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

Chapter 203: Charging money will make you stronger
"Well, I have this plan, but I haven't discussed it with my brothers yet." Liu Qi had been thinking about this on the way here. Now he felt more and more that going to Huguang was the only way to have a future.

"Well, do you have any solution?"

Pei Yuan thought for a moment and asked Liu Qi, "How much are you willing to pay?"

Liu Qi was stunned, somewhat uncomfortable with Pei Yuan's straightforwardness.

Isn’t loyalty the hard currency in the underworld?
Fortunately, Pei Yuan explained, "I am only a small officer in the court. If I only rely on my knowledge, I am afraid that I can only help you to a limited extent. If there is some funding, things will be much easier."

Liu Qi's original intention was to see that Pei Yuan had great insight, and he wanted to borrow his vision to help him with his advice.

But looking at Pei Yuan's statement, could there be something else fishy going on?

Liu Qi thought for a moment and asked, "Does it matter how much money you pay?"

Pei Yuan patiently explained, "The packages are different."

"Set meal?" Liu Qi was confused and asked, "What is a set meal?"

Pei Yuan asked confidently, "I wonder if Brother Qi has ever heard this saying, charging money will make you stronger."

Liu Qi was stunned. "What do you mean?"

Although the others also didn't understand what he said, this sentence itself seemed to have a strong persuasive power.

It makes people nod knowingly.

Pei Yuan said calmly, "The court is not monolithic, and everyone has their own thoughts. If we can use them skillfully, we can take advantage of the opportunity to accomplish our goals. For example, the matter of going to Huguang..."

Pei Yuan got stuck here, and suddenly realized something.

In order to force the Bazhou rebels to move south, he asked Sun Keding to bring a message to Gu Dayong, asking him to promote the White Lotus rebellion.

Now that his progress within the Bazhou rebels is going extremely smoothly, the rebellion of the White Lotus Sect will cause some trouble to his current plans.

But then he changed his mind. The White Lotus Rebellion also involved the purge of the Taoist priests in the north, and he couldn't stop it.

All these things are linked together, leaving Pei Yuan with less and less room to maneuver.

Seeing Pei Yuan was stuck, Liu Qi urged, "What happened to the trip to Huguang?"

Pei Yuan’s silence made Liu Liu and Zhao Sui a little nervous.

Just then Qi Yanming came in to report, and just as he was about to speak, Liu Liu stopped him by waving his hand.

Qi Yanming was a little puzzled.

Seeing that the three big leaders were holding their breath and looking at the "living Jiang Gan", the other leaders at the banquet were affected by this atmosphere and unconsciously lowered their voices. Qi Yanming couldn't help but murmur in his heart.

Where did this guy come from?

Pei Yuan was silent for a moment, then said, "You may not know that there are experts in the court who have seen through your reluctance to go south, and are planning to use a vicious trick to force you to enter the Huai River Basin."

After that, Pei Yuan explained to everyone what "fighting fire with fire" meant.

Then he said, "The court has discovered that Zhao Jinglong of the White Lotus Sect is ready to make a move, and has already gone to capture him with great fanfare. Zhao Jinglong is also a local hero, and he is likely to start an uprising in Henan."

"Henan is an important passage to Huguang. That land has experienced many wars before. Now that Zhao Jinglong has caused this, as long as there is chaos, the effect will be no less than a scorched earth campaign."

“If the hundreds of thousands of people in Bazhou retreat to that direction, I’m afraid that many of them will die of hunger and cold on the road.”

"When your retreat is cut off, you will have no choice but to venture into the dangerous place of Huai'an."

Liu Liu couldn't help but yelled angrily, "Who came up with this idea? I'll ask Yang Hu to bring a few people to chop him up!"

Pei Yuan's eyebrows jumped when he heard this, and he calmly advised, "That's not necessary."

Seeing everyone looking at him with burning eyes, Pei Yuan pondered and said, "When the Henan turmoil first started, it would have distracted the court's attention. If the Bazhou army could break through the obstacles in time and pass through Henan at a very fast speed, and merge with another Bazhou army heading west, and then use the advantage of the sudden increase in troops to defeat the Right Censor Pengze and reach Huguang, it might be an opportunity."

"At that time, the White Lotus sect started an uprising in Henan, which delayed the imperial army for a while."

Liu Liu was depressed when he heard this, "But the problem now is that Lu Wan has blocked the way out tightly, leaving only the way to the south."

Pei Yuan fell into deep thought and said nothing.

Liu Qi raised his eyebrows and said decisively, "Ten thousand taels!"

"Hmm?" Pei Yuan looked over.

Liu Qi was not vague either. Thinking about what he had just said, he asked directly, "What set meal can I get for 10,000 taels of silver?"

