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

Chapter 451: It's hard to compete with the tiger

Chapter 451: It's hard to compete with the tiger

Pei Yuan had no idea how to win over the Shandong scholars for the time being.

Wang Chang, the remnant of Liu Jin, was slightly stronger than himself, a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, but not much stronger.

Now Wang Chang is still shrouded in the suspicion of being purged. It is hard to say whether he can win over the Shandong scholars who were recruited by him.

But Pei Yuan didn't have any other capable people at hand.

He couldn't push Li Shishi to the front and let Prince Ning benefit.

What's more, he and Li Shishi were just using each other, unlike Brother Wang Chang who was so loyal to him.

Even if Pei Yuan could really find a white glove with a good status and reputation, then since those scholars already have the Yangguan Road, why would they bother with his own single-plank bridge?

It seems that I need to discuss this matter with Wang Chang.

Afterwards, he went out as usual and went to Zhihua Temple to work.

While on the road, Pei Yuan suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves in the distance behind him.

Pei Yuan was extremely suspicious, and after experiencing Zhang Rong's assassination attempt last time, he became disillusioned with the security of the capital.

He looked around and saw that the road was wide and there were many shops on the roadside, so he took Chen Xinjian and several personal soldiers and retreated into a silk shop.

If something really goes wrong, you can hold on for a short time.

The shop owner was quite discerning. Seeing that this group of people did not seem to be buying things and did not look easy to deal with, he just smiled and nodded without asking any more questions.

Pei Yuan looked outside through the half-open shop door and saw that the people on the street heard the noise and hurriedly dodged, and soon the long street was empty.

Then we saw hundreds of strong horses carrying knights, each of them carrying bows and wearing armor, galloping past briskly.

Pei Yuan realized that they were not coming towards him, and then he noticed the size of these cavalrymen. He looked back and saw only dust and smoke, and no other horses followed.

Chen Xinjian was sharp-eyed and whispered to Pei Yuan in shock, "One of the people who just passed by is the current emperor."

"What?" Pei Yuan was also surprised. He hurried out of the store, stood on the street, and watched the large group of cavalrymen going away, without saying a word for a long time.

There were also many other people who had been hiding in the street coming out, pointing and talking as they watched the cavalry team gradually go away.

Chen Xinjian followed him out of the store and whispered in Pei Yuan's ear again in shock, "It really is the Son of Heaven."

Zhu Houzhao had met Pei Yuan alone in a tea shop outside the Da Ci'en Temple before. At that time, Chen Xinjian followed Pei Yuan and also met the emperor.

The cavalrymen were not riding very fast when they passed by just now, and Chen Xinjian immediately spotted Zhu Houzhao in armor.

Pei Yuan hummed, unable to tell what he felt.

Pei Yuan had heard that Zhu Houzhao had begun to reorganize the Beijing army, but he did not expect that Zhu Houzhao would achieve this so quickly.

This guy had no airs of an emperor at all. He ate and lived with the selected soldiers, reviewed them from time to time, and even built a tent in the open space outside the Leopard House and lived in the tent in order to try to understand those Darius.

When the ministers were furious about Zhu Houzhao "wearing ordinary cavalry armor and riding out with ordinary generals", and wrote numerous letters to the emperor to advise him, they certainly did not think that the young man they had watched grow up would soon be like his brave ancestors, braving the heavy snow and patrolling the northern border on horseback.

How could such an emperor fail to win the support of the army?
Even Pei Yuan sighed and said to Chen Xinjian, "It's hard to compete with that beast."

Of course he was envious, but Pei Yuan knew that he couldn't show it.

Moreover, at this time when the Ming Dynasty's national strength was gradually weakening, the emergence of such a brave emperor was a blessing for the Ming Dynasty and Pei Yuan.

Seeing such an excited emperor, Pei Yuan felt that his mentality became more stable.

As long as Zhu Houzhao was alive, Pei Yuan would not act rashly.

When the streets became lively again, Pei Yuan came to his senses and found that the cavalrymen were no longer visible in the distance.

Pei Yuan turned around and said, "Ask Tan Tai Fang Tu to come to Zhihua Temple. I'll ask him about the situation of replenishing the troops."

Zhu Houzhao worked so hard, so Pei Yuan couldn't slack off.

Political games are important, but if you really want to show your knives, you have to do it yourself.

Before he left the capital for Shandong last time, he instructed Tan Tai Fang Tu to replenish the Jinyiwei's manpower. Now it's time to see what the results are.

Moreover, Zhu Houzhao allowed him to set up five "xingbaihusu" in the five prefectures of Shandong, and he had to see how to arrange this matter.

Pei Yuan will need sufficient manpower to handle many things in the future.

When Pei Yuan arrived at Zhihua Temple, he heard the Jinyiwei guarding the gate report that a Jinyiwei commander named Xia came to see him and had been waiting in the meditation hall.

