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

Chapter 337 New Knife
Given Wei Ne’s current situation, he is no longer afraid of any criticism from the government.

He looked at the sky and time and thought there was still some time, so he smiled and said to Pei Yuan, "If you want to lure me by asking for my life, then you are making a wrong calculation."

"Although I don't have any real power in the Ministry of Public Administration, the memorials and people I have seen over the years are beyond your imagination."

"What kind of person do you think the emperor is?"

Pei Yuan sighed secretly, it seemed that after Liu Jin and his ilk were killed, the emperor's dignity was indeed lost.

Even a bureaucrat like Wei Ne dares to talk about it openly.

However, since these bureaucrats have no hope of promotion, they are not so concerned about gains and losses, and are more likely to discover things that are not easily noticed by others.

Thinking of the impressions Zhu Houzhao had left on him, Pei Yuan said, "The emperor is quick to discern, extremely perceptive, extremely strong, and can fight wild beasts with his bare hands. He is smart enough to resist criticism, eloquent enough to cover up his mistakes, and he praises his ministers for their abilities and exalts the world with his reputation."

As Pei Yuan was talking, Wei Ne's eyes became strange.

Pei Yuan was puzzled, "Isn't that right?"

Considering Zhu Houzhao's intelligence and strong physique, these praises are completely conscientious.

Besides, I haven't even mentioned that he can handle government affairs, carry out reforms, win the hearts of the soldiers, and be proficient in military affairs.

Wei Ne reminded, "I have seen these few sentences you mentioned many times in memorials. They are about King Zhou of Shang."

Pei Yuan's eyes wandered and he quickly pretended that he didn't say that.

In fact, Zhu Houzhao was not as successful as King Zhou.

King Zhou was a representative of tyrants and had been reviled for thousands of years. However, no one dared to deny his talent during these thousands of years.

But what about Zhu Houzhao?

The ability is also good, the final historical evaluation.

——“A funny guy.”

Wei Ne was too lazy to find fault with Pei Yuan's words, "The problem is actually here. Because the emperor is too smart, has enough knowledge, and has the power to fight tigers and leopards, this leads to a consequence."

Wei Ne looked at Pei Yuan and said calmly, "The emperor compromises easily."

Pei Yuan was shocked when he heard this.

This was almost completely consistent with his last judgment. He didn't expect that this official scoundrel would have the same opinion as him.

Wei Ne's value in Pei Yuan's heart immediately increased a lot.

He almost subconsciously asked, "Why is it so?"

Pei Yuan discovered this problem last time. Such a smart emperor was taught by the smartest people in the world in the Hanlin Academy and learned extraordinary skills. However, he was particularly easy to accept failure.

When his reform plan was frustrated, he abandoned Liu Jin and focused on gaining military power, but he did not care that there were still a large number of Liu Jin's remnants who could counterattack.

With the most powerful army in the world at his disposal, he is approaching Nanjing and is about to bring the entire world into subjugation.

He had to leave Nanjing in disgrace because he was thrown a pig's head and a human head.

On the way out of Nanjing, instead of ordering his troops to march south to massacre the nobles who had insulted him, he happily went fishing.

In the ninth year of the Zhengde reign, a fire broke out in the Qianqing Palace due to fireworks during the Lantern Festival.

After seeing the failed rescue efforts, Emperor Zhengde actually said to his attendants happily, "What a great fireworks display!"

This monster, which is made up of many good-looking things and put together with great effort, is so powerful and so perfect at first glance.

It is so easy to be defeated and so easy to choose to compromise.

The things that Pei Yuan had been unable to figure out seemed to be seen clearly by Wei Ne, who was watching coldly from the sidelines.

Wei Ne smiled and raised a finger, "A drink."

Pei Yuan immediately said, "Deal."

Weiner added, "I want to eat goose."

Pei Yuan didn't hesitate, "Okay."

Wei Ne nodded in satisfaction. He swept his eyes over Pei Yuan, glanced at the standard Xiuchun Knife on Pei Yuan's waist, and then looked at the Bazhou Knife wrapped in cloth beside Pei Yuan. He smiled and said, "I see you have a knife on your waist and a knife on your back. You are so cautious in this capital. I guess you often fight with others."

Pei Yuan hesitated and nodded.

He was ambushed many times, and he personally went into battle to kill the enemies, braving arrows and stones many times, and he had many weapons broken in his hands.

Therefore, under the influence of his fear of insufficient firepower, Pei Yuan likes to carry two more weapons with him.

