had been training several night scouts, and it was just the right moment to select a clever and resourceful one to go. From then on, this night scout would be stationed permanently in Wanshenghe to monitor all movements in the department city and its surroundings. Han Chao would also frequently go to the department city under the pretext of buying rice to make contact with this man.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Regarding Zheng Jinglun, Wang Dou was in no hurry to deepen their relationship. He wanted to first see whether this man could be used and whether he could be supported. If he proved usable, Wang Dou would have large-scale plans for the future, but for now the conditions did not permit it — specifically, his financial resources were insufficient.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After handling these matters, Wang Dou issued an order formally prohibiting private feuds among the fort's military households. Any violation would be severely punished. At the same time, Wang Dou was also mulling over the future benefits for military households when they went out to battle. He hoped that his domain would develop a simple and honest custom of honoring public warfare, despising private feuds, and congratulating one another upon hearing of battle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The First Emperor, building upon the accumulated strength of six generations, unified all under heaven and achieved magnificent accomplishments. A major reason for this was the various regulations established by Shang Yang: banning private feuds, banning private debate, making administration transparent, and uniting the people in war to strengthen the army. It was precisely this series of institutions that created the kingly people and the good officials of ancient times in the state of Qin, enabling Qin to ultimately win the realm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was also an important reason for the fall of the Great Ming: in the late Ming, the speech of officials and the common people was excessively free and chaotic, especially the public criticism by the literati among the people, which created endless internal friction. Wang Dou would rather the people under his rule all become silent supporters and opponents than have them endlessly drag things down with their chattering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If possible in the future, Wang Dou would also emulate the twenty-rank military merit nobility system of Qin to strengthen and enhance the combat effectiveness of the army under his rule.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He believed that in the future, with a military household system, a military merit nobility system, and a battle-thirsty populace who congratulated one another upon hearing of war, he would not only be able to survive in this realm under heaven but also secure a place for himself on this stage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou held absolute power and authority within Jingbian Fort. Regarding his prohibition, the fort's military households obeyed with awe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, Wang Dou also refined the duties of the various officers and stewards in the fort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Qi Tianliang managed the logistics troops and was responsible for the fort's farming and irrigation. Zhong Rong managed the fort's documents, the grain and fodder warehouse, and handled disputes among the fort's military households. Yang Tong led one squad of combat troops and was also responsible for miscellaneous matters such as public buildings and roads in the fort. Han Chao specialized in training the night scouts and was responsible for all intelligence reconnaissance and gathering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Han Zhong and Gao Shiyin each led one squad of combat troops and also trained the soldiers of their respective squads in peacetime. Because there were many affairs in the fort, Wang Dou had no time to lead his own squad. Zhong Diaoyang essentially led two squads of combat troops. If Gao Shiyin or Han Zhong were occupied, he was also responsible for training the soldiers of each squad. In managing soldiers, his ability was not inferior to Han Chao's.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Tianxue naturally managed his military medical shop, and Li Maosen managed his craftsmen. In addition, Wang Dou also made slight adjustments to the management of the women in the fort. Widow Tao had a shrewish temperament and worked briskly, so Wang Dou put her in charge of the women who went out to labor. Widow Liu was put in charge of the women who cooked, washed, cleaned, and did other such tasks within the fort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the refinement of duties, each would henceforth attend to their own responsibilities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most of these managers had previously been low-ranking soldiers or petty clerks who had never managed anyone, so it was inevitable that their abilities fell short. However, these were the only people Wang Dou had at his disposal, so he could only let them improve gradually.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the fourth month, Wang Dou had asked Li Maosen to forge a batch of armor. At the time, Wang Dou had transported over four hundred jin of iron from Shunxiang Fort — all good iron that could immediately be used to forge armor and weapons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With this batch of iron, by the middle of the seventh month, Li Maosen had led the fort's blacksmiths in forging twelve sets of iron armor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the early Ming, one set of blue-cloth iron armor required fifty jin and eight liang of iron. After the ninth year of the Hongzhi reign, the Great Ming reformed its armor, reducing the weight so that one set weighed about thirty-five jin. Forging one such set of iron armor still required several tens of jin of iron.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Maosen and his men's method of making armor saved somewhat on materials, but after forging these twelve sets of iron armor, the batch of good iron transported from Shunxiang Fort was completely used up. Even the remaining scraps were carefully stored away to be used later for forging spearheads for long spears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou inspected this batch of iron armor and found it to be truly sturdy, thick, well-made, and practical.