Chapter 365: Truce, a Truce for Now!

The great walled city of Datong.

A whole winter of siege had not harmed Datong in the slightest!

Though Datong was not a bastion fort, its solidity was still enough to withstand the Hongyi cannon the Qing army possessed — to breach Datong's walls would require concentrating over a hundred cannon capable of firing 12- to 18-pound shot, bombarding fiercely for days and nights on end, perhaps even longer!

But the Qing troops besieging Datong did not have that many Hongyi cannon, so they relied more on blockade than assault.

And the grain stored inside Datong was extremely ample, enough to feed the entire garrison and populace for a full year.

A few months of blockade were nowhere near enough to exhaust Datong's reserves. Instead, it was the Qing troops outside the walls whose morale had sagged somewhat after so long a campaign with nothing to show for it, and they seemed to have lost the will to keep fighting.

On the tenth day of the second month of the eighteenth year of Chongzhen of the Great Ming, the Qing army outside the walls sent an envoy to sue for peace. The peace envoy was again Luo Yangxing — he had been the one who came last time to negotiate with Wang Yongji and Jiang Xiang. Dorgon, it seemed, liked to see things through: this time he again sent him into Datong to keep spinning his tales.

"Peace talks again? They fooled us last time — is this another trick?"

Jiang Xiang, who had held Datong for many months, was now brimming with confidence. He no longer gave Luo Yangxing any face, and did not go out to meet him. Instead, he received Luo Yangxing together with Wang Yongji in his own Regional Commander's yamen. And once they met, there were no pleasant words!

Luo Yangxing, dressed in the full regalia of a high Qing official with court hat and peacock feather, only gave a bitter smile. He took off his court hat, revealing the topknot of a Han man, then sat upright in his chair, picked up the tea bowl from the side table, took a sip, and only then spoke slowly: "Indeed. The Prince Regent may be full of schemes, but Commander Jiang is still a move ahead — you saw through it at a glance! Otherwise Datong would not have held out to this day."

"That's right!" Jiang Xiang said smugly.

Beside him, Wang Yongji's brow was deeply furrowed.

Datong's walls were strong, true, but they could not conjure grain out of thin air. If the siege dragged on, the city would fall one day.

Luo Yangxing then asked: "Then may I ask the Commander to explain — just what scheme is the Prince Regent working?"

"That..." Jiang Xiang pondered a moment. "He must mean to send assassins in secret after the peace talks, slip them into Datong, and then trick open the city gates — just as old Nurhaci used to do in Liaodong!"

"Then can you not simply keep close watch?" Luo Yangxing glanced at Jiang Xiang. "And how solid are Datong's defenses? Could the city be taken merely by tricking open one gate?"

Datong's layout somewhat resembled a bastion fort. Outside each of the four gates — east, south, west, and north — great outworks had been built. The gates were shielded by these outworks, and the outworks themselves formed a second line of defense if breached. So tricking open a single gate was useless. One would have to seize an outwork and trick open a gate at the same time. That was no task a handful of spies could accomplish!

Besides, the garrison inside Datong kept very careful watch and would not make such a basic mistake. Even if a few traitors did slip into the city, they could accomplish nothing.

Jiang Xiang stroked his beard, brows locked in thought. Wang Yongji, however, shook his head and said: "Commander, why not hear the Tartar Prince Regent's terms? We are trapped in the city as it is — what more could we possibly lose?"

"Very well!" Jiang Xiang nodded. "What are Dorgon's terms?"

"Terms?" Luo Yangxing shook his head. "There are no real terms... a three-month truce. The Qing army will withdraw south of the Sanggan River, east of Juluo. But they will still hold Shuozhou, Jingping, Naihe Fort, and Jiangjunhui Fort."

Shuozhou, Jingping, Naihe Fort, and Jiangjunhui Fort lay northwest of the Sanggan River. The four strongholds stretched in a line from southeast to northwest, built to command the strategic passes of the mountains and rivers. They could cut off the route from Datong Prefecture up into the Lüliang Mountains — Dorgon had now taken notice of the Third Prince up in the Lüliang Mountains!

