Chapter 398: Harming Others

At the foot of the northern mountain, Huang Taiji held the blunderbuss in his hand, his expression extremely grim. The gun in his hand had been found that morning, taken from a Dengzhou soldier shot dead by arrows; they had also captured several wounded Dengzhou men, but unfortunately the haul was not large.

Like the night-camp rules of the Qi Family Army, the Later Jin night camp required each unit to hold its assigned ground, forbidding any departure from the defensive line, and only allowing a sortie upon receiving a clear order from the Regional Commander. But last night was different from usual: that earthen wall had been raided by Ming troops during the day, and the various units had lost much time, so by night no solid defense had been formed. The Ming troops seized the chance for a night raid, thrusting along the inner side of the earthen wall and throwing the Later Jin soldiers into utter chaos. The surrounding forces, themselves facing feint attacks by the Ming, did not come to the rescue, so that even the Ujen Cooha in the depth was pursued by the Ming troops. Two of their three newly made field cannons were destroyed.

Both the Bordered Yellow Banner and the Ujen Cooha in the center suffered heavy blows. Of Abatai's five hundred armored soldiers, one hundred and fifty were killed or wounded; over three hundred Mongols and bondservants were killed by both sides as they fled in disorder. That newly replenished Ujen Cooha unit scattered in all directions, many soldiers trampling one another and causing casualties, some only finding their way back in the morning. In the end, more than two hundred men were lost.

The key weapon that caused this rout was precisely this kind of short, stubby blunderbuss before his eyes. It was only about two chi long. Judging from the paper cartridges carried by the Ming soldiers, it fired eight small lead pellets or four large lead pellets at a time. In the darkness of night, with visibility poor, most of the fighting was at close quarters. Facing an attack from such a gun, escape was nearly impossible, and a single shot could strike two or three men.

Huang Taiji could tell without asking that this was a deadly close-combat weapon. What worried him most was how many more secret weapons Dengzhou still had. The previous night's raid had severely dampened the morale of all the Later Jin units. Huang Taiji understood the gravity of the situation. Early that morning, without even convening a council of war, he first summoned Abatai to learn the details.

Huang Taiji knew that pressing too hard right after a fresh defeat was unwise. So today he did not call a council of the deliberative ministers, but instead summoned Abatai alone to question him closely about the battle. Accompanying the inquiry were also Sonin, Gao Hongzhong, and others.

"Seventh Beile, tell me about your dispositions last night."

Huang Taiji's tone betrayed neither joy nor anger, but Abatai could feel the indifference. His own core troops had suffered grievous losses, and given his rank, all future replenishment would depend entirely on Huang Taiji's whim, so his standing had already fallen.

"In reply to the Great Khan, your slave placed one hundred archers behind the passageway, one hundred armored soldiers, and to the rear five hundred Han soldiers under Ujen Cooha Regional Commander Ma. Your slave had thought it absolutely foolproof, but those Dengzhou soldiers suddenly hurled that kind of porcelain bomb. It is unlike the Heaven-Shaking Thunder; the whole body is coarse porcelain with a sharp head, and at the farthest it can burst in the air even twenty paces away. At close range they also had that bamboo-basket Ten-Thousand-Man Foe, and especially many were thrown into the passage mouth. White smoke blinded the eyes in the formation, men and horses were thrown into panic for a time, and then swarms of Dengzhou soldiers charged the formation with these large guns. One shot could do the work of several arrows. Under volley after volley, they just…"

Huang Taiji furrowed his brow. Abatai was a veteran of many battles, and his deployment showed no error. Against ordinary Ming troops it would certainly have sufficed; even against the Dengzhou firearms they had seen before, it would have been enough. Who could have known that a whole group of men all carrying short guns and throwing porcelain bombs would suddenly appear?

"They also have a kind of stone-throwing cannon that is very hard to deal with. Its large stone balls fly high and crash down, able to strike behind the earthen wall. Whoever is hit has no chance of survival. Even in daylight they fire a few rounds from time to time…"

Just as he said this, a muffled thunder of cannon fire came from the direction of Lüshun. Huang Taiji turned to look and could see several small black dots rising from behind the Lüshun earthen wall, then crashing down heavily around the Later Jin earthen wall with a dull thud. One of the shots struck the wall directly, sending earth and debris flying and nearly collapsing that section. Two more struck behind the wall, sending the surrounding Later Jin soldiers fleeing in all directions.

"Take me to see the captured Dengzhou soldiers," Huang Taiji said, rising.

Abatai hastily led the way, bringing Huang Taiji to the Bordered Yellow Banner camp not far off. This place was tucked against the northern mountain slope, beyond the reach of the cannons on West Official Mountain, and could provide a place for Abatai's own men to rest and recover nearby.

