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

Chapter 323 Good at Accepting Advice
Pei Yuanzhen was really impressed.

The Ming Dynasty court is simply not suitable for the physique of the Jinyiwei baby.

In what atmosphere are these old villains planning this?

Seeing that Pei Yuan didn't say anything, Tian Fu ended his conversation and concluded, "If the emperor and the cabinet can accept the situation with Liang Chu, then it won't be any different if Jin Gui is replaced. In this way, everyone will have a way out, so that no one will be left with no way out."

Pei Yuan listened to the implicit meaning of his words and another thought flashed through his mind.

This guy has been talking about leaving people a way out since a while ago. Could he be hinting at me not to chop him down because of what happened last time?

You're worrying too much.

I value virtue more than lust, so how can I cut off my own arm over a trivial matter?

Pei Yuan looked at Tian Fu and felt more and more..., he really loves me.

Isn't this kind of person exactly what he wants?
If he had met such a top talent earlier, why would he have needed to win over a scum like Sun Keding?
Pei Yuan was so excited that he couldn't help but praise her, "You are truly my phoenix chick."

Tian Fu, who was trying to exert influence, was stunned and his emotions were interrupted for a moment.

So, after all the effort I put into talking about this, are we all talking about the same topic?

Pei Yuan roughly understood what Tian Fu meant, and secretly remembered the name Jin Gui in his heart. He then said to him, "Brother Tian, ​​don't rush back to Guangdong. Stay in the capital and study hard first."

Tian Fu frowned slightly when he heard this and was about to say something.

Pei Yuan added, "I also said this to Huo Tao."

"This..." Tian Fu couldn't guess what Pei Yuan meant for a moment and became more hesitant.

He said tactfully, "The Huo family is wealthy, and our Tian family can't compare to them. Prices in the capital are high, and I'm afraid it's not easy to live in a big city."

Pei Yuan thought about it and decided not to waste time. He called out and asked Chen Toutie to come in.

Then he said to him, "Pay the money."

Chen Toutie was a little puzzled and quickly took out a few taels of silver from his sleeve.

Pei Yuan smiled and said, "Take them all out."

Chen Toutie finally understood Pei Yuan's meaning and quickly took out all his remaining money, which amounted to about several dozen taels.

Pei Yuan didn't care and pushed the silver coins forward, "I'll have someone send some more over in a few days. Brother Tian, ​​just stay in the capital and study hard to prepare for the exam."

Pei Yuan's mention of the word "prepare for the exam" surprised Tian Fu. He didn't care about the money and asked Pei Yuan immediately, "From what the captain said, is there going to be an imperial exam this year?"

Pei Yuan thought to himself, he is really a smart man, he understands everything at once.

Although Huo Tao didn't say anything, he probably knew it in his mind.

Pei Yuan is still just a makeshift team, so of course he won't say anything that overestimates his own abilities. He can only play dumb and say, "Ah? I guess you just said it casually."

Tian Fu was suspicious but he didn't dare to chase Pei Yuan to ask him about it, so he could only keep it in mind.

He looked at the silver on the table and said, "No merit, no reward. How can I accept the money from Captain Pei?"

Pei Yuan laughed loudly after hearing this. "This silver was not given to you by Captain Pei, but by the righteous Pei. With your relationship, you shouldn't be short of a few dozen taels of silver, right?"

Pei Yuan was laughing at first, but at the end his tone suddenly turned cold.

It was like the originally turbulent and surging sea suddenly became calm and suppressed.

It was so heavy, as if an entire ocean was piled upon the land tax.

Tian Fu couldn't help but tremble all over. The grudge between him and the righteous man Pei was really more than just a matter of dozens of taels of silver.

Pei Yuan said nothing, staring at Tian Fu with sharp eyes.

Tian Fu silently reached out his hand and collected the silver ingots one by one.

Pei Yuan immediately smiled again, "Very good, let's have another drink."

There was no change on Tian Fu's face. He poured wine and drank with Pei Yuan.

The two talked about the court's reconstruction of the canal. Tian Fu said, "I heard that many wealthy merchants are hoarding goods. The court wants to dredge the river and add more canal ships, but I'm afraid it may not be smooth sailing."

Hearing this, Pei Yuan recalled the last time he passed by Jining.

At that time, Pei Yuan ran to find Chen Minzhong to repay the money. The lecherous old man reminded him before he left that Shandong was in chaos and Jining was not a place to stay for long.

This was linked to the subsequent incident where Jining City was easily breached and 1,200 grain ships were burned.

Pei Yuan thought to himself, if there is no connection at all, then there must be something fishy going on.

Otherwise, why would Chen Minzhong watch the show calmly while persuading himself to leave quickly?

