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

Chapter 284 Pei Yuan's Boomerang
Nothing happened that night, and the next day they were about to lead their troops into the capital.

Captain Pei is wearing armor and will be on duty tonight.

It was just getting light in the sky, and Pei Yuancai went back to rest after Chen Toutie's repeated persuasion.

In this situation, some people would be persuaded to go to bed early.

Some people will be put in a yellow robe by their subordinates and told to "Don't catch a cold, sir."

Pei Yuan sighed in his heart, I, Pei, indeed still have a long way to go.

Perhaps because they were getting closer to the capital, Pei Yuan didn't feel sleepy even after returning to his tent.

While playing with the little beauty who came up to him obediently, he was imagining the turbulent circumstances in Beijing, and thinking about how to tear off a large piece of benefit from Zhu Houzhao's political rebellion.

Pei Yuan felt that he had just fallen into a drowsy sleep when he was awakened.

Now both Xiao Yan and Gu Dayong were anxious to enter the city, and they had people start making fires, cooking, and packing their luggage early.

Pei Yuan was dazed for a while, and after Jiao Yan'er fed him a few bites, he finally perked up.

Marching again, the team's speed was obviously much faster.

If it weren't for the fact that they symbolically brought some captives and heads as a tribute, Xiao Yan and Gu Dayong would have gone ahead and rode back to the capital directly.

At noon, the convoy did not stop, but simply ate some dry food and continued on their way.

Not to mention Xiao Yan and Gu Dayong, even Pei Yuan began to look forward to entering the city as soon as possible.

Unexpectedly, the news that Cheng Leixiang brought in a hurry made Pei Yuan fall into panic.

Yun Weilin, the Taoist priest at the Da Ci'en Temple who had been silent before and was regarded as an unstable factor by Pei Yuan, suddenly decided to fully side with Pei Yuan.

Yun Weilin's defection was not a bad thing, but the bad thing was that in order to remedy his previous fence-sitting, he chose to execute the order Pei Yuan had given him before.

According to the news, just this morning, the general flag Yun Weilin left the Da Ci'en Temple where he had been on duty for many years, and exchanged places with the small flag Cheng Zhihu of the Zhihua Temple.

Pei Yuan was so shocked when he heard the news that his hands and feet turned cold. He angrily asked Cheng Leixiang, "What's going on? How come Yun Weilin, that bastard, suddenly gave in?!"

For testing purposes, Pei Yuan had deliberately asked Yun Buxian to bring a letter to Yun Weilin, asking him to switch with Cheng Zhihu from Zhihua Temple.

This is equivalent to throwing Yun Weilin from the world's largest temple, where he was very popular and had extensive connections, directly into a remote corner.

Pei Yuan warned at the time that if Yun Weilin was willing to obey orders, he would let Yun Buxian go to Huai'an to find him, and he would also promise him the position of general flag.

If Yun Weilin refuses to obey orders, then Pei Yuan will go to Beijing in person to confront him.

Pei Yuan had the intention of setting a trap deliberately, wanting to take advantage of the White Lotus Rebellion to catch those traitors.

Therefore, Pei Yuan was not too surprised when Yun Weilin had not expressed his views yet and Yun Buxian had not reported anything yet.

Pei Yuan had a large part in planning the establishment of the Northern Bureau in Beijing this time, and his target was Yun Weilin, who had deep roots in Beijing.

However, unexpectedly, Yun Weilin took the initiative to give up Da Ci'en Temple and chose to go to Zhihua Temple when Pei Yuan least wanted him to give in.

Cheng Leixiang felt innocent about this, "Captain, I can't answer your question. According to the order issued by Captain Han, the Taoist priest Zhenji who was in the north of Huai'an at that time was your subordinate. He was originally under your jurisdiction and obeyed your orders. There was nothing wrong with that."

Pei Yuan was still half angry and half confused.

"What I'm asking is, why did that bastard Yun Weilin suddenly switch places with Cheng Zhihu at this juncture?"

"Damn it! I'm about to enter the city, and he's doing this to me?"

The current Zhihua Temple is a very important part of Pei Yuan’s layout.

Because of Wang Zhen, Zhihua Temple has not been very popular and is considered a very quiet place.

In addition, Cheng Zhihu has been there for many years, and the relationships between the upper and lower levels are all very clear.

Pei Yuan could safely and boldly use it as his temporary base to temporarily station these soldiers and the silver he had looted.

But now Yun Weilin suddenly obeyed Pei Yuan's previous order and moved into Zhihua Temple.

What the hell is the difference between this and suddenly stealing Pei Yuan's house?
Where is your fucking backbone as a villain? !

