[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-stealing-ming":3,"chapter-stealing-ming-stealing-ming-chapter-183":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},1220800,1614,"Chapter 183: Section Forty: Aftermath","stealing-ming-chapter-183",183,"\u003Cp>In the third month of the fifth year of the Tianqi reign, on Changsheng Island.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Kill—\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Heroic shouts echoed across the training ground. Huang Shi watched in silence as large numbers of new recruits clumsily performed their drills, learning brand-new formation coordination. Among these recruits were five hundred \"veterans\" from the Vanguard Camp. The previous month, Sun Chengzong had returned from Jinzhou to Liaoxi, and when Huang Shi also planned to leave at the end of the month, these five hundred-odd Vanguard Camp soldiers insisted on following Huang Shi to Changsheng Island, no matter what.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the time, the ground outside Huang Shi's Assistant Regional Commander field headquarters was densely packed with kneeling soldiers. These five hundred-odd men — soldiers ranging in age from eighteen to thirty-five — all declared with one voice that they wished to swear fealty to Huang Shi as their adoptive father.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi of course did not agree... nor could he agree. Of the one hundred and forty-odd cavalrymen who had followed him since Guangning, just over a hundred remained alive. Although they had no need to formally recognize Huang Shi as their adoptive father, in their hearts they still yearned to win such status for their own sons. As for the subordinates who had come to the island in successive waves later, many hoped to use this method to instantly become part of Huang Shi's core retinue. Since none of his old subordinates had yet received such treatment, he certainly could not grant this privilege to newcomers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ever since Huang Shi ordered that Zhang Pan's former subordinates take command of Jinzhou and the Vanguard Camp, the officers and men of the Lüshun Army had cast aside the last shred of doubt in their hearts, leaving only boundless gratitude toward Huang Shi. Huang Shi's transporting of all seven thousand auxiliary soldiers from Nanguan to Changsheng Island caused no displeasure whatsoever, and when these five hundred-odd Vanguard Camp soldiers requested to join the Firefighting Battalion, the surviving officers of the Lüshun Army likewise voiced no objection. Quite the contrary — many of the Vanguard Camp officers newly promoted by Huang Shi vigorously urged him to accept these veterans.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thereupon Huang Shi unceremoniously screened and selected from this batch of soldiers. He wished to absorb soldiers who were pure rank-and-file, preferably men who had held no status in the former Lüshun Army and had no entanglements such as adoptive fathers. In the end, ninety-nine out of every hundred soldiers passed Huang Shi's selection. These men were indeed all individuals without connections, or else the officers and headmen tied to them had been eliminated in the battle of Nanguan. Every one of them had been on the battlefield more than once, and some had even taken part in the first assault on Lüshun in the first year of the Tianqi reign — which, by calculation, was even earlier than Huang Shi's own time on the battlefield. He happily accepted all of them with a smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After taking in these five hundred-odd men, together with the veterans of the Firefighting Battalion, Huang Shi suddenly had nearly two thousand two hundred infantrymen in hand. He pulled out from the combat order of battle just over a hundred soldiers from the Firefighting Battalion who had relatively rich combat experience. To every one of these hundred-odd soldiers Huang Shi uniformly granted the rank of Squad Commander, and then he formed them into a new unit. This unit was named the \"Instructional Company.\" Huang Shi did not intend to send the members of the Instructional Company onto the battlefield as infantry cannon fodder; they would be kept back to train new recruits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In Huang Shi's plan, these instructors would also be given some cultural lessons and the like. They would become, like the former \"Training Company,\" a key focus of Huang Shi's attention, and would be cultivated as future officers just as the members of the Training Company had been two years earlier. The remaining two thousand infantry combat soldiers were split in two by Huang Shi. One thousand Firefighting Battalion veterans would serve as the backbone to form a new Firefighting Battalion, while another five hundred Firefighting Battalion infantry and those five hundred Vanguard Camp soldiers would form the backbone of a new field battalion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi pondered the name for this battalion for a long time. He always wanted to leave something behind for the late Zhang Pan — after all, he himself was only a transmigrator, so Huang Shi always held the greatest respect for the true heroes of history. He originally intended to name the new field battalion \"Zhang Pan Battalion\" or \"Pan-Character Battalion,\" but the entire officer corps of the Firefighting Battalion opposed this naming method. Apart from Huang Shi, not a single person on Changsheng Island, from top to bottom, was willing to have the new