[{"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-815":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},1206104,1561,"Chapter 815: Stockpile","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-815",815,"\u003Cp>In late July, the Times and the Military Gazette published many individual exemplary deeds, ranging from ordinary soldiers and commoners to high officials and great generals, and also published an interview with Gao Shiyin, the Baotao General of the Eastern Garrison in Monan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Interview: \"I heard that after arriving in Kaiping, General, you work eight double-hours every day. Are you tired?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Shiyin: \"Not tired. Whenever I think of that scene of feverish construction, my whole body fills with drive and energy!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Interview: \"The wind and sand in Kaiping are harsh. I heard that in order to raise chickens, you often go in and out of the various chicken-raising pastures in the sandy plains, and your skin has been battered by the wind and sand. Do you suffer?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Shiyin: \"I do not suffer. Whenever I think that there are still millions upon millions of common people in the Great Ming who have no food to eat and no clothes to wear, my heart feels as if it is being cut by a knife! All the officers and soldiers of our Eastern Garrison, responding to the Grand General's call, overcome every difficulty to push production and construction forward.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, General Gao Shiyin added with deep feeling: \"These are years ablaze with passion!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, what Gao Shiyin said was: \"That son of a **** Zhang Gui promised me a thousand head of cattle and two thousand horses, but in the end only five hundred cattle and a thousand horses came, and out of two hundred veterinarians only a hundred and fifty arrived — did he eat the rest? I'll **** his ancestors!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because his language was crude and did not conform to the image of the Jingbian Army, after the interview was published, his words were tragically altered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The shortfall of Gao Shiyin's cattle, horses, and veterinarians was actually Wang Dou's intention. Gao Shiyin had the ambition to accomplish a great undertaking and was quite diligent in the Eastern Garrison. In order to deal with the venomous snakes of the grasslands, he even personally raised a flock of large white geese.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, the Kaiping Guard was not suitable for farming and grazing, otherwise desertification would become even more severe. The Great Ming's abandonment of Kaiping back then was not without reason — the logistical pressure was too great. Occupying that place held more military significance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The area of his jurisdiction around the original Shacheng and Xinghe Garrison had been developed quite early, and farming affairs were already on track, no longer requiring so many cattle and horses. Raising chickens on the pastures was feasible — chickens eat insects and grass seeds without destroying the ecology, and their droppings make the grass grow even more lush. But there was no need for as many as two hundred veterinarians either.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, besides being the first line of defense for Xuanfu Garrison, because Kaiping City was a necessary stop on the route north and south, it had also become a commercial distribution center. Merchant caravans trading north or hunting for furs mostly stopped here. Merchant caravans logging in the northeastern ridges also mostly traded here. Compared to the ruined city of last year, it had already become quite prosperous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In order to extend the Eastern Garrison defense line as far as possible, as early as the beginning of this year, Gao Shiyin had restored Yingchang Garrison, which Li Wenzhong had established during his northern expedition, beside the Dala Haizi two hundred li north of Kaiping City. He set up a stockade by the lake.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not long after, he established another stockade beside the Changshui Haizi a hundred li to the left of Dala Haizi, forming a mutual support with Yingchang Garrison.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In May, Gao Shiyin set up a sentry post near the Lingji Spring at Jiesheng Ridge, two hundred li north of Yingchang Garrison. That place was also the site of Guangwu Garrison, which Li Wenzhong had built back then.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this way, a posture was formed with Kaiping City as the rear, Yingchang Garrison as the middle, and Guangwu Garrison as the head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In July, Gao Shiyin set up two more sentry posts at the ruins of Shahu City by the Yinma River and the ruins of Jinglu Garrison southeast of Lake Beier, maintaining operations with fees obtained from passing merchant caravans. His influence penetrated deep into the eastern part of Outer Vassal Mongolia.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The early Ming northern expeditions all took this Eastern Garrison route, but now Wang Dou had no intention of using military force, so he currently placed much of his attention on the Western Garrison.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Hetao area of the Western Garrison had always been an important farming region for successive Han dynasties. Near Jiuyuan City, the garrison seat of the Western Garrison, there were vast coal and iron ore deposits, and other minerals such as gold and copper were no less abundant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Setting aside farming for the moment, Wang Dou immediately established a firearms factory here, naming it \"Lucheng Firearms Factory.