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Idiosyncratic translation choices
奴 = Jurd
虜 = savage

A Jurd chief leads savages on a raid (from hearsay)

 

They say that after being defeated by our army, the eastern chief Nurhaci died of his injuries. Owing to this, for the next two or three years the tribes didn’t dare come raid. Furthermore, Li Yongfang, who surrendered to those Jurds to become a prince, only wanted wealth and ease. Thus, they laid up the arms of war in Liaodong.But who could predict that during autumn two years later, Li Yongfang’s schemer-in-chief, Li Bolong, would once again incite the Jurds’ master to come raid? Fearing that Liaodong was guarded too closely, they crossed into [China] west of the river in Shaanxi. First, they planted a spy, Shubude, who posed as one of our people and came to Gaotai with silver to buy grain. It was during harvest, so regardless of how much, everyone wanted to buy up grain. Even if just a peck or a bushel, they’d buy it in copper cash to store up in their gourds in the mountains.

Now, the chief of these Jurds was most lustful, and there were several prostitutes who’d come and go at Gaotai fort. Whenever he’d see them, he couldn’t stop his heart from thumping. Since he’d already learned our southern way of speech, he went forward and gave a prostitute a fake name and a fake hometown. He bought her wine and food, laid out a spread over two tables, and drank and ate with that lady for glass after glass. They spent the night together, and in the end he stayed with her for four or five days.

At the time, there were several young men at the fort. Seeing that the chief wouldn’t let that woman out, they spent a few days asking around near where he was staying. It was unavoidable that they would eventually call on that prostitute to entertain. The Jurd chief feared something would happen to expose him as a spy. He had no choice but to let the whore go out at the young men’s invitation. He gave her a pile of silver and told her, “We’ve been doing business in Shenyang and other places for over twenty years. All the things we eat and drink are the same as those border folk. We’re just as lax with ourselves, so it’s unavoidable that we have a bit of a musty smell. Ma’am, for several days now you and I have had conjugal affection, and this must be because of our karma from a previous life. You must remember that in one night, man and wife can have a hundred evenings of love. So after this, when you talk to others, please cover up and conceal this fault of ours.” The whore said, “Say nothing of it. Of course, of course!”

He didn’t know that the woman already doubted him. After he spoke like this, she doubted even more. When she met with those young men, they turned out to be attractive and charming. They dined together for a while, and she sat pressed against them. Then, one used his nose and gave the woman a sniff. He said, “Ma’am, your sisters are all clean. It’s as the song says, ‘Going in a cloud of fragrance, sitting in a cloud of fragrance.’ But, why do your clothes have this musty smell? Is it perhaps that there’s a bit of cum on you?”

When the girl heard him speaking like this, her face went red. She bashfully said, “I’ve never had this odor… For the last few days, I’ve entertained a guest who came to buy grain. Then, this smell came out. I’ve also had doubts about him. He said, “I’ve been doing business in Liaodong since childhood, because of this, I smell like piss.” He told me to cover up his defect for him. Could it really be my natural odor? I’m afraid you’ve all laughed at me!”

One of them said, “Don’t worry about it. In a bit, just take some Liu Hejia Jade Beauty Scented Soap and give it to her to wash up. She can change her clothes and then her original fragrance will come back.”

Another said, “As I see it, couldn’t he be one of those eastern or western barbarians pretending to be a merchant buying grain? Ahh! If he’s one of these barbarians coming to buy grain, that’s not good news!” After this, word spread from one to another, and soon it had spread to hundreds. There were rumors everywhere, with half believing and half not believing. When that Jurd heard that people were doubting his actions, he made an excuse saying that they were temporarily going back home.  That they’d come back in the tenth month to move out and sell grain. Then, they quietly departed.

As a result, during harvest time in the middle of the ninth month, he led an army of tens of thousands of savages. They came through a route out of the eastern mountains, going as far as Zunhua county. All along their path, they pillaged and raped in the villages. At that time, the savages were accompanied by soldiers. It was said that they belonged to the great commander, who together with the Sixth prince, had raided in Tieshan earlier時虜押兵人，風聞稱為大都督，與六王子寇鐵山. They slaughtered the people wantonly in the area under Zunhua’s jurisdiction. They also took their cattle, horses, fowl, and other livestock, and spread it between their chieftains. As for the women, the old ones were cast aside, but the young and comely were taken captive.

