[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-stealing-ming":3,"chapter-stealing-ming-stealing-ming-chapter-280":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},1220897,1614,"Chapter 280: Section Thirty-Seven: On Schedule","stealing-ming-chapter-280",280,"\u003Cp>After Huang Shi encountered a patrol from the Left Division of Dongjiangzhen, he immediately identified himself to the Dongjiang Army. Once his admiring subordinates had welcomed him into a camp near Gaizhou, Huang Shi rested briefly, then repeated to them the same story he had told the second daughter of the Zhao family, vividly recounting his adventure and narrow escape in Liaoyang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"General Huang killed the slave chieftain!\" The one hundred garrison troops at Gaizhou were stunned by this news for a long while.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi said, \"I've been gone so long and no pursuers have come after me. I figure first, they didn't realize something was wrong until dawn the next day, and second, the place must be in complete chaos right now.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Well said, General Huang, it must be so!\" his listeners responded in unison.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Good. Send men at once to Fuzhou, Zhangsheng Island, Jinzhou, Lüshun, Dongjiang, the Liaodong Regional Military Commission... and to the imperial court — report the victory.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The officer in charge of the Gaizhou Guard was not one of Huang Shi's own trusted men. He hesitated and asked, \"General Huang, shouldn't we confirm this matter first?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What is there to confirm?\" Huang Shi shot the officer a surprised look, clenched both fists, and mimed a striking motion. \"With my own hands I used a wooden club to cave in the old slave's skull. He is dead beyond any doubt!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"General Huang, with all due respect, your subordinate worries whether there might have been a body double or something of the sort. Wouldn't it be better to wait for absolutely certain news before reporting upward?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi waved his hand impatiently. \"No need to wait any longer. I saw it clearly. That man was Nurhaci himself, no doubt about it, absolutely not a double. Report it at once to the entire Left Division of Dongjiangzhen.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"As you command, General Huang.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The officers and men of the Dongjiangzhen Left Division already had tremendous faith in Huang Shi. They gave the matter no further thought and immediately dispatched messengers throughout the entire Liaonan system.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the tenth day of the eighth month of the sixth year of Tianqi, Huang Shi left Fuzhou and continued south. The order he had issued the day before was to notify the entire Left Division of Dongjiangzhen, so every Dongjiang officer and soldier who greeted him along this road had already heard this astonishing and joyous news. For over ten years, Nurhaci had carried out massacre after massacre; eight or nine out of every ten Han people in Liaodong had perished. Every officer and soldier of Dongjiangzhen bore a blood-deep hatred for Nurhaci — even in their dreams they had never forgotten the name of this great enemy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When they heard that this enemy, steeped in countless crimes, had died at the hands of their beloved commander, they were at first unable to believe it, and then, overcome with emotion, their eyes brimmed with hot tears. They surged together to the roadside and raised cheers to Huang Shi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Father, Mother, Grand Commander Huang has exacted our family's blood debt.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Elder Brother, rest in peace. Grand Commander Huang has avenged your entire family.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All along the way, Huang Shi saw countless Dongjiang officers and soldiers burning spirit money to honor the dead. Weeping bitterly, they expressed their deepest gratitude to Huang Shi, and one after another they said that even if they were to die on the battlefield right now, they would have no regrets in this life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Truly not the conduct of a real man,\" Huang Shi could not help sighing when no one else was around.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He remembered that historically Nurhaci had died sometime around the teens of the eighth month. Nurhaci was already seventy years old, and after running around everywhere for the past half year, he would have been exhausted even if nothing else had happened. It would naturally be most perfect if Nurhaci died right on time, but as long as he did not live past the ninth month, that would suffice. Huang Shi was already basically in an invincible position, because he could perfectly well claim that the last ten or twenty days were the Later Jin using a body double to cover things up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To say that a major event like Nurhaci's death could be covered up with a body double for over ten days seemed rather unlikely; but if one said Huang Shi had not personally killed him, then Huang Shi's advance prediction of Nurhaci's death would be utterly inexplicable. Between these two explanations, Huang Shi believed that people would still choose the former — not to mention that Nurhaci's death was something the entire Great Ming, from top to bottom, desperately wanted to believe in their hearts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After these years of campaigning, Huang Shi had come to see the situation before him very clearly. The Later Jin's main force simply could not remain in any single strategic direction for more than a month, and in such a short time, no matter which strategic direction the Later Jin chose, they could not achieve a decisive victory. This inherent strategic disadvantage absolutely could not be compensated for by tactical skill.