[{"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-95":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},1205384,1561,"Chapter 95","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-95",95,"\u003Cp>Volume Three: Defender of Shunxiang Fortress — Chapter Ninety-Five: Benevolence and Righteousness\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The young lady looked Wang Dou up and down. Seeing his martial attire, her brow arched slightly, and she stood there quietly without speaking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her figure was full and shapely, bearing the charm of a young married woman. She wore a deep-purple beizi jacket, her hair drawn up into a goose-heart chignon, cloud-like and billowing, with a gold-and-jade hairpin inserted, its dangling pearls quivering with her every movement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This young lady carried an elegant and noble air in her every gesture. Women from official families like hers placed the greatest emphasis on poise and bearing, and whatever was in their hearts would not easily show. To Wang Dou, this young lady was someone of considerable calculation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The young Lady Ji, meanwhile, was dressed entirely in a plain white silk gown, its pattern and texture exquisite. Slender-waisted and fair-skinned, her bright eyes glancing about, her skirt trailing like the six currents of the Xiang River. Her gaze fell upon Wang Dou, and she seemed to recognize this man she had seen a few months before. A flicker of surprise passed through her eyes, then she broke into a faint smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fu Mingqi also heard Wang Dou's call. He turned his head, saw Wang Dou, and laughed: \"So it's you, lad.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He said, \"Wait a moment, let me see my guests off first.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The young lady and the young Lady Ji found Fu Mingqi's words to Wang Dou even stranger, and both pairs of lovely eyes fixed themselves upon Wang Dou.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fu Mingqi escorted the two women out the door. A waft of fragrance, graceful and swaying, both women passed right by Wang Dou's side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the courtyard gate, Fu Mingqi bowed and took his leave of the two women. The young Lady Ji once more performed a curtsy: \"Many thanks, sir.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fu Mingqi smiled faintly: \"Give my regards to His Excellency.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fu Mingqi turned back around and said to Wang Dou with a grin, \"Struck dumb, were you?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou shook his head and said, \"Old Fu, what's their background?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Both women were exceptionally striking in appearance and bearing, especially the young Lady Ji, whose allure was matchless. One's bearing shifts with one's station, one's body is nurtured by one's upbringing — it is rare for women of such refined elegance to emerge from common stock. Wang Dou knew the young lady's status, but he had no idea from which family the young Lady Ji came.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fu Mingqi said, \"The elder one is the young lady of the Department Magistrate's household. Ah, a new widow — a pitiable soul as well.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou had also heard of her. Two years ago she had married the son of Department Magistrate Li Zhenping, and not long after, her husband died. Yet this woman was quite shrewd and capable, managing the household in perfect order, and was highly regarded by His Excellency the Department Magistrate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The younger one is surnamed Ji. Her status is no simple matter. She came with the young lady to consult me on a question.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fu Mingqi did not delve into the young Lady Ji's background or origins, but instead began to chant: \"There is a beauty, clear and graceful. By chance we meet, and together we find joy.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He looked at Wang Dou: \"Brother Wang, just now I saw your expression was clear and lucid — you seemed not to have been bewitched by beauty. Never mind the young Lady Ji; even at the sight of the young lady, many men make utter fools of themselves. Yet you kept your composure. You look barely past twenty, but your mind, I fear, is older than mine.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He shook his head, as if quite regretful not to have witnessed Wang Dou making a fool of himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He said, \"As friends, how about I introduce the young Lady Ji to you?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"She has a face that favors sons, an inner allure within her body — she could surely bear you seven or eight sons.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this, he burst out laughing. Looking at that grinning face, where was the dignified bearing of a Director of Schools?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou merely smiled and shook his head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fu Mingqi snorted: \"Putting on airs, are you? Truth be told, the difference in your statuses is far too great, and you already have a wife. Given her standing, it is impossible for her to become your concubine.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chatting and laughing, the two entered the inner chamber. Wang Dou saw that Fu Mingqi's wife, née Tian, was not there and asked, \"Where is your lady wife?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fu Mingqi said, \"Gone back to her parents' home.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two sat down, and Fu Mingqi said, \"Brother Wang, I have always been curious. They say if a man is not amorous in his youth, his youth is wasted — yet you seem to lack even the inclination to appreciate beauty.