battalion bear such a strong imprint of Zhang Pan. The soldiers transferred from the Firefighting Battalion needless to say, but even the soldiers who came from the Vanguard Camp were unwilling to use such a name. They too worried about being perpetually treated as outsiders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a compromise, Huang Shi took one character from Zhang Pan's courtesy name and one character from his own, naming the new field battalion \"Panshi Battalion\" — its meaning being that Zhang Pan had founded it, and Huang Shi had merely inherited it. But Zhao Manxiong felt this name was still too much. In the end, Huang Shi compromised again and reported the name \"Panshi Battalion\" to Dongjiang as the new field battalion's designation. Although the name violated the taboo on Huang Shi's personal name, the army had never been so fastidious about such things. For instance, Geng Zhongming's name was Mao Youjie, and his battalion used \"Jie-Character Battalion\" as its name, making the ownership of the unit clear at a glance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the battle of Nanguan, the Firefighting Battalion's cavalry suffered almost no losses. But Huang Shi's confidence in the cavalry remained gravely insufficient, because his tiny cavalry force had yet to fight a real battle in direct confrontation. Never mind that his own cavalry was well-equipped — in a proper, head-on engagement there would likely still be major problems. Huang Shi estimated that if the numbers were equal, his cavalry might very well be utterly routed by the Later Jin Heavy Armor Soldiers. Huang Shi felt that mounted combat relied too heavily on individual martial valor. Moreover, he firmly believed that practical combat experience was difficult to compensate for with equipment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Out of this consideration, Huang Shi decided to split the cavalry in two just like the infantry, dispersing them into the two field battalions to carry out reconnaissance and pursuit work. But He Dingyuan was extremely dissatisfied with this. He insisted that the cavalry should be an independent force and not a mere appendage of the infantry. Yet the cavalry battalion plan that He Dingyuan vigorously advocated was simply unrealistic at the moment. A field battalion could not be without cavalry; a pure infantry field battalion would become exceedingly useless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If a separate cavalry battalion were to be formed... not only did Huang Shi lack so many horses and riders, even if he had them he could not afford to maintain them. Warhorses and mounted combat soldiers, without exaggeration — the expense of one man and one horse on Changsheng Island was equivalent to nearly ten infantrymen. A cavalry battalion required one thousand mounted combat soldiers, one thousand cavalry auxiliaries, and at least three thousand horses. Even if Huang Shi sold his trousers, he might not be able to scrape together the funds for a single cavalry battalion. Besides, if he really had such a large sum of money, Huang Shi felt it would be more cost-effective to raise seven or eight field battalions instead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So in the end, He Dingyuan's attempt was once again rejected. He watched with regret as the cavalry unit he treasured most was cruelly torn in two by Huang Shi, and Huang Shi further told him plainly — every field battalion must be assigned a cavalry detachment. On this determination Huang Shi would never waver. Until every field battalion could receive cavalry support, all arguments about \"cavalry must be used concentrated\" were nothing but heresy and fallacy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The artillery company's losses this time were not small, but this problem could not be solved for the time being either. All the grave robbers and fortune-telling diviners of Dongjiangzhen were now on Changsheng Island. The only thing Huang Shi could do at present was send a dispatch to the Ministry of Justice requesting another batch of talent in this area.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dongjiangzhen's promotion order arrived the fastest. Huang Shi had only returned to his old lair at the end of last month when Mao Wenlong's letter of appointment caught up with him on Changsheng Island. Dongjiang Vice Regional Commander Huang Shi would establish the Dongjiang Left Brigade. This brigade command would hold Changsheng Island, West Island, Zhongdao, Jinzhou, Nanguan, Lüshun, Greater and Lesser Zhangshan Islands, Guanglu, and the other islands of Liaonan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With authority now in his hands, he immediately issued orders. Huang Shi forthwith appointed Shang Kexi, who had rushed over swiftly this time to offer his service, as Regional Military Commissioner of Greater and Lesser Zhangshan Islands, and guaranteed that he would be treated equally in matters of military pay. Zhang Pan of Guanglu had dawdled and contributed little this time, but Huang Shi did not make things difficult for him either, and even recommended Zhang Pan as Mobile Corps Commander of Lüshun. The order Huang Shi gave him was to rebuild the Lüshun docks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The commander of the naval forces under Zhang Pan was Shang Kexi's elder brother, Shang Keyi. During this military operation, Shang Keyi had placed his bet on his direct superior, Zhang Pan, and thus had been dragging his feet the whole time. So once the dust had settled, Shang Kexi hurried over to plead