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

Chapter 243: The Enemy Appears
Isn't this a coincidence?

Pei Yuan didn't want any military achievements either.

This victory in this battle brought almost no benefits except for making him Zhu Houzhao's godson for a few years while he waited for death during the succession of power.

Even if Zhu Houzhao laid an egg, Pei Yuan was willing to take a chance and wait for the day when the egg hatched.

But now Zhu Houzhao doesn’t even have a single egg, what can Pei Yuan use to bet on tomorrow?
If Zhu Houzhao could be dissolved in water, there could be a little prince left behind.

Then Captain Pei can also talk, and Captain Pei can also be loyal.

What's wrong with being an adopted son?
When the time comes, please invite the little emperor to the inner palace to breastfeed him, and the Ming Dynasty will be protected by Pei Qiansui!
By then, I will make steel, cement, glass, soap, develop logistics, and become a super girl...

Isn’t the Ming Dynasty standing up?
So can Pei Yuan be blamed for this?

The chosen son who has been wandering for half his life is here, Hou Zhao can’t do this to you!

From the rational perspective of Pei Yuan, a time traveler, in the remaining few years, the best way for Zhu Houzhao to save the Ming Dynasty is to get excited as the ministers said and return to the palace for breeding.

Then wait for the fake prince Pei Qiansui to return to the throne.

Pei Yuan looked at Gu Dayong and couldn't help but praise him, "Your Excellency is not moved by fame and fortune, which really makes me look at you with new eyes."

Gu Dayong glanced at Pei Yuan and said meaningfully, "Captain Pei also impressed me."

Pei Yuan was not disappointed after hearing this. He was no longer afraid of exposing his thoughts. "If not, how can I help Eunuch Gu rebuild the West Factory?"

Gu Dayong remained silent upon hearing this.

What he needs now is indeed someone with a complicated mind and ambition.

In any case, the camp did raise its alert level after receiving Pei Yuan's warning.

When facing danger, Xiao's father and son and Xu Feng were neither stupid nor stubborn.

During the next few days of the march, scouts were repeatedly sent out to conduct reconnaissance forward.

Pei Yuan unexpectedly agreed with this.

However, the two sides of the matter soon became apparent.

Given the communication capabilities of this era and the population density ravaged by war, it would be somewhat accidental for scouts to gain any harvest.

Frequently extending tentacles outward can certainly greatly increase the chances of obtaining intelligence, but it also greatly increases the possibility of troops being exposed.

On this day, Pei Yuan was chatting with the beautiful Jiao in his tent, getting to know each other better.

Suddenly, Song Chunniang came in to report that it was Eunuch Gu who wanted to see her.

Pei Yuan was a little surprised.

As early as when Xiao Yan started to become arrogant and interfere in the military affairs, Pei Yuan had been very tactful and stayed in his own little world every day, trying to avoid direct confrontation between the two sides.

Xiao Yan wanted to teach Pei Yuan a severe lesson, but after hearing that the bandits were powerful, he decided to spare Pei Yuan's life for the time being as they were facing a powerful enemy.

After all, he had seen Pei Yuan's ferocity on the battlefield.

Moreover, Xiao Yan instinctively felt that Xu Feng, who was bent on currying favor with him, should not be as capable as Pei Yuan, who was arrogant towards him.

It was not until Pei Yuan arrived at Gu Dayong's place that he realized what trouble he had encountered.

It turns out that two teams of scouts sent out today have not returned yet.

Pei Yuan felt a sinking feeling in his heart after hearing this, and he then asked about the number and rounds of scouts.

Finally, I learned from Xu Feng that each team of scouts consisted of three people, and three or four groups would be sent out each time to search in different directions.

When the scouts come back, other people will take over, and the rotation will be repeated.

Because there are so many people and the situation is so mixed, and the scouts return at different frequencies, it is inevitable that we cannot get accurate feedback.

The two teams that were missing this time were heading in different directions.

It wasn't until the nighttime head count that Xu Feng discovered the problem.

Pei Yuan immediately asked, "Does Commander Xu still remember when the two missing teams were sent out?"

Xu Feng hesitated for a long time and couldn't give an exact time.

Pei Yuan was not disappointed by this and asked about the direction where the two scouts disappeared.

What surprised Pei Yuan was that the direction in which one of the scouts disappeared was actually in the direction of the march.

The distance at which scouts are sent out is generally about two or three miles.

According to the speed of the army's march, if the scout in trouble had been released earlier, the army might have passed by the place where the rebels had the accident.

Pei Yuan didn't have much idea about this.

He just said to Xiao Yan, "Let's strengthen our guard tonight. I will personally take people to check for clues tomorrow. How do you think?"

Xiao Yan said nothing and went to see Xu Feng.

