Chapter 129: Consumption

Behind him came the rumbling thunder of hooves — the remaining cavalry must have been dispatched — but the chaotic crowd blocked their speed. Zhu Guobin raced in pursuit along the open ground on the left, drawing a heavy arrow with his right hand, yet he could find no opening. The man lay flat on his horse's back and turned his head to cast a cold glance back; even through the gaps in the crowd and from over twenty paces away, Zhu Guobin could feel that venomous glare.

As the people on the official road fled to both sides, the man's horse picked up more and more speed, until he was already thirty paces from Zhu Guobin. Zhu Guobin dared not wait any longer. With no time to worry about hitting the wrong person, he halted, drew a deep breath, slowly pulled his bow, made a rough estimate, and abruptly released the string. The heavy arrow shot forth with a whistle, about to strike the man's mount, when a refugee suddenly darted across its path. The arrow pierced straight through the refugee's cheek and sent him crashing to the right.

Zhu Guobin groaned inwardly. The man on horseback hastily scanned the road ahead — the people on the road had all scattered. Just as he was about to spur his horse faster, the clothes on his back suddenly tightened, and a powerful force yanked him violently to the left. Caught completely off guard, he was dragged bodily off his horse.

His back slammed painfully against the ground. Before he could even see what was happening, a short blade came stabbing straight at his face. He instinctively jerked his head aside; the blade grazed his cheek and thudded into the dirt. A figure immediately threw itself on top of him, one hand pressing down on his cheek.

He was a battle-hardened man himself. Seizing the moment before the attacker on top of him could adjust, he drove his right elbow fiercely to the left, using the other man's momentum to knock him onto the ground on his left side. He quickly rolled to the right, pushed hard with both hands, and sprang to his feet. In the same motion, he drew his shun saber with his right hand and slashed at the man on the ground.

But the man was just as agile, rolling sideways and also getting to his feet — it was the very same carter who had quarreled with the proprietor. Once up, the man took several long strides straight toward the riderless horse, pricked its rump with the tip of his knife, and the horse bolted forward as if shocked by lightning. Then, short blade in hand, he lunged again.

By now the crowd had dispersed. Nie Hong and his men had already closed to within ten paces. Without his horse, the rider knew escape was impossible. His left hand drew a short scaling knife from his right side, and with a sweep of his right-hand shun saber he forced the carter back. Footsteps sounded behind him; he spun around in alarm. A heavy wolf-tooth club came sweeping in with a howl of wind. He parried desperately with his shun saber, but the blow sent the weapon flying from his grip. A man built like an ox barreled into him; he slashed with his scaling knife, but the opponent easily deflected it with a raised iron-arm guard. Then the man's shoulder slammed into his chest, sending him flying backward to crash to the ground several paces away, blood streaming from his nose and mouth, his mind a blank. By the time his senses returned, several strong men already had his limbs pinned down fast.

The unhorsed rider was now sick with regret. He was an armored soldier of the Plain Blue Banner. The day before, his niru had been ordered to march out with the Mongol left and right wings. Because he spoke Chinese, Regional Commander Unage had assigned him to scout Gu'an and Zhuozhou. To let his horse travel farther, he had set out wearing only a cotton brigandine. That morning, he and his party of over twenty riders had surveyed the city walls north of the city, after which the others had gone off to plunder the surrounding countryside. He alone had disguised himself and circled to the south of the city. He figured that too many people were looting north of the city, and that going south alone would yield a better haul. He soon spotted several men dressed as couriers; his instincts told him these men were likely disguised Ming outriders as well. Abandoning any thought of plunder, he mingled with the refugees and followed them, and thus discovered the main body of the Wendeng Battalion. This army was clearly different from any Ming force he had seen before: even just sitting on the ground, their military bearing was impeccable, and they possessed a type of large musket he had never encountered. Their numbers were around two thousand plus. Discovering such a force would surely earn him praise for diligent scouting, and military rewards would be guaranteed once he returned. When Zhu Guobin spotted him, he was surrounded by refugees and his horse could not pick up speed at all, so he had risked creating chaos. Just as escape seemed within reach, a carter had ruined everything.

