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

Chapter 282 The icing on the cake
There were so many flaws in what the dog man said that Eunuch Gu was caught off guard.

No.

A few days ago, when I wrote to Zhang Yong, Qiu Ju and others, I also mentioned that you would rather give up the title of baron and follow Captain Han.

what happened?

The "Ming Dynasty's Most Affectionate" unanimously recognized by the Twelve Inner Palaces of the Ming Dynasty, is this it?
Besides, you took a concubine and let a eunuch from our family watch the ceremony. Who are you implying this about?
Facing Gu Dayong's questioning gaze, Pei Yuan answered honestly, "My family has been poor since I was a child, and I really don't have many relatives or friends. This is the first time in my life that I'm taking a concubine, and I don't want it to be too shabby."

Even with Lu Dahua's deep background, he couldn't dig out Pei Yuan's relatives and friends, so Pei Yuan didn't plan to try anymore.

When Gu Dayong heard Pei Yuan's pitiful words, he felt a little sympathy and then relieved.

The poor boy back then made it out of poverty, so what's wrong with marrying a concubine?
It is normal for poor people to engage in irrational sexual consumption when they suddenly become rich.

After a moment of rationality, Gu Dayong asked Pei Yuan, "The concubine you want to take is the woman you have always kept by your side?"

Pei Yuan smiled, "Yes, it's this girl."

Jiao Yan'er tried her best to avoid others when entering and leaving the army, and wore a covering gauze hat on her head.

But there are no secrets in the army, and everyone knows that Pei Yuan has a woman with him.

Gu Dayong had never seen Jiao Yan'er before, so he said casually, "Since you were able to bring her all the way to Beijing, she must be pretty. What family is she from?"

Pei Yuan had nothing to hide.

Then he said, "Poetry and books are passed down from generation to generation."

"Poetry and literature passed down from generation to generation?" Gu Dayong was a little surprised when he heard this.

Although he had no needs for marriage, he still knew some of the rules for marriage between officials and civilians. At least the words "equal status" were deeply rooted in Gu Dayong's mind.

If Pei Yuan, who was born in the Jinyiwei, married a wife properly, perhaps some poor family of scholars would be interested in him.

But Pei Yuan is taking a concubine. Which family of scholars would be so desperate as to marry his daughter to a Jinyiwei as a concubine?

Seeing Gu Dayong's doubts, Pei Yuan said more specifically, "She is the granddaughter of Jiao Fang, the former Prime Minister of the Cabinet."

When Gu Dayong heard this, he almost died.

He paused for a long time before staring at Pei Yuan with eyes wide open. He asked in disbelief, "You want the granddaughter of Jiao Fang, the former Prime Minister, to be your concubine?"

Pei Yuan emphasized, "It already is."

Gu Dayong knew that things would not be that simple, so he leaned forward and asked in a low voice, "What's going on?"

Pei Yuan naturally would not involve herself in any affairs of the Bazhou thieves. He only said that Jiao Yan'er was wandering among the people and was accidentally captured by Pei Yuan.

However, she did not want to bring disgrace to her family, and also wanted to repay the kindness with her body, so she was willing to be Pei Yuan's concubine regardless of her status.

Gu Dayong couldn't help but complain after hearing this, "This is a lie, who the hell can believe this?"

But Pei Yuan spoke with such confidence, and Gu Dayong had no evidence to refute him, so they could only let him go.

Gu Dayong stared and asked Pei Yuan again, "Is she really Jiao Fang's granddaughter?"

Pei Yuan pointed to the heavens and the earth and swore, "She is really Jiao Fang's granddaughter, and her biological father is Jiao Huangzhong."

After hearing this, Gu Dayong murmured, "If she is Jiao Fang's granddaughter, I have to give her this face."

At that time, Emperor Zhengde had just come to power, and the court was planning to clip his wings, starting with killing several old eunuchs around the young emperor to serve as a warning to others.

The old eunuchs were usually good at observing people's expressions and serving them, but they never expected that they would be targeted by a sniper as soon as they came up.

Fortunately, at the most critical moment, Jiao Fang became a traitor, chose to betray his colleagues and cooperate with the eunuchs.

In addition, Liu Jin did not back down at the critical moment and decisively launched a counterattack against the ministers, which led to the later "Eight Tigers of Zhengde".

In a sense, Jiao Fang can be regarded as the benefactor of Ba Hu, and the two sides still have some kind of relationship between them.

This can be seen from a series of actions taken by Liu Jin after his downfall, that Jiao Fang has always been protected by someone.

At that time, everyone in the court was building up momentum to kill Jiao Fang. Not only did the Imperial Censors and Imperial Censors impeach him, but there were even various short essays circulating.

For example, Liu Jin's great-nephew Liu Erhan said before his death, "I deserve to die, but everything my family did was instigated by Jiao Fang and Zhang Cai. Now Zhang Cai and I have been sentenced to death, but Jiao Fang is safe and sound. Isn't this unjust?"

