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

Chapter 405 A big loss for a small gain
Pei Yuan felt at ease and did not stay in Xuzhou Zuowei for long.

After a quick meal, we continued heading south.

When he arrived in Huai'an, Pei Yuan first found a hotel to stay in, had a good rest and tidyed up, then asked someone to send the visiting card to Huai'an Wei.

After the visiting card was sent out, the returning Jinyiwei hurried to see Pei Yuan and said that a captain of the Huai'an Guard heard that Captain Pei had arrived and must come to see him.

Pei Yuan came here to do good things, so there was nothing to worry about, so he was let in.

The person who came was indeed the captain Zhou Chao. When Zhou Chao saw Pei Yuan, he smiled innocently and said, "I was wondering why I heard the magpie calling so early in the morning. It turns out that Brother Pei has arrived in Huai'an."

Pei Yuan had a good impression of Zhou Chao. He thought that Zhou Chao was a capable man and worthy of respect.

After the pleasantries, Pei Yuan got straight to the point and said, "I'd like to see your commander for something. Is he free?"

Zhou Chao was not vague and said immediately, "Even if others are not available, Captain Pei must be available. The commander went to Qingjiangpu to fish today. Brother Pei, do you want to try it too?"

When Pei Yuan heard this, a question mark emerged in his mind.

What does this old guy mean?

Seeing Pei Yuan's hesitation, Zhou Chao explained, "Commander He went to Qingjiangpu for the Qingjiang Shipyard."

Now that the matter has been spoken, Zhou Chao has nothing to hide.

"Earlier, the court ordered the repair of the river and the construction of warships. There happened to be the Weihe Shipyard in the north, the Qingjiang Shipyard in the middle, and the Longjiang Shipyard in the south. So the court let Chen Tianxiang, the chief censor of catching bandits, be in charge of the section north of Dongchang Prefecture, Zhang Feng, the governor of the river, be in charge of the section from Dongchang to Pei County, and Zhang Jin, the governor of the grain transport, be in charge of the section south of Xuzhou."

"According to the practice in previous years, when there is a lot of work at Qingjiang Shipyard, it is assigned to Xuzhou Guard and Xuzhou Left Guard. We, Huai'an Guard and Dahe Guard, have no chance to help."

"I don't know what's wrong with the new commander of Xuzhou Zuowei. He actually sent most of his men to Weihe Shipyard to help."

"Wouldn't this offend the Qingjiang Administration Office?"

"The Weihe Shipyard only has 18 branches, and its annual construction capacity is limited. The work assigned by the court is not much, and Xuzhou Zuowei can only be busy for a while. Will we continue to do business in the future?"

"The Qingjiang Shipyard in Qingjiangpu has more than 80 branches, and they always get the most lucrative shipbuilding orders every year."

"Xuzhou Zuowei is ignorant, so naturally there will be someone willing to take over."

"This time, Commander He took great pains to get through the Qingjiang Administration Office and get involved in the shipbuilding business."

"The soldiers under our command have never done this kind of work, and we don't have enough people, so we teamed up with the Dahe Guards to take it on. Commander Chen used his connections to get some boat builders, and we barely started the work."

"If this is done well, we can earn several thousand taels of silver every year."

"Commander He is afraid of mistakes, so he has been watching over there personally these days."

Pei Yuan felt a little annoyed after hearing this.

He originally asked Xuzhou Zuowei to help Zhang Feng build a ship in order to make things easier for him so that he could have more leverage over Zhang Feng, but he didn't know there was such a secret.

Pei Yuan originally wanted to use Xuzhou Zuowei as a starting point to plot against Qingjiang Shipyard. But now Xuzhou Zuowei has given up the task, which has directly offended Qingjiang Tizhusi.

The scale of the Weihe Shipyard is far from comparable to that of the Qingjiang Shipyard.

Pei Yuan's move was a bad one, and he ended up losing the big picture for the small.

My impression is that the Weihe Shipyard will go bankrupt and liquidate in about ten years and be completely merged into the Qingjiang Shipyard.

The main reason is that most of the good wood for shipbuilding comes from Sichuan and Guangxi, where there are deep mountains and old forests. The freight cost of transporting to Huai'an and Linqing is very different. So in order to save money and make more money, Weihe Shipyard first began to downgrade the ship materials.

"Songmu-made" was the first product produced by Weihe Shipyard.

Some shipyard officials also hoarded goods and secretly resold the canal boats built with good materials to merchants.

Eventually, the Weihe Shipyard in Linqing had quality problems with a large number of its ships, causing the imperial court to be furious and close the Weihe Shipyard.

Pei Yuan was depressed for a while, but he knew how to comfort himself.

Being small also has its advantages.

At least the difficulty of control is much smaller than that of Qingjiang Shipyard.