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You do not covet wealth, you are not fond of lust, you are benevolent toward the common people. No man is perfect — what is it that you do all this for?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou sat quietly for a long while. He said, \"The ancients said: cultivate oneself, govern the state, bring peace to all under heaven!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yet I myself feel I have not even reached the stage of self-cultivation. Everything I do now is nothing more than for the sake of survival.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Struggling bitterly in a world of chaos!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fu Mingqi sighed deeply. After a long moment, he began to sing, his voice mournful — it was the ballad they had heard among the refugees that day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the fourth month, Shunxiang Fortress opened a children's school, divided into several large and small classes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each class had several dozen children. Even children from Dong Family Village came to Shunxiang Fortress to attend school. Dong Family Village was not very far from Shunxiang Fortress; students walking a few li to school was something very common even in later ages. However, coming from Jingbian Fortress to Shunxiang Fortress for school was a bit farther.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The daily rations for the schoolchildren were all provided by the fortress. Within the old Shunxiang Fortress there were over one hundred and thirty boys and girls under the age of thirteen. Within the new Shunxiang Fortress there were nearly three hundred boys and girls under thirteen. Dong Family Village also had over sixty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because finances were currently tight, Wang Dou could only select a portion of the brighter children, or those who had previously learned to read, to enter the school. There were about a hundred or so, and all of them were boys — in this era, girls could not attend school together with boys.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To be able to enter the school and study was something that drew great envy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>According to ancient beliefs, all pursuits were base, and only study was noble. Especially in the Great Ming, scholars received preferential treatment. Once one passed the Licentiate examination, one could be exempted from tax grain burdens and could travel with a sword. An ordinary commoner, by contrast, needed a travel permit even to go beyond a hundred li.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, the Shunxiang Fortress school also provided daily rations, fed the children their fill, and did not require them to work. This made the military households within the fortress scramble for the study slots. Any military household in the fortress that had its own child studying in the school would speak of it to outsiders with immense pride on their faces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The teaching at the school was temporarily handled by a few clerks from Shunxiang Fortress. Fu Mingqi, Director of Schools of the Baoan Department Confucian School, also frequently came from the department city to Shunxiang Fortress to teach a few lessons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With so many students at Shunxiang Fortress, his interest was extremely keen. He had already promised Wang Dou that in the future he would select a few teachers from the Baoan Guard school to come and give lessons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for the teaching materials currently used at the Shunxiang Fortress school, they were still the standard textbooks and poetry collections used throughout the Great Ming. Although ideals should be instilled from childhood, first they had to learn some characters and understand some principles, right? In guard schools across the Great Ming, the standard curriculum consisted of the subjects of rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics. Wang Dou mainly had the clerks teach the two subjects of calligraphy and mathematics.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The teaching styles of the several clerks varied. Clerk Feng Dachang, though gentle in manner, was relatively strict and orthodox in his instruction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou's maternal uncle, Zhong Zhengxian, also took his turn teaching the children. What he said, however, was rather realistic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Within the Shunxiang Fortress school there was one large class of over thirty students, mostly older schoolchildren between ten and thirteen, a few of whom had previously studied and learned to read back in their home villages.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That day, Zhong Zhengxian was giving a lesson to the large class. He lectured from the textbook for a while, then let the students recite on their own. Wagging his head, he said, \"In books there are houses of gold; in books there are faces like jade. Everyone must study and learn to read well. Even if you cannot pass the examinations and earn official rank in the future, at the very least you can, like me, have a bowl of rice to eat and support yourselves and your families.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A mischievous student below called out loudly: \"We've heard that sir only got this bowl of rice thanks to the Defender, my lord. That being the case, even without studying, one can still support oneself and one's family.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All the children burst into uproarious laughter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clerk Feng Dachang stood outside the classroom, his expression rather grim. He said, \"How can these students speak of Mr. Zhong in such a way? Let me go and scold them.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Dou said, \"Forget it. Children's words carry no harm; no need to take it too seriously.