The armored soldier's limbs and head were pinned so tightly he could not move an inch. Once several men had bound his hands and feet and hauled him up, Zhu Guobin ripped away the cotton cloth wrapped around his head, revealing a bare, dark-bluish pate. Beneath a pair of upturned nostrils, his lips parted to show several badly worn yellow buckteeth. His chin was smooth, and a dozen rat-like whiskers clung to his upper lip. At the back of his head, a thin queue like a money-rat's tail swung back and forth. The surrounding refugees shrieked as if they had seen a monster.

The carter burst out laughing and cursed, "A real Tatar! Good, good!"

Nie Hong came up to look, curious, and said with a grin, "So this is a Jianzhou bandit. So that's what they look like." He turned to the burly man who had made the tackle and praised him, "Pu Zhuang, well done. Mark one merit for now."

"Pu Zhuang truly lives up to being the second fiercest warrior of my personal guard." Chen Xin's voice sounded from behind. The men nearby hurriedly saluted. The burly man called Pu Zhuang broke into a wide grin; rough and straightforward as he was, he didn't bother with any modest words.

Chen Xin walked up to the Tatar, grabbed his queue, and yanked his face up. The armored soldier looked around at the ring of Ming troops and a frightened expression appeared on his face. Chen Xin clicked his tongue and said, "Excellent. We'll put him to good use. So Tatars know fear too, after all."

None of the men around understood what he meant by "put to good use," but they knew Lord Chen must have a purpose, so they waited for his instructions.

"First, have all the training officers from the Instruction Corps come observe. After the observation, Zhu Guobin will be responsible for interrogating him for intelligence. The personal guard will detail two men with a heavy hand — whatever torture it takes, I want the Tatar's military intelligence extracted."

Nie Hong chuckled darkly, "Then I'll do it myself. My lord, after the interrogation, can we finish him off?"

"No finishing him off. After the interrogation, I still have a use for him."

Chen Xin then turned to Zhu Guobin and said, "Jianzhou scout riders have already reached our army's vicinity. Our cavalry reconnaissance has gaps. From now on, anyone encountered traveling from south to north is to be ordered to turn back. Anyone whose behavior is suspicious or whose words don't add up — attack immediately."

Zhu Guobin, his face full of shame, acknowledged the order. Before the observation began, he hurried off to arrange the cavalry reconnaissance.

Several personal guards had retrieved the riderless horse. They took down the saddlebags and laid out their contents, along with the items found on the Tatar, on the ground to be inventoried. A military judge supervised while Dong Yu assigned a quartermaster to compile a register. There was no small amount of gold and silver, as well as some women's jewelry still stained with blood.

Just as they were tallying the items, Chief Training Officer Huang Side arrived with a group of training officers.

Huang Side saw the bloodstains on Chen Xin's hands, then looked at the Tatar's face. He rushed over in three quick strides, pulled out a white cotton handkerchief, and moved to wipe Chen Xin's hands, saying as he did so, "This, this really — My lord, you need only give us your orders. Why trouble yourself to do it personally? This Tatar blood might be poisonous or something — what if it harmed you, my lord?" With that, he gave the armored soldier two hard kicks and said fiercely, "You dog Tatar, not content with your evil deeds, you even have to dirty my lord's hands."

Chen Xin smiled and waved him off, took the handkerchief and wiped his hands a couple of times himself, then asked Huang Side, "When the cry of 'The Tatars are coming!' went up just now, was the army affected?"

"My lord is perceptive. There was a slight stir at first, but in the blink of an eye the ranks were orderly again — all thanks to my lord's effective training and his treating his soldiers like his own sons."

