[{"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-764":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},1206053,1561,"Chapter 764: Grand Marshal Upholding Heaven and Championing Righteousness, Civil and Military","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-764",764,"\u003Cp>In the intercalary eleventh month of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng’s great army surged southward in a mighty, sweeping tide, its spearhead aimed straight at Xiangyang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this time, the force holding Xiangyang was Zuo Liangyu’s command. During the battle of Zhuxianzhen, Zuo Liangyu’s flight had led to a crushing Ming defeat; though he fled all the way back to Xiangyang afterward, he remained fearful and uneasy, probing in every direction for news of the court’s intentions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, that sense of insecurity drove him to frantically recruit defectors and accept surrenders, gathering up able-bodied young men. Especially after receiving the news reports from Xuanfu, the universal condemnation and utter ruin of his reputation made Zuo Liangyu fly into a rage while also accelerating his pace of recruiting soldiers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bandits, local outlaws, idlers and drifters — he accepted anyone who came, and soon the forces under his command swelled to a hundred thousand, which he proclaimed to be three hundred thousand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, the court’s quota for pay and provisions was limited, so the rations and pay for troops exceeding that quota were all extorted from the local populace. The Pingzei Army plundered at will, killed arbitrarily, looted civilian property, violated wives and daughters, and committed every evil imaginable. The people of Xiangyang suffered bitterly from this and hated Zuo Liangyu to the marrow of their bones.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The local populace was brewing a mass uprising to respond, just waiting for Li Chuang’s army to arrive so they could open the gates and surrender to the rebels. Zuo Liangyu could not have been unaware of the situation in Xiangyang Prefecture; he himself confessed in a public notice, “At this moment, the people’s mood is responsive, the situation like boiling soup.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the battle of Zhuxianzhen, he had long since lost all fighting spirit and merely built large numbers of ships and vessels in Xiangyang Prefecture, waiting for the moment things turned sour to flee downstream along the Han River. Just as the construction was in full swing, unexpectedly, the people of Xiangyang, who had long hated Zuo Liangyu to the core, secretly set a fire and burned all the ships Zuo Liangyu had built to ashes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zuo Liangyu was both furious and terrified. Just then, a batch of merchant ships passed by, and Zuo Liangyu immediately seized these merchant ships, loaded them with large quantities of military supplies as well as plundered women and valuables, and sent his son Zuo Menggeng to transport them away first.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He himself led his troops to hold Xiangyang City and Fancheng, intending to fight a desperate battle against Li Chuang here. After all, this was his turf, and Zuo Liangyu was unwilling to abandon it until the very last moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Zicheng’s army surged mightily into Huguang. On the road, he issued the very famous “Proclamation to Exterminate Troops and Pacify the People,” penned by Gu Junen. The proclamation read:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“On the matter of exterminating troops and pacifying the people: The fatuous ruler of the Ming dynasty is without benevolence. He favors eunuchs, emphasizes the examination ranks, covets taxes and levies, imposes heavy punishments, and cannot save the people from dire straits. Daily he exhausts his armies, who plunder the people’s wealth, violate wives and daughters, and suck the marrow and flay the skin. Our camp has been a good and honest farming family for ten generations. We urgently raise a righteous army to rescue the people from their misery. We come in person to Huguang and issue this notice to inform you: Scholars and commoners, do not be alarmed; each of you go about your livelihood in peace. Within our camp, any who dare kill innocent civilians — the entire squad will be executed. For those among you people who embrace victory and cry out to welcome our royal army, you shall be immediately appointed to important posts. The rest must not don military garb, lest jade and stone be indistinguishable. This is the proclamation.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This proclamation struck the hearts of many scholars and commoners. At this time, the discipline of government troops was unspeakably corrupt, and folk rhymes about bandits using combs and soldiers using fine-toothed combs ran rampant everywhere. It could be said that the people’s resentment against the soldiers pierced the bone. Coupled with the Pingzei Army as a textbook example, all longed for Li Chuang’s arrival.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The famous late-Ming minister Du Yinxi once submitted a memorial stating: “Your servant knows that what drives all the people of the realm to follow the rebels is entirely the doing of the soldiers…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This can be said to describe the harm caused by soldiers at that time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this time, however, because Li Chuang’s army had scholars like Li Yan joining them, their military discipline was relatively strict. Li Zicheng even issued an order: “To kill one person is like killing my father; to violate one woman is like violating my mother.