[{"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-610":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},1205899,1561,"Chapter 610: Persuasion","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-610",610,"\u003Cp>Old White Bull: Busy as I am, I steal a moment to write a little. This laptop is dreadful — if I can write five hundred to a thousand words an hour on a desktop, on a laptop I can only manage three hundred to five hundred. Also: Xiamen is just as beautiful; it truly is a garden city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the resolution that day, Wang Dou summoned Wang Pu, Li Yun, and others to speak. Early on the morning of the twenty-second, Yang Guozhu came to find Wang Dou.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Must it truly come to this?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Guozhu knew Wang Dou’s temperament, knew he was not a man to let things rest. Sure enough, when he asked about Wang Dou’s next step, Wang Dou did not hide it and roughly outlined his plan — even Wang Pu and Li Yun would take part in the operation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If this truly happens, court and country will boil over again. The voices questioning Guoqin will grow even louder. And His Majesty’s side…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Guozhu’s face was full of worry. “What if we simply report the treasonous merchants to the imperial court and wait quietly for a ruling? Perhaps His Majesty will give Guoqin an answer, just as he did in the capital matter this time.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou still shook his head and said flatly, “His Majesty can deal with capital officials and high civil mandarins, but local gentry, merchant-military men, powerful magnates and ennobled nobles… Marshal Yang, if His Majesty truly had influence over them, the affairs of state would not have decayed to this point.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou said, “Marshal Yang is a pure soldier. You know little of the dirty dealings within — or perhaps you have overlooked them.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He silently fetched some intelligence reports and placed them before Yang Guozhu, sighing. “…What these treasonous merchants have done can hardly be described as merely shocking. Perhaps the phrase ‘too many crimes to record on all the bamboo’ fits. In their eyes, does the dynasty even exist? And those who collude with them — can they even be called human?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Guozhu leafed through the intelligence; his hands began to tremble uncontrollably.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he saw the evidence in the reports — that the Shanxi merchants’ smuggling and secret dealings were mere routine, and that they had committed far graver crimes, such as supplying the Later Jin, or later the Manchu Qing, with every kind of intelligence, even serving as guides and fences for stolen goods —\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he saw in the reports that every frontier garrison, down to the names of the defending officers at each pass, the number of soldiers, and the specific equipment were all described, and that there were even a considerable number of military situation dispatches, Yang Guozhu’s face had already turned iron-blue, so furious he seemed about to spew fire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He suddenly slammed his palm heavily onto the table with a thunderous boom and roared, “Worthless scum! These rats — in their eyes, is there still a dynasty? Do they have even a shred of heart for country and people?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou watched Yang Guozhu’s utterly enraged expression from the side and said coldly, “It is precisely because of these national traitors that the Tatar slaves rise and invade with impunity, taking cities and seizing territory as if it were nothing. Marshal Yang, think about it. The dynasty’s Shenyang, Liaoyang, Tieling, Changping — which of those cities was not high and deep? If the defenders had only put in a little effort, given the Tatars’ siege capability, which of those cities could have been easily taken? To be blunt, they do not even have the ability to take a prefectural seat, a department seat, or even a county seat!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then why did these key cities fall one after another? Every time the eastern slaves invaded, why were dozens of cities lost each time? It was because of internal traitors and collaborators within!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“They opened the gates and surrendered the cities. They deluded the people. They set family and country aside, all for their paltry profits!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou sneered. “Do the treasonous merchants’ backers and protectors not understand what they have done? Are their eyes truly blind? No! They know perfectly well. Some even share in the spoils. They would rather play the blind fool — just so they can keep undermining the dynasty, keep digging until this state totters on the verge of collapse!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou said, “Marshal Yang may know that I sent my subordinates everywhere to distribute evidence of the treasonous merchants’ crimes. Do you know what their protective umbrellas behind them said? They said the matter was pure fabrication. They called it slander. They said I was slandering them. No matter how much evidence of their crimes, they dismissed it just the same!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou looked at Yang Guozhu. “Marshal Yang, if you were me, tell me — what should I do?