Chen Xin said, "Since there was a slight stir, it means everyone still harbors some fear of the Tatars. Ever since the troubles in the east began, our Great Ming has suffered more defeats than victories against the eastern bandits. Everyone turns pale at the mere mention of the word 'Tatar.' Just now, everyone saw how a single Tatar sent over a thousand people fleeing in panic — pitiful and lamentable. For all of you, as training officers, this is an excellent opportunity. A horse groom captured a Tatar. How do you think this should be propagated to the soldiers? No need to raise your hands — speak as you think of something."

Nie Hong, standing nearby, was a bit puzzled when he heard Chen Xin say a horse groom had captured the Tatar, but seeing Chen Xin's perfectly serious expression, he held his tongue.

One training officer said, "We should tell the soldiers that these Tatars are not so fearsome — they don't have three heads and six arms. We can even capture them alive, so they can certainly be killed."

Chen Xin nodded, "That's a good point. Everyone take note of it."

"If even a horse groom can kill one, so can we fighting men of Weihai."

"That one works too."

"We should let the soldiers get a good look at this Tatar so they'll be familiar with them and won't be afraid next time they encounter one."

Chen Xin raised his eyes and looked at the speaker — it was Zhao Xuan, who was accompanying the army as a trainee.

"Very good."

Zhao Xuan, having finally received praise, hurriedly cupped his fists and bowed.

Chen Xin said approvingly, "Starting from the soldiers' perspective, focusing on the small details — that is exactly what a qualified training officer should do."

Huang Side said respectfully to Chen Xin, "Since Zhao Xuan joined our army, his performance on the march has been quite good."

"Zhao Xuan, do your job well. In the future, help the Chief Training Officer with more tasks."

Zhao Xuan hastily agreed and replied, "Sharing my lord's burdens is this humble officer's duty."

Chen Xin turned back to the other training officers: "Does anyone else have any other suggestions?"

Seeing Zhao Xuan earn the lord's praise, the others were envious and also wanted to seize the chance to prove themselves. They immediately began discussing animatedly, all talking at once.

After these training officers had finished their observation, Nie Hong and Pu Zhuang hauled the Tatar up. Zhu Guobin and several personal guards took the man into a nearby civilian house for interrogation. Moments later, waves of agonized howls rang out.

Half a shichen later, Zhu Guobin emerged. Nie Hong followed a few steps behind, wiping the blood from his hands with a rag as he walked.

Zhu Guobin came over and reported, "My lord, the Jianzhou bandit has confessed. The Jianzhou forces encamped at Nanhaizi on the twenty-fifth and advanced the day before yesterday to a position between Yongdingmen and Zuo'anmen. The surrounding area has already been stripped clean by their looting."

Liu Po marked it on the map. Chen Xin asked Zhu Guobin, "How did he end up coming to Gu'an?"

"The Jianzhou Chieftain got word of a cannon-transport column bringing Red Barbarian cannons that is about to reach the capital. He plans to send the Mongol left and right wings to intercept it (Note 1). He assigned a Plain Blue Banner niru to oversee them and also transferred some White Armor Soldiers. The Plain Blue Banner contributed roughly four to five hundred men, the Mongol left and right wings over a thousand, plus some tribal forces from Aohan and Khorchin. The commander is the Tatars' Regional Commander Unage. But this Tatar we captured can't figure out the exact numbers himself — he estimates fewer than three thousand men."

The Later Jin tribal system was inherently chaotic, so it was understandable that the Tatar soldier couldn't get the numbers straight. Lu Chuanzong asked worriedly, "Did they manage to intercept it? Those Red Barbarian cannons are no joke."

"No. The main force only set out from Nanhaizi yesterday. They didn't head straight for Gu'an, but marched between Zhuozhou and Gu'an. The Tatar we captured was out scouting. They haven't found the Red Barbarian cannons on this side. After circling Gu'an once, the White Armor leading the scouts judged that Gu'an could be taken, so the chances of the main force coming are high."

Chen Xin slapped his palm on the map and said to the officers around him, "Three thousand men. We'll take them on. Tomorrow we reach the north of Gu'an and begin setting up defenses. All cavalry are to go out scouting. I will not permit another Tatar to get this close to us again. How is that Tatar you interrogated?"