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Orders were strictly enforced and prohibitions observed within the army, forming a stark contrast with the government troops of the time. Therefore, many commoners’ attitudes toward soldiers and rebels were completely different.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“When the rebels arrive at other towns, some wait for them on the road, some offer them grain, some give them bows and arrows… Far and near, people joyfully attach themselves to them and no longer regard them as rebels…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for the government troops, in the twelfth month of the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, the government army under Zuo Liangyu’s command marched through snow to Yuzhou. The local “scholars and commoners all hid behind the parapets, poured water to freeze the city walls, and held fast for the rebels. Even for a single grain or a blade of grass, they did not answer calls, and even when offered payment, they refused.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, this proclamation was extremely brilliant. It spoke only of exterminating troops and pacifying the people, of urgently raising a righteous army solely to rescue the people from their misery. It also emphasized military discipline — any who dared kill innocent civilians, the entire squad would be executed. Thus, wherever the proclamation reached, not only did the commoners leap for joy, but even the gentry were watching and waiting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Large numbers of spies also entered Huguang ahead of the main army. Folk rhymes like “When the Chuang King comes, no grain is levied” were sung everywhere. As soon as Li Zicheng’s army entered Huguang, the common people burned incense, bowed in reverence, and came out with livestock and wine to welcome them from afar. In particular, the populace of Xiangyang Prefecture volunteered eagerly to serve as guides for Li Chuang’s army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this time, Zuo Liangyu’s army had densely deployed defensive lines at Xiangyang City and Fancheng. Those guides led the Chuang army around the places Zuo Liangyu had fortified, crossing the Han River at the Baima Cave ferry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This Baima ferry had the Pu River above and the Wujia River below; the two ferries flanked and supported each other, holding the upper reaches of the Han. It was about fifty li west of Xiangyang City, facing Fancheng across the water. In particular, at the end of the woods lay a large stretch of sandy beach, very suitable as a river-crossing site.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Li Zicheng’s great army raced to cross the river mouth, the local people again risked their lives to carry and set up cannons for them, helping the large force cross the beach. Zuo Liangyu watched dumbfounded as Li Chuang’s army bypassed his defensive line, much like the feelings of the French when the German army bypassed the Maginot Line in later ages.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had no heart for battle and soon struck camp and fled. Before leaving, he did not change his evil ways, burning, killing, and plundering in Xiangyang Prefecture, torching houses, destroying wells and stoves, leaving not even chickens or dogs behind, emptying the land for a thousand li.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Zuo Liangyu fled, all the officials in Xiangyang likewise ran away. Li Zicheng took Xiangyang City without the slightest effort. He then divided his forces and successively captured the cities of Zaoyang, Yicheng, Gucheng, and Guanghua within the prefecture, as well as places like Suizhou in De’an Prefecture.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the fourth day of the twelfth month of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng’s great army again marched south from Xiangyang. When news reached Jingzhou, Prince Hui of Ming, Zhu Changrun, the Governor of Pian-Yuan, Chen Ruimo, and all civil and military officials fled in succession on the night of the eighth day, leaving the city gates without a single soldier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the fourteenth day of the twelfth month, Li Zicheng’s army entered Jingzhou. The scholars and commoners of Jingzhou slaughtered pigs and sheep, raised banners, and welcomed them. On the sixteenth day, Li Zicheng executed the entire family of the surrendered Prince of Xiangyin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this time, the Huguang Provincial Governor, Song Yihe, and the Regional Commander, Qian Zhongxuan, gathered at the County Magistrate Mausoleum in Chengtian Prefecture to protect the imperial tomb. This place was originally Zhongxiang County, the fief of Prince Xingxian, Zhu Youhang, father of the Jiajing Emperor. After Zhu Houcong ascended the throne, Zhongxiang was regarded as the “place where the dragon lurked” and was elevated to Chengtian Prefecture, with the two guards of Chengtian and County Magistrate established for its defense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the twelfth month, as Xiangyang, De’an, and Jingzhou fell one after another, Yihe hastened to Chengtian to protect the County Magistrate Mausoleum. Accompanying him were the Mobile Investigation Censor, Li Zhensheng; the Detached Vice Surveillance Commissioner, Zhang Fengzhu; the Defense Assistant Regional Commander, Shen Shouchong; the County Magistrate of Zhongxiang, Xiao Han; and others.