Moreover, because the Weihe Shipyard had many problems, officials in the court knew that it could go bankrupt at any time, and they would not be able to make any money, and might even get into trouble, so they tried to avoid it as much as possible.

In this way, it would be convenient for Pei Yuan to arrange people in the Weihe Tizhu Office.

The biggest difficulty facing Weihe Shipyard now is the lack of cheap and good ship materials.

Moreover, because of the bad reputation of "Songmu Shipyard", not only did the merchants dare not buy ships from Weihe Shipyard, even the imperial court was unwilling to place orders from Weihe Shipyard.

This created a vicious cycle, making the situation at Weihe Shipyard even more difficult.

This time, because the Bazhou army burned more than 1,200 grain ships in Jining, the Weihe Shipyard finally got a big order, but it happened to encounter a river governor who was good at squeezing the land.

Pei Yuan estimated that if he did not intervene, the Weihe Shipyard would probably collapse earlier than in the original time and space.

Fortunately, now that he has intervened, he can skip the waiting stage for the thunderbolt.

Pei Yuan was attracted by the Weihe Shipyard, not the 18 branches that could build foreign-capable ships, but the thousands of skilled craftsmen there.

As long as the Weihe Shipyard can be obtained, there is still a way to save it.

The simplest way is to place an order with Weihe Shipyard, let Weihe Shipyard start operation first, and then supply cheap ship materials to them so that they can get a certain profit margin.

Pei Yuan’s Liaodong strategy can perfectly incorporate the Weihe Shipyard.

The Liaodong strategy wants to form a virtuous economic cycle, but simply dumping products from Shandong to Liaodong is unsustainable.

Things like furs and ginseng are not enough to maintain a population large enough to feed many people.

But Liaodong can sell timber to Shandong!
Because of the Chinese construction habits, they like to build tall houses and large mansions, and the emperor is no exception.

But wood doesn’t grow in just one or two years.

The good materials for beams and pillars had long been cut down by previous generations.

Even when the emperor was building a palace, he had to take the trouble to figure out where to find good wood.

Therefore, as long as the wood from Liaodong can be transported out, it can not only be used to build ships, but also be supplied to powerful families at a high price.

By sailing from Liaodong across the Bohai Sea, you can go upstream along the Daqing River and enter the hinterland of Shandong. Transportation is not a problem at all.

The Bohai area is rich in salt. The Bohai salt enters the hinterland of Shandong through the Daqing River and is then transported to Henan, Jiangsu and Anhui.

During the Chenghua period, in order to ensure the cargo transportation capacity of the Daqing River, Shandong Governor Mou Feng specially recruited 57,000 people to carry out dredging.

Now salt ships buy salt from the Lijin Salt Field area, load it onto the ship and go up the Daqing River, passing through Putai, Huimin, Qingcheng, Qihe, Changqing, Pingyin, and Yanggu in turn, and then it can be transported from Yanggu to the canal.

In this way, it can not only be sold to the counties along the way, but also can be transported north to Beijing and Tianjin, south to northern Jiangsu and northern Anhui, and even directly to Southern Zhili.

This waterway can transport large quantities of salt and timber.

Liaodong is full of good timber. Once an industry is formed, a large number of people will be needed to cut and transport the timber, which can feed many people. This will form a good economic structure.

This is also why Pei Yuan focuses on soybeans even though there are many lucrative ways to make money.

Because soybeans can feed many people within the entire supply system through diluted profits.

Farmers who cultivate the land, young and strong people who transport goods, craftsmen who press oil and brew wine, and businessmen who engage in decentralized marketing.

Pei Yuan needs these people to rely on him for food!
If Pei Yuan chose to make sugar, burn glass, or make paper, even if he made more profit, how many craftsmen could he support?
If it's just for the money, wouldn't it be nice to suffer for the Japanese?

Pei Yuan figured this out and was no longer panicked.

So let it be if I offend the Qingjiang Tizhusi. Maybe there will be a time in the future when they will ask me for help.

Seeing Pei Yuan hesitate, Zhou Chao asked tentatively, "Brother Pei, if it's urgent, I can go to Qingjiangpu with you. If it's not urgent, I can send someone to send a letter to Commander He, asking him to hurry back."

Pei Yuan came here to curry favor this time, not to annoy people, so of course he didn't want to put on such an attitude.

Besides, they are just being polite, so you can't take it seriously.

Pei Yuan said to Zhou Chao, "Although this matter is not urgent, if we delay for too long, it is bound to cause changes. Please ask Brother Zhou to accompany me on this trip."

Zhou Chao agreed readily, "Okay."

After that, he asked tentatively, "I just don't know what Brother Pei wants to do? I can also ask Commander He to inform him first. If there is anything that needs to be prepared, we can prepare in advance."

Pei Yuan thought about it and realized that his previous relationship with He Huan was not pleasant at all, so it would be good for someone to go and say hello in advance.

