Volume III: Heroes Fall in Silence, the Universe Grows Old Chapter 40: Heavy Clouds I
Today in History: On March 10, 1352, Guo Zixing captured Haozhou.
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The person sent by Xu Ren was stocky and stout, riding a lean horse and followed by several personal guards as he wobbled his way over. Deng She hastened out to greet him without even taking time to put on his shoes properly, but upon arriving outside the tent, he realized it was an acquaintance. He remembered him clearly: a man nicknamed "Blessed and Fortunate," who had rendered great service days earlier when they defeated the Yuan army, and whose name was Liu Yang.
As it turned out, after pondering deeply and taking inspiration from Xu Ren, Deng She had concluded that the only way to rapidly breach the city walls was by tunneling underground. During the military council, he had asked Xu Ren if Liu Yang could be left behind to assist. Xu Ren certainly could not spare him, but he had recommended someone else skilled in the same craft. At the time, no name was mentioned, so Deng She had never expected it to turn out to be him.
Deng She was startled, then burst into laughter. Before Liu Yang could even get close, he strode forward, grasped his hands, and said, "General Xu said he was going to introduce a master to me, but I never imagined it would be an old friend."
Liu Yang had originally been a centurion, but thanks to Deng She's battlefield promotion, he had risen to the rank of deputy chiliarch. Deng She had shown him great favor by recognizing his talent. However, because his official rank had been bestowed by Deng She, while Xu Ren and Li Jing acknowledged it, Zheng Sanbao had muttered quite a few grievances after his departure. Therefore, he was more than willing to come serve in Deng She's army.
He smiled obsequiously and said, "Being called a master is far too high a praise. This humble subordinate lacks talent, but is willing to offer the service of a dog or a horse for the General."
Deng She felt a tinge of doubt. He clearly remembered that this man had originated from bandits, so how could he be so skilled in tunneling? Since the matter was of grave importance and no child's play, he looked him up and down for a moment. Pulling Liu Yang toward the interior of the tent, he asked, "Didn't brother start out in the bandit trade? How is it that...?"
Liu Yang gave an honest, simple smile. "To not keep secrets from the General, before this subordinate engaged in business, I spent several years working as a miner. General Xu was an acquaintance of mine from those days."
"Ah..." Deng She was suddenly enlightened. He praised, "One cannot judge a book by its cover. I never imagined General Liu had such a rich background."
"Not at all, not at all," Liu Yang said modestly. "I just know a thing or two, merely a thing or two."
"Ha, come right in, please." Deng She pulled his hand and the two walked into the tent. Outside was freezing cold, but inside the tent the heat was like spring. Deng She ordered hot soup to be brought and invited Liu Yang to warm himself up. After chatting casually about their experiences since parting ways and touching briefly upon the current military situation, the conversation shifted to the main topic. "General Xu has probably already told you why I asked you here."
"Yes."
"Time is tight, so let's get straight to the point," Deng She asked. "Supposing we dig a tunnel from my camp into the enemy city, how many days would it take?"
A map had already been spread out on the desk, detailing the distances between the enemy and themselves. Liu Yang rose from his seat, squatted down before the map, measured it with his hands, and pondered for a moment. "If manpower is sufficient, two or three days at most... However, there is one catch: the situation inside the city is not entirely clear. As the General knows, when we dig underground like this, if the enemy has someone skilled in this art, they can use all sorts of methods to detect and listen in."
Deng She had heard of this. He vaguely remembered that the method to crack a tunnel was quite simple: place an earthen jar in an appropriate spot, and the enemy's movements deep underground could be heard with crystal clarity.
"Digging tunnels easily causes changes in the water table. There are wells in the city, and the water level in those wells is very likely to drop because of it. That is also a method of detection." Speaking of his profession, Liu Yang was full of expert knowledge. He continued, "The most important point..." He raised his head and asked, "General, I wonder if there are trenches inside the city?"
His meaning was to ask whether the Yuan army had dug a second or even a third line of trenches within the city. When Qing Qianxing attacked Shuangcheng, Deng She had used this defensive tactic. It had two benefits: first, after the enemy breached the city gates and captured the walls, another line of defense could be established; second, if the trenches were dug deep enough, they could also prevent the enemy from tunneling into the city.
