[{"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-794":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},1206083,1561,"Chapter 794: The Torrent","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-794",794,"\u003Cp>After the meal, Kong San busied himself as usual, sorting the account books and reporting various matters to Old Hu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He managed the troop training and logistics affairs in the camp — a multitude of tasks that often kept him utterly swamped. Yet Old Hu was a genuine illiterate; even if he had the will for such meticulous work, he lacked the ability. He was also a lazy man — not just unable, but even if able, too lazy to bother.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, with Kong San around, everything could be handed over to him, leaving Old Hu completely unburdened. In this, he was learning from the Grand General: let the subordinates do all the work, and call it, in fine-sounding terms, \"delegation of authority.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Listening to Kong San's report, Old Hu said with an air of authority, \"Very good. You've done well. Keep up the effort.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kong San coolly raised his head and glanced at him. Old Hu instantly changed his expression, nodding and bowing as he said, \"Master Kong, you've worked hard. The able must do more, heh heh.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kong San also reported some personnel matters to Old Hu. Among the men from Little Yuan's camp who had been absorbed that day, after observation over this period, those squad leaders and chiefs, great and small, who were willing to draw closer — those who should be won over ought to be won over, and those who should be promoted ought to be promoted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for those who were hostile, they should be assigned some suicide missions to wear them down. He had already drawn up a list and was just waiting for Old Hu's decision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old Hu waved his hand with a headache. \"Alright, alright. Master Kong, see to the arrangements as you see fit.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He recalled something. \"Right. Several camps are pitched near our Mountain Patrol Camp. The chief sentries of those camps are bold and open-hearted men — we should make their acquaintance. Those few jade Buddhas in our camp are quite fine. Master Kong, have someone fetch them. Old Hu here has nothing to do tonight; I'll casually go pay a visit to those lords.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More friends, more paths — Old Hu was still very fond of making friends. And although the Chuang camp's military law said no man could keep a single piece of gold, offenders facing death, many soldiers and officers, especially those in the outer camps, secretly hoarded gold and silver. Old Hu had also stashed away some good things, planning to return to Xuanfu Garrison for a comfortable life someday.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sometimes the main camp would also bestow some gold and silver as rewards — today, for instance. Though gold, silver, pearls, and jade were now worthless in the Chuang camp, there were still those who fancied them. So Old Hu prepared to bring some jewels and treasures when he visited the various chief sentries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kong San nodded. Making more connections among officers was quite beneficial for intelligence work — especially with certain officers nursing grievances.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Chuang camp now practiced a system of equal distribution. Although it could help officers and men unite as one through many hardships, human nature was, after all, hard to change — particularly for those former surrendered officers. Privately, they were quite dissatisfied with this system.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For now, it was suppressed. But no one knew when it might erupt. This point could be exploited.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Old Hu left in high spirits, Kong San silently sorted the documents in the tent, working from the outside inward, deducing the affairs of the Chuang camp. He also wrote some booklets that appeared ordinary but were actually filled with cipher text. This cipher required a related book to unlock the code; ordinary people could never decipher it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a long while, Kong San set down his brush and ink, pushed open the tent flap. Outside was total darkness, only a few faint torches and the sound of patrol watches and night drums drifting over.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gazing at the pitch-black night sky, Kong San quietly wondered: in this utterly dark Chuang camp, how many others were silently lurking in concealment, just like himself?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at the night sky, Kong San could not help missing his beloved wife at home, and his several children. He just did not know how long this mission of his would last — when could he see them again?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Kong San firmly believed that he would live to see the day the Grand General launched his troops. Everything would eventually pass. After the dark night comes the dawn.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next day, at the fourth watch, the Mountain Patrol Camp ate a field breakfast and awaited orders. At first light, they set out again with the main army. That day the army reached Jia County, and the Mountain Patrol Camp was ordered to join friendly camps in attacking the historically renowned Linfeng Stockade.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It turned out that when Li Chuang had first descended upon Huguang, Linfeng Stockade, forced by circumstances, had acknowledged the Chuang camp's rule and raised their flag. Although they still refused to let Chuang troops garrison inside, they were nominally under Li Chuang's governance. But after the Chuang army's main force reached Huguang, Linfeng Stockade quickly pulled down the Chuang flag again, declaring themselves still subjects of the Great Ming.