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

Chapter 207 Pei Yuan's Hair
Pei Yuan looked at Qi Yanming's departing figure, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Taking another look at Jiao Fang's granddaughter, she was indeed a delicate and delicious little fruit.

Then, thinking of Zhao Sui, who believed that Jiao Fang was a traitor and wanted to kill his entire family, Pei Yuan could not help but shake his head and sigh.

Zhao Sui, ah Zhao Sui...

This guy Zhao Sui suddenly appeared like an anomaly, giving the rebellious people of Bazhou ideals and ideas.

They have a concept of loyalty, treachery, good and evil, and also have visions of the future.

They began to use simple ideas to identify and kill corrupt officials with bad reputations, and release officials and literati with good reputations directly on the battlefield.

However, the tragic thing is that Zhao Sui actually had illusions about the current emperor.

He believed that as long as he did this, the emperor would understand his good intentions, and thus be motivated to kill the treacherous ministers, select virtuous people, and make the world prosperous.

As a well-known leader of the Bazhou rebels, he actually wrote such a letter to the emperor.

——"Now a group of traitors are in power, playing with the sacred tools, disturbing the country, killing ministers who give advice, and spurning elders. With such actions, the country will surely perish. I ask Your Majesty to make a wise decision and chop off the heads of the traitors and display them to the public to thank the world. Then, you can immediately chop off my head and display it to the public to thank the traitors."

When Zhao Sui dug up Jiao Fang's ancestral tomb, put Jiao Fang's clothes on the wooden man, laughed and shouted that he wanted to get rid of the thief for the emperor, he did not realize one thing at all.

In this world, innocence is so tragic.

After the Bazhou rebels were defeated and collapsed, Zhao Sui, who was captured, also faced the judgment of the white moonlight in his heart.

The Holy Emperor ordered that Zhao Sui's skin be peeled off and made into his own saddle...

Hehehe.

Hahahahaha!
Precisely because he is no longer naive, Pei Yuan has an almost pathologically clear understanding of the current world situation.

He knows what this era needs and what needs to be changed. With Pei Qianhu's mind and talent, he may become the pillar that shakes the wheel of history!

However, he was unwilling to take the risk.

If he could not control his own destiny, Pei Yuan did not want to become the price of martyrdom, even if it meant just surviving.

Thinking of the naive and tragic Zhao Sui, Pei Yuan suddenly remembered the disappeared Yang Zhu School and the stubborn saying "I would not pluck a hair to benefit the world."

But, what's wrong with that?
When Pei Yuan took out the Bazhou sword to kill the traitors and martyr himself for the Ming Dynasty, was what he would lose in the end really just a penny?

If the evaluator is everyone in the world.

Then perhaps in the eyes of the world, Pei Yuan’s human skin is just that hair.

If the evaluator is Pei Yuan himself.

If he is unwilling to give even a penny, what reason do others have to criticize him?
What is the world? The world is nothing but countless you and me.

Pei Yuan did not think he was noble, and he probably also felt that the world might not be noble.

If he had to shoulder something in the end, Pei Yuan's choice would definitely not be to save the emperor or change his fate. Instead, he was willing to take on the suffocating world of Ming Dynasty with his own hands.

Pei Yuan suppressed his sigh and looked at the beauty in front of him carefully again.

Today, Jiao Fang, as a loser in the political struggle, has become a traitor who is condemned and cursed by thousands of people.

Even the rebellious Bazhou army went to dig up his ancestors' graves. You can imagine how famous this man was.

But for a small fry like Pei Yuan who has no political power, Jiao Fang's tiger skin might be able to play a miraculous role at a critical moment.

Thinking of this, Pei Yuan silently marked this little beauty with the word "Pei".

The one who is qualified to call herself the granddaughter of Jiao Fang must be the legitimate daughter of Jiao Huangzhong.

Although Jiao Huangzhong was a Jinshi and became an editor in the Hanlin Academy, since Jiao Fang became a political failure, Jiao Huangzhong was naturally regarded as worthless and his reputation became even worse.

Although his daughter is still a virgin, she has been abducted by the rebels for so long. Apart from Pei Yuan, who knows the inside story and has had the opportunity to eat and taste it, no one else can tell for sure.

Under such circumstances, the eldest daughter of the Jiao family could never become Pei Yuan's concubine. I'm afraid that the people of the Jiao family would even wish that this little beauty would die sooner.

But as long as this little beauty is around, Pei Yuan and the Jiao family can get this connection.

Pei Yuan looked at Jiao Fang's granddaughter and asked her, "What's your name?"

The little beauty pursed her lips and stared at Pei Yuan angrily without saying a word.

