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

Chapter 142 How many surprises do you have that I don't know?

Pei Yuan didn't expect this monk Daigo to be very loyal, as long as he could be used to kill people.

Cheng Leixiang arranged for the Jinyiwei soldiers to stay.

Most of the people who came with him this time were the personal guards allocated to him and Chen Toutie last time.

Pei Yuan was very satisfied with their performance in this operation and had a new regard for this group of people.

The last time Cheng Leixiang was eating pancakes, he heard Pei Yuan say that he would give him the opportunity to be independent in the future.

Therefore, he also deliberately cultivated one or two confidants.

Pei Yuan thought of something and turned to Cheng Leixiang and said, "The local tyrants like the Wuxi Hua family are not the same as us. I guess the news was sent here as soon as Tan Tai Fangtu left. Besides, Lu Dahua has been following us."

"I estimate that there should be undercurrents in Suzhou City today. A large-scale weaving household riot may occur at any time. Send people to keep an eye on it to prevent any unexpected situation from happening."

The weavers' unrest must have been something they had planned for a long time, and it cannot be stopped simply by controlling Zhai Dean.

If the signs were too obvious and the Jiangnan gentry chose to replace someone else in charge, they would fail to paralyze the operation at a critical moment.

Pei Yuan added, "Pick a few smart ones. While there is still some time today, find a local to learn the local accent. It will be useful later."

Cheng Leixiang responded and left.

In the evening, Cheng Leixiang came to report.

As expected, people in Suzhou were talking about the emperor's lack of benevolence and excessive levies. The eunuchs in charge of the Suzhou and Hangzhou weaving factories tried to please the emperor by using the money from the Suzhou and Hangzhou weaving factories as commercial taxes.

They all agreed that the eunuch in charge of the Suzhou and Hangzhou weaving factories would certainly extort the money back from the weavers.

The weavers in Suzhou and Hangzhou worked for the Royal Banknote Printing Factory, and nearly one-third of their time every year was spent on freelancing by the imperial court.

There are rumors now that in addition to the regular service, one will have to perform miscellaneous duties, and the time may need to be extended to six or eight months.

The whole city was in uproar. Tens of thousands of craftsmen lost their focus on work and were talking and clamoring everywhere.

The owners of the weaving workshops, unusually, ignored them and allowed them to make more and more trouble.

According to Cheng Leixiang, the crowd is now very angry and all they need is a leader.

Pei Yuan also felt a little nervous after hearing this.

The bad reputation of the Jinyiwei among the people is starting to hinder us at this time, so we must not let things get out of hand by then.

Out of caution, early the next morning, Pei Yuan took Song Chunniang and two or three personal soldiers out of the city to meet Tan Tai Fangtu.

Cheng Leixiang and the remaining guards wore plain clothes, pretending to be ordinary people, and set the pace at critical moments.

Pei Yuan rode a fast horse and soon met the team led by Tan Tai Fang Tu and others.

What made Pei Yuan a little uncomfortable was that the first person to greet him was Lu Dahua, who looked very proud.

Lu Dahua had always thought that he had Pei Yuan in his hands, and acted quite recklessly.

Pei Yuan's deliberate tolerance made everything go smoothly for Lu Dahua, but it also quickly increased his risks.

Now, many people within the Jiangnan gentry have begun to question the authenticity of the report submitted by Lu Dahua.

The Pei Yuan they know, the one who came from a poor family, was quiet since childhood, was bullied in the workplace after joining the Jinyiwei, and was pinned to the ground and taught a lesson by a chivalrous woman?

I always feel like something is not quite right.

Fortunately, some of Lu Dahua's information also has some verifiable circumstantial evidence.

And it is very hard circumstantial evidence.

For example, Mei Qinniang, who boasted that she had single-handedly controlled Pei Yuan and repeatedly requested to go into battle, was on their side.

When Lu Dahua saw Pei Yuan, he immediately boasted about his achievements, "Brother Pei, I have already done that thing. The silver has been approved, and the higher-ups gave a discount, a total of more than 6,000 taels."

Pei Yuan was surprised.

Lu Dahua, ah Lu Dahua, how many surprises do you have that I don't know about?

Considering that Lu Dahua might be chased and hacked by his boss at any time because of various outrageous actions, Pei Yuan couldn't help but ask, "Where's the silver?"

"Hmm?" Lu Dahua felt that Brother Pei was a little utilitarian. Shouldn't he first care about how he had worked so hard to accomplish this?

Well, my little brother has been used to a hard life and doesn’t understand the ways of the world. When he saw the money, he was probably so happy that he became confused.

However, Lu Dahua's work was not in vain.

With his left hand, he connected the Jiangnan gentry with each other, and with his right hand, he won over the powerful figures of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. As a broker for their interests, in a sense, he also shared the power channel between the two parties.

