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

Chapter 439 The world is awake
Pei Yuan chose Wang Hua for two main reasons.

One reason is that he is Wang Shouren's father, and he can strengthen the political loser pair of "Wang Qiong-Wang Shouren" so that they can better confront Yang Tinghe and his party.

Another reason is that Wang Hua is a very politically flexible guy.

When Pei Yuan and Wang Chang met for the first time, they briefly mentioned Wang Hua.

At that time, Wang Chang was so arrogant that he refused to allow Pei Yuan, a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and his entourage to stay in the post station. As a result, Pei Yuan teamed up with Yue Qingfeng and killed people wantonly in the post station.

Afterwards, Wang Chang told Pei Yuan that he had talked with Wang Hua about the civil unrest in Bazhou, and expressed his desire to vigorously suppress the powerful and crack down on gangsters.

But Wang Hua told him that what he hated more were those who turned obedient people into mobs.

Wang Chang also felt sad because he shouldn't have pushed Pei Yuan into a desperate situation without leaving any room for him.

Ever since he heard Wang Chang's words, Pei Yuan had thought how great it would be if someone with official ethics like Wang Hua became a political opponent.

After all, Pei Yuan, who has no official ethics, has hope of turning the tables as long as he is alive.

Moreover, Wang Hua has a very good foundation.

He was similar to Xie Qian, both were top scorers in the Chenghua period, and both were forced to resign from office and retire because they were ostracized by Liu Jin.

If it is based on seniority, with his status as the top scholar, it is only a matter of time for him to enter the cabinet. Compared with Xie Qianlai, he is not much inferior.

Unfortunately, Wang Hua was a noble Hanlin scholar who mainly served as a lecturer for the emperor. He did not come into contact with much practical affairs and had little political influence.

As a harmless meal replacement, it can easily become a candidate that everyone can accept.

Even if Wang Hua became the Minister of Rites, Yang Tinghe would not have to worry about Wang Hua's threats.

Even if Wang Hua has the hope of entering the cabinet in the future, he will become a weak university scholar like Fei Hong who is not very aggressive.

Yang Yiqing and Wang Hua have an average relationship, and judging from the results of the recommendation, it seems that he will not get any benefits.

However, he could recommend Wang Hua, a candidate who would be easier to pass, to win again where he had failed and regain his lost face.

This is very attractive to Yang Yiqing.

If we can take advantage of this opportunity to facilitate an alliance between Yang Yiqing and Lu Ting, the gains will be huge.

In addition to these factors, Wang Hua also worked with Wang Chang in Nanjing, and the relationship between the two sides was also good.

This will broaden Wang Chang's political prospects a lot.

Although Wang Chang's upper limit is just this, this high-level politician is still Pei Yuan's most outstanding civil servant.

According to the original history, the Zhengde era would rapidly reach its peak within a few years and then end completely.

This time was too short, leaving Pei Yuan no chance to train his own top civil officials.

The reason why Pei Yuan had to go against common sense and hold a special examination was to save time and give his younger brothers two more years to accumulate qualifications.

According to Pei Yuan's idea, this group of younger brothers would first enter the Censorate as censors, and then with his help, they would gain enough qualifications and reputation, and then enter the Provincial Surveillance Offices in various provinces, and intervene in the military preparations in various places through the Provincial Surveillance Offices.

In this way, these quick-growing little brothers can play their greatest role in seven or eight years.

From this point of view, Wang Chang's position is still unique and irreplaceable.

This was also the most important reason why Pei Yuan could no longer bear it and started a war when he heard that Lu Wan was going to wipe out the remnants of Liu Jin.

After listening to Pei Yuan's simple analysis, Lu Ting said openly, "Since you have already made up your mind, I will do as you say."

Eunuch Lu thought very clearly.

For a player who wins easily, the biggest risk is to act recklessly.

The two reached an agreement, and Pei Yuan left with peace of mind.

On the way back, Chen Xinjian sorted out the schedule for Captain Pei and reminded him, "In the next few days, Captain Pei still has to talk to the emperor about the special examination, so as not to waste all the previous efforts of the Dadu Xian."

Pei Yuan couldn't help but sigh, "If there were no thousand households in the world, I don't know how much chaos would arise."

On the second day, Li Shishi indeed took action.

He took the initiative to mention that the rebels in Bazhou were causing great harm, and that it was time to recuperate and win over the hearts of the people. It would be a good idea to hold a special imperial examination so that people all over the world could benefit from Your Majesty's virtue.

Li Shishi's move this time was very sudden, because according to the original promise made to him by the court officials, this was a job he could only do after taking over as the Minister of Rites.

Originally, this Minister of Rites was just a bait dangling in front of Li Shishi, but no one would have thought that he would take advantage of this ambiguous period of power transition and directly bring up the matter of Enke.

