[{"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-715":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},1206004,1561,"Chapter 715: Pacification of Monan","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-715",715,"\u003Cp>On the eighteenth day of the ninth month of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, Wang Dou arrived at Guihua City. Of course, the enormous haul of spoils and captives was still slowly making its way in the rear, and Wang Dou had dispatched a unit specifically to escort them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The grasslands always give an impression of vast land and sparse population, with few settlements. As Wang Dou led his army along the way, he saw tall wild grasses everywhere, and from time to time, over a dozen Mongolian gazelles would dart out from the mountain forests. Though they resembled sheep in form, their hooves were tall like a deer’s, and they moved as if in flight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although drought conditions existed here as well, this ecological environment was doubtlessly far better than in later ages. Looking up at the sky, without industrial pollution the heavens were simply beautiful. Yet for humanity to develop, environmental destruction is unavoidable. But coming from a later era, he could choose to take fewer detours and select the path with the highest cost-effectiveness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Coming down from the Great Qing Mountains, they saw vast stretches of land suitable for grazing along the way. Omubu, riding beside Wang Dou at this moment, introduced with considerable pride: “We Tumet people are most skilled at herding. We Mongols cherish our livestock just as the Han cherish their crops, and we especially love our horses. When autumn arrives and the horses grow fat, we must control their grazing so that our mounts become both plump and sturdy.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He said: “I remember the elders saying that after the Longqing peace negotiations, the horse trade between our Tumet tribe and the Great Ming increased year by year. After the sixth year of Wanli, at the Zhangjiakou horse market alone, the annual horse trade volume reached thirty-six thousand head. The warhorses the Grand General will need in the future can all be entrusted to our Tumet tribe.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou laughed heartily and said: “In the future, I will certainly have to trouble you, Prince Shunyi.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Omubu smiled broadly: “It is only right, only right. As the Marquis of Yongning has said, peace between Han and Mongol is a matter beneficial to both sides. The Marquis is far too courteous.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou naturally would not stand on ceremony with Omubu. The grassland herders, raising livestock in this vast and sparsely populated land, naturally had their advantages. Grazing on natural pastures also saved him a great deal of future funds, grain, and money.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What drew Wang Dou’s interest was that the closer they drew to Guihua City, the more cultivated farmland, ditches, and canals appeared.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Historical records say that from the Jiajing period onward, settled towns appeared in Monan. By the time of the fifth year of Longqing, around the time the tribute trade was established, a region of cloud-like fields and fertile lands stretching ten thousand qing had emerged. Hundreds of villages linked together, driving Chinese to plow the fields and transport grain, which in turn supplied the enemy. Every part of the Tumet tribe relied on the harvests of the settled communities for food.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Bansheng” means villages and towns. Guihua City was also called “Da Bansheng” by the Mongols. The surrounding areas grew many crops such as millet, broomcorn millet, sorghum, glutinous sorghum, and panicled millet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But from Wang Dou’s perspective, the agricultural production of the Tumet tribe was still very backward, with much room for improvement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon Guihua City was before their eyes. In the sixth year of Longqing, Anda Khan modeled it after the Yuan Great Capital to build the Blue City. After four years of construction, the city was basically completed. Anda Khan dispatched envoys carrying saddled horses, bows and arrows, and other items to the Ming court to request a name for the city they had built. The Wanli Emperor bestowed the name “Guihua,” and also gifted Buddhist statues, scriptures, python-embroidered satin, and other items. This was the origin of Guihua City.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The city before them rested to the north against the towering and majestic Great Qing Mountains, and to the east connected to the rolling, undulating Manhan Mountains. To the west it linked to the Hetao, and to the south it faced the Dahei River. Because the city was entirely built of blue bricks, from a distance it truly appeared a patch of blue-green, its bearing extraordinary under the glow of the sunlight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the ninth year of Wanli, Anda Khan also built an outer city with a circumference of twenty li, making the city’s scale even larger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gazing at this city, the eyes of every officer in the Jingbian Army revealed unusual expressions. This was the first great city beyond the frontier they had conquered. Would there be more in the future?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou heard Gao Shiyin behind him let out a long breath and subconsciously moved farther away from him. The surrounding officers all did the same. No one knew what had gotten into Gao Shiyin lately; recently he had become infatuated with elegance, fond of reciting sour poetry and phrases, liking to pretend he was learned, yet always revealing his true nature.