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

Chapter 442 This Zhu Houzhao is simply not a human being

After some actions, Pei Yuan finally completed the task assigned by the Queen Mother.

Next, his fate would depend on the effectiveness of this false accusation against the queen.

To be precise, it determined the fate of the Ming Dynasty.

Pei Yuan was not too worried about this. In fact, there was not much suspense about the result.

The queen, who was alone and out of favor, had no hope of defeating the empress dowager, who had been the favorite in the palace for more than ten years and was also the mother of the emperor.

The ending is almost inevitable.

Pei Yuan put the matter aside and looked at Zhang Rui who was leading him out of the palace. He couldn't help but wonder about this guy's attitude.

If Pei Yuan remembered correctly, he and Zhang Rui were very friendly when they met last time.

Zhang Rui wanted to revive the legacy of the great eunuchs who had died a miserable death in previous dynasties and complete the collection of local commercial taxes.

As an old special agent with experience in struggle, Pei Yuan also gave some insightful views on the situation in Jiangnan.

Later, Zhang Rui invited him to dinner.

Why did you turn against me this time?

Pei Yuan thought about his possible enemies and his interactions with Zhang Rui, and quickly locked his target on one person.

That is Zhang Yong, the current eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department.

As the current leader of the "Seven Tigers of Zhengde", Zhang Yong seems to be incompatible with the "old people of Hongzhi".

However, in the internal struggle with Liu Jin, he finally won the victory by side with the Queen Mother.

The "old people of Hongzhi" were also divided into two factions. One faction consisted of the eunuchs in the inner court who served in the palace all year round, like Xiao Jing; the other faction consisted of the eunuchs guarding outside the palace, like Lu Ting, who guarded places like Xuanda.

Zhang Rui was originally in charge of the imperial farm in Tianjin Wei, which was theoretically similar to the garrison eunuchs like Lu Ting.

When Liu Jin fell from power the year before last, the inner court faction headed by Xiao Jing urgently called on all the eunuchs to return and prepare to seize power.

Then, various princes such as Lu Ting, Zhang Rui, Zhang Xiong, Zhang Zhong, Yin Sheng, etc., entered the capital one after another under the operation of the inner court faction.

Unfortunately, Zhang Yong didn't expect that he had the support of Qiu Ju and Gu Dayong's East and West Factories, and the support of Yang Yiqing, a heavenly official in the Ministry of Personnel, and he quickly stabilized the situation.

This made the "old people of Hongzhi" feel a little uncomfortable.

So these people can only use their own talents to find their own way out.

Lu Ting went to work as a dog for Xiao Jing, responsible for going south to hunt down Pei Yuan and bring credit to Xiao Jing's nephews; Zhang Zhong and Yin Sheng went to follow the eunuch Gu Dayong, the commander-in-chief of military affairs, and each supervised a part of the army to suppress the rebellion; Zhang Rui and Zhang Xiong were able to become candidates for the eunuchs of the East Factory with the support of the people, obviously they also had their own connections.

Judging from their performance today, the two brothers should have sought refuge with Empress Dowager Zhang in time.

With this result, the process is not difficult to guess.

Zhang Rui was in charge of the imperial farm in Tianjin, and Tianjin was the place where Zhang Heling, Marquis of Shouning, had massively occupied land.

Zhang Rui could have easily used the favor he did to Zhang Heling to please the empress dowager.

Moreover, he could take advantage of the conflict between Xia Ru, the Earl of Qingyang, and Zhang Heling, the Marquis of Shouning, over land in Tianjin, and maintain his value in the eyes of the Queen Mother and the Marquis of Shouning by attacking the Earl of Qingyang.

Under the current situation, with the Queen Mother as the co-leader, Zhang Yong can definitely reach some deal with Zhang Rui.

Without making a sound, Pei Yuan understood that it was probably because he had offended Zhang Rong last time that he was being retaliated against fiercely.

It seems that Zhang Yong must be removed from his position as the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department as soon as possible.

Because he was in the harem, Zhang Rui did not dare to be careless. He personally sent Pei Yuan to the palace gate before leaving on his own.

After Pei Yuan learned of Zhang Rui's position, he no longer expected him to take him to see Zhu Houzhao.

Pei Yuan had no choice but to take his entourage and go to Taiping Warehouse to seek an audience with the emperor.

Some time ago, when Zhu Houzhao adopted a son, he adopted Pei De, and in the name of his merit in giving advice, he gave him the title of Earl of Yongshou, imitating the story of Liu Bang.

When this operation came out, Zhu Houzhao himself was a little scared, and all the ministers in the court were also a little confused.

Because what the identity of the emperor's adopted son should be is indeed a mysterious proposition.

Going back in time, during the time of Emperor Taizu, all of those adopted sons were very capable, and many of them were granted titles of duke or marquis.

If we consider it from a realistic perspective, not to mention the countless princes and dukes of the Ming royal family, even the emperor's brother-in-law can be granted the title of marquis, so it should be reasonable for the emperor's adopted son to be granted the title of earl.

After all, it is not appropriate for a royal bastard to be classified as a "commoner".

