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

Chapter 488 Long Night and Many Dreams
On the second day, after Pei Yuan sobered up, he heard from Chen Xinjian that the garrison eunuch Bi Zhen had begun spreading the news in Shandong officialdom that Zhang Yong might be reinstated at any time.

In addition, the relationship between Zhang Yong and Yang Yiqing was well known, and many officials began to pay attention to Zhang Yong's itinerary.

Wang Chang also asked his staff to search for treasures in the vicinity of Jinan Prefecture in a high-profile manner, saying that since Eunuch Zhang was passing through the area, the governor should take good care of him.

Even Gu Dayong, the governor of the Western Factory who is now in charge of the Luo Jiao case in Shandong, informed all officials that he was going to hold a farewell party for eunuch Zhang Yong, and if there were any matters involving Luo Jiao, they could be sent to Dezhou by express horse.

For a time, the matter of Zhang Yong immediately aroused heated discussion in the Shandong officialdom.

Dezhou was originally under the jurisdiction of Jinan Prefecture, so naturally, any news in the officialdom spread there quickly.

In fact, Zhang Yong had already arrived at Dezhou Posthouse yesterday. When the postmaster saw this person, he quickly informed the Dezhou prefect.

However, the governor of Dezhou was cautious by nature. He thought that Zhang Yong had been demoted to Nanjing, and it would be difficult to handle the official etiquette if he went to greet him.

In addition, currying favor with eunuchs would easily lead to ridicule by the literati and might also offend the new seal holder of the Imperial Household Department.

Seeing that it was a thankless task, the governor of Dezhou simply chose to turn a deaf ear and dumb.

As a result, the next day, the governor of Dezhou got the news from his backer, Qin Jin, the right governor of Shandong.

The governor of Dezhou was shocked when he saw this, and immediately ordered someone to prepare a sedan chair to go to the inn to meet Zhang Yong.

Zhang Yong didn't really feel anything about his situation.

He also understood that he had lost power this time, and he had no expectations for what would happen to local officials.

According to the original plan, the team will soon set off for Linqing.

Linqing is a big city on the canal, with frequent trade and commerce, and is very prosperous. When the team arrives in Linqing, they will rest for two days before setting off southwards on official ships.

As a result, Zhang Yong and his party had already packed their luggage, but were stopped by the governor of Dezhou.

The governor of Dezhou repeatedly expressed his admiration for Zhang Yong's killing of Liu Jin, and insisted that Zhang Yong stay in Dezhou for a few days to fulfill his role as a good host.

Zhang Yong was too lazy to deal with the governor of Dezhou and was only determined to travel south as soon as possible.

Upon seeing this, the governor of Dezhou could only quietly pull Zhang Rong aside and tell him that he came in a hurry and had some generous gifts in the process of being prepared.

Zhang Rong was overjoyed when he heard this.

Zhang Yong was previously charged by the Eastern Depot with corruption, and his house in the capital had already been searched.

The people who took action at that time were borrowed by the East Factory from the West Factory.

Song Chunniang was originally a wild person, and the people under her were a mixed bag of all kinds of people.

Much of Zhang Yong's family wealth was looted by the dishonest Western Factory cavalry.

Although Zhang Rui was very surprised that Zhang Yong's family had no extra money, the chief judge Song Qianhu swore that eunuch Zhang was as honest as water, which was known to everyone.

Zhang Rui, who was eager to make a quick decision, did not want to create any unnecessary trouble.

In order to avoid further trouble and make the emperor change his mind, Zhang Rui, who was already in a difficult situation, had to collect a few thousand taels of silver on his own and hand it over as Zhang Yong's stolen silver.

Fortunately, the result is gratifying...

Because of these changes, when Zhang Yong left Beijing, it was difficult for him to sell his large amount of land and shops, and he could only rely on the small amount of gifts sent by his old friends to set off.

At first, Zhang Yong and Zhang Rong did not realize the seriousness of the problem.

After traveling for a few days, the government troops drawn from the Beijing camp began to make strange remarks and show their faces, and the two men realized the trouble.

The emperor is not short of hungry soldiers.

According to convention, even if there was no war, as long as the army began to be deployed, silver would be awarded for the march.

On the way south, the soldiers had many complaints about the rough food they ate according to the quota provided by the post stations.

Zhang Rong also understood that they should reward in time to maintain morale, but now was just the beginning. If they just spent the little money they had, how would they proceed in the future?
So when Zhang Rong heard that the governor of Dezhou had prepared generous gifts as part of the agenda, he immediately happily agreed on behalf of Zhang Yong.

Although Zhang Yong served as the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department for several years, he was not out of touch with worldly affairs.

After listening to Zhang Rong's story, his attitude changed and he talked to the Dezhou governor in a friendly manner.

