Chapter 365: Landmines

A quarter of an hour later, when the Dutch vanguard arrived at the scene upon hearing the news, they found only five headless corpses lying scattered across the road; two spears, three matchlock muskets, and all the ammunition had been seized and carried off by the Ming army.

Fan Dike, positioned in the center of the formation, arrived at the scene half an hour after the battle had ended.

After surveying the scene with a grim face, Fan Dike held a brief discussion with two major battalion commanders and the operations staff officer Fan Tefu, and decided to change their marching formation—abolishing the point squad and sending a single company ahead as the vanguard, advancing in skirmish formation.

The distance between the center formation and the rear guard was also correspondingly shortened, so that if a similar situation arose again, they could respond swiftly.

As for the vanguard company, whenever they encountered dense woodland, they would order the matchlock gunners to form up and fire into the trees, to confirm whether any Ming soldiers were hiding within.

After changing their marching formation, the Dutch army advanced in fits and starts, their pace slowing noticeably.

Just as the sky was beginning to darken, the Ming camp, situated in open ground by the roadside, came into view of the Dutch vanguard, at a distance of roughly five li.

Suddenly, several booming explosions rang out across the fields, accompanied by screams; plumes of gunpowder smoke and dust spread through the air, and stones and gravel kicked up by the blasts flew in all directions. A dozen or so Dutch soldiers at the front either collapsed to the ground or writhed about clutching their wounds and shrieking, while those behind froze in panic—some even began to retreat.

"Landmines! Everyone fall back!"

At the Dutch captain's loud shout, the Dutch soldiers, holding their spears and muskets at the ready, slowly withdrew several dozen paces.

The Dutch front ranks had triggered the landmines that Wu Qun had ordered buried in advance; the explosion of four mines caused eleven Dutch casualties.

The earliest landmines had first appeared back in the Southern Song dynasty, saw major improvements in the early Ming, and their power was further enhanced during the Wanli era.

In the eighth year of Wanli, when Qi Jiguang was stationed at Jizhou, he devised a steel-wheel flint ignition mechanism—the steel-wheel striker.

It housed a transmission mechanism within a casing: when an enemy stepped on the trip wire, a weighted stone inside the casing dropped, driving the steel wheel to spin and grind violently against the flint, producing sparks that detonated the mine. This device greatly improved the accuracy and reliability of mine ignition timing.

By the Chongzhen era, the variety of landmines had grown even greater.

According to records in the *Chouhai Tubian*, the *Lianbing Shiji: Miscellaneous Collection*, the *Wubei Zhi*, and other works, the Ming army employed more than ten types of landmines, distinguished by their ignition methods: flame-triggered, pull-triggered, trip-triggered, and mechanism-triggered.

As for deployment methods, besides single-shot mines, there were also cluster mines controlled by a single fuse, and "mother-son mines," where one mother mine's explosion detonated several sub-mines.

Depending on operational needs, mines could also be mounted on carts, placed within buildings, or carried by animals to charge the enemy lines.

What the Dutch had just triggered was a steel-wheel striker mother-son mine. Though limited by the explosive power of black powder, the burst of scrap iron packed inside the mine made its killing effect quite devastating.

"Junker, take a few men back to report to the colonel! Medics, tend to the wounded! Everyone else, form ranks!"

"Tsk tsk, these red-haired devils are truly tough! After repeated setbacks, they haven't fallen into disarray at all. Looking at their formation, the one with the chicken feather in his hat must be a company commander—and that musket in his hands looks a good deal longer and bigger than the others!"

Five li away, in the Ming camp, Wu Qun stood atop the watchtower, holding a monocular telescope with both hands, muttering to himself as he observed the Dutch reaction to the ambush.

Beside him, Chen Dashuan stared longingly at the telescope in his hands, itching to snatch it away and play with it to his heart's content.

This telescope had been purchased at great expense by the Sihai Trading Company from the Folangji men in Haojing (Macau), and had been transported by a roundabout route to the island last month before reaching Wu Qun's hands.

The company's people had repeatedly cautioned Wu Qun: this instrument is exceedingly difficult to make and extremely costly—handle it with care, do not drop or damage it, and never let it fall into the hands of unrelated persons for casual amusement.