Chen Toutie also had a golden hammer for him.

Wei Ne asked, "If Captain Pei encounters an enemy and his sword is not cut open, making it less convenient to use, what would you do?"

Pei Yuan said decisively, "Change it."

Wei Ne gave Pei Yuan a meaningful smile, "This is the answer."

"For our emperor, his ability and position give him many means to deal with his political enemies. So once he finds that a certain knife is not useful, he will decisively change it."

"Even if this knife has some flaws, it can still help him cut through the thorns and bushes. He will throw it away and replace it with a new knife."

"He was so confident and so dismissive."

Wei Ne, who was originally speaking calmly, began to grit his teeth out of control.

"And we, the broken swords..., can only wait in despair to be broken by the enemies of the emperor."

Pei Yuan let out a sigh of relief.

Everything makes sense.

Pei Yuan gradually got to know Zhu Houzhao's character better and began to understand why many ministers of the Zhengde Dynasty behaved so aggressively.

Wei Ne was not the only one who could see through the young man's weakness.

Also changing was Pei Yuan's opinion of Wei Ne.

Originally, in Pei Yuan's mind, Wei Ne was just a spy placed in the Ministry of Public Security to gather intelligence.

Wei Ne's despicable past made Pei Yuan look down on this shameless villain.

But what Wei Ne said just now greatly changed Pei Yuan's opinion of him.

Pei Yuan thought for a moment and said to him, "Originally, we asked Zuo Canzheng to help us with some matters. Since Zuo Canzheng is a smart man, let's work hard on our own."

He stood up and repeated before leaving, "My original intention was to try to let the emperor know about Li Fuda's case, and then link it to the Luo Jiao case in Shandong. Through the influence of the linkage between the two, the emperor will put some pressure on the cabinet and pay attention to the Luo Jiao case."

"But I thought maybe the left senator could do something on his own, so why not give it a try?"

Wei Ne smiled when he heard this. He had seen many people who boasted like this. Pei Yuan felt a little sorry to see Wei Ne's attitude.

A good move wasted.

Thinking about what Wei Ne had just said, Pei Yuan's heart moved, he lowered his head and whispered to Wei Ne, "Do you know? I am the emperor's new sword."

"Zuo Canzheng, do you plan to just wait for someone to break you, or are you willing to give it a try with me?"

After hearing what Pei Yuan said, Wei Ne's previous carelessness gradually disappeared from his face, and he stared at Pei Yuan seriously.

Pei Yuan knew what Wei Ne was thinking, and said calmly, "I am a new swordsman, and I am always successful. Zuo Canzheng can watch slowly in the Tongzhengsi."

After saying this, Pei Yuan left directly and efficiently this time.

Pei Yuan left the tea and snack stall, and the two tables of guards quickly threw money and left.

Chen Toutie asked, "Qianhu, where are we going next?"

Pei Yuan thought for a moment and asked Chen Toutie, "Do you have any connections in the Ministry of Justice?"

Chen Toutie listened and said awkwardly, "When I was in the East Factory, I had a lot of dealings with the Ministry of Justice. But I was just a small flag officer at that time, and the people I knew were all low-ranking figures. If it's a thousand households doing something, I'm afraid my connections won't be able to help."

Pei Yuan said, "It was just a small matter. I planned to go to the Ministry of Justice to take a look at Xu Feng and see if this guy is worth my effort."

Shortly after receiving Xu Feng's report, Minister of War He Jian learned that Wang Chang had led his troops to surround and kill the bandit leader Qi Yanming.

In this way, the claim of collusion with the Bazhou rebels would naturally not be established.

Moreover, it would have been fine if Xu Feng had only sued Wang Chang, but this guy actually accused the Nanjing Ministry of War of being involved and even mentioned the names of some commanders as evidence.

In this case, as long as He Jian is not stupid, it will be impossible to continue the trial.

He Jian also hated Wang Chang, a member of the eunuch party, but the priority now was to suppress the rebellion. Even if he wanted to seriously resolve the matter, it would at most be a formality.

It would be better to delay it until the trouble caused by the Bazhou rebels is resolved. Then the court will have to start clearing out the remnants of Liu Jin.

If Wang Chang had not known what was best for him and left immediately, Xu Feng might have been a chess piece that could be used.

Therefore, He Jian informed the Five Military Commandery and had Xu Feng escorted to the Ministry of Justice to await trial.

Pei Yuan didn't need to use any strong connections to meet Xu Feng.

