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

Chapter 285: Clouds Are Not Idle

The work of the Northern Bureau is complicated, but the most important thing is to make money.

Money, as the most liquid and flexible resource, is full of plasticity.

It can turn into a sharp arrow that shoots at the enemy's heart, or it can turn thunder into drizzle and wind.

As long as he has enough money, Pei Yuan can use a variety of resources across classes. He can use money to stabilize his subordinates, and he can also use money to buy various social relationships.

Temples have incomparable advantages in making money.

What Pei Yuan needs to do now is to find a way to open a channel in this river of money without affecting too many interested parties.

Tan Tai Fang Tu, Si Kong Sui, Chen Toutie and others all agreed.

Tan Tai Fang Tu and Si Kong Sui were the old men from the Zhen Xie Qian Hu Office. The connection with Taoist Zhen Ji in the north mainly relied on them.

It is a very complicated task to temporarily place people in those temples.

The two centurions said hello to Pei Yuan and left with the Jinyiwei who came with them.

Pei Yuan was thinking about his money, so he decided to follow Cheng Leixiang and collect the money first.

When the convoy arrived near Zhihua Temple, Pei Yuan followed Cheng Leixiang's idea and first asked the Jinyiwei soldiers to look for Yun Weilin and try to lure him away.

Yun Weilin's temporary change of heart was originally just to cling to Pei Yuan, the big tree.

Upon hearing that Captain Pei had summoned him, he hurried to Captain Pei's house and waited as the guard had instructed.

Cheng Leixiang hid in the distance and saw Yun Weilin go out with his own eyes. Then he asked someone to keep an eye on Yun Weilin, and he quietly returned to Zhihua Temple.

After a while, Cheng Leixiang came out of Zhihua Temple with the monk he had met before and signaled the convoy to go through the back door.

Pei Yuan breathed a sigh of relief when he saw several silver carts filled with silver entering Zhihua Temple.

Pei Yuan kept 6,000 taels for himself, and the remaining 60,000 taels were temporarily held by Cheng Leixiang.

Pei Yuan waited outside the temple for a while. After Cheng Leixiang had arranged everything, he came out and reported to Pei Yuan.

The soldiers of Xuzhou Guard have temporarily taken a rest.

Cheng Leixiang planned to bury Pei Yuan's money in that secret courtyard first, and then take it out when Pei Qianhu needed it.

Cheng Leixiang specifically reminded him, "Captain, it's best to quickly replace Yun Weilin and put Zhihua Temple in the hands of our own people."

Pei Yuan nodded and said, "I know what's going on with this matter. You stay here for now, and keep an eye on my money with Ding Hong. If there's any disturbance, notify me in time."

Cheng Leixiang patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, Captain. I have more than 600 people here. Don't you think we can't protect the silver?"

Pei Yuan said, "I live in Dengshikou. Find two people to follow me and identify the place."

After hearing this, Cheng Leixiang hurried to look for someone else.

When Pei Yuan came back this time, he had a lot of things to deal with and he didn't have the energy to change places for the time being.

Cheng Leixiang called out a few soldiers from Xuzhou Guard and handed them over to Chen Toutie, asking him to help show the way.

Chen Toutie responded and took the person with him.

Pei Yuan's group was left with only a dozen or so Jinyiwei personal soldiers and a few young and strong men from Xuzhou.

Song Chunniang drove Jiao Yaner's carriage, while the young and strong men from Xuzhou pushed Pei Yuan's cart loaded with six thousand taels of silver.

Because they were in the capital, no one dared to go too fast and just walked slowly towards Pei Yuan's home in Dengshikou.

On the way, Song Chunniang pointed in a direction, signaling Pei Yuan.

This was the first time that Song Chunniang took the initiative to talk to Pei Yuan since that day.

Pei Yuan immediately looked in the direction and saw a long, quiet alley.

Pei Yuan asked curiously, "What's wrong?"

Song Chunniang whispered, "That's the home of Censor Zhang Lian."

Pei Yuan said "Oh" and remembered the bad things Song Chunniang had done.

Then, I remembered something that I had never taken to heart before.

He said thoughtfully, "Imperial Censor Zhang Lian..."

Censor Zhang Lian was retaliated against for impeaching Marquis Shouning, and when he went to Da Ci'en Temple to seek revenge, he was defrauded of a large sum of money.

Then Zhang Lian gave up and set his target of revenge on Song Chunniang.

"Zhang Lian, Zhang Lian."

Pei Yuan was lost in thought.

Chen Toutie knew where Pei Yuan's home was. Seeing Pei Yuan and Song Zongqi talking, he took the initiative to go ahead and lead the way.

Dengshikou Hutong, where Pei Yuan lived, was a relatively prosperous area in the Dongcheng area.