Xiao Yan asked someone to call Pei Yuan out this time, naturally with the intention of asking him to help with the discussion, but he couldn't show his weakness so easily.

Xu Feng didn't care about his face and took the initiative to respond, "Okay, it is said that you Jinyiwei are the best at handling cases. Maybe you have some way to detect the clues here. With the help of Captain Pei, we may be able to gain some results tomorrow."

Pei Yuan still looked at Xiao Yan, "What did Captain Xiao say?"

Xiao Yan gritted his teeth secretly, refusing to show weakness, and directed the conversation to Gu Dayong, saying lightly, "It depends on what Eunuch Gu tells you."

Pei Yuan thought about it and wisely did not expose the tacit understanding between them.

Gu Dayong is now just a puppet set up by everyone.

With Gu Dayong as the cover, it is easy for all parties to compromise on all apparent conflicts.

Gu Dayong was also very tactful. He immediately cleared his throat and said, "Since Captain Pei said so, Captain Xiao and Commander Xu have no objection, let's give it a try tomorrow."

Gu Dayong also pointed at the parties that had already had conflicts with a hint of helplessness.

"We would like to remind you that we are facing a powerful enemy. Our first priority is to stay alive."

"Only if we can return to the capital alive will your quarrels have meaning."

There was no expression on anyone's face.

After the team disbanded, Pei Yuan took Song Chunniang back to the camp.

He called Cheng Leixiang and Chen Toutie again, had a brief meeting with them, and told them the situation.

The Third General Flagman then realized that some scouts from the escort team had started to disappear.

Song Chunniang was the first to raise a question, "Could it be that the scouts saw how hard it was to march and took the opportunity to leave?"

Pei Yuan shook his head. "It's unlikely. We have been away from Xuzhou for some time now. The food these scouts carry is not enough to support them to escape back. And even if they escape, where can they escape to? Their families are still in Xuzhou. It is impossible for them to do such a meaningless thing."

The three general flags listened to Pei Yuan's judgment.

The possibility of escape is not high, so the biggest possibility is naturally being attacked.

It is not something that ordinary people can do to kill a cavalry team of three people quickly and efficiently without leaving even a single person alive to report the news.

"Are they those bandits from Bazhou?" Chen Toutie confirmed with Captain Pei.

Pei Yuan said, "It's hard to say yet, let's see tomorrow."

Then he reminded everyone, "Don't sleep too deeply tonight, so as not to cause any trouble." After everyone agreed, he said to Cheng Leixiang, "Tomorrow, pick a few guards to be ready at any time. If I have any action, I will call you at any time."

He emphasized his request to Cheng Leixiang, "wear armor and ride a fast horse."

Cheng Leixiang's face became serious, "Okay, I understand."

Pei Yuan looked at Chen Tou Tie and said, "After General Cheng and I attack, you need to gather the rest of the people together and keep an eye on our things. Don't let anyone take advantage of the chaos to tamper with them. If anything unexpected happens, just protect the young lady and escape. You can ignore everything else."

Chen Toutie was also solemn, "I understand."

Seeing that Pei Yuan didn't mention her, Song Chunniang took the initiative to ask, "What about me?"

Pei Yuan said, "You should follow the young lady. If Chen Toutie and the others can't hold on any longer, you can take her away alone. I believe in your ability. If it's a last resort, you can try to use Zhuge Jianggan's name. It might work."

Pei Yuan now has some means to deal with the enemy, but if he is unlucky and is targeted by the main force of the Bazhou bandits, he can only leave it to fate.

After separating from the three general flags and returning to the tent, Pei Yuan showed no expression on his face and continued to calmly chat about the previous topic.

The next morning, smoke rose from the camp.

While he was still making breakfast, Gu Dayong sent someone to find Pei Yuan.

Pei Yuan knew what was going on, so he took two of his personal soldiers with him. As expected, he was going to send out a group of scouts to explore the distance first, and then prepare to march.

Xiao Yan didn't say much when he saw Pei Yuan. Xu Feng jumped out very tactfully, "Captain Pei boasted yesterday. Today is a good opportunity for us to see what Captain Pei is capable of."

Pei Yuan didn't bother to argue and asked directly, "How many groups of scouts are you sending this time?"

Xu Feng glanced at Xiao Yan, and seeing his hint, he immediately answered honestly, "Group five."

Pei Yuan asked again, "Have you assigned the plan?"

Xu Feng replied, "Not yet."

At this juncture, Pei Yuan was not polite and said, "Call the people over, I'll take a look at them."

Xu Feng immediately signaled his personal soldiers to go over and call for help.

After a while, fifteen cavalrymen rode over, dismounted and saluted when they were a little distance away.

