[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-stealing-ming":3,"chapter-stealing-ming-stealing-ming-chapter-205":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},1220822,1614,"Chapter 205: Section 22: Duty","stealing-ming-chapter-205",205,"\u003Cp>\"Liaoyang.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Liaoyang.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rhythmic chant of several thousand people inside Fuzhou Fort spread out across the city sky like ripples on water, one wave after another. The women, children, and elderly who had been brought back, most of whom had already returned to their own homes, now cracked open their windows one after another, gazing with complicated expressions toward the source of the sound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the center of this vortex, Huang Shi was even more stirred with emotion. He was confident that with the Changsheng Army's current combat strength, once the four new battalions finished training, they would be enough to resist over a hundred niru of the Later Jin. In Nurhaci's era, each Later Jin niru had a full complement of three hundred banner men, from which one in three was conscripted as an armored soldier. But in the history he knew, the Later Jin niru's resources had always been very tight; second-line niru armored soldiers sometimes even lacked armor, and many niru could not muster three hundred banner men and one hundred armored soldiers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In Huang Shi's previous life, this gap was not filled by the Later Jin until the sixth year of Tianqi. In the tenth month of the fifth year of Tianqi, the Liaoxi Regional Military Commission heard rumors that over one hundred eighty bandit niru from Jianzhou were about to attack. Men like Guanning Regional Commander Yang Qi bitterly reported to Liaodong Grand Coordinator Gao Di: \"Open field battle is absolutely impossible; the land beyond the pass is absolutely indefensible!\" The Liaodong Supervisory Commission then issued a general retreat order.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The forty Guanning Army battalions that Sun Chengzong had painstakingly organized and trained suffered continuous camp riots after receiving the retreat order. As dozens of battalions fled south, they abandoned over a thousand cannons worth a million taels of silver, more than fifty thousand firelocks, armor, and weapons were discarded all over the mountains and valleys, and cartloads of military rations and cloth abandoned wholesale could be seen everywhere along the roadside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Historical records state that before the great battle of Ningyuan, Nurhaci ordered all unarmored auxiliary soldiers to push a small cart in pairs. After the Later Jin bandit horde passed Jinzhou, it turned into a junk-picking army. Later, Nurhaci even urgently mobilized aha and booi from the rear to push carts to Liaoxi to help collect junk. As the Later Jin main army advanced south along the Liaoxi Corridor, an endless stream of small handcart convoys formed behind them, spreading across the mountains and fields to pick up junk and haul it back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although the Later Jin army was finally halted at Ningyuan, from then on the Later Jin army's mobilization capacity greatly increased. In the first month of the sixth year of Tianqi, they might not even have been able to meet the standard of thirty armored men per hundred, but by the end of that year it had risen to forty armored men per hundred. They even had surplus strength to buy over large numbers of Mongols to join them and to rearm the Han army...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, Huang Shi was also waving his right arm again and again like his men, shouting \"Liaoyang\" with every cry. He believed that in this timeline, the Later Jin's resources and supplies were even more stretched, and he estimated that the armor shortfall should already be twenty to thirty percent. The Later Jin Eight Banners had just over two hundred niru, with over twenty thousand \"armored\" soldiers who could not even be fully equipped with armor. Huang Shi was confident that with the Changsheng Army as the vanguard, they could cover the Guanning main army's entry into the central Liao region. And once central Liao was recovered, the Later Jin regime's ties with the Shanxi merchants would also be severely affected — not just a matter of distance; Huang Shi reckoned no one would bet on a dead dog.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>— If the Jian slaves retreated into the forests of Mount Zhangbai, the Ming army need only cut off trade, and these bandits would simply starve to death in the Wild Man Mountains during the Little Ice Age. The peasants within the realm would no longer have to bear increased taxes, the Central Plains might not see great upheaval, and the common people would not die by the tens of millions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi looked at the faces before him, each one both fervent and loyal — I have already seen plenty of dead men, and today several hundred more young lives were lost. If for my own selfish desires I insisted on usurping the Great Ming realm, who knows how many more orphans and widows would be added to this world? How many more vengeful ghosts would be born?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The frenzied officers and soldiers had shouted themselves hoarse. Their bodies, exhausted from the prolonged fierce battle, were now filled once more with passion and strength. Every man thought of ending the Liaodong chaos as soon as possible, receiving his own plot of land, and then living a carefree, peaceful life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi finally realized that he still hoped China would see less chaos. After all, once the flames of war spread, it was always the common people at the bottom who suffered. In the end, it was still the innocent who paid the price for the struggles of ambitious men and those in power.