[{"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-682":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},1205971,1561,"Chapter 682: Desolation","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-682",682,"\u003Cp>In mid-June, the Li Chuang coalition army, which had been expected to press toward Kaifeng, instead halted at Taikang. Not only that, a portion of their forces turned back to Runing Prefecture and attacked with great urgency.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside and outside Kaifeng city there was great chaos. Within Ruyang city was Prince Chong, Zhu Yougui; if a prince's domain were lost, the blame on everyone would be immense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this time, Regional Commander Ding Qirui, leading the four garrison reinforcement armies, had just reached Xuzhou, moving sluggishly and still far from reaching Kaifeng.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, when the news arrived, they were instead the closest to Ruyang city. As Ding Qirui ordered the Kaifeng officers to go to the rescue, Baoding Viceroy Yang Wenyue and Henan Provincial Governor Gao Mingheng evaded responsibility in every possible way, hinting to Ding Qirui that the rescue of Runing Prefecture should be done by those nearby, not by those far away rushing over.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ding Qirui had no choice but to consult with Zuo Liangyu, Yang Dezheng, Fang Guoan, and others. At this time, the military men were domineering, and Zuo Liangyu and the rest were even harder to command. They all felt they should not turn back to Runing, lest they fall into the bandits' cunning trap.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ding Qirui, a scholar by background, had no military talent and was even more indecisive. At one moment he thought his subordinates' reasoning was sound, at the next he felt that the prince's vital domain could not be left unrescued.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus he wavered back and forth for over ten days, until early July, when the military situation in Runing Prefecture became extremely urgent, that he finally made up his mind and led the army to the rescue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among his subordinates, the Pingze Garrison naturally had the strongest fighting power, but Zuo Liangyu was not only unruly and insubordinate, his troops also had utterly rotten discipline, burning, killing, looting, and stopping at no evil. Fang Guoan was likewise a fickle and unreliable man, the slippery sort who never looses his hawk until he sees the rabbit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Dezheng was said to possess stratagems. The nationwide mass training of troops back then had been his proposal. He had submitted a memorial to the court arguing that the roving bandits were hard to quell because they appeared and vanished unpredictably, never staying in one place. To exterminate the bandits, the key lay in strengthening local armed forces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He proposed that the localities implement \"cutting and training\": prefectures should cut the position of assistant prefect and establish a training adjutant, with a rank equivalent to garrison commander; departments should cut the position of judge; counties should cut the position of registrar, and all should establish a training chief, with a rank equivalent to squad commander.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The training adjutants and training chiefs would all be subordinate to the prefects, department magistrates, and county magistrates. They would be specifically responsible for training local militia, and their duty would be to defend their native soil, without being transferred elsewhere.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In terms of numbers, each prefecture would train one thousand local militia, each department seven hundred, and each county five hundred.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His memorial won the appreciation of the court, especially the appreciation of Yang Sichang at the time. It was proposed to implement it first in the capital environs, Shandong, Henan, and Shanxi, and then extend it broadly to other places. Yang Dezheng was even promoted from vice regional commander to regional commander because of this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, the actual results of this proposal were very poor. Every locality simply falsely reported a training number, and then, under the name of \"training stipends,\" extorted with all their might, adding fuel to the already critical national situation. On the whole, Yang Dezheng belonged to the type who fights only on paper, blind to actual conditions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, these government generals of the Central Plains heartland had few cavalry and infantry, and their mobility was very poor. They often trailed behind the roving bandits eating dust. Their main combat strength further consisted of retainers, each one dearly cherished. When they turned their troops back to the rescue, although they appeared locked in fierce struggle with the roving bandits, in truth they all fought to a draw.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or they would chop off the heads of some refugees and common folk, then urgently report a great victory, clamoring for military merit reward silver.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Dezheng and Fang Guoan were even ambushed by the roving bandits several times, and many of their subordinate troops scattered. However, along the way they also accepted the surrender of many coerced refugees and starving soldiers. In the end, it was impossible to tell whether those gathered in their camps were soldiers or bandits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And because military discipline deteriorated further, and the supply of provisions was intermittent, most of the time they relied on plunder to obtain army rations. Bandits looted, soldiers looted, and with scattered routed troops added in, wherever the roving bandits rampaged, the common folk along the way who suffered military disaster and bandit disaster had no tears left to weep.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although Yang Dezheng, Fang Guoan, and the others reported one great victory after another, in truth they achieved no significant results. The roving bandits still pressed their attack on Runing Prefecture with great urgency.