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sure enough, after letting out a long breath, he loudly declaimed: “Ah, the watchmen’s clappers stir the windblown sands in the dark; the princess’s pipa is full of hidden bitterness. Encamped in the wilds, a city wall stretches ten thousand li; rain and snow swirl thickly across the great desert. The wild geese cry mournfully, flying night after night; the barbarian children’s tears fall in pairs.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Omubu’s face twitched, but he pretended not to hear. Arriving at the city gate, as the former master, he respectfully said to Wang Dou: “Marquis, please.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou smiled faintly: “Prince Shunyi, please.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this time, Guihua City was garrisoned by the New Army Battalion of Datong Garrison, along with Tian Qiming, the officer of the Right Battalion of the Xuanwu Army, leading a portion of Yi-grade troops. Sun Sanjie, the officer of the Supply Battalion, was also inside transporting provisions. They had long been waiting outside the north gate. When everyone met, they were all immensely delighted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment Tian Qiming saw Wang Dou, he shouted loudly: “Congratulations to the Grand General on the great victory beyond the frontier, displaying the might of our Jingbian Army!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sun Sanjie was not good at expressing himself, but the joy in his eyes already revealed his inner emotions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou laughed heartily and said: “Right Regional Military Commissioner Tian is still so eloquent, truly worthy of being someone brought out by Ambassador Tian.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tian Qiming was originally a retainer under Tian Chang’s command. These men from the old army backgrounds generally had more slippery temperaments, but this was only a minor detail that could be overlooked. After all, people come in ten thousand varieties; one cannot demand uniformity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The great army streamed continuously into Guihua City. Wang Dou, Wang Pu, and Omubu rode side by side at the front. Not long after entering through the north gate, Wang Dou secretly shook his head. It truly was a Da Bansheng. Though majestic on the outside, the inside…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All kinds of shanties, patches of pit dwellings, tents piled helter-skelter east and west, vegetable plots and fields everywhere, cattle pens and sheepfolds, potholed streets long in disrepair, numerous clogged and broken drainage ditches, interspersed with a few slightly ornate temples — it had no semblance of proper planning at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, because the Jingbian Army and others had been stationed here, the streets had been swept, and the roads were fairly clean. Yet the lingering smell of horse and sheep dung, along with the pungent odor of quicklime, still filled the nose.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although Anda Khan was ambitious, his ability was limited, and this was the best he could manage. Yet in the eyes of ordinary herders, this city was already magnificent, beautiful, and incomparably prosperous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the future, it must be properly planned. After all, the outer shell of this city was still quite excellent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou also noticed that inside and outside the city, traces of fire and destruction still remained everywhere. It turned out that in the fifth year of Chongzhen, after Huang Taiji defeated Lin Dan Khan, he had thoroughly plundered the city. The Later Jin soldiers had finally set the city ablaze. Amid the raging inferno, many houses and temples within Guihua City were burned down. The eight tall towers and the glazed-tile gold and silver halls built when the city was first constructed had mostly collapsed, and those remaining were utterly dilapidated, their vitality still not restored even now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at all this, Omubu also spoke of it from the side. Wang Dou could not help but say: “This is truly the destruction of civilization. The barbarians lead beasts to devour men — the ancients did not deceive me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Omubu recalled the destruction the Later Jin soldiers had wrought upon the city back then, and his own helplessness. Gnashing his teeth, he said: “Indeed, hateful Manchu Tatars. True, genuine barbarians, savages!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Omubu considered himself a descendant of the Great Yuan and looked down on those Manchus from his bones. Although Nurhaci and others claimed to be descendants of the Jin dynasty Jurchens, who knew from which mountain gully corner they had crawled out? Though both were called “captives” by the Central Plains Han, the Tumet tribe still felt they were somewhat more civilized, viewing the Manchus to the east as savages — much like the mentality of the English looking upon Americans back then.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Jingbian Army officers behind naturally did not share the sentiments of Wang Dou and Omubu. Each man merely looked around with clicking tongues, the exotic atmosphere greatly piquing their interest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although Wang Pu had been stationed in Guihua City for a period, he still was not used to it. He curled his lip and said: “A dump. Datong is still better.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Han Chao had long since found a residence for Wang Dou within the city. Because Guihua City was dilapidated, especially after figures like Guluoge had wreaked great destruction while fleeing, it was finally decided to set the Grand General’s headquarters at the Silver Buddha Temple. This was the first great lamasery temple of Guihua City. In the seventh year of Wanli, the Ming court bestowed the name “Hongci Temple.” It was also called the Silver Buddha Temple because the statue of Sakyamuni in the main hall was cast from pure silver.