Chapter 130: The Meat Grinder (Part I)

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In the dead of night, the Jurchen encampment outside the East Gate of Datong lay in utter stillness.

Most of the campfires in the tents had already been extinguished, with only a few faint glimmers of firelight visible in several central tents. Around the camp’s perimeter, blazing tallow torches were planted along the fences at intervals of twenty paces. Each torch illuminated an arrow tower, atop which Jurchen sentinels kept vigilant watch.

Occasionally, patrol squads marched in measured steps along the fence line, filling the camp with a cold, deadly aura.

Clad in black night gear, her face and head covered with black cloth as well, the woman known as Red Mistress moved like a nimble leopard. She slipped swiftly through the shadows of the Jurchen camp, her form seemingly merging into the boundless darkness. Neither the sentries in the arrow towers nor the patrols detected her presence.

Red Mistress had volunteered to infiltrate the Jurchen camp to gather intelligence.

For the past week, the Jurchen had laid siege to Datong but refrained from launching a full assault. Their cannon fire was fierce, relentlessly bombarding the middle section of the city wall between the East Gate and the Small East Gate, as if determined to breach it. Yet Li Yan suspected the Jurchen had other intentions, though he could not discern them immediately. Thus, Red Mistress volunteered to sneak into the camp and uncover their true plans.

Although concerned for her safety, Li Yan trusted Red Mistress’s agility and martial skills. Even if she failed to glean any information, he believed she could escape unharmed. Still, he ordered Li Hu and Jing Maocheng to take several skilled brothers to lie in wait outside the camp to provide backup.

By chance, the Jurchen had begun digging tunnels starting from their central military camp, conducting excavation only at night to avoid detection. Transporting earth during the day risked exposure, and at night they dared not use torches, so they moved the soil in darkness. As a result, the camp plunged into early darkness each night.

This inadvertently facilitated Red Mistress’s movements.

She reached the vicinity of the central camp with little trouble. However, the guard became increasingly strict near the central camp, and she dared not be careless. She pressed her slender body close to the ground, using the darkness to inch forward slowly and cautiously.

It was a long, tedious, and perilous crawl. For half an hour, she advanced less than ten yards, but as a woman, she possessed ample patience. Perseverance paid off. She finally approached the most suspicious tent and heard the rumbling sound of cart wheels turning.

In the darkness, she glimpsed several wheelbarrows moving back and forth. Those entering the tent were empty, while those leaving were filled with something. A question arose in her mind: what were the Jurchen transporting out?

That small tent seemed to contain an endless amount of goods.

Suddenly, Red Mistress understood: the Jurchen were digging tunnels. What came out of that tent was all earth!

At dawn, Red Mistress and her party returned to the camp at Thunderclap Mountain. Li Yan had been standing guard at the mountain entrance all night. Seeing the cold dew on his forehead and eyebrows, and his cloak dampened with moisture, Red Mistress’s beautiful eyes reddened instantly.

“Mistress, you have returned,” Li Yan said softly, yet Red Mistress sensed the deep affection behind his words.

She fought back tears, maintaining her usual icy composure before others. Only in Li Yan’s presence did she reveal her true self—a gentle and tender woman.

“Husband,” she said, her voice choked with emotion, “I have gathered the information.”

“Oh?” Li Yan asked with joy, “Do the Jurchen truly have other plans?”

Red Mistress nodded and said, “Their cannon bombardment is merely a bluff. In truth, they are secretly digging tunnels beneath the city, intending to sneak in underground from outside the East Gate.”

Li Xuan interjected, “Commander, we must immediately relay this news to the city officials.”

Li Hu scoffed, “Why inform them? Wouldn’t it be better to let the Jurchen storm Datong and wipe out the officials? That way, we can take the city with less effort after the Jurchen pillage and leave.”

“Nonsense,” Li Yan frowned and reprimanded him. “Though the officials are detestable, the civilians are innocent. We must not stand by and watch the Jurchen break through and massacre the people inside. Besides, Wang Pu’s forces have helped us twice. A true man repays kindness and enmity alike.”

Li Hu snorted but fell silent.