\" This was also the third cannon factory Wang Dou possessed, following the Yongning Cannon Factory and the Xuanfu Garrison City Cannon Factory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou continued to employ his old methods, permitting private mining and permitting friendly garrisons to mine. The Protectorate was responsible for purchasing the ore, and even permitted them to do rough processing, then bought it back for further processing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For Wang Dou, mining was costly and profits were low; mining himself was not worth the effort. Contracting it out allowed him to collect permit fees and also gain more interest groups. Moreover, with more people opening mines and factories, more people needed to be hired, which could give more common people a meal to eat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not only that, the Anbei Bank was also willing to provide loans, encouraging more people to come to the Western Garrison to set up factories and mines. The Information Department also constantly publicized this, draping these people in a lofty mantle: \"Serve the Nation through Industry.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this atmosphere, wealthy households and mine owners of all kinds from Xuanfu Garrison, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia, and Gansu flocked to the Western Garrison, and even people from as far away as Jiangnan rushed over. Among them, the most active was Wang Pu, the Regional Commander of Datong and Count of Dingxing, who invested five hundred thousand silver dollars in one go to open multiple factories and workshops near Jiuyuan City.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Protectorate followed the rules of Xuanfu Garrison: only those of Han registry and those with various titles could participate with priority in all kinds of high-demand, profitable industries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In order to obtain the qualifications to open mines and factories, wealthy households and mine owners from all directions donated money and goods in droves. Anbei \"philanthropists\" gathered in clouds, as if it had become the foremost land of benevolence in the Great Ming. And because of the existence of factories and mines, the Monan Western Garrison became prosperous in an instant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mining inherently required a great deal of manpower. If a large mine needed five thousand people, and they had families, one mine could support twenty to thirty thousand people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mining required transport, which in turn supported many transport caravans, restaurants, and inns. Then smelting required a large workforce. Iron smelting certainly required coal, which required large numbers of people to mine and process coal. These people in turn needed to eat, drink, and live, which supported countless trading caravans.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once a place prospered, there was certainly a demand for spiritual fulfillment, and the tertiary sector and entertainment industry flourished vigorously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because the mines required so much manpower, not only were all captured grassland horse bandits put to work in the factories and mines, but even among the Hetao Mongols who had submitted, herdsmen became miners one after another, and their families mostly engaged in the tertiary sector.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiuyuan City changed day by day, swiftly becoming a famous great city on the grasslands. Even though Wen Fangliang had followed Wang Dou for many years, witnessing this situation still gave him a sense of the incredible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, aside from farming, he devoted most of his energy in the Western Garrison to the factories and workshops.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>According to the original classification of Xuanfu Garrison, iron materials were divided into three grades: A, B, and C. Grade A iron was used for military industry, Grade B iron for quality civilian goods, and Grade C iron was ordinary pig iron.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The finished agricultural tools and implements made from Grade B iron were mostly forged by the original Xuanfu Garrison merchants. The iron products they made were continuously sold to all parts of the Great Ming, with oxcarts coming daily in an endless stream to purchase and transport them. Xuanfu-brand and Anbei-brand ironware enjoyed widespread renown.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With sufficient refined iron, many things could be done. Now, along the Yellow River, inside the firearms factory, dense rows of hydraulic drilling machines and hydraulic forging machines stood like forests, daily and continuously turning out bird guns, armor, and cannons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the end of July, Wang Dou reviewed a report sent by the Military Administration Department. As of now, the logistical stockpile of bird guns had reached one hundred fifty thousand, and hand cannons forty thousand. This was mainly due to the skilled use of hydraulic drilling machines and the increase in experienced craftsmen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, craftsmen throughout the Great Ming all knew that Xuanfu Garrison and the Anbei Protectorate were the places under heaven that treated craftsmen best. Craftsmen came daily in an endless stream to seek refuge, and the various military factories of the Protectorate already had an ample supply of military craftsmen to use.