Perhaps those who helped set the fire included the wealthy merchants gathered in Jining City.

Pei Yuan felt that there might be nothing good to be gained from this matter, so he simply did not discuss it in depth.

This group of wealthy merchants are not so easy to deal with. Pei Yuan remembered that in order to avoid being implicated in the "Golden Sword Case", they spent all their wealth and teamed up to kill Jinyiwei Commander Lu Zhong.

The person who took the lead in doing this at that time was Pei Youcai, the ancestor of the Pei family.

Unfortunately, Pei Yuan's grandfather and Pei Yuan's father were not good at business. Many families like Chen Minzhong who did business together in the past have risen again. The Pei family did not recover until Pei Yuan clung to Han Qianhu's thigh.

If the hoarding and profiteering incident involves these wealthy merchants, then the water is very deep.

Pei Yuan chatted with Tian Fu for a while. When he was tired of talking, he walked out of the door and asked Yun Buxian without paying attention to the time, "Do you know where Huo Tao lives?"

Seeing that Pei Yuan had no intention of going back, Sikong Sui and Chen Toutie looked at each other in bewilderment. After a long while, they patiently persuaded him, "Captain, it's getting late now. Why don't you go back first and come back tomorrow?"

It was almost ten o'clock in the evening and there were no pedestrians on the street.

Pei Yuan was in a good mood and said without any concern, "When looking for talented people, how can we be bound by time?"

After hearing this, no one knew what to say.

As expected, Yun Buxian had inquired about Huo Tao's residence, so he immediately led the way and took people to look for Huo Tao.

It was already late at night, and many streets were quiet.

The moonlight from the unpolluted sky was bright. Pei Yuan could even see fingerprints when he stretched out his hand.

There were night watchmen on duty in Shuntian Prefecture at night, and the Wucheng Bingmasi also had soldiers patrolling the city from time to time. Pei Yuan and his men were afraid of trouble, so they deliberately avoided walking through the streets.

When they arrived at Huo Tao's rented place, Yun Buxian went up and knocked on the door.

The servant of the Huo family had just fallen asleep when he heard some noise outside. He ran to inform Huo Tao before he dared to come to the door to inquire about the identity of the visitor.

Yun Buxian immediately replied, "It's Captain Pei of the Imperial Guard. He wants to see your master about something."

The people of the Huo family also knew that they had offended the Grand Secretary of the dynasty. After hearing the friendly tone outside, they said, "It is getting late, please wait a moment, and I will go and inform my master."

Huo Tao had already arrived in front of the courtyard.

He went to bed early tonight. When he heard that Pei Yuan was coming to see him, he was very surprised, so he quickly dressed and took the initiative to greet him. When Huo Tao opened the gate and came out, Pei Yuan smiled and said, "So you haven't slept either. It's just right. I have something on my mind and can't sleep. Why don't we talk about it together?"

Huo Tao held his breath after hearing this, and sighed after a while, "Well, since the captain is interested in talking, I will serve you some fragrant tea."

As he spoke, he led Pei Yuan to the hall. Pei Yuan saw that the lights were not on yet and was too lazy to go over.

As he walked along, he felt warm, so he pulled Huo Tao and walked together in the courtyard.

Without waiting for Huo Tao to ask, Pei Yuan took the initiative to start the conversation, "Tian Fu said..."

He added, "Tian Fu also said..."

Huo Tao listened patiently and sneered, "What a boastful and shameless person. I have heard of his reputation, but I didn't expect him to be just like this."

Pei Yuan was cheered up when he heard Huo Tao say this.

"Oh? I wonder why Mr. Huo said that?"

Huo Tao showed a look of disdain on his face, and said contemptuously, "Although Tian Fu's argument sounds well-organized and logically rigorous, it has a fatal flaw."

"That was his plan. It was a series of assumptions stacked on top of another series of assumptions. There were too many variables to achieve a decisive result."

As Huo Tao spoke, he glanced at the ground in the courtyard.

Spring comes late in the north, and the branches of the trees have not yet grown leaves.

Under the gentle moonlight, the shadows of dry branches were cast on the ground, like criss-crossing roads.

Huo Tao pointed at the shadows of the trees on the ground and said to Pei Yuan, "The arguments about the land tax are like a road with many forks. It seems that every fork can be taken, but the final result is uncontrollable."

"If he wants to achieve his goal, he must revise and plan again and again, but in the end, he may achieve nothing."

Pei Yuan thought about it, remembering how Tian Fu was able to adapt to the situation according to his attitude and come up with a plan in the blink of an eye.

Pei Yuan was shocked at Tian Fu's control over the entire situation, but he did not expect Huo Tao to have such an argument.

With both factors confirmed, it seems that what Huo Wolong said makes sense!

