Without money, what is the point of being a traitor?

Chapter 126: Daigo the Monk
Sikong Sui is indeed efficient in his work.

At noon the next day, Pei Yuan met Duan Min who had arrived in Wuxi County early.

Duan Min seemed to have heard of Pei Yuan's achievements. After seeing him, he was no longer cold and arrogant. Instead, he said respectfully, "I am here to assist you on the orders of Captain Han. When I heard Captain Sikong summoned me, I didn't dare to delay for even a second and have already brought people here."

Pei Yuan was very concerned about the numbers and asked directly, "How many people did you bring?"

This should be the last batch of troops that Han Qianhu recruited for himself before arriving in Huai'an.

More than 60% of the people brought by Tan Tai Fang Tu and Si Kong Sui had been killed or wounded. Even if the musketeers and artillerymen sent by Ji Xin were included, there were only about fifty Jin Yi Wei left.

The mission was so complicated and the danger was obvious that it was unlikely that the Suppression of Evil Thousand Households Office would send in more people.

In this case, these underworld forces must be put to good use.

Duan Min said, "According to your instructions, I have divided those people into two categories. One is those who are willing to serve the Qianhu, and the other is those who were forcibly recruited by us."

"Those who volunteered to work for us were led by Daigo the monk from Jingxin Temple. There were about sixty to seventy of them. Those who were forcibly recruited by us were led by Zhiwei the Taoist from Tianying Palace. There were about thirty of them."

Pei Yuan was completely confused as he knew almost nothing about these people.

So he said, "Tell me more about it."

Duan Min said, "This time I was ordered to recruit people from various palaces, temples and monasteries in Nanzhili. Some of the larger places have backers, and it is not easy for us to control them. Only the second-rate places responded. And most of them only sent one or two people to do a perfunctory job."

"The abbot of Jingxin Temple was gone some time ago, and there was fierce internal strife, so a new abbot has not been elected. Since Jingxin Temple cannot come up with a candidate for the abbot, the subsequent appointment procedures will naturally not go through."

"As time went on, the temple affairs became a mess. Seeing this, many wandering monks came to stay in the temple. Some of these wandering monks had ordination certificates, while others were just wild monks. At first, the people in the temple wanted to use external forces to break the situation. Who would have thought that these wandering monks would call their friends and collude with each other to make the Jingxin Temple a mess."

"This monk Daigo joined the Jingxin Temple some time ago. Although he keeps saying that he has a certificate of ordination, no one has ever seen him. This time when I was recruiting people, I casually mentioned that the Qianhu Suo would reward meritorious people, and immediately attracted the monk Daigo."

"He came with about ten people from the Jingxin Temple. Overall, they are the most numerous and powerful group among these guys."

Duan Min added, "This monk Daigo is very skilled."

Pei Yuan nodded after hearing this. This was a typical case of a group of scattered sand.

Only Monk Daigo is going for the reward, and he has a little sense of professionalism. The others may join in the fun when things are going their way, but the others cannot be relied upon at all.

Of course, it is not ruled out that this monk Daigo has ulterior motives.

Duan Min added, "The other group of people did not respond to the call of the Qianhu Division at all. However, they did not have much resistance to this matter. Since the Qianhu Division was a little stronger, they were willing to help out."

In other words, the second group of people were just there for the fun.

Pei Yuan was not too disappointed about this.

Compared with the first type, this batch is slightly more reliable.

But if something really happens, the second type of people are very likely to stand idly by, while someone in the first type of people might be willing to take a chance for the sake of profit.

Pei Yuan had become accustomed to having a bad hand, and he wasn't at all upset about it.

He scratched his head and said to Duan Min, "Go settle them first, I will talk to them one by one later."

After Duan Min left, Pei Yuan thought about the troubles he might encounter next, and felt a little stressed.

Pei Yuan can rely on his thick armor and extraordinary strength to mow down the soldiers with his basic attacks, but if he encounters a real capable fighter and is left alone, he may be defeated miserably.

Pei Yuan has always been very self-aware.

I also know what kind of person I am.

In the past, Pei Yuan was just a piece of mud in the market. Even when faced with many embarrassing things, he was fully familiar with them.

He was even dragged into the bushes by Mei Qinniang and raped in front of Chen Toutie.

When leaving the capital this time, Pei Yuan relied on his shameless bluffing to get his two younger brothers to follow him reluctantly.

But the current Captain Pei is no longer the mess that was Captain Pei.

He can no longer compromise and avoid things that are difficult to face.

Pei Yuan thought for a moment and called out, "Someone, go get Cheng Leixiang!"

Cheng Leixiang and Chen Toutie were still not confident about their personal guards, so they consciously moved their circle to the periphery.

