[{"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-86":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},1205375,1561,"Chapter 86: Starving People","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-86",86,"\u003Cp>Wang Dou pondered for a long while and decided to first train a pair of light cavalry units. The Qing troops were about to arrive, and reconnaissance intelligence was extremely important.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He said to Han Chao, \"Squad Commander Han, I have decided to first train a squad of night-scout cavalry for reconnaissance and enemy detection. The task of training the light cavalry is assigned to you. For the relevant horses and personnel, feel free to select them from the army. Whatever expenses are needed, report to me for approval, then go to Lord Lin to collect them.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides managing troop training and military farming, Lin Daofu was also temporarily in charge of logistics within the fort, though the final decision-making power still rested with Wang Dou.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Daofu and Han Chao both clasped their fists and accepted the order. Having another squad of troops under his command, Han Chao could not help but beam with delight. Han Zhong also cast an envious glance at him. However, Han Chao now had to manage both infantry and cavalry, making his burden even heavier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou smiled at Wen Fangliang and Sun Sanjie, \"Lord Wen, Platoon Leader Sun, Squad Commander Han is going to train light cavalry and may select some soldiers from your squads. Don't be reluctant to let them go when the time comes.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing that a few more soldiers from his already sparse squad would be selected away, Sun Sanjie could not help feeling somewhat reluctant, but he still solemnly clasped his fist and agreed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Fangliang, however, said nonchalantly, \"My lord, you are too serious. Are the soldiers under my command not also soldiers of Shunxiang Fort? I will certainly do my utmost to cooperate with Squad Commander Han's selection!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, with a cheeky grin, he added, \"It's just, my lord, Platoon Leader Sun and I are both squad commanders, yet the number of troops we two squad commanders lead is far too few, is it not? I wonder when my lord will bring our troop strength up to full complement?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was a problem Wang Dou had been pondering all along. The able-bodied men within the fort had already been utilized to the extreme; it was impossible to select any more males from within the fort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He said, \"At present, Shun Fort has a relatively small population. Perhaps after some time, when our Shun Fort recruits refugees, we can bring your troop strength up to full complement.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Fangliang let out a breath of relief. \"That would be good.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He sat down with a grin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the meeting dispersed, Han Chao immediately went to the horse depot and selected fifty fine steeds, then proceeded to select candidates for the night-scout cavalry from the entire Shunxiang Fort army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unlike infantry units that fight in formation openly, these night-scout cavalry are defined by individual skill. Their usual training focuses on how to improve their physical strength and combat techniques, how to disguise themselves, how to learn nighttime stealth, how to penetrate deep behind enemy lines, reconnoiter enemy target locations, capture prisoners, conduct assassinations and sabotage. How to understand geography and astronomy, how to discern the enemy's language and writing, how to recognize enemy flags, signals, drums, and gongs — there is a great deal to master.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the end, Han Chao selected over fifty men from the army, forming one squad of light cavalry. Every single one possessed outstanding skills, and none suffered from night blindness. Xie Yike, originally in the right squad army and rated as a top-tier soldier after skill assessment, was now also selected into the night-scout unit and even appointed as a squad leader, a junior officer position.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the two squads led by Wen Fangliang and Sun Sanjie, since they were all retainers with outstanding individual martial skills and many had ridden horses before, over a dozen men were selected from each squad. Now, the squads led by Wen Fangliang and Sun Sanjie each had only a few men left. Having nothing else to do, they took turns helping Han Chao train the infantry soldiers of his squad.