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, however, seeing the Chuang camp advancing in vast, boundless swarms of troops and horses, the two great surname clans and powerful families inside the stockade conferred, then raised the Chuang flag once more. Yet they refused the Chuang camp's demand that they deliver one thousand dan of military grain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Zicheng was furious and decided to teach the powerful gentry inside the stockade a lesson. At first, he ordered one outer camp to attack, with two hundred men from the main camp holding the line.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this Linfeng Stockade was extremely difficult to attack. The stockade sloped high in the east and low in the west, its surroundings encompassing five types of terrain: flatland, sand, hills, ridges, and depressions. East and west of the stockade were the Lipu and Fengxi streams, originating from Xiangshan; to the north were hills and ridges plus the North Ru River; to the south were more hills. This terrain made it impossible to bring strength to bear — human-wave tactics were very hard to employ.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The walls of Linfeng Stockade were also extremely tall and thick. Built of pale red ashlar stone, the walls stood over two zhang high, and with the surrounding waterways, they seemed even higher and deeper. The walls also had gate towers, with over eight hundred crenellations alone. In terms of defensive fortifications, it was even more formidable than the original Jia County seat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside the stockade were mainly two great clans, intermarried, of the same lineage and kin, extraordinarily united. There was absolutely no chance of an insider opening the gates. Wealthy households flocked to take refuge there, further increasing their financial strength.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the walls of Linfeng Stockade, they had even mounted over a dozen Frankish cannons, along with a great number of bows, arrows, and matchlocks — all excellent weapons. So that outer camp fought for a day, never even touched the stockade walls, and returned in defeat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next day, the Mountain Patrol Camp and two outer camps attacked Linfeng Stockade. Over ten thousand troops assaulted simultaneously, mainly striking the western stockade's \"Linfeng Gate,\" the eastern stockade's \"Pubin Gate,\" and the southern stockade gate. They even laboriously hauled over several cannons to support the assault.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Linfeng Stockade's terrain prevented them from deploying their full strength, and the resistance inside was incredibly tenacious. In the end, even women and children joined the fight en masse. The three Chuang camps suffered over a thousand casualties and still could not even scale the stockade walls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Zicheng was helpless against this stronghold of the powerful. Could the entire army really stay here just to attack one earthen stockade? Fortunately, the men Linfeng Stockade sent to negotiate were willing to supply two hundred dan of grain and fodder to provision the troops. Given this way to step down, the Chuang camp took the opportunity to withdraw gracefully and left this stockade in frustration.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The subsequent march and grain foraging was not a pleasant memory for the Chuang camp. West of Jia County, the land was generally a narrow, elongated river valley. Aside from some areas under Chuang camp influence, the ordinary county seats and department cities were all broken walls and ruins, with no inhabitants left.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With nearby mountain forests, ridges, and hills to choose from, the remaining commoners on the plains had all fled, leaving the flatlands utterly deserted. Villages and towns were reduced to wasteland; even stockades were exceedingly few. And in the mountainous areas on both sides of the river valley, wherever stockades had been built, they belonged to local strongmen, local tyrants, and great gentry clans.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their stockades, relying on the terrain, were easy to defend and hard to attack. Internally united and financially well-resourced, they were, like Linfeng Stockade, each one not to be trifled with, and even harder to assault.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Except for attacking some small stockades, the Chuang camp was basically powerless against the large ones. At most, they could threaten them into supplying some grain and fodder, and leave it at that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These powerful families watched coldly as the Chuang camp passed by outside. They did not care whether the flag flying on their stockade walls was the Chuang banner or the imperial court's great standard. To them, no matter which faction came, they stood on invincible ground. Nor would they permit any faction to enter inside their stockades.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were sitting firmly on the fishing platform. After the chaos, a golden age would come. A new dynasty would descend. Everything would start anew. To govern the region, which government office could ever do without them? They would again be the great clans controlling the locality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Chuang camp swept through, and small stockades and weak stockades met disaster one after another. The truly powerful great clans that remained stood firm. The sight of those weaklings, those commoners without means to protect themselves, only made their own stockades more united. Fighting to the last man in the entire stockade was not just empty talk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In late April, Li Zicheng's great army was at last not far from Tongguan, pressing right up to the gates of Shan County. Like everywhere else in Henan Prefecture, this county's villages were all empty; everywhere were only abandoned ruins, with tangled weeds stretching unbroken.