Now the task of handling trivial matters for Pei Yuan has been taken over by the new general flag bearer Song Chunniang.

After a while, Cheng Leixiang came over.

Pei Yuan and he were old buddies, so he didn't shy away from asking directly, "If you have time, how about teaching me a few tricks?"

Cheng Leixiang knows Pei Yuan's background very well, so he naturally knows Pei Qianhu's pain points.

"My Lord, do you want to learn martial arts?"

Pei Yuan sincerely asked, "How is it, is there hope?"

Cheng Leixiang answered honestly, "Your Excellency has a very good foundation. If it's just about body movements and skills, I can help. If it's more advanced, I can't help."

Pei Yuan was a little disappointed.

But the only person he can rely on right now is Cheng Leixiang.

He thought for a moment and said, "Okay. When no one is around, I'll practice with you."

At this time, someone came to report that Duan Min brought a monk to ask for a meeting.

Pei Yuan called someone in.

Cheng Leixiang consciously resumed his role as a follower and stood guard with a weapon in hand.

Duan Min came in and bowed to Pei Yuan, saying, "Sir, this is the monk Daigo that I mentioned."

Pei Yuan took a look at the monk Daigo and saw that he looked to be about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, tall, with a round face and a slightly fat face. His eyes were small and cunning, and he looked quite funny.

The monk Daigo also hurriedly saluted and said, "I greet Captain Pei."

When Pei Yuan saw the monk's behavior, he began to suspect that he was a wild monk from somewhere.

A proper monk should at least have some manners.

Pei Yuan looked at the monk Daigo and asked directly, "Do you have a certificate of ordination?"

Daigo nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, yes, yes."

Pei Yuan stretched out his hand and said, "Let me see it."

Upon seeing this, Monk Daigo hesitated for a moment, said "yes" twice, then took out a certificate from the sleeve of his monk's robe and handed it to Pei Yuan with a little trepidation.

Pei Yuan took it and took a look, but couldn't figure out what it was.

Then he said to Cheng Leixiang, "Where are my copies? Bring them over and have a look."

Cheng Leixiang knew that Pei Yuan was talking about the blank certificates of ordination that Han Qianhu gave to Pei Yuan to win over the hearts of the people.

He said, "It seems that the documents and other things are all kept by Chen Toutie. I'll take them and ask someone who knows about this."

Watching Cheng Leixiang leave to check the style of the certificate of ordination, Monk Daihu quietly wiped his sweat and secretly glanced at Pei Yuan.

Pei Yuan was speechless. This guy's performance was too obvious.

He asked curiously, "Is your certificate of ordination fake?" Daigo waved his hands repeatedly, "No way, no way."

He even accidentally let out a sentence, "My master would never cheat me."

Pei Yuan asked, "Who is your master? Where did you become a monk?"

The monk Daigo also realized that he had said something wrong, so he stopped answering and instead looked around secretly.

Pei Yuan consoled him, "Just tell me what you want. I'm not an official of the Buddhist Affairs Bureau. You brought people here to work for me. Even if something terrible happens, I will protect you."

Pei Yuan found out that this monk Daigo was not a good person, so he naturally said it in a more popular way, "Have you heard of officials protecting each other? We like to protect our own people."

The monk Daigo had little experience, but he was indeed moved by the universal values ​​of the Ming Dynasty.

"Really, really?"

Pei Yuan naturally patted his chest and said, "Of all the temples and palaces, you have brought the most people. If I can't even protect you, don't I, Pei Qianhu, have any face?"

The monk Daigo said hesitantly, "My master is a wandering monk. I used to beg for food everywhere. He said that there was some chance between me and him, so he accepted me as his disciple. I, I became a monk on the roadside."

Pei Yuan was speechless. This monk was indeed wild.

Pei Yuan had experienced so many things, but he had never heard of a monk becoming a monk on the roadside.

He was thinking about the certificate of ordination he had just received.

If it is real, even the cheapest types of "Zen" and "Lecture" would cost more than ten taels.

If one could obtain a certificate with the word "Jiao" on it that could be used to perform rituals, the price on the black market would be over a hundred taels of silver.

This isn't something an ordinary wandering monk can come up with.

Pei Yuan was just thinking about it when he saw Cheng Leixiang quietly appear outside the courtyard gate and waved to him.

Pei Yuan's heart moved, and he said to the monk Daihu, "Wait a moment, I have something to tell my subordinates."

The monk Daigo quickly stood up and smiled ingratiatingly, without showing any of the temperament of a master.

Pei Yuan walked slowly to the gate of the courtyard without saying a word.

Cheng Leixiang gave a wink to the Jinyiwei soldier guarding the door, and the Jinyiwei soldier opened the door.

Cheng Leixiang didn't say anything and continued walking out.