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Han Chao also submitted to Wang Dou a list of weapons and equipment for this night-scout squad, including throwing axes, javelins and short spears, grappling hooks, hand cannons, short crossbows, curved sabers, helmets and leather armor, medicine packs, sleeping bags, cavalry lances, sharp tridents, and staff-spears. Compared to infantry, the cavalry's equipment was indeed complex, and especially for night scouts, the equipment was even more intricate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some of these supplies were available in Shunxiang Fort or could be crafted by the artisans, while others had to be procured from outside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Procured from outside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou allocated funds and grain, instructing Lin Daofu to purchase and manufacture these supplies one by one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Setting aside individual skill training, this squad of night scouts also had to train in cavalry formation combat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou observed it. It was simply forming several ranks in depth, with the horses galloping at full speed during training. The riders holding cavalry lances would clamp the shaft under their arms, keeping the long lance low and level. After striking the target with the aid of the horse's momentum, they would release the lance at any moment; otherwise, the inertia of the speed would throw them off the horse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These cavalry lances were generally single-use weapons. That high-difficulty technique of borrowing and redirecting force was not something that could be casually mastered. Being able to use sharp tridents and staff-spears already qualified one as an excellent cavalry warrior.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Therefore, every rider wore a saber at the waist, the blade long and slender, all left unsharpened. During training, they would hold the saber sideways and, using the horse's momentum, drag a long gash across the target without bending down to chop. However, such a long dragged gash was essentially untreatable in this era of cold weapons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for shooting arrows on horseback, both Wang Dou and Han Chao's opinion was to have the cavalry use short crossbows or hand cannons. Once their skills deepened, Han Chao would also teach them how to hurl throwing axes and javelins from horseback.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In Han Chao's training of these night-scout cavalry, Wang Dou could not offer much professional advice. However, he required that after the night scouts were trained, whenever they went out to survey and map, conduct reconnaissance, or develop intelligence personnel abroad, they must use a specialized cipher text system.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This cipher system employed a codebook, using a dictionary-based conversion method where each character represented a different meaning. The master codebook would be held in Han Chao's hands and changed periodically. Even if frontline intelligence fell into enemy hands, since they would not know the conversion method, it would be absolutely impossible to translate, greatly ensuring the security of the intelligence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This cipher system originated from later generations. When Han Chao heard Wang Dou describe it, he was stunned as if discovering a heavenly secret and immediately adopted it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Adopted it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With this intelligence system in place, the leakage of military intelligence in the future would be greatly reduced.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, adopting such an intelligence system greatly increased the knowledge requirements for the night scouts. In the future, their literacy training would have to be even more rigorous than that of the infantry officers. Within a few months, each of them would need to master at least several hundred vocabulary words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While Han Chao trained the night scouts, Wang Dou continued to gather squad leaders and higher-ranking officers every afternoon or evening to study reading and writing, explain regulations, and discuss military texts and battle formations. Wang Dou's one squad now had four squad leaders, two squads made eight squad leaders, plus two platoon leaders, as well as Wen Fangliang, Sun Sanjie, and a few other officers. Every day, over a dozen officers of various ranks gathered before Wang Dou to study reading and writing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although everyone found it somewhat strange that Wang Dou, a military man, was also proficient in literary matters — in the current Great Ming army, even among Mobile Corps Commanders, Assistant Regional Commanders, and Regional Commanders, there were plenty who could not recognize a single character. But these Shunxiang Fort officers were all illiterate, and all were adults who had long passed the golden age for learning to read. Even Han Chao and Han Zhong were no exception. Making them study reading and writing was truly tormenting them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These officers — if you told them to practice martial arts, they could train without stopping. But the moment literacy was mentioned, all sorts of bizarre complaints and endless grumbling arose. All day long, it was either soreness here, exhaustion there, or pain here, pain there. However, Wang Dou required the officers to learn at least three characters a day, with several clerks conducting spot checks daily. Anyone who remembered or wrote incorrectly would be beaten with the military rod. Han Zhong, in particular, after several months, had not even learned a hundred characters and had to endure a bout of rod beatings almost every time. But after being beaten so often, his skin had grown thick, as tough as leather armor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only Han Chao fared somewhat better. From last year until now, he had learned a total of over three hundred