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

Chapter 502 Leave it to me
Pei Yuan came back to his senses, looked at Kong Xu and continued to instruct, "As for the southern side, don't alert the enemy this time. Just follow the original steps and negotiate with them first."

Kong Xu understood and agreed again.

By the time we finished our meal and sent Kong Xu away, it was already late.

Pei Yuan was just about to ask his personal soldiers to clear the table when he saw the remaining half cup of tea wriggling out of the cup, forming the Chinese character "来" (come) on the table.

Pei Yuan looked at these tactics and immediately realized that it was Han Qianhu next door who was causing trouble.

He thought about the three people who were standing outside Han Qianhu's door as punishment, and felt a little uneasy.

Could it be that those three bastards were so careless with their mouths that they got me into trouble?
Pei Yuan calmed himself down, tidied himself up briefly, then pushed the door and left the yard.

Sikong Sui, Tantai Fangtu and Cui Bohou were still standing dejectedly at the gate of Han Qianhu's courtyard as punishment.

Hearing the noise here, he looked at Pei Yuan listlessly.

They didn't have much expectation at first, but when they saw Pei Yuan walk out of the courtyard and take a few steps towards this side, they immediately became more excited.

Then his eyes became filled with eager anticipation.

When Pei Yuan came up to them, the three of them greeted him immediately, "Deputy Captain Pei!"

Pei Yuan stretched out his voice, pretending to be a big-tailed wolf, "What's going on?"

The three of them looked at each other, not daring to say a word. They all exchanged glances and looked inside the door.

Pei Yuan understood, patted his chest, and silently said, "Leave it to me."

Then he slowly walked into the courtyard.

The three of them looked at Pei Yuan's tall back and were moved for a moment.

Although Deputy Captain Pei is not very good at ordinary times, he can still stand up at critical moments.

Pei Yuan gained some goodwill for free along the way and walked towards the courtyard in a good mood.

When we arrived at the court, we saw the beautiful Han sitting behind the desk, handling some official documents with a sullen face.

Pei Yuan saw that Han Qianhu didn't seem to be in a very good mood, so he tactfully announced loudly at the door, "I am Pei Yuan, honored to meet Han Qianhu."

Han Qianhu paused with his pen, raised his beautiful eyes and glanced at Pei Yuan, then said calmly, "Come in."

Pei Yuan entered the hall and saw Captain Han continuing to review documents as if no one was around, so he asked politely, "Why did Captain Han call me?"

Upon hearing this, Captain Han immediately stopped writing and said politely and modestly, "How dare I order Deputy Captain Pei to come? Deputy Captain Pei has already given me face by coming here."

When Pei Yuan heard Han Qianhu's sarcastic words, he quickly smelled the danger.

No?

What's wrong with this girl?
Pei Yuan quickly put on his armor and said righteously, "How could the commander not know my humble opinion? I am loyal to the commander, and as long as the commander gives an order, I will do it even if it means going through mountains of swords and seas of fire."

Han Qianhu uttered a light “huh”.

She looked at what she was reviewing and threw that copy, as well as several copies stacked underneath, onto the desk.

Then he glanced at Pei Yuan.

The meaning is self-explanatory.

Pei Yuan was somewhat puzzled. He walked closer to the side of the desk and reached out to pick up the documents.

Pei Yuan felt familiar with the first one above.

After taking a closer look, isn't this the list that the Ministry of Rites gave me last time, asking me to compile a list of various gods and deities that need to be worshipped?

The following one is about the changes in the rituals for worshiping the Four Rivers.

The following ones also look vaguely familiar.

Pei Yuan suddenly realized something and felt like “oh shit” for a moment.

——Could this Mao Ji be such a traitor?
Fortunately, when Pei Yuan encountered this situation, he refused to admit it, and it was almost a muscle reaction.

He quickly asked with a puzzled look on his face, "Qian Hu, what is this?"

Han Qianhu looked at Pei Yuan and said angrily, "This was forwarded from Nanjing early this morning. They said it was specially sent by the Ministry of Rites."

Pei Yuan was panicking in his heart, but he remained calm on the surface. He slowly flipped the pages in his hands, pretending to read.

He said, "Oh oh."

Han Qianhu continued angrily, "The people from the Ministry of Rites said that this was arranged by a Qianhu named Pei Yuan, and asked me to deal with it as soon as possible."

"You are so brave that you actually give me orders! I just let you go out to do the work and you dare to give me orders. I won't dare to think about it in the future!"

Pei Yuan almost vomited blood when he heard this.

At the beginning, I used Han Qianhu as a pretext to reject Mao Ji, and the two sides should have ended the matter at that point. I didn't expect that Mao Ji was such a scoundrel that he would take advantage of the situation and directly transfer the official documents to Nanjing.

Is this what scholars should do?

Isn't this going to kill yourself?

Pei Yuan was immediately furious and said, "This is totally false! This is absolutely false! Mao Ji is slandering me, you are unworthy of being a human being!"

"It's totally false?" Han Qianhu slammed the table and asked angrily, "If it has nothing to do with you, then how could he, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, do things under your name?"

Pei Yuan cursed inwardly, this old guy is really going to kill me.

