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

Chapter 370 The gentleman is far away from the chef

Tian Fu, who was dragged into the scandal, has gradually come into contact with some secrets of Pei Yuan's gang. He knows that Pei Yuan's gang has strong eunuch party background.

If Liu Zhishu said this at this moment, it might cause trouble.

Seeing Tian Fu's dissuasion, Liu Zhishu couldn't help but wonder, "These are all public discussions of the court. Are you, a scholar who is not in the position, so scared?"

Liu Zhishu thought about it and suddenly said, "You don't think Pei Qianhu, the Jinyiwei, is also a eunuch, right?"

He consoled her, "Don't worry. Captain Pei was involved in a case before. I checked the background of this evil-suppressing captain. The main responsibility of this captain is to spy on the temples and monitor those Buddhists and Taoists. It does not participate in the affairs of the court. Speaking of which, it is quite peaceful and leisurely."

"Besides, we are just discussing this in private. Are we afraid that the eunuch party will come to our door?"

"If you can pass the imperial examination and become an official in the court, you should never forget your original intention."

"A scholar should still have some ambition."

As soon as Liu Zhishu finished speaking, Yun Buxian, who was waiting at the door, came in hurriedly.

The two groups of people who were whispering in the courtyard were both attracted by his attention.

Yun Buxian hurriedly reported loudly, "Captain, the Western Factory Supervisor Eunuch Gu and the former Eastern Factory Supervisor Eunuch Qiu are at the gate. Do you want to go and greet them?"

Liu Zhishu's legs went weak and he almost fell to his knees.

Was the case solved so quickly?
Pei Yuan smiled at Yun Buxian and said, "They are not outsiders, do they really need your feedback?"

Yun Buxian turned around and saw Gu Dayong and Qiu Ju coming in with smiles on their faces, each with a eunuch holding a gift behind them.

Gu Dayong felt very relieved when he heard what Pei Yuan just said.

Now he also experienced the joy of being led far away. He had only been with Captain Pei for less than two months when his younger brother Gu Daliang was awarded the title of Earl of Yongqing. He also restored the Western Factory and became its supervisor again.

You know, that damn guy Lu Ting hasn't gotten any benefits yet.

Even if he finally wiped out the Bazhou Army, because the border troops and the Beijing camp mobilized too many troops, that little bit of military merit might not be enough to share.

With an army of 200,000, how many generals, deputy generals, guerrillas, commanders... and how many local government officials are needed to cooperate with them?

Did the Cabinet make decisions? Did the Ministry of War make decisions? Did the Ministry of Revenue have enough food and clothing?
When the time comes to divide the credit, the huge expenditure will definitely scare the imperial court.

The final reward will most likely be of a significantly lower rank. With Lu Ting's merits, it is probably just that he can give his sons and nephews the title of uncle, and get some coins, silk, rice and other local delicacies.

But in the battle of Yanggu, the imperial court, without any mobilization costs, wiped out tens of thousands of bandits with less than a thousand men under the command of Eunuch Gu and Xiao Yan. With such a cost-effectiveness, the imperial court was simply a winner.

How much supplies would be needed just to assemble an army of 200,000?
With the example of Qiu Juyou and Gu Dayong in the past, we are of course full of expectations for the subsequent cooperation.

The two were in a good mood, but Liu Zhishu was not.

He was an upright official who had been working in the six ministries after passing the imperial examination. How come he accidentally met these two guys when he attended a wedding banquet?

Isn’t Pei Yuan in charge of the monks?

How did you get involved with the eunuch party?

Moreover, when he took a concubine, even the Western Factory Supervisor Gu Dayong and the former Eastern Factory Supervisor Qiu Ju came to congratulate him in person. Is this the leader of the eunuch party?

I attended the concubine banquet organized by the leader of the eunuch party. Am I still clean?
Liu Zhishu was very panicked.

He turned pale and whispered to Huo Tao and Tian Fu, "Be careful with your words, there really are eunuchs."

Liu Zhishu was afraid that these two rookies who had not yet entered the officialdom would really act like they had always been proud of their original aspirations and run up to them and speak out nonsense.

Then you've really screwed me.

Tian Fu naturally remained silent. Ever since Pei Yuan placed Liang Ci's head on his desk, he could not turn back.

If he dared to turn against them, both Liang Chu and Pei Yuan would take bloody revenge on him.

Rather than being in a difficult position at that time, it is better to stick to one path to the end.

But Huo Tao is different.

This young man still has a strong sense of justice.

He was still a juren who had not yet entered officialdom. In his mind, the clean stream was right and the eunuch party was wrong.

The reason why Pei Yuan had a good relationship with him before was entirely because of a series of preparations.

Pei Yuan used the "Liang Ci case" with Huo Tao to distinguish between enemies and friends, and used his relationship with the famous Qingliu official Zhang Lian to blur the boundaries between him and these scholars.