How the hell can Liu Erhan have this awareness?

Anyone with a discerning eye knew that he was taught this, and that the real purpose was to drag Jiao Fang into the water.

Similar short essays were circulated everywhere, and everyone in the court cursed Jiao Fang.

Even Zhao Sui, a traitor in Bazhou, went to dig up Jiao Fang's ancestral grave to vent his anger.

But apart from his love of regional slander and seeking benefits for his hometown, what bad policies has Jiao Fang implemented?
Even if someone really went to dig up Jiao Fang's ancestral grave and judge his right and wrong, it should be a southerner, not Zhao Sui, a scholar from the north.

Many officials in the north, while enjoying the political space fought for them by Jiao Fang, Liu Jin and others, at the same time admired the power of discourse that was stronger than the mainstream, and criticized Jiao Fang and others to show their awareness.

The end result is that some people in this world have done nothing wrong, but are instead labeled with piles of adjectives that make them notorious, complex, and vague.

So putting aside these adjectives, what is the most fundamental thing about his evil deeds?

For example, to be more specific, did he annex hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land, or did his son Jiao Huangzhong kill hundreds of neighbors in order to seize the land?

no?
Give another example.

For example, if you shouted "I want a salary increase" in a work group, there would most likely be many people who would be secretly delighted while finding excuses for their boss to blame you.

Don't they realize that they themselves will be the ultimate beneficiaries of this proposal?
of course not.

They just want to be on the side that looks stronger.

This can be collectively referred to as the strong-consciousness syndrome.

History is like a mirror. When you look at it carefully, anyone can be Jiao Fang and anyone can be Zhao Sui.

Pei Yuan was certainly not in the mood to care about Jiao Fang's affairs. Jiao Fang had now become a political liability and Pei Yuan did not expect to gain anything from this political ruin.

Just as Pei Yuan was about to leave, he heard Gu Dayong ask, "Will your concubine's family come?"

Pei Yuan quickly shook his head, "Of course it's impossible. How could Mr. Jiao admit that his granddaughter became someone's concubine? Whether the Jiao family will recognize this marriage is still up in the air."

Gu Dayong narrowed his eyes and thought for a while, then smiled and said, "It's hard to say."

Then, facing Pei Yuan's surprised look, Gu Dayong said, "Old Prime Minister Jiao Fang has dignity, but your concubine's father Jiao Huangzhong may not."

Pei Yuan was thinking about what Gu Dayong said.

Gu Dayong continued, "Ever since the emperor issued an edict not to pursue Jiao Fang's crimes, Jiao Huangzhong has rushed here from his hometown in Henan like a cat smelling blood. He is using his connections to clear his name and get his official position reinstated." "If you show some skill and let Jiao Huangzhong see hope for a comeback, maybe, even if his daughter becomes someone's concubine, he will sit in the hall upright."

"What's the point of Jiao Fang not admitting it then? As long as Jiao Huangzhong admits it, that's it."

"But you have to think clearly about the pros and cons here."

Pei Yuan was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that there was such a top-notch person as Jiao Huangzhong.

It's just that Jiao Huangzhong, like his father Jiao Fang, is a political negative asset.

Having him appear at the scene doesn't seem to have any benefits other than making Jiao Yaner happy.

Pei Yuan couldn't figure it out for a moment and simply skipped the topic.

Afterwards, Pei Yuan and Gu Dayong discussed how to coerce the generals and commanders.

Gu Dayong gave a rough list and mentioned a few small things they knew about each other.

Gu Dayong's appeal in this matter was very simple, which was to let those military officers speak well of him and praise his command ability.

The result of the Battle of Yanggu must be no longer a secret among the top military officials.

It was almost certain that the eunuch Gu Dayong, who was in charge of military affairs, would soon make a comeback.

Even if there was no naked threat, I'm sure the officials would give Gu Dayong some face for such a fancy sedan that was carried by everyone.

Pei Yuan's handling of this matter not only could do Gu Dayong a favor, but also could increase the strength of Lu Ting who was currently in a great advantage.

Previously, Lu Ting successfully ascended to the position of eunuch in charge of military affairs through a surprise attack at Xiaohekou.

Now the Bazhou rebels are on the decline. According to the original plan, as long as Lu Ting does not make any big mistakes, he will be able to reap the credit for suppressing the rebellion.

But the situation is different now.

Gu Dayong, who had been defeated before, unexpectedly defeated the "big tiger" and "full sky star" roaming around Shandong with only a few soldiers on his way back to Beijing!

In this way, even if Lu Ting quelled the rebellion in Bazhou in the future, he would have lost face.

Gu Dayong could definitely say that he had no problems in command during the suppression of the rebellion over the past year or so, and it was Lu Wan and others who pretended to obey but actually disobeyed and hindered each other that led to the unfavorable outcome of the war.

