“Bloody hell! No way?! Jiaxing’s been taken by the wokou?! This is the first time a prefectural city’s fallen to them!!!”
Yan Shifan opened the Jiaxing battle report, took one glance, and couldn’t help but exclaim in shock, his voice dripping with disbelief.
“Old man, this report will only throw cold water on His Majesty. What impact does it have on Suzhou or Zhu Ping’an? It’s not even the same place,” Yan Shifan grumbled impatiently after reading just the start.
“You can’t eat hot tofu if you’re too hasty, Donglou. You’re clever, no doubt, but sometimes you’re too impatient. You lack the patience to sit steady at the fishing spot and be a proper angler. Have some calm and read on—you’ll see,” Yan Song said, frowning slightly as he reprimanded Yan Shifan, urging him to keep reading.
“The older the old man gets, the more he loves lecturing—worse than when I was a kid,” Yan Shifan muttered, shrugging.
Still, he heeded Yan Song’s advice and lowered his head to read the report again.
“Huh?”
Yan Shifan let out a puzzled sound as he read. “Isn’t this Xu Hai one of the wokou leaders who attacked Suzhou?! And Maye too?”
“What?! They took Jiaxing—one of the top five cities in Jiangnan—with just a few hundred wokou?!”
“The timing?!”
“It matches almost exactly with when they fled from Suzhou. That means—that means…”
Yan Shifan’s eyes lit up as he looked up at Yan Song. He finally understood why his father had handed him this report.
“You get it now?” Yan Song asked calmly.
“I get it. Now I see—the old ginger’s still the spiciest. Old man, you’re the dad—you’re my dad!” Yan Shifan said, full of admiration, laying on the flattery.
“Nonsense! If I’m not your dad, who is?!” Yan Song snorted, scolding him with a half-amused, half-irritated tone.
“Donglou, mate, can I take a look at that Jiaxing report?” Luo Longwen, standing nearby, scratched his head curiously.
“Here, catch,” Yan Shifan tossed the report to him.
Luo Longwen fumbled to catch the report Yan Shifan threw, then eagerly started reading.
“No way, no way… Xu Hai and Maye, the wokou leaders routed by that little thief Zhu Ping’an in the Suzhou defence, took their beaten remnants, tricked their way through Jiaxing’s gates, launched a surprise attack, and crushed the city’s garrison to seize Jiaxing?!” Luo Longwen’s mouth dropped open in disbelief after reading the report.
After a full day of interrogation, it was essentially confirmed that the Suzhou victory was as reported—that Zhu Ping’an had indeed captured one of the wokou leaders, Chen Dong, alive, killed nearly forty thousand wokou, and achieved an unbelievable, glorious triumph.
So much so that, amid his envy and resentment, Luo Longwen had started to look down on the wokou.
The wokou weren’t all that—just weaklings. A massive force of forty thousand, and in one battle, Zhu Ping’an had nearly wiped them out. Only Xu Hai and Maye escaped with a few hundred ragged survivors.
But who’d have thought those very survivors—Xu Hai, Maye, and their few hundred defeated troops—would go on to take Jiaxing?!
Not only did they trick their way through the gates, but they also slaughtered Jiaxing’s thousands-strong garrison, leaving heads rolling and bodies strewn everywhere.
Looking back at the Battle of Suzhou now…
Didn’t that mean it wasn’t the wokou who were too weak, but Zhu Ping’an who was too formidable?!
That little thief Zhu Ping’an was terrifying!
But soon, Luo Longwen grasped the significance of this report.
The wokou who took Jiaxing were the very ones who’d fled in disgrace from Suzhou—from Zhu Ping’an’s hands. In other words, it was Zhu Ping’an who let them escape, leading to Jiaxing’s fall.
From this angle, it wasn’t a stretch to say Zhu Ping’an was the chief culprit behind Jiaxing’s collapse.
“Brilliant! We can impeach Zhu Ping’an for deliberately letting the wokou escape, using neighbouring Jiaxing as a dumping ground, causing its fall. Zhu Ping’an is the prime culprit for Jiaxing’s loss—demand he be sacked and investigated!” Luo Longwen said excitedly after finishing the report, like a vicious dog spotting its prey.
“He wiped out over forty thousand wokou—why didn’t he just finish off those few hundred stragglers too? It’s obvious he deliberately let them escape!”
“He had the ability to wipe them out but didn’t—that means he let them go on purpose!”
“Zhu Ping’an must take responsibility for Jiaxing’s fall!”
Luo Longwen grew more animated, waving the Jiaxing report as he piled accusation after accusation onto Zhu Ping’an.
“Just impeach him for letting the wokou escape and sacrificing a neighbour?” Yan Shifan sneered darkly, throwing the question back.
“Uh, what else can we impeach Zhu Ping’an for?” Luo Longwen scratched his head, stumped.
“Why did that little thief Zhu Ping’an deliberately let the wokou escape? He’s tasted the sweetness of battle—wokou are military merits, his stepping stones to promotion and power. He didn’t wipe them all out and let two wokou leaders and a few hundred remnants flee on purpose—to nurture the wokou for his own gain, treating these defeated foes as merits he can harvest anytime,” Yan Shifan said sinisterly.
“That little thief Zhu Ping’an sacrificed his neighbour, let the wokou escape, nurtured them for his own benefit, ignored nearby Jiaxing, ignored its millions of people, and ignored His Majesty.”
In Yan Shifan’s words, Zhu Ping’an’s crimes grew even graver.
“Exactly, exactly! Donglou, you’ve hit the nail on the head! That little thief Zhu Ping’an is nurturing the wokou for himself! Harbouring sinister motives! For his own selfish desires, he’s willing to sacrifice Jiaxing’s millions of people and His Majesty’s splendid realm. He’s failed His Majesty above and the people below—Zhu Ping’an deserves death a thousand times over!” Luo Longwen grew even more excited.
“Let’s organise people to impeach Zhu Ping’an now! Brainstorm together—we might dig up even more of that little thief’s crimes!” Luo Longwen couldn’t hold back his urge to strike.
“No rush, no rush. Tomorrow, we’ll report the interrogation results to His Majesty and solidify Zhu Ping’an’s achievements first. Zhu Ping’an wiped out forty thousand wokou, captured Chen Dong alive, and only Xu Hai and Maye escaped with a few hundred ragged wokou…” Yan Shifan shook his head with a smile.
Luo Longwen paused, then grasped Yan Shifan’s deeper intent. He clapped and laughed, “Hahaha, brilliant—absolutely brilliant! Once Zhu Ping’an’s achievements are confirmed, his crimes are too. Jiaxing fell to the very Xu Hai, Maye, and those few hundred wokou he let escape!”
“Heh, Donglou, now can you help your old man figure out how to finish this qingci?” Yan Song smiled at Yan Shifan.
“Of course, of course! Blood is thicker than water—father and son fight together. If I don’t help you, old man, who would I help?” Yan Shifan chuckled as he stepped forward.
True to his self-proclaimed status as one of the three smartest men, Yan Shifan read it once, picked up the brush, and continued:
“His Majesty, ever virtuous, with pure filial piety, initiates grand rites. At this time of preparation, he aligns with the will of Heaven, his bright virtue reaching the finest fragrance, his divine signs clear in their splendour. This mirrors the beauty of Yu, renewing the chapters of Heluo. I, Song, humbly serving as a ritual official, respectfully record this grand event. I offer this qingci to chronicle this rare omen, modestly echoing the ancient poets in praising virtue and recounting deeds.”
“Excellent! Truly excellent! Worthy of my prodigy son!” Yan Song, watching from the side, couldn’t stop praising him, clapping in delight.