Then he showed him the emperor's note, making Huo Tao understand that there was someone behind Pei Yuan, and that person was the emperor to whom the "ruler-ruler, subject-subject" had to be loyal.

Naturally, Huo Tao wanted to borrow some strength and seek an opportunity to rise to the top.

So when Pei Yuan showed the attitude of a eunuch party leader, Huo Tao really couldn't accept it.

He subconsciously huddled up with Liu Zhishu and asked in a panic, "Liu Futai, what should we do now? Should we leave now?"

Liu Zhishu was shocked. He was afraid of such a fool.

Liu Zhishu quickly calmed Huo Tao down, "Don't panic. If you leave now, it will be too targeted and will definitely offend Gu Dayong and Qiu Ju."

"These two guys are one of the 'Eight Tigers' alongside Liu Jin. They are not easy to mess with."

Huo Tao calmed down after hearing this.

He was panicked and lost his composure just now.

He still has a righteous cause in Liang Ci's matter and can speak out, but it would be unwise to deliberately target Gu Dayong and Qiu Ju at this time.

After all, even the leading figures of the Qingliu, the Minister of Personnel Yang Yiqing and the eunuch Zhang Yong who held the seal of the Imperial Household Department could be on good terms with each other, so what could he, a mere scholar, do?

After Liu Zhishu comforted Huo Tao, she also began to struggle with the question of whether to stay or leave.

His eyes fell on the little eunuch following behind the two big eunuchs, and then his gaze fell on the gift in the little eunuch's hand.

gift!

Sweat was pouring down Liu Zhishu's forehead. The gift he gave to Pei Yuan was a scroll made of handwritten calligraphy.

The poems in it are inevitably a bit hypocritical, and contain some blessings and praises.

If Pei Yuan is really caught one day, this will be ironclad evidence of his collusion with the eunuch party!

Liu Zhishu was in a panic and asked Huo Tao, "Brother, I just gave Pei Yuan a piece of calligraphy, which is a bit inappropriate."

Huo Tao instantly lost his composure after hearing this.

What he gave was also words.

The two looked at each other in panic and both understood what was going on.

Liu Zhishu gritted his teeth and said, "We can't leave, we have to find a way to get this gift back!"

Huo Tao thought quickly and said, "I have a jade toy that is very valuable. When another guest brings a gift later, I will follow the gift manager to the place where the gifts are stored and say that the previous gift was not enough, so I will use the jade to exchange my calligraphy for it." Liu Zhishu was also greatly inspired by what he heard.

He said, "I just got a seal from Yi An during the Song Dynasty. It is an elegant item and can be used to replace my scroll."

The two men talked furtively, glancing at Pei Yuan who was greeting the two old eunuchs enthusiastically, and then glancing at the courtyard gate, hoping that the next guest would come quickly.

Liu Zhishu was still muttering to himself, fearing that Pei Yuan would lure Gu Dayong and Qiu Ju to meet him.

It was now approaching dusk and the next guest would soon arrive.

Liu Zhishu took a look and saw, wow, it was him.

The person who came was actually Zang Xian, the Fengluan from the Jiaofang Bureau.

Zang the handsome man is a legendary figure among officials in the court. Which official has not talked about him in private?
After all, he is the emperor's favorite male.

Liu Zhishu and his colleagues met Zang Xian several times, and they would look at each other in the eye.

I didn't expect this person would also come to Pei Yuan's concubine banquet.

Pei Yuan’s social circle is evil, really evil!

The eunuch party and the treacherous ministers are all there.

Pei Yuan hurriedly left Gu Dayong and Qiu Ju behind and went up to greet Zang Xian.

The person Pei Yuan most wanted to meet at this banquet was Zang Xian. He also hoped to find a way from Zang Xian, the political broker, to get to know the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Wang Qiong.

Zang Xian quickly glanced around the courtyard and was slightly surprised to see Gu Dayong and Qiu Ju there.

He looked at Liu Zhishu for a moment, then smiled and nodded slightly.

Then he said to Pei Yuan with a smile, "I have been looking for a gift for you these days. I don't know if you like it."

Having said that, he asked the two women who followed in to greet him.

The two women were quite beautiful, and I don't know if it was intentional, but they were not wearing any makeup and were dressed quite simply.

The two men greeted each other and Pei Yuan heard it immediately.

This was the sound Pei Yuan often heard when he was still poor.

At that time, Pei Yuan had no money to listen to music, so when he had nothing to do, he would go to the courtyard for free and listen to the girls from the Jiaofang Bureau practice.

The last time he met Zang Xian, Pei Yuan just casually said this to get close to him, but he didn't expect that Zang Xian would really find the girl who had practiced music in the room facing Pei Yuan's courtyard more than a year ago.

He truly is the most famous political broker in Beijing.

