“This battle only captured 477 Japanese pirates—how many heads could there be?”
The Yan faction officials looked at Zhao Ang dismissively.
Heh, a thousand or so at most, they figured.
As the Yan faction remained unimpressed, Zhao Ang clasped his fists and reported, “Replying to Your Excellency, the Suzhou contingent presented a total of 16,853 Japanese pirate heads. I had my men count them carefully, and the number is confirmed to be accurate.”
Heh, just over 1,600—
Wait!
What?!
How many?!
16,853?!
Are you bloody kidding me?!
Are you sure you didn’t mean “thousand” instead of “ten thousand”?! How could there be so many heads?! Are Japanese pirate heads cabbages, to be harvested by the 16,853?!
“16,853 heads?!”
“Over ten thousand?!”
“Nearly twenty thousand heads?!”
A collective gasp echoed through the hall as the officials exclaimed in disbelief.
“Say that again—how many heads?” Yan Maoqing asked once more, unable to accept or believe it.
“Replying to Your Excellency, a total of 16,853 Japanese pirate heads. I had them counted and verified— it matches the number reported by the Suzhou officers,” Zhao Ang repeated respectfully.
“Hiss—16,853 Japanese pirate heads?!”
“Are the heads real? Could they have killed civilians to fake their merits?”
“In such fierce combat, both sides would clear the battlefield afterward. Could they really have taken so many heads? It’s hard to believe so many could be collected.”
The Yan faction officials gasped again, then raised doubts, finding the sheer number suspicious.
“Captain Zhao, did you inspect the heads? Are they truly Japanese pirates?” Yan Maoqing pressed, breathing heavily.
“Replying to Your Excellency, due to time constraints, my team only conducted a basic inspection. From what I observed, all the heads were male—no women or children—and ranged in age from about seventeen or eighteen to over forty, with no elderly or frail among them. Roughly thirty percent had Japanese pirate hairstyles, with old shave marks, not recently done. After our examination, we believe the heads are genuine Japanese pirate heads, and we found no immediate signs of civilians being killed to inflate the count.”
Zhao Ang answered truthfully.
Bloody hell!
So many heads—all male, all between seventeen and forty-plus, no elderly, women, or children, and with long-standing shave marks.
Every detail pointed to the authenticity of these pirate heads.
And every detail screamed that Zhu Ping’an, that little bastard, had achieved another monumental feat in Jiangnan! He was about to get another bloody promotion!
The Yan faction couldn’t stomach it.
Zhu Ping’an, that damned little bastard, was already the Deputy Inspector of the Jiangzhe Criminal Investigation Department—a proper fourth-rank official! Another promotion?! With a 40,000-pirate victory—good grief, how high would he climb?!
How old was this little bastard? Another step up, and he’d be a ministry-level bigshot?!
The frequency and scale of his achievements were absurd! With so many pirates still in Jiangnan, how many more feats would this little bastard rack up?!
Another victory, and he might enter the Grand Secretariat?!
Bloody hell—if Zhu Ping’an joined the Grand Secretariat, it was unthinkable! He could write those sycophantic green-word poems—pretty decent ones, too—and those ridiculous, fawning food-themed verses. Rumor had it the idea of flipping nameplates in the Western Garden came from him. If he entered the cabinet, wouldn’t he siphon off a huge chunk of Elder Yan’s imperial favor?!
And Elder Yan wasn’t young anymore.
If Elder Yan retired…
Bloody hell, then there was Xu Jie—that sly old fox—who shared a mentor-student bond with Zhu Ping’an! Their relationship was no small thing! Just now, Xu Jie had spoken up for him!
If Elder Yan stepped down, wouldn’t the Grand Secretariat fall into the hands of that teacher-student duo?! Wouldn’t it become their domain?! Zhu Ping’an had helped Yang Jisheng revise that impeachment memorial against Elder Yan! If Yang Jisheng hadn’t been too stubborn to use Zhu’s suggestions, Elder Yan might’ve been in real danger back then! If those two took power, wouldn’t they purge the Yan faction?!
The thought was unbearable!
“You said ‘no immediate signs’—just that, no immediate signs. The heads being male and of fighting age doesn’t rule out killing civilians for merit. Maybe they specifically targeted young, strong civilians to pass off as pirates? The sheer number of heads Suzhou presented is unprecedented in recent years. This is a serious matter—whether they killed civilians to fake it needs a thorough investigation,” a Ministry of War official argued with “professional” skepticism.
Deep down, the Yan faction knew Zhu Ping’an and his ilk wouldn’t dare present these heads in the capital unless they were confident. The heads could withstand scrutiny—but they just couldn’t accept it.
“Enough,” Emperor Jiajing declared from the dragon throne. “Order the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, the Court of Judicial Review, and the factory guards to interrogate and verify the captives and heads from Suzhou. Also, send a pigeon message to the factory guards heading to Suzhou—have them investigate covertly for any civilians killed for merit during the battle. With so many heads, if there’s any foul play, it’d involve many and couldn’t be hidden.”
“Ministers obey Your Majesty’s command,” the named officials from the Ministry of Justice, Censorate, and Court of Judicial Review bowed in unison.
“You lot in the capital have three days to give me results,” Jiajing set a deadline.
“Obeying Your Majesty’s command,” they replied,不敢 defying him.
“Huang Jin, you oversee the factory guards. Suzhou’s far— I give you ten days to deliver results,” Jiajing instructed.
“This old servant obeys,” Huang Jin knelt to accept the order.
“Fine, that’s settled. Now, continue discussing the pirate problem in Jiangnan,” Jiajing directed the court.
“Your Majesty,” a Yan faction censor stepped forward at Yan Song’s cue, “Zhang Jing has been Governor-General of Jiangnan, Jiangbei, Zhejiang, Shandong, Fujian, and Huguang’s military affairs for some time. Not only has he failed to achieve anything, he’s barely taken action. Yet Zhao Wenhua, sent to Jiangnan for the sea sacrifice, soon secured the Sea Sacrifice Victory, and now Suzhou has triumphed over the pirates. Your Majesty placed great trust in Zhang Jing, but he’s let you down. The pirate threat in Jiangnan grows daily—Zhang Jing bears undeniable responsibility. I request he be punished.”
“Imperial Censor Wang speaks wisely,” another Yan faction member chimed in. “Since Zhang Jing took charge of Jiangnan’s military, he hasn’t launched a single campaign against the pirates. At best, he’s a freeloader; at worst, I suspect he’s deliberately letting the pirates thrive to bolster his own position…”
