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

Chapter 287: Trying to cover up the obvious
Pei Yuan didn't know what exactly happened in Zhihua Temple, but he was prepared for the worst.

Pei Yuan looked around and thought that the Yun family father and son had good connections in the capital, which might be useful, so he said without hesitation, "You two, follow along."

Yun Buxian glanced quickly at Yun Weilin.

Yun Weilin's expression remained unchanged. He stood up and said, "I wonder if it is from the Five Cities Military Department or the Imperial Guards? If it is from the Five Cities Military Department, I can still say something, but if it is from the Imperial Guards..."

Yun Weilin paused and said, "We are affiliated with the Nanjing Jinyiwei, and the two sides are not very harmonious."

Pei Yuan thought of the days when he was in Nanzhili and slaughtered those people from the Northern Pacification Division, and couldn't help but add, "Indeed."

He couldn't figure out what was going on, so he could only say irritably, "Let's go and take a look."

After looking around, Pei Yuan didn't see Song Chunniang.

Only then did he remember that this woman was eating in the house with Jiao Yaner.

Pei Yuan went to knock on the door, and without waiting for anyone to come over, he said through the door, "I'll leave you to guard the house."

After a pause, he emphasized, "Old rules."

Jiao Yan'er didn't answer in the room, and Song Chunniang responded calmly, "Okay."

These days, Pei Yuan has become accustomed to running away, and Song Chunniang has become more and more familiar with her position.

She added in the room, "Send me a message at any time. If something happens, you know where to find me."

The alley where Censor Zhang Lian lived immediately came to Pei Yuan’s mind.

Pei Yuan said nothing more and immediately went to the car to look for his official uniform.

Those Jinyiwei who entered the city in plain clothes also went to the car in the front yard to look for their clothes.

After a while, Pei Yuan changed into his official uniform, and the other personal soldiers were also ready.

Pei Yuan took an Xiuchun sword from someone else and replaced his Bazhou sword. Then he led everyone out and headed for Zhihua Temple.

Before he reached the place, Pei Yuan was stopped by Cheng Leixiang who came in a panic.

Pei Yuan asked directly, "What's going on?"

Cheng Leixiang could hardly hide the shock on his face. He spoke almost incoherently, "The emperor, the emperor went to Zhihua Temple."

When Pei Yuan heard this, the Embroidered Spring Sword in his hand almost fell to the ground.

This bastard Zhengde, is he trying to make things difficult for me?
Pei Yuan almost trembled as he asked, "Where are the soldiers?"

More than 600 local guards appeared in the capital, and they were quietly hiding in the temples. The worst thing was that they happened to catch up with Zhu Houzhao's visit to Zhihua Temple...

If he was caught red-handed, Pei Yuan wouldn't need to explain. He would just have to escape as soon as possible while the city gate was not closed.

Cheng Leixiang said quickly, "I asked the monks in the temple to pretend to clear the pilgrims and drove everyone out in front of those people."

Pei Yuan then felt that his body had regained strength, and his heart finally settled down.

He patted Cheng Leixiang's shoulder vigorously and said excitedly, "Well done!"

This is the value of a third-rank commander!

Pei Yuan thought of something else, and his heart was lifted again. He looked at Cheng Leixiang nervously, "Then, where's the money?"

Cheng Leixiang was speechless for a moment before he said, "The money is in the temple."

Pei Yuan felt dizzy again.

That’s sixty thousand taels of silver!
Pei Yuan said, "Take me to see it!"

Cheng Leixiang reminded nervously, "Captain, that's the emperor today, don't be reckless."

At this time, Pei Yuan finally remembered what happened when he left Beijing last time.

At the beginning, because Zhu Houzhao went to wander around Zhihua Temple, Zhang Rong, the commander-in-chief of the Jinyiwei, suspected that this matter was an allusion to Zhang Yong being Wang Zhen.

Zhang Rong did not dare to inquire directly about the emperor's words and deeds, so he asked Pei Yuan to go to Zhihua Temple and inquire from Taoist Zhenji under the pretext of getting silver for Captain Han.

It was also because of his arrival at Zhihua Temple that Pei Yuan met Cheng Zhihu, obtained the green-glazed porcelain vase, and later received Cheng Leixiang.

The trouble that troubled Zhu Houzhao flashed through Pei Yuan's mind, and he had a bold guess about why Zhu Houzhao came to Zhihua Temple again after a year.

Zhu Houzhao still has not found a way to break free from the political shackles. The adverse impact of the Tumu Incident still makes the court ministers control him, preventing him from mobilizing troops easily.

This guy has been unable to break the impasse, so he has no choice but to choose to solve the problem at the source.

——To overturn the verdict on Emperor Yingzong of Ming.

In the current political climate, this is simply courting death.

Zhu Houzhao’s death had nothing to do with Pei Yuan, but if this guy wanted to start with Wang Zhen, it would be troublesome.

In the courtyard where Wang Zhen was worshipped, there were still 60,000 taels of silver hidden!

The ground has just been turned over!

