[{"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-658":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},1205947,1561,"Chapter 658: Proclamation of War","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-658",658,"\u003Cp>A few days later, the Minister of Revenue, still despondent yet having regained the Chongzhen Emperor's understanding, racked his brains once more and devised a paper currency plan — an inspiration drawn from Wang Dou's grain tickets, and moreover, the Great Ming had issued its own treasure notes since the early dynasty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During ministry deliberations, Ni Yuanlu detailed the ten conveniences and ten excellences of paper notes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"First, the cost of production is low; second, the channels of circulation are wide; third, its use is light; fourth, its storage is simple; fifth, there is no fineness to judge good or bad; sixth, there is no weighing to balance light or heavy; seventh, it eliminates the cunning theft of silversmiths; eighth, it blocks the prying eyes of thieves and robbers; ninth, when coin is not used and notes are used instead, the copper can be cast into military weapons; tenth, when silver is not used and notes are used instead, the silver can enter the imperial treasury.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the memorial was submitted, the Chongzhen Emperor was overjoyed and immediately ordered the production of notes, establishing a Ceremonial Regulations Department, setting a deadline to erect workshops and select craftsmen to calculate the labor — anyone obstructing the matter would be punished under the same law as the Ten Abominations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Great Ming's submitted vermilion examination papers, and the exam papers from the annual and prefectural examinations graded by education officials, had always served as the raw material for note paper — this was the paper. The Ministry of Works further consulted precedents from the time of the Two Founding Emperors: producing notes required a material ratio of six parts paper to four parts bark — the bark being birch bark, mostly produced in Liaodong. Now there was paper but no bark, leaving no place to start, so the Ministry of Works was ordered to summon merchants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Regarding the Ministry of Works' merchant summons, many merchants in the capital were still interested, but soon after, it was as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over everyone — because expenses exceeded income and the treasury lacked silver, most of the required costs would temporarily have to be put on credit. Moreover, word spread that after the Ministry of Works produced the notes, the initial conversion rate would be one string of treasure notes exchanged for nine qian and seven fen of silver.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Public opinion erupted in an uproar. The grain tickets of Xuanfu Garrison exchanged one dan face value for one dan of rice, yet many people still harbored doubts — a mere piece of paper note, and they wanted it to be worth nine qian and seven fen of silver?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Many commoners were terrified, fearing official fraud. The merchants in the capital were also all crafty scoundrels, shrewd operators who wouldn't release their hawks until they saw the rabbit. Seeing that the good prospect was going nowhere, and fearing the court might forcibly impose quotas, they rolled up their bedrolls and fled the capital one after another — leaving the officials of the Revenue and Works Ministries, who had been eagerly preparing to launch the project, utterly dumbfounded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ni Yuanlu's paper note proposal miscarried once again. Contemporaries sighed — even a man from Zhe could hardly reverse the dire fiscal situation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Wang Dou heard of this, he sighed: \"Paper currency — the key lies in the court's credit. But credit is easy to destroy, and difficult to establish.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Our Jingbian Army is a righteous force. When we march beyond the frontier to wage war, we naturally need a just cause — issue a proclamation of war.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After obtaining the court's tacit approval, Wang Dou spoke thus to his subordinates. He asked his father-in-law, as well as Provincial Governor Zhu, Eunuch Du, and the Education Division of the Shogunate, to draft several proclamations for him to select the best one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was a matter that would leave one's name in the annals of history. After receiving Wang Dou's invitation, men like Ji Shiwei and Zhu Zhifeng all deemed it an unshirkable duty and racked their minds with utmost devotion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even among the civilian populace within the garrison, upon hearing of it, they likewise discussed the matter heatedly. Everyone volunteered eagerly, and in every teahouse and wineshop, one folk historian and literary master after another emerged.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Very quickly, proclamations in a variety of styles were sent over to Wang Dou.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But after reading them, Wang Dou was mostly dissatisfied — too verbose, too long. Most were several times longer than the Ming founder Zhu Yuanzhang's proclamation of Heaven's mandate against the Yuan, and they were brimming with literary flourish. Could the Mongols beyond the frontier, who were essentially complete illiterates, even understand them?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most importantly, they lacked dominance — they could not convey the prestige of the Jingbian Army, nor the far-reaching impact and profound significance of the expedition beyond the frontier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Du Xun also personally wrote a proclamation. It was simple and clear enough, but unfortunately too plain — unfit for formal presentation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the end, Wang Dou decided to fuse the essence of the various proclamations and personally revise and extract from them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he wielded the knife, the various generals of the Jingbian Army gathered around to watch. Wang Dou's close friend, the Education Division Commissioner Fu Mingqi, also stood by, stroking his beard with a smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou and Fu Mingqi had known each other for many years. Although Fu Mingqi had now become Wang Dou's subordinate, the two still remained bosom friends, maintaining an excellent personal relationship.