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

Chapter 215: No Waves in My Heart, I Even Want to Laugh
Pei Yuan listened to the meaning of Zhao Sui's words and wondered if he wanted to pay more money?
He thought that he had done enough to the Bazhou Army, and Zhao Sui should know the importance of this matter, so he asked, "What does Deputy Commander Zhao want to know?"

Since the two sides had already brought the matter to a head, Zhao Sui no longer tried to hide anything and spoke directly and frankly.

"It's not that I, Zhao, am greedy and ungrateful. I think that now that Brother Pei has entrusted us with the task, it's time to leave, right?"

Pei Yuan remained silent upon hearing this and just played with the wine glass in his hand.

Liu Liu and Liu Qi also realized something and watched in silence.

Zhao Sui continued, "Brother Pei has been very kind to our Bazhou Army, so we will naturally let Brother Pei leave."

As he spoke, he seemed to remember something and explained, "I had someone guard Brother Pei before because Zhao had something to ask you before Brother Pei left. I was afraid that Brother Pei would leave without saying goodbye and regret it, and I was also afraid that it would delay the lives of hundreds of thousands of Bazhou soldiers, so I had someone keep a close eye on him at all times?"

"Oh?" Pei Yuan was somewhat surprised by Zhao Sui's explanation, so he asked, "What is it that you have to ask at this time?"

After these words were spoken, even Liu Liu and Liu Qi became a little curious.

Zhao Sui never told them about this matter.

Then I heard Zhao Sui say, "I have been thinking about one thing these days, which is what Sixth Brother said before."

Zhao Sui glanced at Liu Liu, and under Liu Liu's confused gaze, he continued, "Even Guan Yu couldn't defend Jingzhou, so we are not that capable!"

Liu Liu and Liu Qi were both touched and looked at Pei Yuan more seriously.

Zhao Sui said, "I have a question. If our Bazhou Army is lucky enough to capture Huguang, what will be its future?"

Pei Yuan was stunned when he heard this, and the slight drunkenness he felt slowly disappeared.

future……

Of course it's a dead end.

Although the Ming Dynasty is now experiencing institutional collapse, the power of the landlords and powerful people is in its heyday.

Even though the Bazhou rebels are powerful, these bandits who only know how to destroy and not build will eventually be eliminated layer by layer.

How could a truly talented person join a force whose end is obvious at a glance?

And what can Pei Yuan do?
Is it really possible to come up with a Longzhong Strategy for these three rogue generals?

There is a solution, yes.

As long as the Bazhou rebels establish a base, they can become part of the builders.

However, the current Ming Dynasty cannot tolerate an existence that Pei Yuan cannot easily resolve.

Seeing Pei Yuan remain silent, the three people's hearts, which were originally full of expectations, slowly sank.

Pei Yuan thought for a moment and said, "Then let me talk about the second thing."

Zhao Sui was able to keep his composure and did not continue to ask questions. Instead, he said, "Please speak."

Pei Yuan said, "The Bazhou Army belongs to the Bazhou Army, and the leaders belong to the leaders. All I can do is leave a way out for the leaders."

Zhao Sui asked, "Prince Ning?"

Pei Yuan said frankly, "That's right. If we wait until the day when things are beyond our control, it won't be a problem to hide three to five thousand people in Jiangxi. So what I said before was also to leave a way out for you guys."

"These two things are one and two, and two and one. In addition to helping me get through this mission, I am also leaving a good impression on you. If you are worried about ruining your reputation, you can just push the blame on me. Just say that I was the one who set up Jiang Gan to sow discord, and I didn't really want to submit to the Prince of De."

Talking about the plan of sowing discord would only help Prince De escape a disaster, but it would not prevent him from proving his identity to Prince Ning.

Because "clearing the imperial court and supporting a virtuous king" actually happened.

This proves that the forces connected with Prince Ning, even if they are not the direct leaders of the Bazhou Army, still have a great influence on the Bazhou Army.

Zhao Sui was unwilling to let Pei Yuan off so easily, and asked again, "What about the more than 100,000 brothers in the Bazhou Army? Can't Brother Pei show them a way to survive?"

Pei Yuan sighed and used chopsticks to dip into the wine and randomly drew a shape on the table.

Seeing this, the three of them came over to take a look.

Before Liu Liu and Liu Qi could say anything, Zhao Sui had already recognized them, "This is Hu Guang."

Pei Yuan nodded and said, "Not bad."

He pointed with his finger and said, "There are many barbarians in the south and east of Hunan. Many of them are actually Han Chinese who have fled. If they can survive in the mountains, then you can too."

“Even if the mountains and hills cannot shelter me, they can be used as a burial place.”

"If the situation is unfavorable and on the verge of collapse, and we need to flee, we can let our men break up into smaller groups and disperse into the mountains, learn from the local natives, and build a stronghold in the mountains to wait for the next change."