on his elder brother's behalf. Huang Shi immediately had Shang Keyi take over Zhang Pan's position, remaining on Guanglu Island as a garrison commander directly subordinate to Huang Shi's territory under the Dongjiang Left Brigade. This magnanimous gesture left the brothers Shang Keyi and Shang Kexi deeply grateful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The various factions of commanders in Liaonan were all delighted. Even Zhang Pan had expanded his own strength and gained control of more territory. But the Geng Zhongming brothers, who had traveled a thousand li from Dongjiang, were rather disappointed. Having witnessed Huang Shi's martial prowess and generosity, Geng Zhongming had tried every means possible to stay in Liaonan. Once this idea took root, he naturally hit it off at once with Huang Shi, who harbored his own ulterior motives. Huang Shi had even prepared territory for Geng Zhongming — at the place that, in his previous life, was called Dalian.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unfortunately, the orders from Dongjiang headquarters were very clear. Mao Wenlong wanted Geng Zhongming to return to Liaodong immediately and throw himself into the front lines at Kuandian to prepare for offensive operations. Regretful as he was, Huang Shi had no other recourse. At the farewell banquet, the Geng Zhongming brothers were like eggplants stricken by frost, both of them hanging their heads and drinking in gloomy silence. Shang Kexi, on the other hand, wore a face full of smiles as he persistently toasted them, and contrary to his usual manner, he lavishly praised their martial prowess and wished them great achievements in Liaodong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Geng Zhongming was angry in his heart, he considered that Shang Kexi was henceforth a general directly subordinate to Huang Shi, so he did not dare vent his anger as he had in the past. He could only swallow the teeth knocked out and force a cheerful expression as he accepted Shang Kexi's hollow courtesies. At their parting, Huang Shi also gave the Geng Zhongming brothers three hundred sets of saber and shield. Overjoyed, Geng Zhongming savored the generosity and regard contained in Huang Shi's gift, and was so moved that tears nearly fell from his eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The imperial court's formal appointment had also arrived on Changsheng Island three days earlier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the inspection concluded, Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent, Left Chief Commissioner-in-Chief, Hereditary Liaodong Assistant Guard Commander, and Imperially Bestowed Silver Arrow Commanding Military Officer Huang Shi returned to arrange the work of the old camp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before he had even entered the main gate of the old camp, Huang Shi heard two people quarreling inside. One was Shi Ce, the Naval Commander of Changsheng Island, and the other was Kuroshima Kazuo, commander of the Ocean-Going Fleet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time Huang Shi had again wrung three seagoing vessels out of Sun Chengzong. Kuroshima Kazuo had just rushed back from Japan today to take receipt of these ships. As he entered the gate, he happened to see Shi Ce spittle flying as he boasted of being the \"hero behind the scenes\" of every great victory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, the immensely pleased Shi Ce was recounting to a circle of officers the high regard Huang Shi held for him. When Kuroshima Kazuo came in, Shi Ce was just describing the preparatory work before the Gaizhou campaign: \"...At that time, His Lordship earnestly entrusted me with the task of putting the army ashore intact, and the safety of the entire army was placed in my hands. And I did not fail His Lordship's trust.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amid envious gazes, Shi Ce grew increasingly smug: \"You wouldn't know this, but from Changsheng Island to Jinzhou — several thousand troops and all their equipment — my naval forces transported them all in just two days. This is what is meant by 'speed is the soldier's asset.' I can say without the slightest exaggeration, and I take full responsibility for these words: for the great victory at Nanguan, apart from Lord He, my contribution must be counted as the greatest.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Bah,\" Kuroshima Kazuo was already boiling with rage as he listened. He had long forgotten what his purpose in coming to the old camp was. Kuroshima Kazuo lunged into the circle of people in one bound, pointed at Shi Ce's nose, and cursed: \"What do you mean 'your' naval forces? They are clearly all my, Kuroshima's, seagoing ships, and the sailors are all trained by me, Kuroshima.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The more Kuroshima spoke, the more agitated he became. He waved his arms frantically: \"And the copper for those cannons, the silver for those firelocks — it was all earned for His Lordship by me, Kuroshima, and Lord Liu, risking our lives sailing to Japan, working like mad and trading.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feeling his face had been cut, Shi Ce also raised his voice and shouted: \"His Lordship said the naval forces are entrusted to me, and all warships are under my command.