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But to the great delight of Li Chuang's army, the county seat actually had inhabitants. It turned out that after Li Zicheng's great army had gone south into Huguang, the newly appointed County Magistrate Li Zhen had recruited commoners to till the land, farming the fields near the city just to keep themselves fed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Zicheng immediately ordered an assault on the city. Shan County was half abandoned, with fewer than five thousand residents and even fewer able-bodied men. Even though Shan County's terrain to the west, north, and south was unfavorable for attack, the Chuang army densely packed itself before the eastern city wall. In one charge, they swarmed onto the battlements in a single burst and opened the city gates.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Mountain Patrol Camp was also arrayed in the front line, but before it was even Old Hu's turn, they heard heaven-shaking cheers from ahead, and faintly, the terrified shrieks from inside the city. Then they saw tide-like waves of elite cavalry surging in through the eastern gate, and inside the city, a sky-rending chorus of weeping arose — clearly, the main camp troops were inside, slaughtering without restraint.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ever since Jia County, the grain foraging along the way had not gone smoothly. Everyone in the Chuang camp had been bottling up a bellyful of fire. It seemed that in this battle, the Chuang camp's higher-ups were deliberately indulging these soldiers, and also, with Tongguan about to be threatened, there was an intent to kill the chicken to warn the monkey.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although after literati like Li Yan joined, the Chuang camp had begun to strictly enforce military discipline, there was still the rule: when attacking a city, those who surrendered upon approach would not be killed; if they resisted one day, three in ten would be killed; if two days, seven in ten; if three days, the city would be massacred. Even the staff literati in the army did not feel there was anything wrong with such a rule.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amid the wailing inside the city, there were also bursts of cheering: \"We've caught the old county magistrate!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old Hu craned his neck to look and saw dozens of main camp soldiers surge out from the city gate. They were tugging and hauling along a middle-aged man in official robes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The man's official hat was already gone, and the official robes on his body were torn and disheveled. His hands were tightly bound, and as he was dragged and pulled along by the group, he remained utterly unyielding, cursing unceasingly the whole way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then Old Hu saw the great banner in the rear stir. Following it came uniformly fierce cavalrymen, rank upon rank, each standard-bearer holding a white-tasseled black-satin banner — the mark of the personal battalion. And then there was one particularly large banner, its tassel seemingly made of horse mane, its pole and tip seemingly made of silver, gleaming and glittering, extremely valuable — that was Old Hu's thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, for the first time, he saw Li Chuang: a middle-aged man who looked very much like a Semu, with a full face of whiskers, wearing a white felt hat with a red tassel, clad in a blue old-style arrow robe, with a cloak draped over the outside. He rode a black dragon steed with thick, curly hair. As he moved, the treasured sword at his waist and his gold-traced arrow quiver were intermittently revealed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beside Li Chuang were many other officers likewise on horseback. Old Hu only recognized Tian Jianxiu and Li Guo; the rest he did not know. Military strategy decisions were not for the outer camps; the main camp never summoned them for councils — only a relay horse notice would come down, and that was that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Also on horseback were many literati, none of whom Old Hu recognized at all. He just fixed his eyes on Li Zicheng and thought, \"The men in every camp blow King Li Chuang up to the skies, but seeing him now, he doesn't have three heads and six arms either.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At his side, Kong San was paying more attention to observing the people on that side, silently committing them to memory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then the personal battalion troops passed by the Mountain Patrol Camp and halted not far ahead. The County Magistrate Li Zhen had already been escorted before Li Chuang. His face and body covered in blood, the moment he saw Li Zicheng, he began cursing him. Figures were shifting and indistinct; Old Hu could not see clearly from this side, but still craned his neck with all his might.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In that moment, the county magistrate seemed to have already cursed many lines, but Old Hu only caught one sentence clearly: \"...You rebel scum! The one who drove the commoners to defend to the death was the county magistrate — why slaughter them wantonly?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Zicheng said something. The county magistrate, fiercely unyielding, only cursed louder and more vehemently. Then Li Zicheng, enraged, ordered the county magistrate's official robes stripped off and him hung upside down from a nearby tree. Suspended from the tree, the county magistrate still cursed without cease, crying out in a mournful, piercing wail: \"If the Exalted Emperor has spirit, I shall surely appeal to the Lord on High to slay the rebels!