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides knowing that the Later Jin desperately needed a chance to catch their breath, Huang Shi also knew that Nurhaci and his descendants could never be trusted, because Nurhaci possessed a family heirloom skill. Back in the day, Nurhaci had clung to the thigh of the man who killed his father and called him \"Dad.\" By relying on this skill he survived, and he passed this trick down to his descendants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hong Taiji was a man brimming with arrogance, and Huang Shi found it hard to offer any assessment of him. But Dorgon was a very clear example — this fellow was judged by Nurhaci as the one who most resembled himself, and Nurhaci even passed the khanate to him. And Dorgon seemed to think himself very clever, having fully absorbed his father's philosophy that \"shamelessness is wisdom,\" and in a truly bumpkin-like fashion he styled himself \"Prince Rui.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dorgon's assessment of his own life was: \"Everyone come and see, I am very clever. When Eighth Brother forced my mother to her death, I joined in cheering him on. When Eighth Brother persecuted my full elder brother, I stood to the side and lent him a hand. When Eighth Brother took away the inheritance Father left me, I helped him carry it like a dog. Now that Eighth Brother is dead, haha, this slave has finally turned things around — I can force Eighth Brother's widow to sleep with me, and I can bully my eldest nephew for fun in my spare time. See clearly now? I possess such great wisdom, and that is why I am called 'Prince Rui.'\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unfortunately, the \"wise\" comrade Dorgon forgot that his nephew was also a descendant of Nurhaci. Fulin could personally make the bed for his mother Xiaozhuang and Dorgon, and could kneel on the ground and call Dorgon \"Imperial Father.\" He first let \"Prince Rui\" Dorgon bask in glory for a few years, and then, the moment Dorgon died, he had his bones dug up and ashes scattered to the winds, and his close kin slaughtered to the last man — proving to the world that he too was a worthy heir.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Extrapolating from this, Huang Shi knew that when it came to the shamelessness of the Later Jin, there were things you could not even imagine, but nothing they would not do.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I was never a gentleman to begin with, and when dealing with the Jianzhou slaves, I must be even less of a gentleman.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the eleventh day of the eighth month of the sixth year of Tianqi, the brutal mass-murderer Nurhaci, after three consecutive long-range expeditions of a thousand li, having fought successively against Lin Danhan, Mao Wenlong, and Chen Jisheng, died on the road back from Jianzhou to the central Liaoning plain, ending his life at the age of sixty-nine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, Huang Shi's report was spreading across the land of Liaodong as if it had grown wings, and with Liaonan as its center, it rapidly expanded outward in all directions. Whether the common people of Liaodong or the herders of Mongolia; whether the soldiers of Dongjiangzhen or the Manchu and Han officers and men of the Later Jin; whether the astonished multitude of merchants or the dumbstruck spies of every faction — they all passed the story from mouth to mouth, accelerating the spread of Huang Shi's miraculous tale.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every person who heard Huang Shi's report — whether wild with joy, half-believing and half-doubting, or utterly distraught — turned their gaze toward Liaoyang, waiting in agony for further news to come from the Later Jin, to confirm or refute the report of Nurhaci's death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the twenty-second day of the eighth month of the sixth year of Tianqi, in Kuandian: \"Long live!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Long live!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Long live!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although such cheers were exceedingly rare, neither Chen Jisheng, Vice Regional Commander of the Right Division of Dongjiangzhen, nor the Army Supervisor Eunuch showed the slightest hint of displeasure. As the masses rejoiced, the Dongjiang officers of the Right Division also one and all revealed expressions of ecstatic delight. The Later Jin had confirmed that Nurhaci was indeed dead, and the time of death differed from what Huang Shi had stated by less than three days. Given the communication methods of the time, this slight discrepancy was no different from being the exact same moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The entire Kuandian region boiled over with excitement. Chen Jisheng stroked his beard and laughed, \"General Huang, truly a lone sword and iron courage, has accomplished such an extraordinary feat — a true hero of our age! Pass on my order: slaughter pigs and sheep, feast the three armies, and celebrate General Huang!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"As ordered, as ordered, as ordered!\" Chen Jisheng's personal guard leaped three feet into the air and dashed out excitedly to deliver the order. As the guard burst out of the tent, his helmet was knocked askew by the force of his movement, but he did not stop. He casually straightened his helmet with one hand and ran shouting into the jubilant crowd.