[{"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-633":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},1205922,1561,"Chapter 633: Public Trial","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-633",633,"\u003Cp>Rights and obligations complement each other; to enjoy rights one must also fulfill obligations, and vice versa. In this world there are no rights without obligations, nor obligations without rights.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under the Bakufu's three categories of household registration, Han registrants enjoy all rights; naturalized registrants enjoy employment rights, education rights, and a portion of commercial rights. Foreign registrants enjoy partial employment rights, education rights, and a very small portion of commercial rights, such as setting up a small street stall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Foreigners under foreign registration, upon verification that their hands are unstained by Han blood, that they have resided within the territory for a set period, are proficient in the Han language, and possess a sense of identification with the Han people, may apply for naturalized registration: growing out their hair, changing their attire, and changing their name, regardless of whether they are barbarians from beyond the frontier or from any other nation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Eastern Circuit currently has a population of over six hundred thousand. After the future delineation, Han registrants will make up the overwhelming majority. In fact, the population composition of the Eastern Circuit consists of the military households of Baoan Prefecture, plus the several hundred thousand disaster victims brought back by Wang Dou, plus the refugees and disaster victims who have flowed in over the years, plus some of the original military and civilian households of the Eastern Circuit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These people have basically all been resettled within the various garrison forts. Moreover, because of the establishment of new garrison forts, the original military and civilian households of the various cities fled en masse, secretly escaping into the newly established forts. After the delineation, most of these people will be Han registrants; the old civilian households are already very few.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Therefore, the three categories of household registers are actually most advantageous to the ordinary common folk. Moreover, they have nothing at all; they only need to gain the slightest bit and they will be overwhelmed with gratitude. Especially if they are allotted farmland, they will be utterly devoted to the Bakufu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These people are also the primary targets of recruitment for the Civil Affairs Department and the Naturalization Department. When refugees enter the territory, the dark, stout, hardy, and honest country folk among them will be sent first to the various newly established garrison forts. Within a short time, they will be issued naturalized registration, and after residing in the garrison fort for a set period, they can basically become Han registrants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What Wang Dou values most is the independent peasant proprietor class. These people are his most ironclad supporters. Ninety-nine percent of the soldiers in the army also come from this class.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for the gentry, officials, scholars, merchants, shop assistants, shopkeepers, and city slickers who enter the territory, they are not among those sent to the garrison forts. They must also proceed slowly, step by step, from the blue booklet to the green booklet, and then to the red booklet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, at present, transitioning from naturalized registration to Han registration is actually still easy; one only needs to pay grain and taxes according to the law.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou does not even require them to swear an oath of loyalty. Within the atmosphere of the Bakufu, after they join the Han registration, there is only the path of integration, because later they will discover that for a multitude of reasons, they have no choice but to defend the interests of their own group.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Making officials, merchants, and gentry all pay grain and taxes according to the law — this is, in fact, the greatest purpose behind Wang Dou's establishment of the three-tier household registration system.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xinzhuang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Xinzhuang of today is no longer as it was in the past — outwardly decent but inwardly decayed and filthy, just like Jingbian Fort across the way. Its houses are equally orderly, its streets clean and tidy, and the residents coming and going have rosy complexions and walk with a vigorous, spirited gait.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In front of Xinzhuang Fort stands a large stele, along with an enormously tall statue of Wang Dou. Vying with Jingbian Fort over being Wang Dou's native homeland has the unanimous support of everyone within the fort, from top to bottom.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fort residents have reason to be proud: from a mere tiny fort emerged such a great talent as the Marquis of Yongning. Oh, and there is also Xu Yue'e, the young lady Xu, who is every bit as formidable as any man.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When away from home, whenever these two are mentioned, everyone shares in the reflected glory. They have completely forgotten how, back in the day, the entire fort unanimously reviled Xu Yue'e and even drove her away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Li family residence in the west of the village remains a sprawling compound of multiple courtyards. Now that Xinzhuang has become a military fort, apart from the Li family, the villagers have almost all become military households. And because so many tenant farmers have fled, the Li family has had no choice but to improve the treatment of the remaining tenants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside the study, the head of the Li family, Li Jichen, is deep in thought. He wears a square scholar's cap and a long scholar's robe. Although nearing sixty, his face is still refined and handsome, exceptionally well-preserved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The steward stands in attendance beside him, merely awaiting the family head's decision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After pondering for a long while, his deep, resonant voice sounded: \"This is an opportunity. Fu Bo, tomorrow, invite Fort Commander Jia here and make it clear to him that my Li family will fully join the military households, become Han registrants, and pay grain and taxes according to the law.