Surrounded by his guards, Huang Taiji entered the camp. The open ground inside was covered with bondservants lying down; they had no tents and slept exposed to the sky. From some tents came waves of agonized screams — wounded Bordered Yellow Banner soldiers.

Huang Taiji, long accustomed to slaughter, was utterly unmoved. He followed Abatai into a tent where three soldiers were held, all captured the previous night. One had been shot in the leg by an arrow; the other two had torso wounds. Abatai had not bandaged them, leaving them to live or die on their own.

A guard brought a chair. After Huang Taiji sat down, several Bayara of the Plain Yellow Banner lifted the wounded soldiers from the ground, gripping their heads and tilting their faces up toward Huang Taiji. The soldier with the leg wound showed obvious terror on his face.

"Do not hurt them," Huang Taiji said gently. "Bring a few chairs and let them sit while we talk."

"Dog Tatar!" One of the wounded Dengzhou soldiers swayed as he opened his eyes, struggled to lift his head, and spat. The spittle fell feebly halfway.

A burly White Armor soldier drew his blade to strike, but Huang Taiji waved him off and, unperturbed, asked the Dengzhou soldier: "I am the Great Khan of the Later Jin. You and your kind have been deceived by that Chen Xin and have spread many slanders against my Great Jin. I do not blame you for it. In time you will know for yourselves what Great Jin truly is. In previous days we also captured some Dengzhou soldiers, and among them not a few were willing to serve my Great Jin."

"Dog Tatar, so you are Huang Taiji. You killed so many of us Han people in Liaodong. You also seized Tang Xiaoxiao, killed Yang Gang's whole family, and so many, many more."

"Tang Xiaoxiao?" A pile of question marks appeared above Huang Taiji's head. He had never imagined the soldier would utter such a name. How could he know it came from an opera? But he paid it no mind — the Han people he had killed were indeed many.

"Even if I die, I won't let you go to Dengzhou, and I won't surrender to you. If I die, my family will be cared for by Lord Chen. Don't you dream. I'm a miner, and Lord Chen says we miners are the fiercest soldiers. I am fiercer than you Jianzhou bandit soldiers…"

The soldier rambled on in a low voice, all curses against the Jianzhou bandits. Huang Taiji saw the knife wound on his abdomen and nodded to Sonin beside him. At Sonin's command, several fierce guards rushed over and struck the Dengzhou soldier's limbs violently with the flats of their blades, shattering all the bones in his arms and legs. The soldier collapsed on the ground, letting out low moans, and after a while began muttering again.

That burly White Armor leaned in, heard that he was still cursing, and with an angry shout swung his blade and cut off his head. Blood poured across the ground. Huang Taiji turned to the other two. "The stubborn and unenlightened — I do not fear killing a few more. Those willing to serve me, I will immediately raise your banner status…"

"Raise your mother's banner, dog Tatar," the other Dengzhou soldier with the abdominal wound was not the least bit intimidated. His face flushed and breathing uneven, he cursed, "Cut me down too. I have a son who will avenge me."

Huang Taiji nodded to the White Armor, and the second Dengzhou soldier's head was separated from his body. Then he turned to the last Dengzhou soldier, who was only wounded in the leg. The man was now shaking all over like chaff in a sieve.

"Help this brave fellow up, and be courteous," Huang Taiji said, his tone turning gentle again.

The Dengzhou soldier stole a glance at the Jin soldiers around him and stammered, "Th-thank you, thank you, my lord."

"Dog slave, call him Master!" the White Armor soldier roared again.

Huang Taiji quietly rebuked him: "Oboi, stand back. This brave fellow is new here and does not know these rules — that is entirely forgivable. We must not let others mistake our Great Jin for brutes."

Beads of sweat oozed from the Dengzhou soldier's forehead as he waited for Huang Taiji's questions.

Huang Taiji studied him carefully. The soldier before him was no more than seventeen or eighteen, with dark skin. "What is this young brave's name, and what post did you hold in the Dengzhou garrison?"

"This… this humble one is He Changjiu, of a detached squad from the Third Battalion of Dengzhou Garrison. Yesterday I was reassigned to the Fourth Battalion to defend against a night raid, and I carelessly injured my leg. I… I offended you, my lord. This humble one… this humble one did not kill anyone."

Huang Taiji waved his hand and said, "War is for killing men, each for his own master. I will not pursue it. Did your detached squad use that kind of self-igniting firelock with a bayonet?"

"Yes, we in Dengzhou… that Dengzhou Garrison calls it a flintlock."