That target drew far too much hatred! He was the son of the Chongzhen Emperor, the full brother of the Army-Supervising Crown Prince Zhu Cilang, and now second in line to the Ming throne — perhaps first in line in the Chongzhen Emperor's heart!

This man was raising the banner of resistance against the Qing up in the Lüliang Mountains. Dorgon could not even sleep soundly with Bumbutai in his arms!

So of course he would not let the Ming troops in Datong Prefecture go up into the Lüliang Mountains to join the Third Prince.

Jiang Xiang asked thoughtfully: "Is that all?"

Indeed — why was there not even an offer of high office and rich reward to lure him into surrendering? Did they look down on Jiang?

Wang Yongji also asked: "No other conditions?"

Luo Yangxing gave a cold laugh. "None. Do you think the Manchus have no lives to live — no wives to keep company, no children to raise — and think only of war? The Manchu Eight Banners troops are also rotation soldiers, half soldier and half civilian, and every man is a soldier. How many of them are there altogether?

The true Manchu men of fighting age number fewer than a hundred thousand. Right now they are either garrisoning or campaigning. In Beijing there are only women left — only women, no men, and no babies can be born! If this fighting goes on endlessly, for ten years or eight years, won't the Manchus simply die out?"

This claim was actually wrong! During this period, quite a few Manchu women in Beijing had still become pregnant. A husband's absence did not necessarily mean a wife could not conceive!

Jiang Xiang burst out laughing. "So Dorgon wants a truce just so his Manchu soldiers can go home and sow their seed!"

Luo Yangxing laughed. "That is absolutely essential!"

Jiang Xiang turned to look at Wang Yongji. "Supreme Commander, do you think we should catch our breath too?"

Datong Prefecture had been besieged for months, and many places had been shelled. Though the city was impregnable, the people inside were under enormous mental strain.

Moreover, after months of siege, Datong Prefecture's grain reserves had been drawn down by nearly half, and had to be replenished somehow.

In addition, the Qing army's withdrawal from beneath Datong's walls would mean victory for the Ming troops of Datong!

Though they had not killed many true Manchus, the Qing army had retreated all the same.

Wang Yongji felt all along that there was something fishy about this! But a temporary truce was genuinely to Datong's advantage, so he said with a frown: "After months of siege, the officers and men are indeed utterly exhausted. A truce of a few months can do us no harm, can it?"

Nominally, Wang Yongji as Supreme Commander was still the highest authority in Datong, but the real power was in Jiang Xiang's hands.

Jiang Xiang nodded. "Since the Supreme Commander has agreed, then let there be a three-month truce!"

Luo Yangxing added: "Since you two have agreed to the truce, the Qing army has also captured many common folk within Datong Prefecture. We will not take them away, but will leave them all outside Datong's walls. We must trouble you to take them in. They are all good subjects of the Great Ming — if you do not take them in, they can only be left to fend for themselves!"

This campaign, known to history as the "First Battle of Datong," also called the "Winter Battle of Datong," began in the winter of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen and lasted into the spring of the eighteenth year of Chongzhen, spanning several months. It was far more than a simple siege of Datong.

Datong Prefecture had not fortified only the city of Datong. There were also a host of guard cities such as Zhenlu Guard, Yanghe Guard, Datong Left Guard, Datong Right Guard, Weiyuan Guard, Pinglu Guard, and Andong Central Garrison Guard, as well as the four prefectural cities of Yuzhou, Yingzhou, Hunyuanzhou, and Shuozhou. As for county seats, garrison towns, and forts, they were too many to count.

Although Jiang Xiang had not placed defenses in every fort and town, a good many were still garrisoned. While besieging Datong Prefecture, the Qing army had also drawn off troops to attack these one by one. Some they stormed, some they persuaded to surrender, and some still remained under Ming control.

And the cities that were stormed — needless to say — all suffered calamity...

(End of Chapter)