[{"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-56":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},1205345,1561,"Chapter 56","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-56",56,"\u003Cp>Ever since Jingbian Fort was established, the lives of its military households had constantly drawn the attention of surrounding military and civilian households. From the beginning of this year, military households and commoners had been coming one after another to seek refuge with Wang Dou, eventually bringing the fort's population to over a Company Commander and more than four hundred people — making it a large garrison fort known far and wide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Jingbian Fort harvested its grain in the sixth month of this year, Wang Dou made good on his promise: in the first year, no tax grain was levied on the military households, and all the fields' produce belonged to them. Even if the millet and sorghum on their allotted land yielded only a few dou per mu, those thirty-some households who received land still got over a dozen dan of grain from twenty mu, and after autumn they could plant winter wheat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at so much grain in their hands, many military households wept with joy. So in the land reclamation that followed, everyone worked with tremendous drive — if they could get another twenty or thirty mu of land, their lives would be stable and free from worry. With these military households as examples before them, the later arrivals worked with equal drive, going out to labor every day under Qi Tianliang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was also why the military households of Jingbian Fort now both revered and feared Wang Dou. Without him, none of them would have their present good lives; their interests were tightly bound to his.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Jingbian Fort's grain harvest in the sixth month, the lives of its military households were talked about all over Shunxiang Fort and even spread far to other battalion headquarters. In times like these, having enough to eat and a stable place to live was a heaven-like existence — what did a day's labor matter?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From mid-sixth month to now, mid-seventh month, military households and refugees kept coming every day to seek shelter. They built small huts around Jingbian Fort to live in, hoping only that Wang Dou would take them in and let them become Jingbian Fort military households. Counting all these people, it looked like another several dozen households.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Toward these people seeking refuge, Wang Dou felt both joy and worry. The joy was that he had always lacked population, and these arrivals could greatly strengthen his power. The worry was that the fort had little money and grain left; if all these people joined, he probably wouldn't have enough to support them. Even the forty dan of rice just transported from Wanshenghe Rice Shop wouldn't last long.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First and foremost, Wang Dou had to guarantee the priority survival rights of Jingbian Fort's existing military households.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But how could Wang Dou let these people slip away? He instructed Madam Liu to cook some porridge daily to keep them alive, while selecting the sturdier men and women among them to work in the fields and livestock yards. For the time being, Wang Dou did not let these people join the Jingbian Fort military households, nor did he allow them to live inside the fort; he only had Zhong Rong register their names in the books.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These people lived around Jingbian Fort, and every day all they hoped for was the day they could join the fort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing the plight of these people, the fort's military households felt proud, but also developed some hostility toward them, fearing these people would snatch away their quotas and rations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou calculated that the fort's current money and grain could only last one or two months. It seemed he had to go suppress bandits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With the addition of this new labor force, Wang Dou pulled out four squads of combat troops — two veteran squads, one recruit squad, and one night-scout squad. He had them stop laboring and resume training. At the same time, Han Chao's night-scout squad would no longer need to labor from now on; they would just train and reconnoiter every day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While these squads resumed training, Wang Dou sent Han Chao to lead that night-scout squad to various places to scout for bandit traces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With the Great Ming's natural and man-made disasters, bandits were as numerous as ox hairs everywhere. Although Baoan Department lay in the heartland of the garrison region, bandits still ran rampant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To Wang Dou, these bandits were all sources of wealth. However, every guard battalion and fort in the Great Ming had its own defense boundaries, and reaching across borders was a major taboo — especially for a garrison fort like Wang Dou's. Perhaps he should select a few squads, have them disguise themselves as bandits, and frequently cross the border to do some bandit-robbing-bandit work?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A few days after Han Chao led the night scouts out, news soon came back: on the mountains near Shunxiang Fort, Huiyao Fort, and Luanzhuang, several small bands of bandits were holed up, ranging from a dozen to several dozen men each, going out from time to time to raid homes, rob, kidnap, and extort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These places were all mountainous and hilly terrain, the easiest for hiding bandits, and the bandit numbers were not large — just right for his own bandit-suppression, troop-training, and money-making. Although none of these areas were within Wang Dou's defense zone — Luanzhuang in particular was even part of another battalion headquarters' territory — under the pressure of survival, Wang Dou could not worry about all that anymore. He gritted his teeth: do it!