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou arrived at the entrance of the great temple. Above hung a temple plaque inscribed in three scripts: Manchu, Mongolian, and Chinese. The Chinese name, however, was “Wuliang Temple.” It turned out that in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, Huang Taiji had ordered the renovation and expansion of the Great Zhao Temple. After completion, Huang Taiji bestowed a new temple plaque, and the Chinese name “Hongci Temple” was changed to “Wuliang Temple.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou ordered the restoration of the Chinese name “Hongci Temple” and the removal of the Manchu script above. He invited the lamas to move back in and issued a military order: this cultural relic must henceforth be properly protected. Anyone who dared to demolish it without authorization or take its artifacts would be found out and not dealt with leniently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The lamas were greatly heartened, and Omubu was also moved to tears of gratitude. The Great Zhao Temple had become a spiritual anchor for their Mongol hearts. Especially for those of Mongol tribal origin, when the Fourth Dalai Lama, Yundan Gyatso, was in office, countless Mongols had come to prostrate themselves in worship, requesting monks and scriptures. It was a pity that such grand occasions were no more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now the Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso, persecuted by other sects, was hiding in flight everywhere. If he could be welcomed to Guihua City, that would be wonderful indeed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the afternoon, Wang Pu, weary from saddle and horse, went to rest. Omubu, escorted by the Jingbian Army, also returned to his own dilapidated palace. Looking at everything before him, Omubu’s eyes brimmed with hot tears. Compared to the treatment he received when Guluoge and others were in power, this was truly heaven and earth apart, as if in a dream.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou, however, could not attend to his fatigue. He led the Jingbian Army officers on an inspection tour of the entire city and ascended the south gate to gaze out. He saw the boundless plains to the south and west, stretching far into the extreme distance. Moreover, the land here was entirely fertile, with convenient irrigation, suitable for cultivation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This would be a piece of land completely under his own control, and so vast. He could freely let his dreams spread across it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A strange light flickered in Wang Dou’s eyes. His heart surged with emotion. Li Zicheng was flourishing again, and Cao and Wang had suffered defeat, reminding him how immense the inertia of history was. It was like a giant iron ball rolling ceaselessly. To influence it, to change its direction, one needed the power to affect the overall situation, using a boulder several times larger than the iron ball, or even a mountain, to stand before it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet, honestly speaking, did he possess absolute power? Wang Dou did not think so. Perhaps his military strength was formidable, but many matters could not be viewed solely through a military lens; more depended on civil administration. Otherwise, he would have annihilated Li Chuang back then.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But was his civil administration power sufficient? In terms of silver, with this haul plus the original treasury reserves, he had about twenty million taels of silver in total. That seemed very wealthy, but looking across the Great Ming, from an overall perspective, this amount of money was nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Zheng Zhilong group in the south monopolized the Great Ming’s coastal trade. Simply by selling maritime passage flags at high prices, their annual profit exceeded ten million taels of silver: “Any sea vessel without the Zheng clan’s flag cannot come or go. Each vessel routinely pays two thousand gold. The annual income is counted in the tens of millions, and with this wealth they rival a kingdom.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the height of Zheng Zhilong’s power, even the Dutch East India Company could not compete with him, whether militarily or in trade. Historical records say that members under Zheng Zhilong’s command were each wealthy to the tune of tens of millions, with the poorest having a million. The household officer Zheng Tai guarded Jinmen with assets counted in the millions. In contrast, the Great Ming imperial court’s annual maritime trade tax was a mere forty thousand taels.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to Zheng Zhilong’s wealth, he himself was a small witch before a great sorcerer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Guan-Ning military clique in Liaodong received several million taels in Liaodong military taxes annually. Although nearly half had to be used for bribes and retention, the military officers and generals in the various forts were likewise never short of silver.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, silver cannot be eaten as food. Without grain and fodder, refugees would remain refugees, and nothing would change.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a transmigrator, he had the advantage of overlooking the entire situation. But the higher one stood and the farther one saw, the more shocking the results became, making one acutely aware of how many future opponents there were and how difficult change would be.