characters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Time quickly reached mid-March of the ninth year of Chongzhen. Wang Dou read the court gazette: in early year nine, Liang Tingdong, Viceroy of Xuanda, had proposed constructing over two hundred li of towers, platforms, and ramparts in Xuan Garrison. However, calculations showed it required over 234,000 shi of unprocessed grain and over 156,000 taels of silver for salt and vegetable funds. The Ministry of Revenue deemed that neither the unprocessed grain nor the commuted silver could be procured, and in the end, the plan had to be abandoned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the early part of this year, the yearly prospects across the various regions of Bao'an Department were not good. There had been no heavy snow the previous year, and by this year, little rain had fallen. The seedlings in the fields were visibly growing poorly. Even so, compared to other parts of the Great Ming, Bao'an Department was already considered well off.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Starting from the second month of this year, various parts of Shanxi suffered from drought and insect plagues. In the third month, a great famine broke out. At the time, the starving people had no grain and could only eat tree bark and grass leaves. Nanyang in Henan, adjacent to Shanxi, also experienced famine. The Chongzhen Emperor issued an edict for relief and exempted the disaster-stricken departments and counties from both the old and new military taxes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, the relief was a mere drop in the bucket. Worse, officials embezzled funds, and little reached the hands of the starving people. For a time, the famine victims scattered in all directions, flooding into various parts of the Great Ming.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From the third month onward, wave after wave of starving people flowed from Weizhou, Shunshengzhou, and other places into Bao'an Department, gathering near the departmental city, hoping to survive. In mid-March, starving people also arrived at Shunxiang Fort in successive groups of dozens or hundreds. As word spread that coming to Shunxiang Fort meant survival, on the twentieth day of the third month, a wave of over a thousand starving people arrived.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the early days of the Great Ming, almshouses were established to shelter disaster victims, providing for the orphaned, poor, disabled, and those without support. Public cemeteries were also set up to bury exposed corpses and bones. During the Yongle era, soup kitchens were established to relieve refugees, and in the capital, the two temples of Candle and Banner-Pole were set up to shelter disaster victims. After the mid-Ming period, the Great Ming widely established congee factories to relieve disaster victims.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Congee factories were originally a benevolent policy, but by the late Ming, the court's relief capacity was severely inadequate. Wealthy households and officials in various places were often cold-hearted; few provided congee, while many sat by and watched the starving suffer in the cold, some even seizing the opportunity to abduct and traffic women and children.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since the starving people arrived at the city of Bao'an Department in the third month, the Department Magistrate and the Garrison Commander of Bao'an had ordered the city gates tightly shut and defenses strictly reinforced. Yet no official came forward to distribute congee or perform charitable acts. In fact, the merchant shops and rice stores within the city collectively raised rice prices to reap exorbitant profits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under these circumstances, Fu Mingqi, the Director of the Confucian School of Bao'an Department, stepped forward. He rushed about within the city, calling on wealthy households to set up congee factories outside the city walls. However, apart from the Wanshenghe Rice Shop in the city, the response was sparse, and the number of starving people dying was enormous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since starving people began entering the territory of Shunxiang Fort in mid-March, Wang Dou had ordered congee factories set up outside the fort to relieve the disaster victims. He also ordered a squad of Shunxiang troops dispatched to patrol everywhere and bury abandoned corpses. However, as the number of starving people grew, Wang Dou ordered Shunxiang Fort to heighten its alert, while the scale of the congee factories set up outside the fort grew larger and larger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the twentieth day of the third month, a wave of over a thousand starving people arrived outside the fort. Wang Dou convened the fort's officers, great and small, to discuss how to relieve the disaster victims.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The atmosphere in the hall was heavy. Those present — Han Chao, Han Zhong, Lin Daofu, Chi Dacheng, Wen Fangliang, Sun Sanjie, Feng Dachang, and others — were all silent. After a long while, Lin Daofu sighed and said, \"My lord, the funds and grain in our fort are also limited. The previous several hundred disaster victims were manageable, but now another thousand starving people have arrived. I fear...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He shook his head. He knew the fort's financial situation better than anyone. Even without these disaster victims, they could probably only hold out for less than three months. And now so many more starving people had come...