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

Chapter 411 My Son Comes First
Pei Yuan left Kong Xu to slowly digest his task, and asked Chen Xinjian about Lu Ting's matter.

Fortunately, Eunuch Lu is considered a prominent figure at the moment, and his movements are not difficult to detect.

Zhu Houzhao has already given Lu Ting a house and servants, and is still waiting for the Ministry of War and the Cabinet to discuss the final result regarding his reward.

Pei Yuan knew without guessing that this result would be very unfavorable to Lu Ting.

the reason is simple.

During the war, although Admiral Lu Ting was very powerful, what about after the war?

Those military leaders have their own teams, and those civil officials have their own teachers and old friends.

Where is Lu Ting? Nothing.

With the end of the war, Eunuch Lu's true colors were revealed.

He is just a servant of the heavenly family.

Therefore, suppressing Lu Ting would result in minimal backlash, and could also set a ceiling based on Lu Ting's past as the commander of military affairs, setting an example for other officials.

I guess Eunuch Lu doesn't dare to ask for any big reward now, as long as it's not too embarrassing.

Pei Yuan asked the Jinyiwei spy about Lu Ting's current situation.

Unfortunately, the Jinyiwei spy also spoke vaguely.

Pei Yuan was not disappointed and decided to meet Lu Ting first. After all, the real inside information was only in the hands of a few people.

The mansion that Zhu Houzhao gave to Lu Ting was very close to the imperial city.

When they arrived at the place, Pei Yuan asked Chen Xinjian to take his business card and go up to hand it to the doorman.

The doorman took a look and saw the words "Suppressing Evil Thousand Households, Jinyi Thousand Household Pei" and was immediately surprised. He quickly said to the people outside the mansion, "Eunuch Lu has instructed that if Thousand Household Pei arrives, you can go see him at any time."

Having said that, he quickly asked people to open the middle door.

Chen Xinjian was standing nearby. Seeing that it was still early, he casually asked the doorman, "Didn't Eunuch Lu go into the palace to guard today?"

That guy was temporarily transferred from the imperial farm and is used to reading people's expressions.

Since he already knew Eunuch Lu's attitude towards Captain Pei, how could he dare to offend the people around Captain Pei?

So he smiled and said, "Just a few days ago, the emperor summoned Eunuch Lu to ask questions, and since then he has stayed in the palace, waiting for the court to reward him."

"Eunuch Lu has not left the mansion these days, except for asking people every day to check whether Captain Pei has come."

Pei Yuan sighed after hearing this, this is the disadvantage of using too much cheating.

Eunuch Lu, who used to be quite opinionated, now encounters trouble and doesn't know how to deal with it.

Tsk, what’s so good about cheating?

When the middle door opened wide, the doorman hurried forward to greet him.

Chen Xinjian peeked into the yard from behind and followed Pei Yuan in to greet him.

Pei Yuan followed a steward who came in a hurry and walked inside until he entered the second courtyard, where he saw Lu Ting who came to greet him.

Lu Ting looked much thinner than when he was on the Huguang front.

Perhaps because she hadn't been out for several days, her hair was tied up in a messy style.

He was a little tipsy and looked quite down and out.

When Lu Ting saw Pei Yuan, he said with relief, "I knew that Brother Pei would not let me down."

Seeing Lu Ting like this, Pei Yuan also sincerely reminded him, "Brother Lu, why are you so haggard? From today on, you should stop drinking."

When Lu Ting saw Pei Yuan coming up and asking about his complexion, a warm feeling surged in his heart.

These days, he has had enough of the fickleness of human nature.

Lu Ting took a few steps forward, holding Pei Yuan's hand, and sighed, feeling sad, "It's really hard to describe what happened to me, brother."

Lu Ting had a lot to say, he glanced around, and considering the large crowd, he quickly dismissed the servants and pulled Pei Yuan towards the inner courtyard.

After walking a few steps, he saw someone following Pei Yuan, so he gestured to Pei Yuan.

Pei Yuan said quickly, "He is Chen Toutie's younger brother, he is absolutely reliable."

As the earliest victim of Pei Yuan in his early stages, Lu Ting was also the key figure who indirectly forced Han Qianhu to abdicate and allowed Pei Yuan to be appointed as deputy Qianhu. He was well aware of Pei Yuan's old team.

When he heard that he was Chen Toutie's younger brother, he nodded to him.

When the two of them walked hand in hand to a courtyard at the back, Lu Ting forced himself to cheer up and said to Pei Yuan with a smile, "Let's not talk about my business for now. I'll take you to see someone first."

As he said this, he knocked on the door.

There was some movement in the yard, but it quickly disappeared.

Lu Ting raised his voice, "It's me, I brought Captain Pei to see you."

As soon as he finished speaking, the gate was suddenly opened.