Without Zhihua Temple, even though the capital is big, where would Pei Yuan place all these people and money?
Da Ci'en Temple?
Da Ci'en Temple can now be almost regarded as the largest temple in the world. There are countless eminent monks and Dharma Kings in the temple, and its relationship with the nobles in the inner palace is complicated.

Cheng Zhihu had just taken office today. Even if Pei Yuan was out of his mind, he would not dare to store manpower and money in Da Ci'en Temple!
After hearing Pei Yuan's angry shout, Cheng Leixiang had a vague answer in his mind, but he didn't dare to talk nonsense at this time.

Pei Yuan and Cheng Leixiang had a tacit understanding with each other. Seeing this, he simply shouted, "If you have something to say, say it now. If you have to fart, fart now!"

Cheng Leixiang didn't dare to hide it, and could only answer timidly, "If my guess is correct, Yun Weilin must have known about my position as the commander of Tianjin. Yun Buxian and I are close friends. I have been away from Beijing for more than a year, and I have achieved such success. I think it must have been a big shock to Yun Weilin."

Pei Yuan felt dizzy after hearing this and almost passed out.

He quickly connected several things in his mind.

It turned out that the old dog Yun Weilin chose to slide down on his knees for the sake of his son's future.

Then the order that was executed at a different time brought Pei Yuan so much trouble.

Pei Yuan never expected that he would be hit hard in the face by the boomerang he threw.

Damn it, it hurts so much!
But what to do now?
Because he had so many plans, Pei Yuan had been carefully controlling the error tolerance of each plan, trying to perfectly stack them together.

Even if a bad situation occurs, we should try to find room for remedy.

Pei Yuan was a poor kid who had never received any unexpected surprises in life, so this sudden development caught him off guard.

Pei Yuan roared angrily, "What the hell should we do now?!"

"Xiao Yan has made an agreement, and the city gate has also made an agreement. Do you think I should be left standing still at the city gate with the soldiers and silver?"

Pei Yuan, a man who climbed out of the lower class, had bravely and without knowing his own limitations faced one enemy after another in order to prove that he was standing at the table, rather than being on it.

This time he returned to Beijing, he hadn't even been able to use any of his skills yet, so how could he show weakness to others?
Pei Yuan put on his armor and looked at the capital last night, with great enthusiasm in his heart.

But today, it seemed as if the entire capital was watching him with fiery gazes.

Pei Yuan was still furious, his eyes moving as he quickly thought of a countermeasure.

Cheng Leixiang hesitated for a moment and said to Pei Yuan, "Captain, since Yun Weilin is willing to serve you, he can still go to Zhihua Temple." Pei Yuan said angrily, "Yun Weilin and I have no ties. He can serve me today and sell me out tomorrow. How can I entrust my life to such a fickle person?"

Yun Weilin had previously ignored Pei Yuan's orders and had no intention of exchanging jurisdiction with Cheng Zhihu.

He also did not let his son Yun Buxian go to report. When he heard that there was profit to be made, he immediately wanted to take advantage of it with a fluke mentality.

How could Pei Yuan trust such a person?

Cheng Leixiang was indeed not a person bound by morals. Upon hearing this, he immediately reported, "Yun Buxian and I are good brothers who have shared life and death together. I know the Yun family quite well. This person is the only son."

"Ok?"

Pei Yuan understood, and his worries were slightly relieved. He frowned and said, "I still need the Zhihua Temple, so it's not good to let Yun Weilin interfere."

Cheng Leixiang then said, "My father has been running the Zhihua Temple for many years. He has some connections with the monks there, and they also have some leverage over each other. As long as Yun Weilin doesn't dare to investigate further, I can help Qianhu arrange for someone to enter the Zhihua Temple."

Pei Yuan said bluntly, "What about my money?"

Cheng Leixiang offered another suggestion, "I know there is a side courtyard in Zhihua Temple, where Wang Zhen is worshipped. If it is for short-term storage, it should be fine. If it is for long-term storage, the courtyard is quite large, and the land can be dug up to hide the silver."

Pei Yuan thought that this was pretty good.

Cheng Leixiang's idea was simple. He would first detain Yun Buxian, then try to transfer Yun Weilin away, and then quickly arrange people and money into Zhihua Temple. After that... he could move Yun Weilin to another position.

Pei Yuan doesn’t have many choices now, he can only follow Cheng Leixiang’s plan for the time being.

As they were about to enter the city, Pei Yuan thought of something else. "Oh, by the way, I owed a favor to Monk Yuantong, the abbot of Yuanen Temple. I wonder if he has returned? After we enter the city, have someone go and find out for me."

Cheng Leixiang immediately agreed to the task.

Thanks to Xiao Yan's greeting, Pei Yuan and his group were not questioned.

Afterwards, Xiao Yan and Gu Dayong said hello to Pei Yuan and left in a hurry accompanied by officials from the Ministry of War.