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kuroshima Kazuo was a Tatar Officer, so according to Great Ming military regulations he could not command the naval forces composed of ordinary military households. Due to Huang Shi's personal feelings and preferences, even the nominal head of the Kuroshima Fleet was Liu Qingyang, who was currently in Japan making counterfeit coins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Bah, what warships do you have, my foot.\" Kuroshima Kazuo grew even more furious: \"They are all my ships, my sailors. They are only called the naval forces during wartime, temporarily placed under your charge. If you want to embezzle my, Kuroshima's, achievements, His Lordship will not permit it, the sailors of the fleet will not permit it, and the countless soldiers and civilians of Changsheng Island will absolutely not permit it!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only after Huang Shi entered did the two men stop quarreling and were brought into the main tent. But before Huang Shi could finish mediating the conflict between Kuroshima Kazuo and Shi Ce, he saw Deng Ken hurrying over in a rush: \"General, how am I only a Company Commander?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"To go from Semu military household to Company Commander in one battle is already very fast,\" Huang Shi now had a thorough understanding of Deng Ken. To put it nicely, this fellow was \"harboring great ambitions\"; to put it bluntly, he was a \"rank-chaser.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sure enough, Deng Ken grumbled and expressed his dissatisfaction: \"Then next time, General, remember to make it up to me. For now, I can serve as Company Commander with the titular rank of Mobile Corps Commander.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"There is no such combination,\" Huang Shi rejected this proposal without a moment's hesitation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Why not? Wasn't I previously Semu military household plus Company Commander titular rank commanding the artillery company? That was four steps in total. Advancing another four steps this time would be exactly Company Commander with Mobile Corps Commander titular rank. I already calculated it before I came.\" Deng Ken's face was full of disbelief and suspicion, his expression as if saying to Huang Shi — don't think old Deng Ken here can't count.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Titular ranks were for the convenience of command, not special favors. But before Huang Shi could explain the rules of titular ranks to him, Kuroshima Kazuo, standing to the side, could listen no longer. Huang Shi had just laid out conditions for Kuroshima Kazuo — either relinquish Tatar Officer status and enter Han-registered military household, or be granted a Tatar Officer Company Commander rank. Kuroshima was hesitating between these two options at that very moment. Seeing that Deng Ken had already snagged an ordinary Company Commander post and still was not satisfied, fury rose from his heart and malice surged from his gut: \"Whatever the Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent gives you, you take. Since when is it your turn to make demands? Bah, you foreign devil!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Deng Ken, not to be outdone, cursed back: \"Bah, you Japanese pirate.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After returning to the study in his residence, Huang Shi spread out a sheet of Xuan paper. Hong Antong, beside him, had already ground the ink. As Huang Shi began to write furiously, Hong Antong sat to one side helping to check the earlier drafts for wrong characters. On the title page of these drafts were written the four large characters: \"True Record of Military Training.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This \"True Record of Military Training\" contained Huang Shi's insights on training troops and fighting battles, and moreover a summary of his years of experience in training soldiers. Before Sun Chengzong left, he had discussed the issue of troop training with Huang Shi. After that conversation, Huang Shi resolved to write down these insights, also as a precaution for all eventualities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The cart-and-artillery battalions that Sun Chengzong organized and trained had a very high degree of firearm integration. The Ming army seemed to want to rely on the power of firearms to accomplish the main killing work, but Huang Shi believed this did not conform to the current technical level. In Huang Shi's personal understanding of military affairs, the kind of army that could completely suppress the opponent by firepower alone would have to wait until the appearance of machine guns. Before the advent of machine guns and rapid-fire breech-loading artillery, cold-steel combat remained the most effective means of inflicting casualties.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi quietly wrote down his reflections. In late Ming military records, Mongol armies, when facing resolute infantry formations, would also \"dismount and shoot on foot,\" and only after the infantry formation collapsed would they \"remount and pursue.