So when Pei De was granted the title of Earl of Yongshou, the emperor and his ministers looked at each other for a while and then approved it.

Pei De was first adopted as the son of a eunuch named Pei and named him Pei De, then as the son of a eunuch named Wu and named him Wu De, and then as the son of a eunuch named Pi and named him Pi De.

When he met Emperor Zhengde, he finally became extremely noble.

Pei De was able to successfully obtain the title of Earl of Yongshou because Zhu Houzhao was very restrained at the beginning and only accepted a few adopted sons.

If all the ministers in the court knew that Zhu Houzhao would adopt more than a hundred godsons in the next few months, they would definitely regret their decision today.

Zhu Houzhao successfully registered the White Gloves, and then awarded Taiping Warehouse to his adopted son Pei De as his residence.

As a result, the ministers could no longer remain calm and tried their best to stop it.

Because a huge amount of money was spent on building the Taiping Warehouse, how could it be given away as a reward?

It’s not a reward to me, how the hell can I feel balanced?

Unfortunately, the ministers only thought that Zhu Houzhao was showing great favor to Pei De, but they did not realize Zhu Houzhao's real purpose at all.

Zhu Houzhao gave this place to Pei De just to cover up his tracks.

This is the place he chose to station his troops and train them.

After the thorough renovation is completed next year, there will be a sign here called "Zhen Guo Fu".

At that time, a great general who will directly command the military power will be born!
Zhu Houzhao neither used military nobles to lead the troops nor used eunuchs and civil officials to command them. He wanted to be the one who held the power himself.

When Pei Yuan arrived at Taiping Warehouse, he found that there were a large number of craftsmen working intensively on the renovation.

A lot of effort was spent on building the Taiping Warehouse, and it is not easy to rebuild it now.

Pei Yuan knew what was going on and looked at it with purpose. Naturally, he could easily distinguish where the training ground was, where the armory was, and where the military camps were from the chaotic scene.

The person who helped Zhu Houzhao do this work was the Minister of Works Li Kai.

Don't think that this honest man is a non-aggressor. However, just by looking at the fact that Emperor Zhengde ruled the country for 16 years and this honest man was able to hold on to his position as one of the Seven Ministers for 15 years, who would dare to underestimate his skills?

By the way, the current Minister of Works Li Qian, in addition to assigning craftsmen to speed up the renovation of Taiping Warehouse, is also stepping up the repair of Dongjishi Factory.

Yes, that’s right, it’s the Dongjishi Factory.

This moved the hard-hearted East Depot commander Zhang Rui so much that he even took the initiative to ask the emperor to grant Li Qian and others three sets of colorful kirin, cloud crane and gauze silk clothes each.

This time, Pei Yuan went to the palace to seek an audience with the emperor. In order to avoid the trouble of walking around the palace, he wore the flying fish suit bestowed by the emperor.

This time when I arrived at Taiping Warehouse, I was able to pass through smoothly thanks to this outfit.

It was not until they arrived at the emperor's temporary residence that the Jinyiwei officers stepped forward to stop them.

Pei Yuan immediately took out his badge to verify his identity and told the Jinyiwei officers that he had an important matter to discuss with the emperor.

The officers and soldiers of the Jinyiwei did not dare to be negligent and hurried to report to Qian Ning, the commander of the Jinyiwei who was accompanying the emperor.

Qian Ning had met Pei Yuan several times with Zhu Houzhao, so he naturally knew that the emperor valued this captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, so he called a confidant beside him and said, "Go and bring him here. I will personally take him to see the emperor." When Pei Yuan met Zhu Houzhao, Zhu Houzhao was surrounded by several military officers and was enthusiastically directing the construction craftsmen below in a high pavilion.

Perhaps because his plan to "hide the truth from the world" was successful, Zhu Houzhao seemed to have seen the scene in the huge Taiping Warehouse with fluttering flags, loud drums, countless elite soldiers rushing back and forth, and the deafening sound of killing during training.

The scene of all things flourishing and thriving seems to be right before our eyes...

Zhu Houzhao was feeling happy when he saw Qian Ning bringing a man wearing a flying fish suit over.

Zhu Houzhao identified it carefully.

Huh?
Pei Yuan!

For some unknown reason, Zhu Houzhao felt that his emotions were incoherent.

Yes, it’s an illusion, right?
Zhu Houzhao glanced at the busy construction scene again, and this time... it felt like something was missing.

It seems as if all things are no longer competing and vitality is no longer vibrant.

Fortunately, Zhu Houzhao was not a person who would get entangled. It just so happened that he had some troubles recently and wanted to discuss them with someone. Without waiting for Qian Ning to come forward to report, he pressed the railing of the pavilion and shouted, "Let him come up!"

When Pei Yuan saw Zhu Houzhao, he quickly greeted him from a distance.

Then he followed Qian Ning all the way up to the pavilion on the rockery.

Pei Yuan bowed again, "I am Pei Yuan, the deputy commander of the evil suppression command post. I am honored to see your majesty."

Zhu Houzhao laughed and said, "Get up."

After saying that, he looked at Pei Yuan and asked, "What are you here for this time?"

