[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-stealing-ming":3,"chapter-stealing-ming-stealing-ming-chapter-149":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},1220766,1614,"Chapter 149: Section Six: Harassment","stealing-ming-chapter-149",149,"\u003Cp>Out of a desire for prudence, Huang Shi inclined toward sorties of over a thousand soldiers at a time — that way they would not fear the Plain Red Banner’s garrison forces, still less the Han army self-defense squads in the villages throughout enemy-occupied territory — but the staff department deemed it unworkable. They argued that Huang Shi’s conception was like using a cannon to swat mosquitoes: Liaodong was vast and sparsely populated, and if an army of over a thousand men kept itself bunched together, it could not sweep more than a few villages in a day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And if they sortied frequently, Yang Zhiyuan would protest — sending out a thousand men at a time meant suspending the fishing operations entirely, and it would put enormous pressure on the army’s provisions. Jin Qiude also put forward the idea of waging a harassment campaign, operating in squads of a dozen or so men, striking and sabotaging in multiple groups under the guidance of local agents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This idea had originally stirred Huang Shi’s interest somewhat, but the intelligence chief Li Yunrui opposed it furiously. For a long time, Changsheng Island had strictly forbidden agents from taking part in any sabotage operations, and as a result the Changsheng Island agent network lurking in enemy-occupied territory had steadily expanded and grown. A multi-pronged harassment campaign would consume enormous intelligence resources, and Li Yunrui further pointed out that because the various forces in the Liaonan region did not answer to a unified command, the harassment warfare conducted by the Lüshun army had already inflicted losses on the Changsheng Army’s intelligence network in Fuzhou.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Conversely, if the intelligence network did not support such harassment warfare, then the raiding soldiers would become expendable assets — and Huang Shi could not bear to throw the troops he had painstakingly trained into a war of attrition against the village Han self-defense squads. Small raiding parties were also highly vulnerable to being wiped out by the several hundred Plain Red Banner cavalry left behind as a garrison.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Each time we smuggle across forty horses and twenty cavalrymen…” Maintaining this level of transport over the long term was something Yang Zhiyuan could accept; it would not seriously affect Changsheng Island’s fishing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…Land before daybreak, return to the island before sunset…” The cavalry’s mobility ensured they could flee if outmatched; such small squads were relatively flexible and their harassment efficiency was comparatively high.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…The primary targets are plow oxen and draft horses; secondary targets are the sows and goats raised by the enemy forces — piglets and calves will of course not be spared either. Our army’s slogan is ‘Rather kill one ox than three horses; rather kill one horse than three men.’ This will not provoke excessive hatred among the Han populace, will make it easier to strike, and will also allow us to cut off some meat to bring back and eat. What does my lord think?” Jin Qiude finished delivering his strategic concept report.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let it be so. However, when the harvest comes in the seventh month, we must still prepare a large-scale offensive. Step up the collection of intelligence on the grain-levy patterns and the grain and fodder transfer points around Gaizhou, and see whether there is an opportunity to strike the Jian slaves a painful blow.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your subordinate obeys the order.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sixth month of the fourth year of the Tianqi reign\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Exploiting the mobility afforded by seaborne transport, Changsheng Island had already waged a harassment campaign lasting three full months in the vicinity of Gaizhou. Over seventy officers and men had been killed in action, while they had taken several dozen heads, killed over three hundred sturdy oxen and calves, over seven hundred draft horses, burned several hundred granaries and millhouses, and done harm to several thousand pigs, goats, and other livestock. By using combat as training, the horse contingent had also expanded to over two hundred men.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Reporting to my lord, this is the grain and fodder transport route as analyzed by your humble subordinate.” After a year of habit and hard work, Li Yunrui now delivered intelligence reports with full confidence. Pointing to several red dots on the map, he said: “The grain and fodder requisitioned by the Jian slaves will first be sent to these several locations, and then forwarded on to Gaizhou. The defensive works at these storage sites have already been ascertained; the specific manpower can only be clarified once the grain levy begins.