Expanding the relationship between the two parties and increasing the sunk costs of both sides is beneficial to brokers like Lu Dahua.

The more they pay and the more they get from the other party, the more they will rely on Lu Dahua as the middleman.

Lu Dahua smiled and said, "We're just waiting for you to come back and share it."

He deliberately came to Pei Yuan and whispered, "This favor should be left to my brother."

Pei Yuan laughed heartily, "Brother, you are really considerate when doing things."

Then he asked, "Where's the silver?"

Lu Dahua led Pei Yuan to a silver transport cart, opened it and saw that it was filled with large silver ingots weighing fifty taels each.

Pei Yuan picked it up and took a look. Seeing that it was pure silver and there were no hidden marks on it, he nodded with satisfaction.

"Keep it for now and send it out later."

Pei Yuan had gained a lot from Lu Dahua, and didn't want to cheat him too hard, so he thought for a moment and said to him, "I just came from Suzhou City, and the weavers there are already in an uproar."

Lu Dahua knows something about it.

But he still remembered his position and just said, "I don't have any good solution for what the higher-ups are going to do."

Pei Yuan did not pursue this, but said to him, "The current situation is as dangerous as countless boulders piled on a mountain. When the boulders roll down the mountain unstoppably, no one can be sure whether they will be hit. Brother Lu, at this time, it is better not to stand with me. It is better to watch from a distance, which will make you feel more at ease."

After hearing this, Lu Dahua's heart was slightly moved.

The people above asked him to pay attention to Pei Yuan's every move to avoid any mistakes.

But there is nothing wrong with what Pei Yuan said.

No one is stupid. Who would be willing to put themselves in danger?

Pei Yuan continued, "What a coincidence! I heard that last night, the back office of the Suzhou prefect caught fire. As a result, Suzhou prefect Zhai De'an was frightened and has a high fever ever since. He is now recuperating in the post house."

"The governor of Suzhou was a Jinshi in two imperial examinations." Pei Yuan sighed deliberately, "A scholar is a scholar, he knows a lot."

When Lu Dahua heard this, he was like, “Fuck!”

How could he not know that the Suzhou prefect was the main force handling this matter?

Even Zhai De'an hid aside, and Lu Dahua immediately had a strong sense of crisis.

Coupled with Pei Yuan’s exaggerated metaphor, Zhai Dean’s sense of crisis was quickly magnified.

He looked around and whispered to Pei Yuan, "Although what you said is very kind, I can't explain it."

Pei Yuanzheng felt that Lu Dahua was getting in the way, so he whispered, "It's easy. I thought this was a good job, and I didn't want to waste it. So I asked someone to go to Yangzhou to ask if there were any merchants traveling with me, and make some money. You can report it secretly, saying that I accidentally discovered that I had arranged something in Yangzhou, and you need to go and investigate urgently to avoid any mistakes." "Brother Lu is so dedicated, who can say anything to you?"

Lu Dahua's heart warmed when he heard this, and he quickly assured, "Don't worry, I will never ruin your financial future. I know what to do with Yangzhou."

After watching Lu Dahua leave, Sikong Sui complained, "We should have gotten rid of him long ago."

Captain Pei said, "With him here, we have saved a lot of trouble. Don't be ungrateful. Let's go."

Pei Yuan came quickly, but when he went back, he had to escort the silver transport cart and the corpses, so his speed was much slower.

Among Pei Yuan's Jinyiwei, there were thirteen left in Suzhou, twenty-one in the musket team and artillery team. The two centurions, Tan Tai Fangtu and Sikong Sui, had only eighteen men left who could go into battle. It could be said that the losses were extremely heavy.

In addition, there were more than one hundred monks and Taoists recruited from temples and palaces.

In addition, there were dozens of porters who were temporarily recruited from the Wuxi County Government to push the carts.

The team marched for half a day and arrived outside Suzhou city near noon.

Dressed in casual clothes, he looked at the simple-minded Cheng Leixiang and quietly came over and said, "A large group of weavers have blocked the road from the city gate to the Suhang Manufacturing Office."

Pei Yuan, Sikong Sui and others became nervous.

"how many people?"

Cheng Leixiang had no idea of ​​the exact number, "There should be several thousand, a huge crowd. I heard that all the major workshops are waiting for news, and will come to support if the riot breaks out. Many scholars from the county and prefectural schools have already arrived, and are gathering in a nearby teahouse waiting."

Everyone's eyes turned to Pei Yuan.

This was also the first time that Pei Yuan faced such great pressure.

Although the other side is unarmed, their mouths and pens can still kill people.

There was no extra expression on Captain Pei's face.

