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

Chapter 339 Thunderous Change
Over the past year, Pei Yuan and Chen Toutie have been through life and death together, and have done a lot of things that risked their lives, so their relationship is very deep.

I naturally felt close to Chen Toutie's younger brother, so I asked, "What's his name?"

Chen Toutie replied, "His name is Chen Xinjian. He has done little work and is not very sensible. If there is anything he did not do well, please forgive him."

Pei Yuan patted Chen Toutie’s shoulder.

They are indeed brothers.

Considering that Chen Toutie was already thirty years old, and only became wiser thanks to Cheng Leixiang's influence, Pei Yuan had a general idea of ​​Chen Xinjian's situation.

Thinking about Cheng Zhihu again, even though he is Cheng Leixiang's father, he doesn't seem to be a knowledgeable and interesting person.

I remember that when I went to Zhihua Temple for the first time, it was with the help of the monk Zhixin who helped me to smooth things over. Only then did I get things done smoothly and get the benefits safely.

Instead of expecting these two guys to treat people well and take care of Pei Qianhu's life, it would be better to ask Zhixin if he wants to transfer.

Some time ago, the monks of Zhihua Temple raised money and were sent to other temples to become abbots.

Pei Yuan was deeply impressed by Zhixin, so he kept him in Zhihua Temple as abbot so that he could support the temple at critical moments.

Now, Zhihua Temple has become the headquarters of the Northern Bureau of Qianhu Suo. Every day, armed Jinyiwei guard the mountain gate, and there are patrol officers on duty on the high bell and drum towers on both sides. Ordinary pilgrims have long stayed away from the heavily guarded Zhihua Temple.

In this case, it would be better to be affiliated with Jinyiwei and receive some money.

Pei Yuan returned to Zhihua Temple and went to ask Zhixin about it.

After hearing this, Zhi Xin looked calm and said to Pei Yuan with a smile, "Captain Pei is a person who has a predestined relationship with my Buddha. I am supporting him on behalf of the Buddha to accumulate merits and achieve enlightenment. What's the point of talking about money?"

Pei Yuan said after hearing this, "I'll see if there's any good position in the Buddhist Records Department, but we can't rush into it."

Thinking that he would have Zhixin by his side in the future, it wouldn't be a big deal to have a monk named Daigo, so he asked Zhixin, "Where are the monks from Jingxin Temple that I brought with me?"

Monk Zhixin looked a little surprised and replied, "The monk Daigo loves Buddhism and reads books every day, but he also loves to enjoy life. He buys wine and meat when he has some extra money. He also accepts banquets from military officers such as Hou Qing and Jinyiwei. It is difficult for me to evaluate his behavior."

"As for the other monks in Jingxin Temple, most of them are quite well behaved because they are afraid of the power of Jinyiwei."

Pei Yuan guessed that the monk Daigo still had some sequelae of schizophrenia. Now that the situation is stable, it would be better to wait and see.

That afternoon, Chen Toutie brought his younger brother Chen Xinjian over.

Pei Yuan took a look and found that the man looked very simple. Perhaps because he had been educated, he seemed more intelligent than Chen Toutie.

Because of his youth, Pei Yuan has the temperament of a newborn calf that is not afraid of a tiger.

Pei Yuan liked it and said, "Come and work for me tomorrow. While your brother is here, I will take you to meet some people. They will all take your brother's feelings into consideration."

Chen Xinjian was very happy to hear this and said quickly, "I will obey the captain from now on."

Chen Toutie kicked him from behind and scolded him, "Nonsense."

Chen Xinjian, who was going to serve as a captain in the future, felt humiliated by Chen Toutie and looked over with a slight anger on his face.

Pei Yuan laughed loudly and said to Chen Tou Tie, "Take him to see Kong Xu and give him a 'humble position'."

Chen Toutie kicked Chen Xinjian again, "Why don't you thank the captain quickly?"

Chen Xinjian was born late. The eldest brother Chen Toutie is already thirty years old, while the youngest brother Chen Xinjian is only fifteen.

Chen Toutie has raised Chen Xinjian since he was a child and really treats him like his own son.

Chen Xinjian knew that he had probably made a mistake, and quickly thanked Pei Yuan.

Pei Yuan waved his hand and let him go.

No one knows that Chen Toutie will leave yet, so no one reacts much to Chen Toutie's behavior of inserting his younger brother.

Everyone understands that Chen Toutie will have the same future as Cheng Leixiang, with a career of being a third rank or above.

No one dares to care about such things, whether they are appropriate or not.

At night, before Pei Yuan could knock on the door, the young eunuch named Wu Qing who was beside Gu Dayong came over.

Pei Yuan asked around and found out that Gu Dayong was still serving in the palace and could not be free for the moment. Pei Yuan was also afraid that he might mess up, so he could only let Wu Qing come over first to talk things over.

According to Wu Qing, Gu Dayong had already told the emperor about Li Fuda.

Zhu Houzhao listened to Li Fuda's story very seriously, but he also felt that it was a serious disease.