Pei Yuan didn't care about that. After entering the city, the first thing he did was to control Yun Buxian. So he asked Cheng Leixiang, "Since you are very familiar with Yun Buxian, you should know where he is, right?"

After hearing this, Cheng Leixiang said confidently, "Qian Hu has asked the right person."

He immediately analyzed for Pei Yuan, "Yun Weilin has a wide range of information, and he probably knew that you were entering the city today."

"That bastard Yun Buxian always loves to flatter. If I'm not mistaken, he should be in Captain Pei's old house, preparing to welcome Captain Pei."

"Is that so?" Pei Yuan felt a little unsure.

He thought about it and called a few of his subordinates over.

Pei Yuan first glanced at Ding Hong and said, "Ding Hong, follow Cheng Leixiang to arrange the people. Remember, this is the emperor's place, tell your men to keep their mouths shut and don't talk too much."

Ding Hong naturally knew that he couldn't do anything bad to Pei Yuan, so he immediately agreed obediently.

The Jinyiwei needed manpower to solve the resettlement of Ding Hong and his 600 men.

Pei Yuan initially brought a dozen personal soldiers with him, and later Tan Tai Fang Tu and Si Kong Sui also brought their own Jin Yi Wei team from Nanjing, which added up to more than 200 people.

These more than 200 people were properly transferred from Nanjing. Whether they were stationed in Beijing or assisting in the investigation, they all had reasonable and legal reasons.

It is actually the easiest to deal with these people. The Zhenji Taoist system in Beijing where the Evil Suppression Thousand Households is located can handle them.

Pei Yuan asked Sikong Sui, "How many temples are there in Beijing that are under the management of our evil suppression unit?"

Sikong Sui also had some targeted information when he returned to Nanjing this time.

He immediately answered, "Theoretically, there are more than 200, but now only more than 100 still have Taoist priests."

Pei Yuan was surprised and asked, "Why is that?"

There are now over a thousand temples of all sizes in Beijing, and more than 200 of them have been brought under management, which is a relatively reasonable approach of using the point to lead the whole.

But the fact that it was reduced from 200 to 100 clearly meant that something else had happened.

Sikong Sui replied, "Although the court has its own system, it is still not free from some practical troubles. Not to mention the concubines and eunuchs, even the officials in the Ministry of Revenue cannot avoid some personal relationships and face."

"Some temples are completely out of control. If we fall out, we will be the only ones embarrassed. We can only... evacuate for the time being."

Sikong Sui further explained, "Although the Suppression of Evil Thousand Households has a high status, the people who make up the Suppression of Evil Thousand Households are just ordinary people."

"Some slightly famous temples have general flags and small flags with some ranks. Some less famous temples can only have officials like Sheren and Xiaowei."

"People like this, let alone letting them face those officials and nobles, even a powerful family with a little bit of power can make them surrender."

"Some of the more severe Zhenji Taoist priests were beheaded in the middle of the night. The brothers in the north were often furious and could do nothing about it."

"Captain Han will never condone such behavior. He will investigate every case to the end and even let the five captains take turns to come to Beijing to take charge."

"But what good will it do to track it down? Aren't the dead still dead?"

Pei Yuan listened silently and gained a general understanding of the current situation of Qianhu Suo.

Sikong Sui didn't want to say too much in front of everyone, so he just concluded, "The Qianhu Division as a whole does have a unique and powerful position, but each individual will fall apart if it is subjected to even a little pressure."

Pei Yuan listened but did not express any opinion on the spot.

Real-life troubles can never be solved by just talking about them.

He can face all kinds of pressure without fear because he has the resources to mobilize to form a combined force and can respond with all his strength. At the same time, he also has more room to retreat, allowing him to maneuver.

However, as for everyone below, Pei Yuan was unable to be brave on behalf of everyone in the face of reality.

Pei Yuan made simple arrangements, "Let the two of you Jinyiwei be dispersed among the various Zhenji Taoists for the time being, and consolidate the current territory first. Don't make any big moves before you understand the situation in the capital."

"Also, have your people count the size of existing temples and their accounts. If there is any evidence that you can use to hold someone accountable, include that in the count as well."

"Of course, I also understand that some Taoist priests in the past inevitably had some interests with temples and palaces..." Pei Yuan said here, and pointed to Cheng Leixiang in front of everyone, "Look, Cheng Leixiang's father is an example, I will let bygones be bygones."

Facing everyone's gaze, as one of Pei Qianhu's old team members, Cheng Leixiang was as steady as an old dog.

Pei Yuan continued, "The first problem that Qianhu Office has to solve when it reopens in Beijing is to get money. Let them think carefully about whether there is any source of funds available. Anyone can offer suggestions."

(End of this chapter)