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou pondered for a long time and sighed, \"We are all subjects of the Great Ming. How can we watch people die and not save them? Our fort also happens to lack population. Once these disaster victims are taken in, they will be the best population for opening up wasteland and forming military units in the future. As for the shortage of grain and funds, I will find a way. No matter how many disaster victims come, we must do our utmost to ensure not a single one dies.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Fangliang said, \"My lord is benevolent and generous. How can we subordinates lag behind others? I will donate fifty shi of grain for the relief of the starving people.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone looked at him in surprise. Although Wen Fangliang was wealthy, with several hundred mu of good land to his family name, donating fifty shi of grain in one breath was still a grand gesture.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sun Sanjie said, \"I will also donate ten shi of grain.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sun Sanjie also had over a hundred mu of good land in Shunxiang Fort. Donating ten shi of grain meant giving away more than half of his family's grain reserves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou looked at the two with gratification. He had not expected that among Great Ming military officers, there were also such charitable and generous individuals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rest — Han Chao, Han Zhong, Lin Daofu, Chi Dacheng, Feng Dachang, and others — also donated money and grain one after another. None of them were as wealthy as Wen Fangliang and Sun Sanjie, but they still contributed according to their means, some giving money, some giving effort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Wang Dou returned to his residence, his mother, Lady Zhong, said to him, \"What a sin. I hear that this great drought in Shanxi has starved countless common folk to death? I also went outside the fort to look. Along the Hunhe River, corpses are piled everywhere, discarded in the water. It is truly too tragic.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The starving people gathered in clouds beneath the departmental city. Unable to obtain relief, countless starved to death. Burying a single corpse cost several dozen wen. How could the Bao'an Department government possibly bury them all? The corpses were simply thrown into the river or onto the wild plains, left for dogs, crows, and goshawks to tear and devour.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this could easily breed epidemics, especially with the temperature about to rise. Wang Dou simply ordered squad after squad of Shunxiang troops to patrol outside the city. The bodies of refugees who had died of illness or starvation within the territory were to be buried in mass-dug pits. Corpses on the Yanghe River were also to be fished out as much as possible and deeply buried. Not to mention humanitarian considerations, this very Yanghe River was also a crucial future water source for Wang Dou's farming. How could Wang Dou allow her to be polluted?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lady Zhong added, \"I hear that yet another thousand starving people arrived today? There are already nearly two thousand starving people outside the fort. Can our humble fort manage to provide relief?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou sighed, \"Your son can only do his utmost!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These refugees brought Wang Dou a significant population, but it was a pity that when it came to relief, his will exceeded his means — truly a regret.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xie Yike’s belly was now visibly swollen. She was silent for a moment, then said, “Brother, you are a great benefactor for aiding the disaster victims. Xiu’niang is useless, but I also want to share your burdens and ease your toil. I will organize some of the women in the fort and go outside the fort to do some work as well.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Madam Zhong said, “Daughter-in-law, you are now with child and must not overwork. Never mind — let this old woman take the field instead.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xie Yike said, “Mother-in-law, Xiu’niang is fine. This is your daughter-in-law’s heartfelt wish, and I hope you will grant it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Madam Zhong knew this daughter-in-law was outwardly gentle but inwardly firm, with a stubborn nature and a single-minded devotion — she simply wanted to share her husband’s burdens and ease his toil. Seeing that Xie Yike was even about to kneel and that persuasion was useless, she could only sigh and agree.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou pondered for a long moment, then said, “Very well, but Xiu’niang, you must be careful.