Chapter 829
Bloodbath in Jining
Uriyangkhad has sent an envoy?
Upon hearing this, the generals present exchanged bewildered glances. What was the Uriyangkhai envoy doing here? Did he harbor any ill intentions?
After everyone had been thinking about it, Chen Xiaohu spoke first: "Let him in."
Upon hearing this, the guards quickly summoned the Uriyangkhai envoy to their side. When the envoy arrived, everyone saw him bow and say, "Greetings, General."
Chen Xiaohu then looked at the other person and asked, "What brings you here today?"
Upon hearing this, the guard immediately said, "Reporting to the general, my commander has sent you a letter."
Chen Xiaohu was taken aback upon hearing this, and looked at the other party, saying, "A letter? Let me see it!"
As Chen Xiaohu spoke, he reached out his hand, and the guard handed him the letter. Chen Xiaohu opened it, glanced at it, and then calmly handed it to Ding Pulang, who was standing to the side.
Ding Pulang frowned slightly after reading it, then handed it to Ou Puxiang, who was standing next to him. Seeing that the two people in front of him didn't look too good, Ou Puxiang asked, "What's wrong?"
Neither of them answered. Ou Puxiang took the letter and looked at it, his face expressionless.
Ou Puxiang's expression was somewhat strange. He looked at Chen Xiaohu and Ding Pulang, then put down the letter and said, "Commander Hu, you decide."
Chen Xiaohu glanced at the letter, his eyes darting around before he looked at the messenger opposite him and laughed, “Hahahaha… I understand what your Uriyangkhai commander is thinking. He’s right. The world belongs to the king, and it has little to do with us soldiers. We’re just following orders.”
"Since your commander-in-chief wants a two-month ceasefire, then let's have a two-month ceasefire. We'll discuss other matters once things have changed in Dadu. Alright, men!"
Chen Xiaohu called out, and soldiers quickly arrived. Chen Xiaohu said, "Bring me pen and ink."
A moment later, Chen Xiaohu wrote a reply to Wuliangha.
"You can just give this to your commander."
As Chen Xiaohu spoke, the messenger immediately responded and left. After the messenger left, Ding Pulang looked at Chen Xiaohu and asked, "Commander Hu, what did you say?"
Chen Xiaohu said, "Hehe... Of course we should agree to his conditions. There's no reason not to."
Upon hearing this, Ding Pulang looked at Chen Xiaohu and asked, "Tiger Commander, this... are you really going to agree to him?"
Chen Xiaohu chuckled and said, "You wasted your time at the military academy. You'll have to ask the Prince of Ruyang to give you some extra tutoring later."
Chen Xiaohu said, "The proper way is to feign an attack on one side while secretly advancing on the other!"
Upon hearing Chen Xiaohu's words, Ding Pulang immediately replied, "Hehe, I understand."
Chen Xiaohu said, "Someone, secretly inform General Deng to speed up the tunnel digging. We must make good use of those experts from the Zoroastrian Thick Earth Banner whom we hired at great expense. We should strive to dig through the Datong city wall within ten days!"
"promise!"
The soldiers immediately ran away, and at this moment Chen Xiaohu took a sip of tea and said, "Commander Ding, General Ou, you should go back and comfort the soldiers. They should rest well these few days. Ten days later, we will take Datong City in one battle."
"promise!"
Ding Pulang immediately agreed.
After several major battles, Chen Xiaohu discovered a problem: the walls of Datong were too high and too difficult to attack. If they were to attack by force, the casualties would be too great and it would be difficult to take the city. So he came up with a clever idea: to dig tunnels.
For this reason, he even wrote a letter to Chen Jie, asking Chen Jie to help him get a few disciples of the Hou Tu Qi of the Zoroastrian Church from back then. He knew that the Hou Tu Qi disciples of the Zoroastrian Church had an unparalleled ability to dig tunnels.
Upon seeing this, Chen Jie immediately sent a message to Bright Peak. Liu Futong was also quite generous, sending over a hundred core disciples of the Thick Earth Banner to Chen Xiaohu's location.
After these disciples arrived, Chen Xiaohu had them follow Deng Yu to do this. Deng Yu was from the Zoroastrian sect and had served in the Haozhou branch under Zhu Chongba, so they had a stronger sense of belonging to him.
Thus, Deng Yu was sent by Chen Xiaohu to dig tunnels, preparing to launch a surprise attack on Datong from the tunnels.
What Chen Xiaohu had to wait for next was the moment the tunnel was dug open!
Everything was ready, and the messenger arrived outside the city wall of Datong. He fired the prepared signal flare, and then a basket was lowered down from the city wall. The messenger sat in the basket and was pulled up to the city wall, where he handed Chen Xiaohu's letter to Wuliangha.