Pei Yuan quickly took out the chapter from his sleeve and handed it over. "I was ordered to interrogate the remnants of the Maitreya Sect before, and I have already verified that the Sanhe Posthouse case was the work of the Maitreya Sect. The one who planned this was none other than the Maitreya Sect leader Li Fuda."

"Oh?" Zhu Houzhao became interested and motioned to his left and right.

Someone immediately stepped forward and took the memorial.

Pei Yuan was also familiar with this man. He was Xu Tai, who was disliked by everyone when he met him in front of the Huguang Army.

After Xu Tai returned to Beijing, he joined Zhu Houzhao's group of adopted sons and became very successful.

Zhu Houzhao took the memorial from Xu Tai and then slowly read it.

As he read on, Zhu Houzhao's face darkened, and then he threw the memorial in front of Pei Yuan and shouted angrily.

"You want me to take this to Liang Daxueshi to explain?"

Pei Yuan was startled and said quickly, "I will go back and review the case right away."

"Retrial?" Zhu Houzhao asked angrily, "How long will the retrial last?!"

After saying this, he barely suppressed his anger, picked up the memorial from the ground and read it again.

Then he took the memorial and tried to light it on the copper stove where wine was warmed.

There was only a dim charcoal fire left on the copper stove. Zhu Houzhao did not burn the memorial, so he simply threw it heavily at Pei Yuan again.

Pei Yuan lowered his head and stood still, letting the memorial fall.

Zhu Houzhao suppressed his anger and ordered a eunuch, "Go tell Liang Cifu that the Jinyiwei has already found out that the Sanhe Posthouse case was committed by the Maitreya Sect."

After the eunuch left, Zhu Houzhao cursed again, "What a waste."

Pei Yuan hurriedly said in panic, "I am incompetent."

Zhu Houzhao said sternly, "From now on, you must personally supervise everything I tell you to do. Do you understand?"

Pei Yuan quickly said, "I understand."

After waiting for a long time, Zhu Houzhao's anger finally subsided.

He looked at Pei Yuan again and said, "You came at the right time. I just wanted to ask you something."

Pei Yuan said quickly, "I am very humble and will answer any questions you may have."

Zhu Houzhao thought for a moment and said, "The last time the adopted son policy was very successful, I have slowly made considerable progress. But now the ministers are instigating the promotion of the imperial examination. Do you think this will be beneficial or detrimental to me?"

Pei Yuan didn't expect things to go so smoothly. Zhu Houzhao brought it up on his own without waiting for his guidance.

But he didn't dare to show too much enthusiasm, and quickly declined, "It's not my place to talk about national affairs like this. Your Majesty, why don't you ask He Huan for advice? He Huan has the reputation of 'Little Zhongda'. Although he is a military man, he is a talent for the country."

Zhu Houzhao heard this and said naturally, "He has been very tired these past few days and has not had a good rest. I can't bear to let him be too tired."

Pei Yuan didn't take it seriously at first, but after thinking about it for a moment, he couldn't help but exclaim.

Poor Commander He, could it be possible that...

Thinking of Zhu Houzhao's bad habits, Pei Yuan couldn't help but get goose bumps.

This Zhu Houzhao is simply not a human being!
I recommend my good brother to you to make up for the strategic shortcomings in your camp, not to help you!

Damn you!

How can I face my good brother?

Pei Yuan was so angry that he blurted out, "Commander He is extremely talented. Even if Your Majesty does not treat him as a national hero, you should not keep him as a concubine! If so, how can you win the hearts of the people?"

Zhu Houzhao was completely confused when he heard this.

When he realized what was happening, he couldn't help but get angry and asked, "Pei Yuan, what are you talking about?"

"You don't have Cao?" Pei Yuan questioned.

Zhu Houzhao's face was filled with black lines, and he called out to his attendants, "Drag him out and beat him up."

Pei Yuan then realized that he seemed to have misunderstood something.

He hurried to explain.

But this kind of matter was Zhu Houzhao's private and not very decent thing, so how could I say more?

Seeing Zhu Houzhao's ashamed, angry and embarrassed expression, Pei Yuan had no choice but to admit defeat.

Come on, let’s fight.

Pei Yuan was dragged out of the pavilion and pinned down.

Pei Yuan looked to the left and saw that the person holding his arm was the Right Commander Xi Yong.

Pei Yuan looked to the right and saw that the person locking his elbows and wrists was the deputy governor Jin Fu.

I helped Gu Dayong write a short essay praising him.

The two knew that the captain had a good relationship with Lu Ting, and thinking of the friendship they had when they first met on the Huguang front, they smiled and whispered, "Captain, please don't make a fuss, and don't make things difficult for us. We have the final say."

Pei Yuan was speechless. What use is the weight of your hands? The key is who hits me.

Pei Yuan was held down so tightly that he couldn't see who was going to be executed.

He remembered that he had to take off his pants for a spanking, and his face turned pale with fear.

He deliberately used He Huan to confront Zhu Houzhao in order to avoid future troubles, and also to make his attitude clear to prevent Zhu Houzhao from having any evil ambitions towards him.

I guess it won’t be seen now.

(End of this chapter)