Amid the flurry of impeachment accusations, Xu Jie subtly glanced at the censor Guo Kui standing below. Guo Kui immediately stepped forward.
“My lords, you accuse Zhu Ping’an of killing innocents to claim merit, deceiving the court, deceiving His Majesty, and falsifying his achievements with a litany of crimes. But do you have witnesses, physical evidence, or written proof? Our emperor is wise, and this dynasty is just. Surely we cannot pin so many charges on a man who has just achieved a great feat based solely on your one-sided words! None of you wish to see a repeat of the unjust tragedy of Yue Fei at Fengbo Pavilion from the Southern Song, do you?” Guo Kui said, first bowing to the accusing officials before questioning their claims.
“What do you mean? Are you saying we’re framing him?! Evidence?! Isn’t the evidence obvious? For how many years has Jiangnan seen a battle where over a thousand pirates were wiped out? Only the Jihai Victory comes to mind, and that was just over a thousand—achieved with over ten thousand of our troops fighting fiercely. Zhu Ping’an’s Suzhou defense had how many men? A mere two thousand! Two thousand against over forty thousand pirates, claiming a victory of annihilating forty thousand?! Do you think that’s possible? Realistic?!”
“You want evidence?! His victory report is the glaring proof! His report itself is the best evidence!”
“He’s practically confessing without a fight!”
The Ministry of War official stepped up to confront Guo Kui, loudly refuting him and asserting that Zhu Ping’an’s report was the clearest evidence.
“Exactly! Wiping out forty thousand—how absurd! There’s a limit to falsifying achievements, but Zhu Ping’an, this reckless calf, isn’t afraid of tigers. He’s inflated his claims to the heavens! I’ve never seen such shameless audacity!”
“Shameless? That’s an understatement—he’s a beast in human skin, ruthless and inhumane. Faking forty thousand kills must involve slaughtering innocents for merit. How many poor, innocent people survived the pirates only to fall to Zhu Ping’an’s dark hands?”
“I request that Zhu Ping’an and Shang Weizhong be summoned to the capital and punished severely. Shang Weizhong might be excusable—his claim of defending the city seems credible; he merely abetted Zhu Ping’an and could be considered an accomplice. If he confesses and testifies against Zhu Ping’an, he could be dealt with leniently.”
“At a time when the Jiangnan pirate threat is worsening, we must punish Zhu Ping’an harshly to prevent this corrupt trend from spreading. Failing to do so would be like pouring oil on the fire of the pirate crisis!”
Several ministers then rose in support of the Ministry of War official, adamantly demanding Zhu Ping’an’s punishment.
“Heh.”
“My lords, just because such a victory hasn’t been achieved before, does that mean Zhu Ping’an’s success is fake?!”
“Because no one’s done it before, and now Zhu Ping’an has, it must be false?!”
“The world is full of countless firsts—does that mean every first is a lie?!”
“Are your intellects truly so limited, my lords?!”
Censor Guo Kui chuckled after hearing their arguments, systematically rebutting each point.
As a censor, his strength lay in his sharp tongue. Facing the crowd alone, he showed no fear.
“Your intellect’s the limited one! Two thousand Zhejiang troops against over forty thousand pirates—not only winning but annihilating forty thousand?! You think that’s normal?!”
“Guo Kui, have you taken bribes from Zhu Ping’an? How dare you blatantly lie for him?!”
“As a censor, you don’t impeach Zhu Ping’an—that’s bad enough—but you defend him? You’re unfit for your post, abetting a tiger! Guo Kui, you’re a disgrace to censors—we’ll impeach you too!”
“Guo Kui, you know nothing of military affairs—shut your mouth! Don’t show off your ignorance or swing a blade in front of Guan Gong! Two thousand beating forty thousand and wiping them out—I haven’t heard such a hilarious joke in ages!”
Infuriated by Guo Kui’s claim that their intellects were limited, the officials lashed out, attacking him in unison.
“My lords, I may not understand military matters, but I know history! Can’t the few defeat the many? Can’t the weak overcome the strong?! History is full of examples of the outnumbered and weak prevailing. Take the Battle of Fei River: the Former Qin had eighty thousand troops, enough to break the river with their whips, while Eastern Jin had only eight thousand. The result? Panic turned every sound into an enemy, and Former Qin was routed—Fu Jian died, and his state fell. Or the Battle of Guandu in the late Eastern Han: Cao Cao had twenty thousand against Yuan Shao’s hundred thousand. Cao Cao burned Wuchao, struck unexpectedly, and crushed Yuan’s army. Then there’s the Battle of Julu: Chu Overlord Xiang Yu led a few tens of thousands against Qin generals Zhang Han and Wang Li’s four hundred thousand. Xiang Yu broke his cauldrons and sank his boats, crushed the Qin forces, annihilated Wang Li’s army, and forced Zhang Han to surrender. And the classic Three Kingdoms Battle of Red Cliff: Liu Bei and Sun Quan’s allied fifty thousand faced Cao Cao’s two hundred thousand. Linked boats burned, Cao Cao fled via Huarong Road, barely escaping with his life.”
“With so many historical cases of the weak beating the strong and the few overcoming the many, why can’t Zhu Ping’an’s two thousand defeat forty thousand?!”
Besieged by the crowd, Guo Kui remained unfazed, citing four iconic historical battles where the underdog triumphed.
“Zhu Ping’an had only two thousand men—has history ever seen two thousand soundly defeat tens of thousands?!”
“Two thousand is too few! You need at least ten thousand to have a fighting chance at overcoming greater numbers or stronger foes!”
“Exactly! Even the strongest army needs a base number of troops. It’s said a force of ten thousand is invincible—only then can it be unbeatable!”
Led by the Ministry of War official, the others seized on Zhu Ping’an’s small troop size to counterattack.
“Enough! This is the imperial court, not a marketplace—stop arguing!” Li Mo, who had been observing from the sidelines, couldn’t bear the cacophony any longer and reprimanded them. “If it’s true or false, we can investigate and find out!”
He added, “If it’s proven false, punish him harshly. If it’s a world-shaking feat, determine his reward accordingly!”
Li Mo’s feelings toward Zhu Ping’an were complex.
Initially, he’d disliked Zhu Ping’an, assuming he was part of Yan’s faction, and even scolded him. Later, realizing Zhu wasn’t with Yan and had even impeached Yan’s men, Li Mo’s opinion didn’t improve—it worsened—due to Zhu’s work *Thick Black Theory* circulating.
To Li Mo, Yan’s faction was finite, but *Thick Black Theory*’s shameless teachings could spawn countless Yan Songs, harming the realm for decades, centuries, or even a millennium!
Later, after the Yang Jisheng memorial incident, Li Mo’s view of Zhu softened slightly.
Then, when Zhu was demoted to Jingnan and clawed his way back through military merits, Li Mo’s opinion improved further.
But today, hearing of the Suzhou victory—two thousand defeating forty thousand—Li Mo’s stance grew conflicted again.
As Yan’s faction claimed, the report was too unbelievable, too suspicious.
If Zhu Ping’an had falsified his achievements, his prior merits would also be questionable.
That would align him perfectly with Thick Black Theory.
Such a person was someone Li Mo utterly despised.
But if Zhu Ping’an had truly achieved this victory, he might still be a talent worth salvaging.
