Chapter 30: Hong Taiji Vomits Blood

Hooge, Hong Taiji's eldest son, struggled like a dying mad dog in its final throes, yet in the end he could not escape this calamity and was hauled up onto the makeshift execution platform erected atop Desheng Gate.

Chongzhen watched the ceaselessly struggling Hooge and laughed: "Well? Waiting to die isn't pleasant, is it?

This is only the beginning — savor it slowly." Having spoken, he ordered a man to pull out the rag stuffed in Hooge's mouth, then said to Zhao Er, the brawny fellow who had carved up over a hundred ducks: "Carry out the sentence."

Zhao Er hurriedly returned the courtesy, saying "As commanded!", then called over two companions; first they stripped Hooge's clothes away, then pulled a fishing net tight over Hooge's body.

Once Hooge's flesh bulged through the mesh of the net, Zhao Er took many implements from the pouch on his person, yet he did not reach for a knife, instead saying to the two beside him: "Brothers, dislocate this beast's jaw first, lest he bite off his own tongue to end himself."

The two beside him stepped forward and dislocated Hooge's jaw; only then did Zhao Er take up an exceedingly fine, small knife, and with a savage grin said to Hooge: "You dog of a Jianzhou barbarian — for your grandpa here, this is like a maiden riding the bridal sedan, a first-timer.

If anything is not quite to your satisfaction, you'll just have to bear it. Either way, you're dead for certain today."

With his jaw dislocated, Hooge could not speak; he could only stare wide-eyed, struggling desperately without cease, emitting a "heh-heh" sound from his throat, like the cries of a mute.

Zhao Er paid him no mind, simply setting to work on his own, beginning to cut from the left side of the chest; each slice of flesh was only the size of a fingernail. At first, each piece carried skin and flesh together, dripping fresh blood.

Later on, there was only skinless flesh, but the fresh blood was nowhere to be seen — precisely the skill Zhao Er had honed through a whole night of slicing roast duck.

After every ten cuts, Zhao Er would pause and let out a shout. After several hundred cuts, there was no longer a single patch of unmarred flesh on Hooge's body.

By this time it was already noon, so Zhao Er stopped, and had someone pour rice gruel down Hooge's throat, to keep him from dying all at once.

Outside the city, Hong Taiji's eyes were already splitting with rage; heedless of all else, he sent troops to assault the walls, but it was all futile — every attempt was beaten back by Man Gui.

As for Chongzhen, he sat at ease in the gate tower, utterly unconcerned by the Jianzhou barbarians' assault.

Seeing that the assault was useless, Hong Taiji could only slowly pull back his troops. If a glare could kill a man, Hong Taiji would surely have been glad to use his glare to kill Chongzhen seventeen or eighteen times over.

In truth, the Chongzhen Emperor sitting up on the city wall was not having an easy time of it either.

In his previous life, as a miserable code-monkey, staying up late and working overtime was no problem — but making him watch a death by a thousand cuts was a bit much.

You cannot expect a man who had never even killed a chicken before to watch a live lingchi execution with an indifferent air; after all, he was no psychopath — no one would enjoy this.

It was just that the imperial decree to have Hooge executed by lingchi had been issued by Chongzhen himself, so no matter how his stomach churned at this moment, he could only force himself to endure it.

When noon arrived, Hooge could finally bear the torment no longer and obligingly died. Zhao Er then reported back to Chongzhen, kneeling and saying: "Reporting to His Majesty, that Jianzhou barbarian could not endure the punishment and has already expired.

This humble one's craft is unrefined; I only managed a little over twelve hundred cuts. I beg Your Majesty's forgiveness."

By now, Chongzhen was already cursing up a storm inside; he felt his stomach no longer belonged to him. Deliberately fixing his eyes on the commoners within the city, Chongzhen took a deep breath and silently hypnotized himself: "We did it for them.

We did it so they would not suffer slaughter at the hands of the Jianzhou barbarians.

We did it to prevent the Three Massacres of Sichuan, the Three Massacres of Jiading, the Ten Days of Yangzhou, the Massacre of Nanjing, the Massacre of Jinan, and that Massacre of Datong where only five people were left, and all those massacres We do not even know of.