Pei Yuan thought of his 60,000 taels of silver, and didn't care about much else. He directly said to Cheng Leixiang, "Can you arrange for me to lead someone to sneak in?"

Cheng Leixiang knew Pei Yuan's boldness and greed for money, and he dared not even imagine what his intentions were.

Cheng Leixiang hurriedly advised, "The emperor has already entered the Zhihua Temple, which is now surrounded by the Jinyiwei. Qianhu, please don't be impulsive."

Pei Yuan hesitated for a while, then gritted his teeth and said, "I'll go in and take a look. Maybe there's a chance to make amends."

Cheng Leixiang reminded again, "I'm afraid it's difficult to get in."

Pei Yuan pulled out his ivory waist badge and cursed, "Cheng Leixiang, you are fucking confused, we are also Jinyiwei!"

Only then did Cheng Leixiang realize that not only was his family a member of the Jinyiwei, but his own captain was also a member of the rank of Qianhu who held an ivory badge and could enter the palace at any time.

Cheng Leixiang smiled awkwardly.

He is quite different from Chen Toutie, who was imprisoned in Dongchang for ten years.

He was a wandering knight who was temporarily recruited by Pei Yuan and directly entered the Nanjing Jinyiwei Zhenxie Qianhu Suo.

Then, not long after he took office, he followed Pei Yuan and took advantage of the military chaos to rob court officials who had left the capital. He then lied to the court about his military achievements and used a series of operations to trick himself into being promoted to a higher rank.

After arriving in Nanjing, he accepted the task from the court and began to confront the Northern Pacification Office head-on.

It is unclear how many imperial officers and soldiers were killed, but in the end, the eunuch Lu Ting, who was in charge of the matter, chose to compromise and stop fighting.

After finally arriving in Suzhou, it was finally time for me to serve the court.

As a result, just to transport the silver out of Suzhou City, he first broke into the Suzhou government office at night, and then deceived the governor of the Suzhou and Hangzhou Weaving Factory.

After transporting the silver to Yangzhou, he directly massacred the entire Huben Zuowei.

After resolving the issue of Huben Zuowei and rushing to Huai'an, his own captain jumped directly into the Bazhou rebels. What made Cheng Leixiang feel very puzzling was that his own captain actually had the aura of the leader of the Bazhou rebels.

Even Cheng Leixiang himself could travel between the rebel forces in Bazhou as Pei Yuan's younger brother, chatting and laughing with Liu Liu and Liu Qi as if he was in his own deserted place.

Therefore, Cheng Leixiang's life experiences since taking office really made him dare not imagine that he was still the emperor's personal soldier.

It was only after Pei Yuan shouted at him that Cheng Leixiang suddenly woke up...

I'm a policeman. Cheng Leixiang, who found out that he was a member of the emperor's personal army, immediately led Pei Yuan and a group of personal soldiers to the main gate of Zhihua Temple.

When they were still far away, the Jinyiwei stepped forward to stop them.

Cheng Leixiang looked at Pei Yuan, and Pei Yuan directly threw his ivory badge to the Jinyiwei.

The Jinyiwei was shocked when he saw that it was made of ivory.

This thing can only be used when entering or leaving the palace.

Even the ministers in the court had to take their own ivory waist badges according to their official positions when entering the imperial city.

It seems that the only one who carries an ivory waist badge and can enter and leave the palace at will is the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard!
The Jinyiwei quickly held up the badge and looked at it carefully.

This ivory waist badge is the size of a palm, and there are several rows of words engraved in the middle of the tiger's mouth.

The two rows above are the thousand households and deputy thousand households of the Suppressing Evil Office.

The bottom row has two characters engraved on it: Pei Yuan.

The Jinyiwei was a little dumbfounded. He didn't understand which Thousand Households Office the Evil-Suppressing Thousand Households Office was, nor did he understand how a mere deputy thousand-household office could have an ivory waist badge.

The Jinyiwei frowned and looked at Pei Yuan suspiciously, "Where did you get this badge?"

Pei Yuan looked at the Jinyiwei with a deliberate arrogance, and said impatiently, "How dare you! I am a deputy captain of the Jinyiwei holding an ivory waist badge. Do I have to give an explanation to a mere Jinyiwei captain like you?"

"The emperor gave us the ivory waist badge of the evil-suppressing thousand-household unit so that I can enter the palace at any time and protect the emperor."

"Who do you think you are, blocking me out?"

The Jinyiwei had a low position and felt uneasy when Pei Yuan scolded him like that.

He immediately forced a smile and said, "I really don't know, I'll go show it to our superior."

Having said that, the Jinyiwei signaled others to come and monitor the group of people, and left quickly holding Pei Yuan's badge.

Pei Yuan watched the man leave, feeling somewhat uneasy.

The relationship between myself and the Northern Pacification Office is really hard to describe in a few words.

It would be very bad if there was an enemy among the Jinyiwei military officers who were carrying out the mission.

Just when Pei Yuan was worried that Zhu Houzhao would discover his hidden silver, and was also worried that he would be harassed by his enemies in the Northern Pacification Office.