\" As for the Later Jin army's method of warfare, whether from the Eight Banners records Huang Shi had read in his previous life or the battle scenes he had personally encountered, the Jurchens likewise did not use projectile weapons as their primary means of killing. The Later Jin army, like the Mongols, only used projectile weapons to disrupt the stability of the opponent's formation, then relied on hand-to-hand combat to destroy the opponent's will to fight. This point aligned with Huang Shi's existing thinking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi remembered that in his previous life, whether in the Revolutionary War, the Napoleonic Wars, the American Civil War, or the Opium Wars, in the vast majority of cases, modern armies ultimately still had to rely on cold-steel charges to finish off the opponent. Therefore, although Huang Shi strove to build up firelock infantry and artillery, he absolutely did not count on winning by projectile weapons alone. As long as firearms could ensure resistance against the opponent's bows and arrows, he was satisfied. The purpose of firearm use in Huang Shi's army was also to pave the way for the subsequent cold-steel combat. The cold-steel combat proficiency of his army was also the part he valued most.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In past battles, Huang Shi had been in mortal danger many times, but he had never intended to leave his knowledge behind, because Huang Shi always worried it would become a weapon for others to use against him. But ever since he had basked in the cheers of the thousands at Jinzhou, since he had witnessed the horrors beneath the walls of Jinzhou, and after seeing Sun Chengzong's grief and indignation, Huang Shi could not help but contemplate his own life and death — if he wrote this military manual and passed down the method of training troops, then even if he, Huang Shi, were to die suddenly, the Han people could rely on it to exterminate the Jianzhou bandit clique and prevent invasion by a foreign race.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Great Ming that Huang Shi encountered was already sick, and gravely so. Under normal circumstances, a newly rising Han regime would replace it. This regime would discard the dross of the Great Ming and inherit the civilizational legacy of the Great Ming. Whether it was the Great Shun or the Great Xi, as long as this regime was a Han regime, the civilization of Huaxia would be passed on and continued.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the legendary sage-kings of the Three Dynasties led over ten thousand people down from the Loess Plateau, their competitors in the West were already vast countries with extensive territory, and had already developed brilliant civilizations. Yet it was these ten-thousand-odd ancestors of Huaxia who, in less than a thousand years, advanced to the forefront of the world. Wherever they passed, barbarism was transformed into civilization.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ancestors of Huaxia constructed exquisite cities and architecture, developed fine arts and sculpture, recorded the laws of celestial motion, created writing and music, and gave rise to navigation, textiles, industry, and commerce. Just as Huang Shi's father passed the ancestral surname to him, so too would Huang Shi pass this surname to his own descendants. The Chinese civilization in the hearts of the people of Huaxia was likewise this sacred and weighty. The descendants of Huaxia revered their ancestors and passed down these precious cultural legacies from generation to generation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Regrettably, in Huang Shi's previous life, the Manchu Qing — originally a tribe so utterly benighted that they did not even have their own script — stole the China of Huaxia. It was stolen by the most savage, backward, ignorant, and dark of barbarians. The self-loathing etched into the marrow of these savages drove successive Manchu Qing rulers to madly destroy the culture of Huaxia, from music to literature, from architecture to mathematics... In every field, China had originally led the world, but under the vicious destruction of the Manchu Qing rulers, China plummeted from the pinnacle of the world all the way to the abyss.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Huang Shi saw Spanish missionaries say that the Chinese people had changed from \"courteous, industrious, intelligent, and kind\" to \"greedy, filthy, lazy, and ignorant\"; when Huang Shi saw Japanese say that \"China has already lost the shadow of Huaxia and is thoroughly sinking into the condition of barbarians\" — as a descendant of Huaxia, what a piercing, bone-deep pain he felt in his heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>— Starting from the Tang and Song dynasties, the other competitors in the world had been left far behind by China. The Mongols came, and the Ming dynasty had to retread the path already walked by the Tang and Song. Just when China's civilization had painstakingly once again ranked first in the world, the Manchu Qing came again... My beloved China actually became the Sick Man of East Asia, and the whole world actually spread tales of the laziness and ignorance of the Chinese people! And once the Manchu Qing, that dregs of a clique, were driven out, China grew better day by day. By the time of my previous life, the Chinese people had once again become synonymous with \"industrious, capable, and intelligent.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If a woman defended the brute who raped her by saying: \"I was dressed too revealingly, it was my fault for provoking his desire...\" everyone would only curse her as a \"wretched slut.\" If a slave defended the master who abused him by saying: \"I did poorly and angered my master, I failed to fulfill a slave's duty...\" everyone would likely also mock him as a \"wretched breed.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi remembered a philosopher from his previous life who said these words: \"Many people have cut the queue from their heads, but not the queue from their hearts.