After learning about the Dezhou prefect's intention to make friends and his request for help in speaking well of Yang Yiqing, Zhang Yong readily agreed with a smile.

If Zhang Yong ever has a chance to succeed, he will be able to repay this favor himself.

If Zhang Yong has no chance, why should he care about the future?

However, before the governor of Dezhou could prepare all the generous gifts, Zhang Jin, the left councilor of Shandong Provincial Government, came outside to ask for a meeting.

Zuo Canzheng was a high-ranking official of the third rank and was considered a very influential figure in Shandong.

If it was before, Zhang Yong would naturally look down on it, but now that he has lost his power, he is still somewhat happy to have such a person come to see him.

Zhang Yong quickly invited people over.

When Zhang Jin arrived, he bowed to Zhang Yongshen and said emotionally, "I was persecuted by Liu Jin and was banished to Ningbo. Fortunately, Eunuch Zhang killed Liu Jin and restored order, and now the Ming Dynasty has been restored."

"I am not here for my own career prospects, but to express my gratitude on behalf of the upright people who have been persecuted by Liu Jin."

Zhang Yong was delighted to hear this and quickly asked Zhang Jin to sit down.

Zhang Jin was not in a hurry to sit down. Instead, he took out a list of gifts from his sleeve, which was presented to Eunuch Zhang on behalf of all the upright people in the world.

Zhang Yong took a look and was overjoyed.

It’s really representative!

Zhang Yong was not polite and made generous promises without any hesitation.

With Zhang Jin's arrival, officials from nearby prefectures and counties first sent their sons and daughters to the scene, and then some officials from the Three Departments also rushed over from Licheng.

Many of these people brought valuable gifts with them. Even if they came empty-handed, they had hinted to Zhang Rong that it was not convenient to take them out now. Once the team was on the road, someone would naturally deliver them to Eunuch Zhang.

Zhang Yong keenly sensed the problem and repeatedly questioned the officials.

Unexpectedly, those officials were all victims of Liu Jin. They came here to express their gratitude to Zhang Yong for killing Liu Jin. They did this out of public spirit.

Zhang Yong really believed their lies.

Fortunately, Zhang Yong knew in his heart that when he showed kindness to others, he must have something in mind.

As long as they ask something of themselves, their true colors will eventually be revealed.

The next day, to Zhang Yong's delight, Gu Dayong and Qiu Ju also came.

Zhang Yong had had many conflicts with these two people in the past. He did not expect that when he was in trouble, these two people would come to meet him regardless of their past grudges. This touched Zhang Yong deeply.

Moreover, when Zhang Rong heard that the two planned to stay in the Western Factory in Shandong and observe the changes in the court, Zhang Yong also sighed, "If I had known how to advance and retreat like you two brothers, how could I be in this situation today?"

Zhang Yong realized that these two people might be the only two survivors of the "Seven Tigers of Zhengde" and pleaded tearfully, "If you two brothers can hold on until the day of success, please don't forget our family!"

There was nothing Gu Dayong and Qiu Ju could say but to agree perfunctorily.

Afterwards, Shandong Governor Wang Chang came to meet him in a high-profile manner.

Wang Chang's arrival made the atmosphere in the inn a little subtle.

After all, those who came before could still use "Liu Jin's righteous act of fighting the enemy" as a fig leaf among the literati, but this Wang Chang is different.

He was one of the most important figures among the remnants of Liu Jin.

Wang Chang couldn't possibly come and try to get close to Zhang Yong by claiming that he was the one who killed Liu Jin, right?
Some officials who were still staying in the inn came to pay their respects and eat the melons.

After the two sides exchanged greetings, Wang Chang didn't say much and directly asked someone to deliver the generous gift.

Zhang Yong looked at the list of ceremonials and was greatly surprised. He then asked, "What does Governor Wang mean by this?"

Wang Chang sighed and replied sadly, "Of course I came here to see you off because I want to express my gratitude to Eunuch Zhang for defeating the traitor Liu Jin."

This time, not only Zhang Yong was shocked, but even the officials who were watching cast contemptuous looks at him.

These people have a small boat and are easy to turn around, so they can flexibly adjust their position between "admiring Eunuch Liu" and "being suppressed by Eunuch Liu".

However, when Wang Chang reached his position, it was easy for people to look down on him if he still blatantly engaged in political speculation and acted like a fence-sitter.

Zhang Yong felt contemptuous, looking at the shameless face of the man in front of him, thinking about the officials' fawning these days, and thinking of his own current situation of being abandoned and exiled.

For a moment, he said to Wang Chang in grief, "Governor Wang, if he knew what Eunuch Liu said, what would he think?"

Unexpectedly, Wang Chang was even more shameless than he thought, and continued with a thick face, "If Liu Jin knew about this, he would definitely regret that he had failed the emperor's grace."

