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

Chapter 381 Gathering Storm
Unfortunately, it was not so easy for Weiner to get first-hand information from his colleagues.

Pei Yuan waited for a while.

In the meantime, Wei Ne came over and refilled his tea.

This made many officials of the Ministry of Public Administration look at him with suspicion.

The status of military officers has long declined. Now, whenever the army moves, the one in charge must be a civil official who has been given an official title such as Right Censor-in-Chief, Deputy Censor-in-Chief, or Joint Censor-in-Chief.

In addition, there must be a eunuch in charge of military affairs.

This refers to those who actually hold military power outside.

Secret agencies like the Jinyiwei, which had been severely weakened, were not even taken seriously by the court officials.

When Zhu Houzhao stuffed many of his adopted sons into the Jinyiwei as commanders, the status of the Jinyiwei became even more unbearable.

No matter how much Wei Ne was, he was still a fifth-rank civil servant. It was really unscrupulous for him to be so fawning on a captain of the Imperial Guard.

But everyone thought about how Wei Ne, the hanged man, had helped Jiao Huangzhong extort money from other officials’ residences...

Fine.

This is truly a shameless scum with no bottom line.

As a result, everyone began to look at the small captain of the Jinyiwei with a new respect.

Apart from anything else, a snob like Wei Ne is very good at reading the direction of the wind.

This also made everyone more convinced of the rumor that Wei Ne had joined a mysterious force.

Not long after, Right Councillor Ren Liangbi, who also went to the cabinet, came back.

Ren Liangbi had a strange expression on his face, and he also looked like he wanted to talk.

When two people know the same information at the same time, the information becomes cheap and easy to spread.

Soon, Wei Ne came running to tell Pei Yuan a shocking news.

This morning, after finishing his official business in Wenyuan Pavilion, Cabinet Grand Secretary Li Dongyang was leisurely sipping tea. He wanted to play with a Zhu coin that he often wore, but he couldn't find it after searching all over his body.

Li Dongyang suspected that he had lost his way on the way to court, and he stood there in a daze, distracted.

No one took it seriously at first, but when they turned around, they saw Li Daxueshi slumped in his seat.

Yang Tinghe originally suspected that Lao Deng was playing tricks on him, but when he saw that Li Daxueshi was drooling and muttering "heaven's destiny" in a daze, Yang Tinghe believed it.

So Grand Secretary Yang quickly notified Zhu Houzhao, and then had Grand Secretary Li sent back to the palace.

When Grand Secretary Li left, he was carried out of Wenyuan Pavilion.

Everyone in the Ministry of Public Administration was talking about this matter, and they all felt that Li Dongyang might really leave the cabinet completely this time.

The sky in the Ming Dynasty court is about to change.

After hearing this, Pei Yuan felt it was absurd and a little uneasy.

Could it be that the Xuzhu coin I received yesterday belonged to Li Dongyang?
The more Pei Yuan thought about it, the more coincidental it seemed.

"Xuzhu" coins are a kind of talisman coins, which were minted by ancient people in order to pray for the extension of life.

This kind of money embodies the psychological aspirations of collectors of all generations to maintain health and prolong life. For elderly people, getting this thing is basically equivalent to getting a lucky sign of longevity.

During this year or so, Li Dongyang had completely convinced himself and vowed to regard the money that was delivered to his door as a guarantee of his longevity.

As a result, Li Dongyang was happy when he gained but dejected when he lost.

The huge psychological gap and sense of fatalism made Li Dongyang unable to adjust his mentality for a while, and he even showed signs of a stroke.

Pei Yuan was a little confused for a moment when he heard the news from Wei Ne.

Li Dongyang's stroke means that Yang Tinghe is likely to become the prime minister ahead of schedule and take charge of the court.

The adjustment of the "Foreign Minister" before the "Internal Minister" will inevitably bring about new political changes.

The first thing is to recruit new people into the cabinet.

When it comes to reputation and prestige, the Minister of Personnel Yang Yiqing is the undisputed leader.

But everyone knows about the alliance between Yang Yiqing and Zhang Yong.

Once Yang Yiqing enters the cabinet, he will draft bills as a grand secretary, and Zhang Yong will be in charge of the imperial seal as the eunuch. Then what role will Yang Tinghe have in the Ming Dynasty?

Not to mention Yang Tinghe, even Liang Chu and Fei Hong, who were just there for the occasion, would not be happy to see such a scene.

Moreover, there were considerable conflicts between the "two Yangs", Yang Yiqing and Yang Tinghe.

When the Bazhou army first started to rebel, Yang Yiqing actively recommended the Right Censor-in-Chief Ma Zhongxi to lead the expedition.

Yang Tinghe did not say anything at first, but only published an editorial after the army had set out, saying, "Ma Zhongxi is a man of letters, and I'm afraid he is not up to the task."

The meaning of the words is just short of comparing Ma Zhongxi and Ma Youchang.

Yang Yiqing felt very uncomfortable with this, but the army had already set out, and it was too late even to make a temporary change of generals.