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Dezheng suffered yet another devastating ambush at Xiping. This time Yang Dezheng was utterly crushed, escaping with only a hundred-odd horsemen under his command. Even when he later gathered the routed troops, he recovered very few, and could only collect some refugees to fill his camp ranks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zuo Liangyu, however, inflicted a great defeat at Shangcai on the tens of thousands of roving bandits who had ambushed him. Although most of their cavalry ran away, defeating so many infantry was enough to make him proud and self-satisfied. Moreover, he gained tens of thousands of surrendered soldiers, his power and prestige swelling further, making Ding Qirui rely on and value him even more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The siege of Runing Prefecture was lifted, but Ding Qirui's several garrisons lost troops and officers, benefiting only Zuo Liangyu alone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The prince was worried, yet his subordinates reported great victories. Ding Qirui was immensely pleased with himself. However, regarding the current situation and the roving bandits' strategy, Ding Qirui also felt it was shrouded in dense fog and impenetrable. Not long after the large bandit force had gone south, reports came again that hundreds of thousands of bandit cavalry were pressing toward Guide, and even Xuzhou.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Guide was a strategic hub of the Jianghuai region, and Xuzhou to the east was even closer to the canal transport route. Moreover, crossing the Yellow River north from Guide and Xuzhou would lead directly into Shandong and the Northern Metropolitan Region borders — a region that could not be allowed to fall. Greatly alarmed, Ding Qirui urgently ordered Baoding Viceroy Yang Wenyue, Henan Provincial Governor Gao Mingheng, and others to go to the rescue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this time he was in Runing Prefecture, quite far away, and his subordinates had just fought a series of great battles with the roving bandits, leaving the officers and men utterly exhausted. Naturally and righteously, he ordered only the government generals near Kaifeng to go to the rescue, not to mention that near Kaifeng there were still strong armies like those of Cao Bianjiao, Wang Tingchen, and Hu Dawei.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the \"Xuanfu Garrison Military Observation Mission\" arrived in Kaifeng, everyone from top to bottom was full of curiosity about this mission. The mission's ambassador was Advisor Wen Shiyan, who held the rank of Left Captain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Jingbian Army Staff Department appointed Wen Fangliang as ambassador, with Han Chao, Zhong Xiancai, Zhong Diaoyang, Gao Shiyin, Sun Sanjie, Li Guangheng, Zhao, and others as deputy ambassadors. Under them were the Operations Section, Military Research Section, Military Education Section, and other sections. Wen Shiyan belonged to the Military Research Section of the Staff Department and was now a section chief.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Shiyan was a man of depth and composure, yet also graceful and poised, skilled in social intercourse. With civil officials, he could converse with ease with Henan Provincial Governor Gao Mingheng, Baoding Viceroy Yang Wenyue, and others, joining them in banquets and amusements. With military men, he could also talk genially with Regional Commanders Chen Yongfu, Hu Dawei, and the like.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a time he became a prominent figure in Kaifeng city. Many people were utterly captivated by his learning and bearing, vying to associate with him as an honor. Some even privately sighed, lamenting that a bright pearl had been cast into darkness, that he was willing to sell his life for military men, burying his own reputation for nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Jingbian Army's advisors and staff officers all possessed considerable scholarly grace, their temperament needless to say. Many mistook Wen Shiyan for a civil-literati background, which was understandable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Shiyan did not correct them about his original identity as a military man. He only said with a smile that the Marquis of Yongning possessed great talent, and to be able to serve him was his own good fortune. Furthermore, he said, he was now no longer a military man but a member of the nobility, his status honored and glorious, above both civil and military ranks, and well worth serving.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In private, Cao Bianjiao, Wang Tingchen, and Hu Dawei all visited the observation mission. Regarding the current military operations, after analysis, the various advisors within the mission believed that the roving bandits were vast in number and their movements strange and unpredictable. They should not be led by the nose, but should respond to motion with stillness, wait at ease for the weary enemy, watch for the right moment, and strike directly at the dragon's lair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, in Kaifeng they only had the right to observe, not to mention decision-making authority — they did not even have the right to make suggestions. The various officials in the city appeared polite, but while they could recite poetry and admire the moon, and point out the landscape, when it came to discussing concrete military strategy, they all looked away and changed the subject, with an air of keeping at a respectful distance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Shiyan's approach was to influence strategic decisions through Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These two were on friendly terms with Wang Dou and also thought highly of that army's staff system. Moreover, they were counts, their status honored, ranking above Ding Qirui, Yang Wenyue, Gao Mingheng, and the others. Even though militarily they were under Ding Qirui's command, they still wielded considerable voice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That the great army at Kaifeng did not go to Runing Prefecture was the result of their influence. Of course, this decision also aligned with the interests of the Kaifeng government generals at the time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But after the great bandit army pressed toward Guide Prefecture, the imperial court could not sit still, nor could Yang Wenyue, Gao Mingheng, and the others. The importance of Guide and Xuzhou was obvious to any clear-eyed person. The court absolutely would not permit the canal transport to be severed, or even allow the roving bandits to pour into Shandong and the Northern Metropolitan Region.