Chapter Fifty-Four: A Great Victory

When this matter was brought up, Huang Jue looked somewhat embarrassed, but he did not conceal it; instead, he spoke plainly, “The county magistrate was afraid you might have lost your mind, so he didn’t come himself. He sent me to check on things first.”

“That Zhang fellow is certainly cautious!” Chief Chen immediately understood.

Huang Jue circled around the bodies of the pirates again and again—short and dark, without doubt, they were sea marauders!

“Did you really kill these pirates?” he asked suspiciously.

“Who else would have done it?” Chief Chen replied earnestly. “Don’t be fooled by how long it’s been since I last wielded a blade—when it comes to cutting down men, a hundred pirates are nothing to me!”

“Master Clerk, you’ve traveled a long way. Why not rest here for the night and return to the county office tomorrow?” Qin Zhen approached, holding a steaming bowl of fragrant fish soup.

“This is a grave matter—I must hurry back to report to the county office.” Huang Jue clearly understood something upon seeing Qin Zhen, and cast a meaningful glance at Chief Chen, accepting the fish soup with a smile. “From now on, it seems your little fishing village will become famous!”

That very night, Huang Jue rushed back to the county office.

The county magistrate tossed and turned, sleepless. He could not shake the feeling that pirates might burst forth from the darkness at any moment and cleave his head as easily as a watermelon.

He began to regret how he had listened to his family’s arrangements, coming to this remote backwater as an official. Bandits and bullies everywhere—and now pirates! Where was the promised land of prosperity? He’d barely skimmed any profits these years, yet trouble kept piling up.

“Damn it, the court is a mess these days. Those scoundrels would rather feed their own dogs from the imperial granary! This near-coast county post was hard-earned by my father’s efforts. It’s a bit far, but it’s still an official position—go there, gain some experience, achieve some merit, be a good official…”

Even now, he often recalled his father’s instructions before departure.

He sighed deeply and rose from bed.

He gazed out the window, feeling the night grow ever darker.

Suddenly, urgent knocking startled the entire official residence.

An officer’s voice rang out, “Sir! The clerk has returned!”

Before the words finished, the county magistrate stumbled out into the courtyard, just in time to collide with the hurriedly returning Huang Jue.

“Well?” he demanded.

“Sir, a great victory! It’s true—Chief Chen and the villagers of the fishing village repelled the pirates! The bodies of the pirates are laid out at the village entrance. I have inspected them—there is no doubt!”

Once Huang Jue had vividly recounted the events, the county magistrate could not help but throw his head back in laughter, his hearty voice echoing through the city.

“Haha! Who would have thought Chief Chen possessed the courage of ten thousand men!”

Overcome with joy, he immediately gave orders.

“Someone, send a letter at once to report this to the prefect! Say that the pirates landed, and that I, the county magistrate, bravely resisted, defeated the enemy, and slew over a hundred—no, over two hundred pirates! Chief Chen fought valiantly and slew their leader amidst the chaos!”

The county magistrate cared not whose merit it was.

After all, in the end, it all became his merit.

Of course, since this merit was gained by chance, he wouldn’t begrudge giving others a few crumbs.

“Over two hundred? But there aren’t so many bodies…” The officers exchanged uneasy glances.

“Fools! Execute all those in our jail whose guilt is confirmed, count the bandits’ bodies as well—there will be more than two hundred!” Huang Jue chuckled, offering a ceremonial salute to the magistrate. “Congratulations, sir!”

This was political achievement.

And tangible military merit!

The county magistrate’s smile nearly split his face. “Prepare the carriage at once! I must pay my respects to the heroes of this battle!”

The letter was entrusted to a courier, who sped along the official road, arriving in Coastal City by dawn.

Upon receiving the letter, the lord of Coastal City acted swiftly.

“Quick! Report to the governor at once, tell him of the great victory at Golden Sands Beach! The pirates assaulted, and the coastal county magistrate Zhang Miao bravely resisted, slaying over two thousand pirates!”

Two thousand meant rewards for two thousand; two hundred for the county magistrate, the remaining eighteen hundred naturally credited to the city lord himself.

The letter was then sent from Coastal City to neighboring Wujiang City.

This was the capital of Jiangnan Province, the residence of the provincial governor.

“A small coastal county defeated more than two thousand pirates?”

Reading the battle report, the Jiangnan governor was astounded.

He seized the courier and demanded, “Is this true?”

“The letter came from the coastal county, bearing the magistrate’s official seal. There’s no doubt!” The courier, not one to shrink from trouble, pounded his chest in assurance. “Surely the coastal magistrate wouldn’t falsify a military report!”

The governor thought it reasonable—who would dare fabricate such things with so minor a post? Without suspicion, he took the report to his study.

He picked up his brush and wrote, “Great victory in Jiangnan Province! The coastal magistrate defeated more than twenty thousand pirates, an outstanding achievement!”

He hesitated.

“Twenty thousand is a bit too much—if this is investigated, the Jiangnan naval forces will bear the blame. That won’t do…”

The Jiangnan navy guarded the sea borders. If twenty thousand pirates slipped past their watch and landed within the empire, it would be absurd—at the very least, the navy would be held responsible for negligence!

He pondered briefly.

In the end, he erased twenty thousand and replaced it with five thousand.

He carefully checked the report to ensure nothing was omitted, then handed it to the courier.

“Deliver this to the Emperor at once!”

Thus, the embellished battle report passed through layer upon layer, finally delivered by the chief eunuch to the desk of the reigning emperor in the Xuanhuang Palace.

The young emperor, only five years old, could barely read, but the prime minister Dong Xuan congratulated him.

“Your Majesty, Jiangnan Province has achieved a great victory! The pirates invaded and were repelled by the governor of Jiangnan! Our navy fought bravely and slew more than one hundred thousand enemies! This is the greatest victory since the founding of our empire!”

He looked up at the innocent young emperor, gently guiding him.

“Your Majesty, this unprecedented victory should be generously rewarded!”

At this moment—

Qin Zhen had no idea what chaos had erupted outside.

He could never have imagined that a skirmish involving a hundred men could be transformed into a battle that shocked the whole nation!

He was, at that moment, erecting monuments for the villagers who had died in the battle.

“I, Qin Zhen, have said: for those who died for our fishing village, I will care for their families! Their children may attend the village school and learn to read for free. Their families will have priority for jobs in our village factories. Their deeds will be inscribed on stone for future generations to remember!”

“They are heroes! I, Qin Zhen, will never let heroes shed blood and tears in vain!”

As white paper fluttered in the wind, cries rose.

Seeing Qin Zhen bow first at the graves of the fallen villagers, everyone’s hearts changed.

From that day forward, the entire fishing village was united in spirit.

Afterward, Xu Xiang approached Qin Zhen. “I don’t want to work at the textile mill.”

“Where do you want to go?” Qin Zhen asked.

Xu Xiang seemed to have made up her mind. She spoke with determination.

“I want to join the village guard!”