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Maosen very much regretted that he had so few raw materials on hand and could not forge armor and weapons on a large scale. What they had before them could only be considered small-scale tinkering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In Wang Dou's current inventory, including what had been captured from the Later Jin army and these twelve sets of iron armor before him, there were twenty sets of iron armor in total. In addition, there were several sets of padded armor and leather armor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From the Later Jin army, they had captured over thirty swords, spears, and shields, and over a dozen infantry bows and horn bows. They had also purchased thirty long spears and ten three-eyed guns from the Dong family village. Since Li Maosen and his men had joined, they had forged a total of forty-one bird guns, fifteen waist sabers, and seventy-four long spears. They had also received over a dozen swords and spears from the division of spoils at the Siqingliang bandit stronghold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These were the sum of Wang Dou's assets.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At present, Wang Dou had five squads of combat troops, two squads of logistics troops, and one squad of night scouts, amounting to a force of over eighty men.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jingbian Fort had one Company Commander, over two hundred males, and over one hundred able-bodied men. For a garrison fort, this use of military strength had already reached its limit. This was also because Jingbian Fort was a military fort, so it could combine farming and warfare, giving it this mobilization advantage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among these soldiers, each combat squad had two sword-and-shield men, who also served as squad leaders, four bird-gun soldiers, and the rest were all long-spear soldiers. The logistics squads were entirely long-spear soldiers. The night scout squad used a more mixed assortment of weapons, according to each man's own preferences and habits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After issuing one weapon to each soldier in every squad, there were hardly any weapons left in the armory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a garrison fort, such military strength and weaponry were sufficient, but for Wang Dou, they were far from enough.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The problem of raw materials troubled Wang Dou. The sources of iron were few, and every jin of iron had to be calculated and recalculated before use. Forging armor, firearms, and waist sabers was especially iron-consuming.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps he could forge more long spears — shave wood for the shafts, and one furnace of iron could easily produce several dozen spearheads. In the future, he could even issue a long spear to every woman in the fort's military households. As long as there was a steady stream of manpower, these long-spear soldiers could be trained for three months and then sent to the battlefield.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, without the cover of long-range firearms and shields, once these long-spear soldiers went to the battlefield, they would be in danger of becoming targets in future battles against the Qing troops. After all, incoming bullets were invisible, but the arrows shot by the nomadic peoples were visible. Standing there foolishly waiting to be shot would test a man's psychological endurance far too greatly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To produce more firearms and more swords and spears, relying solely on buying iron was not a solution. It would be best to mine and smelt the iron himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his later life, Wang Dou had been fairly knowledgeable about late Ming history and had also studied the geography of Hebei and Shanxi quite deeply. According to his understanding, the place called Baoanzhou, known in later ages as Zhuoluxian, was quite rich in mineral resources. There was coal, iron, manganese, gold, silver, lead, and zinc. The reserves of limestone, marble, and gypsum were also abundant, along with various kinds of pyrite, phosphate rock, zeolite, sepiolite, and more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Smelting iron required coal. The coal in Baoanzhou was mainly distributed in places later known as Wujiagou, Huzhuang, and other areas, with reserves of over twenty million tons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Iron ore was also found in many places in Baoan. In later ages, Zhuoluxian had total iron reserves of over three hundred million tons. If mined, it would be enough for Wang Dou to use for several hundred years. However, these places were not currently under his control, so mining there would be very difficult.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only in a certain place in Huiyao Fort was there a hematite deposit, with proven reserves in later ages of over two million tons and a medium-to-low iron content. At present, Zhong Dayong was serving there as the squad commander of Huiyao Fort. This was the only place Wang Dou could think of for now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was also limestone. In later ages, the Taipingbao area of Zhuoluxian had limestone reserves of over three hundred million tons, and most of the ore body was exposed, with a low stripping ratio, making it easy to open-pit mine. If he wanted to build kilns to fire red bricks and lime in the future, that place was also a resource.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To make firearms, a large amount of gunpowder and saltpeter would be needed in the future. Since the fifth month, Wang Dou had selected a group of men from the fort to help Li Maosen manufacture fixed paper cartridge ammunition. They had produced quite a few paper cartridges, but the gunpowder and saltpeter purchased from outside were being consumed rapidly. Baoanzhou had no saltpeter mines. Relying on indigenous methods like collecting human and animal waste could accumulate some saltpeter, but in the future it would certainly be far from enough to meet demand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How to find a source of saltpeter was also a problem.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, the most pressing issue for Wang Dou at the moment was that the money and grain left in the fort were running low again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>。\u003C\u002Fp>",2194,"2026-06-03T14:05:19.908Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","78174bc8ca9b7aee2327e96d125ef769493f7338b7ccfdba160020718ff8ee41","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-56","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-54",896,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fa-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-cover.jpg"]