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

Chapter 317 Why is it you again?

Pei Yuan dragged Liang Ciwu, who was about to be beaten to death, and made his presence felt in front of the officials' families and scholars in the Da Ci'en Temple.

Many scholars discussed this person when they saw Pei Yuan beating Liang Ciwu violently yesterday.

Afterwards, Pei Yuan deliberately spread some news, for example, the Jinyiwei was in charge of monks and Taoists, and was different from those court lackeys.

But this is too different.

It was only the next day, and Liang Ciwu, who had been beaten violently the day before, was dragged out and beaten violently again.

Everyone felt a little complicated when they saw Liang Ciwu being beaten to the point where he was barely breathing.

It was almost as Pei Yuan expected. Not long after he showed off Liang Ci'e to everyone, Liang Chu came chasing after him with some people from the Bingmasi.

When Liang Chu appeared and saw the officials' families and scholars who were looking at him in silence, the face of this Grand Secretary who held the highest power in the Ming Dynasty turned as pale as paper.

--This morning he had found an opportunity to exercise his political skills to extricate himself from this dilemma, and with his skillful tactics he had intended to put an end to all the troubles at one stroke.

Then, with a time difference of less than a quarter of an hour, Liang Chu fell from the sky to the ground.

Just when Liang Chu was filled with remorse, Zhang Rong also rushed over with a large group of Jinyiwei.

He quickly glanced at the field and stared at Pei Yuan fiercely.

Pei Yuan's men, the Wucheng Bingmasi people, and the Beizhenfusi people, the three fully armed groups, were confronting each other from a distance outside the Da Ci'en Temple. The atmosphere was so tense and depressing that no one present dared to say a word.

Pei Yuan glanced around, let go of Liang Ci'e, and said to his men in a deep voice, "Across the way are the Five Cities Military Department brought by the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, and the Northern Pacification Department brought by the Jinyiwei Commander-in-Chief. Are you afraid?"

Life is precious in troubled times, and those Jinyiwei who were transferred from Xuzhou Guards all shouted, "Don't be afraid! We will follow Qianhu!"

Pei Yuan was overjoyed when he heard this. He said to everyone with satisfaction, "Very good, each word is worth one or two taels of silver! I will reward you later!"

The morale of those who followed Pei Yuan was greatly boosted, and many of them were even ready to fight a bloody battle with the other side.

Perhaps it was the arrival of Zhang Rong, his ally, that gave Liang Chu confidence. He shouted at Pei Yuan, "Pei Yuan, you are so brave! How dare you break into the residence of the Grand Secretary without permission!"

"Do you know your guilt?!"

Pei Yuan didn't take up this topic. This topic was like a high-voltage wire. If touched, it would lead to death.

Not to mention that he was just a small centurion, even the current emperor would not dare to search the home of a cabinet minister without the support of a political faction.

Pei Yuan looked at Liang Chu calmly, motioned to his side, and asked loudly, word by word, "Grandmaster, who do you think I caught in the Liang family?"

Liang Chu looked at his son who was beaten to death, "This, this is..."

Zhang Rong coughed heavily beside him.

Liang Chu would rather gamble all his political reputation and protect Liang Ci'e to the death when the scholars were calling for war and killing.

How could we ignore Liang Ci's life or death at this moment just to make up for the failure of a political speculation?

Liang Chu understood Pei Yuan's purpose of questioning him, and finally said with difficulty, "This is my son Liang Ci'an."

After Liang Chu finished saying this, Zhang Rong's eyes, staring at Liang Chu's back, immediately became vicious.

Pei Yuan finally put down the heavy stone in his heart when he heard Liang Chu admit the matter!
Pei Yuan seized on this and immediately raised his voice to ask, "Then why did you dare to lie to the emperor at the court today, saying that Liang Ci'an had been beaten to death by me?"

When Pei Yuan said this, Liang Chu and Zhang Rong understood that someone in the inner palace must have sent a message to Pei Yuan, which allowed Pei Yuan to take the initiative and catch Liang Chu before he could hide Liang Ci'e.

The two people's plan failed.

Zhang Rong quickly thought of the person in the inner palace who could accomplish this, and shouted angrily, "How dare you! We are questioning you about trespassing into the residence of the Grand Secretary!"

"If the Jinyiwei acted so unruly, wouldn't everyone in the court be in danger?"

"What has become of this court?!"

When Pei Yuan heard Zhang Rong talking about the rules of the Jinyiwei, he couldn't help but laugh.

These tamed guys are indeed far inferior to Han Qianhu in terms of awareness.

Pei Yuan also knew that Zhang Rong was going to hold on to this handle, and he realized that this was not the time to be ambiguous, so he stopped backing down.

Pei Yuan stared at the two men and said slowly in an oppressive and cold tone, "The Jinyiwei are the eyes and ears of the emperor. We are the ears and eyes of the emperor."

