Chapter 350

In the twelfth month of the sixth year of Tiancong of the Later Jin, the Later Jin armies returned to their various stations. This time, the scattered Mongols they captured in Chahar totaled nearly thirty thousand people, with forty thousand head of livestock — a figure that did not even include the Chahar taijis and their followers who surrendered voluntarily.

They entered Xuanfu and plundered for over half a month. The Manchu Eight Banners captured twenty-one thousand Han civilians and twenty thousand head of livestock, and beheaded thirteen thousand Han adult males. The outer-subject Mongol tribes who entered the passes with them kept no count, but the Han adult males they beheaded were surely no fewer than ten thousand.

Even the newly submitted Chahar Mongol taijis followed along and made a fortune. The Han people plundered from Xuanfu were the first reward Huang Taiji gave them — and the source was still the common people of the Great Ming.

This time Huang Taiji drove out Ligdan Khan. Strategically, it was a great victory. The entire Southern Gobi Mongols submitted to the Later Jin, and all nine border garrisons of the Great Ming's northern frontier now lay under the direct threat of the Later Jin.

Tactically, the Later Jin army's performance was unremarkable — they did not even fight a single decent battle. It was basically an armed parade. After entering Xuanfu, they relied on their reputation to intimidate people. Yet the gains were extremely rich. The various divisions captured nearly seventy thousand people, sixty thousand of whom belonged to the Later Jin's own ten banners — yet another replenishment of Liaodong's manpower.

After returning to Liaodong, Huang Taiji allocated an extra two hundred able-bodied men to the Plain White Banner, which had suffered heavy losses — all captured Mongols — plus one hundred newly submitted Fishskin Tatars. But Dorgon still complained endlessly.

The Ming army at Jinzhou had gained the advantage through the Fuzhou campaign. After Yue Tu led troops to reinforce, the total troop strength at Fuzhou reached as many as six or seven thousand, plus some bondservants. All of these needed to be supplied from Haizhou. After the winter snow fell, horse-drawn carts could no longer be used; only ice sleds and sleighs could be employed. Manggūltai, Yue Tu, and Dorgon all wished to withdraw their men from Fuzhou, using the pretext of reducing logistical difficulties — but in truth, they wanted to extract themselves from the predicament.

But just at this moment, Mota Pu, a mere twenty li north of Fuzhou city, was suddenly raided. A unit of Ming troops from Jinzhou infiltrated at midnight, quietly killed the sentries, and opened the gate. Fifty or sixty Ming soldiers rushed in. That very day, a contingent of the Bordered Red Banner happened to be there escorting grain and fodder. Together with the local Plain Blue Banner armored troops garrisoned there, they held the inner wooden palisade. The Ming troops withdrew before daybreak. The Plain Blue Banner lost over thirty men and had nearly a hundred horses seized. The fifty ice sleds and the grain stored in the fort were also burned.

The route between Fuzhou and Gaizhou suffered scattered raids repeatedly. Large cavalry units of the Ming army also frequently appeared near the Pingyang River. Yue Tu and the others had insufficient troops to attack Jinzhou, yet also insufficient troops to defend such a vast area. They could only dispatch more scouts, pushing east into the mountains to engage in a tug-of-war with the Jinzhou scouts. Garrison troops could not be reduced in the slightest. In the Later Jin, each banner managed its own provisions — exactly the same deplorable nature as the Ming army's guest-troop system. When the Ming army transferred troops from other regions, they still needed to supply grain from the original garrison's guard battalion — a truly bizarre system. After the Liaodong war began, because the troops sent to aid Liaodong were stationed for too long, the Ministry of War finally switched to unified supply using the Liaodong military tax.

Because of the long-distance grain transport, the villages of these three banners in central Liaodong were full of complaints. The other banners had reaped rich rewards in Chahar and Xuanfu. They certainly would not hand over all their spoils to the common treasury. It was customary for Later Jin soldiers to hide plunder; even Huang Taiji could only turn a blind eye. The other banners had gone off to make fortunes, while these armored soldiers and their families left behind had to fight hard battles and even contribute their own grain — naturally, they had grievances.

Along the route, grain and fodder were relayed and escorted by the various forts between Fuzhou and Gaizhou. No one wanted to escort the entire journey. The Ming court's original military fort system in Liaodong was roughly one fort every ten li and one post station every sixty li. The Later Jin's restoration also followed the one-fort-per-ten-li model. After suffering one raid, the Later Jin could only increase the garrison at each fort, further thinning out the troops at Fuzhou.

