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

Chapter 415 Lobbying
Pei Yuan had already roughly sorted out the situation on the way just now.

It is now politically correct to eliminate the remnants of Liu Jin and clean up Liu Jin's new policies.

The political winners should have been hunted down politically long ago, and they should have enjoyed the sweet fruits.

Unfortunately, this feast was disrupted by a group of mobs in Bazhou.

Lu Wan and Wang Chang, two key followers of Liu Jin, one served as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War in the north, commanding hundreds of thousands of troops on the front line to suppress the rebellion; the other served as the Minister of War in Nanjing, and his garrisons controlled the financial and food supplies of the court.

Although the ministers were sure that the two ministers would not dare to make any mistakes at this time, there was no need to rush since there was a risk.

Therefore, out of caution, the hunt for Liu Jin's remnants had to be temporarily frozen.

Now that the Bazhou rebellion is over, Wang Chang has resigned and left Nanzhili.

After communicating with the Qingliu people, Lu Wan decisively faced the reality and decided to take action against his former accomplices, sounding the clarion call to eliminate the remnants of Liu Jin and clean up Liu Jin's new policies.

The current situation is such that Lu Wan is eager to cut ties with the remnants of Liu Jin's gang, and it is no longer realistic to want him to change his position.

If he wanted to reverse the situation, he must not only try to prevent Lu Wan from serving as the Left Censor-in-Chief, but also make room for Lu Wan, a great contributor, in the court.

This is the situation in the court now.

In the outer court, at the top of the power are the three elders of the cabinet: the chief minister Yang Tinghe, the second minister Liang Chu, and Fei Hong at the bottom.

Under the three cabinet ministers are the seven great ministers.

The seven great ministers consisted of the six ministers of ministries, plus one left censor-in-chief.

Basically, these are the ten most powerful people in the Ming Dynasty court.

Although Pei Yuan, this little butterfly, had some impact on the Ming Dynasty, the top political structure in the seventh year of Zhengde did not change much.

The current Minister of Personnel is Yang Yiqing, the Minister of Rites is Fu Gui, the Minister of War is He Jian, the Minister of Revenue is Sun Jiao, the Minister of Punishments is Zhang Zilin, the Minister of Works is Li Qian, and the Left Censor-in-Chief is Li Shishi.

Except that Li Shishi was promoted from Right Censor-in-Chief to Left Censor-in-Chief, and Fu Gui retired because his bad luck was exposed by the early victory in Huguang, the others remained the same.

Now that the Minister of Rites Fu Gui is going to retire early, the originally stable top-level political structure has created room for maneuver.

In this way, the Minister of War He Jian would not be forced to make room for Lu Wan.

The result of the re-arrangement of seats within the Seven Great Ministers was that Li Shishi went to the Ministry of Rites, and then Lu Wan filled the vacancy of the Left Censor-in-Chief, and then used the hunt for Liu Jin's remnants as a token of his allegiance.

In order to change this situation, Pei Yuan not only had to put Li Shishi in the position of Left Censor-in-Chief, but also had to make some adjustments to the Seven Ministers.

Pei Yuan's thoughts first focused on the Minister of Punishments Zhang Zilin and the Minister of Works Li Qian. These two people did not take sides randomly in the political struggle and were completely neutral.

They supported Liu Jin when he came to power, and they cheered when Liu Jin was executed by lingchi.

When Zhang Yong lost the seal of the Imperial Household Department because of corruption, the two men cursed, "Bah, what a piece of bastard."

Two years later, Zhang Yong came back and they said, we were just joking with you before, hehe.

These two people have very high status and do not interfere in other people's affairs. Especially they have extremely high prestige in the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Works. If anyone wants to touch them, there will inevitably be great resistance.

There was absolutely no need for Pei Yuan to meddle in other people's business.

Anyway, they will applaud when Pei Yuan’s brothers come on stage.

The remaining goals.

Fu Gui from the Ministry of Rites was about to retire, and this turmoil was caused by the vacancy of the Minister of Rites.

Not to mention Li Shishi's position as the Left Censor-in-Chief, which was completely at the center of the storm.

If Pei Yuan wanted to break the impasse, he could only target three people: Yang Yiqing, Sun Jiao and He Jian.

As long as Li Shishi is unwilling to give up his position and Lu Wan has a satisfactory place to go, there is a chance that this chaotic situation will continue.

The three names Yang Yiqing, Sun Jiao and He Jian kept turning over and over in Pei Yuan's mind.

These three people...

I can fight!

Pei Yuan was lost in thought when Chen Xinjian reminded him quietly, "Captain, we've arrived at Dongyue Temple."

