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

Chapter 255 The Strategy Has Been Decided
Pei Yuan thought about what Jiao Fang had done and felt that he had gained a lot.

No wonder he was successful at a young age, in middle age, and in old age, and was able to accurately reduce his holdings three months before Liu Jin's downfall?
It turns out that the old guy has no emotions, it’s all skills.

That's right.

How can a political animal have any true feelings or likes and dislikes?
The only thing that makes him seem reckless but successful is interests.

So, as a newbie who is good at learning, how should I find my own entry point in the Ming Dynasty officialdom?
First of all, you need to have an opponent with a clear position.

When you choose your opponent, some natural allies begin to watch you.

Secondly, this opponent must have a broad base of hostility.

This way you can try to be on the side of the ultimate winner.

Furthermore, this broad opposition alliance must be very loose, and the basis of their opposition should preferably be theoretical and conscious. This will prevent them from sticking together too closely, making it easier for Pei Yuan to exert control over them.

Finally, the opponent must be of a certain strength.

The intensity should be neither too big nor too small. It would be best if Pei Yuan and his opposition alliance could grow together in the hostility and eventually form a solid political force.

So, where is the enemy?
Pei Yuan thought for a while but came to no conclusion.

But because my thoughts suddenly became clear, the anxiety in my heart was gone.

Overall, we have now seen the direction of the road ahead, and it is just a matter of looking for the enemy.

Pei Yuan thought about it, feeling very happy, and lay back on the thick mat.

Seeing Jiao Yan'er sitting next to her, he arched his back and put his head on her legs.

Jiao Yan'er wanted to laugh, but she continued to rub his forehead gently.

Perhaps it was because he was too exhausted from the fighting during the day, or perhaps it was because he had too many thoughts and felt a little tired.

It was not until the next morning that Pei Yuan was awakened by the noise in the camp.

When Pei Yuan opened his eyes, he saw Song Chunniang talking and laughing while eating with Jiao Yaner again.

Pei Yuan couldn't help but feel confused for a moment.

No.

When did she come?
Did I sleep too deeply last night?
Seeing Pei Yuan wake up, Jiao Yan'er immediately handed him a large bowl.

Pei Yuan was too lazy to even look at the meal.

It is still a stew of rice, meat, mushrooms and dried vegetables.

In this era, people still prefer fatty food.

Pei Yuan was the leader of the Jinyiwei, and half of his bowl was filled with fatty white meat slices.

Pei Yuan sighed, but still took it.

This thing may taste bad, but it provides plenty of energy.

With the physical exertion of a general like Pei Yuan, if he eats two big bowls of soup, he will have the confidence to save his life if he encounters trouble on the battlefield.

In this era, it was common for battles to last all day long.

Fights can break out at any time and will not end according to individual will.

I don’t know if it’s an illusion, but as the conditions become increasingly difficult, Pei Yuan’s resistance to fatty meat becomes less and less.

Perhaps it was the body's subconscious craving for energy that began to affect Pei Yuan's judgment.

Sometimes the first bite can taste delicious.

Pei Yuan quickly finished his meal and left the tent.

Looking around, there was nothing around.

Many auxiliary troops of Xuzhou Wei were dismantling the surrounding rebel camps and collecting usable supplies.

Pei Yuan was puzzled for a while, and asked Cheng Leixiang who came over, "Where are Ding Hong and the others?"

The reason why Pei Yuan dared to take Ding Hong to find Xu Feng yesterday was because Pei Yuan discovered that Ding Hong and his Xuzhou cavalry were stationed outside the Jinyiwei camp.

With these cannon fodders as a shield, there is no need to worry about Xu Feng suddenly doing something sinister and ending up with a desperate situation.

Ding Hong's sudden departure made Pei Yuan feel very insecure.

But seeing how confident Ding Hong was yesterday, it didn't seem like he would turn against us so quickly.

Fortunately, Cheng Leixiang quickly answered Pei Yuan's doubts.

"Deputy Captain Ding said that he was afraid of causing trouble for you, so he took his men to eat early in the morning and then went to explore the way ahead."

Pei Yuan thought about it for a moment and couldn't help laughing.

This must be because the Xuzhou riders had a lot of valuables on them, so in order to avoid being seen by others, they could only secretly set up camp in advance and hide out of the camp first.

It's okay if this happens once or twice, but if it happens again and again it would probably arouse suspicion.

Pei Yuan didn't care about it.

The Jinyiwei began to move out of camp in an orderly manner, and Pei Yuan was called by Gu Dayong to discuss the follow-up matters.

When they arrived at Gu Dayong's place, Xiao Yan and Xu Feng were also there.

When Xu Feng saw Pei Yuan, he subconsciously dodged for a moment.

Pei Yuan felt relieved when he saw this.