A sturdy man with long arms and legs, who looked quite oppressive, was looking at Pei Yuan with a complicated expression.

Pei Yuan was startled when he saw the man, and almost blurted out, "My son Fengxian, why are you here?"

It turned out that the man was Qi Yanming, the bandit leader of Bazhou who was supposed to flee to Jiangxi.

Not to mention Pei Yuan's surprise, Qi Yanming was also stunned for a moment when he looked at the "Zhuge Jiang Gan" in front of him.

It was this man in front of him who toyed with the once extremely powerful Bazhou rebels in the palm of his hand. Then, under his incredible control, he commanded the Bazhou rebels to move south and north, rush left and right, and fall into the trap he had set.

After the great defeat at Huaishang caused by Lu Ting and Bai Yu's surprise attack, Qi Yanming had nightmares countless times about the words that Pei Yuan had said with a calm smile outside Taoyuan County.

——Eunuch Lu Ting is going to replace Gu Dayong.

That kind of effortless strength made Qi Yanming feel an extremely uneasy sense of fear.

If they fall into the schemes of such people, will they still have a future?

Later, the Bazhou army was driven to Huguang and was almost at the end of its rope.

Their soldiers were tired and their logistics were disrupted.

Even the most elite horse bandits in Bazhou were mostly killed or wounded, and they no longer had the dragon-like demeanor they once had.

Just when everyone was immersed in confusion and at a loss.

Liu Liu, the thief commander of Bazhou, suddenly muttered something, "If you spend money, you will become stronger..."

This sentence was like a curse, which immediately triggered the psychological discomfort of the handsome guys.

They couldn't help but recall the days when they were dominated.

Then I discovered...those days of mindless rushing were really enjoyable.

At least before the Huaishang Campaign was attacked from behind, the Bazhou Army had almost reached the peak of their power.

They looted a large number of granaries and stole a large amount of salt. Through sophisticated tactical pulling and advancing, they directly dragged the imperial court's siege defense line that had been built for nearly half a year into collapse.

Then they leaped out from the torn imperial army like tigers.

And then... Lu Ting appeared!
When thinking of Pei Yuan, Qi Yanming's thoughts became much more complicated than others.

In addition to the horror of being dominated by others, he still felt terrified, and he was also openly won over by Pei Yuan.

Pei Yuan repeatedly mentioned that he wanted to save his life, and even told him the details of how to save his life.

At that time, Qi Yanming refused without hesitation out of loyalty, but he was still very grateful for Pei Yuan's kindness.

It was at that time that someone said, "Try to recharge."

Then, almost immediately, there was a warm response from all the thieves.

Even Qi Yanming expressed strong support with some inexplicable expectation.

What happened next was like magic.

When the man got the money, the imperial army that had been biting them like mad dogs stopped attacking as if they were held down by some invisible force.

Then, during the quiet interval on the battlefield, Prince Ning, who had always wanted to win them over, boldly sent out a fleet to pick them up.

Qi Yanming originally wanted to flee to Jiangxi with Liu Liu and Liu Qi, but these two bandit leaders were concerned about their subordinates who followed them to fight, so they disobeyed Pei Yuan's orders and secretly encouraged their men to go to Tuanfeng Town to seize ships and make a living.

As a result, this unnecessary action aroused the vigilance of the imperial officials and troops, and they responded immediately.

Under the sudden attack of the imperial army, the bandits in Bazhou fled in a panic. The ship Qi Yanming was on lost control, drifted to the shore, and was surrounded by the government troops.

In the end, he could only watch Liu Liu, Liu Qi and the others sail away.

Although Qi Yanming cares about loyalty, he is not stubborn.

Liu Liu and Liu Qi had already fled to Jiangxi, so there was no point in him dying for his country.

Even ants try to survive, let alone Qi Yanming who felt he had not lived enough. So at this moment he remembered Pei Yuan's advice.

Qi Yanming immediately shouted to others that he wanted to see Lu Ting, and survived thanks to Pei Yuan's promise.

Lu Ting didn't know the relationship between Pei Yuan and this bandit leader. Thinking that Pei Yuan had specifically reminded him when he came to Huguang, and that he obviously cared about him very much, he naturally classified him as a friendly camp.

After all, Captain Pei is a wild man.

When the army returned to the capital this time, Lu Ting planned to take him back to the capital and hand him over to Pei Yuan for punishment.

When Qi Yanming heard that he was going to meet Pei Yuan, he sighed for a while, but seemed to be in a state of letting things take their course.

Therefore, after coming to the capital, Qi Yanming stayed with Lu Ting.

Pei Yuan didn't know these details and was shocked when he suddenly saw Qi Yanming.

However, due to long-standing habit, Pei Yuan still subconsciously pretended even though he was shocked.