Otherwise, Pei Yuan’s small shabby courtyard would not have been mortgaged for fifty taels of silver.

When Pei Yuan was having financial difficulties, he resorted to forging the title deed and mortgaged the house in multiple places.

Of course, thanks to his good brother Lu Dahua, all his troubles have completely disappeared.

Chen Toutie led the way and saw the words "owe, debt, pay, money" that had just been scraped off and faintly visible on a gray wall. He couldn't help but said happily, "We're almost there."

After walking about ten steps forward, there was indeed the door.

At this time, the gate of the courtyard was wide open, and some servants were busy working inside and outside.

There were also some people carrying chickens, ducks, fish and meat, walking in a hurry.

Chen Toutie was wondering if he had taken the wrong path.

He has been to Pei Yuan's house more than once, this shouldn't be the case.

Thinking in his mind, he looked at the other walls covered with white lime at the door. Although the words could no longer be seen there, what he had seen and heard in the past was still vivid in his mind, and he unconsciously overlapped several murderous words.

That’s right, it’s this place!
At this moment, many people who were looking out the door to watch the excitement turned around.

They saw Chen Toutie was stunned, then he looked back and looked at the group of people.

Many people showed joy on their faces and shouted, "Hey, Pei Yuan is back!"

Some people didn't see anyone and asked in confusion, "Where is he? Where is he?"

Chen Toutie thought, it looks like this is the place.

He frowned, strode forward, grabbed a servant who was wiping the gate, and asked, "Where are you from? Who let you in?"

The servant looked back confidently and asked, "Who are you?"

Chen Toutie was slightly angry. He pushed the man away and strode into the yard.

As soon as I entered the courtyard, I saw Yun Buxian directing the servants to tidy up the place.

Chen Toutie and Yun Buxian had met before. When he came over, Cheng Leixiang also mentioned that Yun Buxian might be here, so he was not surprised to see him.

Chen Toutie stared at Yun Buxian and shouted angrily, "How dare you! This is Captain Pei's residence, who let you in?!"

When Yun Buxian saw Chen Toutie, he immediately came over with a smile on his face. "It turns out to be Chen Zongqi, I'm Yun Buxian!"

Chen Toutie was upset and shouted angrily, "Who do you think you are? How dare you call me your brother?"

Yun Buxian saw Chen Toutie was angry, but his expression remained unchanged. He still smiled and said, "General Chen, please don't get angry. I have already informed Captain Pei about my presence here."

Chen Toutie was slightly stunned, and asked bluntly, "Why don't I know?"

Yun Buxian explained with a smile, "At that time, the captain assigned me to do something and come to this courtyard to fetch things for the captain. Does General Chen still remember?"

Chen Toutie frowned after hearing this, "Captain Pei only asked you to come and get the bottle, he never let you come and go as you please."

Yun Buxian smiled upon hearing this and said, "When I took the brocade box, I accidentally dug up the Qianhu family's yard. So I took extra care of the yard and transplanted some flowers and trees here as a token of my appreciation."

"Later, because I delivered the brocade box in time, I was awarded a small flag by the captain. I thought that it was unreasonable to give up halfway when working for the boss, so I often came here to take care of the flowers and trees for the captain."

"Today I heard that the captain was coming back, so I dared to make some preparations for him. Although it may be presumptuous, I am just doing my best."

After hearing this, Chen Toutie vaguely remembered that Yun Bushian said he would take care of the courtyard for Qianhu.

His expression eased slightly, and he said, "The captain has arrived. Please follow me to greet him."

Yun Buxian showed a look of joy on his face, and said quickly, "I will go right away, right away."

After walking two steps with Chen Toutie, Yun Buxian asked tentatively, "My father has been summoned by the commander, so he is waiting here. He is making a fire and boiling water in the backyard. Do you want to call him to go and welcome the commander together?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Toutie suddenly had a bad impression of these two opportunistic father and son.

Just when we were about to get rid of Cheng Leixiang, two more flatterers came.

Yun Weilin has a wide network of contacts in Beijing. He usually deals with eminent monks, Dharma kings, high-ranking officials and nobles. I didn't expect that he would put aside his airs and run to the back to boil water.

Chen Toutie was not polite and said directly, "Let him light the fire, and you come with me to see the captain first."

At this moment Pei Yuan had also arrived at the door.

Although he is no longer the same as before, he can only greet the old neighbors with a smile.

Captain Pei thought that he had made it big now, so of course he had to do things decently and not act like a villain who had succeeded and was arrogant.

Pei Yuan greeted a few times, and then someone asked, "Pei Yuan, where have you moved to now? A few days ago, I met someone asking about you."

Pei Yuan was startled when he heard this. He looked up, but couldn't tell who was asking the question, so he answered, "Of course I still live here. I went to Nanjing on business a while ago. I just came back."