Pei Yuan paused for a moment, letting Liu Qi and the others wait for a while, and then said, "For 10,000 taels of silver, I can get the emperor to issue an order to force Lu Wan to pursue and fight the Bazhou army. When their defense line loosens and they all move south, you can quickly move north, defeat the remaining defenses, and escape from their encirclement."

At this moment, Liu Qi did not bother to be polite with Pei Yuan. He questioned directly, "It's not that I'm suspicious, brother, but you are just a thousand households. How can you get the emperor to issue an order?"

Pei Yuan sighed and said to Liu Qi, "Brother, this money is not for nothing."

"After I return, I will bribe the Nanjing Military Department and the various commanding officers of Nanzhili, and ask them to station troops in Suqian and seek a decisive battle with the Bazhou Army."

After hearing what Pei Yuan said, Liu Liu, Liu Qi and others were a little angry, "What?!"

Pei Yuan gestured, "Leaders, please be patient and listen to me."

Zhao Sui, who had always been the backbone of the rebels, also said, "Let's listen to what he has to say."

Pei Yuan continued, "You just need to send a small force to fight."

Qi Yanming couldn't help but shout, "Wouldn't that be a waste of our brothers?"

Before Pei Yuan could speak, Zhao Sui frowned and scolded, "Listen to him."

Pei Yuan looked at Qi Yanming and said comfortingly, "You all spent money, how can I let you suffer a loss? When you arrive, don't act rashly. I will have someone contact you. When the time comes, you can light fires at night under the city of Suqian, beat drums and gongs, and create momentum."

"Wait until daybreak and then leave."

Qi Yanming: “???”

What kind of operation is this?

Pei Yuan said, "Then I will ask the Nanjing Military Department and various commanding officers to appeal to the emperor for help, and many guard posts will also report a large number of casualties to the court."

Pei Yuan glanced at everyone and said, "The report of the great defeat of more than a dozen garrisons will surely shock the court and the emperor. The court will certainly urge Lu Wan to move his troops as soon as possible for a decisive battle."

"After hearing the battle reports from the south, Lu Wan will certainly misjudge that the main force of the Bazhou Army has moved south. Under the pressure of the court, he will most likely rush to pursue."

Pei Yuan paused here and looked at Liu Qi, "By then, the gap in the defense line you want will appear, right?"

Everyone took a deep breath when they heard this.

Liu Liu asked in disbelief, "Can you make so much with just 10,000 taels of silver?"

Zhao Sui, who was always calm, lost his composure and said, "Even if the officials in the court are corrupt, they can't use such a small amount of money to buy off so many guards, right?"

Pei Yuan didn't explain after hearing this, he just said, "Others can't do it, but I can."

Qi Yanming and others still had doubts, but Liu Liu, Liu Qi and Zhao Sui believed Pei Yuan's words 90%.

After all, this is Pei Yuan.

Liu Qi's eyes flickered. He had never expected that the situation that had troubled the Bazhou Army for a long time and made the Bazhou Army unable to advance or retreat could be solved with only a set meal of 10,000 taels of silver. Is it really like Pei Yuan said, that charging money will make me stronger?

Liu Qi asked tentatively, "Then what does the twenty thousand taels of silver set meal look like?"

Pei Yuan shook his head and smiled, "This is the first time that the big boss is trading with me. Why don't you try a 10,000 tael silver package?"

Liu Qi looked at Liu Liu, Zhao Sui and Qi Yanming inquiringly.

Qi Yanming waved his hands quickly and said, "I won't pay for this."

Liu Liu said, "I think it's OK."

Zhao Sui also said, "You can give it a try."

Liu Qi hesitated and hadn't made a decision yet, but Pei Yuan looked at Liu Liu and Zhao Sui and said with a smile, "It's rare that you are willing to trust me."

After that, he said to Liu Liu, "Lord Long, are you willing to give me fifty taels now?"

Liu Liu really wanted to say, my name is Liu Chong, but then he thought, Long Ye is also pretty good.

He didn't know why Pei Yuan asked for money.

Although he was a little unhappy, in front of so many people, Liu Liu had just supported Pei Yuan, so Lord Long also had to save face.

So he called out to someone, "Go, get me fifty taels of silver."

Pei Yuan looked at Zhao Sui again, "Mr. Zhao, are you willing to give me fifty taels?"

Zhao Sui was very straightforward and signaled a small leader.

The little leader immediately got up to get the silver.

Zhao Sui said lazily, "Don't call me sir, I am the deputy commander in the army."

Pei Yuan looked at Zhao Sui's burly figure and wondered if this scholar was just like me, a layman on the battlefield?
He smiled and said, "That's perfect."

Zhao Sui didn't understand what was going on and didn't know where he was.