It was precisely because Li Shishi caught everyone off guard that many factional officials who had not had time to communicate encountered unexpected responses, and many people subconsciously expressed their support.

This scattered support soon formed a trend.

By the time the bigwigs wanted to intervene, it was already too late. Li Shishi's idea about Enko had already begun to be widely discussed within the government and the opposition.

Although some people immediately pointed out that Li Shishi was overstepping his authority by making such a suggestion in his capacity as the Left Censor-in-Chief, the scholars, who had a larger base, did not care.

When they heard that there was another chance to take the exam, there was almost unanimous support for Li Shishi.

This is equivalent to picking out an additional three or four hundred people from among these losers to become officials, and gaining wealth and glory for free!
From then on, wherever there was political discussion, people would discuss Enke and Li Shishi.

Although the Enke has not yet been implemented, Li Shishi, who proposed this suggestion, has become famous and has won the gratitude of many scholars.

As the public sentiment grew, Hanlin scholar Jin Gui met with Li Shishi privately and tactfully advised him, "Since you have already promoted the imperial examination, you should resign from your post as Left Censor-in-Chief and take up the post of Minister of Rites. This will make your position legitimate."

After Pei Yuan's reminder, Li Shishi now felt that he was very dark and very sober.

He negotiated with Jin Guixu for a while, but seeing that Jin Gui was not moved at all, he simply said directly, "Although the position of Minister of Rites is vacant now, Scholar Jin also holds the title of Minister of Rites. Why not take over this matter and fulfill the hopes of scholars all over the world?"

Upon hearing this, Jin Gui looked at Li Shishi deeply and asked with a warning, "Have you made up your mind, Dadu Xian?"

Li Shishi simply stopped pretending and sneered, "Mr. Jin is a Hanlin scholar, and a perfect candidate for the Minister of Rites. Why do you have to ask me, a fellow Jinshi?"

Although Jin Gui had the title of Minister of Rites, the Ministry of Rites was definitely not his goal.

He was a Hanlin scholar and was also given the title of Minister of Rites. These two titles meant that Jin Gui had fully met the requirements for entering the cabinet.

After Li Dongyang retired, no new members were added to the cabinet, and the situation of "three elders" was maintained.

But as long as there is a vacancy in the cabinet or there is a need for reinforcement, Jin Gui is definitely a candidate with a good chance of entering the cabinet directly.

Because he was not only a student of Yang Tinghe, but also the top scholar Yang Shen came out of the examination in the sixth year of Zhengde when he was the chief examiner. If the Ministry of Rites still had the fruit of "Enke", Jin Gui would not mind going to the Ministry of Rites again, but now the sweet juice of "Enke" had been sucked up by Li Shishi in advance, so why should he promote this matter that required a lot of effort and might not bring much benefit.

Moreover, Li Shishi directly pointed out the unspoken rules for selecting the Minister of Rites, making Jin Gui realize that Li Shishi's actions were definitely intentional.

Jin Gui didn't say much and just said goodbye.

After Jin Gui left, Li Shishi, feeling uneasy, immediately sent someone to notify Pei Yuan.

Pei Yuan didn't care about this at all. His general layout had been completed. Although Li Shishi's political betrayal had serious consequences, once the reshuffle was completed, all parties would smoothly form new relationships.

Pei Yuan didn't have time to take action immediately to put an end to En Ke's matter.

In addition to paying close attention to the developments in the court these days, he was also receiving Maitreya believers transferred from the Shanxi Censorate.

These Maitreya followers, under the organization of their leader Li Fuda, launched a rebellion and robbed and killed people everywhere in Shanxi.

Later, Li Fuda became arrogant and shouted out "I have a great destiny and I should be in charge of the world."

Then Li Fuda took a few hundred gangsters to attack Tongguan.

It can only be said that although Guanzhong is indeed a good place, this Maitreya leader obviously has no idea of ​​his own worth.

That's Tongguan! !

It can’t be knocked down with a stool or a wine bottle!
When the rebels were defeated, Li Fuda took advantage of the chaos to escape, and many Maitreya believers were captured.

It just so happened that the "Sanhe Posthouse Case" in the capital involved Maitreya Buddhism. The Shanxi Provincial Surveillance Commissioner, who was mainly responsible for investigating the case, decided to keep out of trouble and packed up all the Maitreya believers and sent them to the Suppression of Evils Thousand Households Office.

The last time Pei Yuan went to see Zhu Houzhao, he mentioned this matter in general.

Zhu Houzhao wanted to simply pin the "Sanhe Posthouse Case" on the Maitreya Sect and then give an explanation to Liang Chu, the second assistant minister of the cabinet.

Otherwise, if the previous speculation is followed, whether the case is traced back to Xuanfu or to the Three Law Departments in the court, it may lead to a series of consequences.

