[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-stealing-ming":3,"chapter-stealing-ming-stealing-ming-chapter-29":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},1220646,1614,"Chapter 29: Section Eight","stealing-ming-chapter-29",29,"\u003Cp>The flame greedily licked the paper; the violated letter changed color as if startled. Huang Shi stared at the correspondence beginning to yellow, curling as it tried to evade the oil lamp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This thick stack was the correspondence from Hong Taiji. In the letters, Hong Taiji showed interest in the forms and methods Huang Shi used when tallying supplies and personnel, asking quite a few questions on the subject. The tone of the writing was very cordial, and it further pointed out various shortcomings in Huang Shi's calculations of combat strength.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi moved the letter closer to the flame again. The paper let out a crackling wail, the yellowed pages covered in densely packed Chinese characters. Flames leapt up from the entire page of meticulous regular script. Huang Shi shifted his fingers until a stinging pain reached his fingertips.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He finally hurled the ball of fire in his hand away. The firelight illuminated that last corner of paper he had pinched, on which was Hong Taiji's bold and forceful signature — the handwriting of the signature exactly identical to the main text preceding it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The signature was devoured by the flames before Huang Shi's eyes. The red glow reflected in his entranced eyes, and those eyes seemed to see a scene: Hong Taiji writing furiously by candlelight, occasionally pausing to examine the reports at hand, then pensively writing down his opinions, and at the very end of the letter heavily signing his own name.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If you wish for a man to repay you as a scholar of the realm, you must first treat him as a scholar of the realm.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi murmured the last words Hong Taiji had spoken to him. He could defect to Sun Degong, he could defect to Mao Wenlong, he could even defect to the Chongzhen Emperor, but he dared not defect to Hong Taiji.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"My ambition is to seize all under Heaven, and you are too strong — you would swallow me whole, skin and bones.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The firelight dimmed, then died. A gust of wind blew through, and the ashes swirled in the air.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I am sorry. You treated me as a scholar of the realm, but I cannot repay you as one.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Huazhen's commendation elevated Huang Shi's prestige among his subordinates yet another level. Regional Military Commissioner was now only one step away from Mobile Corps Commander. In Yang Luhuo's words, he had seen a few hereditary Company Commanders who spent a lifetime struggling to reach Mobile Corps Commander, and he had also heard that there was once a common soldier who spent forty years climbing to Company Commander. But someone like Huang Shi, a soldier on the verge of becoming a general in less than a year — that was truly something one dared not even imagine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It's not a hereditary military post, so it's nothing much. Besides, I'm not the first.\" Faced with the flattery pouring from his personal guards and subordinates, Huang Shi remained very indifferent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"My lord, that soldier took forty years — forty years just to reach Company Commander. And those Mobile Corps Commanders all started as Company Commanders. My lord has only been at it a year. Never mind general, even a hereditary Battalion Commander is just a matter of time.\" After Yang Luhuo finished these words, the personal guards and guard squad soldiers around him all nodded their heads like chickens pecking at grain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The lifelong dream of a low-ranking military officer in the Ming dynasty was to obtain a hereditary military post, so that his sons and grandsons could all become landlords within the military households, and even if they joined the army they would not have to start as common soldiers. Yet even for a fortunate family, it took generations of struggle to achieve the goal of hereditary Company Commander or Battalion Commander.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hereditary Battalion Commander?\" Huang Shi raised an eyebrow. He remembered Mao Wenlong — that common soldier who started out as a beggar and, in just a few years, had secured the hereditary title of General Who Pacifies the Liao. \"Do you all think that is as far as I can go?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at his subordinates who were endlessly apologizing, Huang Shi smiled and tossed out a grand promise: \"In a couple of years, when I become a hereditary Battalion Commander, you, Yang Luhuo, and the rest of you, will all have to become hereditary Company Commanders — anything less would be a disgrace to me.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The excited personal guards were each full of longing. Huang Shi was rising like the morning sun, and in recent months his edge had made his colleagues in the Guangning Army too intimidated to meet his gaze. Normally, such rapid promotion would invite countless schemes and ostracism, but their superior was simply too fast — those competitors were left far behind before they could even react.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Liaodong military families had all taken notice of this new star. Since Huang Shi's rise seemed unstoppable, naturally many hands of friendship reached out toward him. Sun Degong's family was a member of the Liaodong military clans; for the last few generations they had produced both Guard Commanders of ten Battalion Commander and Mobile Corps Generals. The news of Huang Shi marrying into his family would be a powerful signal: the Liaodong military establishment was beginning to accept and acknowledge this young officer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sun Degong proposed that Huang Shi divide the soldiers under his command into two Company Commander units, promoting two Company Commanders and six Squad Commanders to control the men. Huang Shi opposed this, because he considered that his personal guards lacked sufficient merit to serve as Company Commanders, and even Squad Commander would be a stretch. And if Sun Degong were to appoint the Company Commanders, he himself would be in danger of being sidelined.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"My lord, this subordinate's unit — this subordinate will lead it well himself.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Faced with Huang Shi's first act of defiance and challenge, Sun Degong ultimately chose to back down. The Guangning Regional Military Commissioner personally appointed by Wang Huazhen indeed had the right to speak loudly on his own turf. Normally such insubordination could lead a superior to make trouble over military pay, but both Sun Degong and Huang Shi understood that Sun Degong was in no position to do so now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This subordinate wishes to let Yang Luhuo, Zhao Manxiong, and Jin Qiude gain experience, and ultimately select two from among them to serve as formal Company Commanders.