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the twenty-fourth day of the eighth month of the sixth year of Tianqi, on Dongjiang Island: Ever since the news had arrived from Liaonan, Mao Wenlong had been waiting full of hope for confirmation. Day after day he kept telling his subordinates that Huang Shi was a steady man and would never speak recklessly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although the men at Dongjiang headquarters were also very hopeful, many of them still harbored doubts — after all, the story was simply too bizarre. So when the confirming news first came from within Later Jin territory, everyone still could not quite believe it all at once, and Mao Wenlong agreed to wait a bit longer and see. Fortunately, wave after wave of confirmation of Nurhaci's death came through. Although the reported causes of death were wildly varied, one point was beyond all doubt: within three days of Huang Shi's announcement that he had executed Nurhaci, Nurhaci's death had been confirmed by a large number of Later Jin nobles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although many of the lamas and guards who had accompanied Nurhaci, as well as quite a few Later Jin officials near Shenyang, vehemently denied that Nurhaci had died in Liaoyang, Huang Shi had already stirred up towering waves, and all voices of denial were pale and powerless before them. Mao Wenlong, who had waited so long, finally let his suspended heart settle back into his chest, and his full head of graying hair seemed to brighten overnight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This morning, after once again receiving confirmation of Nurhaci's death, Mao Wenlong ordered the entire army to celebrate and immediately set to work writing a memorial. But each time he lifted his brush to write, his hand trembled too violently, and he could not produce a single decent character. The private secretary standing behind him grew anxious watching this and could not help saying, \"Proprietor, let me write this memorial on your behalf.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No, no, no.\" Mao Wenlong hastily declined the secretary's kind offer. The characters in the memorial he had just attempted were crooked and twisted; Mao Wenlong crumpled the paper into a ball and tossed it aside, then laughed heartily and sat back down in his chair. He jabbed his finger emphatically several times toward the paper and brush on the desk, but he was still laughing too hard, and for a long while no words came out. Finally, Mao Wenlong took several long, deep breaths and said, utterly delighted, \"This... this memorial, I... I must write it with my own hand, with my own hand.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The private secretary, who was also extremely excited, fully understood Mao Wenlong's feelings. Since he had already helped his proprietor draft the text, the secretary begged his leave and hurried home to share the good news with his family. As the secretary walked out of the Dongjiang headquarters main camp, he saw that the normally solemn and orderly camp was now restless and agitated; even the guards on either side of the camp gate could no longer maintain their silent stance. One after another, they ignored the strict military regulations and gathered together to chat and laugh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The officers of Dongjiang headquarters turned a blind eye to these undisciplined soldiers. The officers themselves were all beaming with joy, clustering in twos and threes to talk, and from the crowd burst peal after peal of laughter. The private secretary also wore a genial smile on his face. Swaying with each step, he strolled with measured gait out of the camp gate. On the road home, the secretary himself, as if seized by a spasm, would suddenly and without any warning throw his head back and roar with laughter several times.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the twenty-seventh day of the eighth month of the sixth year of Tianqi, on Juehua Island: \"Truly worthy of General Huang!\" Yao Yuxian slammed the table with earth-shaking force. These days, every time a report of Nurhaci's death arrived, Yao Yuxian would do exactly this and shout exactly these words. Up until yesterday, Yao Yuxian had shouted this way if not ten times, then at least seven or eight. Today's confirmation came from Mongolia into the Liaoxi Corridor, and the time of death still matched Huang Shi's report. Yao Yuxian felt there was no longer any room for doubt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yao Yuxian had now been promoted to Assistant Regional Regional Commander and Liaozhen brevet Regional Commander. Jin Guan and Hu Yining beside him were also Assistant Regional Commanders-in-Chief and Liaozhen Vice Regional Commanders, and those two largely shared Yao Yuxian's view. They cheered in unison, \"As expected of General Huang! Tonight we shall lay out a grand banquet to celebrate him!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That night: \"To the Great Ming!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"To His Majesty!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"To General Huang!