After reading Chen Xiaohu's letter, Wuliangha's attitude changed, but he still felt something was off; had the other party agreed too readily?
Seeing the puzzled look on Uriyangkha's face, his subordinate said, "General, the other side probably has the same idea as us. They don't want to be easily sacrificed, so I don't think there's much of a problem with this."
Wuliangha frowned slightly, looked at his deputy general and said, "But Chen Xiaohu is a relative of Chen Jiu Si and a high-ranking general. It's understandable that others would agree so easily, but how could he agree so easily?"
The lieutenant said, "Perhaps, perhaps he... he wasn't truly on the same page as Chen Jiu Si?"
Wuliangha said, "No, we need to increase the number of guards on the city walls and strengthen patrols within the city. We must not let our guard down. I have a feeling there's something wrong with this!"
Upon hearing this, the deputy general immediately replied, "Yes, I will make the arrangements right away."
After the deputy general left, Wuliangha looked at the map. Datong City was so well defended that there should be no loopholes. No, I need to check it again.
Uriyangkhad looked at the map again and again, and finally confirmed that there was nothing to overlook, unless the enemy could fly down from the sky or grow out of the ground.
Having figured all this out, Uliangha felt a little more at ease, but deep down he still had a slight doubt about the matter, yet he couldn't pinpoint the problem.
And so, Datong Prefecture fell into an eerie silence.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Xu Da's troops, located in Jining Prefecture, Shandong, were engaged in a protracted tug-of-war with Baidar of the Chagatai Khanate.
This Baidar was a famous garrison commander. Xu Da attacked twice, but failed both times. Finally, Xu Da made a decision: to besiege the city with his army and trap it without attacking.
At this moment, Xu Da received a letter from Huangzhou Prefecture. Xu Da opened the letter and glanced at it.
He couldn't help but say, "Zhang Dingbian fought a brilliant battle!"
Upon hearing Xu Da's words, his two lieutenants, Chen Tun and Chen Quan, stepped forward and looked at Xu Da, saying, "General."
Xu Da said, "Zhang Dingbian led his troops to capture Daoma Pass, and Ni Wenjun killed the enemy's commander Subutai. The Golden Horde's 200,000-strong army was almost completely wiped out."
Upon hearing this, Chen Tun said, "Good, well done! You truly deserve to be called the number one general in the world."
He then looked at Xu Da and said, "Um, Commander, that's not what I meant, I..."
Xu Da smiled and said, "You're right. I was defeated by him, so he must be the number one general in the world."
Chen Tun was a little embarrassed, while Chen Quan, who was standing next to him, said, "General, that's all the letter says. Does the Prince of Han have any other instructions?"
Upon hearing this, Xu Da said, "The letter says that the King of Han will leave Huangzhou Prefecture in three days and head north to Dadu. During this time, the King of Han has ordered us that we can either wait for him to capture Dadu and then send troops to help us capture Jining Prefecture, or we can capture Jining Prefecture first and then head north together to capture Dadu."
After hearing Xu Da's words, Chen Tun and Chen Quan exchanged a glance and then said, "General, we can't just sit here and wait for the Prince of Han to come to our aid. We're too weak. I think we should capture Jining Prefecture and join forces with the Prince of Han to besiege Dadu!"
Hearing this, Xu Da nodded and said, "That's right. Zhang Dingbian has already taken the credit. If we wait for someone else to come to our rescue, we'll lose face."
Upon hearing this, Chen Tun asked, "Then, Commander Xu, shall we attack the city?"
Upon hearing this, Xu Da waved his hand and said, "Hey, there's no rush to attack the city. We've been besieging Jining Prefecture for two months now, and their food supplies are running low. Their only hope now is the granary in Ba County. Ba County has about 10,000 troops defending it, and there are two fierce generals under Baidar, the Tuobuhua brothers. If we remove this thorn in our side, we can starve Jining Prefecture to death. So let's remove this thorn tonight!"
Upon hearing this, Chen Tun and Chen Quan clasped their hands in a fist salute and said, "General, we'll go, we'll go."
Xu Da said, "Alright, tonight you two will lead 10,000 troops to Ba County, take over the grain outposts here, and burn their grain."
"promise!"
Upon hearing this, Chen Tun and Chen Quan clasped their hands in greeting.
The night was as dark as ink, so thick it seemed impossible to see through. In the black pine forest twenty miles west of Ba County, even the chirping of insects had fallen silent.
Chen Tun knelt on one knee on the damp soil, holding a few grains of earth he had picked up from the ground in his left palm, examining them closely by the faint starlight.