The neighbor was shocked when he heard this and quickly said, "Pei Yuan, someone has always lived in your yard. Could it be that you mortgaged it to someone else and it was taken away by someone else?"

Pei Yuan was shocked when he heard this. He wrote a total of five mortgage deeds, some real and some fake.

Lu Dahua has already got it all, how could he possibly give it away as collateral to someone else?

Just as he was suspicious, Chen Toutie had already brought Yun Buxian over.

Then Chen Toutie whispered a few words in Pei Yuan's ear, and Pei Yuan realized that it was Yun Buxian who had been taking care of him here these days.

When Yun Buxian saw Chen Toutie finished speaking, he quickly stepped forward and bowed, "Little Bannerman Yun Buxian, I greet Captain Pei."

Pei Yuan looked at Yun Buxian and asked calmly, "Have you finished what I told you to do?"

Yun Buxian's forehead was slightly sweaty after hearing this, and he quickly said, "I have already persuaded my father to give up Da Ci'en Temple and move to Zhihua Temple instead."

Pei Yuan thought of the trouble caused by this father and son, and really wanted to kick Yun Buxian to death.

Pei Yuan is a result-oriented person, as long as the problem can be solved.

If it were an ordinary time, as long as Yun Buxian could accomplish this, Pei Yuan wouldn't care how early or late it was.

However, Yun Weilin, this fence-sitter, came over just when Pei Yuan was in the most difficult time.

Pei Yuan thought about the 60,000 taels of silver placed in Zhihua Temple, and then thought about Yun Weilin's complicated relationships in the capital, so he could only put the matter aside for the time being and settle accounts with them next time.

Pei Yuan then said to Yun Buxian, "Since you have accomplished this, why don't you come to Huai'an to find me?"

There was more and more sweat on Yun Buxian's forehead.

It is difficult to conceal the fact that his family is sitting on the fence. As long as Pei Yuan asks Cheng Zhihu about the time of the change of guard, he will immediately understand their little thoughts.

He was at a loss as to how to answer this question.

It is to choose a lie that allows both parties to save face, and then move on from the incident.

Or should I just point it out right from the start, hoping that my sincerity will earn Captain Pei's forgiveness?
Yun Buxian's heart was in a mess for a moment.

Then Pei Yuan said "Hmm?" in a heavy nasal tone.

Yun Buxian gritted his teeth and said, "I am sorry that I did not see the situation clearly and let the captain down."

Pei Yuan heard this and laughed.

He could also understand Yun Buxian's dilemma.

If he chose to lie, even if Pei Yuan revealed the matter to him now, Yun Buxian’s future would be over.

Yun Weilin gave up the Da Ci'en Temple, which he had run for many years, in the hope that Yun Buxian would have a good future.

If they lied at this time, it would undoubtedly cause them and their son to lose both their wife and their army, resulting in heavy losses.

But if he admitted his previous fence-sitting now, he could still bet on Pei Yuan's tolerance.

Moreover, it is better to use it than to make progress. Sometimes, if your boss has some leverage over you, you may get more opportunities.

After hearing Yun Buxian resolutely admit his mistake, Pei Yuan did not continue to dwell on the Yun family's fence-sitting.

He considered it for a moment and said calmly, "I arranged the task for you, and you completed it, so you deserve credit."

Before Yun Buxian could smile, Pei Yuan continued, "You failed to arrive in Huai'an in time as I requested. You have made mistakes, but your merits and demerits offset each other, and you have lost your general flag."

After hearing this, Yun Buxian breathed a sigh of relief.

He bowed quickly and said, "Thank you for your forgiveness, I will work harder in the future."

Pei Yuan responded through his nose.

He asked again, "Where is Yun Weilin?"

The most important thing now is to stabilize Yun Weilin.

Now that he had gotten the old guy out of Da Ci'en Temple, Pei Yuan had no reason to let him go back.

Zhihua Temple, as Pei Yuan's planned base, must not be handed over to a fence-sitter like Yun Weilin. The only solution now is to find a way to move Yun Weilin to another position.

However, if Pei Yuan continuously adjusted Yun Weilin's garrison location like this and was regarded by Yun Weilin as a humiliation or a sign of hostility, then he might bring himself unexpected trouble.

After all, no matter how Yun Weilin sits on the fence, he has now chosen to stand on Pei Yuan's side.

There was no need for Pei Yuan to push away this powerful helper.

Yun Buxian heard this and replied, "Father knows that the captain has been traveling a long way and is making a fire to boil water in the backyard. I will ask him to come and pay his respects to the captain right away."

Seeing the humble attitude of the Yun family father and son, Pei Yuan's original thoughts changed slightly and he thought silently.

Well, since you have surrendered without a fight, it is time for me to take further action.

(End of this chapter)