Deng She recalled what he had seen earlier from the watchtower: "It seems there are trenches."
"That makes it difficult. Tunneling is underground work where the surface topography cannot be seen clearly. Unless one knows the city inside and out, it is far too risky. Once a tunnel collapses, not a single soldier inside will survive."
The aforementioned methods were all ways to detect tunnels, and there were also several tactics to counter them. First, once the path of the enemy's tunnel was discovered, find a way to collapse it; second, blow smoke or toxic fumes into the tunnel, or pour water down to repel the enemy; third, set up an ambush at the tunnel entrance; fourth, dispatch brave warriors down into the tunnel to engage the enemy in hand-to-hand combat. This last method tasted somewhat of turning defense into offense, because if things went smoothly, there was a chance to kill one's way out along the enemy's tunnel and seize the enemy's camp in reverse.
Hearing this, Deng She realized that true expertise comes from specialization. "Has brother ever had actual combat experience?"
"Following General Xu, I've had it twice," Liu Yang said with a trace of shame. "One success, one failure."
With only a fifty-fifty chance of success, Deng She could not help hesitating. When it came to warfare, there was never a hundred percent certainty; a fifty or sixty percent chance was usually enough, but he simply could not afford to waste time. Reading his expression, Liu Yang said, "Is the General worried about needless casualties among the officers and men?"
Xu Ren had kept his mouth tightly shut and had not told him about the Shuangcheng rebellion.
Deng She gave a noncommittal response, and Liu Yang spoke again, "Actually, this subordinate does have an idea, though I do not know if it is appropriate."
"Speak your mind."
"I wonder if the gunpowder brought within the General's army is sufficient or not?"
"Not much, but enough to use."
"If so, then this tunnel does not need to be dug all the way into Gaizhou city. With a detachment to cover us, we only need to dig up to the city wall, and then pile the gunpowder at the base of the wall and detonate it. This subordinate sees that the Gaizhou city wall is not exceptionally sturdy; it should be enough to blow it down."
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Deng She slapped his forehead. His mental cultivation was still insufficient; worrying too much about Shuangcheng had slowed his brain down. How could he have forgotten this trick? When Wenhua Kingdom attacked the South Korean army at the West Mountain Pass of Shuangcheng, he had used it once before. Using gunpowder to shatter an enemy camp achieved the same result by different means.
Even though there were still trenches inside the city, blowing up the wall would inevitably still require a fierce battle; yet it was vastly superior to a conventional assault. He immediately made his decision. "Good! This is a fine method. Let's do as you say."
Digging a tunnel required a great deal of preparatory work. One had to survey the geology, select the engineering route, plan the layout, and then draw up construction plans and choose construction techniques. Especially for long-distance spoil removal and long-distance ventilation, all of these required a high degree of technical skill.
Digging only up to the city wall eliminated many difficulties and shortened the time required, but in terms of the volume of construction, it was still very heavy. They certainly could not dig directly under the Gaizhou city wall, as the Yuan soldiers inside the city would never sit idly by. Aside from launching sorties to harass and disrupt them, it would also ruin the element of surprise, failing to serve as a surprise strike.
Therefore, the tunnel still had to be dug from within the camp.
Liu Yang left the camp by nightfall, taking two or three men with him. Under the cover of night, he carefully observed the terrain and surveyed the geology. Deng She, in accordance with his demands, ordered the three armies to prepare various tools and mobilize personnel. At the same time, he ordered the frontline troops to continue digging trenches—on one hand, putting on the posture of a prolonged siege to numb the enemy, and on the other hand, using the dirt excavated from the trenches to help conceal the earth hauled out from the tunnel construction.
"How many men can a single tunnel hide?"
"From the camp to Gaizhou is a mere few miles. At most, a single tunnel can hold a few dozen men."