Huo Tao continued, "So, a successful plan must be based on certain results, not assumptions."

"For example, the reason why I was so persistent in taking the initiative and letting the court and the public push for the Liang Ci case was because as long as Liang Ci was brought to justice, the court would never use Liang Chu again. The civil and military officials in the court also didn't want to see Liang Chu, who had lost his son, take revenge one day."

"This plan and result are certain. Only based on this certain result, the next step of planning will be meaningful."

"As long as Liang Ci'an is eliminated, the countless possibilities and assumptions will be reduced to a large extent. Instead of running around to deal with various possibilities, it is better to cut the Gordian knot quickly, then proceed step by step and drive the results into a predictable future."

Pei Yuan listened for a long while before he sighed, "He is truly a talent like a sleeping dragon."

After leaving the Huo family's mansion, Pei Yuan wanted to run back to ask Tian Fu what he thought.

Chen Toutie couldn't stand running back and forth in the middle of the night anymore, so he advised earnestly, "Stop making trouble, Captain. Otherwise, go and see General Song."

"Huh?" Pei Yuan came back to his senses and looked at Chen Toutie angrily.

——Traitor!
——This is a traitor!

I never thought that even though I, Pei Yuan, am such a kind-hearted man who loves talents, would have a treacherous minister like Chen Toutie lurking around me!
Pei Yuan became alert and couldn't help but think of Wei Zheng's words.

What was that?

Use copper as a mirror to adjust your clothes and appearance, use history as a mirror to understand the rise and fall, and use people as a mirror to understand gains and losses.

Although Chen Toutie is a treacherous minister, I want to be a wise ruler.

Pei Yuan thought about Taizong's life, admired him and nodded secretly.

I also thought of the little story between Emperor Taizong and Wei Zheng, which was quite rewarding.

Very good. If I want to be a wise ruler like Emperor Taizong, I should start by being good at accepting advice.

So Pei Yuan said to everyone, "It seems that there is no problem tonight, you can go back first."

"I don't know if there has been any change in General Song's place these days, so I have to go and take a look. Let Chen Toutie accompany me."

Many of the personal soldiers felt a little uneasy after hearing this, but Chen Toutie waved his hand and they did not insist any further.

Sikong Sui was old and couldn't hold on any longer, so he just pretended to be confused.

After sending everyone away, Pei Yuan took Chen Toutie and headed towards Zhang Lian's house.

Perhaps because there were fewer people and he didn't have to worry about being discovered by the night patrol, Pei Yuan felt very relaxed.

He chatted quietly with Chen Toutie as he walked.

Chen Toutie was talking about his meeting with Song Chunniang a few days ago.

"General Song and his wife are now hiding in the backyard of Censor Zhang's house. There are many rooms there, and there are girls from the Zhang family to take care of them. It's very safe to hide there."

"General Song asked me when it would be appropriate to leave."

"But now the court has not made any statement on our actions at that time, and no one dares to be sure whether it is safe. I will tell General Song to stay safe and wait for clear news from the thousand households."

Pei Yuan heard this and said to himself, "It's strange, why hasn't the emperor summoned me yet?"

Chen Toutie whispered, "Will there be any trouble?"

Pei Yuan thought about it carefully and said, "It shouldn't be the case. When the cunning rabbit is not dead, it is the time for the lackey to take action. If the situation is really not right..."

Chen Toutie mustered up the courage to interrupt Pei Yuan and said, "Submit to Prince Ning."

Pei Yuan laughed loudly, and Chen Toutie was so scared that he quickly ran to the alley entrance, listening to see if there were any night watchmen or soldiers passing by.

When we arrived at Zhang Lian's house, we walked around it.

Pei Yuan said with a sigh, "As expected of a local big family, they can afford to live in such a big house in a place like this."

The two of them walked around to the backyard, and Chen Toutie whispered, "Inside is a backyard with a well in it and a wooden barrel next to it. After the captain goes in, knock on the barrel three times."

"General Song said that she was hiding in a nearby yard and would come to see me when she heard any noise."

Chen Toutie added, "If General Song is soundly asleep, the captain shouldn't keep knocking. At worst, I can come see her tomorrow and make another appointment for her."

Pei Yuan's little affairs were no longer a secret in the eyes of confidants like Chen Toutie.

He didn't explain much, found a good spot to climb up the wall, and quickly jumped into the garden.

Pei Yuan's movements were average and the sound of his landing was a bit heavy.

He waited for a long time, and when he saw that it was safe, he slowly walked out from the shadow of the wall.

Pei Yuan searched around and soon found the well and the wooden barrel next to it.

He pursed his lips and hesitated for a moment, then decisively walked quietly towards the yard in front.

(End of this chapter)