Pei Yuan looked at Xiao Yan and asked, "Shall I arrange their tasks?"

This time, Xiao Yan took the initiative to answer, "Then it depends on Captain Pei's methods."

Pei Yuan did not comment on this, and directly said to the personal soldiers around him, "Share the money."

The two bodyguards immediately stepped forward, took out small change from their sleeves, and stuffed it into the arms of the cavalrymen one by one.

The cavalrymen were all a little surprised. Some of them couldn't help but take it out and look at it. When they saw that it was about two or three taels of silver, they couldn't help but feel overjoyed.

Pei Yuan's move surprised Xiao Yan and Xu Feng.

After a while, Xu Feng said sarcastically, "Buying off the soldiers' hearts has ill intentions."

Pei Yuan did not pretend to be confused, but gave Xu Feng a tit-for-tat look.

Then, he said loudly to the soldiers, "You should all know that this mission may have some twists and turns."

"I am not the kind of person who would make others sacrifice their lives for nothing."

"As long as you do your job well, you will be rewarded."

Pei Yuan stretched out his voice again when he reached this point. "But, I am a man who clearly distinguishes rewards and punishments. It doesn't make sense for you to take the silver for nothing without any reward."

When the cavalrymen heard this, they touched the silver they had carefully kept in their arms and felt a little confused.

Pei Yuan continued, "The reason why I gave you the reward in advance is not because I want to buy your hearts, but because I am not familiar with you and I am afraid that you will think too much."

"So, in order to prove that I am trustworthy, I will give you the reward money in advance."

"But this money is just a loan from me to you. Once you return safely, the money will be yours. Do you understand?"

Upon hearing this, the cavalrymen were overjoyed and immediately knelt down to express their gratitude.

Xu Feng was unhappy when he saw this, and muttered softly, "You still say you are not trying to buy off the soldiers."

Seeing what Pei Yuan did, Xiao Yan thought the scouts' actions were positive and didn't take it seriously.

The most important thing now is to find out the reason why the scout disappeared yesterday.

Xiao Yan believed that since Xu Feng, such a high-ranking commander, was here and was at least a third-rank official, he still had some deterrent power.

Their control over the Xuzhou troops cannot be shaken by a few taels of silver.

Pei Yuan waited until the cavalrymen finished expressing their gratitude, then silently opened his debt system.

Sure enough, fifteen more debts receivable were found in the system.

The amount of debts varies, some are three taels or a few cents, and some are two taels or a few cents.

The system map was also updated simultaneously.

So Pei Yuan assigned tasks to the five groups of cavalry. In addition to sending one team to each direction, he kept another team and waited until the team of cavalry in the front ran away before sending it out again.

Xiao Yan saw that Pei Yuan did nothing special except giving rewards to these scouts.

I couldn't help but ask, "Is this what Captain Pei is capable of?"

Pei Yuan said indifferently, "If you could understand, you wouldn't have followed Lu Ting and suffered so much at my hands."

Xiao Yan's expression changed, and he sneered, "Okay, I'll see what effect a few taels of silver can have."

Pei Yuan didn't want to expose his methods, so he deliberately concealed them before.

At this moment, he didn't want Xiao Yan to still think about the reward, so he changed the subject and said, "Do you want to know why I was able to successfully transport the silver to Huai'an despite being chased and blocked by so many forces?"

Without waiting for Xiao Yan to speak, Pei Yuan said leisurely, "That's because I have an extraordinary battlefield intuition."

Xu Feng laughed at him and said, "Captain Pei, you can talk big all you want, but when you make a fool of yourself today, I wonder how you can still laugh."

Pei Yuan looked at Xu Feng and said sarcastically, "If I made a fool of myself today, I'm afraid you wouldn't be able to laugh."

Gu Dayong had been bothered by the quarrels of these people for a long time, so he interrupted them immediately and said, "Well, the situation on the battlefield is ever-changing, and no one can predict it. Victory and defeat are common in the military, and we must work together to overcome this crisis."

Pei Yuan was just about to respond perfunctorily to give Gu Dayong some face, but his face darkened.

Then I saw that three bright spots on the map that I had been paying attention to disappeared.

Pei Yuan immediately looked forward.

On the small map, the second team in the same direction was also slowly moving towards the direction where the first team disappeared.

Pei Yuan remained silent and continued to watch the situation of the second team.

Now that the first team has been eliminated, by the time the second team arrives, it will definitely be too late to clean up the scene.

If the second team of cavalry discovered the situation and there was still a chance to escape, Pei Yuan could immediately go and find out the situation.

If the second team of cavalry just disappeared out of thin air, it means that the situation may be worse than imagined.

The entire army should be prepared for defense.

(End of this chapter)