You see, those beautiful girls taken captive and the fleeing people of Zunhua were just like:

The people of the plains so meek,
When approaching hordes of Tartar reek.
Their hunting fields encircle towns,
where they look the walls fall down.
Behead and chop leave none alone
Corpses, bones embracing moan.
From steeds’ flanks hang men’s heads,
Loaded on the back, girls pale in dread.
Running west, they flee for the pass,
The far road’s steep, they will not last.
Looking back they see a darker haze,
Their spleens and spines knew firmer days.
Their plans have one thousand plots,
don’t order them to stay in their spots.
Supposing their families are within reach
They want to talk, yet dare not speak.
Forgetful a moment, they utter a word
When they speak, the Tartar has heard!
Oh, how they want to stop the blade
“Our kind will not even spare your babes!”
How could they not have loved their life?
But they cannot endure this cursing strife.
Some they beat with whip and club,
Under this they suffer, collapse with thuds.
At dawn, their sobs and cries resound,
At night, they weep from on the ground.
Wanting to die, yet released they are not.
Wanting to live, who has such a thought?
Heaven please tell us what was their crime?
For they now live in this most monstrous time!

At that time, the village folk scattered in flight. An emergency report reached Zunhua city, but the men and women of the city only heard the sounds of crying. When the county official heard this, he drenched his official robe in tears and lead functionaries and the people to defend the city. But what chance did those functionaries and the people have? All of them had known peace for so long; all of them had never heard the drums of war; and all of them had never stood in the ranks of battle. In this single moment of flurry and confusion, they were only trembling in fear. Could they hold on bravely?

 

The Jurd Chieftain Deploys Ladders and Captures Zunhua (From Reports and Rumor)

 

The Jurd chieftain’s soldiers gathered in Zunhua, pitching their camp about ten li from the city. A banner holder came below the city and said, “Anxious officials and people within the city, if you open the gates and surrender, then your lives will be spared. If you wait for our army to crush the city, then you will be ground into dust.” The people and functionaries on the city walls heard his words, and looking at each other, they turned pale. They rushed off to the country magistrate and reported, “Tiny Zunhua, with its functionaries and common folk, doesn’t have more than two thousand people. We’ve heard that the Jurd chieftain has over one hundred thousand. Even if each only picked up a single stone, they could still throw them and break the city. We pray, grandfather, that you consider this. Moreover, one of their flag bearers came below the city walls and proclaimed, ‘If you open the city and surrender, then your lives will be spared. Otherwise, our great army will crush the city and then grind you to dust.’” When the magistrate heard this, he paced back and forth. Crying out, he said, “I never imagined we’d meet a disaster as great as this. But I’ve received the blessings of the dynastic state, so we should either save or lose the city. If against all odds we protect it, then it is our good fortune. If against all odds we cannot hold it, then I charge you all to flee for your lives.”

After this, a savage came to the city walls. Arrows and stones rained down. Because of this, the savage halted his steps. Laughing, he said, “Great Zunhua, are you able to have enough arrows and stones to stop me?” All of a sudden, a chieftain galloped out from the savages. Hoisting his whip and spurring his horse, he raced back and forth below the walls of Zunhua. They saw him at the four gates of the city.

At the time when the sun was low in the west, another chief come out from the savages. Holding a black flag in his hand, he spurred and whipped his horse to come below the city walls. The magistrate saw him, and not knowing what to do, he looked at a soldier to his side. He said, “You may throw stones at him.” The soldier brandished a rock, and with a look like a grimace hurled it down. It went but a full ten feet. The chief was already far past. The chief flew past on horseback again, and the magistrate called to his archers, “Coming this way by horse is a chieftain. You may shoot him.” The archers pulled back their bows, but with their hands trembling, their arrows fell onto the ground beside them. The magistrate said, “What is the matter to make you all like this?”

Suddenly, a gong began to sound from within the savages and they all withdrew away to their camp. The functionaries on the wall cried out in joy, “The savages are going! Can we return to the official office to rest?” The official replied, “The disposition of the savages is hard to predict. How could we be lax in maintaining our defenses?”

