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

Chapter 413: There is a plan for the future
Pei Yuan couldn't see through the variables here for a moment. He thought that Lu Ting had no foundation in the court, and after coming back this time, he stayed at home, waiting for him to give an explanation.

If you want to understand the changes in the court, you still have to find Wang Qiong, the right vice minister of the Ministry of Revenue, or Wei Ne, the left councilor of the Ministry of Public Security.

The former holds a high position of power and is aware of high-level changes in the court.

The latter was working in the Tongzhengsi Yamen, and was involved in memorials from all parties.

Pei Yuan chatted with Lu Ting absentmindedly for a few words, and then told Eunuch Lu that he would stay in Beijing for a while. If there was any emergency, he could go to Dengshikou or Zhihua Temple to find him.

Having received Pei Yuan's promise of "an earl", Lu Ting had relaxed his mind on competing for credit.

Previously, he had planned to wait for Pei Yuan, a powerful ally, to arrive before returning to the Imperial Stables to compete with the Zhang brothers. But now Pei Yuan has directly targeted Zhang Yong, the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department, so Lu Ting naturally has to look forward to greater benefits.

When Pei Yuan left Lu Ting's house, he took Qi Yanming out with him.

Qi Yanming was tall and strong, and he was dressed in ordinary clothes, which made him look a bit inconspicuous among the group of Jinyiwei.

Pei Yuan looked at Qi Yanming for a few times, then asked him, "Do many of the civil and military officials in the court recognize you?"

Qi Yanming said sullenly, "I don't know. I often challenge the enemy in front of the army. Many of the soldiers and generals who came back from the front should have seen me."

Pei Yuan's steps immediately stopped, he had a feeling that he was being tricked.

Then he looked at Qi Yanming in disbelief, "Then how did Lu Ting successfully get you to the capital?"

Qi Yanming had nothing to hide. "I was escorted to the capital by him. He got me a separate, tightly covered prison van and claimed that I was a serious criminal, so no one was allowed to get close to me. After entering the city, he killed someone at random and threw him into the prison van as a reward. Then I got out naturally."

Qi Yanming had an indescribable look of dejection on his face. "When I appeared in the streets of Beijing, who would have thought that I, who was so down and out, was actually Qi Yanming, the commander of Bazhou?"

Pei Yuan touched his forehead, interrupting Qi Yanming's sorrow, and nodded to Chen Xinjian, "Present the torture instruments."

Qi Yanming: “?”

However, Chen Xinjian understood what Pei Yuan meant.

While signaling his men to take the chains, he took off his official robe, turned it over, and threw it over Qi Yanming's head.

Seeing this, Qi Yanming had an idea and obediently let the Jinyiwei tie him up with iron chains.

There were many military leaders in the capital who came to compete for merit at this time. Pei Yuan didn't dare to take any risks, so he directly ordered, "Take the road with fewer people and escort him there..."

Pei Yuan hesitated, thinking that it was no secret that Zhihua Temple was the headquarters of the Qianhu Suo.

His enemies in the Northern Pacification Office may not give up yet.

He then ordered, "Take him to the Puxian Hundred Households Office and find a courtyard for him to stay alone."

Then he said to Qi Yanming, "If I am free in the next two days, I will go to see you."

After saying that, he added one more sentence, warning, "You owe me, not me. Don't give me any trouble."

Qi Yanming came to the capital this time just to join Pei Yuan.

Although the bastard's words were somewhat hurtful, fortunately Qi Yanming had his head covered with clothes, so he could still deceive himself by rolling his eyes.

I don’t know if Pei Yuan has a sixth sense.

As soon as Qi Yanming rolled his eyes, Pei Yuan stared at Qi Yanming, who had his head covered, for a while and ordered expressionlessly, "If this bastard wants to drag me down, chop him up. Don't worry about anything else, just chop his face into pieces."

Perhaps it was the firmness and ruthlessness in Pei Yuan's words that made Qi Yanming feel threatened.

Qi Yanming immediately became obedient.

Hou Qing brought a few people and escorted Qi Yanming to the Puxian Hundred Households Office.

Pei Yuan looked at the sky and estimated that it was time to adjourn the court.

He then took Chen Xinjian and a small number of personal guards with him to look for Wang Qiong, knowing the route well.

When he arrived at the gate of Wang Qiong's mansion, Pei Yuan politely asked someone to hand over his business card.

The man knew Pei Yuan, so he apologized and went to the courtyard with the name card.

Pei Yuan waited for a while, and was getting impatient when he saw the doorman hurried over and said apologetically, "The master has not dismissed the court yet. If Captain Pei has anything to say, you can leave a message. Otherwise, please come back another day."

Pei Yuan's face looked worse and worse.

How could the gatekeeper not know whether Wang Qiong had returned home?
Since he took the door sticker and went in to ask, Wang Qiong must have gone back.

Wang Qiong's perfunctory attitude is really too much.

Pei Yuan turned around and left with a dark face.