Pei Yuan's heart trembled. He didn't expect this to happen so quickly.

He calmly asked the Jinyiwei guarding the gate, "Did that man say what it was about?"

The Jinyiwei guarding the gate shook his head and said, "No."

As if remembering something, he added, "His followers seemed to have mentioned that this was the eldest son of the Earl of Qingyang."

Seeing that the Jinyiwei had nothing to add, Pei Yuan warned him, "Don't spread this matter around."

Then he turned back to Chen Xinjian and said, "Let someone change their positions."

Now is the time when the Zhang family is at its peak, and Zhang Rui from the East Factory has defected to the Empress Dowager.

Zhang Rui had already developed the intention to harm others, and Pei Yuan didn't want to be discovered by the guys from the East Factory that he was having a private meeting with the son of the Earl of Qingyang at this time.

Pei Yuan strode into Zhihua Temple, and then, under the guidance of the soldiers, went to the meditation room for guests.

As soon as I entered the door, I saw a frivolous young man in his twenties, looking at the decoration in the Zen room with some impatience.

When Pei Yuan entered the room, he obviously noticed it, but pretended not to know and continued to look around with a calm expression.

Pei Yuan looked at him for a few times and asked, "Could it be that you are the eldest son of the Earl of Qingyang?"

The eldest son of the Earl of Qingyang was unhappy and scolded Pei Yuan, "I am the commander of the Jinyiwei. How can you, a mere captain, not know the rules?"

Pei Yuan thought about it, and soon changed his expression. He said respectfully to Xia Zhu, the eldest son of the Earl of Qingyang, "I am Pei Yuan, the captain of the Jinyiwei. I am honored to meet Commander Xia."

Xia Zhu snorted, grinned and said, "That's more like it."

Then he said, "I heard that Zhang Rui brought you into the palace a few days ago and caused trouble in the Queen's bedroom?"

Pei Yuan corrected with a smile, "Commander Xia, be careful with your words. I only followed Eunuch Zhang Rui to the side hall outside the Queen's bedroom, and did not set foot in the Queen's bedroom. If this word gets out, I'm afraid it will affect the Queen's reputation."

Xia Zhu was stunned for a moment, and quickly changed his words, "Yes, it's just what you said."

Then he asked, "What exactly is Zhang Rui planning?" Pei Yuan looked at Xia Zhu and asked, "Are you asking this as Commander Xia?"

Xia Zhu frowned, slammed the table hard, and scolded, "I'm asking you a question, why are you beating around the bush?"

The warm smile on Pei Yuan's face just now disappeared completely in an instant.

He looked at Xia Zhu coldly, "You are just a small commander, are you qualified to ask about the affairs of the palace?"

Xia Zhu's face immediately turned red when he heard this. He stood up suddenly and said angrily, "What did you say? Pei Yuan, you are so bold!"

Pei Yuan turned around and left, saying to Chen Xinjian who was waiting outside the door, "Let him go!"

“Pei Yuan!” Xia Zhu was in his twenties. He relied on his sister being the queen and always considered himself the second Zhang Heling. He was usually arrogant and domineering. Suddenly, he was humiliated like this. He was so angry that his hands and feet were shaking. He pointed at Pei Yuan and cursed, “Do you think I can’t deal with you?”

Pei Yuan paused, turned around and looked at Xia Zhu, like a wolf with its mouth wide open, and said viciously, "Is the commander so great? You offended me today, so I will let you know the price of offending Captain Pei."

After saying that, he walked away.

Chen Xinjian stepped forward without any hesitation and said to the eldest son of the Earl of Qingyang, "Commander Xia, please come in."

Xia Zhu angrily kicked the table in front of him away and strode out.

Chen Xinjian watched Xia Zhu leave Zhihua Temple in hatred before he went to report to Captain Pei.

When I saw Pei Yuan again, he was eating peanuts in his public housing.

A lot of peanut shells had already been peeled on the table. When Pei Yuan saw Chen Xinjian coming in, he pushed the unpeeled peanuts forward.

Chen Xinjian hurried forward to help Pei Qianhu peel peanuts.

Seeing Pei Yuan's calm expression, he was not surprised at all, and even plucked up the courage to say, "Qian Hu was a bit too much just now."

"Are there any?" Pei Yuan stretched out his hand, and Chen Xinjian quickly handed over the freshly peeled peanuts.

Chen Xinjian asked Pei Yuan in confusion, "Captain, if Xia Zhu is really the eldest son of the Earl of Qingyang, then he is the brother of the current queen. If you offend him like this, I'm afraid you will get into a lot of trouble."

Pei Yuan threw peanuts into his mouth and said to Chen Xinjian, "You don't know the cause and effect. There are many complicated issues here."