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>— Though no one will know of my achievements, no one will know that it was I who defeated the great enemy of Huaxia, and a thousand years from now no one will still remember me. But I believe that on the day I die of old age, I will not regret today's choice; like Qi Shaobao, I will have made a great contribution to the nation and the people; I will also feel pride and honor for my own life...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Mu and Chen Ruike behind him stood in the distance, gazing at the crowd. The officers and soldiers' slogans rose wave after wave, the surging sound buffeting Wu Mu and Chen Ruike so that they leaned slightly backward, as if about to be pushed away by this sound. After Wu Mu heard that Huang Shi intended to go to Liaoxi, he had hurried over to persuade him to stay. But when he saw and heard this tidal-wave-like shouting, a vague thought suddenly rose in his heart. This thought hopped before his eyes like a little rabbit; although Wu Mu could not quite grasp it, an inexplicable sense of confusion and hesitation arose in the depths of his heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Ruike, on the other hand, watched with great relish and was also infected with soaring fighting spirit: \"I never knew the might of the imperial army could reach such a level!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Wu Mu heard Chen Ruike's words, he replied offhandedly without much thought: \"I wonder if it is the might of the imperial army, or the might of General Huang.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These words were like a bolt of lightning, tearing open the black curtain before Wu Mu's eyes. He suddenly felt as if something had fallen away from his vision; things that had always been blurry and unclear became crystal clear in that instant. The clear image immediately frightened Eunuch Wu; the confusion and bewilderment on his face vanished in a puff of smoke. Wu Mu abruptly said to Chen Ruike beside him: \"The three teachings and nine schools, civil and military are different paths.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Huh?\" This baffling remark stunned Chen Ruike. His eyeballs swiveled several times before he finally mustered the courage to ask: \"Eunuch Wu, what did you say?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Mu sighed. He had just thought of Sun Chengzong, of the civil officials in Shandong, and of the military household soldiers on Changsheng Island. From the Grand Secretaries in the court down to the peddlers and porters, everyone was willing to befriend Huang Shi wholeheartedly, and Huang Shi could get along pleasantly with anyone, just like the saying \"when befriending a gentleman, one becomes drunk without realizing it.\" Huang Shi's breadth of mind and magnanimity secretly earned the admiration of everyone who met him. After today's battle, from the major commanders like Zhang Pan and Shang Keyi in the various Liaonan units down to every single soldier, all held Huang Shi in the highest esteem, practically prostrating themselves before him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Chen Ruike, if the court transferred you to Changsheng Island to serve under General Huang's command, would you be willing?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Willing!\" Chen Ruike blurted out without a second thought, only realizing afterward. He hurriedly asked: \"Is Eunuch Wu dissatisfied with this humble officer in some way?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No.\" Wu Mu gave a bitter smile. He recalled that when he left the capital two years ago, the Eastern Depot had repeatedly reminded him to constantly examine himself, and Wei Zhongxian had personally told him to always maintain a vigilant heart — after all, suspicion was the professional quality of an army supervisor, and closely monitoring the military officers' conduct was their duty. Over these two years of getting along with Huang Shi, Wu Mu had also been utterly won over by Huang Shi's martial prowess and character. Whatever Huang Shi did, Wu Mu would actively try to understand it, and recently he had almost entirely relinquished his supervisory authority. The words he spoke lightly seemed both like a confession of his heart and an answer to Chen Ruike: \"Never mind you — even I, the army supervisor, am willing to be driven by General Huang.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"General Huang leads from the front, takes not a single piece of gold or silver, is utterly unmoved by beauty, keeps no private troops, raises no retainers...\" Wu Mu himself paused as he said this. The boiling roar of voices still surged in. The bitter meaning in Wu Mu's smile deepened: \"General Huang keeps no private troops, yet every one of the tens of thousands of military households on Changsheng Island sees him as a second parent; General Huang raises no retainers, yet among these several thousand officers and soldiers, which one is not his sworn man?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Eunuch Wu, what are you saying?\" Although Chen Ruike did not understand what Wu Mu was saying, he felt that the tone and manner sounded somewhat unkind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Mu's mind raced, going over the events and changes on Changsheng Island over the years one by one. Huang Shi's military governance and drills, opening sea trade, smelting metals and casting cannons, establishing laws and punishments — there was practically nothing Huang Shi could not accomplish. And Huang Shi's previous performance had also been very outstanding; truly, he was one who never made a sound until he astonished the world. Wu Mu racked his brains trying to compare him with historical figures, yet could not find a single great general of restoration who could be compared to him. This made Wu Mu sigh again. In a voice too low for Chen Ruike to hear, he asked himself: \"As the saying goes, 'The talent born in me must have its use.' Heaven has sent down such a talent, surely not just for this trifling Jian bandit. Then what has Heaven sent this man to do?