Chapter Thirteen: Twenty Million Silver Taels

The blood-soaked night had finally come to an end.

More than thirty thousand old, young, and womenfolk of the Jianzhou tribe had originally lived within the city of Shengjing. Over twenty thousand had escaped beyond the city walls, but the remaining ten thousand or so had all fallen tragically to the Ming army’s blades. Among them were at least two thousand Jianzhou youths, now forever denied the chance to grow into brave warriors. When the sun rose again, the entire city of Shengjing had become a hellscape of slaughter.

Corpses of the Jianzhou—old men, women, and children—lay scattered in disarray along the main streets.

Apart from the northern imperial palace and the princely residences on either side, the greater part of the city had been consumed by fire. Thick black smoke spiraled high into the sky, visible even from several dozen miles away.

Wang Pu’s retainers now had complete control of Shengjing.

The imperial seal was in his hands. The Prince of Li, Dai Shan, the Prince of Zheng, Jirgalang, and two favored consorts of the barbarian leader Huang Taiji—Hailanzhu and Bumubutai—were all Wang Pu’s captives. It was easy to imagine: if Wang Pu could bring the imperial seal and these four captives back to the Ming, the entire empire would acclaim him, and the defeat at Songshan would be wiped from the record.

According to the original plan, the brothers would eat their fill, rest well, and by nightfall, move toward Korea. By the time Huang Taiji received news of Shengjing’s fall and dispatched reinforcements, Wang Pu and his men would likely have already crossed the Yalu River.

“General, good news!”

Wang Pu was just about to summon Xiaoqi, Scarface, and Big Beard for a council when Big Beard burst in, booming, “General, tremendous news! Ha ha ha…”

Given the smooth operation, Wang Pu was in high spirits and laughed, “Big Beard, what’s made you so happy?”

Big Beard replied excitedly, “General, guess what the brothers found in the Jianzhou imperial palace and the princes’ mansions?”

Wang Pu asked, “What did they find?”

“Ginseng! Finest old mountain ginseng, piled up like mountains—at least several tens of thousands of catties!” Big Beard gestured animatedly. “And pearls the size of goose eggs, dozens of large chests full, rooms of gold and silver, sable and tiger pelts, bear hides, antiques, calligraphy, paintings—never in my life have I seen so much treasure. General, we’ve really struck the mother lode this time.”

Liaodong had always been a treasure land, rich in resources. The ginseng, sable pelts, and baola grass from Changbai Mountain, the famous pearls from the Heilongjiang region—all were rare treasures. Coupled with the massive fortunes the Manchus had plundered from the Central Plains in four invasions, it was easy to imagine the wealth within Huang Taiji’s palace and the princes’ mansions.

Big Beard, grinning from ear to ear, said, “General, if we haul these rare treasures and all the gold and silver back to the Central Plains, I reckon they’d fetch at least twenty million taels.”

The number made Wang Pu’s heart sink.

Twenty million! Not a small sum—the total annual revenue of the Ming Empire at the time was only five million taels.

Gold and silver are always delightful, and Wang Pu was no exception, but now was not the time for greed. If they burdened themselves with all this treasure, the Manchu cavalry would surely catch up long before they reached the Yalu River.

“Tell the men: each is allowed only two roots of ginseng, three pearls, and ten taels of gold. The rest is to be burned or, if it can’t be burned, thrown away!” Wang Pu ordered coldly. “Anyone who disobeys and tries to smuggle treasure will face my full wrath if discovered.”

“What? Burn it!?” Big Beard’s eyes widened in disbelief. “General, that’s old mountain ginseng from Changbai, those are rare pearls—worth more than money, treasures that even the richest in the Central Plains couldn’t buy! If we bring these back, we’ll be rich beyond imagination.”

“Is wealth all you can think about?” Wang Pu frowned. “Use your brain! Do you know how heavy and bulky these things are? To transport all this treasure, how many horses and carts would you need? How many men to guard them? If we’re slowed by all this baggage and the Manchu cavalry catch us, none of us will live to see home.”

“So we’re just handing it all back to the Jianzhou? General, I can’t accept it.”

“If you’re dead, what use are rare treasures? Think about it!”

Big Beard was left speechless by Wang Pu’s rebuke, though his eyes showed his unwillingness to let go of the wealth.

“General,” piped up Zhen Youcai, who stood behind Wang Pu, “I have a way to solve this: the treasures won’t become a burden, nor will they fall back into Jianzhou hands.”

“What way?” Big Beard blurted before Wang Pu could ask. “Out with it!”

Zhen Youcai stroked his mustache. “The ginseng, pearls, pelts, and paintings are light and portable—those we can take. The gold, silver, and antiques, being heavy, would need a thousand carts at least. Even if we could find that many, we’d move too slowly—just as the General said. If the Manchu cavalry catches up, the treasure’s lost to us again…”

“Just get to the point,” Big Beard urged.

“My idea is this: let’s pack the gold, silver, and jewels into chests and sink them into the Hun River outside the city. When the opportunity arises, we can return and retrieve them. What do you two generals think?”

Big Beard nodded, “That’s a plan.”

Wang Pu would have preferred to toss the gold and silver outright, but he knew it would be too hard for Big Beard and the others to accept. The looting of Shengjing had already roused their animal instincts—push them too far and a mutiny could result. That would spell disaster.