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi studied the map carefully for a moment, picked out two locations that he judged relatively easy to strike and to withdraw from, and then pushed it back toward Li Yunrui: “Take this and give it to Mobile Corps Commander Jin to draw up a plan.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“As ordered, my lord. Your humble subordinate takes his leave.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mobile Corps Commander warfare could keep the enemy’s nerves on edge, overawe the local capitulationist faction, and also train the soldiers while boosting morale. But head-on operations were the necessary means to secure one’s own base areas and expand territory. Huang Shi decided to once again borrow from the experience of his previous life and combine Mobile Corps Commander warfare with conventional pitched battle. At present, Changsheng Island still lacked the strength to fight a main-force engagement against the Two Red Banners, but mobile warfare seemed worth attempting now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So as soon as he finished this work, Huang Shi hurried off to inspect the army’s drill. On the training ground, the drumming rolled like thunder, and the soldiers were marching forward in step to the drumbeats, their ranks orderly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Scotsman Deng Ken had originally suggested using bagpipes. As a fan of Braveheart, Huang Shi had at first greatly admired this idea, but it was scornfully vetoed by He Baodao, who proposed using the Shaanxi waist drum as the military instrument.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Taking into account the difficulty of manufacture and a sense of national pride, Huang Shi in the end selected the waist drum, and so for these several months the soldiers had marched in formation every day to the rhythm of the waist drum. These drumbeats could ensure that the infantry battle formation maintained its integrity while advancing; if the soldiers were well-trained, the formation could even advance at a jogging pace without breaking apart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi had barely taken his place at the edge of the training ground when He Baodao ran over and saluted: “My lord.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mm.” Huang Shi nodded to show he had heard, his gaze still fixed on the soldiers on the field. Their steps moved with the drumbeats, and it looked like it was beginning to amount to something. The officers on both sides of the ranks, each gripping a leather whip or a military rod, watched the soldiers’ feet with tiger-like intensity, shouting work chants and commands in long, drawn-out tones… The tune these officers trained by He Baodao were shouting — why did it sound so much like the Shaanxi folk song “Xintianyou” to Huang Shi?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the time for formation drill finally ended, He Baodao begged his leave and ran back, dragging his whip. The soldiers, every one of them drenched in sweat, waited for the mid-session break.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Whole army—” He Baodao bellowed at the top of his lungs: “—Dismissed.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Kill!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The soldiers roared in unison, then scattered to find shady spots to rest. This final shout was another thing Huang Shi had copied from the People’s Liberation Army; it was undeniable that this “Kill!” shout carried great momentum and also kept a trace of alertness in the resting soldiers’ subconscious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In a little while, the auxiliary soldiers from the old camp would bring water and the midday meal. After eating lunch and resting for half a shichen, the afternoon’s technical combat training would begin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The auxiliary soldiers delivering the supplies were all women. To conserve manpower, Huang Shi had ordered that women also be formally organized into battalions; tasks such as boiling water and cooking were all to be performed by the auxiliary soldiers in the women’s battalion. It was just that the women’s battalion on Changsheng Island was not called the “women’s battalion,” because that term generally referred to military prostitutes, so the whole island firmly opposed that name. They felt that having their wives or sisters working in a “women’s battalion” sounded far too disgraceful when spoken of. So Huang Shi gave this battalion of female soldiers a name: the “Relief and Aid Battalion.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Coarse grain rice, rough flour flatbread, grilled fish, and boiled alfalfa. As officers, Huang Shi and He Baodao were entitled to one extra fish each. When the two men sat down to eat, He Baodao wished he could use one mouth as two, repeatedly spraying spittle and food crumbs onto Huang Shi’s face: “My lord, your subordinate is not boasting — the courage and will to fight of the common battle soldiers in my Fire Rescue Battalion already far surpasses that of the Jian slaves’ common battle soldiers, and can stand shoulder to shoulder with the Jian slaves’ Heavy Armor Soldiers.”\u003C\u002Fp>",1507,"2026-06-04T07:54:30.907Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","872978b8221db9034036a6d887b09c8f943a393d7fab9d7232e2676c323ec646","stealing-ming-chapter-150","stealing-ming-chapter-148",323,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fstealing-ming-cover.jpg"]