[{"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-654":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},1205943,1561,"Chapter 654: The Gram and Left Five Camps","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-654",654,"\u003Cp>In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, late in the fourth month, in Henan, at Runing Prefecture.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Dragon Boat Festival was fast approaching, yet on the eastern bank of the Little Yellow River east of Luoshan County seat, as if a storm had suddenly descended, countless armored cavalry, fierce and swift, came surging forth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Rumble, rumble...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The horse columns stretched endlessly; every rider in the saddle was tough and battle-hardened. The banners they carried bore mostly the characters \"Ma,\" \"He,\" \"Liu,\" \"Lin,\" \"Luo,\" \"Zhang,\" and the like. Many wore felt hats with waist-length armor or short body-covering brigandines, or wrapped their heads in scarves and wore padded protective jackets. Every man was an expert horseman, and some even rode with a spare horse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The vast torrent of horse columns spread across the plains from the Guangshan and Guangzhou region, shaking the earth without cease, their dust clouds surging skyward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Splash, splash, splash, splash.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Facing the Little Yellow River before them, ten thousand horses charged straight in, making the river's flow seem to halt. Only when they reached midstream did the riders each lift their feet onto the saddle or clutch their horses' heads, crossing the river just like that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, on the northern bank of the Huai River, great banners bearing the character \"Chuang\" clustered thickly, and an equally dense mass of cavalry was crossing south.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though the Huai waters were broad, these mounted riders, in groups of several dozen, each group forming a single line, either hugged their horses' heads or gripped their horses' tails, and crossed as if riding the wind. The Huai River, too, seemed to stop flowing; horse after horse reached the opposite bank, their hooves caked with mud.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The spectacle of tens of thousands of cavalry crossing the river was exceedingly magnificent. For the Chuang army, water they feared only the Yellow River; rivers like the Huai, the Si, the Jing, and the Wei were all crossed by tens of thousands lifting their feet onto the saddle, or clutching manes and trailing tails.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Reporting to Master Ma, Master He, Master Liu, Master Lin, and also Master Cao, Master Sun, and all the chiefs of the Junior Yuchi: our great army has completely surrounded the imperial court's Capital Training Corps Regional Commander Sun Yingyuan at Luoshan. He cannot escape even if he sprouted wings...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On a hillock several li from the eastern bank of the Little Yellow River, forward scouts were reporting to a group of men standing by their horses. These men were precisely the five camp leaders of the Left-Gram Alliance: Old Hui Ma Shouying, Gram-Eye He Yilong, Left Gold King He Jin, World-Changer Liu Xiyao, and World-in-Chaos Lin Yangcheng.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Also present were Luo Rucai's division, which had joined forces with the Left-Gram Five Camps the previous year, and the remnants of Zhang Xianzhong's division: the forces of Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because Zhang Xianzhong had died, according to the custom of the time, his adopted sons Zhang Dingguo, Zhang Kewang, and the others all changed their surnames back to their original family names. Zhang Dingguo restored his original name, Li Dingguo. Zhang Kewang restored his original name, Sun Kewang, and at the same time changed the character \"Wang\" to \"Wang,\" settling on the name Sun Kewang — no one knew his intent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Where is the court's Regional Commander, Ding Qirui, right now?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"His entire force is in the Xiangyang, Suizhou, and Yingshan region. Hearing how mighty our army is, he hesitates and dares not come to the rescue. The government troops of the various provinces are all likewise too afraid to come.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ha ha ha ha! Good! Right now Yellow Charger Huang Degong is at Fengyang and cannot reach us in time, and the Chuang King's great army is not far from Xinyang. They already killed one of the court's Regional Commanders, Meng Ruhu, at Nanyang. Now it seems we too can kill a Regional Commander of the court and boost the prestige of all our camps.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Indeed. The situation now is stronger than any man. Seeing the tide cannot be turned, that Ding Qirui again wants to persuade us to surrender and accept amnesty. I recall in the thirteenth year, Army Supervisor Circuit Yang Zhuoran came running to see us, attempting to use glib words to induce us to accept the court's amnesty. I remember how we answered then?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"'We all possess unsurpassed talents, yet the court has no use for us. That is why we all became bandits because of famine. If the state handled matters properly, how do you know we could not become men of loyalty and righteousness? Moreover, I have heard that Liu Guoneng, Li Wanqing, and over ten other camps have surrendered one after another, pledged their lives to the state, and toiled in the ranks. Do you think we alone cannot do the same? But our numbers exceed a hundred thousand — where would you place us? Who would be our master? Where would our pay and provisions come from? And with what official rank would you treat us?'\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We didn't surrender then — should we surrender now? Serving as officials for the court is nowhere near as comfortable as our present life. Once we kill Sun Yingyuan, we will shake the whole realm even more.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ha ha, it also relied on Master Cao's brilliant stratagem to lure the enemy deep and trap Sun Yingyuan. The two chiefs, Sun and Li, also contributed greatly.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Judging by the circumstances, this realm, after all, belongs to our righteous army...