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the joyful camp, the Liaoxi officers all congratulated one another. These cheers resounded not only among the Liaoxi commanders who had taken part in the previous battle of Juehua. Man Gui, the newly appointed Vice Regional Commander and substantive Liaozhen Regional Commander, also raised his cup before his officers and men, toasting from afar Huang Shi's health, long life, and blessings upon his descendants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the twenty-eighth day of the eighth month of the sixth year of Tianqi, among the Bayan Mongols: The Bayan Mongol tribe had long bordered the Later Jin. Although they faced enormous military pressure, the pro-Ming faction within the Bayan Mongols still held a firm upper hand. Even at the time of the Battle of Ningyuan, the Bayan Mongols, with only a thousand cavalry, still courageously attacked the Later Jin's great army, and afterward they executed Nurhaci's envoy to demonstrate to the Great Ming their unwavering loyalty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Later Jin's years of plundering had indeed made some young chieftains envious, but these restless-minded men were invariably denounced by the prudent elders: for centuries, no one who provoked the Ming state had ever come to a good end. Countless tribes far more powerful than the Bayan had been annihilated. That their own tribe had survived to this day was due entirely to their steadfast maintenance of friendly relations with the Great Ming.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This established policy had been challenged somewhat in the preceding days. It was said that the renowned Huang Shi had personally gone to Liaoyang to discuss terms of amnesty with the Later Jin's Third Beile and Fourth Beile. This news was told with wildly exaggerated detail. That very day, several young chieftains came to the old chief to grumble: since the possibility of amnesty existed, wouldn't it be best if they first joined the Later Jin in plundering the rich Great Ming, and then accepted amnesty together with them afterward?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as a vague restlessness had begun to rise within the tribe, a thunderbolt struck down hard. Word came from Liaonan that Huang Shi had personally strangled Nurhaci — the very man with whom he was discussing amnesty — and had even escaped safely back to Liaonan under cover of night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This news instantly silenced the entire Bayan Mongol tribe as if ten thousand horses had been struck dumb. Today, when the old chief ordered both the tribe's prudent faction and the young firebrands to come to his tent to discuss matters, everyone knew it would be about Liaoyang, Huang Shi, and the question of amnesty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Although the Jianzhou Jurchens insist that their old khan died of illness, and insist that their old khan never even met the Great Ming's Huang Shi before his death, I can state with certainty that they are lying. Because judging by the timing, if the old khan of the Jianzhou Jurchens did not die at Huang Shi's hands, then Huang Shi would have had to foresee this event two days before the old khan's death. And that... that even the most powerful grand shaman on our grasslands could absolutely never accomplish.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A member of the prudent faction was speaking. His eloquent argument drew waves of agreement. He swept a commanding gaze around the entire tent, and the whole assembly waited in dead silence for his next words: \"We already know the amnesty terms proposed by the Jianzhou Jurchens' Fourth Beile. They were practically not amnesty but surrender. Yet even such humiliating terms, the Great Ming still refused to accept. In order to kill the Jurchens' old khan, the Great Ming was even willing to gamble the life of their fiercest general. This shows that the Great Ming and the Jianzhou Jurchens are irreconcilably opposed.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nearly everyone nodded solemnly. The prudent-faction chieftain waved his arms passionately and cried out, \"The Jianzhou Jurchens are as good as dead already. For the sake of our tribe's young men and children, for the sake of our grasslands and livestock, we must not get entangled with the Jianzhou Jurchens in the slightest degree — we absolutely must not!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the past, when this issue was discussed, although the tent was mostly filled with voices of agreement, occasionally there would be a few muttered objections. But today, the opinions of the various Bayan Mongol chieftains were highly unified. The former neutrals, and even several of the young firebrands, stood up and loudly voiced their approval, while the most diehard opponents all shrank their heads into their collars, bowed their heads, and kept silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Is there no further dissent?\" The old chieftain slapped his thigh heavily several times, suppressing the boiling voices in the tent: \"I know some in this tent have traded livestock and grain with Jianzhou for women and salt. In the past I always turned a blind eye — who could blame them, since Jianzhou sold cheaply.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Several men lowered their heads at these words, their faces showing unease. Now everyone knew that any private dealings with Jianzhou could bring disaster upon the clan. Although the Bayan Mongol tribe had always been on good terms with the Great Ming, it was still best to steer clear of such matters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But from this day forward,\" the old chieftain's voice suddenly rose by eight degrees as he sternly addressed the headmen filling the tent: \"Whoever dares do this again shall be a traitor, and all the men of his household shall die! If anyone comes forward to denounce a traitor, he shall receive half that man's livestock, women, and followers!\"\u003C\u002Fp>",3403,"2026-06-04T07:54:54.057Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","9e3266e3316410460ae2897cc2a191241a29f0cee8aa404732d6366e935ad959","stealing-ming-chapter-281","stealing-ming-chapter-279",323,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fstealing-ming-cover.jpg"]