Even if the imperial court does not replace Lu Ting, as long as he does not hinder him, Gu Dayong still has hope of completely wiping out Liu Liu and Liu Qi.

As a result, Lu Ting's image of turning the tide was immediately greatly diminished.

Moreover, now that Gu Dayong has solid military achievements, his words can be more powerful than before.

By then, Lu Ting will have no choice but to seek successful experience and ask Pei Yuan for help. When Pei Yuan indirectly controls the rebellion army again, the Bazhou army will have no choice but to bow to him.

On the second day, Tan Tai Fang Tu and Si Kong Sui, who were completely drunk, slowly accepted the reality.

Cheng Leixiang's success also gave them a lot of motivation, and they planned to make a good future with Pei Yuan.

Pei Yuan selected some experienced Jinyiwei from these two people to deliver the message for Gu Dayong.

Xiao Yan in the team also began to make small moves and contacted the capital intensively. This reminded Gu Dayong, who happened to notice the matter, of Pei Yuan's warning, so Gu Dayong also decisively chose to mobilize people.

The once famous Eight Tigers of Zhengde lost much of their cohesion after Liu Jin's death.

But now that Gu Dayong seems to be gaining momentum, others are willing to come and add icing on the cake.

The first to take action were the guards from the Eastern Depot.

Qiu Ju gave Gu Dayong enough face, and within one day, several groups of Eastern Depot soldiers came on horseback from the capital to obey Gu Dayong's orders.

Those Dongchang guards even rode their horses in front to lead the way, and their attitude was very attentive.

Upon seeing this, although Xiao Yan didn't know what Gu Dayong was pretending to be before going to Beijing, he couldn't remain calm and quickly sent a letter to his uncle.

So at noon the next day, Pei Yuan saw Xinning Earl Tan You, and chatted with Xiao Yan about family matters with a smile.

Tan You has Jingnan bloodline and is currently serving as the Right Commander-in-Chief at the Central Military Commandery.

From the appearance of Xinning Marquis Tan You here, Pei Yuan made a rough judgment that the reward for Xiao Yan should be clear.

Because Xiao Yan's target, "Left Commander of the Central Military Commission", happened to be a colleague of Xinning Earl Tan You's Right Commander, and his status was slightly higher than Tan You.

Therefore, it is necessary for the new Earl of Ning, Tan You, to come and say hello and establish good relations.

And not only the Xinning Earl, but also the Tianjin Left Guard Commander Deng Liang and the Tianjin Right Guard Commander Cao Xing also came to meet Xiao Yan.

Seeing this, Pei Yuan did not let Cheng Leixiang retreat, but pushed him directly to the front of the stage to meet his two colleagues.

Cheng Leixiang's appointment as the commander of Tianjin Guard was a condition given by Xiao Yan, so Xiao Yan naturally had to maintain the authority of this transaction.

Moreover, the documents for Cheng Leixiang's merit evaluation and appointment are indeed already in the process of being processed.

Therefore, when Pei Yuan made the recommendation, Xiao Yan immediately stepped forward and helped introduce Cheng Leixiang to the Commander of the Left Guard of Tianjin and the Commander of the Right Guard of Tianjin.

Although Deng Liang and Cao Xing were a little unhappy that a seventh-rank general was about to become their colleague, Cheng Leixiang reported his military achievements, and he also had the support of Xiao Yan, the future Left General, so the two could only put on a fake smile and do some superficial work.

Cheng Leixiang took the opportunity to learn about the situation in Tianjin.

After asking, I learned that the commander of Tianjin Wei had just passed away due to illness, and the country is currently in a state of leaderlessness.

When the deputy provincial governor in Shandong learned the news, he immediately rushed over with capable old officials, intending to review the affairs of Tianjin over the past ten years.

Judging from Deng Liang and Cao Xing's gloating, it seems that Tianjin Wei is facing quite a bit of trouble.

But this is not a bad thing for Cheng Leixiang.

Cheng Leixiang did not come from the Tianjin Wei system, so even if there were any problems, he would not be involved.

On the contrary, if Tianjin could be completely cleaned up, it would be a huge help to Cheng Leixiang in controlling Tianjin.

Anyway, Cheng Leixiang has neither shortage of people nor money, and can set up the framework of Tianjin at any time.

Just as Xinning Earl Tan You and the commanders of Tianjin's left and right guards left, eunuchs from the palace came to confer rewards and gave Gu Dayong a bullfighting suit in advance so that he could use it as a ceremonial guard when entering the city.

In addition, Zhang Rong, the deputy commander of the Jinyiwei, personally arranged two teams of Jinyiwei soldiers to come and serve.

The strong support from the emperor undoubtedly gave Gu Dayong a shot in the arm.

Seeing this, Xiao Yan seemed to be thinking about something and did not continue to increase the bet.

(End of this chapter)