[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-stealing-ming":3,"chapter-stealing-ming-stealing-ming-chapter-177":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},1220794,1614,"Chapter 177: Section 34: The Balance","stealing-ming-chapter-177",177,"\u003Cp>It seemed like a very ordinary question, but it hit the envoy right where it hurt, making him suddenly feel embarrassed. The reinforcements sent by the Dongjiang headquarters could be described as arriving empty-handed. Last year, in the fourth year of the Tianqi reign, the Korean Dongjiang Army had suffered considerable losses. The troops and equipment of the Geng Zhongming brothers had all been taken by Kong Youde — and even that only happened because of the many years of friendship between Kong Youde and the Geng brothers; otherwise, no one else would have received those replacements.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And after the Geng brothers returned to Dongjiang Island, they began training new recruits. In Mao Wenlong's plan, the Geng family's new recruits did not need to go into battle immediately, so they had no equipment whatsoever, and there were only a few hundred soldiers to begin with. After receiving the urgent report from Huang Shi in Liaonan, Mao Wenlong stuffed every able-bodied man he could scrape together — over a thousand — into Geng Zhongming's recruit camp, and immediately dispatched this one camp capable of emergency mobilization to Liaonan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The camp under Garrison Commander Mao Youjie's command is called 'Jiezi Camp,'\" the Dongjiang envoy said, his face reddening slightly as he spoke. This camp was originally meant for training, and had no banner or name at all; the designation \"Jiezi Camp\" was something Mao Wenlong had come up with on the spur of the moment. Fortunately, Huang Shi seemed not to grasp the implication. The envoy's heart eased when he saw Huang Shi's expression remain unchanged: \"Garrison Commander Mao's 'Jiezi Camp' has one thousand three hundred combat soldiers. The Dongjiang naval forces will transport them to Liaonan as quickly as possible, likely within a matter of days. As for their armor... the situation arose too suddenly, and there will probably be many shortages for the time being. I hope my lord Huang can provide some.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What concerned Huang Shi more was not the combat strength of this camp, but the two Geng brothers themselves. When he heard that one thousand three hundred men were coming, he felt a pang of discomfort — winning over the Geng brothers would likely cost him dearly again. Not to mention far-off matters, he hadn't even dealt with Shang Kexi right beside him yet. Huang Shi put on a pleased expression: \"I have long heard of Garrison Commander Mao Youjie's great name. With him reinforcing Liaonan, there is nothing to worry about. As for armor and weapons, I will naturally prepare them.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then I must trouble my lord Huang for that.\" The Dongjiang envoy was very pleased that Huang Shi did not complain. He had other tasks on this trip and could not return to Dongjiang immediately, so he hurriedly said to Huang Shi: \"My lord Huang has won a great victory at Nanguan. Has this news been reported to the Grand Commander?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Of course.\" After the Nanguan victory, Huang Shi's memorial had been sent to Dongjiang at once, but two important trophies had not yet been dispatched. Wu Mu planned to ship the golden helmet and the great banner directly to Juehua, to avoid repeated handling en route — if they were lost at sea, it would be unbearable. Huang Shi silently calculated the time in his head and said to the envoy with a smile: \"By my reckoning, it should have arrived by now. The Grand Commander's orders may already be on the way.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That is good.\" The Dongjiang envoy let out a long breath. Even a fool could see that the situation in Liaonan was extremely favorable for the Ming army. As long as they could annihilate these three banners of the Later Jin, it would not matter if the Dongjiang army temporarily abandoned Liaodong. This envoy was not a high-ranking officer, so he optimistically thought that Mao Wenlong's next order might be to assemble the entire Dongjiang army and come in force. Now that his mission in Liaonan was complete, the envoy cheerfully clasped his fist toward Huang Shi: \"My lord Huang, my task here is finished. I humbly request that my lord provide lodging and a fast boat for my brothers and me. Early tomorrow morning, I must set out for Shanhai Pass.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The Grand Commander wants you to go to Shanhai Pass? To request reinforcements?