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Song Yihe had risen from the provincial examinations and, in less than ten years, held the tally of command. His high achievements drew envy, and Censor Wei Zhouyun submitted a memorial viciously slandering Yihe. In particular, when Song Yihe paid a visit to the Grand Coordinator Yang Sichang, because Yang’s father’s name was He (Crane), to avoid the taboo, he wrote “Song Yiwu” (Song One-Bird) on his name card, which became a subject of ridicule.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In truth, the gentleman was full of statecraft and well-versed in strategic matters. Since assuming the post of Provincial Governor, he had repeatedly achieved extraordinary feats. He also trained two thousand men for his personal provincial guard battalion, teaching them drill formations; their advances and halts were disciplined and uniform, all fine young men of good family, an elite force. He further purchased two thousand Eastern Road bird guns. Wherever his awe-inspiring reputation extended, bandits and raiders fled at the mere rumor of his approach.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the roving bandits attacked Runing in the south, he rushed forward to its relief, but Runing City had already fallen. Zuo Liangyu’s army was ravaging Xiangyang and Fancheng. Yihe submitted a memorial impeaching him. In the latter part of the twelfth month, Li Chuang’s army, numbering several hundred thousand, advanced toward Chengtian Prefecture. The gentleman personally donned armor and shared the hardships of his officers and men daily. The mausoleum troops further erected wooden palisades as city walls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, Li Chuang’s army piled up firewood and burned them, the smoke smothering Chunde Mountain. Song Yihe and the others were defeated and retreated to the prefectural city. The Detached Vice Surveillance Commissioner Zhang Fengzhu fled into the mountains. The roving bandits then desecrated the County Magistrate Mausoleum, destroying the sacrificial hall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Chuang army, several hundred thousand strong, besieged the prefectural city. Song Yihe did not remove his armor at night, rousing his various troops to fight, engaging in bloody battle for five days and nights.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, the hearts of the people had turned. The local populace was indifferent to the government troops. When the vanguard of the Chuang army arrived at Chengtian by boat, some local residents wrote the words “Respectfully Welcome the Royal Army” on their main gates, while others prepared to open the western gate to welcome the Chuang army into the city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the first day of the first month of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, the local people opened the city gates. The roving bandits swarmed in, and Chengtian Prefecture fell. Regional Commander Qian Zhongxuan died in battle, and the provincial guard battalion was completely wiped out. The Mobile Investigation Censor Li Zhensheng was captured, and the Erudite of the Imperial Observatory, Yang Yongyu, surrendered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Song Yihe descended into the city to fight in the streets, brandishing his blade and killing several bandits before dying. Posthumously, he was granted the title of Viceroy, a shrine was built in his honor, and a “Stele of Longing for His Departure” was erected.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After capturing Chengtian, Li Zicheng renamed Chengtian Prefecture to Yangwu Department and continued to advance eastward with his army. On the fifteenth day of the first month of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, he captured Hanchuan County, which was only one hundred twenty li from the prefectural city of Wuchang, reachable by sailing downstream along the Han River.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zuo Liangyu’s force, which had fled all the way from Xiangyang to Wuchang, had barely gained a foothold when they saw Li Zicheng’s great army rolling in. They continued to flee down the river toward Jiujiang, and on the sixteenth day, they commandeered nearly all the boats on both banks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A contemporary account of Zuo’s army’s evil deeds: “Earlier, commoners who could not acquire boats themselves would entrust their entire households to grain transport vessels, numbering several thousand families, believing the grain ships to be reliable. Now they were plundered without exception. One soldier boarding a boat, a hundred people begging for their lives — the sound of blades and human voices, fish scattering in chaos as water flew — how pitiful! On the eighteenth day, the entire army moved eastward, masts and sails blanketing the river, the sounds of bitter weeping stretching for ten li. The two prefectures were just beginning to hope for a slight respite.