[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-stealing-ming":3,"chapter-stealing-ming-stealing-ming-chapter-71":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},1220688,1614,"Chapter 71: Section 19","stealing-ming-chapter-71",71,"\u003Cp>The first row of Later Jin cavalry stepped within one hundred fifty meters of the Ming army's front.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kong Youde waved a hand. The red banner behind him swayed. All the Ming officers watching the red banner gave the order at the same moment. Every archer loosed their feathered arrows in an instant. Several Later Jin riders toppled. Silently, soundlessly, they slowly picked up speed. Then came the tense nocking of arrows, drawing full, loosing — another dozen or so riders dropped from their horses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After weathering the second strike, the Later Jin cavalry quickened their horses' pace again, at the same time drawing tightly together into dense horse columns and charging up. Forty meters, thirty meters, twenty meters, ten meters — the Ming arquebusiers shouted in unison, every man stepping forward one pace and firing the three-barreled fire-lances in their hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The enormous roar and the billowing smoke set off a wave of neighing. The horses in the Later Jin front rank shied and wheeled in panic, halting two meters before the Ming line. All the Ming archers loosed one last arrow. Horses rearing upright were skewered through the belly by the sharp shafts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the sheet of arrows swept over their heads, the front-rank spearmen also thrust their spears in a charge, stabbing bloody holes into the horses' bodies. The Later Jin cavalry in the second rank now leapt over the men and horses of the front rank, crashing into the Ming circular formation. Ming soldiers who were struck went flying backward. Fallen horses tumbled and rolled, grinding streaks of gullies through the crowd.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Later Jin cavalry, having lost their impact, immediately veered off to both sides. The Later Jin warriors thrown from their horses also scrambled and crawled away to the flanks, clearing the way for the high-speed cavalry behind them to pour continuously through the gap they had torn open, charging toward Kong Youde's command banner, then veering off again, the rear ranks continuing the charge — like wave after wave of terrifying surf, pounding relentlessly against the Ming battle formation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the blink of an eye, the Later Jin cavalry had torn the Ming circular formation from its edge to its core. Seeing the danger, Kong Youde and Huang Shi had no time to call out to each other before each leapt aside. Huang Shi rolled several times down the slope before coming to a stop, watching Kong Youde's red banner being hacked down, swaying and crashing thunderously to the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Victory, the Later Jin commander exulted in his heart at the same moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The instant the Ming command banner fell, two hundred Later Jin warriors raised a thunderous cheer. By their experience, the orderly fighting ended right here. A clean, crisp cutting open of the Ming formation — a few dead, a few dozen wounded in exchange for the Ming army's collapse — a textbook-classic victory. All that remained was to chase down the routed soldiers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Ming army's orderly resistance indeed ended right here. These soldiers had rushed the whole way, now within a single step of Lüshun. Their families still needed cover, and were still waiting for them. The red banner had fallen. Every soldier felt the last hope ruthlessly shattered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi was already on his knees, hands braced against the ground. Half his face was covered in sand and dirt, his whole body in a wretched state. Fawning and groveling before Hong Taiji; currying favor with fawning flattery before Sun Degong; then flight, flight, and more flight; every matter handled with ten thousand careful precautions; every grievance and resentment crushed down into the bottom of his heart. Was he still going to die here, to die amid the chaos of battle?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi, kneeling on one knee, suddenly drew his long blade, pointing the naked steel straight ahead — forever harming people through schemes; always winning by base means; plotting against innocent maidens; slaughtering blameless commoners; chased like a stray dog. If I, Huang Shi, am fated to perish here, then I shall die like a man, facing the enemy on the battlefield. I will never resign myself to it, never flee, never surrender, never admit defeat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi had utterly lost his usual composure. The immense sense of defeat made it impossible for him to think calmly any longer. An angry roar burst from his mouth: \"Come and take it! Come and take my head if you dare! I will not die here!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi sprang to his feet and lunged toward the red banner. A dazzling blaze of blade-light followed like a shadow. The Ming soldiers beside him froze for an instant, then fought desperately, shouting as they followed: \"We will not die here!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This despairing cry spread like ripples through the Ming formation. Contrary to what the Later Jin soldiers imagined, the Ming officers and men at every post of the circular formation did not scatter and flee in all directions, but instead swarmed in a frenzy toward the hilltop.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Later Jin soldiers' will to fight had already slackened. The soldiers panted heavily, waiting for the Ming army to collapse. Some had already drawn their daggers and knelt, beginning to search for Ming soldiers' heads to sever. They had not expected the Ming soldiers to come crowding in from every direction in a chaotic rush. The archers too threw down their iron bows and charged forward brandishing their feathered arrows like short swords...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Over six hundred men fought on the small hill, heedless of life or death. Both sides gnashed their teeth in chaotic melee. Every moment someone fell cursing. Every face was twisted in a savage grin, and at this moment they had only grins as hideous as devils.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi swung his saber with all his might, locked in a death struggle with a Later Jin warrior before him. He inhaled fiercely, then shouted the breath out. Every exhalation was a furious bellow. So it was for Huang Shi, and so it was for his opponent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Later Jin warrior now standing before him was an agile fighter, nimbly dodging Huang Shi's heavy chops one after another. But Huang Shi, relying on the advantage of his weight and height, gradually overpowered his opponent. He forced the Later Jin soldier step by step into a dead corner — surrounded by men on all sides — he had him pinned. With a great shout he hacked down, but the bastard blocked it! He hacked again, and again, and again...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Standing before the Later Jin warrior whose head had been cleaved off, Huang Shi felt his own condition had never been so superb: he felt as if he were an omnipotent strongman now, his entire body brimming with the desire to kill; he felt his arms and thighs were as solid and powerful as cast steel...