Pei Yuan then remembered that the rebels in Bazhou not only dug up her ancestral graves, but were also the culprits who kidnapped her.

Since Qi Yanming was flattering him so much, it was inevitable that she would mistakenly think that he was also the leader of the Bazhou rebels.

Pei Yuan saw that except for the clean face of this little beauty, her clothes were loose and dirty, and he thought that she had not bathed for a long time.

Given the current conditions of the chaotic army and the freezing weather, she probably had no intention of cleaning herself up too thoroughly.

This made Pei Yuan lose his appetite for eating her for a while.

Since I'm not going to eat for the time being, there's no need to consider her mood.

Plus, since she was still in the rebel group in Bazhou, Pei Yuan was too lazy to explain to her.

Pei Yuan first declared his sovereignty, "You will be mine from now on!"

Without waiting for the little beauty to answer, Pei Yuan asked again, "Is there anything you want? Just tell me!"

The little beauty remained silent.

Pei Yuan thought that he still had some time to get along with the rebels in Bazhou, so he didn't want her to sneak up on him with something in the middle of the night.

So he deliberately leaned close to the little beauty's ear, and before she could dodge, he said, "Actually, I am a captain of the Jinyiwei."

As he spoke, Pei Yuan handed over his ivory badge.

The little beauty's eyes fell on the ivory waist badge, but she looked away without even looking at it carefully.

"Oh." Pei Yuan smiled, "I didn't expect you to be such an experienced person."

"——But not many." He showed the words on the ivory waist badge, "In addition to the commander of the Jinyiwei, the evil-suppressing thousand households can also have two ivory badges."

"During the Li Zilong case, in order to facilitate the capture of evildoers, the emperor granted the chief and deputy chief officers of the Suppressing Evil Squad to enter the Forbidden City directly. To this day, the Suppressing Evil Squad is still eligible to apply for an ivory waist badge."

Pei Yuan finished speaking, smiled and put away the ivory waist badge, and said to himself, "Believe it, the best of these rebels is just a scholar, how can they know these rules?"

Although the little beauty still had doubts, Pei Yuan's identity as a captain of the Jinyiwei still gave her a great shock.

Jinyiwei!

They are the emperor's henchmen!

Appearing here, is there some secret mission?

She was already in a desperate situation. Seeing Pei Yuan as a life-saving straw, she didn't care to distinguish carefully. She just bowed with red eyes and said, "I, Jiao, greet the commander. I hope you will save me for the sake of my father and I serving in the same court."

Her voice was sobbing and a little hoarse.

I don't know if it was originally like this or just a temporary thing. Pei Yuan didn't care about it, but smiled at her and said, "You don't have to think too much. If you fall into this situation, your ancestors may not recognize you. Rather than being taken advantage of by these people, you might as well follow me in the future. Although I can't guarantee you a life of luxury, I can always give you a quiet and leisurely life."

The light that had just lit up in the little beauty's eyes immediately dimmed.

Pei Yuan gently lifted her chin with his hand and said with a smile, "Remember, you will be mine from now on."

Perhaps because her chin was raised, the tears in the little beauty's eyes immediately flowed away.

Pei Yuan thought that this little beauty's father and grandfather were both Jinshi, and she was a well-educated girl, so he was not in a hurry to flirt with her, and asked about other things instead, "The Bazhou army will soon go south, and there will be chaos and confusion, so you should stay with me. Do you have any luggage? I can ask someone to get it for you."

The little beauty shook her head and said, "The cartloads of gold beads and countless pieces of forged silk they took out from the Jiao family, aren't they all my luggage? What else can I take?"

The little girl is quite sharp-tongued.

Pei Yuan didn't take up the topic.

At night, the little beauty stayed in Pei Yuan's tent.

Pei Yuan was still waiting to wash her clean and fragrant before taking action, so naturally he had no extra thoughts.

The little beauty was nervous for half the night, but when she saw that Pei Yuan was a gentleman, she couldn't help but feel a lot of good impression of him.

Early the next morning, the Bazhou army marched south.

Just as Pei Yuan expected, these scattered and chaotic troops had no order at all.

Some camps were still busy packing up supplies, while others had already seized mules and horses and started heading south.

Some of the leaders' families were too busy to pack up their belongings due to military orders and had to abandon some of their heavy items. Other poor people who had nothing took the opportunity to snatch things that others didn't want and save up some meager property for themselves.

During this time, dozens of penniless bandits took advantage of the chaos to rob a leader under Zhao Sui.

Pei Yuan watched calmly, not caring at all.

Liu Qi came over to Pei Yuan and said hello.

