The victory banquet was a joyous affair, with guests reveling in the celebration. The Zhejiang troops had fought all day—breaking out of camp, seizing the gate, setting ambushes, and pursuing the Japanese pirates. By now, they were famished, their stomachs practically glued to their spines.
Suzhou, with its wealth and resources, might have kept the venue simple, but the food was extravagantly lavish.
Dish after dish of meats and delicacies arrived—table after table, over thirty courses, nearly all hearty fare.
Fine wine flowed too. Zhu Ping’an permitted each soldier one bowl—no more, no less—since they still had to clean the battlefield later.
Naturally, with that task looming, the troops ate fast, wolfing down their meal like it was a combat drill.
“This letter—deliver it to my residence for my wife,” Zhu Ping’an said, handing a handwritten note to a messenger. It roughly explained he’d be late returning due to battlefield cleanup, urging her not to worry, to rest early, and that he’d return by moonlight.
“Sir, the young madam’s been waiting for you a long time. Go home—leave the cleanup to us,” Liu Mu and Liu Dadao urged.
“No rush. It’s just a short delay. This battle caused heavy damage to the area—I won’t rest easy unless I oversee it myself. The forest fire must be fully extinguished; it’s a matter of nearby villages’ safety—no room for carelessness. The river needs clearing too; it affects downstream drinking water—can’t slack on that either,” Zhu Ping’an said, waving off their concerns with resolve.
Winter days were short, nights long. They’d entered the city at dusk, finished the feast quickly, and now the sky outside was pitch black.
“Prefect Shang, it’s getting late. We’ll head out to clean the battlefield now. You could send a few dozen trusted soldiers with us, reporting back every half hour. That way, you’ll stay fully informed about the situation outside,” Zhu Ping’an suggested before departing.
His reasoning? To avoid being locked out again for verification after cleanup. It was tolerable by day, but at night—freezing, exhausted, and sleepy—standing outside for checks after such hard work would be torture.
Before, with pirates besieging the city, Suzhou couldn’t spare men to join his ambush. Now, with the enemy repelled, the city had plenty to send along.
“Fair point, Zihou. I’ll have Deputy General Zhang take five hundred men with you,” Prefect Shang agreed, summoning Zhang and ordering him to muster the troops. He added instructions for ten men to report back every half hour on the cleanup progress.
After briefing Zhang, Shang sighed regretfully, “If I didn’t need to hold Suzhou, I’d love to join you, see it for myself, and learn a thing or two.”
“With you as Suzhou’s anchor, we can clean the battlefield with peace of mind,” Zhu Ping’an replied with a smile.
Time was ticking. After brief pleasantries, Zhu Ping’an took his leave to oversee the cleanup.
The full Zhejiang force, plus Zhang’s five hundred, joined four thousand able-bodied locals recruited from the city.
Over thirty thousand had signed up, but cleanup didn’t need that many. Zhu Ping’an had Zhang help pick the four thousand.
“Haha, Zhang Laosan, tough luck! Lord Zhu picked me for cleanup—you’re out. Don’t sulk—I’ll tell you all about it when I’m back, haha!”
“Thanks to our ancestors’ blessings, Tiedan, you got chosen to help our benefactors clean up. Work hard—I’m heading home to burn incense and tell the ancestors the good news!”
“Mom, don’t worry—I’ll put my all into helping our benefactors clean the battlefield!”
The selected locals strutted proudly, basking in the honor, their families sharing the glow.
Those not chosen hung their heads, as if they’d missed a million-dollar prize.
“Ugh, I had a stomach bug last night—lost my strength, that’s why I wasn’t picked. Tiedan got lucky. Normally, I’d take him with one hand tied behind my back!”
“You little punk, I told you to train more, but you wouldn’t listen—now you’re out! Disgracing our ancestors!”
“Ow, Dad, stop hitting me! I’ve learned my lesson—I’ll train hard and get picked next time, I swear!”
The unselected grumbled, a mix of envy and defiance, consoling disappointed kin.
Zhu Ping’an assigned some Zhejiang soldiers to lead the locals—ten civilians per squad, each with a soldier as temporary captain to direct and maintain order.
For efficiency, he’d asked Prefect Shang to procure dozens of boats and hundreds of carts from Suzhou, plus thousands of torches, shovels, and long iron hooks from the city’s stores, distributed to the group.
He split them into two teams: one by boat to clean the river, the other on foot or muleback to handle the forest. The Zhejiang troops were evenly divided between them.
With preparations complete, they set out.
“Zihou, soldiers, folks—smooth sailing! I’ll await your return in Suzhou,” Prefect Shang said, bowing with his officials at the gate.
“Thank you, Lord Shang / Prefect!” Zhu Ping’an, the troops, and locals returned the gesture before departing.
“Heh, we’re hot stuff now—helping Lord Zhu and the Zhejiang troops clean up! This battle was Suzhou’s biggest win yet—bigger than the Fengqiao Camp ambush. I heard Lord Zhu and the troops took out over twenty thousand pirates this time!”
On the way, the excited locals couldn’t contain themselves, grinning and chatting with their peers.
“Twenty thousand? I heard fifty or sixty thousand! Only two pirate chiefs escaped—everyone else got wiped out!”
Someone corrected with a straight face.
“Fifty or sixty? I heard a hundred thousand!” Somehow, the rumor ballooned as it spread.
“Where’d that many pirates come from? The ones attacking Suzhou totaled fifty or sixty thousand at most!”
A skeptic chimed in.
“What do you know? Sure, the initial wave was fifty or sixty thousand, but they had reinforcements—another fifty or sixty thousand showed up later!”
Someone quickly “explained.”
“Oh, that makes sense!”
And somehow, everyone bought it.