Since you are scared, then I won’t be scared either.

So Pei Yuan came in front of everyone in a casual manner.

The three of them had obviously discussed it for a while and should have reached a consensus.

Seeing Pei Yuan coming over, Gu Dayong said with a smile, "Pei Yuan, I just discussed with Captain Xiao and Commander Xu, and we all think that the way it was yesterday was fine."

"The cavalry will scout the way ahead, and any minor troubles they encounter can be solved directly. If the enemy is too strong, they can also wait for follow-up infantry support."

"As for the baggage train, it can travel unimpeded throughout the journey without having to worry about any ambushes on the road ahead."

Pei Yuan raided the camp yesterday. Although he won, the situation was stalemate for a while.

Victory or defeat is just a fine line away.

The armor on Pei Yuan's body was cut so hard that the cloth was turned inside out, and a lot of iron lining pieces fell off.

The Embroidered Spring Sword in his hand was completely broken after the frequent clashes of weapons, with so many gaps on it that they were almost as sharp as saw teeth.

Pei Yuan no longer had much hope in the combat effectiveness of the Xuzhou soldiers, so naturally he didn't want to go out and risk his life again.

So Pei Yuan gave them a little hint.

"Your ideas are reasonable, of course. But now the enemy is in the dark and we are in the light. What should we do if those bandits take advantage of the opportunity to attack you in the rear while I am leading the troops outside?"

After Pei Yuan said this, everyone fell silent.

Xiao Yan knew his own business. He was just a person who relied on Xiao Jing's power to gain merit.

Relying on his age and experience, he has some ideas.

But when it comes to fighting ability, he is far behind Pei Yuan.

Since Xu Feng's false image of being powerful on the outside but weak on the inside was exposed by Pei Yuan yesterday, he simply stopped pretending and started to play badly on the spot. At present, Captain Pei standing here is recognized as the most capable fighter in this team.

If Pei Yuan could fight to the death in the front and carve out a bloody path for them, they would naturally be happy to see it happen.

But if the enemy really wanted to attack the rear, who would be able to resist without Pei Yuan?
Gu Dayong, Xiao Yan and Xu Feng struggled for a while and came up with a new plan.

"How about...let Ding Hong lead the cavalry to open the way, and Captain Pei stay in the rear team and accompany us?"

"This." Pei Yuan hesitated.

Xiao Yan had seen Pei Yuan's abilities, so he was very supportive of this plan. "Captain, don't be modest. Our main task is to return to Beijing as soon as possible. We should also consider the overall situation when we act."

Pei Yuan saw that Xiao Yan talked a lot but did not mention anything within his power.

He guessed in his heart that these people's purpose was probably to keep him by their side as a thug.

But it doesn't matter.

According to the current strength of the bandits, even if we allocate 200 infantrymen to follow Ding Hong and his men.

The camp's remaining infantry and five hundred auxiliary troops are enough to cope with the situation.

Pei Yuan was also happy to follow his own people.

After a brief communication among the few people, the nominal commander Xu Feng, with two hundred infantrymen, set up defenses along the direction Ding Hong was investigating.

Xiao Yan temporarily took over the remaining infantry and five hundred auxiliary troops.

As for Pei Yuan, everyone asked him to have a good rest.

Even Gu Dayong didn't want Pei Yuan to take risks. He didn't have many confidants at his disposal now, and he would probably have to rely on Pei Yuan's help to connect with those commanders.

Pei Yuan met with them briefly and then returned to his camp.

The three generals couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when they heard Pei Yuan say that he wanted to stay in the team.

The sense of security is very different with or without Pei Qianhu around.

The team quickly started on the road. Pei Yuan's Jinyiwei were still a little bit behind. The carriages of Xiao's father and son and Gu Dayong were also next to this group of Jinyiwei.

I don’t know if it’s because we lost two games in a row yesterday, but today’s journey was surprisingly smooth.

On the way, the front army captured a hunter and sent him to the rear team.

Pei Yuan asked him and found out that they had left Juye and entered Yuncheng.

Yuncheng County was home to powerful men such as Chao Gai and Song Jiang.

Pei Yuan thought of scenes like the clever capture of the birthday gift, and then looked at the money looted by the people in the team, and had a unique sense of déjà vu.

Therefore, Pei Yuan hurriedly ordered people to warn the front troops not to drink alcohol from others casually, and if they saw the man transporting dates, they should kill him directly.

Pei Yuanshun explained his motives to Xiao Yan, "People's hearts are treacherous, we must be on guard."

Unexpectedly, Xiao Yan agreed with his approach and even puffed out his chest slightly, "Captain Pei, there is no need to explain. I have also heard of "Water Margin"."