Then a fat military officer holding Pei Yuan's badge appeared at the other end of the alley.

Pei Yuan looked at the fat military officer and felt that he looked familiar.

As he was recalling, the fat military officer had already walked in front of Pei Yuan.

He looked at Pei Yuan's badge, then looked at Pei Yuan again, and said with a fake smile, "Isn't this the former Captain Pei?"

At this time, Pei Yuan suddenly remembered who this fat military officer was.

This person was none other than Zhang Rong's confidant, Sun Bo, a captain of the Imperial Guard.

In order to find out the details of Zhu Houzhao's visit to Zhihua Temple, Zhang Rong asked Sun Bo to give him a few taels of silver to win him over.

Captain Pei, who was poor and had low aspirations at the time, decisively chose to betray Captain Han and told Zhang Rong everything he had seen and heard.

Pei Yuan knew that behind this guy was the Jinyiwei boss Zhang Rong, and behind Zhang Rong was the current internal minister, Si Lijian's seal holder Zhang Yong. A cordial smile immediately appeared on his face.

He greeted, "Isn't this Captain Sun? It's been a year since we last met, but Captain Sun is still as charming as ever."

Sun Bo glanced at the ivory waist badge in his hand, his face still showing a dead smile, "I can't compare to Captain Pei, who is now the deputy captain of the Suppressing Evil Captain's Office."

As Sun Bo spoke, he waved his hand, signaling the Jinyiwei who were blocking the way to retreat.

Pei Yuan heaved a sigh of relief, and then stepped forward to greet Sun Bo, "Captain Sun, why are you here at Zhihua Temple today?"

Sun Bo glanced at Pei Yuan and said, "You came here in such a hurry, why are you asking questions when you already know the answer?"

Pei Yuan sighed and said, "Maybe Captain Sun doesn't know that Captain Han has entrusted the management of the affairs north of Huai'an to my brother. It would be fine if the emperor went somewhere else, but temples and palaces are all places where I, Captain Zhenxie, sit and investigate. If something goes wrong, how can I explain it to the court?"

After hearing this, Sun Bo couldn't help but look at Pei Yuan again.

He did not mention the matter of Zhihua Temple, but instead said to Pei Yuan in an ambiguous tone, "I didn't expect that our Northern Pacification Division would really wrong a talented person like you. It seems that Captain Han is still good at selecting and appointing people to the right positions."

Pei Yuan was no longer at the age where he would say anything just to show off, so he immediately replied with a smile, "Perhaps Captain Han saw that my brother had the good fortune of winning the first place in the martial arts examination, so he looked favorably upon me."

"First place in the martial arts exam?" Sun Bo had a strange look on his face.

As a close confidant of Zhang Rong, the deputy commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, how could he not know how Pei Yuan got the first place in the martial arts examination?

At that time, there were spies from the Imperial Guard on the parade ground, recording the situation.

Sun Bo estimated that Captain Han was probably unaware of the situation and was fooled just like Dongchang Admiral Qiu Ju, who thought he was an important figure and gave him the important task of deputy captain.

Sun Bo smiled and said in an ambiguous tone, "You are lucky."

Seeing that Sun Bo still looked down on him like that day, Pei Yuan took the initiative to ask, "I see Captain Sun waiting here. Could it be that the commander-in-chief is also here with the emperor?"

Zhang Bo responded.

Suddenly remembering something, he paused slightly and asked.

"You just said that all the temples and monasteries north of Huai'an are now under your jurisdiction."

Pei Yuan said, "That's right."

Sun Bo's eyes lit up, "Very good!"

Then he asked Pei Yuan, "Do you remember what the uncle told you last time?"

Pei Yuan was stunned for a moment before he remembered that Zhang Rong had the title of Earl of Anding.

Pei Yuan thought about Sun Bo's intention and tentatively answered, "Could it be that he is investigating the emperor's behavior in Zhihua Temple?"

Sun Bo's face darkened. "What are you talking about? Don't cause trouble for Master Bo."

Pei Yuan saw Sun Bo's attempt to cover up something that only made it more obvious and roughly understood what he meant.

Sun Bo patted the back of Pei Yuan's hand and said nothing more.

After a while, when they walked to a less crowded section, Sun Bo touched Pei Yuan's arm calmly.

Pei Yuan looked over and saw Sun Bo holding a piece of silver and handing it over, "Here."

A half-smile flashed across Pei Yuan's face, but he still took the silver.

Sun Bo then whispered, "You've come just in time. Go and serve the emperor later."

Pei Yuan's identity was clear. He was a deputy captain of the Jinyiwei and also the head of the temple spies.

If he were to approach the emperor with such an identity, the emperor might ask him directly if he had any concerns.

Pei Yuan said softly, "Okay, I understand."

Sun Bo was a little worried, so he gave him one more reminder, "You are also a military officer of the Jinyiwei. Even if you are not in our Northern Pacification Division, don't cause trouble for Captain Han. Just follow the emperor and serve him obediently. If the emperor has any instructions, listen carefully and don't speak if you can."

(End of this chapter)