Unexpectedly, just as he walked out of the alley, someone suddenly chased him from behind, and shouted from a distance, "Captain Pei, wait a moment."

Pei Yuan turned around and saw another follower whom he had seen beside Wang Qiong before.

The man called out to Pei Yuan and stepped forward awkwardly, bowing and saying, "My master just came back. Please come into the mansion to have a chat."

Pei Yuan couldn't help but feel angry.

He wanted to just walk away, but he endured it again and again. Finally, his expression softened, he nodded, and turned back.

The attendant looked a little embarrassed and wanted to explain something, but seeing that Pei Yuan didn't ask any more questions, he didn't know how to speak.

The place where Wang Qiong met Pei Yuan was his study.

At this moment, Wang Qiong was writing something furiously. When he saw Pei Yuan coming in, he raised his eyelids, looked at him, raised his chin, and motioned him to sit over.

Pei Yuan paced slowly and suddenly came to Wang Qiong's desk, looking at the things on the table.

Wang Qiong looked up inadvertently and was startled to see Pei Yuan standing very close to her. She covered the papers on the table with her sleeves and frowned at Pei Yuan.

Pei Yuanze sat back leisurely while pondering what he had just seen.

Wang Qiong wanted to scold Pei Yuan for being rude, but when he thought that he was the one who was rude first, he couldn't say anything more.

He lowered his head again and moved his robe sleeve away, only to see that the ink that had not yet dried on the paper had been smudged.

He frowned, looked at the letter for a few seconds, and folded the paper.

Afterwards, Wang Qiong did not mention this, and turned to ask Pei Yuan, "When did you return to Beijing, Pei Xiaoyou?"

Pei Yuan seemed to have not experienced the previous embarrassment, and replied calmly, "I just returned to the capital today. I thought about the Minister running around for the people, so I came to ask for an audience before I went home."

Only then did Wang Qiong notice that Pei Yuan looked exhausted and dusty.

Thinking about what Pei Yuan just mentioned, which was also the result of a joint plan between the two of them, his expression couldn't help but soften a little.

This time, Wang Qiong went to the front line to sell the accumulated supplies, which severely slapped the faces of his two colleagues in the Ministry of Revenue.

Wang Qiong set out earlier than in history, and many grains and supplies were sealed up by him before they were divided up by the military leaders. Although Wang Qiong also cherished the people's wealth, he was ultimately a political animal.

In order to make this matter a reality, he took the opportunity to overthrow the two guys above him and cut the Gordian knot, selling those supplies at a discount without any delay.

All in all, the materials sold at a discount in this trip alone amounted to more than three or four hundred thousand taels.

(The historical figure was 260,000 taels, which was in the eighth year of the Zhengde reign. After more than a year of deterioration, the remaining materials were sold at that price.)
After finishing his work, Wang Qiong quickly returned to the capital and reported the whole matter to the cabinet.

This put the Minister of Revenue Sun Jiao and the Left Vice Minister of Revenue Yang Tan in a passive position.

Sun Jiao and Yang Tan had no choice but to submit their resignations in writing.

This scandal was first uncovered by Zhang Lian because Wang Qiong did not want to be branded as someone who stabbed his own people in the back.

Now that things have come to this point, there is naturally no need for him to hide anything.

So instead of pleading for Sun Jiao and Yang Tan, Wang Qiong took the opportunity to tell the court the whole story.

He also talked about the various cases of corruption and dereliction of duty, and the destruction and waste of military supplies on the front line.

When Zhu Houzhao heard that the three million taels of Taicang silver saved by Liu Jin had been used up in just two or three years, he became furious and demanded a thorough investigation of the matter.

However, although Sun Jiao's fellow villager Li Dongyang had stepped down, Sun Jiao and Yang Tinghe's father Yang Chun were of the same age and had a close relationship.

Seeing that the fire might burn Sun Jiao, Yang Tinghe immediately issued an order to severely punish Yang Tan in an attempt to control the situation and its impact.

Seeing that the new prime minister had stepped in to protect the person, the ministers in the court naturally did not dare to stir up trouble.

Some of the censors who had originally followed Wang Qiong in criticizing this corruption case all shut up.

This made Wang Qiong feel a little uncomfortable.

If he fails to overthrow the Minister of Revenue Sun Jiao in one fell swoop, his life as the Vice Minister of Revenue will be difficult in the future.

Wang Qiong chatted with Pei Yuan for a few words, and then talked about his current situation, which was also an explanation for what happened before.

Pei Yuan just took a look at what Wang Qiong wrote and knew that this guy was in a difficult situation.

I can somewhat understand his previous behavior of closing the door to visitors.

In fact, in the original history, the Minister of Rites Fu Gui and the Minister of Revenue Sun Jiao were dismissed in the same batch.

Fu Gui was used to having a bad mouth. Because of the Yunnan situation, he wrote to the court, saying, "In the 242 years of the Spring and Autumn Period, there were 69 disasters. Since last autumn, there have been 42 earthquakes, rumblings in the sky, hail, falling stars, dragons and tigers appearing, the ground cracking and mountains collapsing, but no floods or droughts. There has never been a disaster as severe as this one."