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen could hold down Yang Wenyue and the others, once the Chongzhen Emperor personally issued an edict, they had no choice but to obey. Moreover, the strategy of \"wait at ease for the weary enemy, watch for the right moment, and strike directly at the dragon's lair\" also had practical difficulties within it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At present, Li Zicheng had united with Luo Rucai, Sun Kewang, the Ge and Zuo Five Camps, and other forces, boasting a combined host of seven hundred thousand, with nearly one hundred thousand cavalry. Even after discounting the inflated numbers, their troops were still vast. Was striking directly at the dragon's lair really so easy? After all, the roving bandits' combat strength was no longer what it had been when they first rose.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In July, Li Chuang's army rampaged through the Guide Prefecture area. Even though the prefectural city was deep and strong and hard to take in a short time, the surrounding areas — Suizhou, Ningling, Luyi, Zhecheng, Yongcheng, and other places — fell one after another. The rolling cavalry units of the Chuang army even pressed straight toward Xuzhou.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just like Guide Prefecture, these areas were likewise plagued by frequent Yellow River floods, and the common people were miserable beyond endurance. A casual arrival of a few hundred cavalry could coerce and gather over ten thousand starving people. They attacked and plundered cities, and before the main Chuang army force had even arrived, they had already taken some cities in advance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Chuang army's cavalry even raced to the canal side and burned a portion of the tribute grain boats. The entire court, from top to bottom, was alarmed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In mid-July, under the court's strict orders and after much haggling and discussion, Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen led their own cavalry and infantry forces eastward. Hu Dawei and the others remained in Kaifeng Prefecture, ready to provide support as the battle situation warranted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All along the march, the land was desolate as far as the eye could see, the countryside bleak and barren. Everywhere in the villages, nine out of ten houses stood empty. By the roadside, the fallen bodies of those who had starved to death were visible from time to time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Prolonged drought, military calamities, and the roving bandits' pillaging — everywhere in Henan was a sight too wretched to behold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen were somewhat numb. All the way south into Henan, they had seen too many such miserable scenes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Knowing the importance of provisions, they brought extra grain and fodder with the army on this campaign. However, they lacked the logistics battalions of the Jingbian Army, and their transport capacity was insufficient. The army generally carried provisions for a few days, at most a dozen or so days. For the rest, they largely had to rely on the support of local government authorities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Henan Provincial Governor Gao Mingheng also promised Cao and Wang that he would exert his utmost strength to keep the provisions flowing in a steady stream.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the current route, it was about four to five hundred li from Kaifeng to the city of Guide Prefecture. After leaving Kaifeng and reaching Chenliu, quite a few roving bandits and refugees appeared along the way. These crowds of people, their eyes red with hunger, even tried to plunder their grain convoy. After the army fired their bird guns, the mob scattered in a rush.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Around the time they reached Qixian, not far from the Guide Prefecture border, quite a few Chuang army cavalry appeared around them, dashing back and forth from time to time, closely watching the situation of this great army. In terms of the importance placed on intelligence, whether Zhang Xianzhong or Li Zicheng, neither was inferior to Wang Dou; the difference lay only in their respective scouting capabilities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The scouting cavalry in Cao and Wang's army continuously drove off these roving bandit cavalry units. However, although their own cavalry was stronger in combat than the bandit cavalry, there were too many bandits spying on them. After suffering losses, they were also reluctant to send out more to fight and kill.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the great army entered the Suizhou area of Guide Prefecture, bandit cavalry came in wave after wave to harass them, even racing to the rear to harass the follow-up escort and transport units.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To protect the supply route, Cao and Wang's great army advanced even more slowly. The army's provisions were rapidly consumed, while the rear replenishment came only intermittently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And after entering the Suizhou area, not only the roving bandits' cavalry, but also their infantry units and coerced starving people all appeared frequently, surging in from the directions of Suizhou, Ningling, and Zhecheng. Sometimes there were even several engagements in a single day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their cavalry was extremely nimble. Often, the moment the situation looked unfavorable, they would immediately flee. As for the coerced starving people left behind, killing them felt morally unbearable. Moreover, the court's censors and supervising secretaries nowadays kept an extremely tight watch on military nobles and marquises. Any fault would often be magnified tenfold or a hundredfold, and they would swarm to attack.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If they let them go, these starving people would turn right back into roving bandits. Once recruited by the veteran bandits, they would in the blink of an eye become a scourge upon the region again, even going to plunder their grain convoys.