[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-stealing-ming":3,"chapter-stealing-ming-stealing-ming-chapter-188":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},1220805,1614,"Chapter 188: Section Five: Policy","stealing-ming-chapter-188",188,"\u003Cp>\"Transmit orders to Changsheng Island and all units in Liaonan: any Han troops who abandon the darkness and come over to us shall be regarded as children of our Great Ming.\" Huang Shi had finally waited until Nurhaci went mad. That old wild boar hide was driving the precious able-bodied population of Liaodong in droves toward the Dongjiangzhen side. If Huang Shi didn't seize this chance to win the hearts of the Liaodong people, he would be a fool indeed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the past, Huang Shi had always beheaded every last Han soldier, leaving none alive. The main reason for that back then was that Changsheng Island couldn't offer treatment as good as the Later Jin's. But now, the Han people of Liaodong were falling in swaths under the Later Jin's butchering knife. The family members of Han troops were being seized en masse to be made into slaves and bondservants, and many of their female relatives were being sold off as goods by the Later Jin. Any of these Han soldiers with even a shred of blood and spirit left would no longer sell their lives for the Later Jin regime.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"At your command, my lord,\" everyone chorused in acknowledgment. After Yang Zhiyuan went along with the general response, he raised a separate question: \"Will our Changsheng Island have specific military law regulations then?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among the many regulations on Changsheng Island, the most intimidating were the military law regulations. In truth, military discipline on Changsheng Island over these years could hardly be called harsh. Generally, all sorts of crimes were punished with various forms of penal labor, and even most violent crimes did not result in the death penalty. When the five hundred veterans from the Vanguard Battalion first arrived on Changsheng Island, they found it quite novel. They wondered why Changsheng Island adopted such light sentencing standards, and even more, they wondered how Changsheng Island could maintain discipline and order with such light punishments.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On this question, Huang Shi's personal view was: the deterrent power of law lies mainly in the inevitability of punishment, not in the severity of the punishment. As long as people feel that the net of law is inescapable, a lash of the whip is enough. Excessively harsh punishment might instead provoke even more serious violent crimes. Furthermore, Huang Shi also believed that most people are reasonable, and those who don't know better are always a tiny minority. That was why, over the years, Huang Shi had devoted himself to eliminating grievances and resentment among his subordinates, cultivating as much as possible a sense of trust and identification among the military households. Besides, didn't Huang Shi still have the \"Loyal to the Sovereign, Patriotic Catholic Church\" as a brainwashing tool?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Of course.\" Huang Shi had already prepared the relevant military law regulations. He felt this was an extremely critical moment, and he intended to transform all these Han troops into his own strength. Those newly arrived Han troops surely still harbored many misgivings, so Changsheng Island had to redouble its efforts to find ways to set their minds at ease. The Han troops of Changsheng Island and the Fuzhou and Gaizhou regions had been enemies for several years now. Huang Shi worried that his men would mock these former foes or deliberately harm them. At this moment, although the Han troops could not fight back, they would still engrave such humiliation in their hearts. If such a situation occurred, it would affect Huang Shi's plans.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The drafted military law regulations were passed around for the officers to read. The severe punishments within made every one of them click their tongues in shock. Insulting a Han soldier would be punished with at least fifteen days of penal labor; any act of plundering a Han soldier's property would be met with forty strokes of the heavy rod or more; any act of molesting the female family members of Han troops would certainly result in forfeiture of pay; violent crimes involving the family members of Han troops would be punished with removal from post and over half a year of \"labor reform\"; and if one took the life of a Han soldier...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Kill without mercy!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi raised his voice. He swept his gaze over his subordinates: \"Any act that harms those Han troops will absolutely never be forgiven. This point must be fully understood by every soldier on my Changsheng Island.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"My lord, I have one matter I do not understand.\" Yang Zhiyuan was no longer as cautious and circumspect as he had been a few years ago. Whenever he had something he didn't understand, he would ask directly: \"My lord once said that before military law, all officers and soldiers of my Changsheng Island are equal. But this military law regulation my lord has drawn up is several times heavier than the military law we apply internally! Does my lord not regard those Han troops as our own soldiers?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi shrugged and countered: \"Does Mobile Corps Commander Yang regard them as our own?\" Just a few months ago, the heads of these Han troops still meant bounty silver to the officers and soldiers of Dongjiang. It was precisely by relying on harsh military law that Huang Shi intended to rapidly transform these former enemies into his own people: \"Any Han soldier who has been on Changsheng Island for more than three months will no longer be subject to this military law regulation. By then, they will be our own people, and only then will the standard military law regulations of Changsheng Island apply to them.