The reason for Sun's failure to pay was largely due to the involvement in the draining of Taicang silver.

As a result, Fu Gui, who was used to singing empty words, encountered the great victory in Huguang and was slapped in the face before the incident in Yunnan happened.

Sun Jiao also encountered a career crisis in advance because Wang Qiong went to Huguang in time to investigate and deal with the corruption case.

Unfortunately, Zang Xian is obviously better at fighting than Wang Qiong, and Fu Gui has made it clear that he wants to step down. But Sun Jiao has the support of Yang Tinghe, so he should be able to get through this.

If Wang Qiong fails in his counterattack against Sun Jiao, he will most likely be suppressed by his superiors because he defected too early.

Pei Yuan privately felt that Wang Qiong's action this time was indeed a bit hasty.

It’s just… the matter had nothing to do with Pei Yuan, he was just happy to watch the fun.

Wang Qiong is a very talented guy and worthy of Pei Yuan's friendship, but Pei Yuan does not want Wang Qiong to grow too quickly and become a future rival.

After Pei Yuan showed appropriate empathy and provided some emotional value to Wang Qiong, he asked in a roundabout way about the changes in the court.

Pei Yuan had already thought of a breakthrough on the way here, so he calmly said to Wang Qiong, "This time when I return to Beijing, I plan to solve Zhang Song's problem as well."

"There is no place for him to display his talents in the Dali Temple. It would be better for him to come to the Jinyiwei. At least here he can stop being trapped."

Wang Qiong didn't respond.

Pei Yuan continued to probe, "By the way, last time I mentioned to the prince about the matter of cleaning up redundant officials, has the prince mentioned it to the court?"

After asking, he added, "If it has been mentioned, we can use the excuse of cleaning up redundant officials to demote Zhang Song and send him to the Imperial Guard."

Wang Qiong frowned upon hearing this, and after a long while he said, "I'm afraid we'll have to wait for a while before we can resolve this matter."

Pei Yuan was surprised and asked, "Why?"

Pei Yuan naturally knew this. This was because the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate had to be adjusted recently and there was no way to form a linkage with the Ministry of Personnel.

This is a good opportunity to change the topic to the current changes in the political situation.

As expected, Wang Qiong said, "Because the court has reached a consensus, it is planned to let the current Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, Li Shishi, replace the retired Minister of Rites, Fu Gui. Let Lu Wan, who has made great contributions, take over Li Shishi's Censorate."

"The Censorate does not want any major changes right now. Everything can only be discussed after the handover is completed."

Hearing this, Pei Yuan deliberately said, "How could this be? Isn't Lu Wan the Minister of War? Even if the court wants to reward him, it should make him the Minister of War. Why didn't they let the Minister of War He Jian serve as the Minister of Rites, but let Lu Wan go to the Censorate instead?"

Wang Qiong was feeling annoyed at the moment, and with Pei Yuan's help to console him for a while, he was somewhat unprepared, so he replied, "Jiangxi and Sichuan are still in chaos, and the court means that He Jian is now in charge of military affairs, so they have to make sure everything is done properly. Originally, they planned to let Lu Wan serve as the Left Censor-in-Chief for a while, and then let him serve as the Minister of War."

"But later some people said that He Jian, as the Minister of War, also made contributions to the suppression of the rebellion and formulated the strategy. It doesn't make sense to move the subordinates to a lower position just because of their contributions."

"I think Lu Wan will probably stay in the position of Left Censor-in-Chief and work hard for a few years."

Pei Yuan nodded, "I see."

Just as he was about to bring up the next topic, Wang Qiong said casually, "Besides, this time Lu Wan has clearly expressed his attitude to the court and his determination to preside over this inspection."

Pei Yuan thought about this casually, and it took him a while to react. He asked, "What does Lu Wan mean by this?"

Wang Qiong's frown relaxed for a moment, and he said happily, "Now that the rebellion in Bazhou has been quelled, we must naturally eradicate all evil, eliminate the remnants of Liu Jin's followers in the court, and wipe out the remaining poison of Liu Jin's new policy!"

"Lu Wan was suspected of siding with the eunuch party before, and he just needed this opportunity to prove his innocence. When he heard that he could go to the Censorate, Lu Wan agreed to the court's arrangement without hesitation."

"So, Zhang Song's matter is still troublesome."

After hearing the inside story that Wang Qiong casually told him, Pei Yuan looked calm on the surface, but his heart was like a raging storm.

The slightest change in history is like a giant beast turning over, shaking every corner.

Lu Wan's entry into the Censorate seemed to be an ordinary political change in the court.

However, Lu Wan entered the Censorate and prepared to take drastic measures against Liu Jin's party in order to prove his innocence, which meant that Pei Yuan's plan to let Lu Wan take the blame had completely failed.

Because Lu Wan has now become that gun.

As a result, the first person to face the crisis is Pei Yuan’s current number one henchman, Shandong Governor Wang Chang!

(End of this chapter)