Even with such precautions, the grain transport convoys were still attacked repeatedly. Large-scale Ming army raids became less frequent, and their movements were also restricted. The most common threat was landmines. That kind of "myriad-bomb landmine cannon" could flip a sleigh into the air and incidentally knock down several nearby cavalrymen. The Ming troops usually crept onto the official road at night, buried the landmines, and covered them with a layer of snow. They were very hard to spot from the surface.

These trigger mines caused no small harm. The Later Jin soldiers spaced each grain cart twenty paces apart, front to back, to prevent one blast from damaging multiple carts. Each time, they also sent two or three bondservants to drive the carts in front. As the snow layer grew thicker and thicker, survival in the field gradually became difficult for the Jinzhou scouts. Only then did the activity die down, and they gradually withdrew to Jinzhou. By this time, it was already the twelfth month. Whether Jurchen, Mongol, or Han, everyone had to celebrate the New Year.

On the twentieth day of the twelfth month, Huang Taiji arrived at the cannon foundry north of Shenyang city. Accompanying him were Jirgalang, Dorgon, Gao Hongzhong, Ma Guangyuan, Shi Tingzhu, and others.

The person directly responsible for casting cannons was still that Ding Qiming who had surrendered during the Jisi year. Because the Ujen Cooha cannon unit had performed well at Dalinghe, Ding Qiming was also promoted to Vice General for his cannon-casting merits. He was currently one of the six jalan ejen under Ujen Cooha.

After kneeling in obeisance, Ding Qiming led Huang Taiji into the courtyard he had visited early the previous year. Huang Taiji ignored the several newly made giant iron cannons on the left and walked straight to the right, stopping with barely concealed urgency before two small cannons.

Ever since the Battle of Shenmi Island, Huang Taiji and his circle had begun paying attention to Wendeng's armaments. During the Jisi campaign, Wendeng's armaments had no essential difference from the Ming army's. Yet at Shenmi Island, flintlock muskets, pike squares, and four-pounder cannons appeared. At Jinzhou, formation cavalry and short guns appeared. At Fuzhou, landmines and eight-pounder cannons appeared. Even Huang Taiji sometimes muttered to himself: what would Dengzhou Garrison produce next?

This endless stream of new weapons and new tactics brought the Later Jin leadership a fear of the unknown. It was also why Huang Taiji so hastily dispatched Li Yongfang to go to Dengzhou and Laizhou in person.

The craftsmen responsible for casting the cannons were still Wang Tianxiang and Jin Shixiang. The two knelt on either side of the bronze cannons. In the original history, both later belonged to the Han-martial Plain Yellow and Bordered Yellow Banners and each held official posts. Wang Tianxiang was even transferred to the Jinzhou cannon foundry after Jinzhou fell. Through Zu Dashou's Jinzhou cannon foundry, he cast the Manchu Qing's own iron-body, copper-core cannon, the "Divine Might Grand General," whose technical level far surpassed the current "Heaven-Blessed Awe-Inspiring Grand General."

Before the Ming fell, Zu Dashou absolutely refused to enter the passes, single-mindedly managing Ningyuan and Jinzhou. He even placed the most advanced cannon foundry on the front lines, letting it fall to the Manchu Qing along with the army. This can also be counted as one of Zu Dashou's contributions to the Manchu Qing.

"Great Khan, please look. These are those two small bronze cannons. They fire three-jin balls, use three-wheeled gun carriages, and weigh nine hundred jin in total with the carriage. Originally they had no sighting arc, but it was the Great Khan who reminded this slave. This slave went to the Heaven-Blessed Army and obtained the suggestion from that gunner Kong Youde, and added the sighting arc."

Huang Taiji gently stroked the two bronze cannons with his hand. He turned his head, nodded at Shi Tingzhu, and motioned for him to come up and take a look.

Shi Tingzhu came over, circled around to look, then excused himself and ran far off to several dozen paces away. He turned his head and peered at the cannon body. Only after a long while did he return and kneel before Huang Taiji.

"In reply to the Great Khan, our Great Jin's cannon seems somewhat larger."

Huang Taiji asked flatly, "In what way larger? Speak."

Shi Tingzhu swallowed a mouthful of saliva, still quite nervous at heart. He had led the Ujen Cooha combat troops at Fuzhou and been routed by a few dozen Dengzhou soldiers, and had now become a laughingstock within the Later Jin. Huang Taiji had flown into a thunderous rage. If not for the fact that many had surrendered this year and he worried about unsettling their hearts, Shi Tingzhu would certainly have been beheaded.