"Still alive."

"Have the medics treat his wounds. I want to keep him for further use."

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On the official road, the Wendeng Battalion began to advance. Zhou Shao'er walked along with his Mandarin Duck Squad, looking around as he went. The ground was littered with the luggage and bedding the refugees had just abandoned — a scene of utter chaos. When the cry of "The Tatars are coming!" had gone up everywhere earlier, there had been a slight panic in the ranks, and Zhou Shao'er had felt a knot of tension in his chest too. Later, when the Squad Commander ordered them to prepare for battle and everyone formed up with weapons in hand, they had steadied.

Up ahead on the official road, a wooden post had been erected on a cart. A Tatar hung from it, guarded by several personal guardsmen at the base of the post. As their company marched up beside the cart, the squad commander's uniquely rasping, gong-like voice rang out: "Company, HALT!"

After the whole company halted and turned to face the column commander, Chief Training Officer Huang Side stepped to the front and began to bellow in his own rasping, gong-like voice. Zhou Shao'er figured their gong-like voices were all caused by talking too loudly.

Huang Side yanked the Tatar's queue back, forcing his face up and shaking it side to side. "We keep saying we're going to kill Tatars, but none of you have ever seen what a Tatar looks like. Some say Tatars have ox heads and horse faces, eyes as big as bowls, and one can fight a hundred Han Chinese. Bullshit. Today, let everyone have a look. This thing hanging up here is a Tatar. See? No hair on top, a pig's tail dragging behind his head. Ugly, isn't it?" As he spoke, the training officer grabbed the Tatar's foot and spun him in a circle so everyone could see that queue.

"Before this bastard was caught, he killed an innocent woman. How was he caught? Stopped by this carter brother here in front. This carter brother doesn't know any martial arts — he just dared to fight for his life. So what if they're Tatars? They still die just the same. Our Wendeng Battalion is full of true men. Every month you eat well and drink well, and your pay has never been short. Why? Because we're here to kill Tatars. Don't tell me you can't even measure up to an untrained carter brother. If you can't, then what kind of true man are you? When you go home, would you even have the face to get into your wife's bed?"

The training officer's spittle flew. Zhou Shao'er studied the Tatar carefully. His face was crisscrossed with gashes, completely slashed to ruin, and his body was covered with many small wounds and bloodstains everywhere, though all had been roughly bandaged. Apart from that queue, he looked pretty much the same as himself — not particularly huge or brawny, no three heads and six arms. Since even that carter could catch him, he could certainly kill one too. So it turned out Tatars were just this sort of goods. All that fear before had been for nothing.

Huang Side was still bellowing: "Some of you are still thinking in your hearts, 'Wendeng is still far away — if we can't beat them, we'll just run back to Shandong.' Let me tell you, never mind whether you can even run away — Wendeng is not far at all. If we don't stop these Tatars today, these Tatars will come to Shandong, come to Wendeng, come to Weihaiwei. Where will you run then? Even if they don't come this year, they'll come next year. They'll loot all your grain, loot all your land, loot all your silver, and they'll take your sisters, your wives, and your daughters. They'll kill your elderly parents, just like they did to these refugees today. And in the end, they'll capture you and make you their slaves — your sons and daughters, your grandsons and granddaughters, for generations, all will be their slaves. And that's not all…"

The training officer had spoken too long in one breath and paused to catch it. Several soldiers were already red-faced with fury; were it not for military discipline, they would have cursed aloud long ago. Zhou Shao'er was also seething with indignation. These Tatars were simply too hateful. Lord Chen had finally given everyone a good life — what gave these Tatars the right to come and snatch everything away? And they even wanted his sons and grandsons to be slaves forever?

"And that's not all. What else will they do? They'll force you to shave your heads, leave a pig's tail hanging behind just like theirs, and make you wear only their Tatar clothes. Then one day, when you die and meet your ancestors, your ancestors will ask who you are. What family has descendants who keep a pig's tail and wear Tatar clothes? Would you still have the face to face your ancestors?"