Perhaps the caution taken along the way paid off. In the next two days, although the front army discovered some bandits and spies one after another, they did not see any large groups of bandits.

Xiao Yan gave an optimistic guess. He believed that the bandit army had been completely left behind. Given the disorganized state of those bandits, they would not be able to catch up later.

Pei Yuan also hoped that what Xiao Yan said was true.

After leaving Yuncheng, we arrived at the second stop of this trip, Yanggu County.

As soon as he heard that they had entered the jurisdiction of Yanggu County, Xiao Yan, who was very knowledgeable, told the front troops to remember to pay attention to tigers.

Gu Dayong had little education, but when he heard the two men handle things in an orderly manner, he felt that it was very professional.

After entering Yanggu, everyone clearly felt that the climate here was somewhat different from other places. It seemed that the humidity was particularly heavy and the cold was extremely severe.

Pei Yuan explained to everyone that the terrain was low and wet, and didn't want to say anything more.

It was nothing more than that flood.

When the Yellow River flooded in the sixth year of the Hongzhi reign, Emperor Hongzhi appointed Liu Daxia as the deputy censor-in-chief to deal with the Zhangqiu flood. He told Liu Daxia in person, "In ancient times, river control was just to eliminate harm to the people. Today, river control is to prevent the flow of water and cause losses to the national economy. The implications are not trivial."

The meaning is very straightforward.

In ancient times, the Yellow River was controlled in order to help the people get rid of this scourge.

Today, the purpose of regulating the Yellow River is to prevent it from bursting and affecting the Grand Canal. Once the grain from the south cannot be transported to Beijing through the Grand Canal, the capital city is likely to be in trouble.

Emperor Hongzhi's words were very tactful, but his meaning was conveyed.

The ancients controlled the Yellow River in order to protect the people.

Today, you, Liu Daxia, are controlling the Yellow River in order to protect the canal.

Everything that should be said has been said, and you should be able to understand what shouldn’t be said by making this comparison.

As one of the three gentlemen of the Hongzhi period, Liu Daxia was quick-witted and naturally understood what he should understand.

So Liu Daxia first built a long dike to stop the Yellow River from flowing northward. After investigation, he referred to the eight-character policy proposed by Tu Sheng, the censor of Henan Province, of "focusing on the north and neglecting the south, and protecting the grain transport as the main purpose", and adopted the strategy of curbing the flow of water to the north and diverting the water to the south into the Huai River.

On the one hand, the Yuehe River was opened about three miles southwest of the Zhangqiu Canal, so that grain could be transported; on the other hand, "the old Jialu River south of Huanglinggang in Yifeng was dredged for more than 40 miles", "Sunjia Ferry was dredged, and a new river for more than 70 miles was dug", and "the silted rivers in the four prefectures of Xiangfu were dredged" to make the Yellow River water flow into the Huai River along the Yingshui River, Wohe River and the old Guixu course. Finally, the Zhangqiu breach was blocked in December.

It sounds complicated, but the idea is actually very simple, which is to dig up the Yellow River and let the water flow southward to avoid impacting the canal and affecting the grain route of the capital.

As the Yellow River flows southward, it breaks through its banks, opens up the river channel, and flows wherever it goes.

Thus, this miracle of human engineering, which had previously gone unnoticed by history, was born.

With the strong intervention of the Ming Dynasty court, the Yellow River during the flood season did not affect the Grand Canal in the east at all, and all the water was blocked.

Where did the blocked Yellow River water go?

All poured south.

Finally, the Yellow River water was forced to use the Huai River channel and flow south to the Yangtze River before it could enter the sea.

It's fucking true that man can conquer nature.

To commemorate this miraculous project of mankind's conquest of nature, Emperor Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty ordered that Zhangqiu Town be renamed Anping Town.

This is where Pei Yuan and his companions will be heading to soon.

On the second day after entering Yanggu, Ding Hong, who was the first to explore the way, brought back very bad news.

——The road ahead was deliberately dug up by someone.

Pei Yuan looked at the baggage carts in the team, and then at the deep ruts that extended very far behind the team. He immediately realized that his weakness had finally been discovered by those Bazhou bandits.

The many belongings they carried not only slowed down their march, but also became their weakest link.

Xiao Yan and Gu Dayong also heard the news coming back from the front.

They also came to see Pei Yuan as soon as possible. Seeing Pei Yuan staring at the deep ruts in a daze, they all remained silent.

They also saw the problem that Pei Yuan discovered.

The soil in Yanggu is wetter than elsewhere, which makes the roads here softer and easier to dig than elsewhere.

What would they do if the bandits in Bazhou trapped them with the ditches like ropes?

If they cannot break free in time and shake off these bandits at a faster speed, they will most likely face the real army of "Big Tigers" and "Stars".

(End of this chapter)