"Our bronze cannon's barrel is larger than the Dengzhou soldiers', and also somewhat longer. The wheels are smaller than the Dengzhou ones."

Shi Tingzhu answered succinctly. He could be considered the person in the Later Jin who had seen the four-pounder cannon the most times — present at both Shenmi Island and Fuzhou. Today, Huang Taiji had also specifically called him to come view it together.

"It seems the Nikan's cannon barrel is not long. This slave estimates it himself, about a bit over four chi. Our cannon is definitely heavier than the Dengzhou one." Dorgon, who had made a special trip, also nodded and spoke. Many in his Bordered White Banner had seen this cannon, but most of those who could get close were very tense at the time and had not observed as carefully as Dorgon himself.

Dorgon touched the muzzle of the bronze cannon and said with a gloomy face, "The Dengzhou soldiers' cannon absolutely does not exceed seven hundred jin. I saw their movement from the top of Fuzhou's wall."

Ding Qiming, fearful that the masters would not be satisfied, respectfully explained, "This cannon's mold was made before the Fuzhou battle. If the masters find it too large, the later molds can be made shorter."

Huang Taiji said calmly, "Vice General Ding, proceed boldly. It need not be exactly identical to that Wendeng three-jin small cannon. Perhaps these two are even better, who can say? Since the cannons are already made, when can they be deployed to Ujen Cooha?"

Ding Qiming felt slightly relieved upon hearing this. Huang Taiji, of course, could not propose methods like experimental statistics, and they also had no actual Wendeng small cannon to compare against. This kind of imitation was even more difficult than the Heaven-Blessed Awe-Inspiring Grand General, because for the Grand General, they at least had an actual Dragon-Tail Cannon for reference. For this small cannon, all they had were descriptions from eyewitnesses on the battlefield — sometimes even contradictory. Achieving sixty to seventy percent resemblance under such circumstances was already a good result.

Ding Qiming had been making cannons for two years and could now be considered half an expert. Simply stating the weight of the cannonball was far from sufficient to describe a cannon. When a cannon was made, the amount of powder and the amount of shot to use all required careful estimation. He replied to Huang Taiji, "This slave replies to the Great Khan: these two small cannons are objects our Great Jin has never possessed. They are useless for attacking cities; they are all for field battles. The powder charge and shot must all be recalculated — for example, what size of grapeshot is suitable, what the total number should be, what kind of shot to fire at how many hundred paces. All of this takes time. One or two months may not even be enough."

In reality, a weapon's organization, funding, and tactics all affected its effectiveness. There was much Ding Qiming did not mention. Wendeng's four-pounder cannon took over half a year from trial production to service, and after reaching the cannon unit, the drill manual still needed constant improvement. Then it had to train in coordination with infantry formations, employing different tactics under different battlefield conditions to achieve different tactical objectives. Its combat effectiveness was far more than just a few cannons; it was a basic-level artillery system formed with the four-pounder cannon as its core.

Still, it was commendable for Ding Qiming to explain the cannon itself clearly at this time. Even in Europe, artillery had only recently become a specialized branch; before, it had been craftsmen directly operating the guns.

Hearing him speak clearly, Huang Taiji did not press for these two winter months. He consoled Ding Qiming with kind words. Then he turned to Ma Guangyuan and said sternly, "Vice General Ma, for these two trial bronze cannons, Ujen Cooha and my Plain Yellow Banner Han troops will each be allocated one. I hope you firmly remember the lesson of Fuzhou. Should there be another instance of fleeing before battle, all will be executed, and their families enslaved."

Ma Guangyuan, like Ding Qiming, had surrendered during the Jisi year. He was formerly an Assistant Regional Commander of Yongping and was now a Vice General of the Later Jin. He knelt and acknowledged the order, stealing a glance at Shi Tingzhu. Shi Tingzhu hunched his head. He had already been demoted. Huang Taiji had originally intended to kill him, but now Tong Yangxing was gravely ill — estimated to be a matter of one or two months at most. Huang Taiji did not want instability to arise in the Ujen Cooha force, so he only demoted Shi Tingzhu to Mobile Corps Commander and changed the elite troops' ejen to Ma Guangyuan.

After inspecting the cannons, Huang Taiji was led by Ding Qiming into the building to the north. Inside lay several bird guns. The only difference was that none of them had matchlock clamps; instead, they had a dragon's head gripping a flint. Huang Taiji's face showed a pleased expression. The flintlock had begun to be copied at the start of the year. The advantage this time was that they had captured several short guns, and the flintlock mechanism inside was the same as that of a long musket.