“We must quickly send this intelligence to Wang Pu,” Li Yan said, then turned to Jing Maocheng. “Brother Jing, I will write a letter now. Please shoot it into Datong with an arrow.”

“Understood,” Jing Maocheng replied respectfully.

Inside Datong, at the general’s headquarters, it was deep into the night. Wang Pu and Zhen Youcai were wide awake, discussing the Jurchen’s tactics.

For many days, the Jurchen had only bombarded the city walls without mounting a serious assault. They had not employed even their usual underground siege tactics, which was unusual and suggested hidden intentions.

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Zhen Youcai said, “It’s been eight days, yet the walls barely bear a scratch from the red barbarian cannons. At this rate, even two months might not bring them down. Yet the Jurchen make no move to change tactics. I believe their bombardment is just a show.”

Wang Pu nodded, “In other words, the Jurchen have other designs.”

“But what could their real plan be?” Zhen Youcai pondered aloud.

Both fell silent, eyes closed, carefully organizing their thoughts. After a while, Zhen Youcai suddenly spoke, “General, there is something quite unusual.”

“Tell me,” Wang Pu encouraged.

Zhen Youcai continued, “For the past few nights, I observed that the Jurchen camps outside the North, West, and South gates blaze with torchlight, but outside the East Gate, the camp remains pitch black, rarely showing any light.”

“Could it be…” Wang Pu’s expression shifted, and he whispered, “The Jurchen are hiding something.”

“Hidden from what?” Zhen Youcai murmured. “They avoid using torches to keep us from seeing. But what are they hiding?”

They racked their brains but gained no insight.

Wang Pu finally said, “If we keep thinking this way, we’ll never find the answer. We must reverse the perspective: if we were the Jurchen, what siege tactics would we use?”

Zhen Youcai quickly grasped the point, counting on his fingers, “If their red barbarian cannons are ineffective, they must rely on traditional siege methods—scaling ladders, earthworks, flooding, or fire attacks. But the Jurchen’s most common method is underground assault... tunnels?”

The underground assault was the Jurchen’s earliest siege tactic—also the most foolish and desperate. It involved infantry carrying large, sturdy shield boards close to the base of the wall, then digging under the foundation to hollow out a passageway and break in. This crude tactic was invented by Nurhaci, the Jurchen chieftain, in their early days, lacking strategy or talent. Unsurprisingly, it had never succeeded.

“Tunnels!” Wang Pu and Zhen Youcai exclaimed simultaneously. “The Jurchen are digging tunnels!”

At that moment, Nen Niang entered, holding a wolf-tooth arrow about the thickness of a thumb, with a rolled letter attached.

“General,” she said, “Someone outside the city just shot this letter inside.”

Wang Pu took the arrow from Nen Niang, unrolled the letter, and read it quickly.

“It’s from Li Yan,” he told Zhen Youcai. “He says he sent someone to infiltrate the Jurchen camp and confirmed they are secretly digging tunnels outside the East Gate—just as we suspected.”

He handed the letter to Zhen Youcai.

Reading it, Zhen furrowed his brow. “So the tunnels are real. But how should we counter them?”

“That depends on the Jurchen’s purpose,” Wang Pu replied.

Zhen said, “Obviously, they intend to dig several passages to send elite troops into the city and seize the gates.”

He stopped mid-sentence, realizing all five city gates in Datong had been sealed. Even if the Jurchen smuggled a few troops inside, it wouldn’t make much difference. Besides, defending against multiple tunnels was no great challenge. Flooding, oil dousing, or fire could easily thwart their plans.

“General,” Zhen said softly, “The city’s defenses are tight. The tunnels seem less threatening.”

Wang Pu said, “But if the Jurchen only dig under the walls and plant tens of thousands of pounds of gunpowder, then detonate it—boom!”

“Ah?” Zhen gasped. “They want to blow up the city walls?”

“Most likely,” Wang Pu said with growing certainty.

Zhen sighed, “If only we could locate the exact tunnel entrances, we could prepare in advance and foil their plans.”

A faint, fierce smile flickered across Wang Pu’s face. “I have a solution.”

“Really?” Zhen asked in surprise. “Have you already devised a countermeasure?”

Wang Pu chuckled, then called out, “Lv Liu!”