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The people around Li Chuang all cursed in unison. A literatus dressed in very expensive clothes — Old Hu did not know who he was, but Kong San knew the man was Niu Jinxing — let out a long, loud laugh: \"Heaven's heart has grown weary of the Ming. The August Lord on High no longer favors the Ming dynasty.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the county magistrate kept cursing, cursing until Niu Jinxing was speechless, cursing until Li Chuang and those around him were shamed into fury. They ordered Li Zhen's tongue cut out, and finally hacked him into a dozen pieces. Still not satisfied, they ordered a search for this Li Zhen's relatives. Only upon hearing that his mother, Lady Qiao, and his wife had long since taken their own lives did they bitterly let the matter drop.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching the county magistrate die so miserably, Old Hu sighed inwardly, \"Ah, good officials always die wretched deaths.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old Hu still had his own standards of judgment. In his view, one who recruited commoners to farm in chaotic times and who would rather die than submit was naturally a good official. In that scene just now, had it been him, he would have surrendered long ago.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kong San lowered his head and said silently in his heart, \"Heroes, eternal through the ages.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Taking Shan County also made the Chuang camp change its mind. Originally they had planned to place their logistics and grain supply base at Luoyang, but after looking at Shan County's terrain, it seemed that stockpiling grain and fodder here would be better. Moreover, Luoyang was quite far from Tongguan, over five hundred li, while going west from Shan County to Tongguan was only a little over two hundred li.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this time, Li Zicheng personally led this main army — forty thousand horse troops, one hundred fifty thousand infantry, and they had also coerced about one hundred thousand famine victims. Apart from some scout cavalry pressing forward to the front of Tongguan, the main force was still along the Shan County line. Some of the old camp were even supervising some outer camps and famine victims foraging for grain in all directions, while the artillery and some carts and horses were even farther behind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In addition, over ten thousand horse and foot soldiers were monitoring the movements around Kaifeng, conveniently foraging for grain and coercing famine victims in Kaifeng Prefecture, then transporting them through Hulao Pass and other places into Henan Prefecture.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the twenty-fifth day of the fourth month, Li Chuang's great army once again advanced westward in mighty waves. The torrent of humanity spread across every official road and dirt path.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>West of Shan County were still Lingbao and Wenxiang counties, both located beside the Yellow River. The county towns still had commoners and county magistrates. However, after Shan County was breached, both officials and civilians fled until none remained. Along the way, they were hunted and killed by the Chuang army's scout cavalry. Most of the commoners fled into the mountain plains, and only a small number escaped into Tongguan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Chuang army's dense mass of men and horses simply advanced westward, like a torrential flood tide. The Mountain Patrol Camp was also one spray amid the waves. Yet aside from the excitement of seeing the Yellow River for the first time, the rest of the march was so utterly dull and flavorless — especially entering these roads of Shaanxi. How to put it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everywhere, ravines crisscrossed in all directions. Fragmented and broken earth plateaus, earth ridges, and earth gullies towered on every side. Sometimes the distance between two plateaus looked very short, but walking it was not easy at all. It made some soldiers who had joined in Henan and Huguang extremely unaccustomed, deeply feeling what it meant to be close at hand yet as far as the horizon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old Hu was also one of those extremely unaccustomed. He had long grown used to the flatness of the great North China Plain and the great Henan Plain, where the land stretched smooth as a single horse's gallop. Even when encountering mountains and crossing ridges, it was never like here, where a deep gully would suddenly appear before you, and then you would have to detour and walk for half a day. This made him curse and grumble endlessly along the way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, for Li Zicheng and the various generals of the old camp, the roads of Shaanxi were paths they had long grown accustomed to walking. And the closer they drew to Tongguan, the harder their hearts pounded. Ah, homeland, homeland, at last they were about to see you. The long-cherished hope of returning home in silken robes was finally about to be realized.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Right, when they saw old acquaintances, what should the first words be?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The great army pressed on westward all the way. At last, as the fourth month drew to a close and the fifth approached, the torrent of humanity closed in before Niutou Plain. Not far ahead lay Jindou Pass, the first pass of Tongguan. (To be continued...)\u003C\u002Fp>",3487,"2026-06-03T14:06:10.567Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","69a3c39f71ae185bc62168f0c94d81cb5a28fb2c6a0d78fdb4f7f638fffcfc2b","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-795","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-793",896,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fa-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-cover.jpg"]