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Indeed, this land was worrisome everywhere. The Manchu Qing in the northeast and the roving bandits in the Central Plains went without saying — they were already headaches beyond measure. Even on the southern seas, many powers contended for supremacy. Spaniards, Portuguese, Dutch, English — they came in droves, never giving up their covetous spying on China’s maritime borders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the tenth year of Chongzhen, the English were driven away, paying three thousand taels of silver in compensation to the Guangzhou local authorities. After their defeat at Liaoluo Bay in the sixth year of Chongzhen, the Dutch, unwilling to accept it, tried again and again, successively building Fort Zeelandia, Fort Provintia, and other fortresses. In the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, they even fought a naval battle with the Spanish, and as the victors, occupied Taiwan, eyeing China covetously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou understood these Europeans most profoundly. If the Great Ming were not a systematic and powerful civilization, the Han people would have suffered the same fate as the Native Americans. Do not look at how docile the Spanish and Portuguese, called “Folangji” in Macau, appeared now, or how sanctimonious the missionaries all seemed. But what did they do in the Americas?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hanging Native Americans alive was merely a common method. What about cutting the fetus from a pregnant woman and hacking it to pieces? What about hanging children upside down and dashing them to death alive against rocks? What about competitions to chop off heads and bodies, slashing horizontally, vertically, left, and right? The cruelty of their methods and the heinousness of their crimes were shocking to behold, fully comparable to the Japanese army that invaded China.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The missionaries among them were no different, either personally participating or encouraging the adventurers to continue slaughtering heathens with a clear conscience. This was the standard prevailing throughout Europe: use civilized methods against civilized people, and barbaric methods against barbarians. In truth, it was merely a mentality of bullying the weak.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sure enough, the missionaries who gave an impression of civility during the Ming dynasty revealed their true nature by the late Qing, enough to make one wonder: why did the missionaries of this era feel completely different from those of the Ming era? In fact, the people were the same people; it was just that the civilizational subjects they encountered were different.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Toward these people, Wang Dou maintained the utmost vigilance — because he understood them, he was vigilant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And then there was this north…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although Monan was temporarily at peace, the future was not without worry, and this worry was known to only one person in all the Great Ming — Wang Dou — namely Tsarist Russia, a monster greedier than greed itself, one that only devoured and never spat out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As early as the thirty-fourth year of Wanli, the Russians had invaded the Baraba Steppe. Over the following decades, from the Tara region to the Irtysh and Yenisei river basins, the Tsarist Russians encroached and swallowed territory bit by bit, building forts at every strategic point and constantly sending missions to the various Mongol tribes to lobby them, attempting to persuade them to submit to Russia, while also gathering intelligence on the Mongol tribes and the Ming court in all directions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the forty-seventh year of Wanli, the Russians established Yeniseysk. In the first year of Chongzhen, they established Krasnoyarsk. Thereafter, they had two directions of invasion: southward and eastward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, the Mobei steppe to the south was inhabited by the Ölöd and Khalkha Mongols, whose tribes had large populations and harbored intense resistance to Russia’s various intentions. The leaders of the Tüsheet Khan and Setsen Khan tribes under the Khalkha Mongols had repeatedly sent envoys to Moscow to negotiate. Russia’s southward advance was blocked, so they turned their sights eastward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Around the eleventh year of Chongzhen, the Russians established the Yakutsk Military Governorate. The Cossacks conquered vast areas around the Lena River, built Irkutsk west of Lake Baikal, forcibly seized pastures on all sides of the lake, established forts and stockades, and engaged in fierce conflict with the Buryat Mongol tribes pastured east of Lake Baikal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two sides had been locked in bitter, indecisive fighting since the fourth year of Chongzhen. After roughly twenty-five years of war, the Buryats would be completely subjugated and submit to Russia, with some Buryats moving south into Khalkha territory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the current state of Russian colonization. To Wang Dou, the Russians reaching Lake Baikal was something he could not tolerate. This deepest lake in the world, with the largest capacity, holding a full fifth of the globe’s freshwater resources, was a target he had his eye on — how could he allow outsiders to seize it?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Russians — yet another future adversary, whether he wished it or not.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet to bring about change, he needed strength, so that no matter which direction the Great Ming’s situation took, he could remain calm and unhurried. Only, he needed time to build up that strength.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His dream lay right here on this land.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He came back to himself and looked toward the various officers of the Jingbian Army beside him. They were all gazing out just as he was, many still discussing excitedly, all saying that this land beyond the frontier was utterly different from what they had imagined. Just looking before them, they would never have guessed there was so much land that could be reclaimed for farming, much of it looking very fertile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou smiled and said in a loud voice: “Indeed. You gentlemen may not imagine it, but from this Tumochuan all the way to the Hetao Plain, the arable land available for cultivation numbers in the tens of millions of mu! We can migrate people to reclaim and cultivate it. When the wheat and grain flourish in the coming years, feeding the populace of several provinces will absolutely be no problem. And this place — it will become a treasured granary for our Great Ming!