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After saying this, Huang Shi gave Li Yunrui an order: \"This military law regulation must be posted in Gaizhou and Fuzhou by whatever means. It must be well publicized.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"At your command, my lord.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While the Han troop issue was being discussed, Wu Mu had been listening quietly from the side. By now, during military councils, Wu Mu absolutely never interjected. He merely often had Chen Ruike come to accompany him and listen. At this moment, Chen Ruike was writing something down on paper according to Wu Mu's instructions... The last time, after the successful prayer for rain, everyone had some drinks to celebrate. After drinking, Chen Ruike, that big mouth, blurted out Wu Mu's little scheme. It turned out that Wu Mu, that fellow, remembered that the great eunuch Tong Guan of the Song dynasty had started out as an Army Supervisor and later, relying on his thorough knowledge of military affairs, had even been enfeoffed as a prince.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his earlier years in the palace, Wu Mu had desperately seized every opportunity to climb upward. Now, as a young eunuch with great aspirations and strong ambition (Wu Mu considered himself still quite young at just over thirty), he felt it would be a terrible loss not to take this chance to study military strategy. After several months of study, the more Wu Mu looked, the more he felt he had a bit of that Tong Guan flair. Now he was also very concerned about the situation on the other frontiers of the Great Ming motherland (Wu Mu had no intention of showing off in front of Huang Shi). He was always calculating where else he could go as an Army Supervisor after the Jian bandits were annihilated, so he could apply what he had learned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the discussion on the military law regulations for the Han troops, Li Yunrui brought out two military intelligence reports for briefing. One was a bulletin from the Xuanda Garrison, the other a communiqué from the Great Ming Ministry of War. In fact, both conveyed the same meaning — Lin Danhan had just proclaimed that he had routed a combined force of three Later Jin banners and the Khorchin Mongols, and that a son of Nurhaci named Dorgon had also been killed on the spot. The valiant Mongol Khan had also taken several thousand heads and was now seizing victory to redeploy into the Mongol steppe for rest and recuperation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi's subordinates had no idea who Dorgon was, and naturally had no idea how old he was or whether he could even go to the battlefield. But Huang Shi knew. He barely managed to keep himself from laughing aloud and ruining the atmosphere. After listening to the report with strained solemnity, he immediately asked: \"What do you all make of this?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Bragging,\" Li Yunrui answered swiftly. \"No heads and no captives. The Xuanda Garrison doesn't believe it at all, and neither does the Ministry of War. That scoundrel is clearly just trying to swindle rewards.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jin Qiude also nodded and said: \"Exactly. Those Western Tartar scoundrels are now so poor that all they have left is mounted archery. Armor, swords, spears — they've got nothing left. It'd be a miracle if they could beat the Jian slaves.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Mongol steppe produced no iron. Since the founding of the Ming dynasty, a strict trade blockade had been enforced, absolutely forbidding iron goods from flowing into Mongolia. Over two hundred years, the Mongol cavalry had used up all the armor and weapons left by their ancestors and had now thoroughly degenerated back to the era of horn bows. The Later Jin army, on the other hand, at least had cotton quilts draped over them, plus the fine blades and sharp weapons they had looted over the years. So when the Later Jin army clashed with Lin Danhan, the Ming army generally favored the former. There are no useless tactics, only incompetent leaders. Huang Shi wondered whether this last Genghis Khan had now completely disgraced the face of his ancestors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Mm, I see it the same way.\" Huang Shi remembered that in history, Lin Danhan, that waste of space, had fled without even fighting. So he confidently delivered his final summary: \"I estimate the Western Tartars fled before the battle even began. The Jian slaves suffered no losses at all. But that's not a concern. The Western Tartars claim to have four hundred thousand bowstrings. I estimate they sent tens of thousands of men this time. Otherwise, the Jian slaves wouldn't have needed to assemble three banners and the Khorchin Mongols to fight them. This intelligence about the three banners is very important. As long as those Western Tartar bandits remain in Liaobei, the Jian slaves' two Yellow Banners and the Khorchin Mongols will have to stay there this summer and autumn to guard against them.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"My lord sees clearly.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Good. If all goes smoothly, our army's new recruits will be trained by autumn. By then, the strength of my Dongjiangzhen Left Brigade will completely overwhelm the Jian slaves in Fuzhou and Gaizhou. The Jian slaves here won't have any reinforcements to count on.\" By then, Huang Shi would have two field battalions of five combat units, plus the troops from Jinzhou, Greater and Lesser Zhangshan, Lüshun, and Guanglu. The Dongjiang Left Brigade could field nearly ten thousand combat soldiers. The Bordered White Banner and Bordered Red Banner combined only had forty niru. Huang Shi considered this a completely one-sided force ratio. And Nurhaci was in even worse shape than in the history he came from, now having no reserves left at all: \"When the time comes, we march on Fuzhou and capture Daišan alive.