\" Huang Shi was greatly startled. He had always thought Mao Wenlong would not cause him trouble, and never imagined that Mao Wenlong would think of asking Liaoxi for help this time. It was truly unbelievable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This question made the Dongjiang envoy hesitate, unsure whether to answer or not. Before leaving, Mao Wenlong had given secret orders: if the situation in Liaonan was a complete mess, then there was no need to go to Liaoxi and humiliate himself. But if the situation in Liaonan had not yet reached an irreversible point — for example, if the Ming army was still holding Jinzhou — then Mao Wenlong wanted the envoy to go to Liaoxi and weep. He was to request reinforcements no matter what. Seeing that Jinzhou was still in Ming hands, the envoy concluded that the precondition for Mao Wenlong sending him to Liaoxi had been met. So he resolved to make the trip to Liaoxi and, to a greater or lesser degree, secure some supplies and soldiers for the Dongjiang army in Liaonan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The envoy studied Huang Shi before him once more. This General Huang was ever-victorious. The envoy had watched him from the roadside the previous two times Huang Shi had gone to Pi Island — the first time, Huang Shi had been just a boy in his teens; the second time, merely a military household youth who had just joined the army. This time, he had witnessed with his own eyes Huang Shi turning the tide, transforming a grave crisis in Liaonan into a strategic situation extremely advantageous to the Ming army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this Dongjiang envoy's mind, Huang Shi had always been a great hero and an object of admiration. Moreover, it seemed a foregone conclusion that Huang Shi would soon shed the \"acting\" prefix from his Vice General title. By both sentiment and reason, this young envoy saw no cause to keep anything from Huang Shi: \"My lord Huang is perceptive. I am indeed going to Shanhai Pass to seek an audience with the Liaodong Grand Coordinator, Lord Sun. The Grand Commander has written a personal letter to Lord Sun, hoping that Lord Sun can aid Liaonan with some firearms and soldiers, or at the very least provide emergency grain supplies. The Grand Commander is concerned that my lord Huang's military provisions may run short.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I have caused the Grand Commander worry.\" Huang Shi sighed. Over ten thousand soldiers ate a considerable amount each day. Fortunately, they were garrisoned inside Jinzhou city and did not need to consume dry rations. But if one counted the Geng Zhongming brothers, Shang Kexi, and Zhang Pan of Guanglu, who could arrive at any time, the grain reserves on Changsheng Island would indeed become somewhat strained.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The envoy saluted and was about to leave. Before he departed, Huang Shi could not help but ask one question: \"Will you be going to Dengzhou?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The envoy raised his head and answered without hesitation: \"My lord Huang is perceptive. Of course we will not.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi sighed inwardly once more, but said flatly: \"Very well, go and rest now.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Over the past few years, Dongjiang Garrison, Laideng Garrison, and the Laideng Provincial Governor's office had fallen into deep discord. As early as the great victory at Zhenjiang, Mao Wenlong had refused to credit the civil official faction of Shandong. The Zhenjiang victory was indisputably the Ming army's first recovery of lost territory, its first offensive victory, and its first presentation of captives at the imperial palace. The Shandong civil official faction therefore hoped Mao Wenlong would hand the credit for strategic planning up to the Laideng Provincial Governor's office. For instance, Shandong civil officials claimed that the Zhenjiang victory was the brainchild of Wang Yining, the Assistant Prefect of Dengzhou. But Mao Wenlong insisted the credit belonged to Wang Huazhen, who had promoted him, and even submitted a memorial pointing out that Wang Yining had only arrived after he had withdrawn from Longchuan into the Korean interior. This argument left the Shandong civil official faction deeply embarrassed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the second year of the Tianqi reign, the already poor relationship between Mao Wenlong and the Shandong civil official faction worsened further. Mao Wenlong adamantly maintained that Shandong deserved no credit, while Shandong consistently accused Mao Wenlong of hogging the glory. In the end, Mao Wenlong refused to even hand over heads and captives to Shandong for inspection, sending them directly to Tianjin Garrison instead. In the third year of the Tianqi reign, the local officials of Tianjin Garrison repeatedly petitioned the imperial court, asking the court to order Mao Wenlong to stop sending captives. Tianjin Garrison's reasoning was that there were too many captives — they had to be fed and guarded, and local militia had to be mobilized to escort them, which also meant feeding them, so the expenses were simply too great. Yet Mao Wenlong persisted in sending captives, saying that this way the Shandong civil officials could not accuse him of stealing credit, and that the Embroidered Uniform Guard could verify through interrogation whether the battles and heads reported in the Dongjiang military gazette were cases of killing civilians to claim merit, thereby clearing his name.