The connecting parts and structure inside still posed considerable difficulty. Regardless of size, they all needed to be heated red-hot and forged into shape, then undergo some grinding — extremely time-consuming. The iron parts were not the hardest; the hardest was that piece of copper spring. The kinetic energy of the flintlock's strike relied entirely on this spring to store power. The Later Jin, just as they had with the red-barbarian cannons, issued a call for talent and recruited five locksmiths. After five months, they produced a suitable copper spring and were now training apprentices.

At the same time, they also recruited several dozen craftsmen who had made bird guns. The Later Jin began self-producing bird guns earlier than in the original history. However, the flintlock they copied had a more complex structure than the bird gun. The dragon's head alone required many more parts. With the Later Jin's method of entirely manual, single-person fabrication, training a craftsman capable of making a flintlock took a very long time, and what each person produced was different.

Huang Taiji, of course, had no concept of standardization either. The workshops had always each done things their own way; as long as the product looked roughly the same, it was acceptable. He flipped through those several flintlocks. The flint was fixed onto the dragon's head with a bolt. This kind of bolt was not high technology; the breech end of an ordinary matchlock's barrel was sealed with a bolt.

Because the flintlock had an energy-storing structure, the kinetic energy released at the moment of firing was very strong. Therefore, the linked structures all required high strength, including the trigger and lock materials. For the Later Jin, making the rolled iron sheet for the gun barrel was also a bottleneck.

Ding Qiming said in a low voice, "Great Khan, this self-igniting musket is extremely difficult to fabricate. At present, there are only a dozen or so skilled craftsmen. They can produce over forty self-igniting bird muskets per month. If we need to make more, I fear we must transfer some craftsmen from the various banners."

Huang Taiji nodded slightly but gave no clear reply to Ding Qiming. The outer casing of the lock was even carved with decorative patterns — clearly specially prepared for him by Ding Qiming. Huang Taiji made no comment, merely motioning for Ma Guangyuan to test-fire. Under the watch of several bayara guards, three elite soldiers of Ujen Cooha picked up the flintlocks and pulled the triggers toward a row of wooden targets in the distance.

Two booms rang out. Two of the flintlocks fired. The remaining soldier fumbled to cock the hammer again, but failed to fire twice in a row.

The assembled Later Jin nobles all stared at that soldier. Ding Qiming's forehead broke out in sweat, and his hands and feet began to tremble. Behind him, the craftsmen Wang Tianxiang and the others had already knelt in terror.

Just as no one knew what to do, Gao Hongzhong beside them spoke in a calm tone, "Your servant congratulates the Great Khan on acquiring yet another fine weapon. First, the red-barbarian cannon surpassed its origin, toppling cities and capturing forts at Dalinghe. Now, the self-igniting musket can be used in both field battles and city defense. Though there is a minor malfunction, the flaw does not obscure the gem. As long as Vice General Ding strictly supervises and strives for ever greater perfection, the day this fine weapon surpasses that of Dengzhou and Laizhou is within reach."

Ding Qiming breathed a huge sigh of relief when he heard him speak. Gao Hongzhong was also a jalan ejen of Ujen Cooha. During the Jisi incursion, it was he who had first proposed entering the passes. He was also a Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, a Han official of considerable standing before Huang Taiji. His words gave Ding Qiming a way out. Still, Ding Qiming very tactfully knelt to beg forgiveness.

This year, the Han troops had been suppressed badly enough. Huang Taiji did not wish to see this. These Han officials had more drive for advancement than most of the Eight Banner nobles. He naturally wanted to boost their morale. He said to the surrounding group of Han officials, "Our Great Jin built our state on bow and horse, and thus we are invincible in field battles on open ground. However, firearms are sharp tools for breaking formations and capturing cities, and cannot be neglected. They are precisely suited for the Han troops to drill with. Whether Jurchen, Mongol, or Han, all are subjects of my Great Jin. We view them all equally. For any of you who render meritorious service, We will not stint on rewards."

Gao Hongzhong took the lead in kneeling and loudly declared, "This slave thanks the Great Khan for his boundless grace."

Huang Taiji raised his hand slightly in a gesture to rise, bidding the Han officials to stand. He cast his gaze around at the surrounding cannons and muskets and said flatly, "The year's end is near. You have all toiled hard for a year. Go back and reunite with your families. In the coming year…" His gaze turned sharp. "You must exert yourselves with ever greater diligence, serve with utmost loyalty, and together with Us, seize wealth and honor."