"By then, the imperial court will be helpless and will have no strength to continue the conquest. Perhaps it will be possible to preserve the country."

After listening to this, Zhao Sui sighed, "It seems that Brother Pei really doesn't think highly of us."

Pei Yuan didn't know how to respond to this, so he just took the wine and drank half a glass.

Liu Qi said casually, "Nothing in the world is immutable. Maybe if we win a tough battle, we can turn the tide."

"If we brothers are lucky enough to have a chance to sit on the throne, we will definitely invite Brother Pei back to be our prime minister and govern the world well."

Everyone laughed, and the matter was finally exposed.

As for the rest, both sides naturally have a tacit understanding.

After having a good meal and a good drink, before leaving, Liu Qi held Pei Yuan's hand and asked with some sadness, "When do you plan to leave, Brother Pei?"

Pei Yuan said bluntly, "Wait until the Bazhou Army breaks through Lu Wan's defense line, then it can be considered a complete beginning and an end."

Seeing Pei Yuan being so righteous, Liu Qi was very happy and said, "Okay, then we brothers can stay here for a few more days."

He added, "Actually, that's not necessary. If Brother Pei has something important to do, you can leave now. We will never go back on our promise to you."

Pei Yuan was really moved for a moment.

At this moment, he really hoped that at the critical moment they could choose to abandon the team and flee to Jiangxi.

When he returned to his residence drunkenly, Cheng Leixiang came over to ask, "The captain is drunk. Should we ask the young lady to come and serve him, or should we ask General Song to come and take a look?"

Pei Yuan sighed, "Forget it, I feel a little uncomfortable."

Pei Yuan slept alone all night in depression. Early the next morning, he heard the news from Qi Yanming.

The small number of cavalry he led quickly defeated the troops guarding Yancheng.

Then a large group of people rushed forward and took advantage of the chaos to capture Yancheng in one fell swoop.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the officials of the Lianghuai Salt Transport Branch did not organize further resistance. They simply burned down the document warehouse and fled south to Yangzhou with the remaining troops.

Qi Yanming learned from the experience of obtaining grain in Suqian and Shuyang, and prepared a baggage train and a large number of sacks in advance.

Now that the harvest is abundant, we are organizing manpower to transport salt here.

Captain Pei commented, "The loss of the Yancheng garrison will surely stimulate the government troops to move south quickly. We should prepare to move north."

Liu Qi immediately gave orders for all troops to prepare for departure.

And officially publicized it in the city, with the slogan of "clearing the emperor's side and supporting the virtuous king". Pei Yuan took the opportunity to let Song Chunniang take people back to report, and through the Jinyiwei channel, conveyed the fact that De Fan was involved in the rebellion in Bazhou.

Prince Ning had bribed many people in the court and the country, and Pei Yuan believed that this news would soon reach Jiangxi.

Two days later, before Qi Yanming's team transporting salt returned, cavalrymen came quickly from the north.

The news made the top leaders of the Bazhou rebels very excited.

A large number of imperial troops have already begun to move south quickly.

Judging from the initial number of people, there are no less than 100,000 main force troops who have passed through Xuzhou City and are heading towards Pizhou.

Liu Qi ran over to ask Pei Yuan for his opinion.

Pei Yuan checked the creditor's map and found that Gu Dayong was still there, so he said with confidence, "Don't worry. If I'm not mistaken, the enemy's main force has not moved yet. There must be some conspiracy here."

All the leaders in the industry, big and small, were skeptical.

After all, there were many scouts who saw the government troops heading south, and many of them had followed their old brothers since the uprising in Bazhou.

Not only is he reliable, but he is also experienced and will never make mistakes.

Pei Yuan could only confirm Gu Dayong's location. He was not confident about the specific troop deployment, so he just smiled and said nothing.

Many leaders of the Bazhou Army warned that there was not enough room for maneuver and if they did not prepare early, they would probably be trapped here.

However, several big leaders chose to trust Pei Yuan's judgment.

This made Pei Yuan feel uneasy, and he was worried that he would fail at the last moment.

A few days later, more detailed information came in.

General Liu Hui, guerrilla Xi Yong, lieutenant generals Wen Gong and Li Jin, headed eastward from Xiaoxian, south of Xuzhou, and headed straight for Pizhou a few days ago.

The army marched forward in a mighty force, reducing its troops by half every night and returning north at night. During the day, the number of stoves increased by 30% to bluff.

By the time he approached Pizhou, except for the dense flags, only one tenth of his soldiers were left.

This shocked the leaders who had previously suggested taking action.

They never expected that at such a critical moment, Lu Wan would actually reduce the number of troops and increase the number of stoves in an attempt to plot against the Bazhou army.

Once the Bazhou army responds to this.