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus a farcical situation developed: Shandong ceaselessly denounced Mao Wenlong, Dongjiang stubbornly kept sending captives to Tianjin, and Tianjin Garrison wailed about budget overruns. This farce only ended when Sun Chengzong ordered that Dongjiang's heads be forwarded to Ningyuan for inspection.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But a new farce soon emerged, and the cause was, of course, Mao Wenlong's fault — he was simply too dishonest. The honest Huang Shi had always cooperatively allowed the Dengzhou grain officials to escort the silver and provisions, and Huang Shi had always accepted the \"losses at sea\" during transport. But the crafty Mao Wenlong attempted to swindle the Shandong civil officials. By the first month of the fifth year of the Tianqi reign, Mao Wenlong had sent two grain officials to Shandong over the past year. The task of these Dongjiang grain officials was to directly collect the military pay and provisions, then ship them back to Liaodong on Dongjiang vessels. This behavior was, of course, deeply unfair to the Shandong civil official faction that had been supporting Dongjiang Garrison from behind the scenes. It smacked of \"eating from the bowl while cursing the cook once the chopsticks are down.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first grain official Mao Wenlong sent quickly embezzled the military pay and never returned to Dongjiang. The new grain official Mao Wenlong sent next was also a fellow native of Hangzhou. Mao Wenlong had thought a fellow townsman would be more reliable, but to his surprise, as soon as this man arrived in Shandong, he swiftly traveled the full road of corruption and depravity. Together, these two grain officials embezzled supplies worth a total of four hundred forty thousand taels of silver.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In an effort to recover the stolen funds, Mao Wenlong had issued several maritime arrest warrants to Shandong, but all sank like stones into the vast sea. In his fury, Mao Wenlong used the right to submit sealed memorials directly to the throne, granted by his imperial sword, and brought the lawsuit all the way before the Emperor. The enraged Mao Wenlong also published his memorial in the Dongjiang military gazette. This left the vast majority of Dongjiang officers with a terrible impression of the Shandong civil official faction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was not the first time Huang Shi had seen that gazette, but this time he gained a more visceral understanding of Mao Wenlong's anger. In his memorial to the Tianqi Emperor, Mao Wenlong wept bitter tears. The four hundred forty thousand taels of silver in supplies included not only military pay and imperial rewards, but also the soldiers' rations and the clothes on their backs, and a considerable portion was reward money for the soldiers' severed heads. Mao Wenlong begged the Emperor to enforce the law impartially and recover these soldiers' food and clothing from Shandong for him. Mao Wenlong also described the conditions in Dongjiang in his memorial: large numbers of military households still had no winter padded coats, and many combat soldiers lacked not only armor but even iron weapons, while the two men who had embezzled over four hundred thousand taels of silver from Dongjiang Garrison lived free and unpunished in Shandong...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this memorial, Mao Wenlong even pointed out the residential addresses of the two grain officials in Shandong. Both men had already bought houses and land there and become landlords. Mao Wenlong did not demand that the Tianqi Emperor hold anyone accountable; he merely petitioned the Emperor to issue an edict ordering the Shandong civil official faction to arrest these two men and hand them over to Dongjiang Garrison.