"If anyone dares to talk nonsense to the emperor, I, Pei Yuan, will listen and see for the emperor."

He glanced at Liang Ci'an beside him and continued slowly, "Now, I heard it and saw it!"

"You, you..." Liang Chu looked at Pei Yuan and suddenly felt a chill.

At this moment, he thought of something he had occasionally seen.

That is a fear that is only recorded in history books, of these vicious dogs.

Just as they were working together to deceive the emperor, the Imperial Guards appeared!
The imperial inspector who was in charge of the East City Military Department and followed Liang Chu asked in a low voice, "Do you want me to impeach this man?"

Liang Chu seemed to have aged several years in an instant. He was silent for a long time before shaking his head with an unpleasant expression, "No need. I am old, and it is time for me to retire."

Liang Chu deliberately raised his voice so that everyone around him could hear what he said.

After saying that, he looked at Liang Cifeng reluctantly a few more times, then turned and left.

Liang Chu admitted defeat and left the scene. Pei Yuan immediately breathed a sigh of relief and turned his gaze to meet Zhang Rong.

Zhang Rong stared at Pei Yuan viciously.

From time to time, Jinyiwei people came behind him, and their strength was slowly increasing.

Zhang Rong was not in a hurry to express his opinion, as if he wanted to use this little bit of pressure to force Pei Yuan to finally give in.

While Pei Yuan was struggling in the quagmire of the market, he summed up the theory of uncompromising.

The increasing number of Jinyiwei from the Northern Pacification Division has surpassed that of the Five Cities Army Division that Liang Chu took away. Pei Yuan's Jinyiwei also felt the pressure.

However, Zhang Rong was somewhat surprised by how these guys reacted to the pressure.

As the gap in strength between the two sides widened, more and more people on Pei Yuan's side began to draw their swords.

Except for Chen Toutui and some brave ones who remained calm, most of the Xuzhou soldiers chose to draw their swords.

Now Zhang Rong's face looked even uglier.

Not long after, Sikong Sui and Tantai Fangtu also came with their men.

The two old men looked at each other and without hesitation, they drew their swords from a distance.

Zhang Rong looked at Pei Yuan again, turned around and left without saying a word. When the troops of the Northern Pacification Division retreated, the onlookers in front of the Da Ci'en Temple seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and the whole atmosphere relaxed.

Tantai Fangtu and Sikong Sui were both confused and came over to ask, "Captain, what's going on?"

Pei Yuan and his people had nothing to hide, and said angrily, "I was tricked, but I didn't suffer any loss."

After Pei Yuan finished speaking, he was too lazy to pay attention to the two centurions' further questions and motioned Chen Toutie to explain.

He silently reviewed this Jedi counterattack.

Without mentioning the process, judging from the results, his judgment was generally accurate and he did not suffer any loss.

From the very beginning when Pei Yuan got involved in the "Liang Ci's murder case", he had already prepared to offend Liang Chu.

But this is an important opportunity for Pei Yuan to intervene in the court, and he has to do it.

Now Liang Chu has been forced into a desperate situation by his own actions. No matter how he tries to argue or mobilize his followers, he has to resign to the emperor according to the procedures.

Regardless of whether the emperor agrees or not, Liang Chu, who looks weak, will face the greedy gazes of his subordinates.

Judging from Pei Yuan's judgment of Zhu Houzhao, what he needed was a grand secretary whose prestige had been completely lost and whose character was questionable.

Zhu Houzhao might very well take action to preserve Liang Chu's position, but such a Liang Chu could not even be called a toothless tiger, at most he could only be regarded as a tiger skin hanging there.

As for Zhang Rong, his treatment may be more direct than Liang Chu's.

According to the historical trend and the confirmation Pei Yuan obtained from Gu Dayong, Zhu Houzhao had originally planned to replace the slaves who had grown up with him with more capable "old people from Hongzhi".

The countdown to Zhang Yong's resignation has already begun.

The last time Pei Yuan informed Zhu Houzhao, it also touched Zhu Houzhao's nerves, and he became wary of the brothers Zhang Yong and Zhang Rong.

This time things are obviously worse.

The Jinyiwei were the eyes and ears of the emperor, and Zhang Rong, the manager of the Jinyiwei, actually used some means to deliberately deceive the emperor, and these means were exposed.

Zhang Rong will definitely not have an easy time this time.

The severity of the punishment may take into account Zhang Yong's alliance with the cabinet, but don't even dream of being in charge of the Jinyiwei.

Pei Yuan killed two enemies at once and gained a lot of reputation from those candidates. The only trouble might be that his reckless rush into the residence of the Grand Secretary would lead to criticism.

But this trouble is subtle.

First of all, Liang Chu would not bring it up on his own initiative, because this was a big scandal that he was eager for everyone to forget. This was his despicable behavior of deceiving the emperor and bending the law to protect Liang Ci'an, so he would never take the initiative to talk about this matter.