Otherwise, you might get hit on the back of your head with a stone before you even open your mouth.

So Pei Yuan smiled and said, "Of course it's a good thing. Commander He treated me very well before and gave me a large sum of money before I left. I feel guilty and have been thinking about how to repay Commander He. This time I got a chance to help Commander He find a good career, so I came to talk to him first."

Zhou Chao was relieved to hear that it was good news, but when he heard Pei Yuan's next words, he was overjoyed.

Pei Yuan said to Zhou Chao half-truthfully, "I have some connections in the court, and I just happened to catch a good opportunity. If I don't use it now, it will be invalid after the expiration date."

Zhou Chao was even more delighted after hearing this, and hurriedly said, "Brother, I will send someone to inform Commander He first."

He added, "Let's welcome you first. After we have enough food and drink, it won't be too late to continue our journey."

Pei Yuan knew that Zhou Chao was a thick-faced but black-hearted man. Pei Yuan had previously embezzled 80,000 taels of silver from Huai'an Wei and Dahe Wei. Although there were significant benefits to be gained this time, Huai'an Wei and Dahe Wei would probably be reluctant to attack him before achieving their goal. However, it was better to be cautious in such matters.

Pei Yuan said to Zhou Chao, "No hurry. Let's get organized a little later and then head to Qingjiangpu."

He half-jokingly said, "If my guess is correct, Commander He will also treat me to a few drinks after I tell him the good news."

Zhou Chao said nothing and quickly prepared his men and horses to accompany Pei Yuan to Qingjiangpu.

The distance from Shanyang to Qingjiangpu was not far, and the group was all cavalry. Before the afternoon, Pei Yuan saw a small cavalry team coming to meet him.

A centurion came forward politely and said, "Commander He has already prepared a banquet at Qingjiangpu, waiting to welcome Captain Pei."

Zhou Chao went up and asked a few simple questions.

The team then moved on.

After walking a short distance, we saw a river winding along the road.

Zhou Chao pointed out, "This river flows into the Qingjiang Shipyard. If we follow this direction, we will be able to see Commander He."

Pei Yuan just nodded in response.

Going further ahead, we saw large workshops one after another, where some craftsmen were busy processing various types of wood.

After passing several factories, we saw the river turning a corner ahead.

At the bend, there was a pavilion, and several people were waiting leisurely in the pavilion.

Hearing the sound of horse hooves, someone came out of the pavilion, stood with his hands behind his back, and waited there.

It was He Huan whom Pei Yuan had met last time.

He Huan saw Pei Yuan, stared at him for a while, then put on a smile and strode over.

Pei Yuan also quickly jumped off his horse and walked quickly to greet him with a smile.

He Huan grabbed Pei Yuan and walked with him arm in arm, saying with a smile, "When Brother Pei left last time, I regretted not being able to have a few drinks with you. I didn't expect the opportunity to come like this. It must be God's will."

Pei Yuan is quite tactful.

He was also afraid that he couldn't explain it clearly, and he didn't know what kind of Hongmen Banquet this ruthless man would set for him.

So he smiled and said, "I came here this time to repay Commander He for his kindness. Commander He, do you know what's going on in the capital now because of the credit for pacifying Bazhou?"

"Oh?" He Huan paused, and stopped walking forward with Pei Yuan.

He quickly realized that what Pei Yuan called a good thing was most likely related to this division of merit.

He Huan glanced towards the pavilion with a hesitant look on his face.

Pei Yuan followed He Huan's gaze and saw a few more people walking out of the pavilion.

Those people looked at Pei Yuan curiously, obviously wondering who the person was that could have made He Huan come out?

He Huan tightened his grip on Pei Yuan's arm.

Pei Yuan's eyes slightly tilted.

He Huan smiled and said, "Come, let me introduce him to you. This is Pei Yuan, the captain of the Jinyiwei of the Zhenxie Qianhu Unit, whom I mentioned before. Don't underestimate Brother Pei because he is young. He is very capable."

After He Huan finished speaking, he was about to introduce those people to Pei Yuan.

Then he saw a burly guy staring at Pei Yuandao with a bad look on his face.

"Pei Yuan? Could he be the Captain Pei who escorted Gu Dayong to the north?"

Pei Yuan immediately became alert. He looked at He Huan and asked calmly, "Who is this?"

He Huan was slightly startled, not knowing why these two had a feud, so he smiled and introduced, "This is Xuzhou Guard Commander Guo Hui."

Xuzhou Guard? Commander?
Pei Yuan was shocked when he heard this.

This is the victim that I least want to see.

Pei Yuan not only stole a large number of Xuzhou Wei's most elite troops, but also abducted Ding Hong.

Afterwards, Pei Yuan asked Xiao Yan to suppress Xuzhou Wei all the time to prevent Xuzhou Wei from making things worse, causing Xuzhou Wei to suffer a great loss.

(End of this chapter)