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the Laideng Provincial Governor also possessed an imperial sword. When this lawsuit was fought before the throne, the Shandong Provincial Governor's office did not even bother to argue whether the matter had occurred; they simply questioned whether a military officer had the right to issue maritime arrest warrants to a locality, and whether local civil officials had the duty to carry out a military officer's orders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These two questions were posed with great force, so although Mao Wenlong's tearful plea was deeply moving, the Tianqi Emperor and the Grand Secretariat still rejected his request, telling him to negotiate with the Shandong local officials himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Huang Shi read that gazette, he already knew how the story would end. Historically, Mao Wenlong eventually compromised, henceforth allowing the Dengzhou grain officials to escort the military pay and provisions, and henceforth enduring the thirty percent \"losses at sea.\" In the end, Dengzhou repatriated one man to Dongjiang. That man was Mao Wenlong's fellow townsman. Knowing he had been acting under duress, Mao Wenlong did not make things difficult for him; after making him disgorge his share of the stolen funds, he sent him to the Hangzhou local officials for custody. Later, when Dengzhou again increased the \"losses at sea\" quota, Mao Wenlong brought this matter up once more as ammunition in a lawsuit before the throne, but that later lawsuit also ended with Mao Wenlong's complaint being shelved without resolution. Wei Zhongxian, who was clearly a beneficiary, used this lawsuit to deal a heavy blow to the Shandong Donglin Party, but the succeeding members of the Eunuch Faction merely kept the \"losses at sea\" at thirty percent and still did not return any money to Dongjiang Garrison. Huang Shi very much wanted to exploit this matter, but he had not yet figured out how. In any case, historically Mao Wenlong had chosen the stupidest possible path, gaining no benefit whatsoever while offending a whole group of people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the Nanguan victory, Huang Shi felt that his influence on history had already become immense. The butterfly effect was no longer a matter of a small butterfly; on the strategic balance between the Ming and the Later Jin, Changsheng Island now weighed as heavily as a dinosaur. Just as before the Battle of Guangning, Huang Shi still coveted the throne of the Great Ming Emperor, so these past days he had been secretly pondering the question of \"nurturing bandits to bolster one's own importance.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But thinking about \"nurturing bandits to bolster one's own importance\" was one thing; actually carrying it out was another. The first problem was that if he allowed the Later Jin army to slip past from beneath the walls of Jinzhou, Huang Shi would have great difficulty explaining it to the Army Supervisor. Secondly, if the Later Jin army could not demonstrate the ability to defend its own baggage train, Huang Shi might not be able to forcibly suppress the calls to give battle — after all, his subordinates and allied forces were staring at those heads and merits with reddened eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The final and most important problem was that Huang Shi always felt he had to thoroughly beat the enemy into a \"pig's head\" before he could raise them like pigs. If he tried to nurture them while the Later Jin's strength was still great, he feared it would not be \"nurturing bandits to bolster one's own importance\" but rather \"nurturing a tiger to court calamity.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Ming court had always regarded the Later Jin, a large tribe of two hundred thousand people, as a gang of bandits, and after successive victories, Huang Shi's subordinates looked down on these brigands even more. But Huang Shi absolutely dared not underestimate his opponent, so in the end he decided to bleed the Later Jin severely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, Huang Shi still did not know that his victory report had just arrived at Dongjiang. At headquarters, Mao Wenlong opened the report with trembling hands, and his eyes grew wider and wider as he read. Mao Wenlong rubbed his eyes and read the report again, then rubbed his eyes once more and read it a third time...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Summon Chen Jisheng at once!\" Mao Wenlong bellowed, while swiftly turning and running to look at the map of Liaodong. The fingers he placed on the front lines at Kuandian and Korea were trembling: \"One camp, two camps, three camps... these can be pulled out immediately. It seems I must personally lead a campaign to Liaonan.\"\u003C\u002Fp>",2927,"2026-06-04T07:54:30.907Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","f098b0f371d43ff1e70abef9769c080af29373366ae20371d738653f79d75f82","stealing-ming-chapter-178","stealing-ming-chapter-176",323,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fstealing-ming-cover.jpg"]