Those willing to fight underground and penetrate deep behind enemy lines had to be men who held their lives lightly. Fortunately, since the sole objective was to blow up the city wall, it did not require many people. Deng She did not bother selecting from the general army; from his immediate brothers' squad and personal guards squad, he chose a dozen fierce and intrepid soldiers. He supplied them with good wine and meat, granting them a special exception: until the tunnel was completed, they were allowed to drink.
Chen虎's (Chen Hu's) army had brought camp followers, and he selected the young and beautiful ones to be sent over for their enjoyment.
Putting aside the comforting and encouraging of the assault team, Liu Yang worked with extreme briskness. Shortly after dawn, the plan was completed, and under the cover of layer upon layer of tents, the construction began. To ensure confidentiality, Deng She dispatched scouting cavalry to sweep a five-mile radius around, forbidding soldiers from leaving the camp. The over ten thousand men of the central army threw themselves wholeheartedly into the bustling excavation work.
Counting on a three-day duration, Mao Jiujing had already broken out, and tens of thousands of men surrounded Gaizhou city, neither fighting nor retreating. Continuing to dig trenches to lull the enemy might even arouse Gao Jianu's suspicions. Deng She ordered Zhao Guo to launch feigned attacks two or three times a day, while the central army also detached a small force of cavalry and infantry to make a great show of strength.
Any civilian technology is bound to be applied to military use, and this tunneling method was no exception. It was born from mining operations and shared the exact same lineage as mine excavation. Much like digging a well, one first dug down several meters deep, then tunneled horizontally to open up galleries. The dirt excavated from the caves was all hauled out through the initially dug well; the tools for hauling dirt could be wicker baskets or wooden boards tied with ropes to pull them up.
These were relatively crude tools; in their haste, they could not procure formal, optimal earth-moving equipment.
Depending on the length of the tunnel, some required vertical pillars erected within the tunnel. At intervals, stone or wooden pillars were used to support the upper and lower sections to prevent collapse. Since ancient times, mine collapse accidents had occurred endlessly, but thanks to the short length of the tunnel and the brief time it would be in use, it was much safer under the guidance of professionals.
Every half-mile, they needed to dig obliquely upward to create an air duct for ventilation, known as a "sentinel vent." With no air circulation underground, relying solely on the initially dug well to supply fresh air was far from enough. Without these vents, people would suffocate.
The most crucial point of all was that outside the Gaizhou city wall ran a moat. It was not very deep, but tunneling required factoring it in. They had to dig deep enough to bypass the riverbed of the moat. With the riverbed silt being quite muddy, if the river was three meters deep, the tunnel had to go at least three meters deeper beneath the riverbed.
Liu Yang was thoroughly dedicated to his duties. Every day, he crawled at the very front, not only directing operations but digging with his own hands. The excavated dirt was first mixed with the earth from the frontline trenches and packed into bags; later, when there was simply too much of it, a dedicated squad of soldiers hauled it out under cover.
The engineering progressed smoothly without Gao Jianu noticing a thing. Zhao Guo's division launched fierce, nonstop attacks day and night, while Chen虎's (Chen Hu's) division sent in three reports a day. The besieged Japanese, having exhausted their grain, had sent two squads sneaking out of the camp in the dead of night to seek surrender. Chen Hu, annoyed that they had made him lose face, refused the surrender and had them all beheaded beneath the "No-Execution-Exempt" plaque.
He executed them first and reported to Deng She afterward. Deng She's attention was entirely focused on the tunnel and he paid it no mind, merely smiling as he said, "Next time you kill, don't do it beneath the exemption plaque."
By the dusk of the third day, the tunnel had reached the base of the city wall. Liu Yang, covered in dust and grime, came to ask for instructions: "General, shall we act now, or wait a bit longer?"
Deng She had long since grown impatient. He looked at the sky and asked Yang Wanhu and the others, "How are the troops prepared?"
Yang Wanhu was rubbing his fists and flexing his palms. Watching Liu Yang dig caves all day had left him burning with suppressed frustration. "Whenever the city wall collapses, the troops will be able to charge up." He Guangxi was also brimming with vigor; having performed well during the previous battle against the Yuan army and earned personal praise from Deng She, he vied for the lead, saying, "This humble person is willing to serve as the vanguard."