When he felt the distance was safe enough, he whispered to Pei Yuan, "Sir, I asked the captain of the Sikong, and there is a problem with this certificate of ordination."

Pei Yuan already had an idea in mind, so he asked, "Fake?"

Cheng Lei said, "Really."

Then he explained, "But this version of the certificate has been out of use for a long time."

Pei Yuan didn't grasp the key point here, "Is there a problem?"

Cheng Leixiang nodded and lowered his voice and said, "Sir, do you still remember the Huangjue Temple that Han Qianhu mentioned before?"

"Huangjue Temple!?" Pei Yuan's eyes widened immediately.

How could he not remember Huangjue Temple? His blood-red cassock was the treasure that Han Qianhu found when he hunted down the remnants of Huangjue Temple.

I heard Han Qianhu mention it specifically last time.

Pei Yuan didn't know much about the story of the Evil Suppression Thousand Households Office, and he also asked Cheng Leixiang in detail about the origins of the relevant matters.

He reacted, "Are you saying that this Daigo monk is a remnant of Huangjue Temple?!"

Cheng Leixiang nodded and said, "It's 80% correct. Sikong Baihu has seen the certificate with his own eyes. He said that when Jianwen disguised himself as a monk and burned the palace, he escaped from Nanjing with the help of the eight monks from Huangjue Temple."

"Later, in order to find the remnants of the Huangjue Temple, the Monk Registration Office secretly replaced a batch of ordination certificates. Ordinary ordination certificates have a secret mark, but the ordination certificates secretly prepared by the monks of the Huangjue Temple do not have this secret mark. Outsiders have no idea about this matter."

"For a long time, Taoists from all over the country have been secretly investigating those wandering monks, hoping to find clues about the monks from Huangjue Temple from their certificates of ordination."

"I'm afraid this monk Daigo is one of the remnants of the eight monks of Huangjue Temple."

Pei Yuan remembered that when Han Qianhu taught him the cassock-subduing magic skill, he seemed to have mentioned to him that the blood-red cassock was obtained by killing a man called the Heart Demon Monk.

The monk with inner demon, the monk Daigo.

At first glance, it sounds like they are in the same group.

Pei Yuan took a deep breath and asked, "What did Sikong Sui say?"

Cheng Leixiang said, "Sikong Sui said that the eight monks of Huangjue Temple are all very capable. It is best not to alert them. He has sent someone to send an urgent letter to Han Qianhu. When Han Qianhu arrives, he will naturally be able to arrest him."

Pei Yuan felt relieved when he heard this.

Then he thought of the silly and naive look of the monk Daigo, and felt that this might be a good opportunity.

He said to Cheng Leixiang, "I just heard Duan Min say that he is very skilled in martial arts. Go and confirm it."

After hearing this, Cheng Leixiang went into the yard to call Duan Min.

After a while, Duan Min hurriedly followed Cheng Leixiang over.

Pei Yuan directly asked Duan Min, "You said that monk Daigo is very skilled in martial arts?"

Duan Min said quickly, "Indeed. The Jingxin Temple was in a mess because of those wandering monks, but no one dared to provoke this monk Daigo, and they even looked up to him as the leader. I asked someone to find out, and it seems that this monk Daigo has some rare magical powers, enough to shock everyone."

Pei Yuan hummed and became more interested.

"what about others?"

Duan Min thought for a moment, "Others... This monk never reads scriptures, but he talks endlessly when arguing with others. Also, I heard that he loves to enjoy himself and envy worldly wealth."

Pei Yuan silently repeated twice in his mouth, "Master Daigo".

Then he said, "Okay, you guys go back first. I'll go see him later."

After that, he said to Cheng Leixiang, "Give me another blank certificate."

When Cheng Leixiang brought the certificate of ordination, Pei Yuan took it directly in his hand and walked towards the courtyard.

The monk Daigo was sitting quietly in the yard. When he heard the noise at the gate, he turned around and quickly stood up.

Pei Yuan became more and more confident.

He casually waved the blank certificate of ordination on the stone table in the courtyard, sat down and asked, "By the way, where were we talking about just now? We were talking about your master, right?"

The monk Daigo could not understand the meaning of Pei Yuan's words, and took the initiative to remind him, "It's about me becoming a monk on the roadside."

Pei Yuan was amused and teased him deliberately, "You don't understand the principles of being an official. You have to continue what I say. This is called currying favor with your superiors."

Monk Daigu seemed to particularly enjoy listening to Pei Yuan's talk about the principles of being an official, and said with a smile, "I understand, I understand."

Pei Yuan then continued to ask, "How long has your master taught you Buddhism?"

The monk Daigo was stunned and replied, "Not long ago, I took a nap after becoming your disciple, and it seemed that I understood everything overnight."

(End of this chapter)