It would be better to just go with the flow and conclude that it was the Maitreya sect that killed people.

Pei Yuan highly agreed with Zhu Houzhao's idea.

What's more, these Maitreya believers are really not good people. Just based on the fact that when these Maitreya believers rebelled in the early years, the evil monks such as Wang Liang and Li Yue wanted to act as accomplices to open the border and let the little prince of Daru invade, it was enough to sentence them to death.

Pei Yuan interrogated them in the hope of getting some information about Li Fuda from them.

Relying on Chen Xinjian's family-inherited cooking skills, Qianhu Office obtained a lot of useful information from the mouths of these Maitreya cult followers.

Pei Yuan asked people to secretly organize all the information related to Li Fuda.

Next, it depends on when Wuding Hou Guo Xun will be dragged into the water.

Thanks to Chen Xinjian's efforts, some high-ranking members of the Maitreya Sect gave detailed confessions of the entire "Sanhe Posthouse Case".

When Chen Xinjian excitedly took the confession to Pei Yuan, Pei Yuan was disappointed after taking a few glances at it.

Chen Xinjian hurriedly and humbly asked Pei Yuan for advice.

Pei Yuan then said to Chen Xinjian, "The emperor arranged for the Sanheyi case to be resolved with the Maitreya religion. This was a clear fabrication. You made this confession so perfect that I thought it was you who did it at first glance."

Chen Xinjian was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat and quickly made a new statement.

After Pei Yuan got the confessions full of errors and omissions and stained with blood, he took the stack of confessions with satisfaction and went into the palace to ask for an audience with Zhu Houzhao.

When he arrived at the palace gate to inquire, he learned that the emperor was not in the palace at the moment.

I wanted to ask again, but the soldier guarding the door refused to answer.

Pei Yuan thought about it. Gu Dayong and Qiu Ju were both in Shandong at the moment. He didn't know anyone there, so he could only ask, "Is the East Factory Commander Zhang Rui, the eunuch, available? If he is, please let him know."

When the officers and soldiers saw that they were looking for Zhang Rui, they did not dare to be negligent and quickly sent someone to pass on the message.

Soon a young eunuch came to lead the way and took Pei Yuan to see Zhang Rui.

Zhang Rui was still friendly, and when he saw Pei Yuan, he asked with a smile, "How did Captain Pei find time to enter the palace? Could it be that some evil spirit is causing trouble again?"

Pei Yuan said quickly, "The Maitreya rebels have all been brought to justice. The other matter involved the 'Sanhe Posthouse Case', which was personally ordered by His Majesty to be handled. I have come here to report this matter."

Zhang Rui smiled and said, "You came at an inopportune time. His Majesty is now at Pei De's residence in Taipingcang. If you are not summoned, I cannot take you there directly."

Taiping warehouse? !

Pei Yuan was stunned when he heard this. Isn’t that my home?

What did Zhu Houzhao do at my house?
Fortunately, Pei Yuan reacted quickly and Taiping Warehouse had not yet fallen into his hands.

With great expectations for his new home, Pei Yuan quickly said, "It's okay. I know the location of Taiping Warehouse and will come to see you."

Zhang Rui said calmly, "Since Captain Pei has been given the opportunity to enter the palace, he should fulfill his duties conscientiously. It would be a good idea to take a look around the palace to make sure there is nothing unclean."

Pei Yuan was alert, could it be that Zhang Rui still hadn't given up on Queen Xia?
If he colluded with an eunuch to frame Queen Xia, even if he had the goodwill of Queen Mother Zhang behind Zhang Rui, he would definitely not end up well.

Pei Yuan replied, "I still have to report to the Emperor, so I don't have much time to waste."

Zhang Rui was not annoyed when he heard this. He put his hands in his sleeves, still smiling, and said meaningfully, "Now that things have come to you, how can it be so easy to not offend both sides? You are not very lucky. Choose one side between the Queen Mother and the Queen."

Pei Yuan: “…”

He understands this sentence too well.

If Pei Yuan was just an ordinary fifth-rank captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he would have been basically sentenced to death when Zhang Rui asked him to make a choice.

It is like a diligent little official in later generations who inexplicably gets involved in a fight between gods, and then has his hard-earned peaceful life ruined by the willfulness and badness of others.

It can be said that Zhang Rui's casual words almost destroyed all the efforts of Pei Yuan, an ordinary thousand households.

He would have to help frame the queen, and then die easily from the emperor's wrath or the queen's revenge.

Or he refused to frame the Queen, and then immediately offended the notorious Commander of the Eastern Depot and the even more irresistible Queen Mother behind him.

When Pei Yuan thought of this, he became more determined.

I, the thousand-householder, really cannot live an ordinary life.

(End of this chapter)