Huang Side slapped his own face a few times. "No more. So what do we do? How do we stop them from coming to steal our things? There's only one way — kill them! War means people die, but even if you die in battle, you'll have saved the lives of your parents and your wife, saved your children and grandchildren from becoming slaves. Even in death, you can face your ancestors. Besides, Lord Chen looks after your families — there's death compensation, and every year there's a fixed support pension. What's there to fear? If you're still afraid of Tatars that even a child could kill, then you're worse than pigs and dogs. Two roads: one, be a gutless, shameless slave; two, stake your life, kill Tatars with the lord, follow the lord to a bright future, win wealth and rank. Tell me, which road do you choose?!"

"Kill his mother's Tatars!!" "Kill the Tatars" "Follow the lord and kill Tatars" — the soldiers of Wendeng Camp roared in fury. No one would willingly let their happy life be taken away. Now they all had monthly pay; some had family members working in Weihai; some garrison households had already been allotted fields; children could learn to read; even wives and sisters could enter the workshops and earn quite a bit. Their lives were clearly better than the surrounding military and civilian households. On what grounds should the Tatars take that away? Nation, race — none of them really understood those things. But if someone wants to steal what belongs to our family, you have to fight them to the death. Besides, these Tatars aren't unkillable — just look at that sorry lot, and they want to plunder our Wendeng Camp.

It really was just as the Indoctrination Officer said: if the Tatars came, none of them would survive. Lord Chen had promised death compensation for those who fell in battle. If you deserted, not only would you be beheaded in the end, but the compensation money would also be gone. With both ends blocked off, they actually had no other choice. Though they were all ordinary garrison soldiers, they were no fools. On the march, the Indoctrination Officer had already explained all these principles clearly, and they had memorized the military regulations by heart. No one still harbored thoughts of running....

After Huang Side finished speaking, Chen Xin smiled at him. "Good mobilization — nothing hollow, everyone could understand it, and you touched on all the key points I summarized earlier."

Huang Side hurriedly replied, "Yes, it's all thanks to the method you taught your subordinate. First practice it within the Indoctrination Corps, then deliver it to a platoon, then to a banner company. Slowly, I trained myself up."

Chen Xin smiled faintly. "Huang Side, you've done well. The soldiers now generally accept the Indoctrination Officers — that's all your own hard work. After this battle, I plan to give you more heavy responsibilities. You'll have to work even harder from now on."

As soon as Huang Side heard this, he knew Chen Xin meant to expand the Indoctrination Officers' authority. Delighted, he quickly replied, "Sharing the lord's burdens — what hardship is there to speak of?"

Huang Side was pleased. He looked at the Tatar soldier and said to Chen Xin, "My lord, this Tatar is useless now — shall we kill him?"

"No, still need to consume."

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Note 1: From the Old Manchu Archives, twelfth month of the third year of Tiancong: "Earlier, two Mongol banner units were dispatched to intercept Ming artillery transport troops. Now, envoys have come to report to the Khan that they captured Gu'an County and annihilated all its soldiers." Based on contemporaneous Ming records, it is speculated that what Hong Taiji intercepted was likely the second batch of Portuguese mercenaries. These men had been recruited in Macao by Viceroy of Liangguang Li Fengjie, totaling 31 men, led by the later-famous Gonçalo Teixeira Correia. They were transporting seven iron Hongyi cannons and three bronze Hongyi cannons to the capital. At this very moment, they had just reached Zhuozhou, west of Gu'an. Upon hearing of the Jianzhou bandits' incursion, they immediately set up defenses in Zhuozhou and test-fired several rounds. These men later became the firearms instructors for Sun Yuanhua's troop training in Dengzhou. It is likely that Hong Taiji intercepted Ming military dispatches or relay riders, and therefore sent troops to intercept these high-tech weapons.