From Liu Qi, Pei Yuan learned that Zhao Sui and Qi Yanming had a fight, and Liu Liu almost fell out with Qi Yanming.

As Liu Qi spoke, he glanced meaningfully at the little beauty behind Pei Yuan.

Pei Yuan rarely said something nice to Qi Yanming, "Marshal Qi has good intentions. The situation facing the Bazhou Army is extremely precarious, and we cannot let a woman divide us. Marshal Qi made sense, so I accepted the beauty he sent me."

Liu Qi smiled and said, "I think so, too."

Pei Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Liu Qi approved of this matter, he wouldn't have to worry about someone else coming to steal his love.

Liu Qi said, "Brother Pei, please go with my team. This way, if anything happens, we can take care of each other."

Pei Yuan still remembered his identity as a "hidden hostage" and naturally could not refuse.

The Bazhou rebels were very slow in breaking camp.

Liu Qi personally took charge of the battle. He waited until most people started to move south before he led Pei Yuan and headed south quickly.

On the way, Pei Yuan learned that Qi Yanming, who had acted on his own initiative, was left behind as the rear guard.

Halfway through, Zhao Sui and Liu Liu also led their troops to rush over.

Both of them hurried over to talk to Liu Qi, then left and returned to their own teams.

When they met Pei Yuan, both of them looked a little unnatural, but they didn't show it and still greeted him politely.

When passing through Xuzhou, the imperial army almost all hid in the city and had no intention of going out to meet the enemy.

Pei Yuan explained to Liu Qi, "This is to dispel our doubts and allow us to go south. It seems that Lu Wan has already coordinated with the local authorities in Xuzhou."

Liu Qi asked, "Should we take this opportunity to attack them? Even if we can't achieve anything, we can at least scare them."

Pei Yuan said, "It doesn't make much sense. It's better to be relaxed on the outside but tight on the inside, pretending to go south recklessly, and continue to confuse them. A general like Lu Wan cannot be convinced by just one or two pieces of information. He needs a series of evidence like this to make him firm in his mind."

Liu Qi thought it was a good idea and left immediately to make arrangements.

The team that Pei Yuan belonged to was the elite among the Bazhou rebels. After leaving the defenders of Xuzhou City in a swagger, they set up camp less than ten miles south of Xuzhou City.

Pei Yuan knew that this was most likely prepared for the army behind, so he didn't ask any more questions.

This day of migration also made Pei Yuan thoroughly realize the laxity of the Bazhou rebels. Even when the moon was almost at its zenith, there were still teams slowly coming from behind.

After leaving Xuzhou and heading south for a few days, the four leaders got together again.

Their choices ahead began to increase.

They can go to Pizhou or Suining.

These two places are about the same distance from them. Coincidentally, the distance from Pizhou to Suqian and the distance from Suining to Suqian are also roughly the same.

Since Pei Yuan had a lot of say, he naturally urged everyone to go to Pizhou.

After all, according to Pei Yuan’s previous judgment, there is a high probability that the Bazhou rebels will take a familiar route when retreating.

The attack route designed now should be the retreat route in the future.

In this way, Eunuch Lu's ambush can be more accurate.

On the way to Pizhou, Pei Yuan had a small surprise. He met another loyal brother, Chen Toutie.

With Cheng Leixiang's narration, Chen Toutie had a general idea of ​​Pei Yuan's position in the rebels.

Therefore, after meeting the mighty Bazhou rebels, he directly shouted Pei Yuan's name and was quickly brought to Liu Qi's side.

When Pei Yuan saw Chen Toutie, he was very excited and immediately asked him for information from all sides.

But Chen Toutie didn't know much.

He was ordered to meet Wang Chang and get the official documents. He had just rushed back to Huai'an when he heard that the rebels in Bazhou had divided their forces to attack Suqian and Shuyang.

Chen Toutie remembered Pei Yuan's original instructions, so he immediately asked someone to pretend to be from the Nanjing Ministry of War and show the document to He Huan, the commander of Huai'an Guard.

After reading it, He Huan was so angry that he almost exploded.

He worked so hard to design this plan, but he didn't expect that when it was about to succeed, so many people would jump out to take advantage of it.

Unfortunately, the other side had more people and more power, and they all had soldiers at their disposal, so He Huan couldn't vent his anger.

So He Huan had to put the plan of dividing the tax silver on hold for the time being.

Not long after this incident, Cheng Leixiang arrived.

Cheng Leixiang had a lot of tasks to do, so he didn't explain them to Chen Toutie in detail and just asked him to come and serve Pei Yuan.

Pei Yuan heaved a sigh of relief after hearing this.

As long as there is no problem with the tax money, everything else will not be a problem.

(End of this chapter)