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6. The Capture of the Nun
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chapter 6 The Capture of the Nun after the defeat in nyemo Gyenlo’s Army of the Gods dispersed after the defeat at Nyemo. Most of the common, less committed, villagers simply went home, but the main leaders and many of the more committed fighters went to Phusum, where they regrouped under Rangjung’s command, and consulted the nun/Ani Gongmey Gyemo about what to do. Her answer was clear. She gave them blessed barley and told them to not worry and to continue to fight because she would protect them. Many fighters stayed in the more defensible upper part of the valley around Phusum, where the nunnery and the adjacent Ru Monastery were located, but Rangjung also sent fighters into the surrounding mountains to keep a lookout for arriving PLA troops and to block the various ways the PLA could advance . At the same time fighters were dispatched to try to destroy roads and mountain passes in order to hinder PLA reinforcements from moving into Nyemo from other areas. At this time there were about several hundred Tibetan fighters in Phusum.1 One activist recalled the preparations: We hadn’t been able to seize any weapons, but the fight had started, and we felt the army would come after us, so we made preparations. Some people went into the upper area in the mountains and some into the lower area. Each of us who went there were volunteers. People like me who had Tibetan muskets went to the mountains, and others stayed in the lower area. . . . We didn’t wait for orders or messages as to what 137 to do. I was in a great position with the mountain behind and only one way at the front for the Chinese to come up from below.2 They were, therefore, prepared to fight if the PLA attacked, and as the same fighter recalled, most expected this. “I thought they would come, because the fight was kind of provoked [by us]. We wanted to get some weapons at that time. What should I say? Our people were kind of superstitious or religious. I thought that on one hand maybe we would win the fight, but on the other hand maybe the army would win and we would be killed. But I didn’t actually care much about that possibility.”3 However, the villagers’ military tactics were low level and bound up with supernatural causation, as the following recollection illustrates: “[After returning from the Nyemo battle] a warrior-hero medium told me to go to the Shugbula Mountain pass and destroy the road that crosses it. So four or five of us went together. We ran there and then ran back and told the mediums that a crow had arrived there, and it was cawing, so we came back. The mediums said that it was right to come back, because that crow was ours.”4 At the same time, a portion of the warrior-hero mediums and committed fighters returned to their home area in Bagor and, like those in Phusum, made preparations and then waited to see what would happen. A Tibetan fighter who was involved explained their plan. “We were told to stop them here. . . . After waiting several days, we finally received a message that the PLA was on the way. We waited for them on the roof of the main building. We were ready to fight. We had some homemade bombs with us that had been made from tin cans into which gunpowder and small stones had been jammed.5 The plan was to let the PLA enter the courtyard of the district building and then shut the gate behind them, trapping them inside.”6 Although firing Tibetan muskets required lighting a wick to set off the gunpowder in the barrel, the villagers were able to load fast and were planning to fire at the PLA in volleys for greater effect. However, when the PLA troops arrived, they set up tents quite some distance from the district headquarters’ compound and made no move to attack the compound or anything else. That prompted one Tibetan who was already disillusioned with the nun and the mediums and dubious about the ambush plan to try to make a deal for himself with the PLA. Grabbing a shovel, he left the district compound, explaining to the others that he was going to do some work. However, he actually went to where the PLA troops were camped, as he explained: 138 The Capture of...