On that freezing rainy night, Pei Yuan said to Yue Qingfeng, "You guys hold swords, and we hold knives. I don't think we should be frozen to death in the wilderness by those who hold books."

This statement is still valid now.

Pei Yuan holds a knife, and no matter how many people block his way, they cannot stop him from surviving.

Pei Yuan said, "Go into the city."

As this huge group moved forward, it immediately alarmed the soldiers guarding the city.

The soldiers were obviously instructed to stop and ask questions.

Pei Yuan was still single. He first took out his badge to identify himself, then asked his men to change into his signature brocade clothes on the spot, and finally removed all the straw mats covering the carriage.

A disgusting stench began to spread everywhere. The soldiers looked from a distance and saw that there were dozens of carts full of dead bodies. They all felt terrified.

They had received orders to create some trouble and embarrass these people with some plausible excuses.

But once these things are revealed, who would be so bold as to cause trouble?

An unusual soldier said boldly, "Suzhou is a prosperous city. Sir, you can't just drag the corpse into the city."

Chen Toutie shouted, "How dare you! These are the remnants of the White Lotus Sect. We are bringing them into the city to test their merits and to arrest their accomplices. Who are you to dare to stop them?"

The man immediately retracted his head and dared not say a word.

Pei Yuan had rehearsed this once before and already had an idea of ​​what was going to happen next.

Although the number of thousands of weavers is scary, there are more than a few thousand people in Suzhou who like to watch the fun...

Pei Yuan looked at the silver transport vehicle behind him and thought that Lu Dahua's silver came at the right time.

So someone opened the lid of the silver transport cart, revealing the shining silver.

The onlookers became more and more agitated, talking a lot, and were inexplicably excited.

Pei Yuan stepped forward and shouted loudly, "This time I wiped out the White Lotus Sect and killed a large number of bandits. I will display these corpses to the public later. Anyone who can identify their origins will be rewarded with fifty taels of silver!"

As he said this, Pei Yuan jumped off his horse, took out two pieces of silver from the silver transport cart and knocked them.

Those who were watching immediately exclaimed in amazement.

The eyes looking at the corpse transport vehicles also became eager.

Seeing that more and more people were gathering around him, Pei Yuan shouted, "Don't block my way! I will leave my body outside Xuanmiao Temple for three days. Everyone can come forward to identify it. Those who have made contributions will be rewarded!"

The crowd watching was even more shocked.

Some clever ones even ran straight towards Xuanmiao Temple.

This time Pei Yuan did not hide it and had people transport the corpses into the city in a grand manner.

The silver transport vehicle behind was also wide open and followed closely behind.

Pei Yuan whispered an order to Song Chunniang, who immediately slowed down her horse. When she was parallel to the silver carriage, she used her strength to quietly knock a few silver ingots off the silver carriage.

The Jinyiwei who was escorting the silver carriage was about to lower his head when Song Chunniang looked at him sternly.

The Jinyiwei could only pretend not to know.

The people who had been eagerly watching were speechless when they saw a few silver ingots falling from the silver cart.

Some people wanted to shout, but subconsciously closed their mouths and looked around.

In return, he received the same hesitant look.

Pei Yuan's mighty team had just passed a few steps when the people, who had suddenly become silent, suddenly rushed towards the place where the silver had just fallen like crazy.

Suddenly the scene became more and more chaotic, more people were attracted and asked from afar.

Pei Yuan still followed the strategy of that day and let the convoy move slowly in the city.

If the last strategy was to get rid of the onlookers, this time it was to blatantly gather and attract monsters.

The crowd that followed was getting bigger and bigger, attracting more people's curiosity.

The navy under Cheng Leixiang spread the news of identifying the body and getting money everywhere, which soon made the newcomers understand the current situation and they all became excited.

Pei Yuan had no choice but to stand up again and shouted, "I will leave the corpse of the White Lotus Demon exposed in Xuanmiao Temple for three days. If anyone is willing to serve the country and receive the reward, you can go to Xuanmiao Temple first and wait."

After hearing this, many people who couldn't fit into the circle immediately realized that there was no point in just following along.

He immediately ran and went to Xuanmiao Temple to reserve a spot.

The people followed the crowd, and if one person ran, the others would immediately follow.

Cheng Leixiang's navy took the opportunity to shout, "Hurry up! Go to Xuanmiao Temple and take up a position!"

After hearing this, some confused people immediately seemed to be enlightened and ran towards Xuanmiao Temple.

At first, Cheng Leixiang followed Pei Yuan's instructions blindly. It was not until the crowds of people who came to watch the fun started running that he suddenly realized something.

From here to Xuanmiao Temple, you just pass Tianxin Bridge.

Thousands of weavers who wanted to intercept the silver carriage were blocking the way there!
(End of this chapter)