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were few people with whom he could converse as equals, so Wang Dou treasured the friendship between them. Moreover, Fu Mingqi was a man of broad learning and talent, free of the usual literati pedantry, and at the same time filled with a profound love for the nation. On many matters, he and Wang Dou could see eye to eye.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The current textbooks used in the various forts and villages — The Debate Between Hua and Yi, The Annals of Great Chinese Heroes, and so on — were compiled from the inspired ideas that emerged after Fu Mingqi's exchanges with Wang Dou. Wang Dou greatly appreciated them upon reading.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At present, the Education Division was compiling works on subjects such as The Way of the Chinese Warrior and The Various Precepts of the Scholar-Officer, for use in teaching at the Xuanfu Garrison Military Academy, the Civil Affairs Academy, and elsewhere.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou leafed through the various proclamations, occasionally copying a line or two, while the generals beside him loudly cheered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Fine calligraphy!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Shiyin said excitedly, \"The strokes are vigorous and powerful — truly possessing the momentum to pluck the heavens and grasp the moon. This humble general sighs in admiration at his own inferiority.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shen Shiqi nodded repeatedly beside him, agreeing with Gao Shiyin's assessment: \"Indeed, the Grand General's calligraphy is vigorous and powerful, possessing the utmost masterly style.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xie Yike said, \"Dragons soaring and phoenixes dancing — truly magnificent in force.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Fangliang said thoughtfully, \"The script is vigorous and substantial, yet with a touch of spiritual grace within — one can see the Grand General's attainments and mastery in calligraphy.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amid the crowd's cheers, Zhao Xuan looked left and right, craning his neck, puzzled: \"What's so good about this calligraphy? How come this humble general can't see it?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment these words left his mouth, he was met with a barrage of contemptuous stares from the crowd. He hastily shrank his neck back and dared not speak further.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At last, Wang Dou set down his brush. The essence of the various proclamations, fused together, emerged as follows: \"You paltry Hu whelps, who have stolen our land, led beasts to devour men, and run rampant in evil... Now the Jingbian soldiers, by Heaven's mandate, march to punish, to slay you Hu captives, to expel your mutton stench. Those who submit to us shall dwell in peace in the Central Land; those who defy us court their own destruction. Upon receipt of this proclamation, you must open your cities, surrender, and offer ten thousand fine horses in reparation, along with one hundred thousand cattle and sheep. Should you refuse, when Heaven's troops arrive, jade and stone alike shall burn. Your slaves and population, your wealth, silks, cattle, and horses — we shall take for ourselves!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at this proclamation, Wang Dou was satisfied. The text was reasoned and substantiated, yet also highlighted the central theme and key points. In particular, it surged with a heroic spirit, very fitting for the current state of the Jingbian Army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Excellent — domineering!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Heroic beyond words.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Profoundly captures the inner essence of a proclamation.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This text deeply accords with my heart.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The Grand General is a great talent — we humble generals willingly admit our inferiority.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The generals again heaped praise, offering their critiques one after another.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only Fu Mingqi felt pained — he had written several thousand words in a grand, flowing style, and only eight characters — \"led beasts to devour men, and run rampant in evil\" — had been selected.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet looking at this proclamation, he admitted that this text of fewer than two hundred characters was suffused throughout with a heroic spirit and force, and an unimaginable dominance — far more imposing than those earlier proclamations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Very quickly, this proclamation was dispatched to Guihua City, with a deadline to respond before the seventh month.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Half a month later, the envoy returned. Although Guluge, Hanggao, and the others in Guihua City had entertained the envoy with fine food and drink, it was clear that they harbored wishful thinking and had not agreed to Wang Dou's demand for surrender.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, war became unavoidable. Tension mounted both within and beyond the frontier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During this period, the Xuanzhen Times also published the full text of the Shogunate's punitive proclamation. The proclamations written by Provincial Governor Zhu, Viceroy Ji, and others were also printed alongside it — they had painstakingly written several thousand characters, only to have a mere handful selected in the end; this was a way to placate them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although their proclamations had not been chosen and could not leave their names in official history, being published in the newspaper at least allowed them to leave their names in unofficial histories, for the notes of contemporaries often drew material from gazetteers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Xuanzhen Times also published Du Xun's article. The eunuch was delighted at first, but later regretted it — henceforth, he resolutely refused to let any article he wrote appear in the newspaper.