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fu Mingqi also smiled and shook his head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then Zhong Zhengxian's voice came through. He was not angry, but merely laughed and said, \"Having a good nephew is also a skill of mine, your teacher. But if one cannot read or do arithmetic, then no matter how capable the nephew, one still could not handle the duties of a clerk.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He said to the mischievous student from before, \"Wen Jinghe, when you go back, your assignment will be to copy today's lesson text three hundred times.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next day, it was Fu Mingqi's turn to teach the large class. On a sheet of paper he wrote the two large characters \"Benevolence and Righteousness,\" then hung it up high.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He said to all the students, \"Do you know what it is that one studies the books of the sages for?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All the students shook their heads.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fu Mingqi said, “It is precisely the two characters I wrote: Benevolence and Righteousness.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fu Mingqi said, “Confucius spoke of achieving benevolence; Mencius spoke of choosing righteousness. Only when righteousness is fulfilled can benevolence be attained. To understand loyalty, martyrdom, benevolence, and righteousness is to not be a walking corpse. And to be able to practice them oneself — only then can one be almost without shame, and be celebrated in the annals of history.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His voice grew impassioned: “In former days, Chancellor Wen studied the sages’ books and finally understood the principle of benevolence and righteousness. When the Yuan army seized Ezhou, the capital was shaken, and commanders everywhere held back and looked on. Only Chancellor Wen resolutely raised troops to serve the king. At the time, a friend said to him: ‘Now the Yuan army advances on three fronts; for you to meet the enemy with a motley crowd is no different from driving a flock of sheep against fierce tigers.’ Chancellor Wen replied: ‘I know it is so. But the state has nurtured its subjects for over three hundred years. Now in a moment of crisis, when troops are summoned from across the realm, not a single man or horse answers the call — I am deeply grieved. Therefore, without measuring my own strength, I go bodily into peril, hoping that loyal and righteous men throughout the land will rise upon hearing of it, gather the strength of the multitude, and perhaps preserve the altars of the state.’ He also said: ‘Having received the sovereign’s grace and eaten the state’s grain, one should repay the state with death.’”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“After Chancellor Wen was defeated and captured, the Yuan sovereign tempted him with high office and rich emoluments to surrender, and also pressed him with familial affection. Chancellor Wen would rather die than submit, and went calmly to his righteous end. His moral integrity and loyalty have been sung through later ages, and his name is preserved in the annals of history!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fu Mingqi looked at the assembled students and said, “I do not demand that you be as unyieldingly righteous as Chancellor Wen, but I want you to understand the principle behind these two characters, benevolence and righteousness, and what it is that one studies the sages’ books for.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The students all nodded, seeming to understand yet not fully.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly one student said, “Having received the sovereign’s grace and eaten the state’s grain, one should repay the state with death. But if the sovereign himself has surrendered, what then should we, as his subjects, do?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fu Mingqi looked over — it was that Wen Jinghe who had been punished by Zhong Zhengxian yesterday to copy his textbook three hundred times. He was thirteen this year, with fine features and a clear complexion. In the senior class he was the most mischievous, and also the brightest. He was not from Shunxiang Fort, however, but from Dongjiazhuang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only he in the senior class could ask a question of such depth. Fu Mingqi could not help nodding. He smiled slightly and said, “A good question. In former days, when Emperor Gong of Song surrendered to the Yuan sovereign, the Yuan sovereign sent him to persuade Chancellor Wen to surrender. Yet Chancellor Wen answered, ‘The sovereign surrenders; the subject does not surrender.’ The altars of the state are weighty; the sovereign is light! Over several thousand years of our Huaxia, dynasties have changed countless times. Yet the sovereign may surrender; we scholars’ moral duty cannot be lost.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Jinghe said, “Teacher, this student understands.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fu Mingqi stroked his head and said gently, “Good child.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From within the schoolroom came the clear, bright sound of children reading: “Confucius spoke of achieving benevolence; Mencius spoke of choosing righteousness. Only when righteousness is fulfilled can benevolence be attained.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What is it that one studies the sages’ books for? From now on, may one be almost without shame!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Listening to this resonant reading, Wang Dou outside the window felt a tremor welling up from his soul. These were true scholars, the true Way of Confucius and Mencius.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>True benevolence and righteousness!\u003C\u002Fp>",2509,"2026-06-03T14:05:19.908Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","5d09828c3a4e78f889cfa199bdba8072630b5bca586547a39f3799fb869ee295","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-96","a-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-chapter-94",896,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fa-little-soldier-of-the-late-ming-border-army-cover.jpg"]