Having learned of the telescope's marvelous uses, Wu Qun naturally treasured it like a precious jewel and was loath to bring it out for others to see. As for Sun Rengui, Chen Dashuan, and the others, who were intensely curious about this novel contraption, they had repeatedly clamored for him to produce it so everyone could have a look.

With his ears nearly worn to calluses by their constant nagging, Wu Qun finally relented and let each of them try it for a few dozen breaths.

"Assistant Regional Commander, can you let me have a look? I still don't know what the red-haired devils look like! Why do they stick chicken feathers in their hats? Could it be their families raise chickens?"

Chen Dashuan had held back for a long while but could no longer contain himself, and with a fawning tone and a cheeky grin, he pleaded with Wu Qun.

"Bullshit! Weren't those heads we just took from red-haired devils? Anyway, all red-haired devils look the same—nothing worth seeing!"

Wu Qun refused Chen Dashuan's request without the slightest hesitation.

He knew the oaf was all thumbs on the best of days—and on this watchtower, several zhang high, if the fellow's grip slipped and the telescope plummeted to shatter into pieces, even twenty strokes of the cane wouldn't make up for it.

"Fine, if you won't let me look, I won't look! What's so special about it anyway! I've heard tell that this telescope is standard equipment for the red-haired devils on campaign—once old Chen here personally grabs one from their ranks for his own use, I won't let anyone else touch it either!"

Chen Dashuan muttered to himself as he turned and descended the watchtower stairs.

"Old Wu, how many men have the red barbarians brought this time? They've lost two engagements today, so their morale must be badly crushed, while our army's spirits are soaring—our odds of victory should be that much higher. If we can win a great victory over the red barbarians, word of this battle is sure to reach the emperor's ears! Old Wu, your future prospects are bright indeed!"

The speaker was Lin Rong, who this time had not returned to his county office in Taizhong to hold the fort, but had remained in the main camp, saying he wished to emulate the great ministers of antiquity by personally beating the war drum to cheer on the imperial troops.

Wu Qun naturally knew that Lin Rong was angling to claim military merit to build capital for promotion, but owing to their close relationship, he did not expose the matter.

"The red barbarians' numbers are still unknown, but I estimate they're close to what I guessed before—no more than a thousand. From what I've observed of their formation, their soldiers are exceedingly tough and disciplined, unflustered in the face of danger—truly elite troops of this age. As for their battle array, I'll think of a way to counter it after observing them tomorrow. Barring any surprises, I'm confident our army can win this one!"

As night fell, the Dutch army pitched tents by company on the flat ground five li from the Ming camp to rest and eat, while those fifteen hundred natives lit torches and went into the nearby woods to fell trees and build wooden palisades to ward off any night attack the Ming might launch.

After bustling about until roughly the hour of Hai, having erected the camp palisades, lit several large bonfires, and posted sentries, the Dutch camp finally quieted down.

Wu Qun, who had been keeping a constant watch on the Dutch movements, only abandoned his plan for a night raid once he saw the great bonfires blazing before the Dutch camp. After instructing the sentries on duty to stay alert, he yawned and returned to his own tent.

The next day, past half past the hour of Chen, the Dutch camp stirred to life. Fifty natives were selected from among those who had finished their meal, and carrying short, thick logs weighing several dozen jin that had been trimmed and cut, they filed out of the palisade, formed into a rough little square, and under Dutch orders advanced toward the nearby explosion site, with a squad of Dutch soldiers holding spears following behind to keep them in line.

When they reached the several shallow craters left by yesterday's explosions, a Dutch lieutenant gave a few instructions to the interpreter beside him, and then, at the interpreter's loud shouting, the men in the front row hurled their logs forward and immediately turned and ran back.

Some of the thrown logs continued rolling forward, while others, after tumbling a few times, triggered the mines the Ming had buried. As explosions rang out, the logs that set off the mines shattered under the force of the blast, sending splinters flying in all directions.

After the explosions subsided, the log-carrying natives, under Dutch orders, crept forward in trepidation, and upon hearing the command, threw their logs and turned to flee back.

By repeating this method, the dozen or so trip-triggered mines the Ming had buried along the road were all cleared one after another.

"These red-haired devils sure know how to scheme! Damn it! Pass the order—tell Chen Dashuan to prepare to meet the enemy!"

Having seen the Dutch tactics through his telescope, Wu Qun cursed and issued his military orders.