Luo Longwen was truly Yan Shifan’s loyal lackey, Yan Shifan had barely been home long when Luo Longwen came jogging into the Yan residence, clutching the copied contents of the Suzhou Prefecture victory report from the Office of Transmission.
Luo Longwen’s efficiency was top-notch, especially his attitude of treating Yan Shifan’s orders like imperial edicts, it outshone every other sycophant.
No wonder Yan Shifan popped by his house every now and then to “console” his lovely wives and concubines.
“Donglou, the Suzhou victory report’s been copied down, not a word out of place,” Luo Longwen handed the copy to Yan Shifan with both hands, looking every bit like a good dog bringing back a frisbee, waiting for its master’s praise.
“Well done, have you sent people to deliver copies to the others?” Yan Shifan asked.
“Before I even left the Office of Transmission, I sent people to distribute them, they should all have received them by now.”
Luo Longwen said, practically begging for approval.
“Well done.”
Yan Shifan indulged him with a word of praise.
Instantly, Luo Longwen felt refreshed, as if he’d drunk divine nectar, convinced he could run another round trip to the Office of Transmission without even breaking a sweat.
“Make yourself at home, help yourself, I’m going to look over the report first.”
Yan Shifan waved a hand, signalling Luo Longwen to fend for himself, while he sat down to read the report.
As Yan Shifan read, his brow furrowed, by the end, he set the report aside, his expression dark and uncertain.
The report was more detailed, recounting the start-to-finish of Suzhou’s defensive counterattack. Zhu Ping’an hadn’t achieved the 40,000-kill feat in a single battle, but over several days of continuous fighting. The Zhejiang army’s stunning victory hinged on two main factors.
First, when the pirates attacked the Fengqiao camp, the Zhejiang army had buried a massive amount of gunpowder in front of their position, blowing up nearly 10,000 pirates in one go.
Second, as the pirates retreated carelessly, they fell into Zhu Ping’an’s series of ambushes, Zhu Ping’an used fire attacks, burning 20,000 to 30,000 pirates to death in rivers and forests, only a few hundred stragglers narrowly escaped with their lives.
Yan Shifan stroked his chin with one hand, tapped the table with the other, still sceptical about the Suzhou report.
The report seemed to hold water on the surface, appearing plausible, but on closer scrutiny, it was riddled with inconsistencies.
An explosion killing nearly 10,000 pirates in one go?!
How big a pit would they have to dig, how much gunpowder would that take?! Could gunpowder really be that powerful?!
If it were that potent and could yield such results, why, in the centuries since gunpowder’s invention, had there never been a record of such massive casualties? Neither official histories nor wild tales ever mentioned gunpowder killing over a hundred in a single blast, let alone nearly 10,000 pirates, it was absurd!
And then, the pirates retreating into Zhu Ping’an’s ambush, him burning 20,000 to 30,000 of them to death?!
Zhu Ping’an’s Zhejiang army only had 2,000 men, even with cunning traps to catch the pirates off guard, how much of an edge could he gain?!
A single fire killing 20,000 to 30,000?!
Even if the pirates were as dumb as pigs, they couldn’t all be burned to death by one fire, wouldn’t they run?!
With 20,000 to 30,000 pirates fleeing, how could Zhu Ping’an’s mere 2,000 men hold them back?!
Even a genius tactician and fire expert like Zhuge Liang, with 2,000 to 3,000 of Liu Bei’s troops, only managed to burn a little over 1,000 of Cao Cao’s men at Bowang Slope.
Zhu Ping’an supposedly burned 20,000 to 30,000 pirates?! Outdoing Zhuge Liang by dozens of times, was that even possible?
No matter how he looked at it, Yan Shifan found the report deeply flawed and illogical.
Soon, Yan Maoqing and the others arrived one after another, summoned by the Yan father and son, they didn’t dare dawdle, skipping sedan chairs and rushing over on horseback at top speed.
“You’ve all received copies of the Suzhou report, right? What do you make of it?” Yan Shifan asked for their opinions.
“This report’s absolutely dodgy! And not just a little dodgy, this time we’ll make Zhu Ping’an take a big fall!” Yan Maoqing said without hesitation.
“Exactly, there’s definitely something off. I spent six months in Jiangnan, even fought the pirates myself, their ferocity and combat skill are infamous. Don’t laugh, but our 3,000 men took on just over 500 pirates, and we got trounced, if I hadn’t run fast, I’d have been a ghost under their blades. This Suzhou report, it’s pure nonsense, forget wiping out 40,000 pirates, even 400 would be a tall order.”
“Zhu Ping’an first blew up nearly 10,000 pirates with gunpowder?! Then burned around 30,000 with fire?! This isn’t a memorial, it’s a bloody fiction tale, no, even fiction wouldn’t dare stretch it this far.”
His words struck a chord with everyone.
“My brother-in-law works at the Armoury Bureau, managing firearms, when I got the report copy, he happened to be at my place delivering festival gifts. I asked him specifically if gunpowder could be buried to kill over 10,000 people, and he shook his head firmly. He said gunpowder’s power is limited, more for scaring than killing, even the Jin’s ‘Thunder of Heaven’ in the records falls far short. The Jin bragged their Thunder of Heaven ‘filled an iron canister with powder, ignited it, and the blast roared like thunder, heard a hundred li away, scorching half an acre, piercing through armour and iron,’ but it was exaggerated, barely harming dozens. The Armoury Bureau’s got improved versions now, supposedly far stronger than the Jin’s, but they’re still just so-so, at best killing a hundred or so clustered enemies, with lots of practical hassles, and buried underground, the power drops even more,” one official said, clearly having done his homework, laying it out logically and convincingly.
Yan Shifan nodded approvingly.
With this precedent, the others chimed in with more detail and reasoning.
Yan Shifan listened to their opinions, directing Luo Longwen to jot down everyone’s points.
While Yan Shifan and the others deliberated, another familiar guest—or rather, a soon-to-be son-in-law—arrived at the Yan residence: Ouyang Zishi.
Ouyang Zishi came with a servant, who carried a basket of gifts as they entered.
“Both parents agreed, so why’s she objecting?!”
Ouyang Zishi stormed in with a huff, heading straight for the rear courtyard of the Yan residence.
He knew the Yan residence like the back of his hand, navigating it with ease, soon reaching the back courtyard.
The Yan residence’s stewards and servants were just as familiar with Ouyang Zishi, he’d been a frequent visitor since childhood, though less so after growing up, recently he’d been coming a lot again. Even Yan Song and Yan Shifan tacitly allowed him free access to the back courtyard, so the servants certainly wouldn’t dare stop him.
Besides, Ouyang Zishi was a nailed-on future son-in-law of the Yan family, the two families had settled it, the betrothal gifts were about to be exchanged.
A son-in-law’s half a son, he was their master too, they’d be tripping over themselves to curry favour with him.