Yang Wanhu glanced at him. The two had been paired up for some time; although he still looked down on him, their relationship had grown somewhat closer. Suppressing a mocking retort, he merely grunted.
Having a bit of rivalry and discord among subordinates, as long as it did not go too far, was a good thing. On a small scale, it was called balance; on a grand scale, it was statecraft. Once a person reached that position, many things were understood without being taught. Deng She smiled faintly, choosing to treat what he saw as if he hadn't seen it. After a moment of contemplation, he said, "Get yourselves prepared first. Tonight at the third watch, we break the city and launch the assault."
He summoned the messenger. "Tell Zhao Guo to continue his feigned attack; have fresh troops ready. At the third watch, when you hear my cannon signal, launch a simultaneous fierce assault on the northern wall of Gaizhou to attract and disperse the Tartar troops, cooperating with our army's operation."
Everything was ready; they only owed the east wind.
Blowing up a city wall was not simply a matter of digging a tunnel to the wall and burying explosives. One had to skew the tunnel's axis away from the wall's axis, hollow out the wall's foundation, and support it with wooden pillars. In the absence of explosives, they could pack the space with firewood, pour grease over it, and then ignite it; once the supporting wooden pillars burned away, the city wall would naturally collapse. With explosives, it was much simpler: explosives replaced the firewood and grease, a fuse was drawn out, the soldiers withdrew from the tunnel, and then it was ignited.
Once the explosives detonated, the city wall would instantly fall.
If there were only a single tunnel, the breach in the collapsed wall would be relatively small; to ensure absolute success, Liu Yang had dug two. This way, there would be a chain reaction, and the resulting breach would be significantly larger.
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This was Deng She's first time employing such a tactic, and up to this point, everything had gone smoothly—so smoothly that he scarcely dared to imagine it. The night gradually deepened, thick clouds gathered, and you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Yang Wanhu and He Guangxi had selected two thousand cavalry and three thousand infantry, forming up in neat arrays within the camp. The cold wind whipped the red banners as Deng She rode past to inspect them.
Most of these men had followed him into the military back in Yongping, enduring dozens of large and small battles, and had followed Deng She to this day. Deng She looked back toward Shuangcheng; in the pitch-black night, nothing could be seen. He turned his gaze toward Haizhou instead, where the faint, flickering lights marked the rearguard troops left behind by Mao Jiujing.
He rode on horseback, his horse's hooves clicking softly, the five thousand men maintaining absolute silence. Bi Qianniu held a torch, following closely behind Deng She, while pairs of eyes fixed their gazes upon their general.
Deng She said nothing, fearing he would alert Gaizhou. He watched as the dozen or so selected personal guards, led by Liu Yang, carefully handled the gunpowder and, one by one, descended into the tunnel, their figures vanishing underground. A moment later, the officer responsible for keeping time trotted over and spoke in a low voice, "General, the third watch is about to begin."
The soldiers who had gone underground had not yet emerged. In the distance, the lights of Gaizhou blazed like the heavens, and the Yuan army night-patrol guards struck the clappers for the third watch. Liu Yang poked his head out, his face covered in sweat and plastered with grey mud. The soldiers crawled out one by one, pulling two thick fuses that trailed out behind them.
Liu Yang looked toward Deng She; Deng She gave a nod.
The fuses were ignited, crackling and spitting sparks like two fiery serpents as they rapidly plunged deep underground. Aside from a puff of smoke at the start, they quickly fell silent. A long time seemed to have passed, or perhaps it was only a fleeting moment. The weather was freezing, yet Deng She's palms were slick with sweat; this was his first time employing such a tactic.
Would it succeed? Or fail?
It was like the brilliant bloom of fireworks across the sky, yet also like a sleeping dragon startling awake deep beneath the earth. A heaven-shaking explosion caused the ground itself to tremble. Deng She raised his brow, his saber flashing out of its scabbard. Disregarding his startled steed's rearing and whinnying, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Seven months ago, I led you out of Yongping; today, I lead you back to Liaodong!"
"Fire the cannons!"
