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

Chapter 365 Still Below
Zhang Yunjun didn't dare to open her eyes, thinking that everything was in darkness. She naively believed that Song Chunniang's little trick was still hidden from Pei Yuan.

Little did they know that this bad pair of man and woman had been doing evil in tacit agreement.

Song Chunniang patted Zhang Yunjun gently to comfort and suppress her, while at the same time she manipulated her to submit.

Zhang Yunjun was confused, and only understood what had happened after it was over.

Feeling shy and humiliated, this already weak girl became even more afraid of being discovered by Pei Yuan.

Pei Yuan was very happy and became eager to take action against the little lamb.

He took a breath and was about to take further bold action when he was stopped by Song Chunniang.

Pei Yuan was a little confused, and then he heard Song Chunniang half jokingly and half seriously ask, "Do you want her?"

Song Chunniang's voice was a little louder this time, and it seemed that she was speaking to Zhang Yunjun who was pretending to be asleep.

Pei Yuan understood that the question of whether or not she was talking about was about taking a concubine, and he nodded hurriedly, "Yes, yes, yes!"

The arrogance and loneliness at the beginning, and the ruthless rejection, have now inevitably turned into a word of true fragrance.

Although Zhang Yunjun was the daughter of the Censor, and being someone's concubine was somewhat of a disgrace to her family, the incident had caused a sensation in the capital at the time, and not many people had the courage to stand up and claim her.

Ordinary people cannot afford to offend Marquis Shouning, and those who can afford to offend him are unwilling to insult the family's reputation.

But Pei Yuan has already grasped the essence of it, so why should he care about anything else?

I, Pei Yuan, took over Sister Tiezi’s plate!

Seeing Pei Yuan trying to make a move on Zhang Yunjun again, Song Chunniang slapped his dirty hands away again and said half jokingly and half seriously, "If you want to marry her, you have to hold a formal banquet like Jiao Yan'er did."

Pei Yuan noticed that the quilt was shaking slightly, thought for a moment, and immediately agreed decisively, "Of course it should be so."

Song Chunniang was very satisfied when she heard this.

Pei Yuan was about to take action again, but was stopped by her again.

Pei Yuan was puzzled, and Song Chunniang said calmly this time, "I didn't harm her body. You have to be like Jiao Yan'er and wait until you get married before you want her."

Zhang Yunjun's life was almost ruined by Song Chunniang, but it was because of Song Chunniang that the word "almost" came into being.

If someone else had come to work for Marquis Shouning at that time, I'm afraid Zhang Yunjun would not have the courage to continue living.

Perhaps it was the subsequent feelings that grew up, or perhaps it was Zhang Yunjun's morbid attachment to Song Chunniang, when Song Chunniang re-examined the past between the two, she couldn't help feeling indebted.

Now that Song Chunniang has Jiao Yan'er as a benchmark, she naturally wants to give Zhang Yunjun the treatment she deserves.

Pei Yuan was confused after hearing this.

Pei Yuan had insisted on waiting until Jiao Yan'er married him because he got Jiao Yan'er from the Bazhou army, which inevitably aroused suspicion. He wanted to maintain Jiao Yan'er's dignity and put an end to future rumors in the family, so he had to be serious about it.

Now Zhang Yunjun’s experience is even more bizarre.

Pei Yuan was not surprised that Song Chunniang could draw inferences from Jiao Yan'er's experience.

But he didn't expect that General Song could really control himself...

Pei Yuan hesitated for a moment, and asked reluctantly, "Then, then tonight?"

Song Chunniang chuckled softly.

Pei Yuan was no longer troubled. His best friend was pretty good too.

His heart moved, and he asked Song Chunniang, "What about you?"

Song Chunniang immediately understood Pei Yuan's thoughts and said unhappily, "Are you kidding me?"

Pei Yuan heard the dissatisfaction in Song Chunniang's words and was a little surprised.

Song Chunniang gritted her teeth and said stubbornly, "I am a seventh-rank military officer of the Ming Dynasty. Why should I be your concubine?"

"Tsk." Pei Yuan corrected, "Now it's a fifth-rank official."

"What?" Song Chunniang didn't understand what Pei Yuan meant.

In the Suppression of Evil Thousand Households Office, the fifth rank is the limit.

Even Pei Yuan was a fifth-rank captain, but was doing the work of a deputy captain.

Pei Yuan just needed some time to calm down, so he explained, "From now on, you will be the fifth-rank criminal chief of the Western Factory."

"Western Factory?" Song Chunniang was even more surprised. She didn't know what had happened during the days she was away.

But she was quite calm.

No matter what happened, it shouldn't be too bad, otherwise she wouldn't have been promoted several levels.