“Very well, we’ll do it your way,” Wang Pu conceded. “Big Beard, you lead the men to pack the gold, silver, and antiques and sink them in the Hun River before dark. The ginseng, pearls, and pelts are to be divided equally—everyone gets a share. Anyone caught hoarding or stealing will be executed on the spot—no exceptions!”

“Yes, sir!” Big Beard replied enthusiastically and hurried off.

---

Meanwhile, Huang Taiji, anxious for his favorite consort, was racing towards Shengjing with only his trusted aides—Oboi, Tulai, Ebilun, Tazhan—and two hundred imperial guards. In a day and night, they covered more than three hundred li, reaching the Liao River by the following afternoon. There they encountered a eunuch sent by Zhezhe to report an emergency at Songshan. Questioning him, Huang Taiji finally learned that a Ming force had attacked Shengjing, and the city had fallen.

The news struck him like a thunderbolt—he could hardly believe his ears.

“What did you say?” Huang Taiji seized the eunuch’s collar, shouting, “The Ming army attacked Shengjing? And the city has already fallen?”

The eunuch, terrified, nodded vigorously.

“Impossible! Absolutely impossible!” Huang Taiji roared. “There are over a hundred thousand of our troops blocking the Western Corridor! Korea is our vassal, and the Mongols have submitted to us as well—there’s no way the Ming could pass through them. Where did these Ming troops come from? Did they burrow up from the ground?”

The eunuch, pale as death, had no answer.

“Even if they did burrow up from the earth, weren’t there still two thousand bannermen in the city?” Huang Taiji grew more furious as he spoke, oblivious to the blood trickling again from his nostrils. “What were Dai Shan and Jirgalang doing? Were the sixteen Red Barbarian cannons on the walls just for show? I’ll have them executed—both useless fools!”

None of his attendants dared to interject while the emperor raged. Only when Huang Taiji, weakened by blood loss, collapsed onto his couch did the imperial physician dare approach and treat him. After a while, Huang Taiji regained his composure and summoned the eunuch again, asking, “Are you sure it was Ming troops who captured Shengjing?”

The eunuch answered emphatically, “Yes, Ming troops.”

“It wasn’t Mongols or Koreans in disguise?”

“No, they all spoke the Shanxi dialect among themselves—no Mongol or Korean could imitate that.”

“How many were there?”

“I don’t know.”

“What of the Prince of Li and the Prince of Zheng?”

“I’m not sure. I only know that Imperial Consort Chen and Consort Zhuang are trapped in the city. The Empress has fled to the Horchin grasslands with several princesses and princes.”

Hearing that his beloved consort was in Ming hands, a stabbing pain pierced Huang Taiji’s heart, but he forced himself to stay calm and waved the eunuch away.

He summoned Tulai, Tazhan, Oboi, and Ebilun, the commanders of the Plain and Bordered Yellow Banners.

Tulai said, “Your Majesty, since the southern Ming have already taken Shengjing, the Forward and Cavalry camps left to defend it are likely destroyed. All our forces are concentrated at Songshan—there’s no one left in Liaodong. Perhaps we should return to Songshan, then bring the main army back to reclaim Shengjing.”

“Not so fast.” Huang Taiji spoke quietly. “We must first figure out where these Ming troops came from.”

Oboi said, “Most likely by sea.”

“No,” Huang Taiji shook his head. “I have over a hundred observers along the coast. If they came by sea, I’d have heard.”

“Then they must have come through Korea. It couldn’t have been through the Mongols or the western corridor,” Tulai said.

“No,” Huang Taiji disagreed. “On the contrary, they came through the western corridor.”

“The western corridor?” Tulai was astonished. “We have over a hundred thousand elite troops there. Any Ming movement should have been detected. If these Ming really came that way, why did our scouts see nothing?”

Huang Taiji explained, “If they moved in forces of ten thousand or more, they’d be spotted. But if fewer than a thousand slipped through by night, it’d be hard to spot. Remember how several waystations were destroyed on our return journey? We thought it was steppe bandits, but now it’s clear—it was these Ming. Yes, that must be it!”

As he spoke, Huang Taiji’s tone grew resolute.

Tulai, Oboi, and the others were silent, yet inwardly admired Huang Taiji’s meticulous reasoning.

Huang Taiji continued, “If there are only about a thousand Ming troops, that makes things simple. There’s no need to pull the Eight Banners from the Songshan front.”

“But, Your Majesty, Liaodong truly has no other troops left,” they replied.

“There is one more force,” Huang Taiji said, his gaze turning north. “Manju Xili’s horde is at Changshan, just a hundred li from Shengjing—a fast ride of two hours.”

[Manju Xili was the brother of Consort Zhuang, Bumubutai. His aunt Zhezhe and sisters Bumubutai and Hailanzhu had all married Huang Taiji, making their family closely tied to the Manchus. To win over the Borjigin clan, Huang Taiji had granted Manju Xili the prime pastures along the Liao River, closest to Shengjing.]

Tulai said, “I’ll send men to Changshan at once.”

Huang Taiji, feeling that relying solely on Mongols was unwise, added, “Also send messengers to Songshan. Have Prince Yu, Duoduo, lead five thousand Bordered White Banner cavalry to Shengjing immediately—but do not reveal that Shengjing has fallen, lest it harm morale at the front.”

Tulai replied, “Understood, Your Majesty.”

…

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