Soon, the two small leaders each brought a silver ingot weighing fifty taels.

Pei Yuan took a glance and saw the seal of Fengxian Silver Treasury on it.

Fortunately, Pei Yuan didn't mind it. Money is money, it's just a matter of a few hammers.

Liu Qi looked at Pei Yuan in confusion as he put away the two ingots of silver, and asked, "Could it be that Brother Pei is really short of silver? I do have some spare money, you can use it."

Pei Yuan smiled and said, "No need. I am deeply moved that these two can support me."

Qi Yanming glanced at the two men.

Liu Liu and Zhao Sui really wanted to say that they didn't trust him that much, but it was not easy to say it now.

Then Pei Yuan continued, "In this case, I will show my strength to you two brothers."

"Oh?" Now not only Liu Liu and Zhao Sui who had just paid the money, but also other people became interested.

Liu Qi asked, "Then I wonder how Brother Pei plans to demonstrate his strength?"

Pei Yuan took out a piece of white paper with words and pictures from his sleeve, identified it, and handed it to Zhao Sui, saying calmly, "This is a map outside Shuyang City. There are 20,000 dan of grain stored in the circled area. Deputy Commander Zhao, go get it. I'll give it to you."

"what?!"

There was a sudden commotion in the military tent.

Not to mention Liu Liu, Liu Qi and other bigwigs were stunned.

Even the rebel leaders who were closer were shocked by Pei Yuan's generosity.

That’s 20,000 shi of grain!
Even in a peaceful year, 20,000 dan of grain could be sold for 10,000 taels of silver!

In Henan, where the disaster is raging, the price of one dan of grain is one tael and two cents. These 20,000 dan of grain alone are worth 24,000 taels!

And where is this?

This is the front line of the army that is heavily surrounded by the imperial army. How much are 20,000 shi of grain worth?
This man actually sold so much grain to Deputy Commander Zhao for fifty taels of silver!
This “Living Jiang Gan” is so powerful!
Liu Qi stood up suddenly and asked, "Brother Pei, are you kidding me?"

Pei Yuan knew that whether he could maintain his status depended on now.

Thinking of Lu Dahua's aggressive look, he said calmly, "I'm acquainted with you all today, so just consider it a greeting gift."

Qi Yanming didn't know what he felt, and asked loudly, "Is this a trap?"

After Qi Yanming said this, Liu Liu, Liu Qi and others turned their eyes to Pei Yuan again.

Pei Yuan calmly took another cold meatball and ate it, then said, "I'm here, Vice Commander Zhao can send a light force to try. I think the 20,000 dan of grain is worth it for Vice Commander Zhao to take out 3000 to 5000 men from the army of more than 100,000."

Before Zhao Sui could answer, someone shouted, "Of course it's worth it! Deputy Commander, let me try!"

Pei Yuan had the audacity to eat the meatballs here, so he certainly wouldn't set an ambush over there.

In this way, with these 20,000 shi of grain, I don’t know how useful it will be at the critical moment!
Even though Zhao Sui was calm, he was excited and unbelieving at the moment. He laughed and scolded, "It's not like I don't have anyone! Zhang Peng, you can read, go ahead."

As he spoke, he waved to a small leader and handed over the diagram.

Some leaders nearby wanted to come over to take a peek, but were pushed away by Zhang Peng.

Then, the eyes of everyone in the field, as if under a spell, shifted away from Zhao Sui and looked at Liu Liu!

They saw clearly what happened just now.

These two big leaders both supported buying the set meal from Pei Yuan, and Pei Yuan also asked for fifty taels of silver from these two big leaders.

This "Living Jiang Gan" took fifty taels of silver from Zhao Sui and gave him twenty thousand shi of grain.

So what about Liu Liu?
Liu Liu couldn't contain his excitement at this moment.

He was not the type to keep secrets, and he kept asking, "Brother, what about me?"

Qi Yanming looked at Pei Yuan with a pale face, wanting to know what would come out of his mouth.

Pei Yuan put the spoon down, stood up and said forcefully, "I will give 20,000 shi to anyone who doubts me!"

As he said this, he pointed his finger at Zhao Sui.

Zhao Sui was confused. What are you doing?
Then, Pei Yuan pointed at Liu Liu vigorously, "The one who believes in me so much! I will give him more! Listen to the applause!"

As he said this, he took out a piece of paper with pictures and words on it from his arms in a very handsome manner, twisted his neck to the right, and raised it forward without even raising his head!
"There are 30,000 dan of grain outside Suqian City. Take it!"

Many leaders of the Bazhou rebels were almost on their knees when they saw the handsome moves of "Living Jiang Gan".

Omg!

He is so capable!

(End of this chapter)