“Before I go to Zhu Ping’an’s banquet, there are three tasks I need you to handle.” Wang Zhi summoned Mao Haifeng, Da You Zhengchuan, and a group of pirate leaders to his tent, scanning them before speaking slowly.
“My Lord, are you really going to Zhu Ping’an’s banquet? That Zhu Ping’an is cunning as a fox. What if it’s a trap like the Hongmen Banquet? A gentleman doesn’t stand under a dangerous wall. I strongly advise against attending, My Lord.”
A pirate general stood up, his face animated, vehemently opposing Wang Zhi’s decision to attend the Zhejiang army’s camp.
“Exactly! Zhu Ping’an’s full of dirty tricks. The thousand Zhejiang soldiers they sent must be handpicked elites, and their firearms are too formidable—each soldier with two muskets! They’ve surely concentrated the best muskets in the Zhejiang army’s hands. Zhu Ping’an’s actions are downright despicable. To win this fight, he’s resorted to shameless trickery, completely throwing his dignity away.”
Wang Xiao’er couldn’t help but chime in, denouncing Zhu Ping’an’s lack of shame.
In his view, the Zhejiang army was definitely cheating in this fight, equipping their thousand participating soldiers with the army’s best firearms.
Who equips soldiers with two muskets each? That’s blatant cheating. Sure, General Xue had also cheated, borrowing top-quality armor from various sources and enlisting hundreds of elite pirate fighters to bolster their side. But Zhu Ping’an’s trickery was even more shameless.
Two muskets per soldier!
Muskets weren’t cheap sticks. They were valuable—ten taels of silver each when bought from the red-haired barbarians, not to mention the cost of shot and powder, which were consumables, each round costing silver.
How many muskets could the Zhejiang army possibly have? There’s no way they could afford to equip each soldier with two. They must have prioritized all their muskets for these thousand soldiers.
That was just too shameless.
“Ahem…”
At this moment, an untimely cough interrupted the indignant curses against Zhu Ping’an.
“What’s wrong, Nephew Haifeng?”
Wang Xiao’er and the others heard Mao Haifeng’s cough and looked up at him, asking in a deep voice.
“My Lord, honorable uncles, I’ve clashed with Zhu Ping’an’s Zhejiang army twice. In truth, for this battle, Zhu Ping’an not only refrained from using petty tricks or underhanded moves, but he actually held back half his strength.”
Mao Haifeng stood, clasped his fists toward Wang Zhi and Wang Xiao’er, and explained slowly.
His words were like a bolt from the blue, as if a cannonball of dog dung had been lobbed into a hornet’s nest.
“What? Not only did he not use petty tricks or dirty moves, but he held back? Held back half his strength?!”
“Nephew Haifeng, are you joking?!”
“Haifeng, that’s too far for a joke. Zhu Ping’an’s shameless enough to give each participating Zhejiang soldier two muskets, and you’re saying he didn’t use tricks, didn’t play dirty, and even held back half his strength?!”
Wang Xiao’er and the others, hearing Mao Haifeng’s words, buzzed with rebuttals.
Mao Haifeng’s words were too absurd; they couldn’t accept them. Zhu Ping’an had stooped to such despicable lengths, yet Mao was defending him, saying he held back—half his strength, no less. Utter nonsense!
Hmph!
Mao Haifeng praising Zhu Ping’an like this was just him trying to cover for himself!
“Haifeng, why do you say that?” Wang Zhi narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at Mao Haifeng and asking slowly.
“My Lord, honorable uncles, I say this because Zhu Ping’an’s Zhejiang soldiers are standardly equipped with two muskets each, and…” Mao Haifeng clasped his fists again, explaining slowly.
But before he could finish, Wang Xiao’er and the others cut him off.
“Nephew Haifeng, you’re saying the Zhejiang army is standardly equipped with two muskets per soldier? Impossible, absolutely impossible!”
“Haifeng, since when did muskets become as common as cabbages? You know how much a musket costs! How much wealth could the Zhejiang army have to equip every soldier with two muskets? Even the court couldn’t afford that!”
Wang Xiao’er and the others waved their hands dismissively.
“The Zhejiang army has a battalion called the Equipment Camp, with hundreds of craftsmen who can forge muskets themselves, greatly reducing costs.”
Mao Haifeng explained.
Uh…
The Zhejiang army had an Equipment Camp with hundreds of craftsmen who could forge muskets…
If that was the case, it was indeed possible for them to equip each soldier with two muskets.
The red-haired barbarians sold muskets to them for ten taels of silver each, and they resold them to the divided forces in Japan for twenty or even thirty taels.
Given the greedy nature of those barbarians, they wouldn’t sell without several times the profit.
When you think about it, muskets are just made of iron and copper. How much iron and copper could they need? The cost might not even be a tael of silver.
If the Zhejiang army could forge their own muskets, it was entirely possible for them to equip each soldier with two.
Realizing this, Wang Xiao’er and the others fell silent.
Seeing their silence, Mao Haifeng tugged at the corner of his mouth and added slowly, “I wasn’t finished earlier. Besides muskets, the Zhejiang army has an even more formidable firearm.”
“What? Zhu Ping’an has an even more powerful firearm?”
“What firearm could be more powerful than a musket?”
“Nephew Haifeng, what firearm are you talking about?”
Hearing Mao Haifeng say Zhu Ping’an had an even more formidable firearm, Wang Xiao’er hurriedly pressed for details.
“Zhu Ping’an has another firearm called the Tiger Crouching Cannon. Its power is ten, even a hundred times that of a musket. The Tiger Crouching Cannon’s might is nearly comparable to the Frankish cannons we mount on our ships’ sides. One shot shakes the earth, spewing hundreds or thousands of shot pellets, covering the sky. When a hundred Tiger Crouching Cannons fire in unison, the dense barrage of pellets blots out the sun, turning day into dusk. Its power is simply insane.”
Mao Haifeng described it with lingering fear.
“Indeed, his Tiger Crouching Cannon can also fire an iron ball as thick as a bowl’s rim. One shot can crush over a dozen men, leaving them a bloody mess. The Zhejiang army has no less than a hundred of these cannons. Our defeat is largely due to this weapon.”
Da You Zhengchuan added.
“What? The Zhejiang army has over a hundred Tiger Crouching Cannons?!”
“The Tiger Crouching Cannon is that powerful?”
Hearing Mao Haifeng and Da You Zhengchuan’s words, everyone gasped in shock.
“If the Zhejiang army has over a hundred Tiger Crouching Cannons with such power, why didn’t they use them in this battle?”
Wang Xiao’er asked, puzzled.
“From what I know of him, he might have feared we’d be unconvinced by our defeat, which could affect his meeting with My Lord.”
Mao Haifeng said slowly.
Wang Xiao’er and the others fell silent. Mao Haifeng’s words stung. Indeed, Zhu Ping’an hadn’t used the Tiger Crouching Cannons, yet they were still calling him out for cheating and trickery, feeling resentful. If Zhu Ping’an had used the cannons, would they have been convinced?
In that sense, Zhu Ping’an really had held back in this battle—perhaps half his strength, at least.