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whether it was due to Sun Degong's own schemes or the appreciation Hong Taiji had shown toward Huang Shi, it was decided that Sun Degong could only co-opt Huang Shi, not suppress him. At this moment, Sun Degong somewhat regretted not having his daughter marry Huang Shi sooner. Meanwhile, Huang Shi ordered Yang Luhuo, Zhao Manxiong, and Jin Qiude to serve as acting Squad Commanders; they would accumulate merit in these positions until they obtained formal qualifications as Squad Commander or Company Commander.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These three personal guards assumed the duties of Squad Commander, each responsible for fifty soldiers, while Huang Shi personally led fifty men. Acting Squad Commanders had no personal guards to speak of, nor did they have formal appointments; Huang Shi believed this would make it harder for them to establish their own independent power bases. Huang Shi's personal guards were overjoyed by this, because it made Huang Shi's stance clear — the officers under his command were not to be meddled with by outsiders. Every personal guard seemed to see the day when he himself would become an officer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, a Regional Military Commissioner having only three acting Squad Commanders under him was an exceedingly bizarre and laughable sight. The lack of officers at various levels would reduce control over the troops, easily lead to estrangement between officers and men, and make it harder to cultivate mutual trust and reliance. But this was Huang Shi's policy; this was the price Huang Shi had to pay to consolidate his own turf and gain absolute freedom of action.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fourth day of the new year.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"My lord, may you live a hundred years!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the military camp, the soldiers' well-wishes rose one after another. Over two hundred men were feasting on large quantities of pork and rice wine. The drunken and contented men cheered for the superior who had brought them all this — Regional Military Commissioner Huang Shi — doing their utmost to express their sincere joy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The object of their devotion also smiled magnanimously, waving repeatedly in response to his subordinates' salutes, while inwardly regretting the shortcomings of this attempt to win the troops' hearts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this era, Ming soldiers were deeply self-abasing, psychologically regarding themselves as lowly outcasts beneath others. They were universally impoverished to the point of selling their wives and giving away their children. So when it came to seasons like the Spring Festival, when one honored one's ancestors, their poverty meant they could produce no decent offerings, which made them feel even more that they had utterly disgraced their forebears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi's men were slightly better off. They pooled the resettlement fees and military pay they had just received, bought pork and flour — the northerners made dumplings, while the southern soldiers bought white rice and wine. Jin Qiude had secretly reported to Huang Shi yesterday that these impoverished soldiers had all wept while making offerings to their ancestors. First, because it had been so long since they had presented such abundant offerings; second, because they would soon have to divide these things up — this was also their New Year's Eve dinner.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Had I known, I would have paid out of my own pocket to let these soldiers honor their ancestors with proper ceremony.\" Huang Shi silently lamented his miscalculation. He had originally thought that these soldiers, having received their pay, could enjoy a comfortable new year. He reminded himself to always remember from now on: in this age, bestowing favor on the soldiers was far less effective than bestowing favor on their ancestors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After leaving the military camp, Huang Shi summoned Jin Qiude and Zhao Manxiong to his side. His first words were: \"Jin Qiude, are you convinced now?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jin Qiude had originally suggested that Huang Shi visit the troops on New Year's Day, which was also the custom in the Great Ming. No matter how miserly the superior, on New Year's Day he always had to buy some wine and meat to reward his subordinates. Not only Jin Qiude, but Yang Luhuo had also made this suggestion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now hearing Huang Shi's question, Jin Qiude looked toward Zhao Manxiong with some admiration, and the latter responded with a smug grin. Zhao Manxiong had adamantly opposed visiting the soldiers on the first day of the year. He had deliberately wanted the soldiers to misunderstand Huang Shi, deliberately wanted them to spend those two days believing they were stuck with a superior who would not part with a single feather.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"These past two days, they've been cursing quite fiercely, haven't they?\" Huang Shi asked Jin Qiude with a smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jin Qiude was responsible for secretly probing the soldiers' morale and the situation in other camps. The most generous officer in the Guangning Army had bestowed upon each of his men one jug of wine, one tael of pork, and had also distributed two mace of silver. Huang Shi's men had gotten nothing at all, and their envy naturally bred resentment. This resentment had fully fermented over the second and third days of the year; according to Jin Qiude, they had also universally sent their regards to Huang Shi's ancestors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ha ha.\" Hearing this made Huang Shi laugh heartily. \"They should be feeling terribly ashamed right about now.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Today, Huang Shi had brought each man one catty of pork and one chicken, with as much wine as they could drink. He also gave one tael of silver. Zhao Manxiong, pretending to know nothing, loudly proclaimed that the holiday wine had been hard to purchase and had only just been fully gathered today; he also conveyed Huang Shi's apologies to the soldiers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Exactly,\" Zhao Manxiong spoke up, his face full of satisfaction. \"They've been mocked by the friendly troops for days. Tomorrow they'll surely return the mockery tenfold, and they truly do have the capital to mock others.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reward the soldiers received today was roughly ten times the average. Preparing all this had nearly drained the money in Huang Shi's hands. What Huang Shi needed was not money; he needed soldiers willing to die for him. \"As expected, he who laughs last laughs best.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"My lord is brilliant.\" After Jin Qiude finished flattering Huang Shi, he turned and cupped his fists toward Zhao Manxiong. \"Brother Zhao is wise.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi had not brought Yang Luhuo today, instead leaving him at home with two men to watch the place. The group had just returned to the front of Huang Shi's residence when a woman's furious shriek rang out from within:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yang Luhuo, you go eat shit for this young lady!\"\u003C\u002Fp>",2177,"2026-06-04T07:54:30.907Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","4b8d9d2adb059848f837a3f41d53b5727fff0fdee86b15036158e4ac3a1563bd","stealing-ming-chapter-30","stealing-ming-chapter-28",323,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fstealing-ming-cover.jpg"]