Seeing Zhu Houzhao's attitude, Gu Dayong decisively revealed some shocking information, mentioning that when the Maitreya Sect rebelled, they wanted to open the border and lure the little prince of Dalu in.

As expected, Zhu Houzhao was furious and sent someone to the cabinet to look for the memorial regarding Li Fuda's affairs, wanting to find out the whole story.

After Gu Dayong succeeded, he immediately asked Wu Qing to leave the palace to report. As for what happened next, even he didn't know.

Pei Yuan immediately perked up after hearing this.

The Li Fuda case involves the Maitreya Sect, which is one of the two major cults along with the White Lotus Sect. As long as Zhu Houzhao pays attention to this matter, he will definitely come to ask him the truth.

Then I can take the opportunity to bring up the matter of Luo Sect.

Seeing that there were troubles everywhere in the country, the cabinet was still trying to cover up the incident and smooth things over, which was bound to cause a fierce backlash from Zhu Houzhao.

As for the Luojiao issue, there is hope that policy support will be provided.

hope so……

The next day, Pei Yuan got up early in the morning to wait for news.

As a result, we waited until noon, but still heard no movement.

Not to mention that there was no news in the court, even Gu Dayong did not let his trusted eunuch come out to report the news.

Pei Yuan was afraid that he was not well-informed enough, so he made a special trip to Da Ci'en Temple.

The result was a peaceful and calm situation.

Could it be that Zhu Houzhao was scared again? This shouldn't be the case.

A day later, even Cheng Zhihu followed Pei Yuan's order and came back to report after meeting Cheng Leixiang. Only then did Pei Yuan hear a shocking news.

Ding Feng, the director of the Tongzhengsi, was demoted to Nanjing, and Li Hao, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War, was taken over the Tongzhengsi affairs.

Pei Yuan was shocked. Why did Zhu Houzhao aim his gun at the Tongzhengsi?

The Tongzhengsi was a very important position for Zhu Houzhao.

Zhu Houzhao's confidence in establishing the second central government in Xuanfu came from these officials who came from the Tongzhengsi. According to the development of history, Zhu Houzhao would accelerate his layout in Xuanfu in the next two to three years.

Logically speaking, some of his ideas should have been formed by this time. Wouldn't it be disruptive to clean up the Tongzhengsi at this time?
Moreover, according to the original history, the next step for Tongzhengshi Ding Feng should be to serve as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and then as the Commander-in-Chief of Xuanda’s military affairs.

With this identity and status, he could almost be regarded as the prime minister in Zhu Houzhao's second central government.

Now it's taken away so easily?
The shock this caused to Pei Yuan, who knew history, was probably far greater than that to anyone else.

Pei Yuan quickly asked someone to contact Gu Dayong again, and then subconsciously thought of Wei Ne, the Left Councillor who had no bottom line.

Pei Yuan felt a little uneasy.

Wei Ne is just waiting to die now, and he is likely to do anything.

Could this matter be related to him?
The personnel adjustment of the Tongzhengsi made Pei Yuan and other thoughtful people realize that something was wrong. But for most officials, the Tongzhengsi was still the department in their minds that only had a lot of troubles but no power.

However, at noon, another piece of news caught everyone off guard.

Zhu Houzhao personally went to Liang Chu's residence to visit him and tried his best to persuade him to stay.

When leaving, Liang Chu saw him off with a rosy face, and personally helped Zhu Houzhao's carriage walk a distance.

This came as a surprise to everyone who had been following the Liang Ci case some time ago.

Originally, the emperor acted with great decisiveness and directly removed the Right Censor-in-Chief Wang Ding, forcefully pushing forward the progress of Liang Ci's case. In addition, Liang Chu himself made another stupid move, not only committing the crime of deceiving the emperor, but also secretly colluding with Zhang Rong of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, making everyone think that Liang Chu was completely finished.

I didn't expect the situation to change so drastically, and Liang Chu was about to make a comeback.

This made many people who had been beating Liang Chu like a drowned dog panic. Li Duo, the Six Departments' Censor, Xu Feng, the Thirteenth Imperial Censor, and others hurriedly wrote to the emperor, questioning how the emperor could pacify the world and win the hearts of the people if he did what he did today, even though he had already ordered a strict investigation into Liang Ci's case and Liang Chu's killing.

As a result, the emperor gave an answer without any hesitation.

"There is no final conclusion to the Liang Ci case!"

"Liang Chu has made great contributions to the country and has nothing to do with Liang Ci's affairs."

Zhu Houzhao's previous sentence directly poured a bucket of cold water on the scholars gathered in the Da Ci'en Temple, giving them a chill.

These days, the scholars who saw that Liang Ci's case was likely to be confirmed have been praising Zhu Houzhao for his fairness and wisdom.

As a result, Zhu Houzhao's statement that "there is no final conclusion on the Liang Ci case" overturned all his previous statements.

Many scholars were at a loss as to what to do, and some, like Huo Tao, were mentally unbalanced and even cursed out loud.

Fortunately, in the Ming Dynasty, insulting the emperor was not a big deal, otherwise many people would have gone to jail.