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen felt as if they had sunk into a quagmire. Everywhere they looked, there were bandits. Frequent combat followed day after day. The officers and men all felt a sense of mental and physical exhaustion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, the Chuang army now had numerous cavalry, and their counter-scouting warfare was quite effective. The two men felt as if a dense fog lay before their eyes, making it hard to learn the location of the bandits' main camp, their plans and strategies, and so on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In particular, the roving bandits frequently harassed the grain convoys. The army's provisions became harder and harder to supply. Many of the departments and counties they passed through had become ruins, with no one to turn to for help.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some villages and fortified hamlets that had organized for self‑defense were even more hostile toward the army coming from the east, refusing to supply grain or provide intelligence, so that the two men had silver but nowhere to buy food; a few hamlets did offer a little grain, but it was a mere drop in the bucket.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under these circumstances, soldiers in the ranks had already begun to plunder the countryside to obtain army provisions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the face of this, Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen tacitly kept silent, until one day Wang Tingchen sighed to Cao Bianjiao, “Young General Cao, I somewhat regret marching south to suppress the bandits. I wish we could return north as soon as possible — best of all, be transferred to the Liaodong Garrison to fight the Tartars.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Bianjiao gave a long sigh: “Indeed, Brother Wang, I feel the same.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That day the main army pitched camp. Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen sat within their camp, then took their personal guards and made a circuit of inspection.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was already the eighth month. After entering Guide Prefecture, the land was ninety‑nine percent open wilderness and plain, yet as far as the eye could see the fields stretched parched and yellow; many river channels had run dry. Not far ahead there seemed to be a hamlet — one that looked too poor to have built any fortifications.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two men rode over and saw that the hamlet consisted of thatched mud‑brick huts with walls open to the wind on every side, tilting and crumbling, their mud‑daubed fences riddled with holes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Around the hamlet some wheat fields had been opened up, sparsely planted with winter wheat, but the fields had been trampled beyond recognition; even if everything went smoothly, come next year they would harvest very little grain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were a few people in the village, mostly the old and weak, all in tattered clothes with sallow, wasted faces. Some sat or stood in a stupor, like walking corpses; others sobbed quietly. When they saw Cao Bianjiao and his party approach, they stared at them with hatred or with fear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In front of a ruined house, a gaunt, bony old man stared blankly ahead, sitting on the stone steps and muttering something. Beside him, his lame son shivered uncontrollably, a clear handprint on his face; huddled against the old man, he wept in choking sobs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen dismounted. Cao Bianjiao walked up to the old man and ventured, “Old sir? Old sir?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man still stared blankly. Cao Bianjiao sighed. Beside him, Wang Tingchen said loudly, “Hey, old man, I’m talking to you! Let me tell you, this here is… I am…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man still did not respond. Wang Tingchen said, “Deaf.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man suddenly said something. Wang Tingchen boomed, “Huh? What did you say?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man’s voice grew a little clearer, quavering with a thick local accent. He said, “This old man doesn’t understand.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Bianjiao said gently, “Old sir, what is it you want to say?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man said, “This old man doesn’t understand. All my life I’ve followed the rules, obeyed the king’s law, never dared fall behind on the imperial grain tax… Why, when I’ve lived clean and honest, have I met with such retribution in the end? My old woman was killed by ruffian soldiers; my son, they crippled his leg. Some days ago, my daughter‑in‑law was carried off by roving bandits. Today, the last grain and rice left in my house was taken too — by the officers and men from your camp…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was pointing straight at Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen’s camp. Trembling, he struggled to his feet and wailed aloud: “Commander Cao, Commander Wang, I know of you. You fought the Tartars in Liaodong alongside the Marquis of Yongning — you are heroes, good men. But why did you have to seize the last life‑saving grain from my home? Why did you have to beat and injure my son?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The roving bandits trample the common folk. Commander Cao, Commander Wang — did you train and drill your army just to trample the common folk too?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He wept and wailed, stirring a chorus of sobs all around. Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen stood rooted, stupefied. Cao Bianjiao opened his mouth; he had a thousand reasons, yet facing the old man and these villagers, he could not utter a word.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beside him, Wang Tingchen also averted his gaze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the end, Cao Bianjiao sighed and said, “Leave some silver. Leave some for every household.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They mounted their horses and the party left the hamlet. Cao Bianjiao could not help turning his head to look back; the old man was still weeping bitterly, a desolate figure in the distance. (To be continued…)\u003C\u002Fp>",3685,"2026-06-03T14:06:10.567Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","f541c6a71287fdcec7111472fb2652b602e026c4937f5fb37c4cd2e576320ef6","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-683","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-681",896,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fa-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-cover.jpg"]