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Zuo Liangyu’s force fled, Li Zicheng’s army took the route through Liujiage and, on the eighteenth day of the first month, captured Hanyang Prefecture, seizing four to five thousand vessels. On the nineteenth day, they crossed the river to attack Wuchang. Because the river current was swift and many of the Chuang army were unfamiliar with the nature of water, many boats were capsized by wind and waves, and many roving bandits were drowned alive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A fear of the many mountains and rivers of Huguang and Jiangnan surged in the hearts of many soldiers in the Chuang camp. They were mostly from Shaanxi and Henan, and after arriving in Huguang, they were, in truth, extremely unaccustomed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that time, Luo Rucai and others argued with Li Zicheng, believing that advancing south into Huguang was unsuitable for the development of their various roving camp divisions. There was, in fact, some truth to this. Gazing at the vast great river, with its many waters and swift rapids, Li Zicheng himself was also afraid at heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was also at this moment that Li Zicheng decided to halt the large-scale plundering of Huguang and, taking the route through Yunmeng County, returned to Xiangyang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because the fruits of this southern campaign were brilliant, and they had even captured Chengtian Prefecture, Li Zicheng was not only immensely proud and satisfied, but his ministers also strongly urged him to assume the imperial throne. Li Zicheng was tempted, but Niu Jinxing believed the time was not yet ripe. The surrendered Erudite of the Imperial Observatory, Yang Yongyu, was likewise terrified.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Earlier, to demonstrate his loyalty, he had requested Li Zicheng to excavate and destroy the County Magistrate Mausoleum. Unexpectedly, just as the digging began, the entire valley resounded with a thunderous roar, scaring the souls out of many of the rebel soldiers digging the tomb. Yang Yongyu was also extremely fearful and fell gravely ill after returning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this time, he also believed that the County Magistrate Mausoleum had a supernatural aura, proving that the dragon energy of the Great Ming still remained, and that the time to proclaim himself emperor had not yet come.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because Yang Yongyu claimed to be versed in astronomy, geography, rites, music, and military strategy, and was also a mysterious Erudite of the Imperial Observatory, Li Zicheng trusted him considerably. Though tempted, he heeded the advice of Niu Jinxing and him, refraining from declaring himself emperor and temporarily assuming the title of “Grand Marshal Upholding Heaven and Championing Righteousness, Civil and Military.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the beginning, Li Zicheng often did not hold the cities and territories he captured. But after crossing the Han River and driving straight into Jingzhou, seeing a single soldier there, he then conceived the ambition to hold territory and plotted to make Jingzhou and Xiangyang his base.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thereupon, he renamed Xiangyang to Xiangjing, renamed Chengtian Prefecture to Yangwu Department, repaired the palace of the Prince of Xiang, established the Changyi Prefecture, divided his forces to garrison strategic points, and set up officials and assigned posts. Among them, Niu Jinxing was appointed Prime Minister, and six “Government Ministries” were established: Personnel, Revenue, Rites, War, Justice, and Works.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He also appointed Yu Shangyou as Vice Minister of the Personnel Government Ministry, Xiao Yingkun as Vice Minister of the Revenue Government Ministry, Yang Yongyu as Vice Minister of the Rites Government Ministry, Qiu Zhitao as Vice Minister of the War Government Ministry, Deng Yanzhong as Vice Minister of the Justice Government Ministry, and Yao Xiyin as Vice Minister of the Works Government Ministry, to manage governmental affairs separately. Below the vice ministers were officials such as attendants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the local level, each circuit was assigned one Defense Commissioner. Each prefecture had a Prefectural Governor, and depending on the complexity of affairs, officials such as Vice Prefect and Assistant Prefect were established as appropriate. Departments had Department Magistrates, with larger departments adding Department Vice Magistrates. Counties had County Magistrates, Registrars, and other officials. Each official was separately issued a seal and letter of appointment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In terms of military organization, further consolidation was carried out, perfecting the five-battalion system, divided into Center, Left, Right, Front, and Rear battalions, with banner colors assigned. The personal battalion used white banners, with all great banners in black. The Left, Right, Front, and Rear used the colors white, black, red, and yellow respectively, with their great banners following suit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Positions of Senior and Vice Quan-General and Zhi-General were established. Tian Jianxiu and Liu Zongmin were appointed Quan-Generals. Tian Jianxiu was generous and kind-hearted, able to win the hearts of the masses, so he was ordered to superintend the affairs of all the battalions. Liu Zongmin, with his seniority and experience, served as Li Zicheng’s right-hand man and commanded the Central Quan personal troops.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Fangliang, Yuan Zongdi, Li Guo, and Liu Xiyao were appointed Zhi-Generals. Gao Yigong and Li Yan alternately served on the left and right, trusted and employed in confidential matters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The five battalions were mainly for assaulting cities and field battles. There were also local guard troops, first established in Jingzhou and Xiangyang, then extending to Chengtian, De’an, Jingzhou, and gradually to Runan. The Tongda Guard Zhi-General Ren Rongguang defended Jingzhou Prefecture with six thousand troops, two thousand of whom defended Jingzhou City.