Beneath the emperor’s feet in the capital, undercurrents swirled. When an urgent official dispatch and a factory guard report arrived from the south, one after the other, those undercurrents erupted into towering waves.
Wang Shilang, Luo Longwen, and several others gathered in Yan Shifan’s study, each holding two documents.
One was the official report of Jiaxing’s fall, submitted by Zhejiang Governor Li Tianchong. It objectively detailed the city’s collapse, with a pointed note at the end: the Jiaxing prefect had abandoned the city and fled— incompetent, irresponsible, and negligent of his duties, betraying the emperor’s grace. Li Tianchong had already thrown the fugitive prefect into prison, awaiting the court’s judgment.
The other was an overnight investigation report from the factory guards sent to Suzhou. They’d scoured every city, town, and village within a hundred miles of Suzhou and found no evidence of killing innocents to falsify merits, nor any rumors to that effect. The report noted that, thanks to the Zhejiang army’s early warning, locals had learned of the wokou attack in advance, fleeing with their elderly, children, and valuables. Only a few unlucky souls fell to the pirates’ blades; most survived, their property largely preserved. In conclusion, Suzhou’s victory was untainted, and the people had suffered the least harm from wokou raids in years.
“Damn it, that cursed Zhu Ping’an actually has some real skill! He pulled off a genuine, solid victory!”
“No wonder His Majesty wants to hold a Meridian Gate Captive Ceremony—this is an honest-to-goodness triumph!”
“Such a pity, a pity, a pity. Talented but blind to the times—he’s only fit to be crushed under history’s wheels and left in the mud!”
Wang Shilang, Luo Longwen, and the others cursed Zhu Ping’an loudly as they read the documents.
They saw him as an enemy, and the more merit he earned, the more it gnawed at them.
“No need to say more. Jiaxing’s fall? Zhu Ping’an’s the culprit. Impeach him! Impeach him in the name of Jiaxing’s innocent civilians, in the name of the soldiers who died for the city, in the name of righteousness! Impeach, impeach, and keep impeaching until the memorials bury him—drown him!”
“Exactly! Pin Jiaxing’s fall on him! The wokou who sacked Jiaxing were the ones who fled Suzhou. It all boils down to Zhu Ping’an’s fault. If he’d wiped them out completely, would this have happened?! Blame him!”
“It’s not that he didn’t wipe them out—it’s that he deliberately let them escape! He’s sacrificing neighbors to save himself, letting the wokou run free, fattening them up for his own gain. He sat back as Jiaxing fell, as its people suffered, as the emperor’s splendid realm was tarnished—all so he could keep these wokou as a ready harvest for his military merits!”
“No more talk—impeach him!”
They reached a consensus almost without discussion, having already drafted impeachment memorials against Zhu Ping’an.
The group passed around the drafts, refining them to attack Zhu Ping’an from every angle, layer, and dimension possible.
After revisions, they finalized the formal impeachment documents in the study, agreeing on a time to submit them.
“Pity about the Jiaxing prefect, though. He was one of ours—filial every year, always sending greetings. Loyal guy. Who’d have thought he’d abandon the city and get caught by that Li Tianchong, thrown in jail?”
“Yeah, just last month he sent someone to the capital with New Year’s gifts—food, antiques, calligraphy, paintings, the works. Real thoughtful. Such a shame.”
Mentioning the Jiaxing prefect, they all felt a twinge of regret. A generous lackey like him, locked up—what a waste.
“Wait, I’ve got it! Li Tianchong’s always been at odds with us! Back when Brother Wenhua’s precious son, Zhao Shensi, roughed up some poor scholar at the exam hall, Li Tianchong stuck his nose in, insisting on harsh punishment. Wenhua pleaded with him, but he didn’t just ignore it—he doubled down on Zhao! And recently, Wenhua wrote that Li Tianchong’s cozying up to Zhang Jing, giving the Grand Secretary no face. Not only does he not cooperate with Wenhua, he opposes him at every turn, teaming up with Zhang Jing’s cronies to isolate Wenhua. Military and state affairs? All locked away from Wenhua. When Wenhua ordered Zhang Jing and Li Tianchong to suppress the wokou, they wouldn’t budge, not a single soldier sent, saying Wenhua doesn’t understand warfare, local customs, or the wokou, telling him to stop meddling in Jiangnan’s pirate problem!”
“Why not seize this chance to impeach Li Tianchong too? As Zhejiang Governor, doesn’t he bear some responsibility for Jiaxing’s fall?”
“Impeach him, pin the blame on him, and it lightens the load on the Jiaxing prefect. Better yet, with a little maneuvering, we could spring him from jail. He’d owe us big time. Plus, we could spread word outside: ‘Work for us, stay loyal, and we’ll never forget you. When it’s time to step in, we will.’”
Luo Longwen pondered, then proposed to the group.
His suggestion stemmed from the hefty tribute the Jiaxing prefect had sent him that very day.
“Hmm, feasible.”
“Definitely doable.”
Several voices chimed in instantly. Yep, no surprise—they’d also received gifts from the prefect.
With his life and future on the line in prison, the prefect had been more generous than ever.
“But how do we impeach Li Tianchong? Jiaxing fell because the prefect fell for the wokou’s trick. Li Tianchong’s the Zhejiang Governor, sure, with oversight duties, but the primary blame lies with the prefect. Li Tianchong’s at most liable for poor leadership—a secondary fault…” someone pointed out.
“This…”
Silence fell over the room.
True, the Jiaxing prefect was the main culprit. Li Tianchong’s responsibility was lesser. Impeaching him was fine, but how to save the prefect?
“I’ve heard Li Tianchong’s a heavy drinker, loves his wine. He’ll sip a couple cups any chance he gets,” Yan Shifan said with a slight smile, his tone leisurely.
“Brilliant, brilliant! We can impeach Li Tianchong for drinking on the job! Say the Jiaxing prefect didn’t abandon the city—he broke out to seek reinforcements from Li Tianchong to save Jiaxing. But Li Tianchong was too drunk, passed out cold, leaving the prefect’s efforts in vain!”
Luo Longwen, as if reading Yan Shifan’s mind, clapped and cheered, fleshing out the scheme.
“Totally workable! We could bribe someone in Li Tianchong’s household to testify he was drinking that day!”
“Best if it’s his cook.”
The group jumped in, each adding to the plan, concocting a vile, truth-twisting, blame-shifting plot with ruthless precision.