When midnight arrived, they again heard beating war drums, and they came from all four sides of the city, besieging them. Every chief carried a siege ladder, which they put against the battlements. Of those on the city walls who saw the ladders fixed to the battlements, some tried to push them off by hand, but they have already been locked in. Others took their swords to cut them off, but there were already arrows flying up from the ground, and in a panic, they couldn’t cut them. They could chaotically only toss bottles of lime and rocks down from the wall. The raiders, however, covered themselves with a wooden canopy, so one at a time, they scaled the wall and took a tower. When our soldiers saw that several raiders had scaled the wall, they lost heart and their spirits fled. Shouts of, “The raiders are here! The raiders are here!” rose from every side. All the functionaries threw down their weapons and ran home. The called to their sons and wives and fled for their lives in every direction. The cries of the men and women in the city shook heaven

The raiders then opened the city gates. They announced, “Commoner, officials, and others who wish to surrender and shave their heads shall avoid death. Those who do not surrender will be put to death.” At this, there were some who surrendered and there were some who fled. As for the women, because their small feet made it difficult for them to flee, the raiders selected the fair and young and kept them in the city, with each raider gaining a beautiful concubine. They killed countless old and weak men and women. As for the county magistrate, it is not known where he went.

In the main hall of the county office, the great chieftain announced, “This is where the great commander will live.” The raiders were based in commoner homes. In total, they established thirteen bases, the closest of which came within fifty li of the capital, and they were linked for over one hundred li. The were supported by a raider base on the eastern route.

The next day, he deployed each of the chieftains and their raiders, some in groups of thirty or forty, and some in groups of ten or twenty, to pick through the countryside to scavenge. At that time, troops from the Eight Guards were selected from Datong  Xuanwu, and Baoding were reviewed. They were sent in to guard, and stationed to the south of Zunhua. After, troops from Zijing were stationed to the west; those from Donglu to the north; those from Tianjin at Shawo Gate; and those from Hejian were based in the capital.

As for the people of Zunhua, during the day they kept to hidden places in the mountains and forests. During the night, in order to ward off hunger, the bold would go into empty house in search of grain and rice that hadn’t been scavenged. At the time there were two youths who had also fled with simple knives in hand. On that night, the moon shone brightly, but the sky was cloudy and the ground rough. All the raiders slept, with only a few left to keep watch. The two men unexpectedly came upon a big house with a neglected back door in which to hide. Suddenly, they saw a woman crying softly come out of the back door. She raised her face to heaven and prayed, “August Heaven shine on me. Observe my pathetic state. I am captured by raiders, they have stolen my family’s money and property, killed my father, torn husband from wife, son from mother, and polluted my body!  Now, I have been reduced to such a state that I am no longer human.” She took her wrap from her body, and gazed at a tall tree. She threw the fabric over and said, “Daddy, your soul is not far. Wait at the gates of the afterlife for me. I was born of Zunhua county, and in death I will be a ghost of Zunhua county.”

As she hesitated to put her neck through the fabric to hang herself, she noticed the two men in the dark beyond the back of the mud wall. Holding their crude sabers, they approached. Pointing at the woman, one said, “Don’t make a sound. We heard everything you said. If you put aside your present resolve to die, I’ll rescue you. How does that sound?” The woman said, “How fortunate you came now.  If you take me away from here, then during better times I will have to repay you.” The man said, “My name is Feng, Feng Jin. He’s Chu, Chu Paolong. When we first came here, we only hoped to steal some chicken, a lamb, or some grain to go hide away and eat. But now that we’ve run into you and seen this injustice in the world, we’ll draw our sabers to help save you from here.

 

The Jurd chief sacks Shunyi and Liangxiang county (Capital Gazette)

 

Since the Jurd raiders committed a crime against our heavenly court, commander Yuan Chonghuan led over ten thousand soldiers forward on an expedition against them. By imperial order he encamped within Jizhou city. The Jurds broke camp and went west, setting up their base around Tongzhou in Fuhao village and Shang village, which are thirty li from Tongzhou proper. They then went around Jizhou and attacked Shunyi county.

When the county heard that their banners were coming to raid, people fled from the city in countless numbers. The functionaries, meanwhile, waited for the savage raiders to make a push for the city, but before the battle began, they quit their posts. When they got wind that the officials of Shunyi had surrendered, the Jurd chieftain took the county and looted everything. One barbarian said, “We should seize the day and attack Changping prefecture though Huairou county.” Another said, “Perhaps we should report to the great commander before going.”

The next day, the high chief selected chieftains to go kill and loot in the area under Tongzhou’s jurisdiction. In Shunyi, a man by the name of Jiang Yude had ridden out of the west gate of the city with three or four people. When the raiders saw them, they shouted to chase them down and kill them. The horse of one of the men from Shunyi ran into a rock and fell over. In their rush, the raiders were tangled in that person and fell off of their horses. Jiang Yude and the other three put spurs to horse and fled into the distance. The raiders stood in anger and searched the man, taking his goods. They took him and killed him in cold blood.