Pei Yuan immediately came to his senses and said to Chen Xinjian, "Go and ask if Li Daduxian is still staying here?"

Chen Xinjian immediately stepped forward and called the Taoist to question him.

Dongyue Temple is a religious place, which is under the jurisdiction of the Thousand Households Office for Suppressing Evils. It was purely a blessing from heaven.

When the people inside saw the military officer from the Qianhu Suo asking questions, they hurriedly responded respectfully.

Chen Xinjian came back quickly and replied, "Captain, Li Shishi is still living here. He has already returned from court."

After Li Shishi returned to Beijing, the court rewarded him with a house.

However, the house had not been occupied for a long time, and some of the wooden structures had inevitably become moldy and rotten, and the weeds in the yard also needed to be cleared.

Li Shishi did spend a lot of money to have the temple repaired, but it could not be completed in a short time. He was attracted by the quietness of the Zen room and the delicious vegetarian food in the Dongyue Temple, so he stayed here.

Upon hearing that Pei Yuan wanted to see him, Li Shishi did not dare to be negligent and hurried out to greet him.

It would have been fine if these two ambitious men had similar interests and were close friends before, but the last secret meeting in Huguang shocked Li Shishi deeply.

Before this, he would never have imagined that the imperial court's war in Huguang was actually stopped by a thousand households!

On one side, there were more than 200,000 soldiers from various imperial courts, and on the other side, there were tens of thousands of rebels from Bazhou roaming the north.

The two sides have diametrically opposite positions and regard each other as enemies.

As a result, these two huge forces stayed there for more than twenty days because of this thousand households.

This is outrageous!
Li Shishi is now working on behalf of Prince Ning, trying hard to accumulate funds for rebellion. How could he dare to offend a man like Pei Yuan who has great connections and proven military achievements?

Therefore, when he heard that Pei Yuan, a small captain, was coming, he, as one of the Seven Great Ministers, had to welcome him with open arms.

Li Shishi saw Pei Yuan from afar and asked with a warm smile, "When did you return from Shandong, brother Pei? Why didn't you let me know in advance? I should have asked the temple to prepare a welcoming banquet earlier."

Pei Yuan quickly said politely, "I just came back today. It's nothing serious. How dare I trouble the governor so easily?"

After that, Pei Yuan congratulated Li Shishi again, "I heard that Dadu Xian was going to be the Minister of Rites. I was so happy that I came to congratulate Dadu Xian before I even went home."

Li Shishi laughed when he heard this, "It's just a change of government office, there's nothing to congratulate."

What Li Shishi said was somewhat untrue.

Although the Left Censor-in-Chief looked powerful and held an important position in the court, he was equivalent to the Discipline Inspection Commission in later generations and was an official in charge of discipline.

Basically, whenever you exercise power, you offend people.

If you don’t exercise your power, what’s the difference between you and a salted fish?
However, they have no direct way to realize their power, and they need to exchange interests with officials from other government offices. Therefore, although they are all one of the seven ministers, unless they plan to fight hard, build a reputation, and then enter the cabinet, otherwise, their power is not as real as that of the six ministers.

That’s all fine.

The main purpose of Li Shishi's visit to Beijing this time was to help Prince Ning restore the Three Guards and win over the court officials at the same time.

After taking over the Ministry of Rites, Li Shishi was able to immediately replace him with an obedient ceremonial doctor and efficiently implement the affairs of the Three Guards of Prince Ning.

With this matter involved, Li Shishi still knew the seriousness of the matter.

Li Daduxian invited Pei Yuan to sit with him, and then asked the servants to serve good tea.

Pei Yuan drank a cup with Li Shishi, then looked around and said, "I have some friction with the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner in Shandong, and I have something to ask the Grand Governor. Can you please dismiss everyone?"

Li Shishi knew that Pei Yuan must have something to say when he came here. He immediately understood the meaning of the music and ordered the servants to withdraw.

Chen Xinjian also went out and then guarded the door of the meditation room tightly.

Li Shishi did not beat around the bush with Pei Yuan and said directly, "Brother, if you have anything to say, just tell me."

Pei Yuan was not in a hurry to get to the point. He looked at Li Shishi, held the cup in his hand and asked with a smile, "By the way, the last matter should be completed well from beginning to end. I wonder if the two Liu brothers arrived in Jiangxi smoothly?"

Li Shishi has obviously thought about how to deal with this matter later.

Hearing this, he smiled and replied, "People are here, but there is no Brother Liu. There are a couple of cats and dogs."

Pei Yuan couldn't help but curse the old fox in his heart, but he also admired him a little.

Now that the Liu Liu and Liu Qi brothers are in their hands, as long as they cannot prove it, they are just any random people, right?