We have done no wrong! The wrong lies with the Jianzhou barbarians!"

After consoling himself like this two or three times, Chongzhen's slightly ashen and twisted expression finally eased a little.

Forcibly suppressing the urge to vomit, Chongzhen said: "It is of no consequence. It is only that this dog-slave died... far too comfortably. You must all practice more; in the future, do not let the Jianzhou barbarians die so quickly, and that will suffice."

Chongzhen then shouted down toward Hong Taiji below the wall: "Dog-slave, you just wait for Us. Do not die too soon!"

Hong Taiji did not shout back in abuse, but only called up to Chongzhen: "Emperor, if the Emperor is willing to return my son's corpse,

This Khan is willing to release ten thousand nikan back to the Great Ming — how about it?!"

Chongzhen laughed: "You Jianzhou barbarians are utterly faithless and honorless — you cannot be trusted! The common people of Liaoning, We shall send troops to rescue Ourselves!"

At this moment, a lone rider came from the north; judging by his attire, he was one of the Jianzhou barbarians. Without pausing, he rode straight into Hong Taiji's army.

The Jianzhou men all recognized him — this man was none other than Degelei, younger brother of Manggultai, who had been left to guard Shengjing.

Degelei spurred his horse swiftly before Hong Taiji, tumbled from the saddle, and said: "Great Khan, your slave has a matter of the utmost urgency and secrecy to report."

Seeing that he could not get Hooge's corpse back and that the assault on the walls was futile, Hong Taiji ordered the troops withdrawn and the attack halted for the time being, then took Daishan, Degelei, and the others back to the main army tent.

Once inside the tent, Degelei fell to his knees and cried out: "Great Khan, we have been deceived by that dog-barbarian Liu Aita! That dog-barbarian was never sincere about attacking the Ming!

Now not only have all the nikan of the Four Southern Garrisons fled, that dog-barbarian has even joined forces with the barbarian Mao Wenlong to attack Shengjing — Shengjing is in imminent peril!"

Hong Taiji roared in fury: "The dog-barbarians push us too far!" — and then spat out a mouthful of blood and passed out on the spot. This so alarmed Fan Wencheng that he rushed forward in a panic, pressing Hong Taiji's philtrum while sending men to find a physician.

Before the physician accompanying the army could arrive, Hong Taiji had already groggily come to, and said: "This Khan is fine. This matter must absolutely not be made known."

He then said to Daishan: "The matter of Shengjing must be kept secret for now. Elder Brother, go make the arrangements — tonight we shall withdraw the army and return to Shenyang.

Send word to Amin and Dorgon to prepare to withdraw together with the main army. Order Dorgon to take the rear guard and guard against any pursuit by the barbarians."

Daishan accepted the order and went off to prepare, though in his heart he was hoping Hong Taiji would vomit up a few more mouthfuls of blood — ideally, vomit until he died!

In Daishan's view, this siege of the barbarians' capital had brought the Great Jin nothing but loss for no gain.

First, the barbarian court had likely gotten word in advance; with everything fortified and the fields stripped bare, they had not managed to seize any supplies at all, while instead consuming a great deal in provisions for men and horses.

Second, the barbarian soldiers defending the city had gone mad for some unknown reason; though they dared not leave the city to fight the Great Jin in the field, when it came to defending the walls, they fought with a reckless disregard for death, trading life for life with the Great Jin's warriors.

Although in the assault it was the Han Army Eight Banners who died in the greatest numbers, the Great Jin's Jurchen Eight Banners also suffered heavy casualties.

Later, they even lost five hundred elite troops in a single blunder; not only did they fail to break open the city gate, but Hooge was also carved alive by the barbarians' dog-emperor.

And now Shengjing is in such imminent danger that they must urgently turn the army around to rescue it; on the return journey, there is still Ligdan Khan's side to be dealt with, or else if they provoke Ligdan Khan into a desperate fight, that will be yet another troublesome affair.

Now Daishan felt only that they had lost the wife as well as the soldiers; his discontent with Hong Taiji grew heavier and heavier.

Only, at this very moment, Dorgon had also run into enormous trouble. Had Daishan known of it, he would likely have been just like Hong Taiji — vomiting blood and fainting in fury.