[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-stealing-ming":3,"chapter-stealing-ming-stealing-ming-chapter-21":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},1220638,1614,"Chapter 21: Section 9","stealing-ming-chapter-21",21,"\u003Cp>The resistance of the Zhenjiang–Guangning Army remained tenacious. Above the gate tower, the fiery red military banner still fluttered, its bold characters “Guangning Vice Regional Commander Mao” still striking, rallying the soldiers and civilians on the walls to beat back the Later Jin warriors who scaled the city time and again, hurling down pile after pile of boulders and heavy timber. The sight stirred a tangled surge of emotion in Huang Shi’s heart — if the Manchu Qing had won the realm, who, in three hundred years, would dare sing the praises of these Guangning officers and men fighting to the death?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two thousand Later Jin soldiers had been divided into several squads, taking turns to assault the city gates in fierce waves. Several hundred Jurchen armored riders were massed at each gate. Huang Shi knew that another two thousand soldiers were resting back in the main camp; in the afternoon these troops, fresh and waiting, would rotate onto the field in batches, relieving the exhausted front-line units.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A Jurchen niru commander ran over and said a few words to Hong Taiji. Huang Shi did not understand a single word. After the man withdrew, Hong Taiji, without turning his head, said with a laugh to Huang Shi behind him, “The watchtower has observed that the Zhenjiang army has already dragged their women up to haul timber and stone. It seems the city has little strength left.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The earthen mound had already been built up very high, drawing closer and closer to the city wall, though still beyond the defenders’ striking range. Huang Shi glanced at the progress. “My lord Beile, do you intend to launch a full assault on the city?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No. A full assault this afternoon might breach the city, but the losses would inevitably be heavy, and night street-fighting offers no advantage. This afternoon and tonight we will mount harassing attacks. Tomorrow morning we will commit fresh troops, breach the city in daylight, and finish the battle by afternoon.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then this afternoon and tonight, should we also control the intensity — exhaust the defenders, yet let their minds relax, so they believe they can still hold out for several more days?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huang Shi, you learn fast. Exactly so!” Hong Taiji gave a hearty laugh, and without watching the battle any further, wheeled his horse and returned to camp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All through the night, Huang Shi could hear the shouts and the pounding of war drums from outside the camp. He was so keyed up he could barely sleep, constantly afraid that the city had already been breached and that he would miss the chance to observe the Later Jin’s street-fighting techniques. Only as dawn approached could he hold out no longer and drifted off in a daze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he was roused, his head still felt terribly heavy. As he followed the Later Jin soldiers out of the tent, his feet still felt unsteady, and shivers ran through him in waves. The sun was still a soft pink. He stared eastward at the morning glow for a moment, then splashed cold water onto his face; the icy chill instantly washed away the groggy, dizzy sensation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From the Zhenjiang city walls, no sound came now. The two thousand soldiers who had fought through the night had just returned to camp to sleep. Large numbers of soldiers who had just emerged from their tents were gathering together, each man brimming with energy, and were being formed up and led away by Later Jin officers. Seeing that every one of them seemed to have slept far better than he had, Huang Shi felt a twinge of shame. He stood alone and foolishly in the military camp, watching squad after squad of soldiers pass before his eyes and stream out of the camp gate in a mighty, endless column.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huang Shi, did you not sleep well?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Hong Taiji ride over in high spirits, Huang Shi bowed deeply. “This humble one is ashamed. I barely managed to fall asleep at dawn.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Perfectly normal.” As he spoke, Hong Taiji dismounted and clapped Huang Shi on the shoulder. “At least you slept at all. When Father Khan took this Beile on his first campaign, I did not sleep a wink all night. Ha.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He did not know whether it was deliberately arranged, but nowadays very few Han soldiers came to speak with Huang Shi, and he could not understand what the Jurchen soldiers said either. So whenever Hong Taiji did not speak with him, Huang Shi was stifled by boredom. After a month of military life, he found that every day he looked forward intensely to the moments he spent with Hong Taiji; psychologically he had already grown dependent. Moreover, the other man could always kindly point out Huang Shi’s shortcomings, and his words were more often encouragement, making Huang Shi involuntarily feel grateful. Whenever he thought of his plan to betray Hong Taiji — to betray such heartfelt trust — he too felt a shadow of sorrow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the drums beat in rhythmic cadence, each Later Jin soldier hoisted a sack of earth and charged up the earthen mound, making it race toward the wall top at a visible speed. Alarmed by this momentum, the Guangning troops appeared in force behind the battlements and loosed a far denser volley of arrows than in the past two days. But these arrows were almost all blocked by the large shields along the edge of the earthworks, and the Later Jin watchtowers also instantly completed their suppression of the defenders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In less than a shichen, the earthen mound, whose crest had already surpassed the city wall, grew even more colossal. Then the Later Jin soldiers ebbed back down from the mound like a tide. Just as Huang Shi was puzzled, he saw Hong Taiji’s banner wave a few times. The Later Jin soldiers on both flanks of the mound immediately began hauling on countless thick cables. Though Huang Shi could not see the exact situation at the front, several large timbers along the side edge of the mound within his line of sight toppled, and the wooden panels they had supported also came crashing down one after another.