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A wave of astonishment. Army Adviser Qin Yi said in a trembling voice: “Can the Grand General’s words be true?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou nodded heavily: “Yes!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yes. This land.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>According to later historical statistics, Inner Mongolia has over one hundred million mu of arable land, the vast majority of it concentrated right here on the Tumochuan Plain and the Hetao Plain. These places have abundant water resources and dense networks of rivers. Even though the grasslands are dry during the present Little Ice Age, there are still many places that can be irrigated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, beneath the ground, shallow groundwater is widely distributed. Wells do not need to be dug very deep. On the Tumochuan and Hetao Plain, there are also many traces of past reclamation by Han armies. Restoring and using them is far more convenient than starting from scratch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou described his plans in a tone of dreaming. On these two plains, one could plant large quantities of wheat, soybeans, rice, millet, sorghum, naked oats, and other crops. The yields of these agricultural products, even in later ages, often ranked first or among the top three in the entire country, possessing very high potential. This land also had abundant pastureland. One could vigorously develop animal husbandry — raise horses, cattle, and sheep. To say nothing of other things, dairy products alone had great prospects.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This land was also extremely rich in mineral resources. Iron, copper, lead, zinc, coal, and more — everything one could want. Marble, granite, graphite, crystal, and so on were visible everywhere. There were also extremely abundant wild plants, animals, and other such resources. Here was a blank sheet of paper, perfect for painting — a whole series of industrial plans could be unhurriedly unfolded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This land would be the beginning of a whole series of visions for the Jingbian Army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Wang Dou spoke on and on, everyone grew so excited they were rubbing their ears and scratching their cheeks, completely losing the composed demeanor of senior generals and army advisers. Many also understood now why Wang Dou had fought so hard to seize the land of Monan. Such a treasured land — if Heaven bestows it and you do not take it, you will surely suffer the consequences!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou raised his voice: “That day, Adviser Qin was right. In suppressing bandits, the most important thing is civil administration; military affairs are merely auxiliary. If one has no grain in hand and cannot pull the fuel from under the bandits’ cauldron, then the government troops coming and going is nothing but exhausting themselves running in circles! Therefore, internal governance must be the top priority of our Jingbian Army. The future of our Great Ming, the future of our Jingbian Army, lies right here on this land before our eyes!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Shiyin was so stirred that his face flushed red. He said in sudden realization: “No wonder the Grand General has greatly placated Ombu. Is this to calm them with stability? I had been thinking of simply killing them all for the sake of a clean end.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou said: “No. We cannot seek only momentary satisfaction. We must consider the overall situation. Monan Mongolia is a model, a sharp tool to attract the tribes of Mobei. With our strong army in hand, the Tartar caitiffs dare not stir. Add to that the Monan tribes living good lives, and it will surely bring them to submit and assimilate!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To Wang Dou, attacking Mobei now was impossible. Considering logistics alone, the distance from Guihua City to the Kentii Khan Mountains and the Yinma River region exceeded two thousand li. The route would pass through vast deserts, marshes, quicksand, all kinds of snow traps, and other treacherous terrain. Unless one could find the main lairs of their tribes and wipe them all out in one stroke, it would be a disaster.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides, for the sake of dealing with the Russians in the future, amicable relations with the Mongols were necessary. Supporting the Buryat Mongols would also be put on Wang Dou’s agenda. If possible, he would also incite the Khalkha Mongol tribes to launch attacks against the Russians. Irkutsk had to be eliminated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although Wang Dou currently lacked the ability to reach into Siberia, that did not mean he was happy to watch the Russians encroach and swallow territory there. This was also one of the reasons Wang Dou was determined to foster good relations with the Khalkha tribes of Mobei.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the future, he would employ more proxy strategies — like the British — supporting, suppressing, provoking, and only taking the field himself when the timing was right.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Han Chao mused thoughtfully: “Indeed. Back when Emperor Chengzu launched the northern campaigns against the Mongols, each expedition required transporting hundreds of thousands of shi of military grain. Our Jingbian Army currently lacks that capacity. Only…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He continued: “The barbarians have the faces of men but the hearts of beasts; they are fickle and inconstant. Though Emperor Gao said that between Chinese and barbarian, though surnames differ, they should be soothed as one, he also forbade barbarian speech and barbarian surnames, and decreed that Mongols and Semu people were not permitted to marry among their own kind, with violators punished. Emperor Chengzu did the same. The Grand General pacifies the Mongols, but who knows if they might turn fickle again?