[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-stealing-ming":3,"chapter-stealing-ming-stealing-ming-chapter-105":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Stealing Ming",{"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},1220722,1614,"Chapter 105: Section 13: Deng Ken","stealing-ming-chapter-105",105,"\u003Cp>Applause rang out: \"A true army — admirable.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Deng Ken was a Scotsman who had come to the Chinese interior during the Wanli reign. He stayed at a church because of illness, was moved by the Lord, and repented his former sinful life (of course, that was only Deng Ken's own account; the more crucial point was that by then Deng Ken was utterly penniless), becoming an assistant to a Jesuit priest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Deng Ken spoke fluent Chinese and had no trouble conversing with Huang Shi. Normally the Jesuits would not send personnel to a remote island out at sea, but Deng Ken had an intuition: this was precisely his chance to realize his ambitions. After some observation and conversation, Jin Qiude also concluded that this was a man who appeared devout but was in fact wildly ambitious — exactly the sort of person Huang Shi needed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It snowed today. Huang Shi wrapped himself in furs and set out early in the morning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The patrolling soldiers walked against the wind, their beards and eyebrows all white, the red tassels on their bamboo hats turned silver. They shouted with all their might: \"My lord, mind your step.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi steadied his footing. From where he stood all the way to the black seawater lay a blanket of snow. The soldiers kept striking the ground with clubs to make sure they were still standing on solid earth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Last night we used only two shifts for ice-breaking, and during the day just one shift will do.\" The patrol squad leader reported to Huang Shi, his tone full of delight. This winter was clearly about to pass. \"My lord, we really did it!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without turning his head to look, Huang Shi could imagine the radiant smiles on the soldiers' faces. He pointed at a distant figure and asked, \"Is that man Deng Ken?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It is Mr. Deng. Mr. Deng came early this morning.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Deng Ken wore an ill-fitting military uniform and an iron helmet on his head, looking rather incongruous. Huang Shi had not yet figured out how to place this foreigner and had finally given him a staff officer post, so the soldiers all addressed him as Mr. Deng.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"General, you are late.\" Deng Ken wore leather gloves, with a thick layer of grease smeared at the wrists. Not only his eyebrows and small mustache, but even the fine hairs on his face had all turned white... he really did look like a white-haired baboon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Your soldiers,\" Deng Ken pointed at those diligent patrols and exclaimed with deep feeling. He had already seen quite a few Ming armies. \"Are very fine soldiers. It seems I previously held some misconceptions about the soldiers of the Ming realm. It appears your esteemed country does not lack soldiers who can endure hardship; what it lacks are qualified officers.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Thank you for your praise. Our country's soldiers have always been the finest soldiers in the entire world.\" As he said this, Huang Shi was filled with pride.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The entire world — that phrase... Deng Ken glanced at Huang Shi, but said nothing more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"There are some questions I wish to consult you on. Let us return to camp and talk.\" Huang Shi's tone was extremely courteous. Deng Ken's words had put him in a very comfortable mood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Deng Ken raised an eyebrow. \"Can the General not converse amid wind and snow?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi swept his arm in a wide arc, taking in all the still-unfinished shore wall. \"This year, we must build the wall early. Could you help me plan it?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Deng Ken narrowed his eyes and looked left and right. \"I would be honored to serve the General. I propose we call this project the 'Great Liao Sea Iron Wall.' How does that sound?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Good, let it be called the Great Liao Sea Iron Wall.\" Huang Shi smiled and looked up at the swirling snowflakes filling the sky — the bitter winter had lasted so long already, could spring be far behind?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thanks to the Little Ice Age, the frost-free period in the Northeast was only three months, and the freeze-over period at Changsheng Island's Nanxinkou was extended by several dozen days. But no matter how long, the day of its passing finally came, and the alarm was at last lifted. Huang Shi adopted Zhao Manxiong's stratagem, announcing that traces of a large Jin army encampment had been found on the eastern shore — it was the soldiers' own efforts that had driven away the threat of death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of the sixteen hundred troops, over seven hundred collapsed during the grueling ice-breaking operation, and eighty of them would never rise again. Huang Shi buried these fallen men and had a batch of medals urgently made.