He looked at Qi Yanming, and the first thing he said was, "I said I would protect you, how about that?"

Qi Yanming was speechless and could only put away his complicated emotions. He bowed to Pei Yuan and said, "Qi owes you a life."

Pei Yuan smiled and said directly, "Why would I want your life? You will be mine from now on."

Qi Yanming didn't expect Pei Yuan to be so direct, and didn't know how to respond for a moment.

Logically speaking, Liu Liu and Liu Qi were still alive with Prince Ning, so he should go and serve him.

But when the ship drifted to the shore and fell into the trap of the government troops, Qi Yanming, who was passing by, had already died. This life was given by Pei Yuan, and he really couldn't say no.

Even when he followed Lu Ting to the capital city for some unknown reason, he had some vague thoughts in his mind.

Pei Yuan looked at Qi Yanming and asked with a half-smile, "Isn't it hard to live in a day when the more you see, the more desperate you become?"

"Just follow me from now on."

"People like you just need to obey my orders."

He spoke slowly, with the easy smile on his face the same as before.

Qi Yanming took a deep breath, bowed his hands resignedly and said, "Qi's life is yours."

These words seemed to open some mental shackles, making Qi Yanming's fatigue and stress disappear without a trace.

Pei Yuan didn't want to say anything more in front of Lu Ting, so he gestured to Chen Xinjian and said, "You and Yan Ming should get closer first."

After saying that, he poked his head into the yard and took a look, "Is there anyone else here?"

Lu Ting said, "No, I'm also afraid that others will notice something strange."

Pei Yuan went in first and said to Lu Ting, "Come on, let's go in and talk."

He then signaled to Qi Yanming and Chen Xinjian, "You two guard the door and don't let outsiders get close."

Chen Xinjian agreed, and Qi Yanming also bowed awkwardly.

Walking slowly into the courtyard, Pei Yuan asked Lu Ting as he walked, "Has the court made a clear decision?"

Just because everything is calm outside doesn't mean there are no waves behind the scenes.

Lu Ting sighed and gritted his teeth, "The results are out. The Ministry of War ranked our family as the most meritorious, and gave us an additional 48 stone of rice. We also appointed one of our brothers and one of our nephews as hereditary commanders of the Imperial Guard."

"General Qiu Yue was promoted to Marquis of Xianning, Admiral Lu Wan was promoted to Left Censor-in-Chief, and both he and Peng Ze were promoted to the title of Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince, and each of them gave one of their sons the title of hereditary centurion."

"Zhang Rui, the son of Zhang Zhongyin, the inspector of the spear, was given an additional 24 stone of rice as salary. One of his brothers and nephews was given the title of hereditary captain of the Jinyiwei. The officers Liu Hui, Xi Yong, and Shi Yuan were promoted to right governors. The others... were all promoted and rewarded."

After hearing this, Pei Yuan couldn't help but look at Lu Ting with sympathy.

Lu Ting got the most merit for no reason, but the person who actually benefited the most was Qiu Yue. This guy was promoted from earl to marquis and became the biggest winner in the entire suppression of the rebellion in Bazhou.

From an intuitive point of view, the reward received by Lu Ting was actually suppressed by Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan took away two earls by virtue of his merit in the battle of Yanggu.

Xiao Yan himself got an uncle, and his adopted son Xiao Tong also got an uncle.

But who are Xiao Yan and Xiao Tong?
These two guys were sent by Xiao Jing to Lu Ting's side to help them gain experience.

As a result, Lu Ting, the eunuch commander-in-chief of an army of more than 200,000, only earned two hereditary commanders of the Embroidered Uniform Guard for his younger brother and nephew, while his younger brothers who worked for him took away two earls.

This is outrageous!
Another variable is that Lu Wan did not advance from the position of Vice Minister of War to the position of Minister of War as expected, but was promoted to the position of Left Censor-in-Chief and became the head of the Censorate.

Pei Yuan vaguely felt that Lu Wan's promotion to the position of Governor of Dadu was most likely the result of the original plan to sow discord between them.

Therefore, Lu Wan, who passively became the leader of Liu Jin's eunuch party, was directly stripped of his military power after returning to the court.

Wang Chang and Lu Wan, the two ministers of war in the south and the north, were stripped of their military power, which meant that the crackdown on Liu Jin's remnants was entering its final stage.

And if Wang Qiong's progress goes smoothly, the Ministry of Personnel and the Censorate will soon push forward the ridiculous Beijing inspection.

Taking over the Censorate at this time is not an easy job.

And what about Li Shishi?

The imperial court couldn't just bring Li Shishi from Nanjing and then send him back to the local area, right?

This guy's plan to "break through three levels" should have been pushed forward now. The changes in the political situation at this time may very likely bring about considerable changes.

(End of this chapter)