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In late seventh month, Wang Dou had Han Chao, Han Zhong, Gao Shiyin, and Zhong Diaoyang take turns leading troops out to battle. They wiped out several small mountain bandit bands nearby, seizing from the bandit lairs a total of several hundred taels of silver, several dozen weapons, a dozen or so horses and mules, and over two hundred dan of grain and rice — greatly easing the fort's survival pressure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at these captured supplies, Wang Dou and his men all had gleaming eyes. Sure enough, suppressing bandits brought money fast, kept the people safe, and allowed troops to train in real combat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After rewarding the soldiers who went to battle with a portion of the captured supplies according to merit, and seeing that the surrounding forts still showed no reaction at all, Wang Dou's mind grew even more active. He was pondering whether he should look farther and be bolder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the end of the seventh month, Wang Dou completely freed the five combat squads, two logistics squads, and one night-scout squad from the land, resuming full training for all. At the same time, he newly formed two more combat squads. Thus, counting the night scouts and logistics troops, Wang Dou now had a force of one hundred twenty men — all in their prime — far exceeding Zhang Gui, the Company Commander of Dongjiazhuang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even Xu Zhongjun, the Garrison Commander of Shunxiang Fort, had only three hundred troops at present, and among them were probably many empty-payroll slots and the old and weak. The combat-effective force under Xu Zhongjun was just his one squad of fifty retainers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These one hundred twenty troops comprised most of Jingbian Fort's able-bodied young men. For these full-time soldiers, Wang Dou would henceforth use captured gains to support them. In normal times these soldiers could eat their fill, but they received no grain pay — only after battles would captured rewards be distributed. After several bandit-suppression victories, everyone had gained something to varying degrees, which made their desire for battle very high.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Supporting war with war greatly reduced the pressure on Wang Dou to maintain troops. At the same time, Wang Dou was brewing a big operation. He needed a large sum of money — at minimum, a haul like last year's raid on the Sijingliang bandit stronghold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By the end of the seventh month, the proceeds from Wang Dou's several bandit-suppression operations gave him the confidence to accept all the military households and refugees seeking shelter outside the fort as Jingbian Fort military households, filling these new military households with wild joy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>According to Zhong Rong's register, these military households and refugees numbered over sixty households and nearly three hundred people, including over one hundred thirty males and more than fifty able-bodied young men. Adding these new military households, Jingbian Fort now had one hundred seventy households and seven hundred people, with nearly two hundred able-bodied men — making it a very large garrison fort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou accepted all these newcomers as Jingbian Fort military households, but still had them live outside the fort. The living population inside the fort was already saturated, and space still needed to be reserved inside for public buildings — such as temples, a stage, memorial arches, a military merit shrine, and the like. If all these people moved inside the fort, it would certainly be extremely crowded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou had the fort's craftsmen lay out several plots of land along the outside of Jingbian Fort and build several barracks along the fort's exterior. Later, when money, grain, and population increased, he would consider building a new fort wall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou had the several squads of able-bodied combat troops train every day, and the logistics troops did the same. The remaining military households continued reclaiming land, raising pigs, and growing vegetables. Not a single person in the entire fort's military households was allowed to slack off.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Coming from a later era, Wang Dou of course knew the importance of a base area. Right now, bandit-suppression gains could support some troops, but when external demand flagged one day, the money and grain to support troops and people would need to be driven by his own territory and population. So the management of his own land could not slacken.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By late seventh month of the eighth year of Chongzhen, as Jingbian Fort's population grew and its reputation quietly spread, some merchants sought out Wang Dou, hoping he would allow them to open shops inside the fort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Never mind that land inside the fort was currently tight — even if these merchants buying land and building houses inside the fort could earn Wang Dou some money, he was not interested.