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Guozhu shook his head painfully. “Guoqin, I don’t know. I truly don’t know…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He murmured, “You know me. I only want to fight for the country with a peaceful mind. Other matters… I am not skilled at them either…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With trembling hands, he picked up an intelligence document. It recorded that some officers under his command, even officers and generals of the main army camp, had all, to varying degrees, accepted favors from the treasonous merchants. Even his own trusted central-army general, Guo Yingxian, was not exempt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at the deeds recorded above, and matching them against his own experience and judgment, Yang Guozhu knew this intelligence could not be false. His eyes stared blankly. “Why is it like this?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He shut his eyes in anguish. “Why is it like this?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He did not know what to say. He just kept shaking his head. “Guoqin, you know the kind of man I am. Fighting the Tatars with real spears and real blades — I am not afraid. Other matters… those schemes and calculations, I have always kept them at arm’s length… Yet so many things keep coming to my door. Just like… the New Army farmland under my command — so many official-merchants and magnates want to lay their hands on it. I labor just to protect it, yet I constantly feel my will is there but my strength is not.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Guozhu slowly shed tears. “This time, the brothers in the New Army camp suffered many casualties, but they had no complaints. When I had to go to Jizhen, they did not say a word against it; they were all willing to follow me. Only… Guoqin, I am truly afraid — afraid of failing the brothers…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the end, this old general broke down in loud sobs. “Send me to the battlefield, I am not afraid. I am only afraid of failing the brothers, afraid that in the end I cannot even protect their family property and farmland, that their wives and children will suffer hunger and cold. I am afraid.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching this battle-hardened old general weep like a child, full of fragility and helplessness, Wang Dou felt a pang of pain in his heart as well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He placed his hand on Yang Guozhu’s shoulder and said, word by word, “Marshal Yang need only be at ease. The New Army farmland in Xuanfu Garrison — that is Marshal Yang’s heart’s blood. Anyone who dares seize the soldiers’ farmland shall be seizing my family’s farmland. I will surely put them to death!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Guozhu raised his head and nodded gratefully to Wang Dou.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He sighed deeply, drew a deep breath, and said to Wang Dou with a solemn expression, “Guoqin, rest assured. The matter of my subordinates, I will handle myself.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou shook his head. “Marshal Yang need not go that far. Your subordinate officers are still relatively lightly entangled with the traitors. If we truly held everyone to account, among the officers and generals of the three garrisons of Xuan-Da, not one in ten could escape death.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He said, “Precisely because the stakes are so high, this time I am targeting only the treasonous merchants. The remaining traitors — I will deal with them slowly in the days to come.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This country’s privileged class has grown far too drunk on its own arrogance. The dynasty has treated them too well, making them selfish, domineering, foolish, and insolent. It is time someone dealt with them and doused them with cold water!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou looked at Yang Guozhu. “And that person is me! This is also the mission Heaven has assigned me by sending me to the Great Ming. Marshal Yang, I must do this. Otherwise, not only will the Great Ming surely perish, but our civilization will also plunge into an abyss of eternal doom!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Guozhu sighed deeply. He said, “Guoqin, this time…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou raised his hand to stop him. “This time, Marshal Yang need not take part.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He said, “I only need Marshal Yang to understand me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He said, “You know, having reached my current status and position, my friends are already few.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Guozhu nodded heavily, then sighed. “I only hope it ends quickly, and that little blood is shed.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou said, “Marshal Yang, rest assured. My Jingbian Army is not a rabble of rebels, not a roving bandit horde. Naturally, we will not harm the innocent.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Guozhu said, “I believe you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He thought for a moment, then had Wang Dou spread out a map. Pointing to a place, he said, “I know little of the other garrisons in Xuan-Da, but as for Xuanfu Garrison, this Zhangjiakou — I can explain the local situation to you in detail.” (To be continued. Welcome to Qidian to cast recommendation votes and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)\u003C\u002Fp>",1622,"2026-06-03T14:06:10.567Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","0b3808fd1faf2bc7d960dc15a65bcbb8f944409b727c3ae9cc5b8de2ed9b8b82","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-611","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-609",896,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fa-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-cover.jpg"]