The rest of the night passed quickly with the tide of celebration and congratulations for Zhang. He was
slapped on the back so many times he thought he would throw up. Finally, after most of the soldiers had
dispersed back to their positions and tents, Nurhaci led him to his tent. He looked Zhang in the eye and said
woozily, “I’m proud of you, my nephew, and I am sure your father back at home would be as well. Now, tell me
everything that transpired during your time inside the Great Wall.”
Zhang made up the story based on what General Yuan had told him as he went through it for Nurhaci,
simply saying he followed his instructions when he got to the part about breaching the wall. At the end of it,
Nurhaci laughed like a madman and said, “I knew they wouldn’t think of watching for tunnels. These men are
so proud of their Great Wall that they can’t imagine anything getting through without their consent.” He said
proudly. Suddenly he stiffened and asked, alarmed,” You did hide the hole with some boulders before leaving,
didn’t you? I had men dig the tunnels from a mile away to the base of the wall so it wouldn’t be noticed. I don’t
want to waste that work!”
“
Don’t worry, Your Majesty, everything has been taken care of. Now, let us drink the night away!” Zhang
said, planning to kill Nurhaci after he fell deeper in his drunken stupor. As he raised his cup to fill it, his sleeve
caught on the corner of the table and tore, exposing his left arm.
Nurhaci stared at Zhang’s arm for a moment and asked confusedly, “Where’s your scar?” A full second
passed before his eyes widened in understanding and the wine stopped muddling his senses completely. “You’re
not my nephew! You don’t have a scar on your arm from that sword wound. You must be some spy! Guards!
Take him to a cage and lock him up!”
Later that night, Zhang reflected on what had transpired. Nurhaci had gone ballistic after he heard his
nephew had been killed. He had ordered his army to mobilize at daybreak. “I will crush the rest of you like ants,
but you’ll be here and you can’t do anything about it. Then I’ll torture and kill you.” He’d growled from the
other side of the cage.
Fortunately, the guards didn’t search him thoroughly, so he still had his knife with him, tucked inside his
shoe. He anxiously sawed through the ropes binding him and the wooden bars of his cage. “Getting the news
back to General Yuan is more important than killing Nurhaci, I suppose.” Zhang muttered to himself as he raced
through the wilderness towards the Great Wall with all haste he could muster while daybreak came closer and
closer.
Chapter 4
General Yuan, fortunately, was quick to react to Zhang’s report when he returned. He ordered the
immediate dispatch of soldiers to the wall to block up and find new tunnels. Then he posted more archers on the
wall, ready to shoot down any enemies.
“
I’ll reward you when this is all over.” General Yuan said as he rushed out to organize the troops without
duty.
This is the true, untold story of how the Manchu people started their assault on China. Without the tunnels,
the Manchu people would have needed more than 40 years to take Shanhaiguan.
* * *