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Mu turned to leave without another word. Chen Ruike asked in surprise: \"Eunuch Wu, weren't you just now in a hurry to find General Huang? Why are you going back now that you're here?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I originally had words to say to General Huang.\" Wu Mu narrowed his eyes and looked again toward the firelight and human shadows, then finally flicked his sleeve and drifted away: \"But seeing the mood now, General Huang is certain not to heed my advice.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the banquet that night, Huang Shi drank heartily with the various commanders. A great weight had been lifted from his mind, and he was now completely free of care. After returning to his quarters, he used the wine's energy to write his memorial. In the memorial, he spoke well of all the officers of the Left Auxiliary units of Dongjiang Town, and also recommended Zhang Minghe to defend Fuzhou — Huang Shi believed that the foundation of the Vanguard Battalion was still decent, and the key issue was the commander's authority and credibility.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi understood Zhang Minghe's problem very well: this fellow had been promoted too quickly, had not yet built up authority, grace, or loyalty, and the soldiers had no confidence in him whatsoever. But as long as he could hold Fuzhou independently for a few months, sharing hardships with the soldiers on the front line for a period of time, the situation would naturally improve greatly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides these Left Auxiliary unit commanders, Huang Shi also requested commendations for Grand Commander Mao Wenlong of the Dongjiang headquarters, attributing his own growth entirely to him. Finally, he also mentioned the support of the Shandong civil official clique, and Huang Shi firmly asserted that the grain and military pay they had sent were of great significance to this victory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The memorial was dashed off in one go. In good spirits, Huang Shi could not sleep for a while, so he picked up his brush and on a blank sheet of paper began calculating the hereditary land and military households he was entitled to. Like a miser, he calculated over and over again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I must build a house by the sea, so that in the future I can personally teach my son to swim, just as my father did back then.\" Huang Shi lightly drew two head portraits on the paper. They looked nothing like them... but after all, they were his parents, separated from him by heaven. Huang Shi pursed his lips, drawing under the lamp for a long time, then gazed at them for a long time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, with a long sigh, Huang Shi flipped the paper over and began sketching a graceful figure upon it. He recalled sharing coarse grain cakes with someone by the sea, and a smile slowly crept back onto his face. He murmured self-mockingly: \"This is also a kind of romance...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The other commanders were not as leisurely as Huang Shi. At this moment, Zhang Pan was discussing the long spear issue through the night with several of his trusted aides. One of them scratched his head and said: \"My lord, the long spear is truly the cheapest thing there is. By all accounts, the iron for one set of saber and shield could make five long spears. This subordinate truly does not understand how this thing could be so formidable.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Another trusted aide offered his analysis: \"The main thing is that General Huang's armor is good. Our soldiers have to hold a shield in one hand, so naturally the other hand must hold a saber.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Pan frowned in thought, then decisively shook his head: \"Not necessarily. Bows and arrows really have little power, especially the soft bows of cavalry. Even if a soldier wears no armor, as long as he isn't hit in a vital spot, taking five or six arrows is no big problem — plenty of time for the rear-rank soldiers to charge up to the archers.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As they spoke, several more of Zhang Pan's personal guards returned. Once inside the room, they began gesturing and demonstrating. These men had just found an opportunity to drink with the Changsheng Island soldiers and had taken the chance to borrow those soldiers' long spears for a careful examination. While their mouths spoke polite, flattering words, their hands had already thoroughly figured out the specifications of the long spears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The spear is nine chi long.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The spear blade is one chi five cun to two chi.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Behind the blade there is also a collar fitted onto the shaft, which looks like it's meant to prevent short weapons from chopping through.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once these personal guards returned to the room, Zhang Pan immediately spread out a sheet of paper. The guards, discussing among themselves, drew out the dimensions of the long spear they had measured by hand and memorized, even recording the blood grooves on the spear blade with near-perfect accuracy...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, Shang Kexi and his elder brother Shang Keyi were also holding a secret discussion in the military camp. On the table lay the Changsheng Army's standard long spear, firelock, dagger, and helmet. Shang Keyi fiddled with the long spear over and over, unable to resist praising: \"General Huang must think very highly of you, little brother. This long spear is the foundation of General Huang's achievements — and he gave you a set the moment you asked.