Pei Yuan said to her, "It's Gu Dayong's side. These days, Gu Dayong has been busy restoring the West Factory. All his former subordinates were dismissed, and now he has to rebuild the structure. I asked for a position for you as the Chief of the Criminal Division. From now on, in the West Factory, except for some eunuchs who lead the team, you will be the most senior one."

Song Chunniang listened but didn't say anything for a long time.

After a while, he reluctantly said, "I think the seventh rank is not small."

Pei Yuan smiled and asked, "Are you unsure?"

Song Chunniang crawled over and nudged her head in Pei Yuan's arms.

Pei Yuan laughed secretly, and then comforted him, "Don't worry, the head of the West Factory is Gu Dayong, and the other leading figure is Qiu Ju, neither of them is considered an outsider."

Well, not an outsider indeed.

From the perspective of establishing the Luo Sect, these two must at least be guest elders in the sect.

Pei Yuan saw that Song Chunniang seemed to relax a little, so he stroked her and said, "You haven't met Qiu Ju, but you should be familiar with Gu Dayong, right? Don't worry, he knows you. You are the boss in the West Factory. If any eunuch in charge makes you unhappy, just go find Gu Dayong."

When Song Chunniang heard that she, the chief judge of criminal justice, could be so powerful, she became less worried and began to serve Pei Yuan absent-mindedly.

It was not until late at night that Pei Yuan climbed over the wall with weak legs.

He didn't want to meet Jiao Yan'er in this way, so he arranged for Song Chunniang to take her back home after the house was repaired.

Although Chen Xinjian is young, he has become quite calm after being well trained by Chen Toutie.

Seeing Pei Yuan coming out, he didn't say much and signaled the Jinyiwei guarding the intersection to come back.

Then the group shuttled through the night, like a group of wild wolves wandering in the city, and slowly returned to their lair.

The next day, when Pei Yuan woke up, he started writing the invitations.

Since he knew that the date chosen by the Taoist priest was to his liking and the renovation of the house could not be delayed, Pei Yuan began to prepare for taking a concubine.

This is an important social opportunity and also the little beauty's lifelong event, so Pei Yuan is quite concerned about it.

Not to mention his capable subordinates. Gu Dayong, Qiu Ju, Wang Chang, Xiao Yan and other acquaintances would naturally be invited. Wei Ne had a little beauty behind him, so Pei Yuan should also send a letter to them.

Tian Fu is already working with him, but Huo Tao can take this opportunity to strengthen the relationship.

As for everyone else…

Pei Yuan had been in Beijing for too short a time, and was unable to make any contacts within the scope of his authority.

There was only one doctor from the Ministry of Justice, Liu Zhishu, whom he had brief contact with, and they had a pretty pleasant conversation.

Pei Yuan thought that the other party might be useful in an important government office like the Ministry of Justice. Moreover, even if he was demoted, if according to historical development he still went to Hangzhou to be the prefect, that would also be a very critical position. So he also sent him a wedding invitation.

Pei Yuan had no particular expectations whether Liu Zhishu would come or not.

Taking a concubine is not something that should be discussed openly, so it's better to just try your best.

As for Zang Xian, Pei Yuan was a little hesitant.

This guy was Zhu Houzhao's favorite male lover and a famous political broker, so it was not particularly appropriate to put him in such an occasion.

But considering that this guy was able to orchestrate the restoration of private troops for Prince Ning, it was obvious that he was not that loyal to Zhu Houzhao.

Pei Yuan had no expectations of the ethics of a political broker, but if Pei Yuan wanted to sit at the poker table, he could not do without the matchmaking of such people.

Pei Yuan still remembers a statement made by later generations on how to judge whether a person has begun to be politically marginalized.

That is, when some important meetings were not notified to him, this person began to be marginalized.

This is the situation Pei Yuan is facing now.

The capital city is now a battlefield where various forces compete with each other, and the division and peace of power are happening all the time.

Although Pei Yuan's current status and position are not so good, he will definitely become an important force in the Ming Dynasty when he returns from Shandong.

At that time, when it came to the division of some interests, someone had to ask you to come to the table.

Many things that require countless deaths and great sacrifices to obtain can probably be achieved with just a few pieces of paper.

Not to mention other things, the incident of bleeding Taicang made Pei Yuan deeply touched.

Pei Yuan was very confident that this was definitely not an action taken by an individual on a whim.

This is definitely a thorough, systematic process, and even the result of collaboration among many factions.

The last time Pei Yuan told Wang Chang about this, he was still keeping it to himself.

The division of Taicang silver in the whole process is just a trivial thing on the surface.

Are millions of taels of Taicang silver a lot?

A lot indeed!