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the twenty-first day of the third month of the ninth year of Chongzhen, Shunxiang Fort set up an even larger congee kitchen outside the east gate — at one go it could\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>feed several thousand people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When word spread, all of Bao’an Department was astonished, and everyone was asking who the Garrison Commander at Shunxiang Fort was. Upon hearing the news, nearly another thousand starving refugees surged over from below the Bao’an Department city walls, and almost all the refugees entering Bao’an Department gathered below Shunxiang Fort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At Wang Dou’s demand, the congee cooked in the cauldrons had to meet the standard of “chopsticks stuck in do not topple, cloth bundle unwrapped does not scatter.” With congee like this, even for refugees who had collapsed from hunger, if you poured the rice broth into them and then continued feeding them thin congee, five or six out of ten could be saved, and those on the verge of starving could all be saved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, the congee kitchen was on a very large scale, able to accommodate three thousand people eating congee at once. The refugees who had arrived earlier at Shunxiang Fort already had color returning to their gaunt faces, and the refugees who arrived later could also keep themselves alive. For a time, these refugees were all deeply grateful to Shunxiang Fort, and this also prevented them from sinking into becoming roving bandits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In Wang Dou’s plan, after these refugees had recuperated for some days, he would organize them into work-relief. He would open up wasteland on a large scale, expand the ironworks’ operations, and also build the walls of Jingbian Fort. Whoever they were, as long as these refugees could carry a single brick or shoulder a single load of earth, they would be given a day’s meals. This approach allowed the refugees to receive help with dignity, and to eat with self-respect the meals they had earned through their own labor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the end, Wang Dou would also register all these refugees as military households and organize the able-bodied among them into soldiers. He would make all these refugees become registered persons and households of Shunxiang Fort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“One at a time, there’s enough for everyone. Everyone line up properly.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Today the Lady and the Old Madam are personally distributing congee. As you drink this congee, remember the kindness and virtue. Who is it that lets\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>you keep your lives…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A dozen or so large cauldrons gave off steam and fragrance. What simmered above was all piping hot rice congee. All around the cauldrons were dense crowds of refugees. They lined up, holding their own bowls, and one after another stepped forward to receive congee.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xie Yike stood beside a large cauldron, a ladle in her hand, serving congee to the refugees one by one. She was small in stature and her features were not outstanding, but her gentle smile — especially with her belly swelling — in the refugees’ eyes was no less than the greatly merciful and greatly compassionate Guanyin Bodhisattva.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially when they heard that this thin, small, pregnant woman was the wife of Wang Dou, the Garrison Commander of Shunxiang Fort, the refugees were even more moved to tears of gratitude. Every one of them, after receiving their congee, could not stop giving thanks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Behind Xie Yike were some of the military-household women of Shunxiang Fort helping out, as well as some serving women and maids who attended to Xie Yike in the residence, likewise assisting at her side and maintaining order. For those refugees who had no bowls or chopsticks, they were also responsible for distributing them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beside some other large cauldrons, Wang Dou’s mother Madam Zhong was likewise distributing congee, busying herself without pause. Having been idle in the residence for so long, once she threw herself into this work, Madam Zhong instead felt quite content, finding that it was good to be doing something, especially in the context of performing charity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was full of energy, and after ladling for an entire hour she still did not feel tired. The refugees who received congee from her hands were equally profuse in their gratitude.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially when they heard that this old lady was the mother of the Garrison Commander, they were even more awestruck and deferential, and at the same time, in their hearts, exceedingly grateful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only here at Shunxiang Fort were there such benevolent officials’ ladies who let the common folk keep their lives. Who would dare to crowd or shamelessly scramble and fight?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With both Madam Zhong and Xie Yike coming out personally to distribute congee, the wives of the fort’s officers were also unwilling to lag behind. All came out to personally ladle congee or help maintain order. Though there were many refugees below Shunxiang Fort, everything was instead in perfect order.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Read good books, please follow ()\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>。\u003C\u002Fp>",3912,"2026-06-03T14:05:19.908Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","387a82079b62a2f2832010c68d8d78fcf9b75d581dcbe8f35fc1eddda76dd02a","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-87","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-85",896,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fa-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-cover.jpg"]