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With sufficient manpower and material resources, the Protectorate's production capacity was astonishing. Last year, the Xuanfu Garrison military factories could already produce six thousand bird guns per month, and now it was even more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among these stockpiled bird guns, a large portion were already flintlock guns. As early as last year, aside from keeping one factory continuing to produce Li-style firelocks (matchlock guns), the remaining firearms factories had all switched to producing Lai-style self-igniting firelocks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Han Chao took over the Military Administration Department, he invested great energy into researching the spring steel plates for flintlock guns, making the striking force stronger when the trigger was pulled. Now the misfire rate of flintlock guns had decreased significantly and was no worse than that of matchlock guns.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He also improved the bayonet socket, mounting the bayonet on the left side of the barrel, which exposed the front sight and increased the aiming accuracy of the firearm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After taking office, Han Chao had submitted a proposal requesting permission to introduce flintlock firearms into the Jingbian Army's Grade A battalions. But after Wang Dou reviewed the live-fire shooting of multiple randomly inspected batches of flintlock guns, he felt that the time had come for the firearm soldiers to fully switch to flintlock guns.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After several meetings and discussions, the generals all felt that a full switch was indeed feasible. Wang Dou decided to begin the switch in September and complete it entirely before the end of the year.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These Thunderbolt flintlock guns would also come with matching bayonets, and all the gun bodies would have slings with metal buckles, allowing them to be easily lengthened or shortened. When carried on the back, they could greatly reduce the burden of the firearm soldiers during marches. The adoption of flintlock guns also marked the Jingbian Army's full stride into the modern era.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the stockpile, there were also twenty thousand Zhong-style cavalry carbines. This gun was originally crafted by Zhong Susu in preparation for going hunting with Wang Dou. Unexpectedly, an unintentional act bore fruit — once introduced, it was immediately warmly welcomed by the army's hunting cavalry and also extremely popular among the armed escorts of the various security bureaus.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In view of this, the Protectorate introduced a horse carbine for use by armed escorts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This gun had an effective range of fifty paces, about ten paces weaker than the cavalry carbine used by the Jingbian Army. The wood of the gun body also could not compare; the butt plate used refined iron instead of brass, and the brass bands were changed to iron bands. Overall it was a tier lower, but it also had a firearm sling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even so, it was still very well received.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For the armed escorts, if they encountered horse bandits who used horn bows, the bandits' bow range was only a bit over twenty paces, so their own horse carbines held a great advantage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if the bandits used infantry bows, their own range still held a slight edge, and the power could not even be mentioned in the same breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, riding on horseback, they could shoot and run, making them much more free and flexible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Protectorate did not sell hand cannons to the civilian populace, but security bureaus that had passed review were an exception. So with the horse carbine, the equipment of those armed escorts who used firearms was one horse carbine, two hand cannons, and one saber.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They also developed tactics. When using horse carbines, they divided into several layers. At forty to fifty paces, the front row used their horse carbines, then laid the guns across their saddles. At about twenty paces, they veered off to both sides while using their hand cannons. The rear layers continued in the same manner, cycling repeatedly. Against horse bandits and brigands, they were invincible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their tactics even influenced the Jingbian Army's hunting cavalry. Originally, they were only equipped with one cavalry carbine, but later they also equipped several hand cannons, so that when the enemy closed in, they no longer needed the mounted lancers to cover them and could counterattack on their own, while also employing the same tactics.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As cavalry carbines were produced in an endless stream, Zhong Susu's unintentional creation also brought her great wealth, enough to live on for a lifetime without worry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The report also included the stockpile situation of cannons. Since the establishment of the Lucheng Firearms Factory, it had been casting simultaneously with the Garrison City Cannon Foundry and the Yongning City Cannon Foundry. As of now, a total of two hundred fifty red-barbarian cannons had been produced, including fifty heavy red-barbarian cannons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou now had three cannon factories. In terms of cannon direction, the Garrison City Cannon Foundry mainly cast heavy red-barbarian cannons and mortars.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Yongning City Cannon Foundry cast medium and small red-barbarian cannons, as well as falconets, hundred-shot cannons, and the like.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Lucheng Firearms Factory cast both light and heavy cannons and also produced rockets.\u003C\u002Fp>",2437,"2026-06-03T14:06:27.906Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","3d308e268f68554d9397fd628fb2b16eb9b2ce1a773c05694ed4e4a94df1194a","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-816","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-814",896,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fa-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-cover.jpg"]