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the twenty-third day of the fifth month, at the Xuanfu Garrison News Division.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Established in the third month, the Imperial Ming Xuanfu Garrison News and Current Affairs Newspaper Office was located right beside the News Division, situated near the North Gate, on West Shuncheng Street.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This street had originally been littered with abandoned houses and crumbling ruins, with broken walls everywhere — a playground for beggars and mischievous children. But after several months of city beautification construction, this street and its surroundings had been transformed into a place of lush greenery everywhere, with small bridges over flowing streams, elms and willows all around — a park-like setting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Many garrison residents enjoyed coming here for spring outings and leisure in their free time, which also drove up nearby property prices in a continuous rise, and teahouses of all kinds sprang up in dense clusters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Many old residents nearby sighed with emotion: \"Ever since the Marquis of Yongning arrived, West Shuncheng Street has changed beyond recognition.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was not just West Shuncheng Street — the entire garrison city was now the same: clean and bright, no longer inferior to Yongning City and Baoanzhou City on the Eastern Route.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because of the strict enforcement of the rule against defecating and urinating anywhere, and the rule that ox dung and horse urine from passing livestock carts must not be casually scattered on the streets, the various streets of the garrison city no longer presented the filthy scenes of the past. Passing horses and mules all had a dung bag strapped to their hindquarters, catching the droppings as they fell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, the cleanliness of the streets was mainly due to the fines imposed by the Constabulary. No matter how fine or moving the rhetoric, nothing was as effective as fines. Preliminary statistics showed that over the past few months, more than half of both the external population entering the garrison city and the local population had been fined at some point.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This greatly replenished the Constabulary's funds and boosted their work enthusiasm — especially the enthusiasm of the small portion of former government office runners, former baojia, and former soldiers who had been recruited as constables — and also successfully instilled in the garrison residents the good habit of maintaining hygiene.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Coupled with the massive influx of population, the abundance of merchants, and the relocation of all former military personnel within the city to outside the walls, leaving only some Jingbian Army troops to garrison it, Xuanfu Garrison City had become yet another new-model city in the Great Ming — prosperous and full of vitality, with a lively and upward-striving atmosphere.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The eyes of the common people are sharp and clear; they saw every change in the garrison town with their own eyes. Coupled with their lives getting better day by day, they spontaneously and unanimously heaped praise upon Yongning Marquis Wang Dou, completely forgetting Eunuch Du Xun’s hard work and toil.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was also the benefit of Wang Dou dumping all the thankless, offending tasks onto Du Xun in one go while doing nothing himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>People are just like that: as long as you do something, no matter how well you do it, there will always be someone who finds fault, nitpicks, and looks at you sideways. And the more someone does nothing, the more self-righteous and loud their curses become.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Xuanfu Garrison News and Current Affairs Newspaper Office was spacious inside, with offices in the front courtyard and printing in the rear. It had many types of personnel, including erudite scholars, proofreaders, chief writers, editors, interviewers, and printers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those selected included clerks from various garrison villages, personnel from the Education Department, personnel from the Intelligence Department, personnel from the Pacification Department, former civilian news copyists, some progressive-minded literati from the garrison town, and some retired officers and soldiers of the Jingbian Army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Jingbian Army was a highly educated army; for many officers and soldiers currently in the army, reading and writing manuscripts was no problem. Many were even no less skilled than a Licentiate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The titles of the newspaper office staff partly borrowed from the titles of the Hanlin Academy and the Imperial Academy, yet had their own distinctive features. Without exception, every member was learned and talented, and especially \"reliable\" — that is, politically qualified, as later generations would say.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Current Affairs Newspaper was divided into sections such as Current Affairs Highlights, Miscellaneous Commentary, Xuanfu News, Xuan-Da News, Great Ming News, and Overseas News, interspersed with advertisements. Compared with the Great Ming Court Gazette, its content was extremely rich and refreshingly novel.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was also the result of Wang Dou’s final decision, which, of course, greatly increased the funding investment for the Current Affairs Newspaper Office. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, welcome to Qidian to cast recommendation votes and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)\u003C\u002Fp>",2579,"2026-06-03T14:06:10.567Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","324c1123b9d3a7d00f4ec2539222e95c7a2a5a36eeac9b91443244344a27dbb9","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-659","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-657",896,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fa-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-cover.jpg"]