Because Zhu Houzhao, the prodigal father who was praised to the sky, destroyed all the family fortune accumulated by several generations of the Ming Dynasty.

Emperor Hongzhi was once praised as a wise ruler, and the "History of Ming Dynasty" also gave him a high evaluation.

——"Xiaozong was the only one who could be respectful, frugal and disciplined, diligent in government and caring for the people, and conscientiously pursue the way to maintain peace and prosperity, so that the court was peaceful and the people were prosperous."

However, this evaluation is inconsistent with the fact that Chongzhen was very frugal, but had a lot of delicacies from land and sea for every meal.

How did Emperor Xiaozong spend his money?

That is religion.

Zhu Houzhao was selling the metaverse theory, spending a little money to enrich his spare time, and by the way, he could also use this respect to firmly stabilize the snow area.

Zhu Houzhao himself did not spend much money on religion. He was even criticized for buying some land to support a Buddhist temple. Even the construction of the Leopard House, which was most criticized, only cost a total of 240,000 taels of silver after five years of construction.

How about comparing him with Emperor Xiaozong, who was described in history as “respectful, frugal and well-disciplined”?
Emperor Xiaozong spent tens of millions of taels of silver on "celebrations and rituals at Chaotian Palace, Mount Tai, Wudang, etc., and the official silver in Taicang was almost gone, so he did not give it to the border but took it into the imperial treasury."

This frugal emperor did not eat delicacies from land and sea, but instead engaged in religious activities and bankrupted Taicang.

If that is the case, how could Taicang, which had already gone bankrupt, have come up with these millions of taels of silver in just a few years?
——Liu Jin: I’m still here.

This can be confirmed from the private notes of Wang Qiong, who later served as the Minister of Revenue.

He recorded the bloodletting in Taicang in his private notes, and also clearly stated that "when Liu Jin was in power, the silver accumulated in Taicang warehouse reached more than 3 million."

Wang Qiong was one of the few civil and military officials in the court who did not flatter Liu Jin. Even he could say so, so a large part of the credit for filling the national treasury should go to Liu Jin.

After Pei Yuan noticed the bleeding of Taicang, he slowly tore off the surface veil and saw through the deep logic behind it.

On the surface, this was just a case of a gang that used large scales to divide silver.

Taking advantage of a rebellion, everyone happily exchanged the food that could not be stored for a long time for lovely silver, and then divided the matter up.

But silver is not an ordinary item, its financial attribute is the most important aspect.

With the decrease of silver and the emptying of the imperial treasury, a phenomenon is bound to occur, that is, money will become expensive and grain will become cheap.

Due to the reduction in liquidity, a huge gap between money and food will be artificially created.

At the same time, the southern wealthy families were planting large amounts of cotton and mulberry trees on the land, making cotton cloth and silk fabrics, and producing ironware and porcelain, and then turning those economic products into silver through trade.

In a broader perspective, merchants from all over the world were looking for silver, which then flowed into the Ming Dynasty in exchange for exquisite goods.

In other words, with the influx of large amounts of silver into the Ming Dynasty, the economic situation in the south has undergone tremendous changes.

They began to turn to growing cash crops, began to develop a social structure that relied on a commodity economy, and also developed a southern economy that held large amounts of silver.

This greedy silver economy is eager to widen the gap between silver and agricultural products so as to better monetize their wealth.

The depletion of silver in Taicang this time may be just an accidental event, and it is impossible for the country to continue to maintain this abnormal desire for silver.

But when Pei Yuan thought about this, four words instantly popped up in his mind, "One Whip Method."

The main idea of ​​this reform, which was said to extend the life of the Ming Dynasty for a hundred years, was to combine the land tax, corvée and other miscellaneous taxes of various prefectures and counties into one, collect silver taels and pay them on a per-acre basis. From then on, the court no longer paid various kinds of taxes in kind, but measured taxes entirely in silver.

There are naturally various interpretations on whether this change is good or bad.

But in Pei Yuan's opinion, this policy of forcibly promoting the demand for silver and the previous behavior of deliberately widening the gap between silver and grain prices, are to some extent a perfect match?
The commodity economy of the Ming Dynasty was like a greedy and hungry snake from the moment it emerged. It desperately bit the small peasant economy on its tail until it swallowed itself.

Pei Yuan had some vague ideas, but he couldn't sort them out clearly for the time being.

The day when the "One Whip Law" will appear is not far away, but it will take several decades to be truly implemented.

This plan, which has been picked up repeatedly and stubbornly implemented, is obviously unrealistic without a joint force to push it forward.

Pei Yuan even had a sense of absurdity. The opponent sitting at the card table was not "him" or "them", but this era and those irresistible historical changes.

(End of this chapter)