This way, Pei Yuan's hope of extorting Prince Ning was cut off.

Pei Yuan smiled and reassured Li Shishi, "Don't worry, Dadu Xian. The past is over. I will clean up the mess."

Li Shishi was very satisfied with Pei Yuan's attitude and offered him tea again.

Pei Yuan finished his tea and said to Li Shishi, "Once the merits are determined and the rewards are given, the matter of the rebellion in Bazhou will be a chapter that has been turned over."

"At that time, anyone who comes out to slander us will be challenging the authority of the entire Ming Dynasty court."

"Not to mention those meritorious civil and military officials, eunuchs and nobles, even the border troops and the capital troops will not agree to it."

Li Shishi laughed after hearing this and also felt that the matter was handled very well.

Anyway, when Liu Liu and Liu Qi raise their own banners and stir up unrest again, Prince Ning will not care what the court will think.

Li Shishi believed that Pei Yuan was a man who would not do anything without profit, so he immediately asked, "Brother, you didn't come here just for this matter, did you?"

Pei Yuan smiled when he heard this, and suddenly asked a question that Li Shishi had already anticipated.

"May I ask what King Ning's ambition is?"

Last time, Pei Yuan saw through Prince Ning's restoration of the Three Guards, and Li Shishi had long known that this guy was already suspicious.

But neither side brought it up, so there was a tacit understanding between them.

Later, Pei Yuan claimed that he had captured enemies within the Jinyiwei and interrogated them about Prince Ning and the Bazhou Army.

Although he has always been focusing on the final payment between the two, the things behind all these events are about to be revealed.

With Pei Yuan's intelligence, it was not difficult for him to guess that Prince Ning was going to rebel.

But since Pei Yuan was also involved in some of the things, Li Shishi became calm instead, "What do you think, brother?"

Pei Yuan smiled.

After a while, he looked at the cup and said something else, "Your Majesty is not young anymore, but he still has no son. As an official, I am very worried."

Li Shishi smiled and patted Pei Yuan's arm gently.

Everything is left unsaid.

The two drank a few more cups of tea to let the atmosphere brew a little, and then Li Shishi hinted, "You and I are not the only ones who think this way in the court."

"Oh?" Pei Yuan looked at Li Shishi inquiringly, wanting to see if this guy could give him some useful information.

Unexpectedly, the old guy only let out a few words and didn't say anything more.

Fortunately, the two sides have discussed substantive issues, and some things no longer need to be hidden.

Pei Yuan said straightforwardly, "I have some superficial opinions. I wonder if Dadu Xian is willing to listen to them?"

Li Shishi was very interested in Pei Yuan's ideas and wanted to further understand Pei Yuan's position, so he said, "With your ability, you must have a point. I am willing to listen attentively."

Pei Yuan asked Li Shishi, "Does the Grand Secretary know what the greatest help to King Ning is from the position of Minister of Rites?"

Li Shishi thought to himself, isn’t it the “passing three levels” thing we talked about last time?

But he also understood that there must be a reason why Pei Yuan asked this question.

Then he said, "My dear brother, can you help me solve my doubts?"

Pei Yuan tapped his fingertips on the table and said calmly, "It's the imperial examination."

Li Shishi frowned upon hearing this, then relaxed his brows and said, "Yes, the imperial examination is indeed the most important matter of the Ministry of Rites, but this is a court ceremony, and they are grateful to the court. It has nothing to do with Prince Ning, right?"

After that, he also explained his own opinion, "Even if we can select some talents, it will take 10 to 20 years for them to grow up, and I am afraid that distant water cannot quench immediate thirst."

When Pei Yuan heard Li Shishi say this, he couldn't help but laugh and said, "It's a bit biased for Dadu Xian to say this."

"The imperial examination is not for a few talented people, but a way for the imperial court to control the local nobles."

"Even if a child from an ordinary family goes through this passage, he will naturally become a powerful person and suppress the local areas for the imperial court."

"The Grand Commander should also understand this principle."

How could Li Shishi not understand the truth behind this? He immediately emphasized, "That is the court's business, and the one who is selected is also a Jinshi of the court."

As the saying goes, if the name is not right, then the words will not flow. Unless you openly raise the banner of Prince Ning now, there is no point in trying to be clever now.

Pei Yuan laughed and said, "Am I not also an official of the imperial court?"

Just when Li Shishi was confused.

Pei Yuan said to Li Shishi in a persuasive tone, "They are Jinshi of the imperial court, but the imperial court is not theirs. What is there to not discuss?"

"Besides, if you can't win this generation of Jinshi for King Ning, can't you destroy this generation of Jinshi for King Ning?"

(End of this chapter)