Lv Liu answered loudly, “Present!”

“Bring the monks immediately,” Wang Pu ordered.

“Understood.” Lv Liu left at once.

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At the Jurchen camp, Dorgon’s command tent.

Just as Wang Pu and Zhen Youcai learned of the Jurchen’s true plan, Fan Wencheng hurried in to report, “Master, the tunnels have reached the base of the city walls.”

Dorgon smiled, “Is that so?”

“Absolutely,” Fan assured him. “They’ve dug to the foundation. No mistake.”

Dorgon’s face suddenly twisted into a grimace. He bellowed, “Send for Tong Yangxing immediately.”

A Goshha entered promptly, kneeling and saluting, “Master, your orders?”

“Bring Tong Yangxing here at once,” Dorgon commanded.

“Yes, sir,” the Goshha responded and left.

Soon, a groggy Tong Yangxing arrived, awakened from sleep. He knelt and saluted, “I pay respects to my lord.”

“Enough,” Dorgon waved him off. “Mr. Wencheng reports the tunnels have reached beneath Datong’s walls. Take men to fill the tunnels with gunpowder and blow up the city walls for me.”

Tong Yangxing perked up. “How large a breach do you want?”

“How big can you make it?”

“If two thousand catties of gunpowder are used, it should create a gap about ten zhang wide.”

“Then use two thousand catties!”

“I will take men to fill the tunnels immediately.” Tong Yangxing was the Jurchen’s sole expert in explosives and had modeled their red barbarian cannons.

He studied the explosive power carefully. First, he expanded the chamber at the wall’s foundation, then lined the walls with stones and sealed gaps with mortar to create a tight powder chamber. After filling it with two thousand catties of gunpowder, he sealed the entrance with a stone wall several zhang thick, leaving only a small inch-square fuse channel. Powder was laid from the chamber straight to the tunnel’s mouth.

Two days later, everything was ready.

Dorgon, accompanied by the noble families of the Jurchen Eight Banners, Mongol Eight Banners, and Han Eight Banners, arrived at the tunnel’s entrance. Tong Yangxing handed Dorgon a torch and respectfully said, “Master, all is prepared.”

Dorgon took the torch, glanced coldly at Hooge, and asked, “Are the elite troops of the two Yellow Banners ready?”

Hooge snorted. “Bayan and Oboi have already led three thousand elite troops of the two Yellow Banners to lie in ambush outside the city.”

Dorgon said, “I wish Oboi and Bayantu victory and honor in taking the first merit.”

Although Dorgon’s words were flattering, his intentions were sinister.

He planned to use the initial conquest of Datong to weaken the two Yellow Banners. Since Wang Pu commanded the city’s defense, even if the walls were breached, a fierce battle was inevitable. The three thousand elite troops of the two Yellow Banners would clash with Wang Pu’s forces, causing mutual heavy losses. Ultimately, the honor would go to the White Banner reinforcements following behind.

Hooge knew Dorgon’s plan to weaken the two Yellow Banners but was powerless. Dorgon was the regent prince, while Hooge was merely a minor prince and had to obey orders.

Another regent prince, Yuetuo, also made no effort to protect the two Yellow Banners, hoping to reduce their power as the leader of the Plain Red Banner. After all, the two Yellow Banners were too strong, which was detrimental to the Plain Red Banner.

Dorgon smiled darkly at Hooge, then lowered the torch to ignite the fuse at the tunnel entrance. The black gunpowder sparked and crackled, spreading flames deep into the tunnel. A faint gunpowder smell soon filled the air.

Inside Datong, preparations were complete.

As a modern man, determining the exact location of the Jurchen tunnels was not difficult. Simply placing several overturned jars on the ground and listening closely could roughly identify the tunnel’s position. Since the tunnels extended beneath the city walls’ stone foundation, only twenty to thirty meters from the city’s surface, no noise went unnoticed.

Wang Pu ordered all residences within fifty paces of the eastern city wall to be demolished. Then, he had a six-foot-high stone wall built twenty paces from the city wall. Musketeers stood behind the wall, exposing only their shoulders and heads, allowing them to rest their muskets on the wall for firing.