Even if they did not suffer a heavy loss in this ambush, their true intention of heading north would be completely exposed.

With an accurate judgment, Lu Wan would certainly eliminate interference, advance steadily, and encircle and kill the Bazhou army in the Huaihe River Basin.

Now that the Bazhou Army remained unmoved, Lu Wan was unable to figure out what the Bazhou Army was thinking.

In this regard.

Several big leaders said that they felt nothing at all and even wanted to laugh.

Pei Yuan, on the other hand, was terrified about what would happen next.

Because he really underestimated everyone in the world before.

If the creditor's map had not betrayed Gu Dayong's location, Pei Yuan would have taken it for granted that the government troops' march southward was a sign of his own success.

However, they never expected that Lu Wan, who was only good at taking steady steps and driving back and forth the Bazhou army, was actually a lurking carnivore.

After this incident, Pei Yuan became more cautious.

The good thing is that the turmoil caused by "clearing the imperial court and supporting a virtuous king" was gradually eliminated with Pei Yuan's "brilliant strategy".

Pei Yuan's nickname in the underworld has changed from "Living Jiang Gan" to "Zhuge Jiang Gan".

After seeing someone named "Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Yide", Pei Yuan has become accustomed to this dual personality.

Although the nickname "Zhuge Jiang Gan" is indeed a bit outrageous.

Out of vigilance against Lu Wan, Pei Yuan could only make a temporary addition to the already planned situation.

Yang Hu led a group of elite cavalry north to Pizhou, and then pretended to be imperial troops and set fire and looted everywhere.

The prefect of Pizhou was furious and wrote a letter to the emperor, accusing Lu Wan of allowing his soldiers to become bandits and killing innocent people to claim credit.

Lu Wan, who suffered a loss, was unable to defend himself.

Coupled with the failure of the Yancheng Defense Thousand Households and the collapse of the Lianghuai Salt Transport Branch, Lu Wan had no choice but to lead a large force south to seek an opportunity for a decisive battle with the Bazhou Army.

Pei Yuan finally breathed a sigh of relief when Gu Dayong's position was finally moved.

All the troubles since we came south have finally come to an end.

As long as the Bazhou Army returns north, Captain Han successfully ships the goods and exchanges the silver back, and lets Wang Chang help to divide the money and clean up the mess, the main mission of this southward march will be accomplished.

As for the 100,000 taels of silver from Prince Ning, Pei Yuan was completely at ease.

Now Captain Pei only wants to return to the capital as soon as possible, where his old fellow villagers are waiting for him to show off, and where there are even more turbulent power struggles!

After Pei Yuan confirmed that the government troops were moving south in large numbers, the top brass of the Bazhou army quickly formulated an attack plan.

They asked Liu Liu to lead the slowest and most bloated baggage train to leave Suqian and start moving sideways to the northwest.

Liu Qi and Qi Yanming each led an elite force, one team pretended to attack Taoyuan, and the other team pretended to launch a surprise attack on Qinghe in the rear.

Now the range of activities of both sides is not large and the distance is relatively close. Scouts and rangers are running around everywhere, and the dynamics of all parties are almost clear.

Lu Wan’s previous mistake indeed led to a series of misjudgments for him.

He believed that the tens of thousands of auxiliary troops and baggage troops led by Liu Liu were most likely a mob, discarded to attract the court's attention.

These two elite troops rushing towards Shanyang were the main combat forces of the Bazhou Army, and they were also the elite cavalry of Bazhou that they tried their best to capture.

Therefore, Lu Wan ordered Deputy General Shi Yuan, Lieutenant General Shen Zhou, Jin Fu, guerrillas Chen Xun, Jiang Bin, and Xu Tai to attack Liu Liu's auxiliary troops, while he himself led the main elite troops to the south at a very fast speed, trying to further compress the space for the cavalry's activities.

The gap that Pei Yuan had longed for in his plan finally appeared.

Liu Qi and Qi Yanming's Bazhou Army used almost the same tactics on Lu Wan.

These elite Bazhou soldiers were reduced by half every night, and other leaders led them back at night to join Liu Liu's group. During the day, the number of soldiers increased by 30%, and the horses dragged leafless branches behind them to bluff.

It was not until the elite border troops led by Lu Wan drove the two armies into a place where they were surrounded by layers of siege that Lu Wan finally woke up from his dream.

There is no Liu Qi and no Qi Yanming.

They had trapped only a few knights and a large number of empty horses.

At the same time, Deputy General Shi Yuan also sent an urgent report that the Bazhou army suddenly launched an attack to the north. The enemy army was well-trained and powerful, and defeated the troops of Shen Zhou and Jiang Bin in a short time.

Now the Bazhou army has completely broken through the blockade of the government troops and is heading towards Pizhou.

(End of this chapter)