Zhang Yong didn't know how to face Wang Chang's shameless face for a moment.

After a while, he asked Wang Chang directly, "You are already the governor and the right censor, what do you want from me, a demoted old eunuch?"

Wang Chang's answer was still so straightforward and shameless that it embarrassed Zhang Yong. "I heard that you are good friends with Yang Yiqing, the Minister of Personnel. When I inspect the local area tomorrow, I hope that you can ask Yang Tianguan to judge me impartially."

Zhang Yong couldn't help but scold, "Is this kind of thing okay to talk about?"

After he finished speaking, he seemed to realize that there were other people present, and immediately said, "Yang Tianguan has always been upright, so why do you have to do this useless thing? Take your things away quickly. Don't show up in front of our family again."

The other officials who were listening in were whispering excitedly.

The court's plan to inspect local officials after the Beijing inspection was only a rumor at the moment, but Wang Chang unexpectedly made the matter clear.

This time... their trip was not in vain.

Wang Chang wanted to explain again, and Zhang Yong quickly looked at Zhang Rong.

Zhang Rong also knew that it was not easy to take the man's money, so he quickly and politely sent the man away.

Wang Chang deliberately sighed heavily in front of everyone, then took back the gift list dejectedly and walked out of the inn sadly.

After Wang Chang left, Zhang Yong also took advantage of the opportunity in private to extract a lot of information from a minor official.

It turned out that there were rumors these days that the court was going to use this investigation to dismiss officials on a large scale. With the precedent of Shandong Governor Bian Xian being arrested and questioned, they were all frightened.

Now I heard that Zhang Yongsheng's family is still there and is on good terms with the officials in the Ministry of Personnel, so I came here specifically to curry favor with them.

After hearing this, Zhang Yong was confused as to whether this was the aftermath of the "Bian Xian and Xiao Chong case".

But Zhang Rong had already made up his mind and planned to take advantage of the opportunity to make a fortune.

So the group stayed there for more than ten days, and only after receiving a large sum of money as ceremonial money did they head to Linqing with satisfaction.

On the way, Zhang Rong even asked the team to stop for a day in the nearby Ling County.

Perhaps those in the surrounding areas who wanted to send gifts had already gone to Dezhou to do so, and apart from the county magistrate of Ling County who came to the post station in person, no other officials came.

This made Zhang Rong a little disappointed.

Fortunately, when they arrived in Linqing, more official representatives came from afar and presented Zhang Yong with generous gifts.

Things like ceremonials were official shady practices, and Zhang Yong and Zhang Rongshou felt at ease with them.

When he set out again, he not only rewarded the Beijing troops who were accompanying him, but also improved their food, clothing, and housing along the way.

Just as the Zhang brothers were collecting money and heading slowly south.

Bi Zhen also found Pei Yuan and gave him the most crucial information.

His trusted eunuch had successfully persuaded Zhang Xiong.

When Zhang Xiong heard that his brother had such a bright future, in order to avoid being a drag on Zhang Rui, he sent people to the nearby princes to ask for some eunuchs. He also temporarily recruited a lot of mobs to supplement the manpower.

In order to falsely report his achievements and show his results, he borrowed several thousand taels of silver in the name of his brother Zhang Rui to replace the collected commercial taxes, and tried his best to take down the position of the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department.

When Pei Yuan heard this, he did not stay in Licheng immediately, but quickly led his men south to meet up with Chen Toutie in Tai'an Prefecture.

Chen Toutie has already reunited with Song Yan, Mi Bin and the other four, and they have hidden the people they brought with them in the Luojiao stronghold near Mount Tai.

The Xuzhou soldiers under Chen Toutie and the Xuzhou soldiers under Song Yan were all from Xuzhou Guard. They also experienced the bloody battle of Yanggu together, and their friendship could be considered life-long.

When the two sides met, it didn't take much time for them to understand each other's situation.

At first, Song Yan and his companions actually thought that these Xuzhou soldiers were undercover agents in the Luo Sect, and they secretly admired the dedication of these brothers.

It was not until Chen Toutie called the five of them aside and told them the whole story that they were dumbfounded.

Before, they were eager to make a big move and were ready to suppress the Luojiao rebellion after arriving in various prefectures.

Unexpectedly, the Chen Zongqi who originally led them was actually the leader of the Luo Sect.

Doesn't that mean...

The answer was obvious, but they didn't dare to think about it.

Chen Toutie did not give them time to think, and quickly equipped the five men with long weapons and crossbows, and appropriately equipped them with a large number of auxiliary soldiers.

Although there were quite a few of these Luo followers and they were all tall and strong, it was obvious from their appearance that they were all novices.

According to Chen Toutie, after the battle, those auxiliary troops will be returned to him, and those who survive will become the foundation for him to suppress Luojiao.

(End of this chapter)