While the conspiracy theories ran rampant among the soldiers on the city walls, a dissenting voice cut through the noise:
“You lot are measuring a hero’s heart with the minds of trash! Why can’t it just be that Lord Zhu’s genuinely returning victorious? Sure, Wang Jian—no, Wang the Traitor—claiming a big win was suspicious as hell. But for Lord Zhu, isn’t a grand victory just par for the course?! At the Fengqiao camp, he wiped out over ten thousand pirates! Don’t tell me you didn’t see it from these walls—swarms of pirates turned into rivers of blood and fields of corpses before Lord Zhu’s camp!”
“When Wang Jian lured the pirates into the city, he fooled us all—even Prefect Shang was taken in. But Lord Zhu? He saw it coming before Wang Jian even left. When Suzhou was on the brink of falling, he fought tooth and nail with the pirates, wiped out the ones inside, drove off the ones outside, and saved the city!”
“Lord Zhu’s a master of both pen and sword, strategy and combat. With his brains and skills, isn’t it perfectly normal for him to come back victorious?”
The moment those words rang out, the buzzing conspiracy theories on the wall fell silent.
Yeah.
Why *couldn’t* it be Lord Zhu returning triumphant?!
The man was barely past twenty, yet he’d topped the imperial exams and was a genius at warfare—practically a living Zhuge Liang. While pirates ravaged Jiangnan, leaving local forces battered and victories rare—usually just a handful of kills—Lord Zhu had slaughtered tens of thousands at Fengqiao. Right under everyone’s noses, he’d crushed the pirates inside Suzhou and sent the rest packing!
Lord Zhu coming back with a big win? That tracked.
The pirates at their peak couldn’t stand against him—how could their fleeing remnants possibly pose a threat?
With that realization, the guards atop the wall nodded in agreement. The wild conspiracy chatter flipped into a chorus of “Lord Zhu’s badass!”
“Lord Zhu, we’ve invited your messenger into the city and treated him to good food and drink,” Deputy General Zhang called down, clasping his fists humbly toward Zhu Pingan below.
“‘Invited for good food and drink’? Sounds nice, but you’ve got him locked up for questioning, don’t you?” Liu Dadao snorted, unimpressed.
“Ahem, not questioning—consulting! We were thrilled out of our minds hearing about your great victory, and in our excitement, we couldn’t help but ask for more details,” Zhang replied, his face flushing red, his explanation lacking any real weight.
“Consulting? That’s how you ‘consult’?” Liu Dadao sneered, about to say more, but Zhu Pingan waved him off, cutting his griping short.
“Deputy Zhang, no need to explain. When it comes to Suzhou’s safety, no amount of caution is too much. We Zhejiang troops will cooperate fully. The pirate remnants and their ambushers have retreated—we’ve got time. I trust Suzhou’s generosity won’t shortchange my men,” Zhu Pingan said with a smile.
From interrogating the captives, Zhu Pingan knew the ambushers had pulled out at sunset, fleeing toward Taklimakan without looking back—his scouts had confirmed it.
Suzhou was safe now. There was no rush.
“Thank you, Lord Zhu, for understanding. Rest assured, we’ve treated your men like honored guests—fine wine, meat, and dishes aplenty,” Zhang said, wiping sweat from his brow, gratitude pouring out.
As Zhang dabbed at his flushed face, Prefect Shang hurried over, beaming with delight. “Hahaha, congratulations, Zihou! Congrats on another stunning victory against the pirates! Honestly, when we got the news, our jaws nearly hit the floor. When you left the city, I was worried sick for your safety—tried to talk you out of it multiple times. Now, looking back, I was meddling in a master’s work! I’d hoped you might return victorious, but I never dreamed you’d pull off a triumph this massive. Truly the greatest feat in the southeast!”
Truth be told, Shang harbored doubts about Zhu Pingan—not suspecting defection like Wang Jian, but questioning if the reported achievements were inflated.
The pirate scourge in Jiangnan was dire—practically a festering wound. Local forces lost battle after battle, often catastrophically, with victories so scarce that killing a few pirates or a dozen was worth trumpeting.
A feat like Zhu Pingan’s? That was unheard of in a century.
Even a haul of dozens—or just a handful—of pirate heads was enough for local officials to crow about.
Zhu Pingan’s tally, measured in the tens of thousands, with a pirate chieftain captured alive to boot? It was staggering.
How could anyone not doubt such a colossal achievement?
“You’re too kind, Prefect. We hardly deserve such praise,” Zhu Pingan said modestly, waving it off.
“No need for humility, Zihou. Once we’ve verified everything, I’ll report it to the emperor and ensure you’re properly commended,” Shang said, stroking his beard.
“Thank you, Prefect,” Zhu Pingan replied, clasping his hands in gratitude.
“Alright, Zihou, for safety’s sake, we’ll need to verify your troops,” Shang said, steering the conversation back.
“Rest assured, Prefect, we’ll cooperate fully with any verification,” Zhu Pingan responded promptly. Then, clasping his hands again, he added, “Prefect, while you’re at it, could you organize some carts, horses, and able-bodied men in the city? We’ll need them to help clean up the battlefield afterward.”
The Kunshan battlefield was a mess—too vast and chaotic. Their few fires had wreaked havoc: the river was clogged with charred shipwrecks and pirate corpses, nearly damming the flow. The forest still smoldered, untold numbers of pirates burned within.
Relying solely on the Zhejiang troops to tidy it up would take ages—they were far too few.
In an era without water purifiers, the common folk depended on wells and rivers for drinking water. If those pirate bodies weren’t cleared out fast, the water source would be fouled beyond repair.
And that forest—if possible, it’d be best to put out the fire before it spread to nearby villages and towns, disrupting people’s lives further.
That’s why Zhu Pingan made the request to Shang for extra hands and resources to tackle the aftermath.