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Laughter rose continuously from the hillock, a hubbub of discussion, all in Shaanxi accents. The Eight Great Kings Zhang Xianzhong, the Chuang General Li Zicheng, Cao Cao Luo Rucai, World-in-Chaos, Gram-Eye He Yilong, and the others all originated from the very first Thirty-Six Camps, and the leaders of the Thirty-Six Camps were mostly men of Shaanxi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meanwhile, on the northern bank of the Huai River, the Chuang King Li Zicheng watched his troops tramping across the surging waters of the Huai River southward and listened to the reports of the returning scouts. An excited look spread across his face: \"Good! The Left-Gram Five Camps have already completely encircled Sun Yingyuan at Luoshan. To prevent his force from breaking out, our army must send a large force to assist. We can kill yet another Regional Commander of the court as a congratulatory gift for the joining of our two armies.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Niu Jinxing murmured beside him: \"Chuang King, the troops of the Gram and Left Five Camps are very numerous, and men like Luo Rucai are equally outstanding in cunning and strategy. If we can gather them in, it will surely make our righteous army's momentum even greater...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, early in the fifth month, in Henan Prefecture, near Mount Santu in Song County.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A burst of gunfire and shouting came from outside the encampment. By the time Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen emerged from the camp, the raiding bandits had already vanished, leaving only the corpses of some bandits and government soldiers. One of the government soldiers had been carved up so that the flesh from his thighs down was completely gone, leaving only stark white bone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, his nose and ears had also been entirely cut off, and his tongue had been severed as well. His lifeless eyes merely stared at several bandits hanging from a wooden pole not far away. They hung like chickens, trussed upside down by their feet, their throats cut — cruelly executed to terrorize the bandits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Evidently, the raiding bandits had carried out retaliation. They had seized patrolling or outlying government soldiers, tortured and killed them, then risked their lives to dump the bodies outside the camp, beneath the wooden pole, to demonstrate their resolve.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at this brother who had died a death too horrible to bear, the officers and men in the camp all gnashed their teeth in bitter hatred, yet at the same time felt somewhat lost. These bandits always harassed them like this but never faced them in open battle. Were they, the brothers, to just keep wearing away here in Henan Prefecture?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen led their troops to Kaifeng, they had Chen Yongfu looking after them. Coupled with the Chongzhen Emperor's stern decree, the Henan authorities had to give their provisions and pay the highest priority. Well fed and watered, the troops under the two earls naturally displayed the morale and spirit expected of them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, the soldiers of their great armies were all military households from the vicinity of Yutian and Zunhua. Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen, imitating the Shunxiang Army of the time, recruited good and able-bodied young men, allotted each of them farmland, and at the same time provided full monthly pay and provisions. The wounded and disabled also received pensions. Compared to ordinary Ming troops, their combat effectiveness was assured.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, privatization into personal armies was unavoidable. The officers and men under their command were loyal only to their respective commanders, Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen. It was even like Yang Guozhu's new army: the soldiers in the ranks had one after another changed their names to \"Loyal-to-Jiao,\" \"Loyal-to-Chen,\" and other such distinctive names.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two men's main combat battalions were also mostly composed of veterans of a hundred battles, every man with a horse, their fighting strength beyond question.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After resting and reorganizing, and after discussions with the Henan Provincial Governor Gao Mingheng and others, in the third month, Cao Bianjiao, Wang Tingchen, Chen Yongfu, and some other Henan forces — roughly thirty thousand troops in total — advanced in a mighty sweep toward Henan Prefecture.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Yongfu had done his utmost and trained a battalion of new troops. Though their combat strength could not match the troops under Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen, they were quite fierce by the standards of Henan government troops. It was just that the Chuang camp had also trained many new troops, on an even larger scale, and they were under the command of the Chuang camp's famous general Liu Fangliang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the past, Chen Yongfu could hold Kaifeng, but he lacked the ability to take the offensive against Henan Prefecture. Fortunately, this time Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen had joined. Both their divisions were crack troops from the frontier garrisons, and they were widely renowned earls. The morale of all the troops soared; everyone wanted to achieve great merit and recreate the glory of the fourteenth year of Chongzhen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As they pressed toward Henan Prefecture, Wang Qiaonian, who had just been promoted to Viceroy of the Three Frontiers of Shaanxi, also saw this as a fine opportunity for a pincer attack. He sent flying dispatches to all the frontiers to muster troops, worked day and night to prepare equipment and arrange provisions, and actively made preparations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ever since his promotion, the court had repeatedly ordered Wang Qiaonian to prepare with all haste and march east out of Tong Pass. The moment to lead his troops into Henan was now at hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, before dispatching his forces, Wang Qiaonian believed that Li Zicheng's wings were already fully formed and that his momentum was far from ordinary. He therefore devised a cunning plan, secretly ordering the County Magistrate of Mizhi County, Bian Dashou, to dig up and destroy Li Zicheng's ancestral graves to ruin his feng shui. To his delight, they even caught a small snake in the grave.