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shang Kexi chuckled twice, then spread out a diagram for his brother to see: \"What's that? Today I also secretly asked General Huang about his formation tactics, and General Huang told me at the time. This is what I wrote down from memory afterward. Big brother, come take a look too.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shang Keyi immediately craned his neck to look. After the brothers discussed the diagram for a while, Shang Keyi crumpled the paper into a ball, tore it to shreds, and set it alight on the lamp: \"Mm, this is excellent stuff, but it must absolutely not be leaked. This is General Huang's secret family technique. If it were spread around, General Huang would certainly not let us brothers off.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"And this firelock.\" Seeing his brother unwilling to let go of the long spear, Shang Kexi held up the firelock Huang Shi had given him and offered it over: \"General Huang said the firelock is also very important.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I don't see much use in it.\" Shang Keyi dismissed the firelock with contempt. He had clearly seen today that the firelock soldiers had all turned into long spear soldiers in the end anyway. And the firelock soldiers had not given him nearly as strong a shock as the long spear charge had.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Long spear soldiers are the easiest soldiers to train. In just over a month they can be patched together for the battlefield. Saber and shield takes at least half a year.\" Shang Keyi caressed the long spear in his hands with fondness, his mind struggling to fathom the secrets of the Changsheng Island long spear formation: \"Four hundred men, one long spear each, just charge over like that, and you win... Wonderful! Long spears are cheap, long spear soldiers are easy to train — how come I never noticed before how formidable this thing is?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Big brother, won't you look at the firelock?\" Shang Kexi remembered that Huang Shi had said the firelock was also very important, and had even said that mixing firelocks and long spears was the standard Changsheng Island model. Shang Kexi wanted his elder brother to share this important information.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Not looking. That thing is too expensive. The long spear is better.\" Shang Keyi was very stubborn. His gaze was completely focused on the unremarkable long spear in his hand; he had no interest in even lifting an eyelid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Public mess hall! Officers and soldiers line up to receive their meals.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No kowtowing when meeting; all use the fist-clasp salute, and there's also a strange-looking return salute.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"When marching, they don't ride their horses; they lead the horses and walk together with the soldiers.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Minghe paced back and forth in his tent, loudly repeating every detail he could recall, while his personal soldiers below nervously recorded every word he said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What else? What else is there?\" Zhang Minghe kept knocking his own head, struggling to recall every bit and piece he had seen. He shouted impatiently: \"Can't you all help think?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"There's something called a medal.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"And it comes in several types.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Helmet plus face mask.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The men below chattered out a pile of suggestions, and all these items were duly recorded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"A battle formation of four hundred men: two hundred and fifty long spears, one hundred and forty firelocks, plus ten banner-bearers and drummers…\" Zhang Minghe tapped the sketch under his pen, then suddenly slammed the table. \"Good! Starting from garrisoning Fuzhou, this general will eat at that… whatever it's called, the public mess hall. My Vanguard Battalion will also reorganize by these rules. Also, send a few more men to Changsheng Island to copy every single regulation — from dressing and eating to digging latrine pits — bring them all back to this general…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>— If he doesn't embezzle military pay, doesn't take beautiful concubines, and doesn't seize military-household farmland, then what is Huang Shi fighting so desperately for?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Mu's private secretary tremblingly handed over three written letters. Seeing the flicker in Wu Mu's eyes, the secretary hurriedly whispered, \"Rest assured, Proprietor, this humble one will not breathe a word.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Good that you know.\" Wu Mu took the three secret letters. The first was addressed to the imperial palace, the second to the Army Supervisor at Dongjiang headquarters. Wu Mu pondered a moment, then burned the second one. He held the last letter, studied it again, and finally made up his mind:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Mr. Sun understands the greater good — he will surely support us, won't he?\"\u003C\u002Fp>",3509,"2026-06-04T07:54:54.057Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","a17c4a910a88f88d741b1dfd1986d8cf40ffe5bc74a39c1babcbd2c86a24eee5","stealing-ming-chapter-206","stealing-ming-chapter-204",323,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fstealing-ming-cover.jpg"]