“The soil is loose, and it rained a few days ago,” he said in a low voice, hoarse like a whetstone. “It’s a bit disadvantageous for us.” A slight scraping sound of armor came from beside him, and General Chen Quan crouched down to approach.
"Ah-Tun, the scouts report that the Tuobuhua brothers have divided the granaries into three locations, forming a pincer movement." Chen Quan unfolded a rough-hewn sheepskin map; the charcoal lines were barely discernible in the darkness, but he had already memorized them thoroughly.
"The East Warehouse is located by the river and has a wooden sluice gate mechanism, which can draw river water to extinguish fires. The West Warehouse is backed by a mountain and has a stone structure, making it difficult to breach by force. The Central Warehouse is located in the backyard of the county government office, where the main force of the defending army is located."
Chen Tun narrowed his eyes, the scar looking even more ferocious in the shadows on his face: "The Tuobuhua brothers are no ordinary people either. The elder brother is skilled in riding and archery, and the younger brother is good at defending the city. They are the most capable garrison commanders under Baidar."
"Heh, so what if they can fight? I'll fight those who can fight."
Chen Quan said, baring his teeth.
At three-quarters past midnight, dark clouds finally obscured the waning moon, and on the city wall of Ba County, torches flickered uncertainly in the night wind. Hassan, the centurion of the garrison, yawned and rubbed his sleepy eyes.
They have been stationed in this small town in the Central Plains for three months, and the days are as dull as chewing on dried meat.
The rice and grains in the Central Plains were indeed more refined than the dairy products on the grasslands, but he began to miss the wind rushing in his face when he was galloping on horseback.
"There's movement!" the young soldier beside him suddenly whispered.
Hassan jolted and rushed to the crenellations. In the darkness below, something seemed to be moving indistinctly. He squinted, about to get a closer look—
"Enemy attack—!"
A mournful bugle call ripped through the night sky. Almost simultaneously, hundreds of rockets rose from the darkness, drawing crimson arcs across the night sky, raining down on the city walls and buildings like a storm!
"Hold the crenellations! Archers!" Hassan roared, but his voice was drowned out by the sudden sound of war drums.
The drumbeats were heavy and chaotic, as if they were coming from all directions at the same time, echoing in the darkness with the force of a thousand armies.
The Chagatai garrison on the city wall hastily took their positions, blindly firing arrows into the darkness below.
But rockets continued to fly into the city, and several houses near grain storages had caught fire, the flames illuminating the figures of people running in panic.
"General, they're feigning an attack!" the deputy general reported urgently from the watchtower on the city wall.
Tobqa Timur, the Chagatai Khanate's commander-in-chief guarding Ba County, stood atop the highest point of the city wall, his face beneath his iron helmet as hard as the wind-eroded rock of the steppe. His younger brother, Tobqa Muto, stood beside him, his hand on his sword, his face, ten years younger, bearing the same composure.
"About five hundred men on each of the east and west city walls, beating drums to create momentum, and using fire arrows to harass the enemy." Mutuo sneered, "Is this all the Han army is capable of?"
Timur did not answer. His gaze, sharp as an eagle's, swept across the darkness outside the city. The rockets mainly landed in the civilian areas; only a few scattered fires near the granaries were quickly extinguished by the defenders. It was too deliberate, as if trying to draw their attention away from the enemy.
“Zhongcang,” Timur suddenly spoke up, “their real target is Zhongcang.”
Before the words were even finished, a deafening explosion came from the direction of the county government office! The ground shook violently, and even the city walls trembled.
"Gunpowder!" Muto's expression changed drastically.
"Take a thousand cavalrymen to rescue Zhongcang," Timur ordered. "I will guard the city walls and defend against their main force."
Muto received the order and rushed down from the city. Timur continued to observe outside the city, but a sense of unease swept through his heart—it was too obvious. The explosion was so loud, as if they were afraid that they would not know that the central warehouse had been attacked.
At this moment, in the reed marshes three miles east of Ba County, Chen Tun wiped the mud off his face and nodded to the messenger beside him.
Five hundred of the best swimmers silently slipped into the icy river, each dragging a package sealed with tarpaulin behind them.
The garrison at the granary on the east side of the city, which was bordered by the river, was completely distracted by the feint attack from the west and the explosion at the central granary. It wasn't until dozens of dark figures suddenly emerged from the water that they hurriedly fired their arrows.
But it was too late. Chen Tun's first group of suicide soldiers had already rushed to the riverbank and thrown the oilcloth wrappings at the grain bins. The wrappings tore open, and black, viscous kerosene flowed all over the ground.