As he spoke, he gave Chen Xinjian a brief account of the affairs of the Houzhao family's harem.

Pei Yuan always liked to use other people's secrets to show trust to his subordinates and win their hearts.

Pei Yuan even briefly mentioned Zhang Rui's position and the tricks Zhang Yong was playing behind the scenes.

After listening to this, Chen Xinjian roughly understood what was going on, so he asked Pei Yuan, "So, we are helping the Queen Mother? So, the captain is worried that people will know that we have dealings with the Xia family?"

Pei Yuan shook his head. "The two brothers Zhang Heling rely on the Grand Canal to sell private salt, and their power is huge. Whether we sell beans, cotton cloth, or cotton in the future, as long as we can form a certain scale, we will inevitably have a certain intersection with the Zhang brothers."

"The Zhang brothers are not good people. If we serve the Queen Mother as dogs, we will be swallowed up in one gulp."

"That's why I pretended to be hesitant in front of Queen Xia, so that Queen Xia would think that I could make a breakthrough. This is why Assistant Xia came to meet me."

After listening to Pei Yuan's explanation, Chen Xinjian became more confused. "Since Qian Hu intends to help the Xia family, why should he be so disrespectful to Xia Zhu? Isn't this going to make us enemies?"

Pei Yuan spread his hands after hearing this, "What else?"

Chen Xinjian quickly put the peanuts he had just peeled into Pei Yuan's open hands.

Pei Yuan looked at the two handfuls of peanuts in his hands. Damn, they were actually divided very evenly.

Pei Yuan's emotions were incoherent for a moment. He said to this little brother with emotion, "Xinjian, you are such a talented person!"

Chen Xinjian was very happy and a little flattered for a moment, "It's all thanks to Qianhu's good teaching."

Pei Yuan was a little unhappy. This kid actually dared to scold me.

Pei Yuan didn't eat anything in the morning. After driving Xia Zhu away, he wanted to go to He Ru's house to find something to eat.

When he arrived at the auxiliary room, Pei Yuan remembered that He Ru had already taken people south to buy land and build an oil press. With the help of the local tyrant Zhou Qianhu of Huai'an Guard, the progress was very smooth.

The person on duty in the pacification room at the moment was Zhang Song, who had been chosen to come and work.

Zhang Song now receives twenty taels of silver from the Qianhu Suo every month. Compared with his income from the Dali Temple, he is very happy.

He was also embarrassed to take the money for nothing, and thought that the Dali Temple had little official business, so he came to the Qianhu Office from time to time to help organize the intelligence coming from various places and archive the useful information in a timely manner.

Pei Yuan and Zhang Song chatted briefly and then talked about the current imperial inspection.

If he helps Zhang Song get promoted, he still has to consider the Ministry of Personnel's opinion, which also involves the face of former Grand Secretary Xie Qian. But if he helps someone get demoted, that is the business of the Censorate.

This inspection was jointly led by Li Shishi and Yang Yiqing. The two had just confirmed their intention to form an alliance and were in their honeymoon period.

As long as Li Shishi opens his mouth, he can easily get Zhang Song to join the Jinyiwei.

When Zhang Song heard that he was going to be brought to the Imperial Guard on the pretext of being slack in his duties, he immediately said that he would not go to the Dali Temple tomorrow and would just give in.

Pei Yuan was not shy with Zhang Song. Seeing that there were quite a few peanuts on the table, he took a handful.

Pei Yuan was hungry at the moment. He looked at the peanuts on his open hands and didn't say much to Chen Xinjian.

Eat first.

After Pei Yuan finished eating, he casually explained to Chen Xinjian, "Xia Zhu came at the wrong time."

Chen Xinjian hurriedly listened respectfully.

Pei Yuan continued, "If my guess is correct, the Queen Mother will use the uncleanness of the Queen's bedroom as an excuse to have the Queen temporarily leave the bedroom or issue a decree not to allow the Emperor to go there again."

"This incident is a huge blow to both the Queen and the Xia family."

"If I try to befriend the Xia family at this time, it will probably be in vain. By then, the two sides will turn against each other, and it will be even more difficult to connect them in the future."

"Why not take advantage of the Queen Mother's move and use the power of the tiger to intimidate the Xia family first?"

"If we cannot take the initiative in this cooperation, we will inevitably cultivate another Zhang Heling."

Chen Xinjian understood Pei Yuan's thinking a little bit. Since he couldn't win over his own thousand households, he just decided to show off by sticking to the time node.

Chen Xinjian asked with some concern, "Isn't Qian Hu afraid of completely offending the Xia family?"

Pei Yuan ate peanuts and said calmly, "If there is no obedient Xia family, it would be better not to have this Xia family. If they are not sensible, then I will just help the Queen Mother to defeat the Xia family first, and then I will do it myself."

(End of this chapter)

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