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Qiaonian and his advisors all believed that this small snake caught in the tomb was the spiritual creature that the Li family was about to use to transform into a dragon. Killing it could ruin the bandits' cause. After exaggerating and sensationalizing the matter to the fullest, Wang Qiaonian ascended an altar in Xi'an to swear in his troops, executed the snake as a warning, and led the Regional Commanders He Renlong, Zheng Jiadong, Niu Chenghu, Zhang Guoqin, Zhang Yinggui, and other troops, totaling thirty thousand, out of Tong Pass.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The government forces advanced with great momentum from both east and west, throwing Henan Prefecture into a state of panic. The Chuang camp's senior general Liu Fangliang, after carefully analyzing the enemy situation, again adopted the strategy of luring the enemy deep. The vanguard units of the western Shaanxi army — Zhang Guoqin's, Zhang Yinggui's, and other divisions — and one vanguard of the eastern Henan army all initially won but then were defeated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, Cao Bianjiao, Wang Tingchen, Chen Yongfu, and the others came to the rescue in time. The two sides fought a great battle beneath the walls of Luoyang. The combat strength of the frontier troops far exceeded that of the interior government troops. Moreover, although they lacked red-barbarian cannons, the two earls' battalions were equipped with large numbers of eastern-style arquebuses. After one battle, Liu Fangliang was defeated and immediately abandoned Luoyang, fleeing into the mountainous terrain of Ruzhou.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Chuang army in the various cities of Henan Prefecture likewise abandoned their cities one after another and fled into the mountains. The bandits broke up into small groups and scattered into the mountain wilderness, launching Mobile Corps Commander warfare.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Henan Prefecture was already mountainous, and they had been on the run for years. Returning to their old trade, they were like fish back in water.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, because they were defending their own homeland, the government troops faced great hostility in places like Henan Prefecture. When they entered the mountains to suppress the bandits, they often could not even find a single guide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The government troops' handling of the bandits and the bandits' dependents also provoked even more hatred.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the Battle of Luoyang, Li Zicheng made corresponding changes in policy. In Henan Prefecture, he began to \"hold the territory and cease roaming,\" setting up officials and generals to garrison the area, leaving behind a portion of the army to garrison and farm, while also dispatching local officials. He also distributed land and fields, greatly winning the hearts of the local people in Henan Prefecture.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unlike in the past, when the family members of officers and soldiers all followed the army on the move, a portion of the Chuang army's dependents were also left behind in various parts of Henan Prefecture. They became targets of official reckoning and were tortured to death by various means one after another.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the government troops recovered the cities, the local landlords and gentry of Henan Prefecture who had fled elsewhere also returned one after another with their village militias. Without the slightest courtesy, they took over the fields distributed to the local commoners, as well as the land they had newly reclaimed. They further assisted the authorities in retaliatory crackdowns, beheading Chuang army leaders and officials, and aiding in the suppression of bandits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their bloody methods drove even more people to join the Mobile Corps Commander bands, who harassed them constantly, vexing the government troops beyond endurance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At first it was tolerable, just scrambling up and down the mountains day after day. But gradually, the officers and men in Cao Bianjiao's and Wang Tingchen's camps could not help growing weary and homesick.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Furthermore, because the troops under the two earls received the highest priority in provisions and pay, at a time when supplying provisions was difficult, this differential treatment caused great discontent among the government troops from Shaanxi, Henan, and other places. Even within Chen Yongfu's camp, there was considerable grumbling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Junior General Cao, are we to just stay here in Henan Prefecture forever?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at the wretched state of his subordinate, Wang Tingchen raged and stormed, yet at the same time felt utterly helpless. He shouted, \"What kind of wretched, useless battle is this? Scrambling through mountain gullies day after day, running back and forth without even seeing a bandit's shadow. The local commoners hate us too, so we can't even find a guide. What is the meaning of this?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Bianjiao was also frowning: \"We do not worry about the bandits gathering; we only worry about them scattering. The bandits in Henan Prefecture have fled deep into the mountains. To wipe them out is not a matter of a short while.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He sighed: \"However, news has just arrived. Grand Commander Sun Yingyuan has died in battle. The Chuang bandits have already joined forces with the Cao bandits and the Left-Gram Five Camps. Their troops number in the hundreds of thousands, some say a million, and they are pressing toward Kaifeng. Brother Wang, we may have to withdraw our troops and return to Kaifeng.\"\u003C\u002Fp>",2759,"2026-06-03T14:06:10.567Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","b323f0788a3218aac2e7cb4d027d83d176ecd09b593264857bf1398ee95760d3","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-655","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-653",896,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fa-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-cover.jpg"]