Meanwhile, the commoners who had fled the city were captured and brought to the savages’ camp.  One of those captured was a farm hand of Mi Wanchong, the former Vice Provincial Treasurer of Shandong. A bandit said, “We ought to shave their heads.” Another said, “Wait until we see the great commander, even then it won’t be too late to shave them.” They commanded half of their captives to carry hay and half to carry water and grain. The farm hand was with those carrying hay to feed horses.

At that time, it was the first day of the twelfth month and they put their all into moving supplies. The bandits saw that they were scared to death, and so didn’t pay too much attention to guarding them. The next day, the farm hand of Mi said to the other porters, “It’d be better if we all left.” A few of the braver ones said, “Let’s go!” A few of the less brave ones said, “Once they know, they’ll come to get you, then you’ll be right dead.” The farm hand thought, “This isn’t very safe. If I want to go, I should go quietly. Why should I talk about it with them? If the bandits see through it, I’ll be dead right quick.” His heart asked his head and his head his heart. In the end, he and several of the brave one seized the chance to flee to Beijing while pretending to carry hay. They reported to Master Mi at his mansion.

After a day or two, the raiders pitched camp inside of the wall around Nanhaizi. They set up ten bases, with about ten thousand troops and horses. This frighted the capital.

The sage emperor shook the earth with his rage and disseminated an imperial edict. The order said:

 

We observe that border savages have disturbed Civilization continually since antiquity. To cleanse this disgrace and eliminate evil, we must borrow the strength of the multitudes. We have accepted from Heaven our sovereign position, and we consider that our magnificent Civilization and the people must be brought to peace.

The Jurd-bastards were orginally our savages to command. Their malice surpasses all evil, and our sympathy need not reach them. They have come though Liaodong to violate the capital, and our border generals and officials, so removed from law and caution, have brought about this devastation that freely inundated our land. We have already ordered the six Commanders to prepare internal defenses. The soldiers and cavalry at between Shanhai Guan and Ningyuan have cut them off from outside.

These stupid fools are wanton and roaring, so our people and officials will all muster their outrage. Moreover, of the armies of the eight commanders, those from Datong, Xuanwu, and Baoding have already arrived, but those from Shandong, Henan, and Yansui, despite being already dispatched, have not made haste in coming. They have delayed for days, and their arrival date is unknown. Our children are being massacred, how shall our heart endure their delay? Therefore, We make a special edict ordering the civil and military officials and functionaries and all Governor-Generals responsible for military matters to take their elite troops as soon as they hear a report, arm them with weapons of war, assign good generals, and to proceed forthwith to relieve those that must be aided….；近地撫臣

【Return later,register change distracting】

This sacred command was disseminated and reinforcement troops from all-under-heaven proceeded in turn to the capital. By uniting in their intent, eliminating the savages would not be difficult.

 

The Jurd raiders plundered and killed in the region around Tongzhou and sacked Shunyi. They also sent a branch of soldiers to bear their flags west to attack Liangxiang county. Another bore their flags east and attacked Gu’an county. The magistrate of Liangxiang exhausted himself in defending the city. The raiders said from the bottom of the city walls, “How can this tiny moat protect you from death? Wouldn’t it be better to quickly turn over the city? Our troops just want to take the money and grain inside, we’ve got not grudge against the people or officials. If you wait for us to break into the city, then you’re resisting us. We won’t even leave a blade of grass.”

The county magistrate spoke to his functionaries and the folk saying, “We can’t predict the disposition of the savages. Don’t listen to them, that’d be inviting trouble. Today, all we can do is achieve death.  I want to call someone to carry a letter to the capital to ask in soldiers to save us, just as the emperor planned.”

A messenger said, “Sir, I’m willing to go.”

The magistrate replied, “We’re surrounded by enemy raiders on all sides. How will you get out of the city?”

He replied, “In the dead of night I’ll put a rope over the walls. Then I should be able to get away.”

That night, when the raiders on watch were resting, two messengers climbed down a rope. The silently went to the capital. The city was closed up tight. The messengers reported to the guards, and after investigation, entered. On the third day of the twelfth month, just as troops were about to be dispatched to save and garrison Liangxiang, a report suddenly arrived saying the county had already been lost. Folk fled for their lives, and their laments filled the roads:

All the people fear and curse the wretched Jurchen scum,
Crying, they weep, together they’ll be, with ghosts who mourn for them.
The rain at dusk, the evening wind, the land now empty stays,
Oh, whoever fights the savages to nobility we’ll raise!

 

If you don’t know what happened in the attack on Gu’an, listen to the explanation in the next section…