"set fire!"
The torch was thrown. The grain bins, soaked in kerosene, burst into flames, the flames shooting three zhang (approximately 10 meters) high, illuminating the night sky as if it were daytime!
Almost simultaneously, on the cliff west of the city, Chen Quan looked down at the stone-built western warehouse.
A direct assault would indeed be difficult to break through, but he had been lying in wait in the mountains for three days, waiting for the wind direction tonight.
"Fire arrows."
It wasn't a rocket, but a long arrow bound with oil-soaked linen.
Three hundred of the strongest archers lined up in three rows and took turns hurling arrows. The arrows flew over the wall and landed in the open space between the grain bins, igniting bonfires.
"The wind is coming!" the sentry whispered.
The night wind howled down from the mountains, passing through the mountain road that Chen Quan had ordered to be widened in advance. The wind suddenly increased, stirring up burning linen, sparks, and ashes, pouring into the western warehouse like a fire dragon!
Although the grain storage was made of stone, the top was still thatched and made of wood. When sparks fell, fires broke out everywhere, and the defending soldiers were caught off guard and in complete chaos.
Timur saw the flames shooting into the sky on both the east and west sides of the city wall and finally realized that he had fallen into a trap.
The feint attack was a ruse; the explosion in the central warehouse was bait; the real killing move was for both the east and west warehouses to catch fire simultaneously! His most elite 3,000 cavalrymen had already been led by his younger brother to the direction of the central warehouse.
"Open the city gates! Cavalry, follow me to rescue the East Warehouse!" Timur mounted his horse. Now, their only chance was to save at least one warehouse before the fire got out of control.
The city gates burst open with a roar. Timur personally led two thousand cavalrymen out, their hooves shattering the night as they charged straight for Dongcang. But just a mile outside the city gates, hundreds of black flags suddenly rose up on both sides!
"Horse trap!" the front-line cavalrymen exclaimed, but it was too late to stop.
Men and horses fell over, the carefully disguised pit instantly rendering more than three hundred riders unable to fight.
Immediately afterwards, a rain of arrows poured down from the black pine forest on both sides, not towards the people, but towards the horses!
Chen Tun emerged from the reeds and stood on a makeshift earthen platform, pointing his long sword at Timur: "Since you have left the city, General, please stay forever."
Timur's pupils contracted; Chen Tun had actually led a team to attack Dongcang.
"The eagle of the steppe will not die in the hunter's trap," Timur replied in broken Chinese, drawing his scimitar. "Kill!"
When two forces collide, the cavalry's advantage lies in its charging distance, but once it gets into close combat, it is not as agile as the infantry.
Chen Tun's soldiers fought in groups of three, specifically targeting the horses' legs. Timur's cavalry charged left and right, but were like trapped beasts struggling.
A gong sounded from the direction of the city wall—it was the signal from Mutuo, who, after discovering that only a dozen or so assassins had staged the explosion in the central warehouse, was rushing back to provide reinforcements. But it was too late.
The fire at the East Granary is out of control. The sluice gate by the river has been jammed with corpses by Chen Tun's henchmen, preventing water from being drawn. With the wind fanning the flames, eighteen out of the twenty grain silos at the West Granary have caught fire.
Although the central warehouse did not catch fire, by the time Muto returned to reinforce, Chen Tun had already led the main force to attack from the west gate. After Timur took away two thousand cavalry, the defenders at the west gate numbered less than three thousand and were routed in front of the breach created by the gunpowder.
In the darkest hour before dawn, three granaries in Ba County were engulfed in flames.
Thick smoke billowed into the sky from the burning of 200,000 dan of grain, visible for miles around. The firelight illuminated half the sky, like the dying eyes of a giant beast.
On the city wall, Timur was forced to the edge of the battlements by Chen Tun. His scimitar was broken, and his armor was shattered. He glanced back at the sea of fire in the city, suddenly roared something in the grassland language, and then leaped off the ten-zhang-long city wall.
Chen Tun rushed to the edge of the battlements, only to see Timur's figure fall into the moat and never resurface.
"A-Tun, we've found Mu Tuo." Chen Quan walked over, a knife dripping with blood. "He died fighting to the death in front of the county government office."
Chen Tun stared at the sea of fire in the city, remaining silent for a long time. The acrid smell of burning grain and fodder permeated the air, mingled with the stench of blood and gunpowder. The remnants of the defending army were gradually wiped out in the street fighting, with shouts of battle rising sporadically before fading away one by one.
"Take stock of casualties, evacuate before dawn. Without Ba County, Jining Prefecture is just a piece of meat in our mouths, hahaha..." (End of this chapter)