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou’s gaze was deep and profound. He said flatly: “There is no need to worry. They cannot stir up any waves.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou was confident he could turn the Mongol tribes into China’s Cossacks, fighting for the Central Plains.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He set aside this question: “The most important thing now is grain. With grain in hand, the heart is not flustered. With grain and a strong army, nothing is worth worrying about!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was also a matter close at hand that filled Wang Dou with deep anxiety.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He leaned on the city wall and gazed southeast, saying slowly: “The Great Ming gives no peace of mind. Natural disasters and man-made calamities emerge one after another. I estimate that next year, in the region from Shanxi to the capital, a great plague is very likely to break out. This concerns the survival of the common people, so the Shogunate must make preparations early!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The officers were all startled, snapping back from their previous state: “A great plague?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou nodded heavily: “Yes, a great plague!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He sighed. In the late Ming, the northern provinces were always plagued by endless disasters. Droughts and locusts aside, plagues came one after another. In particular, the great plague from Shanxi to Beijing in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen was truly terrifying.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A contemporary’s notes recorded: “In the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, a great plague struck the capital. From the second month to the ninth month, inside and outside the capital, the pestilence raged fiercely. The illness was called ‘the lumps.’ One person contracted it, and the entire household would be infected in succession. Noble and base, old and young — upon falling ill, they died instantly, without a moment’s delay. There were even cases where entire families perished, with coffins lying unburied. At the nine gates, ten thousand coffins went out daily. Those walking the roads all hung their heads, emaciated and feeble, gasping on the verge of death…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And in Shanxi, the entire province likewise suffered a great plague. The same happened in Tongzhou, Changpingzhou, and Baodingfu. The dead lined the roads, corpses falling one after another. In truth, this was the bubonic plague. It caused nine out of ten in the capital garrison to be lost, and the towering city of Beijing could not hold out for even three days.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Li Zicheng’s army entered the capital, they did not escape misfortune either. The later Qing troops were the same. Historical records state: “When the Manchu soldiers first entered the Pass, they feared smallpox; those infected often died.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Historically, the population of the Manchu Eight Banners had reached its peak during Huang Taiji’s reign, with statistics showing roughly over sixty-five thousand able-bodied men. By the early years of Shunzhi, this had fallen to over fifty-five thousand. Apart from warfare, the plague was not without its role in this decline.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The filthy and squalid environment caused by financial collapse was one reason for the successive great plagues in the northern regions. At the time, people in the capital said the city streets were full of dung and filth. People from all directions crowded and mingled together, with swarms of flies and gnats. Every hot summer, life became unbearable. It seemed a massive cleanup mobilizing the entire province of Shanxi was in order.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The officers of the Jingbian Army naturally had absolute faith in Wang Dou’s words — this had been proven time and again. They also knew the terror of plagues. Gao Shiyin clenched his fist and said fiercely: “Kill every single rat we can see, and sweep away every piece of filth!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Han Chao said: “We must prepare many more physicians. Also, the marmots on the grasslands must not be hunted. If poor herders need to survive the winter, we can aid them with grain!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Grain, again grain. If there were grain, the affairs of this Great Ming realm would be so much easier to handle. The Jingbian Army officers all felt the profound weight of internal governance. Producing grain must be the top priority in all matters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou leaned on the city wall and gazed out over the great earth. Yes, grain. He hoped this great earth would allow him to possess grain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I have already done my utmost, Wang Dou thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, he was thinking: the victory report has already been sent, and Li Chuang has been pushed toward Kaifeng. He wondered if the fighting had begun, and what the final outcome of the battle would be. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, welcome to Qidian to cast your recommendation votes and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please read on m.)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>〖∷Fast Updates∷∷Plain Text∷〗\u003C\u002Fp>",5228,"2026-06-03T14:06:10.567Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","c31cd7e21abb0591edc0abf22d2713a93c4662c8b0d62d1b03a51d99a3c9852a","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-716","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-714",896,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fa-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-cover.jpg"]