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The steward was taken aback: \"Master, must we truly do this? If we truly pay grain and taxes according to the law, it will be no small sum.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Jichen sighed: \"Fu Bo, you have followed me since you were young. I will speak to you from the heart: the tide cannot be opposed.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He said: \"Xinzhuang is the native soil of the Marquis of Yongning. If even the village elders and folk do not support him, how would he view people like us? Moreover, Yunluo has married Vice General Zhong, and General Zhong is a trusted senior commander of the Marquis of Yongning, and furthermore serves as the garrison commander of the Eastern Circuit. We ought to set an example...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He fell silent again, lost in thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Slowly, a faint smile appeared on his face again: \"Furthermore, the Eastern Circuit is now booming and flourishing. The profits from local products are gradually falling short of those from factory industries. In commercial ventures beyond the frontier and the like, if one does not pay grain and taxes, one cannot invest in many industries, nor can one serve as an official or a military officer. This is of critical importance, a grand strategy for our descendants. We must not lose the greater for the lesser.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The gentry are actually shrewd. In the past, when they made a fortune through officialdom or commerce, they would buy land and property. However, with the development of the Eastern Circuit, the gains of others are right before their eyes, visible to all. Attracted by this atmosphere, many gentry have, in fact, gradually changed their thinking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In particular, without Han registration, one cannot join the military, cannot become an official, cannot even serve as a clerk — this cuts right to their very bones. And resist? The blood of countless officials, officers, and merchants has already proven that this path is impassable. Toward those who resist, the Marquis of Yongning is cold and merciless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Therefore, after repeatedly weighing his options, Li Jichen made his choice. Not to mention, compared to others, he had even more reasons to do so.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thinking of the amount the Li family would have to pay, the steward still felt pained at heart, but he knew that the master's decision was the wise choice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During the first month of the year, the Eastern Circuit, already seething with excitement over the Bakufu's three-tier household registration system, was rocked by another heavyweight piece of news: the great gentry family and great merchant house of Baoan Prefecture, the Li family of Xinzhuang, announced to the public that all their landholdings, shops, mines, livestock enterprises, and so on, would pay grain and taxes in full according to the law.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The gentry of the Eastern Circuit were in an uproar. Countless people secretly cursed Li Jichen as a degenerate, a traitor, a treacherous scoundrel, and so on. But curses aside, considering the disadvantages of not joining the Han registration, like a chain reaction, one after another, gentry and merchants continuously announced that they too would pay grain and taxes according to the law and join the Han registration.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To commend Li Jichen's exemplary leading role, the Bakufu afterward announced the conferral upon Li Jichen of the Senior Soldier honor rank, normally reserved solely for military personnel, and the selection of one member of his clan to study at the Xuanzhen Military Academy or the Civil Affairs Academy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ma Guoxi, the Military Defense Circuit Intendant of Huailong, reacted to this: the fewer civilian and gentry households in the Eastern Circuit, the more relentlessly the imperial court pressed for taxes. He expressed hope that the Marquis of Yongning could provide some assistance with the summer tax and autumn grain due to the imperial court. The Bakufu granted his request.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the Bakufu's delineation of the three household registration categories, whether in Xuan-Da or the outside world, many gentry and merchants wished they could devour Wang Dou's flesh and sleep on his skin. For centuries, they had enjoyed all manner of rights but were unwilling to bear even a shred of obligation, and what's more, this had become their natural and unquestioned mindset.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some among them, seeing Wang Dou's vigorous development, had not been without thoughts of joining the Bakufu to fish in troubled waters and reap benefits. It was just that this hope was now utterly extinguished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without paying grain and taxes, one cannot join the Han registration, and without that, one has no right to join the military, enter politics, serve as an official, serve as a clerk, or serve as an instructor. Many highly profitable commercial enterprises and industries would also never fall to them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They wanted to reap rewards but were unwilling to give the slightest bit, nor had they experienced the changes and temptations of the Eastern Circuit up close. Naturally, they flew into a thunderous rage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Therefore, the furious outcry from the outside world was naturally understandable. When the news reached Shengjing, Dorgon was naturally overjoyed and exclaimed with a laugh: \"Truly, Heaven aids me!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Initially, his stratagem of sowing discord had already created rifts between the sovereign and ministers of the Great Ming. Wang Dou's move would make the Great Ming's emperor and high officials even more wary of him, winning opportunity and time for the Great Qing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In truth, the effectiveness of sowing discord depends on the people involved; mutual suspicion and a certain foundation are required for it to work. Trying to drive a wedge between Wang Dou and his subordinates, for instance, would naturally be impossible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Qing court was filled with joy. Of course, there were no lack of worried ministers: \"The greater Wang Dou's power grows, though his opponents are many, before the might of his army's guns and cannons, they are nothing but clay chickens and pottery dogs. Will their opposition truly be effective?