Yang Yiqing could only pray that Ma Zhongxi would be more motivated and not go to the mountains to set up camp.

Fortunately, Ma Zhongxi was worthy of being a rare Confucian general, and his talent and strategy were no less than that of Liu Xiang, the prefect of Huainan. He led a large army to advance in different directions and arrived suddenly, catching the Bazhou army off guard.

The generals of the Bazhou Army were all very confused. They didn't expect that the Ming Dynasty court would come to attack them just as their battle had just begun.

Faced with a huge advantage, Ma Zhongxi remained calm and composed, wearing a feather fan and a long robe.

He said he wanted to do something fancy.

He personally brought wine and food to the camp of Liu Liu and Liu Qi to comfort them sincerely, hoping to pacify the rebel army with his Confucian knowledge and personal charm.

Liu Liu, Liu Qi and others are originally from the underworld, and they still have the habits of a rough gang at heart.

They were all very moved to see that Ma Zhongxi, as a civil servant, was so bold as to bring wine and food into the Bazhou military camp.

The two sides felt that they had met too late and had a great drink.

Then the Bazhou army took advantage of the imperial army's inattention and ran away.

Afterwards, the "Flower-like Censor" was taken away by the Discipline Inspection Commission.

From then on, Yang Yiqing and Yang Tinghe became enemies.

After Lu Wan, who was recommended by Yang Tinghe, made great progress in the war, Yang Yiqing and Yang Tinghe became even more unhappy.

Yang Yiqing's threat to Yang Tinghe was not only able to echo the internal minister "Zhang Yong", but Yang Yiqing himself had enormous power.

He was the Minister of Personnel and had the power to appoint and dismiss officials.

He gained great reputation by rehabilitating the officials who were attacked by Liu Jin.

Those who were rehabilitated by Yang Yiqing naturally became Yang Yiqing's followers.

But with this reputation and power, others can only watch helplessly.

Because Yang Yiqing and Zhang Yong took the lead in overthrowing Liu Jin, this was the reward he deserved. Pei Yuan thought about it for a while and felt that the situation was not so bad.

Before defeating Yang Yiqing, Yang Tinghe would not be able to free up his hands to continue strengthening his control, so there would still be room for him to display his abilities in the Ming Dynasty court.

In order to concentrate on dealing with Yang Yiqing, Yang Tinghe would inevitably turn to the "old people of Hongzhi" and support them in overthrowing Zhang Yong.

Pei Yuan and Wei Ne said goodbye and left the Tongzhengsi.

With the situation in the imperial court so turbulent, it is time for me, Pei Qianhu, to leave the capital without any consequences...

In the next few days, Pei Yuan had no intention of managing religious affairs, and he was nervously following the changes in the court every day.

Li Dongyang really fell ill and could not get up again.

After Zhu Houzhao personally went to Li Dongyang's house to serve him medicine, he had no choice but to allow the elderly Li Dongyang to retire.

Zhu Houzhao issued an imperial edict praising Li Dongyang highly, and then rewarded him with fifty taels of silver, four sets of silk, and appointed his nephew Li Zhaoyan as the Secretary of the Central Secretariat. He also ordered the officials to inquire about his health from time to time, and gave him ten carriages and servants every year and eight stone of official granary every month.

The era of Prime Minister Li Dongyang in power came to an end.

Afterwards, Yang Tinghe was promoted to the position of Prime Minister as expected.

It’s just that the matter of adding new people to the cabinet seemed to have triggered some tacit understanding, and no one mentioned it at all.

As the other member of the "Yang Yiqing-Zhang Yong" alliance, the eunuch who held the seal of the Imperial Household Department was politically insensitive and used clumsy political tactics, which left everyone dumbfounded.

Just when Yang Yiqing was in urgent need of a push, Zhang Yong, jealous of Gu Dayong and Xiao Jing for getting three earls, started to act like a demon.

He asked his men to capture a man with a dragon tattooed on his arm as a great achievement, and wanted to cite the example of the former eunuch Liu Yongcheng to make himself a marquis.

But who is Liu Yongcheng?

Liu Yongcheng is as tough a man as Zheng He, the eunuch.

Whenever Eunuch Wang Zhi saw him, he would respectfully call him "senior".

He served six emperors and seven dynasties, and held military power for a long time, but he never made any mistakes. In his later years, he was still upright and upright, "fearing fullness" and handed over all the rewards given to him by the six emperors.

When Eunuch Liu Yongcheng rode his horse to the northern border to conquer Mongolia, in order to show that he was no less than the heroes of the world, he charged into battle with a fake beard and shed blood for the Ming Dynasty.

Zhang Yong wanted to compare himself with Liu Yongcheng based on his few achievements in the internal fighting, which made everyone in the world laugh.

Now Yang Yiqing could not count on Zhang Yong anymore. He had only one thought in his mind: please don't let these things happen to me.

Yang Tinghe naturally would not miss the opportunity to give the fallen dog a beating.

He told Zhang Yong that Liu Yongcheng was not granted a title of nobility, and that what Zhang Gonggong knew was all based on rumors and conjectures. Even Liu Yongcheng's nephew Liu Ju was granted the title of baron because of his own military exploits, and had nothing to do with Liu Yongcheng.

whee.