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Tongda Guard Right Wuwu General Niu Wancai, with six hundred cavalry, and the Marshal’s Standard Commandant Zhang Li, with six hundred marines, separately defended Yiling. The Marshal’s Standard Wuwu General Wang Wenyao defended Lizhou with six thousand troops. The Yangwu Guard Guoyi General Bai Wang defended Anlu with three thousand troops…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They divided their forces to establish defensive positions, and at the county level and above appointed military officers such as Commandant, Mobile Corps Commander, Battalion Commander, and Picket Commander to lead local armed forces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By the fifth month of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, the regime Li Zicheng established at Xiangyang had dispatched officials to administer territories stretching north to the southern bank of the Yellow River and south to Lizhou, Anxiang, Huarong, and other places in Huguang — already taking on considerable scale.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In matters of livelihood, they proclaimed \"no tax collection\" and \"no grain levies for three years,\" provided poor peasants with plow oxen and seed, and ordered the protection of plow oxen. At the time, the Supervising Secretary Li Yongmao stated in a memorial: \"The bandits forbid killing, demanding life for life, and further stipulate that killing one ox shall be compensated with ten horses.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He further stated: \"The bandits use the prohibition of killing to promote farming, set up officials and appoint functionaries, beguile the hearts of the people, and establish firm foundations.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That same year, Zhu Yixin, the Supervisory Official of Yunyang Prefecture in Huguang, also stated in a memorial: \"The bandits also provide oxen and seed, relieve the impoverished, raise livestock, and devote themselves to agriculture and sericulture, as a long-term strategy… This is why the people all adhere to the bandits and not to the troops, and the bandits have food while the troops have none…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In establishing the Xiangyang regime, Li Zicheng urgently needed large numbers of officials, but the gentry were mostly watching from the sidelines, harboring misgivings and fear about following the bandits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Li Zicheng held examinations to select scholars in the first month of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, the essay topic was \"Possessing Two-Thirds of All Under Heaven,\" but very few came to take the exam. Li Zicheng flew into a rage and ordered that all licentiates be rounded up to sit the examination. At the time, quite a few preferred drowning themselves to attending, so he ordered that evaders be executed with the utmost severity, and subsequently further declared: \"Those who do not take the examination — slaughter their entire families.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because the civil examination recruitment was coercive in nature, the scholars had no freedom to refuse participation. The licentiates had no choice but to all come forth. Yet on the day of the examination, some wrote in righteous fury and heaped abuse, some wrote in grief and wept bitterly, and some, fearing disaster and forcing themselves to comply, deliberately failed to complete their essays.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Zicheng was enraged again and loudly declared: \"I could cut you lot down like mowing grass, but I am now practicing benevolence and righteousness, and killing you would be dishonorable. I shall only kill those who cursed and those who wept. As for those who deliberately failed to complete their essays, cut off their noses and ears, and when unification is achieved and examinations are held, bar them for life.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that time, many of those who had failed to complete their essays had their noses and ears cut off. The gentry were even more terrified and said: This is the calamity of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the disaster of the Southern Tang martial state.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They fled in droves, and the local talent Li Zicheng needed remained in chronic shortage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Furthermore, Yu Shangyou, Vice Minister of the Civil \"Government,\" drew up a list of Jingzhou gentry. Zicheng issued summonses to conscript them. The Provincial Graduates Chen Wance and Li Kaixian of Jiangdong were among those listed. When the summons arrived, Wance hanged himself, and Kaixian dashed his head against a pillar and died.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fast updates, plain text only\u003C\u002Fp>",3877,"2026-06-03T14:06:10.567Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","a3d31ff6597b5e8128e90f75b9906c3e1c9ea20434d65d6c1ca26fd3cf0fdede","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-765","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-763",896,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fa-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-cover.jpg"]