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the offensive planned for autumn, Huang Shi had already resolved to bring along the brothers of the Left Brigade to share in the merit. The Ming military system emphasized \"checks and balances between high and low.\" Senior generals were to be used to restrain junior officers, and junior officers were also to be used to divide the power of senior generals. Huang Shi was now no longer just a Mobile Corps Commander of a single battalion or an Assistant Regional Commander of a Dongjiang unit. As a Vice General of a brigade, he would inevitably have a large number of miscellaneous generals and troops under him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he did not want to arouse the suspicion of the imperial court and the Dongjiang headquarters, Huang Shi could not annex or expel these miscellaneous forces. On the other hand, even if he could, Huang Shi had no intention of expelling them. As a senior officer now, he could no longer think the way he did as a mid-level officer. Huang Shi regarded the integration of the Left Brigade's strength as a challenge to himself. After all, one cannot conquer the realm relying solely on the elite troops at one's immediate disposal. A successful person must be able to cooperate with others and make others willing to work alongside him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In Huang Shi's plan, the closer a unit was to him, the greater the benefits it would receive. Of course, Huang Shi's own trusted subordinates and troops would always get the largest slice of the cake and would grow the fastest. But those who actively drew closer to Huang Shi — he had to give them sufficient rewards as well. He had always believed that annexing those units that came over was not a good idea. That would be tantamount to shutting the door on cooperation with others.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kuandian, Dongjiangzhen Right Brigade.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dongjiang Vice General Chen Jisheng was writing furiously. Whether or not to write this letter requesting battle had made him ponder for a long time, but the current situation left Chen Jisheng no choice but to be stirred. Since Nurhaci launched his great massacre, the Han civilians and Han troops of Liaodong had likewise been fleeing to Kuandian in great numbers. The strength of the Dongjiang Right Brigade grew stronger with each passing day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among these fleeing refugees were also mixed in large numbers of Han soldiers. These soldiers, who had received a certain degree of military training, could not only rapidly replenish the manpower of the various Dongjiang battalions but also brought much valuable intelligence to the Dongjiang army. During this period, the intelligence work of the Dongjiang Right Brigade had also made gratifying progress. Whether it was the Lianshan defense line to the west or the Mount Zhangbai defense line to the north, the Dongjiang army had successfully infiltrated numerous spies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In Huang Shi's previous life, the Dongjiang Army's Right Brigade had always adopted a steady strategy to cultivate its combat units, not launching successive offensives against Lianshan and Mount Zhangbai until the sixth year of the Tianqi reign. Both of Chen Jisheng's offensives had been successful. After exploiting the Later Jin's insufficient forces to break through the Lianshan defense line, the Dongjiang army had once pushed its vanguard all the way to the walls of Shenyangcheng. The Later Jin garrison at Shenyang shut their gates and refused to come out in the face of Kong Youde's challenges. That time, Mao Wenlong spent three days burning all the facilities outside Shenyangcheng. And a few months later, the Dongjiangzhen Right Brigade crossed Mount Zhangbai to invade Jianzhou and began besieging Sarhū City.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this time, Chen Jisheng finally could not sit still. Up to now, although the headcount of the Left and Right Brigades was roughly the same, Huang Shi's heads included almost no Han troops, while eighty percent of the Right Brigade's two thousand heads were Han troops. Any discerning person could tell the difference in weight between the two at a glance. Moreover, the Right Brigade had been beaten down by the two Blue Banners all last year, whereas Huang Shi had always been the one beating down the two Red Banners. This time, the Battle of Nanguan was even more outrageous. Two battalions of Ming troops had actually routed three banners of Later Jin troops in field combat. One had to remember that Chen Jisheng's Right Brigade commanded five battalions, and the headquarters had even sent Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming's two battalions to assist him. This only added to the pressure Chen Jisheng felt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Jisheng's letter described the war situation in Liaodong. He made the same judgment as Huang Shi — that the enemy before him had no possibility of receiving reinforcements. The Bordered Blue Banner relied on sixty-one niru to withstand pressure from both Korea and Kuandian. In reality, after the Plain Blue Banner was crippled, the seven battalions at Kuandian already possessed a nearly two-to-one advantage in troop strength.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, the various Ming battalions at Kuandian had also suffered considerable losses the previous year, and the Dongjiangzhen had always focused on Mobile Corps Commander warfare, with opponents mainly being Han self-defense forces. So Chen Jisheng finally wrote this letter requesting battle — and incidentally requesting Mao Wenlong to launch an attack on Zhenjiang in the autumn.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If the headquarters attacks Zhenjiang, it should be able to draw away thirty to thirty-five niru of Jian slaves.