Zhu Houzhao's last sentence sent a strong signal to the court officials.

You have to know that Liang Chu has been waiting at home for a long time. Zhu Houzhao has not made any move during these days, and many people thought that Liang Chu was completely finished.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Houzhao suddenly decided to protect Liang Chu.

Could it be that the emperor suddenly made up his mind to participate in the fight for cabinet affairs?

Meng Yang, the censor who was making mysterious gloves for others, jumped out and bit the hornets when he saw this. He wrote a memorial saying, "Wenyuan Pavilion is where the affairs come from, so we should be especially careful in appointing people. Recently, Grand Secretary Li Dongyang asked to resign due to poor health, but was not allowed to do so. Grand Secretary Liang Chu was repeatedly impeached and refused to leave, thinking that he could cover up his personal affairs while he was still in the court. This is a hindrance to the government and the country, and it is unspeakable. I humbly hope that Your Majesty will allow Li Dongyang to be honored and retired, and that Grand Secretary Liang Chu will be dismissed."

When everyone saw that the Grand Secretary who was in charge of the cabinet was now trying to expel two people at once, Yang Tinghe decisively fought back.

Next, let’s look at the fourth scholar, Fei Hong.

Fei Hong, are you afraid?
Zhu Houzhao still gave a quick reply.

——"The minister was framed by the foreigners and ordered to be interrogated by the Jinwei."

Without waiting for the Jinyiwei to arrest anyone for investigation, the second decree came down immediately.
——"Demoted to the position of Confucian teacher in Guilin Prefecture, Guangxi."

Zhu Houzhao's swift and decisive handling of the matter surprised many ministers, and made them increasingly aware of the severity of the incident, which was probably far beyond the court officials' imagination.

Many people were still confused, and no one dared to associate this incident with Ding Feng's demotion to Nanjing.

Many people who were originally eager to take advantage of the situation have now realized the seriousness of the matter.

I'm afraid I'm afraid.

Liang Chu, who had been lying down for a long time, immediately submitted a memorial in response when he heard that someone was impeaching him.

He said: "I was born and raised in a distant place, I am weak and old, and I am sick, but I have to take the position of a minister. One of the reasons why I should be dismissed is that I have colleagues in the cabinet, such as Grand Secretaries Yang Tinghe and Fei Hong, who are both virtuous and willing to assist in the administration. But I have little talent and virtue, and have been impeached several times. Two of the reasons why I should be dismissed is that I have to be dismissed. Moreover, if a minister has committed a fault, the censors should impeach him. Now Meng Yang has been imprisoned and exiled. I have been waiting for punishment and asked to stay, but the emperor has not yet responded. Three of the reasons why I should be dismissed is that I should be dismissed."

As soon as Liang Chu's memorial was submitted, Fei Hong felt that it was unnecessary for the old man to specifically mention him.

He felt very wronged.

But Fei Hong, an honest man, didn't know what to say. He couldn't just directly reveal the secret that everyone knew.

Although Liang Chu's memorial seemed to be written in a friendly tone, it actually praised Yang Tinghe and Fei Hong, intentionally listing them on the same level as Meng Yang.

The tit-for-tat implication is very strong.

Originally, Liang Chu focused all his energy on protecting Liang Ci'e.

As Liang Ci's case gradually came to a stalemate, Liang Chu also trapped himself little by little.

He is old now, and as long as he can save his son, any fame and status is worth giving up.

Therefore, he had already prepared for the worst. Despite some planning, his starting point was still to try to stir up the situation and interfere with Liang Ci's case.

Now the emperor directly said, "There is no final conclusion on Liang Ci's case," which completely liberated Liang Chu.

As Liang Chu responded to Yang Tinghe without showing any weakness, Zhu Houzhao decisively chose to take sides between Liang Chu, Yang Tinghe and Fei Hong, and participated in the cabinet struggle that he had never been involved in before.

——"You are a counselor, you are talented and virtuous, and you have more than enough energy. In this time of trouble, I rely on you. How can you doubt yourself because of what others say? You should come out and serve as a counselor as soon as possible. There is no need to refuse. Meng Yang has already given me the order."

After a simple and brief attack and defense, the court officials were shocked and saw the situation clearly.

After the upright civil officials could no longer be relied upon, Liang Chu, in order to save Liang Ci's life, chose to flatter the emperor and oppose Yang Tinghe, just like the former Grand Secretary Jiao Fang.

After being repeatedly pulled by Li Dongyang who refused to step down and Liang Chu who refused to leave, Yang Tinghe had become a little impatient.

He has made it clear that he will take direct action and take those that he wants.

The Censor Meng Yang jumped out to attack Li Dongyang and Liang Chu, which was the signal and ultimatum he gave.

But this kind of struggle had always been something the Ming emperor tried his best to avoid.

This can certainly break up the camp of court officials, but in the political struggle, it will force them to form small groups, either voluntarily or involuntarily, and become more pure and solid through mutual forging.

When these things appear in the court, they will be like a disease that can never be digested.

(End of this chapter)