After hearing this, Zhang Yong blushed with embarrassment and dared not say a word.

Although Yang Yiqing had high attack and high health, the team fight had not started yet and his most important teammate had gone up and died first. This immediately made Yang Yiqing's prospects of joining the cabinet confusing.

Eunuch Zhang Yong of the Imperial Household Department also used his own strength to prove to Zhu Houzhao again that except for Eunuch Liu Jin who was "a capable minister in a peaceful era and a hero in a chaotic era", none of the remaining seven tigers were useful.

Now Zhu Houzhao's idea of ​​replacing the "Seven Tigers of Zhengde" with "old people of Hongzhi" became more and more determined, and even Zhang Yong felt that he was in a difficult situation.

On the first day of April, Li Shishi took a leave and came to Zhihua Temple, where he nervously drank with Pei Yuan for the whole day.

Pei Yuan dealt with his own affairs very cleanly, so his mentality was relatively calm.

Besides, the situation on the Huguang front will not be resolved today.

Pei Yuanxuan went to have the final consultation with Wang Qiong on the version of the memorial on the second day of April.

Wang Qiong was well aware of the power of this memorial, and he also knew that the trouble at hand might result in a reputation that would last through the ages.

Therefore, Wang Qiong also cautiously sought the opinion of Pei Yuan, the initiator, and asked him whether he wanted to sign the petition.

Pei Yuan did not have the desire to leave a lasting legacy, so he flatly refused.

There is no sign of his reputation being passed down through the ages, but if he did something as treacherous as this, how would he face Eunuch Lu who trusted him?

However, Pei Yuan also gave his requirement that Wang Qiong could not submit the memorial until April 2nd after he personally read it.

After hearing what Pei Yuan said, Wang Qiong looked at him deeply for a while, and finally agreed to this request.

The army on the front line has been motionless for a long time, which has caused an uproar in the court.

Many censors impeached Lu Ting and Lu Wan, demanding that people be sent to replace them as soon as possible.

Only some people who paid close attention to the developments on the front line could notice from the official reports that since the imperial troops began to remain silent, the Bazhou army had not attacked any towns again.

Many people believed that this was most likely Lu Ting and the Bazhou Army planning for the final decisive battle.

Several cabinet ministers also support this view.

Because the weather is getting warmer and there is a lot of water in the south of the Yangtze River, if the situation continues to drag on, it will become even more unfavorable for the Bazhou army.

However, others were just guessing and making inferences, and only Wang Qiong heard the date "April 2nd" from Pei Yuan.

Wang Qiong had some guesses, but he was not a saint, and selfishly agreed to wait and see for a few days.

Pei Yuan's purpose, in addition to trying his best to reduce the impact of this incident on Wang Qiong, was to leave a relatively good impression on Wang Qiong through this deliberate date.

No matter what face Pei Yuan shows to Wang Qiong in the future, Pei Yuan must make him understand that he has no ill will towards him.

After Pei Yuan drives away the other chess players and puts the country in order, he will still need people like Wang Qiong to hold the table.

The name of the memorial was finally determined as "The Memorial on the Abolition of the Principal Merit in Inland Expeditions" as it was in history.

At the same time, Zhang Lian, the provincial governor who was about to take office in Shanxi, also heard the news and reported to the emperor, impeaching the military officers on the front line for excessive waste, privately dividing up military rations, and burning stored grass.

The memorial was soon delivered to the cabinet's desk.

Yang Tinghe, who had just assumed power, was planning how to take the first step in governing. When he saw the memorial from the famous ruthless Zhang Lian, he immediately drafted a reply, requiring frontline officials, from Lu Ting and Lu Wan onwards, all civil and military officers above the third rank, to defend themselves in this memorial.

As soon as this draft was released, some people who had not paid much attention to Zhang Lian's memorial before immediately began to panic.

Zhang Lian impeached the military officer, but they didn't notice anything. Attacking military officers was a completely normal practice for civil officials, but once the military officer defended himself, it might involve a lot of problems.

However, the angle of Zhang Lian's impeachment was so clever that they couldn't even speak for him.

Pei Yuan didn't care much about how the matter would develop, he just needed to light the fire.

In the original history, the rebellion of the Bazhou Army, which was put down in the middle of the seventh year of Zhengde, was not put down until the eighth year of Zhengde, when the court remembered that there was a lot of food and grass piled up on the front line and left to rot.

So Wang Qiong rushed to the front line, cleaned up the rotten food and fodder, and sold the remaining food at a discount. Even so, he still made 280,000 taels of silver.

If the court continues to procrastinate, it will easily affect his plans.

Fortunately, after Zhang Lian came out to stir up trouble, it was Wang Qiong's business how to continue the show.

If the war on the front line continues, this matter will not be so prominent. As long as the news of Lu Ting's defeat of the Bazhou army comes, how to deal with this huge amount of military funds will inevitably be put on the cabinet's desk.

(End of this chapter)