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his previous life, the residual poison of the Manchu Qing had still not been fully purged. All day long, there were always people who insisted on searching for some \"inherent national flaws,\" who constantly wallowed in self-pity, describing ancestors who had been strong and proud for thousands of years as a \"cowardly race,\" portraying nomadic bandits as \"peerless in benevolence and righteousness, invincible under heaven,\" or claiming that those mortal enemies of Huaxia had brought \"golden ages\" to China.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In Huang Shi's mind, such people were simply slaves. This laziness and savagery were brought by those ignorant beasts — maggots that fattened themselves white and plump by sucking the blood and sweat of Huaxia. To what state had these beasts ultimately dragged China? What could the descendants of \"my Great Qing\" do besides carry birdcages and eat idle meals, or boast about their ancestors' \"invincible mounted archery\" — which was nothing more than the skill of rape and plunder? Huang Shi quietly continued writing his military treatise. If anything unexpected happened, these documents would be sent to Sun Chengzong at the fastest possible speed. As long as the Great Ming was inherited by the descendants of Huaxia; as long as Huaxia's culture was not destroyed by barbarians whose self-abasement had seeped into their bones... then the Europeans on this planet would have nothing left to do.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was another matter also being planned — the regularization and professionalization of the logistics and supply troops. Huang Shi intended to use the opportunity of converting artillery auxiliaries into combat soldiers to establish professional engineer and logistics troops.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A thoroughly professionalized infantry army would bring many benefits, and one immediate one was strategic mobility.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his previous life, Huang Shi would sometimes play computer games with friends, such as Age of Empires and the like. In these games, Huang Shi and his friends all rather admired cavalry, but this admiration could only remain within the games.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the modernization of armies, although infantry still fell short in tactical and battlefield mobility, their strategic mobility had already surpassed that of cavalry units. Whether during the French Revolutionary Wars or the colonial wars, infantry's ten-day field advance distance reached over two hundred kilometers. Meanwhile, cavalry units' speed remained at around one hundred fifty kilometers per ten days, the same as in the Mongol Yuan era. And during the American Civil War, on any march lasting more than seven days, infantry companies had to slow their pace to allow cavalry companies to keep up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was because horses' endurance was far inferior to that of humans. A horse might explosively cover a hundred li in a day, but after such a burst, it could not advance for several days, or else horses would die in large numbers. Another point: if horses were not fed grain, they needed over ten hours a day to graze, and during this time they required auxiliaries to tend to them... Overall, the warhorses in infantry armies bore lighter burdens and received better care, making their condition easier to maintain than that of cavalry warhorses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Therefore, on any continuous march exceeding five days, taking a cavalry unit with two horses per man as the standard, their average movement capacity was only under five kilometers per day. In contrast, under the classical militarism of Rome and Qin, infantry's daily average mobility was nearly twenty kilometers, while simultaneously constructing field camps and fortifications. After the Tang, Chinese infantry mobility steadily declined, and by the Ming dynasty it was only ten li per day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi hoped that after the army was fully combat-soldierized — that is, professionalized — infantry mobility speed could match the standards of the Qin era. After thoroughly instilling in them the Changsheng Island enlightenment ideology of the nation-state, Huang Shi hoped the Changsheng Island army could reach the level of modern infantry forces — a daily average marching speed of twenty-five (the level of eighteenth-century British infantry) to thirty kilometers (the level of American infantry during the Civil War), which was roughly one and a half to two times the strategic mobility of pure cavalry units.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Each battalion will be assigned a medical battalion, a logistics battalion, and other support battalions. Once all the officers and men in these battalions are fully combat-soldierized, these two field units will still be called Firefighting Battalion and Rock Battalion externally. Internally, however...\" Huang Shi pursed his lips and thought for a moment. Beside him, Hong Antong concentrated intently, waiting to record his words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"They will be called the 1st \u002F Firefighting Mixed Infantry Brigade and the 2nd \u002F Rock Mixed Infantry Brigade.\"\u003C\u002Fp>",4931,"2026-06-04T07:54:30.907Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","70541d0707e4956393061a32e670dbefab81ef6a9ff3ee52ed050f744973091b","stealing-ming-chapter-184","stealing-ming-chapter-182",323,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fstealing-ming-cover.jpg"]