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amid a rumbling roar, a cloud of dust erupted beside the city. Huang Shi knew that the hundred-plus timbers at the front of the mound had all been pulled down. The mound’s crest shuddered, then pressed forward onto the Zhenjiang city wall just a few meters away. With an earth-shaking crash, all Huang Shi could see was a vast, gray-yellow haze. War drums boomed, shaking heaven and earth, and several thousand Later Jin soldiers roared in unison, charging before Huang Shi’s eyes into that cloud of dust and vanishing one by one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By the time the dust drifted before Hong Taiji, Huang Shi saw him wave it away with his hand. Hong Taiji, who had been listening intently with his head tilted, finally straightened his posture and said in a flat tone, “Zhenjiang is breached!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He then said something in Manchu to the soldiers beside him. The long-awaited Later Jin Plain Yellow Banner also began to wave, and large numbers of Jurchen cavalry immediately advanced toward the city gate, men and horses alike plunging into the dust.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the dust settled, two Later Jin soldiers dragged over a blood-soaked man. All four of his limbs had clearly been broken, and only half of one palm remained. The man’s head hung low, his matted, disheveled hair sweeping the ground. When they reached Hong Taiji’s horse, the Later Jin soldier on the right grabbed his hair and yanked his head up. Huang Shi instantly recognized him — this was his former superior, Zhang Yuanzhi, Company Commander of the Guangning Army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Yuanzhi’s face was covered in blood and grime, his eyes tightly shut. Red liquid trickled from the ends of his hair onto his eyelids, then slid into his mouth. The moment the hand in his hair loosened, his head dropped limply toward the ground again. When the Later Jin had stormed the city gate, he had fought desperately, wielding a pair of blades, killing several men in that hopeless battle and wounding a Later Jin niru commander. He had been captured beneath Mao Wenlong’s great banner, so the Later Jin soldiers who seized him dragged him over to claim credit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After his identity was verified, Hong Taiji cast a disgusted glance at the blood-soaked figure. Immediately, Han soldiers went over to interrogate him. Zhang Yuanzhi, no longer able to open his eyes, let out a laugh that set one’s teeth on edge. “Tartars, Lord Mao has already gotten away safely.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi saw the Han soldiers say something else in a low voice, which made Company Commander Zhang burst into wild laughter. “I did not sell my life for Lord Mao. I am a military officer of the Great Ming, and naturally I hold this Zhenjiang for the Great Ming’s Son of Heaven…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hold this Zhenjiang for the Great Ming’s Son of Heaven” — Huang Shi did not hear the words that followed, because those words reminded him: when the Jurchens’ ancestors attacked Jin-ning, the Song defender, before dying for his country, had likewise righteously refused to surrender — “I hold this land for the Jianyan Son of Heaven.” Huang Shi knew this, and naturally Hong Taiji knew it too. His face ashen, Hong Taiji flicked his riding crop. The soldiers dragged the half-dead Guangning Company Commander to a post at the side and tied him up. The niru commander whom he had wounded had already bandaged his injuries and immediately set to work slicing flesh from Zhang Yuanzhi’s body piece by piece. This act jolted Zhang Yuanzhi from his semi-conscious state, and with each cut he shrieked, “Kill the slaves!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Apart from the Later Jin niru commander, who was wholly absorbed in carving flesh, Huang Shi was the only person who kept stealing glances at Zhang Yuanzhi. Everyone else turned a blind eye to this scene of a man being slowly sliced apart. The blade tip unhurriedly bit into skin, twisting to inflict greater agony on the victim, then carried away a strip of bloody flesh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Kill — the slaves!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“When the Japanese invaders attacked Nanjing, did the Chinese soldiers not also cry out, ‘We hold this land for the Republic of China’? When the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army met their martyrdom, was it not with the same heroic solemnity? Between heaven and earth, there is a spirit that can be called ‘vast and righteous qi’; there is a kind of man who deserves the praise of ‘true great man.’”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi did his utmost to keep the tears from welling up in his burning eyes. In his heart, to that Ming army officer, and also to himself, he made a vow: “Lord Zhang, one day, I will certainly ensure that what I have witnessed today is recorded.”\u003C\u002Fp>",1820,"2026-06-04T07:54:30.907Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","d6fcd2cbed752ca066003dc24cc10ea960bba445d4660be221231c60e04f7714","stealing-ming-chapter-22","stealing-ming-chapter-20",323,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fstealing-ming-cover.jpg"]