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Toward merchants of the late Ming, Wang Dou had always been full of wariness! Many merchant houses in the Nine Frontier Garrisons were spies for the Later Jin army. Even those who were not spies often passed them information and provided intelligence. The falls of Tieling, Kaiyuan, Fushun, Liaoyang, and other places in the late Wanli years were all ruined by internal traitors opening the gates and collaborating.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou had no wish for such a fate to befall his Jingbian Fort one day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, some merchant goods were things he needed. After careful consideration, Wang Dou decided to implement an examination-and-verification system and establish a merchant market-registration system.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These merchants were only permitted to buy land and set up shops outside the fort's Yongning Gate along both sides of the main road. Moreover, they had to bring their household certificates to apply to Jingbian Fort for a market-registration business permit. Only after registration and approval would they obtain the right to reside outside the fort, and they also had to pay a certain rent tax before being allowed to build shops outside the fort and engage in commercial selling and other business operations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This kind of merchant market-registration system had been implemented in the early Ming, but by the mid and late Ming, it existed in name only.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, in the Great Ming now, officials and merchants were fused — officials were merchants, and merchants were officials. Many great merchants were sons and younger kin of official families, and they even had their spokesmen at court — such as the Shanxi merchants, the capital merchants, and the Huizhou merchants. Even mid-level merchants everywhere generally had close ties with local officials and gentry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Furthermore, the Great Ming's commercial taxes were extremely low. In the early Ming it was decreed that all commercial taxes were one-thirtieth of the value, and exceeding that was treated as violating the law. In the tenth year of Wanli there was another regulation: for shops with three or fewer employees, tax deeds were waived; purchases under forty taels and pawn values were entirely tax-exempt. Only for purchases reaching forty taels or above was a tax of one fen and five li of silver levied per tael.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The burdens on Ming merchants were very light, and combined with the official-merchant fusion, late Ming merchant power swelled and they were outrageously arrogant, frequently shutting down businesses and markets to coerce the authorities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So Wang Dou wanted strict management of the merchants, with regular audits every few months, and he handed this matter to Zhong Rong to handle. As a low-level grain and tax clerk, Zhong Rong was well-versed in these affairs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, the arrival of these merchants also sparked an idea for Wang Dou. With the increase in military household population at Jingbian Fort, the daily demand for various goods like salt, cloth, medicine, tea, and camellia oil was substantial. In the past, only a few peddlers carrying needles, thread, dyes, scissors, and other small sundries came to sell outside the fort, which was far from meeting the military households' needs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou planned to open a trade market a few li outside Jingbian Fort. From then on, military households and commoners from the surrounding area could bring agricultural and sideline products to the fair on days ending in one, four, or seven, and the fort itself could conveniently purchase useful supplies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Wang Dou's attitude toward them, those merchants were naturally displeased. Those who came to Jingbian Fort could not be any major merchants, but since they had the means to buy land and set up shops, they certainly possessed some strength. Most of these merchants were sons of local gentry or came from prominent families across Baoan Department, and they were usually very well-connected throughout the department city and its towns, yet here they ran into a wall with Wang Dou.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou's attitude inevitably offended them and the powers behind them, but as for what they thought, Wang Dou disdained to care.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, the current population and wealth of Jingbian Fort represented a large customer base. After much deliberation, these merchants still had to comply with Wang Dou's terms, obediently taking their household certificates to apply for market registration and open for business, awaiting future approval.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the thirtieth day of the seventh month, Du Gong, the Company Commander of Shunxiang Fort, came to Jingbian Fort again, all smiles. Accompanying him was his brother-in-law, who ran the cattle market in Shunxiang Fort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>※※※\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old White Bull:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Today and tomorrow will both be single updates. I need to properly adjust my biological clock over these two days to prepare for next week's recommendation push, hoping for a better state next week.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thank you all for your support.\u003C\u002Fp>",2495,"2026-06-03T14:05:19.908Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","bb2a269a977f6845da051f3c2818e12d289df6a612403aedccb935cbd2983d89","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-57","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-55",896,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fa-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-cover.jpg"]