Chen Toutie patted his chest enthusiastically and said, "Leave this matter to me."

Pei Yuan nodded with great satisfaction.

Chen Toutie quickly asked one of his recent subordinates to run the show for him.

He thought of the matter of Monk Yuantong, and while waiting, he said to Pei Yuan, "Captain, I have some ideas about the Luo Sect."

Pei Yuan was surprised to see that Chen Toudi could come up with an idea, and said, "Tell me about it."

Chen Toutie said a little embarrassedly, "Captain, look at me, I don't look like someone with a high level of cultivation. Even if I try to deceive those fools, I'm afraid they won't believe me. Yesterday I went to look for Yun Buxian, and ended up meeting the monk Yuantong who we helped before in Yuan'en Temple."

Pei Yuan thought about the meaning of Chen Toutie's previous words and said with some surprise, "Are you planning to let Monk Yuantong go with you to develop Luo Sect?"

Chen Toutie nodded, "That's what I meant."

Pei Yuan thought for a while and said, "Of course you can, but you have to wait until I sort out the affairs of the Luo Sect again. First, you should build the framework of the Luo Sect according to the method I told you. After that... we will talk about the rest later."

Pei Yuan has been thinking about Luo Jiao's affairs these two days.

Although the Luo Sect is just a makeshift team, the more makeshift it is, the more troublesome it is.

Because Luojiao's organizational form is religion, they are gathered together under the framework of religion.

The original identities of those cult members came from all walks of life and all walks of life. It can be said that, leaving aside the religious aspect, there is a complete and independent ecosystem.

This independent ecosystem can share what they have and be self-sufficient.

The only things Pei Yuan could interfere with and control over the Luo Sect were Chen Toutie and the original team he brought with him.

But what happens if Luo Jiao really expands according to his ideas?

Even though Chen Toutie is not very smart and is relatively obedient, any group, as long as it becomes big, will naturally have its own brains.

Once Chen Toutie's decision deviates from the collective consciousness of this group, Luo Sect may get out of control at any time.

Pei Yuan couldn't possibly train a huge beast and then only tie him up with fragile ropes.

Pei Yuan's thinking on this matter resulted in the conclusion that the main focus should be on depriving Luo Jiao of his financial power.

The Luojiao's way of making money is simple, mainly by asking for offerings from believers.

However, a religion like Luojiao, which is very suitable for spreading from person to person, is bound to have a mixed group of people, including people from all walks of life. This means that the economic foundation of Luojiao in the future will penetrate into every level of society.

Whether they are farmers, fishermen, flower sellers, weavers, or even those engaged in the sex trade, they can all become the source of strength for the Luo Cult.

These social relations are complex and inefficient, but like a complete ecological structure, they have strong resistance.

If Pei Yuan wanted to control Luojiao, he had to destroy this way of extraction and support, use a single economic model, and incorporate the entire Luojiao into this link.

He needed a huge industrial line to involve the entire Luo sect and then destroy their original economic order.

The only industry line Pei Yuan could think of that could accommodate a large number of people and generate sufficient profits was soybean trade.

Soybeans were an extremely important bulk commodity in the Ming Dynasty and the main source of goods transported southward on the Grand Canal.

It just so happens that eastern Shandong and parts of Henan are the main soybean producing areas of this era.

To integrate this industrial line, we need a lot of land, a lot of people, and strong enough official support.

Pei Yuan planned to absorb Luojiao into this industrial line as much as possible, let the believers increase soybean planting, and then use vendors and surplus labor to participate in collection and transportation.

After the soybeans are transported to Huai'an or Yangzhou, they are pressed for oil and sold to nearby prefectures and counties in the south to generate high added value.

At the same time, grain is transported to Shandong from the south to balance Shandong's dependence on grain.

This way, Shandong can have soldiers but no food, and the risks can be balanced out by trading in soybeans.

As for official matters, changing grain to beans might cause controversy, but it would not be a big problem.

In the Suzhou and Songjiang areas, a large amount of fertile land was converted to growing mulberry and cotton, but it did not cause any disturbance in the government.

Moreover, as long as the proportion of Luojiao followers among the people is kept within a certain range, the impact can be completely controlled.

If this strategy can be achieved, the result will be that a large number of young and strong people will depend on this industrial line, and the realization of profits from this industrial line will depend on trade in the south.

Separate grain from cash crops, master the trade lines of cash crops, and control the return flow of grain.

In this way, Pei Yuan can indirectly control most of Luo Jiao's life.

(End of this chapter)