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You saved our entire army.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For each gravestone, Huang Shi poured out a bowl of wine and set down a bowl of food. With his own hands, he gently buried the medals these eternal sleepers so richly deserved in the earth before their graves, and then, following his own custom, laid a bunch of wildflowers. When he addressed the burial ground, behind him stood the Dongjiang soldiers in solemn silence. The first solemn funeral for common soldiers began and ended quietly, witnessed by them all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You saved yourselves, and you will surely save the elders of Liaodong. Of this, I, Huang Shi, am deeply convinced.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One after another, under the gaze of the eternal sleepers, Huang Shi awarded medals to every patrolman and ice-breaking soldier who had distinguished themselves. Though this was not battlefield merit, the Company Commanders had nothing to say, nor did anyone have anything they wished to say. Zhao Manxiong and the other officers also received medals alongside the soldiers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crisp sea breeze blew across the soldiers' upright chests. The reform of the medal system had quietly begun.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Form units of four hundred men, with two hundred fifty-five pikemen and the rest musketeers, arranged in a square formation. This formation is very effective against cavalry charges.\" Deng Ken was introducing Huang Shi to European experience in frontal engagements.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You mentioned that in Taixi formations, large numbers of firearms and field artillery are equipped. I do not have those for now.\" Taixi was the Ming dynasty's general term for Europe, which Deng Ken fully understood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Firearms are only for countering the enemy light cavalry's muskets and bows. Victory still depends on close combat.\" In this era, hand-to-hand fighting was still the key to deciding victory or defeat; firearms were merely equipment to counter the enemy's ranged weapons. \"As long as you have heavy infantry willing to fight, you can rout heavy cavalry. The Jianzhou slaves also lack muskets and cannon. Without firearms, our troops can use bows and arrows to counter their light cavalry. Massed close-quarters combat is the focus of training.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Our army is short on weapons. For now we can only provide wooden pikes.\" There were still some reserves of supplies requested from Shanhai Pass; fitting iron heads onto the pikes would not be a major problem.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That is not the crux of the issue. An army with fighting spirit, armed with wooden staves, will defeat a rabble wielding sharp blades. General, the main problem with our army is that too many men have never seen blood. An army is not raised — it is forged in battle. Only one in ten of your soldiers has seen a battlefield. That is a serious problem. I do not believe such a force can be called an army.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Deng Ken's words were incisive. Huang Shi greatly approved. \"Quite right. Our army must go into battle as soon as possible.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"There is another serious problem,\" Deng Ken spoke without any restraint. \"Our army's organization is fundamentally irrational. The system of officers and retainers resembles the relationship between knights and their servants in Taixi. This severely hampers the army's combat effectiveness. Medieval armies are destined to be eliminated. Our army must reform.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I fully agree with you, but the time is not yet ripe.\" To push through reform, Huang Shi first needed a victory — an indisputable victory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As recorded in the Jesuit histories: \"...The Exalted Emperor, Great Ancestor of China, while serving the Ming dynasty, repeatedly defeated various rebel armies, including the Tartars. During the Emperor's legendary campaigns, the Jesuit Father Adolph Deng Ken played an extremely important role. He helped the Chinese Emperor reform the army, introducing modern tactics and field artillery into this medieval-level force, and also helped the Emperor perfect the polygonal fortification techniques that originated in Europe. It was by relying on these that the Emperor's army destroyed the Tartar forces that had once been invincible in Northeast China, as well as the rebel armies wreaking havoc in the Ming heartland... Throughout their long shared hardships, Deng Ken consistently displayed rare steadfastness and courage, earning him high renown in both the Chinese military and government. At the same time, he forged deep personal friendships with the future core ministers of the Emperor, which also helped the Jesuits thoroughly open the path to the Chinese imperial house and upper society.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the fourth month of the third year of the Tianqi reign, the Later Jin dispatched ten thousand cavalry south, intending to capture Lushun in one stroke and eliminate the Ming army's bridgehead in Liaodong.\u003C\u002Fp>",1552,"2026-06-04T07:54:30.907Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","af9736e9b69128f5f7a7a5c3b834aff23d72ed27ede37c0c5de6ca4986ea0f77","stealing-ming-chapter-106","stealing-ming-chapter-104",323,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fstealing-ming-cover.jpg"]