Secondly, if Zhu Houzhao tried his best to protect Liang Chu, and this Grand Secretary was still alive, then other civil servants would be restricted and it would be difficult for them to do anything about this matter.

Because if Pei Yuan's matter is brought up, it would be equivalent to exposing Liang Chu's shortcomings at the same time.

Most of those who can do things in the court are smart people who have eliminated countless competitors and stood out. They may do some stupid things for their positions, but if they are called stupid, it would be an insult to the thousands of scholars in the Ming Dynasty.

Pei Yuan had not yet done the most crucial step, so after letting everyone witness once again that this was Liang Ciwu, he directly escorted Liang Ciwu to the Censorate.

The Right Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, Wang Ding, was just dismissed by the emperor yesterday, and the Left Censor-in-Chief, Hong Zhong, is recuperating at home due to old age.

So looking at this hot potato of Liang Ci's, the Right Deputy Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate did not dare to get involved at all and went straight to his higher authorities to ask for instructions.

After this request, the situation fell into the hands of Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe.

The two grand secretaries felt their scalps tingling when they saw Liang Ci'ao being escorted to the Censorate.

Didn’t Liang Chu just say at the court meeting this morning that his son was beaten to death? How come he was being escorted to the Censorate again?

Both of them had a very bad idea in their minds, something bad was going to happen!
Li Dongyang was old and fainted on the spot.

Yang Tinghe no longer cared about respecting the elderly and loving the young. He grabbed Li Dongyang's hair and started shaking it, "Xiya, wake up, wake up quickly!"

Li Dongyang grimaced for a while, then recovered and ignored Yang Tinghe's prompting. He sighed, "I am old and it is time for me to retire. My position as the Prime Minister of the Cabinet should be left to someone who is responsible."

Yang Tinghe fell silent for a moment.

Li Dongyang has been clamoring to beg for his remains for years, but nothing has happened.

Seeing that he was only one step away from becoming the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, how could Yang Tinghe not have any ideas in his mind?

He understood that Li Dongyang wanted to take advantage of the situation, but if he could make Li Dongyang give a straightforward answer, his efforts as a villain would not be in vain.

Yang Tinghe sighed immediately, "Since Xiya is tired, take a rest first. I will go to see the emperor now."

Yang Tinghe immediately took the document submitted by the Censorate and went to ask for an audience with Zhu Houzhao.

When Zhu Houzhao heard about Pei Yuan killing Liang Ciwu during the morning court session, he was confused and puzzled, so he subconsciously kept the memorial for investigation.

As a result, not long after the court was dismissed, Yang Tinghe came to report that Liang Ciwu was not dead and was escorted to the Censorate by Pei Yuan.

Zhu Houzhao remembered that it was Zhang Rong who had made the report, and his face darkened. He wanted to send someone to investigate, but he was worried about the Jinyiwei, so he summoned Qiu Ju to bring people from the East Depot to find out the situation.

But Qiu Ju received the assignment and led the East Factory's men out of the imperial city.

On the way, he was intercepted by people sent by Zhang Yong. Qiu Ju was shocked after hearing what Zhang Yong said and didn't know what to do for a while.

If this matter were to become public, the entire court would be in uproar. If he helped Zhang Rong cover it up, he would probably suffer the consequences.

Qiu Jusi thought about it over and over again, feeling confused and could only decide to act according to circumstances.

When they arrived outside the Censorate, Qiu Ju saw Pei Yuan surrounded by the Embroidered Uniform Guards from afar.

The head of the East Factory thought of the grudges and entanglement with the guy in front of him, and felt powerless in his heart. Why is it you again?
Fortunately, more than a year has passed since the incident, and Eunuch Qiu has finally let it go.

When he arrived, he did not move forward, but directly asked the eunuch to call Pei Yuan to come and see him.

When Pei Yuan saw the familiar imperial guards, he knew that the person coming was from the Eastern Depot.

He felt relieved again.

This shows that the emperor has already known about the matter, and he has become wary of the Jinyiwei, so he asked the Dongchang to investigate.

Pei Yuan came in front of Qiu Ju and bowed respectfully, "I am Pei Yuan, honored to meet you, Mr. Factory Master!"

Qiu Ju couldn't help but sigh, "Zhang Yong is not someone you can easily mess with. Why did you mess with him? Wouldn't that make things difficult for everyone?"

Pei Yuan pretended to be surprised when he heard this, "It's fine if it's difficult for others, but why is it difficult for Eunuch Qiu?"

Qiu Ju didn't want to get involved in this matter, so he simply said, "Zhang Yong came to me to plead for mercy, saying that he wanted to investigate the inside story. He was planning to dig deeper into you and muddy the waters first. But I also heard a little about what you and Gu Dayong were doing, and it's really difficult for me to get involved in it."

(End of this chapter)