\" Chen Jisheng sealed the letter. The stars in the night sky were so bright. Over the past few days, he had consulted several fortune-tellers, and all those fellows said they saw that his, Chen Jisheng's, general star had been shining very brightly lately. Chen Jisheng felt that using seven battalions to fight twenty-five to thirty niru of Jian slaves was still within his grasp. Although this deployment was somewhat rushed, still... \"In the Grand Commander's heart, he will still favor me a little more, won't he.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When news of Nurhaci's great massacre reached Jingcheng, the Great Ming Son of Heaven reduced his meals and avoided the main hall in response. Wei Zhongxian dared not urge Tianqi to eat and could only stand to the side, accompanying him in silent weeping.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The land of our ancestors, the people of our ancestors...\" After Tianqi heard that another hundred thousand or more Liaodong people had died, for a time he lost all interest in carpentry. He muttered these two phrases over and over.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Zhongxian's eyes brimmed with hot tears. Finally, with a wail, he burst out crying, threw himself to the ground, and howled: \"Your Majesty need not worry. Mr. Sun... Mr. Sun will surely have a way.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Several days later, Shanhai Pass.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Grand Coordinator of Liaodong, Sun Chengzong, today summoned the Regional Commander of the Guanning Army, Ma Shilong. Regional Commander Ma saw the deep worry between Sun Chengzong's brows and quickly asked in a low voice: \"Lord Sun summoned me urgently. Do you have instructions?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"His Majesty has heard of the terrible events in Liaodong.\" Sun Chengzong had received an urgent letter from Jingcheng today, and the letter was actually in Tianqi's own handwriting. Between the lines was nothing but worry and concern. As the saying goes, when the sovereign is worried, it is the minister's disgrace. Faced with Tianqi's urgent inquiries, old man Sun also felt wave after wave of grief and distress: \"This office intends to take Yaozhou.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Sun Chengzong spoke, his hand was already resting on Yaozhou's position on the map. Then he suddenly pulled it downward. His fist scraped loudly across the table and stopped at Jinzhou's position: \"Then you and Vice General Huang of the Dongjiangzhen Left Brigade will strike from north and south, completely annihilating the Jian slaves entrenched in Fuzhou and Gaizhou.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yaozhou was located on the official road between Haizhou and Gaizhou. Once the Ming army seized this place, communication and transport between Fuzhou, Gaizhou, and Shenyang would all be cut off.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not far south of Yaozhou was Boluowo, where fierce fighting had erupted the last time Huang Shi ran amok in Gaizhou. East of Boluowo stretched vast expanses of desolate mountains and wild ridges, and there were no official roads. If the Ming army could control the passage from Yaozhou to the vicinity of Boluowo, the Bordered White Banner and Bordered Red Banner in Fuzhou and Gaizhou would effectively already be encircled by Ming forces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ma Shilong silently studied the map for a moment, then abruptly clasped his fists in salute and asked: \"When does Lord Sun wish me to march?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Dispense with formalities.\" Sun Chengzong raised his hand for Ma Shilong to stand straight, then fixed his eyes on him and said: \"This office will listen to you.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I thank Lord Sun for his trust.\" After saying this, Ma Shilong looked at the map again. As he looked, he analyzed the surrounding mountains and rivers. Finally, Ma Shilong concluded: \"Lord Sun, I believe we must first scout for information, dispatch spies, and only then can we send troops. Furthermore, does Lord Sun wish me to go by sea?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yes.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Lord Sun sees clearly. I will also need to be allocated a naval battalion and have the soldiers board ships to get accustomed to seafaring.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Good. This office will grant you everything.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Lord Sun sees clearly. Once everything is fully prepared, I fear it will take several months. I estimate we cannot set out until mid-seventh month or after autumn.\" Ma Shilong looked somewhat nervously at Sun Chengzong's expression. Probingly, he asked: \"Regarding the Liaodong matter, is His Majesty furious?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You need not concern yourself with so much, nor need you be anxious. Let thoroughness be your highest priority. As for His Majesty, this office will speak to him.\" Sun Chengzong stared at Yaozhou and looked again. Suddenly he recalled that a few years ago, someone had mentioned this location to him. It was at Shanhai Pass, when a young officer had spoken to him of the concept of using the sea as a road. Among the string of coastal strongholds that man had casually listed at the time was Yaozhou.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Wait,\" Sun Chengzong called out to Ma Shilong, who was about to leave. \"You had best send someone to Changsheng Island to discuss this with Dongjiang Vice General Huang Shi. You and he are both Vice Commissioner-in-Chief, of equal rank — it will be easy to talk.\"\u003C\u002Fp>",3612,"2026-06-04T07:54:30.907Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","f8c3f7dfcf1f8e3104422c81a1c5391b9a53308ca18a0760731f160758704d72","stealing-ming-chapter-189","stealing-ming-chapter-187",323,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fstealing-ming-cover.jpg"]