Pei Yuan's expectations for Zang Xian increased a bit, and he immediately happily invited Zang Xian to the side to talk.

Zang Xian first greeted Gu Dayong and Qiu Ju. Gu Dayong saw that Pei Yuan obviously had something to ask Zang Xian. He had also heard of Zang Xian's reputation as a political broker, so he smiled and waved his hand, saying, "We'll meet again sooner or later. Let's focus on the business of the thousand households first."

Pei Yuan quickly asked Chen Toutie to invite the guests to come in for tea, but Gu Dayong said casually, "No hurry, what's the point of sitting there bored? Do we need a cup of tea?"

Qiu Ju didn't do much.

Zang Xian was more and more surprised.

Gu Dayong and Qiu Ju seem to be giving face to Pei Qianhu.

After waiting to the side, Pei Yuan whispered, "I have something I want to ask Feng Luan for help."

Zang Xian remained calm and asked with a smile, "It's not difficult to help. As long as I can do it, just ask."

Pei Yuan was overjoyed and was about to ask when he heard Zang Xian ask with a half smile, "I can help you, but how do you plan to repay me? Do you want to settle the debt openly as brothers, or do you owe me this favor first?"

Pei Yuan thought that just to find someone to talk to Wang Qiong, he owed this guy a favor, but I wouldn't do that.

This guy is a political broker who helps people pull strings. I don’t know how he will pay me back in the future.

Pei Yuan said decisively, "Let's do it as brothers."

Zang Xian smiled, "Okay, then I'll listen to what my brother wants me to do."

Since it was a business matter, Pei Yuan simply said openly, "I plan to meet Wang Qiong, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, at least someone I can talk to for a few words."

"Wang Qiong." Zang Xian frowned. "This guy has a very stubborn temper. He didn't even give Liu Jin face back then. And you are a Jinyiwei, so it's a bit difficult to deal with you."

Pei Yuan and Wang Qiong met not only for the military supplies on the front line, but also to preserve the vitality of the Ming Dynasty.

Wang Qiong once submitted a very famous memorial in history, entitled "The first merit system for expeditions to the interior should be abolished."

In this memorial, Wang Qiong strongly suggested that when suppressing the rebellion of the people in the interior, beheading should not be used as a reward.

If merit is awarded by beheading, the government troops will have the motivation to kill innocent people indiscriminately, which will undoubtedly put the people in great crisis.

——"This is the bad policy of the Qin Dynasty. It is still acceptable for border defense, but it has never been used in the interior to make the first person count. Now Jiangxi and Sichuan have killed tens of millions of civilians and allowed the bandits to cause disasters. This is all caused by this theory. From now on, when conquering the interior, only the victory of wiping out the enemy is counted, not the number of heads."

Now the battle on the front line may begin soon. How many people must the 200,000-strong army kill before they can achieve the feat that satisfies them?
Not to mention the old and weak auxiliary soldiers left behind by the Bazhou Army, I am afraid that even the people of Huguang and Jiangxi may suffer from the disaster.

If Wang Qiong could be persuaded to write a letter to the emperor in time to abolish this system of rewarding merit by beheading, it would definitely be a meritorious deed.

In the original history, this was proposed three years later by Wang Qiong when he served as the Minister of War. Zhu Houzhao immediately realized the problem and ended this bloody system.

Pei Yuan was quite confident that he could persuade Wang Qiong to do this, because this was something Wang Qiong himself agreed with and was willing to promote.

However, three years earlier, the situation Wang Qiong had to face was a hundred times more dangerous.

Because there were no major wars three years later, the military officers' demand for military merit was long-term and not urgent.

But now, the final blow to the Bazhou army is about to happen.

If Wang Qiong brought this up at this time, he would definitely be hated! I don't know how many frontline generals would gnash their teeth at him!

However, this piece of light paper could potentially save tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of lives immediately, and save hundreds of thousands or even millions of lives in the future.

On the one hand, it was the hatred of the military officers, and on the other hand, it was the lives of countless civilians.

Pei Yuan himself is not a hero, and he does not have the courage to go forward even if there are tens of thousands of people against him.

Pei Yuan didn't know whether Wang Qiong could withstand the huge pressure after being enlightened by him. All Pei Yuan could do was to cowardly throw this moral burden to Wang Qiong.

Pei Yuan is a man holding a chess piece, selfishly calculating his advances and retreats.

And in Pei Yuan's mind, Wang Qiong was undoubtedly like the eunuch Hu Gonggong, the Suzhou and Hangzhou weaving factory, who was the one holding the table.

Pei Yuan planned to try to contact Wang Qiong first. Even if the conversation was unpleasant and Wang Qiong could not be used by him, Pei Yuan would not exile such a person like Yang Tinghe did.

He thought about it and said to Zang Xian decisively, "I can add money."

(End of this chapter)