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a barbaric people, they often saw certain things more clearly. Just as Wang Dou openly confiscated the property of the Shanxi merchants, yet all parties were helpless to do anything about it, this proved the point.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Wanwo explained on behalf of his master: \"Of course it is effective. Although the traitor Wang's power grows increasingly formidable, at this moment he is still but a subject. The sovereign and ministers of the Ming state still hold the name of righteous authority. Merely by restraining and containing him, we win precious time for our Great Qing to recuperate and build our strength!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the fifteenth day of the first month of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, this day was originally the Lantern Festival. Yet the open ground west of Yongning City, stretching to the military camp, was a sea of people, packed layer upon layer, with no end in sight and no boundary visible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Today was the day of the public trial and sentencing of the treacherous merchants and their accomplices. Upon hearing this news, not only did the soldiers, civilians, gentry, and merchants of the Eastern Circuit turn out in droves — leaving the streets empty — to watch the excitement, but also from Xuanfu Garrison City, from the other circuits of Xuanfu Garrison, and even from outside Xuanfu Garrison — from the capital, from Shanxi, and other places — great crowds of people came flooding in.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A colossal high platform for the trial had already been erected. Outside the security cordon stood soldiers of the Jingbian Army, each standing tall and proud, holding back the tide-like crowds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the platform, a huge canopy had also been set up. Seated beneath it were a dense array of high officials and eminent nobles: officials from the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, and the Court of Judicial Review; Ji Shiwei, Viceroy of Xuan-Da; Zhu Zhifeng, Provincial Governor of Xuanfu; and Wei Jingyuan, Provincial Governor of Datong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was Ma Guoxi, the Military Defense Circuit Intendant of Huailong; Wu Zhi, the Department Magistrate of Yanqing; plus the various civil and military officials of the Eastern Circuit's cities, some high-ranking officials from outside, the Marquis of Yongning Wang Dou, the Minister of Revenue Ni Yuanlu, and the Imperial Envoy Wang Dehua, all seated together in observation...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the front of the platform stood Fan Yongdou, Liang Jiabin, Tian Shenglan, Zhai Tang, Jin Liangyu, Fan Qinluan, Lai Tianlu, and others, along with their clansmen, all with heads hanging dejectedly, listening in terror and trepidation as Eastern Circuit officials loudly denounced them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because the various judicial departments were not yet fully established, the provision of criminal evidence was also handled by the Eastern Circuit Bakufu. Thus, the one reading out the charges at this moment was Chi Dacheng, an official of the Pacification and Surveillance Office.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"...The treacherous merchants, long ago colluding with the Tatar slaves, sold grain and goods, funded villains, stopping at nothing in their evil.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"...In the early years of Chongzhen, famine raged unceasingly within the Eastern Slave territory. The slave people exchanged their children for food. The price of rice reached as high as eighty taels per shi, and cloth and silk twenty taels per bolt. Just as the thieving slaves were about to freeze and starve to death, and the court's eastern troubles were to be resolved without worry! It was these villains, using Zhangjiakou as their base, who transported vast quantities of grain and goods, causing the price of rice in the slave territory to ultimately drop to one tael for four shi, turning disaster into safety. Thereafter, the eastern troubles worsened without cease!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"In the tenth year of Chongzhen, the slave chieftain Hong Taiji even ordered Manchu ministers to go to Guihua City and summon a hundred treacherous merchants, bringing large quantities of goods to trade illicitly...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"These villains not only funded the Eastern Slaves, but also provided intelligence to the thieving slaves. This official holds in his hands a great deal of proof that the treacherous merchants of each family provided intelligence to the Tatar slaves, detailed down to the names of the defending officers at every pass, the number of troops, the specifics of their equipment, and the combat strength of the armies. There are even a considerable number of military intelligence reports!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The fall of Shenyang, Liaoyang, and other places, and the several incursions by the Eastern Slaves, all involved the foul deeds of these villains!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chi Dacheng brandished the documents in his hand and shouted sternly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The officials of the Three Judicial Offices on the platform, the civil and military officials of Xuan-Da, Wang Dehua, and the others all listened in horror. They were all aware of the treacherous merchants' smuggling, but that their crimes were so monstrously heinous and so utterly depraved was something they had never imagined.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The masses below the platform also listened, stunned and speechless, in a complete and utter silence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly, the countless tens of thousands of people below the platform erupted like an explosion, their furious curses and shouts like a mountain crumbling and a sea roaring: \"Kill them, kill them, kill them!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Death by slow slicing, death by slow slicing, death by slow slicing!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fan Yongdou and the others turned ashen-faced, their whole bodies trembling without cease. (To be continued.)\u003C\u002Fp>",2807,"2026-06-03T14:06:10.567Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","ca1d4a1cf891eff81e47df7852c2f92dc40c0f5eb527a1edb754e8c01e8c7d62","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-634","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-632",896,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fa-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-cover.jpg"]