Huang Taiji glanced at Gao Hongzhong beside him. Both noted the shift in the man's address and knew he had been thoroughly cowed; winning his surrender would be easy. In their previous engagements they had also captured some Dengzhou soldiers — scouts, pikemen, and musketeers — five or six of whom had surrendered. He had a rough grasp of Dengzhou's basic organization, and he was very interested in the detached squad. Judging from the fighting at Fuzhou and Shenmi Island, this detached squad was employed with great flexibility. Capturing this man alive was extremely timely.

For the moment, Huang Taiji did not reveal his intentions. He took the blunderbuss from a guard's hand and pressed on: "What do you call this gun?"

"Blunderbuss. This subordinate only saw it after coming to Lüshun. Only the combat engineers use this kind of gun."

"Oh, they are called combat engineers? What do they do?" This was the first time Huang Taiji had heard the term "engineer." The Ming dynasty had no specialized engineer troops, and in truth neither did Chen Xin, because for the time being he had no large-scale pursuit operations requiring roads to be opened through mountains or bridges to be built over rivers. Essentially, all labor was shouldered by the auxiliary troops.

That He Changjiu did not really know either. He hesitated and said, "This humble one does not understand it either, but some of them are specially assigned to lay landmines, and most of them use this gun and the small porcelain Heaven-Shaking Thunder."

Gao Hongzhong said quietly to Huang Taiji, "Great Khan, it seems they are a unit specially tasked with breaching fortifications."

Huang Taiji nodded slightly. Gao Hongzhong continued, "What most sets this Dengzhou Garrison apart from ordinary Ming troops is that in firearms they seek quality, not quantity, and simplicity, not complexity. In the past, Ming troops used a bewildering array of firearms, yet none were serviceable. But this Dengzhou Garrison uses only those few types, and they are employed with great ease. Even with the two or three new types that have appeared at Lüshun, the total number is still small. There seems to be a particular logic to it, though for the moment this slave cannot quite articulate it."

Huang Taiji sighed and said, "That logic — in fact, you have just stated it. Their men for different purposes use different arms. That is why the detached squad's firelocks have bayonets, while the pike formations do not. This combat engineer unit is even more so, though their numbers are surely not large."

After speaking, he closed his eyes and pondered for a moment. From the battlefield intelligence recently gathered, he could roughly sketch the composition of Chen Xin's army: a mix of Mandarin Duck squads, pikes, cannons, and cavalry. This combat engineer unit was a small-scale formation, used only for specific operations like breaching fortifications and night raids. It seemed there were many subtleties in these firearms, organization, and training. The soldiers could only reflect isolated fragments, and Huang Taiji was still unable to form a holistic concept of Chen Xin's military planning.

That He Changjiu, seeing the Tatar remain silent, grew even more nervous. He waited in fearful apprehension for a long while, until Huang Taiji suddenly looked up and asked, "Who is this Tang Xiaoxiao? I have heard at least three Dengzhou soldiers revile me on her account. Why do they all know of this woman?"

He Changjiu replied blankly, "She is from an opera performed by the propaganda troupe. It is called…"

Gao Hongzhong asked curiously, "What is it about?"

He Changjiu hesitated for a moment before saying, "That Tang Xiaoxiao is a Liaodong woman. On the eve of her wedding, she was… seized by the Later Jin Great Khan, and her whole family was also killed by the Great Khan. They found someone to play the Great Khan, and so everyone believes the Great Khan killed Tang Xiaoxiao."

Both Gao Hongzhong and Huang Taiji were momentarily stunned. Gao Hongzhong said angrily, "This Chen Xin is truly despicable."

Huang Taiji, however, let out a chuckle, which turned into roaring laughter. It was a long while before he stopped. He stood up, whispered a few words into Gao Hongzhong's ear, and then walked out of the tent. Behind him, Gao Hongzhong went over and began speaking to He Changjiu: "If you are willing to serve the Great Khan, the Great Khan grants you the right to be raised into the Plain Yellow Banner, and rewards you with three oxen, five bondservants, and your choice of three women…"

Huang Taiji stopped outside the tent. A cannon boomed from West Official Mountain opposite; the entire western section of the earthen wall lay under its threat. Many soldiers made evasive movements, and immediately afterward the flying-bolt guns fired a volley. Huang Taiji knew this was a harassment tactic. Lüshun was far harder to assault than Dalinghe, and the Later Jin soldiers behind the earthen wall could hardly feel any sense of security.

"Send orders to all banners: today, only send bondservants to dig trenches. In addition, have archers shoot scattered arrows at random — no need for dense volleys, but they must not cease either. Every banner must take full precautions. All passageways through the earthen wall are to be dug out, with wooden planks laid over them for passage; at night, remove the planks…"

After the Bayara had galloped off to deliver the orders to each banner, Huang Taiji gazed at Lüshun and shook his head slightly. "Just what kind of man is this Chen Xin, to come up with such vicious tricks?"