Chapter 25: The Night of the Sixth Day

The city of Yangzhou had fallen six days ago. It was night.

Outside the city, fifty thousand surrendered troops were in total chaos. The forces under Brigade General Li Tongyan had mutinied, launching a surprise attack under the cover of darkness. The resulting fires stretched for ten miles, and they managed to reclaim over forty thousand soldiers. Rumors of an invasion by the Four Towns of Northern Jiang spread like wildfire, and Li Tongyan, rallying under the banner that Tie Duo was dead, launched an assault on Yangzhou.

Tie Duo, commanding from Great Tai Temple, deployed three thousand White Banner iron cavalry. A single charge was enough to scatter the enemy’s vanguard, forcing Li Tongyan to retreat from the city. The city gates were slammed shut by the halberd-wielding guards, and commanders of every unit received orders to cease looting and return to their camps. Realizing the enemy’s intent, Li Tongyan immediately led his personal guard to attack the northern wall, and the fighting intensified into a desperate inferno.

…

On the southern wall, Jiang He climbed up through the gaps in the masonry, the words of General Li echoing in his ears:

"Two hours. You have only two hours to complete the assassination."

"Don’t let the sudden uprising fool you into thinking we caught the Qing army off guard. In truth, from beyond the passes to the heart of the provinces, from north of the river to the south, most of our generals and soldiers have had their spirits broken. Unless you can produce enough military pay, I cannot promise a successful head-on clash."

"Most importantly, we lack cavalry; all our horses were confiscated to supply the White Banner soldiers."

"If we don't have Tie Duo’s head before dawn, our army will inevitably collapse."

Finally, Jiang He climbed onto the southern ramparts.

Looking out, after six days of slaughter, the city was unrecognizable. The corpses piling up on both sides of the roads had bloated in the stagnant water, their skin taut like drums, the flesh within rotting away. The air was heavy with a nauseating stench. With the collapse of the curfew, fires burned everywhere; the sky was choked with smoke and the smell of blood hung thick for miles.

Occasional fleeing citizens could be seen in the streets—burned, maimed, covered in blade wounds, their blood caking into dark clumps—still being pursued by Qing soldiers, who hunted them like demons chasing spirits. Hundreds of thousands had already met a miserable end. The entire city of Yangzhou no longer resembled a place for the living.

Jiang He crouched on the wall, lifting a monocular telescope he had taken from General Li to scan the city. The Qing army’s White Banner cavalry were currently armoring up; they had not ventured out earlier simply because they did not want to suffer heavy casualties.

The Halberd Battalion guarded the northern wall, these hulking warriors wielding massive polearms, each one capable of holding a single battlement alone. Near Great Tai Temple, various units were gathering, the most central among them being the Divine Machine Battalion, whose forty-two "Red-Coated" cannons had once achieved the terrifying feat of collapsing the city walls.

Jiang He suddenly stood up and moved quickly to the side, adjusting his angle to observe. He saw dozens of Qing soldiers hauling shells and gunpowder out of a house on the central street. Tie Duo had crossed the river with his White Banner troops as a lone force, carrying a vast supply of ammunition for sieges. Nineteen years ago, during the Tianqi era of the Ming Dynasty, a massive explosion at the Wanggongchang gunpowder depot had killed over twenty thousand people. The Qing supply was likely not that large, but the explosive power would still be formidable.

"Found it."

"The Qing army is busy suppressing the rebellion; this is my chance."

"I will use their strength against them. My advantage is the explosion."

Jiang He descended from the wall, moving with the speed of a leopard through the ruins. The rare-grade armor he had borrowed from Chu Fuqiang had flexible joints, allowing him to move with total agility.

Fifteen minutes later, he returned to the central street. In the plan, General Li’s mutiny served only to draw away the enemy’s focus; the true victory lay in the assassination.

Around the house, the Divine Machine Battalion had already departed under heavy guard. A full unit remained to garrison the gunpowder warehouse, and nearby streets were filled with mobilizing troops. Seeing this, Jiang He turned and headed for the Yan Family Cemetery in the west of the city, where he found Chu Fuqiang perched on the rafters of the old ancestral hall.

"Brother Mo!"

The burly man dropped to the ground, looking like he had lost weight from hunger.

Jiang He spoke briefly: "I intend to strike again. I need you to draw the attention of the garrisoned unit. Also, lend me the 'Prowler's Badge.' If I’m not dead, I’ll return it to you tomorrow morning."

Chu Fuqiang knew the other man intended to kill Tie Duo, and that alone was reason enough for deep cooperation.

"Time, location, what do I do?" Chu Fuqiang agreed readily, his demeanor showing his military background.

"Follow me."

The two left the old hall and raced toward the central street. The troops stationed there were Tie Duo’s loyalists. The commander was even an "acquaintance"—the same man who had ordered the dispersal of their four-man squad on the day the city fell. Having been reprimanded for letting them slip away, he was now desperate to prove himself by suppressing the rebellion.

"I’m going to steal the gunpowder inside. You stall them as long as you can. If it’s impossible, retreat on your own. Let’s add each other as friends first."

Chu Fuqiang grasped the intent. After handing over the Prowler's Badge and accepting the friend request, he summoned his Stone-Strider Horse, preparing for battle.

Half a quarter of an hour later, the man wielding a single axe charged the battle line on horseback, causing a series of commotions.

Jiang He circled behind the warehouse, used the Prowler's Badge to dispose of a squad of guards, and fired his gun to shatter a corner of the brick wall.

The interior was dim. To keep the air dry and prevent the humid rainy season from ruining the powder, the Qing army used torches—a task that required significant effort for a well-maintained warehouse.

Jiang He ignored the dozen Red-Coated cannons. The gunpowder provided was sealed in dense wooden boxes to prevent accidental ignition. There were 102 boxes in total. He couldn't estimate the exact yield, but since Tie Duo still had several major cities and the auxiliary capital to conquer, the stockpile was certainly substantial.

He stored the boxes in his inventory. Inside, he catalyzed the powder with heat radiation, causing it to burn fiercely until the oxygen was consumed, resulting in an even more intense blast of heat and a shockwave.

Jiang He used the last tenth of a box to prime a shell, firing it to blow out the front wall of the warehouse.

Outside, Chu Fuqiang, drenched in blood, received the signal. He stopped fighting and immediately rode away. The garrison commander finally realized what had happened; with eyes wide with rage, he led his troops back to defend, only to find the warehouse empty.

"Notify Lord Tie Duo at once!"

…

Leaving the warehouse, Jiang He dashed toward Great Tai Temple. Hidden by the night and the Prowler's Badge, he moved like a shadow.

Arriving at the Slim Lake for the second time, Jiang He dove into the water. After surfacing only a few times to breathe, he successfully reached the shore.

Because of Li Tongyan’s rebellion, the Halberd Battalion and the Divine Machine Battalion had left, but as Jiang He stepped out of the garden, fifteen hundred personal guards seemed to have been waiting for a long time. They stood in formation, torches lit in overlapping layers, making the three-mile stretch look like a path to the underworld.

Beneath the Eight-Treasure Pagoda, Tie Duo wore a red brocade robe, his expression calm. Neither the rebellion outside nor the arrival of this intruder seemed to matter to him.

"Capture him if possible, but kill him if you must," Tie Duo ordered.

The Great Shaman, clad in yellow armor, shouted: "If the enemy advances within two miles, slaughter him! Do not let him get near the Prince!"

During the first battle at Great Tai Temple, the Great Shaman had seen with his own eyes how this land-bound dragon used unknown methods to instantly blow apart the black-robed men, with an effective range of at least twenty zhang.