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He did not know how long he had hacked, nor how many men he had hacked through. Around Huang Shi, not a single Later Jin soldier could be found anymore. Overhead, Kong Youde's banner once again streamed in the wind. Huang Shi stared blankly at the proud Great Ming red banner. His gaze traveled downward — the flagpole was actually gripped in his own hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two soldiers beside him took over the banner. Huang Shi stepped back two paces. The blood-dripping long blade dropped powerlessly, slipping unnoticed from his moist palm. Sweat gushed like a spring down his forehead. He blinked and shook his head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was it victory?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Both arms bent involuntarily toward his chest. Like an ancestor from millions of years ago, Huang Shi raised his head to the firmament and let out a long howl. This howl was like that of a beast sated on blood, filled with primal savagery — an excitement and joy that human language could not express.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Exhilarating, exhilarating! The cry continued until all the strength had left his body, and only then did this thoroughly cathartic roar gradually grow hoarse. Huang Shi's head felt heavy. He could think of nothing, could control nothing. Weariness surged in like the tide, endless, boundless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Ming soldiers around him were utterly silent, casting reverent gazes at him. A moment after he stopped, these soldiers suddenly also shouted in unison, each one frantically brandishing their weapon, cheering Huang Shi with hoarse, exhausted voices.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi swayed unsteadily and swept a glance down the hill. Group after group of Later Jin soldiers were fleeing into the distance. Behind them, some Ming soldiers were in pursuit — the one leading them seemed to be Kong Youde. From the corner of his eye, Huang Shi saw the Ming soldiers beginning to turn over the fallen Later Jin soldiers, killing those who still breathed and cutting off their heads.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A wave of weakness finally submerged over his head. Huang Shi slowly knelt, his knees landing heavily on the ground, his head drooping powerlessly against his chest. He let out a groan and closed his eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A hand seemed to reach out and pull him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Let me rest a moment.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The hand withdrew.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then he toppled backward. His helmet struck the ground with a heavy thud. His fingers seemed to touch warm liquid flowing past, but Huang Shi could no longer be bothered to move a finger to lift them out of the pool of blood. In the darkness, someone seemed to come to his side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"General Huang is here,\" a voice said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then someone felt over his body, and another voice spoke: \"General Huang is wounded.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>General Huang — does that mean me? Am I wounded? Before Huang Shi could figure out the question, he felt someone tearing at his uniform. A sharp pain shot from his waist, making him bellow and jolting him much more awake.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It's nothing, a few flesh wounds.\" A familiar voice entered Huang Shi's mind. He opened his eyes. Before him was a large, grime-smeared painted face, red sweat dripping drop by drop from the tips of its hair. Kong Youde grinned at Huang Shi, baring his teeth: \"Brother, you've just lost a bit more blood.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We won?\" Huang Shi murmured, as if this were all a dream.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We won! It was a close thing, but we won.\" Kong Youde bent down, gripped Huang Shi's shoulders hard, and sprayed spittle all over his face: \"A great victory, brother!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kong Youde on the other flank had not been idle either. He organized his personal guard unit, formed a battle line, and counterattacked, bending the Later Jin battle line step by step, completing a pincer attack from both sides, and finally even charging down the hill in pursuit, thoroughly scattering the Later Jin force.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More than forty Later Jin soldiers died on the spot. Over a hundred wounded Later Jin soldiers were killed by the Ming troops who held the battlefield. Fewer than a hundred escaped. On the Ming side, several dozen had also died in battle, half a hundred were gravely wounded, and the lightly wounded were beyond counting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After his wounds were bandaged, Huang Shi felt light-headed and unsteady even walking. His right hand covered his mouth; his lower lip was burning with pain, a chunk of flesh on it somehow bitten off. He shuffled over to Kong Youde, who was gazing northward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That was so dangerous,\" Huang Shi said with emotion. \"If the whole army had been here, it wouldn't have been like this.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kong Youde laughed: \"You want me to be Liu Bei? You're no Zhao Zilong!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If several thousand civilians were pinned down by over a hundred cavalry, they truly would not be able to take a single step. Dividing one's forces, though a major taboo in military strategy, was unavoidable — the vanguard could not but leave behind nearly half its strength. Otherwise, if the Later Jin army split off a force to bypass the rear guard and threaten the soldiers' families, army morale would collapse in an instant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the whole, the Later Jin's advantage in mobility had forced the Ming army to divide its forces, gaining the benefit of concentrated strength. The Ming army had successfully reduced the Later Jin cavalry's mobility to the level of infantry, ensured the civilians' normal marching speed, and also gained an intelligence advantage through dividing its forces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Another half day gone. The forward unit should be safe by now, right?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Basically safe.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What do we do next?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kong Youde's hearty laugh rang out: \"Need you ask? Flee as fast as we can, of course.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Shi watched Kong Youde's smile suddenly freeze on his face. The terror revealed in Kong Youde's eyes instantly made Huang Shi feel as if he had fallen into an ice pit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pointing at the dust cloud rising in the distance, Kong Youde asked softly to himself: \"Are more Jianzhou slaves coming?\"\u003C\u002Fp>",2132,"2026-06-04T07:54:30.907Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","c659549d1b17e0f9c249002f68dad1df7f9467e3129dc2ab9eefe309cc4fcb72","stealing-ming-chapter-72","stealing-ming-chapter-70",323,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fstealing-ming-cover.jpg"]