Three cannon shots rang out, transforming the feigned attack on the northern city wall into a real assault. The walls of Gaizhou plunged into panic; the collapsed section of the wall spanned nearly twenty zhang, the aftershocks continued endlessly, and amidst a sky full of dust, wounded Yuan army soldiers wailed incessantly while officers desperately tried to restore order, though large numbers of troops were already fleeing toward the rear.
The gates of the Red Turban central army's stockade swung wide open, and Deng She pointed his saber forward: "Charge!"
Cavalry in the front, infantry in the rear. Whether cavalry or infantry, every single man carried a bag of earth. Aside from the five thousand main forces, another three thousand temporarily detached troops carried them as well. The distance of several miles was covered in the blink of an eye, and out of the eight thousand bags of earth, less than a third were dropped before a sufficiently wide section of the moat was completely filled.
Up until this moment, the Yuan army had yet to react. Before their artillery pieces and catapults could fire a single shot, the Red Turbans had already breached the city.
The cavalry surged straight ahead, while the infantry expanded the victory through the breach, scrambling up the city walls and seizing them section by section. The Red Turban battle flags were quickly hoisted aloft. The trenches inside the city were neither as deep nor as wide as the outer moat, and the two thousand bags dropped by the cavalry filled them instantly.
With Zhao Guo launching a fierce assault on the northern wall, the Yuan army was powerless to dispatch reinforcements to the southern wall, falling into a two-front dilemma where they were stretched thin.
Acting on Deng She's orders, not long after the battle began, the cavalry that had broken into the city and was about to plunge into street fighting suddenly roared in unison: "Gao Jianu has fled! Gao Jianu has fled!" With the city walls collapsed and the commanding general running away, the discipline of the Gaizhou Yuan army was already in shambles. In less than two hours, the main body of infantry pouring into the city afterward had already seized vital locations such as the commander's mansion, storehouses, and government offices at all levels.
After entering the city, Deng She adopted tactics of infiltration and segmentation, breaking through enemy defenses with small groups of elites, plunging the Yuan army into a state of chaos where they were overwhelmed from all sides and commands could not be properly relayed up and down. Large masses of Yuan army soldiers began to surrender; as for the small factions determined to fight to the bitter end, fierce generals like Yang Wanhu made sure to smash them to pieces.
By this point, before dawn broke, the battle of Gaizhou could be said to have reached its conclusion.
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1. Tunnel Warfare.
Also known as mine warfare, China is the birthplace of this tactic, and its history of tunnel warfare is so rich that it is praised as the crown of the world. During the Warring States Period, various vassal states widely employed tunnel tactics to capture fortified cities while devising various measures to prevent tunnel sabotage, including counter-tunnel warfare.
Gongshu Ban and Mozi’s "Nine Attacks and Nine Defenses" was essentially a sand-table siege defense combat drill; during the ninth round, Lu Ban employed tunnel warfare, digging tunnels underground to attack the city, which was thwarted by Mozi using the "Defensive Cave" method. "Defensive Cave" was the tactic of counter-tunneling.
2. Tunnel Excavation, Tunnel Sieges, and Underground Hand-to-Hand Combat.
"The method of boring tunnels is initially like digging a well; at a depth of three zhang, one branches out sideways... All the earth inside the tunnel is hauled out through the initially dug well... At intervals of slightly over half a mile, oblique air ducts are bored upward, known as sentinel vents."
In 423 AD, at the Battle of Hulao between Northern Wei and Liu Song, Song general Mao Zude led his troops in excavating six tunnels, organizing a four-strong assault team of four hundred men to bypass and strike the rear of the besieging Wei army through the tunnels, severely defeating them. This set of tunnels had an overburden of over seventeen meters, and winding from inside the city to the enemy's rear was an engineering feat of immense scale.
During the Five Dynasties period, the armies of Later Liang and Later Jin engaged in a rare tunnel war in Zezhou. The Liang army defended Zezhou, while the Jin army excavated tunnels attempting to tunnel into the city. The Liang army selected dozens of brave warriors to dig tunnels in counter-attack, and both sides engaged in hand-to-hand combat inside the tunnels. "After thirteen days, the Jin army suffered heavy casualties."