He quickly played innocent again, "I have had some dealings with the Ministry of Rites before. At that time, some local officials wanted to curry favor with Your Majesty and submitted memorials in the name of auspicious signs. The Minister of Rites, Mao Ji, transferred some of the verification work to the Qianhu Office. So I have had some dealings with him."

Upon hearing this, Han Qianhu frowned and asked, "Are you still verifying the auspicious signs?"

"Uh." Pei Yuan wanted to talk about the resonance between him and Mao Ji regarding auspiciousness, and the idea that they did not want the local authorities to mess around with these messy things.

But this woman may not understand what I mean.

So he picked out what he could say and briefly mentioned, "I have seen many auspicious signs mentioning Jiahe, so I plan to collect Jiahe from all over the country to see if I can cultivate better wheat and rice seeds."

"If I can achieve something and cultivate crops with higher yields and better resistance to disasters, so that people all over the world can have enough to eat, then I will have lived my life to the fullest."

When Han Qianhu heard Pei Yuan's words, his eyes flashed and he looked him up and down in surprise.

Noticing Pei Yuan looking at him, Han Qianhu drooped his eyelids, his face still cold, his fingers tapping on the table, unknown what he was thinking.

Although she didn't say anything, Pei Yuan could clearly feel that the atmosphere had become much more relaxed, without the sharp tone of just now when she was accusing someone of something.

After a while, Han Qianhu stretched out his white hand and opened it to Pei Yuan.

Pei Yuan looked at the scallion-like jade hand and really wanted to hold it and hold those slender fingers tightly, but this idea was really a bit suicidal.

He thought about it for just a second before he obediently handed over the document in his hand.

Han Qianhu received the official document and said to Pei Yuan in annoyance, "I want to know what you think. Why did you take on this thankless task?"

Pei Yuan could only say, "I was just watching... but this is within the scope of our Qianhu Division's authority." Han Qianhu asked speechlessly, "Who told you that this is within the scope of our Qianhu Division's authority?"

Pei Yuan was stunned for a moment and asked in a low voice, "Isn't it?"

Han Qianhu slammed the table angrily, looked at Pei Yuan and said angrily, "This involves etiquette and rituals, of course it is the Ministry of Rites' business!"

Pei Yuan was puzzled and asked, "But isn't it our Qianhu Division's responsibility to hunt down evil cults and ban lewd temples?"

Han Qianhu looked at Pei Yuan helplessly, "My Deputy Qianhu Pei, what's going on in your head?! You say it so easily, but with just a stroke of the red pen, it is very likely that a god that has existed for hundreds or thousands of years will no longer be worshipped."

“Do you know how big a cause and effect this is?”

"Um, this." Pei Yuan's forehead was slightly sweaty. He knew it.

So, I pushed...

He already had a vague feeling that something was wrong, so he had to ask, "But what about this authority?"

Han Qianhu tapped the table hard with his fingers, and his slightly angry voice became heavier, "Since the powers overlap, just push it back!"

"Push it back, understand?"

"Can the Ministry of Rites afford it, or can you afford it?"

"If the Ministry of Rites can change these ceremonies, then let them do it. If they can't change these ceremonies, then let's keep it as it is."

Pei Yuan sighed and was speechless for a moment.

This is fucking shit.

That's how he did it, and then he pushed the blame onto Han Qianhu.

Even though Han Qianhu repeatedly said, "I'm not afraid of bad subordinates, I'm just afraid of stupid subordinates," at this time, Pei Yuan would rather act a little stupid than let Han Qianhu know that he had stabbed her in the back.

Han Qianhu flipped up the document below and said to Pei Yuan, "Luckily, the matter was brought to my attention. Otherwise, if you were to act recklessly, I'm afraid I would be implicated by you."

Pei Yuan took a look and found that it was the document regarding the changes in the rituals for worshiping the Four Rivers.

The content is quite simple, saying that the Ji River is now weak and can no longer support the status of the Four Rivers.

People in Shandong even call it the Daqing River, and it has long lost the reputation of the Ji River in the past.

Therefore, the Ministry of Rites suggested that either the Ji River be removed from the Four Rivers and made it one of the Three Rivers, or another large river be selected to replace the Ji River.

Otherwise, with such a huge gap between the four rivers, it would be outrageous to worship the Daqing River at the same level as the Yellow River, Yangtze River and Huai River.

Pei Yuan looked at it, but did not dare to express his opinion immediately. Instead, he asked, "Is there something wrong with the Ministry of Rites' method?"

Han Qianhu almost laughed out of anger after hearing this. "The first time you saw this document, you should have thrown it in their faces. Why are you still asking whether it's appropriate or not?"

"What are the Four Rivers?"

"That is a god who is as famous as the Five Mountains."

"Emperor Taizu once said that the Five Mountains and Four Rivers are the spirits of heroes from the creation of heaven and earth to the present day, gathered together to form gods. They must all receive orders from God, are mysterious and unfathomable, and cannot be given human titles."

"Therefore, Emperor Taizu redefined the title of the deity and removed the good names of previous dynasties. He was named: the God of the Great Huai River in the East, the God of the Great Yangtze River in the South, the God of the Great River in the West, and the God of the Great Ji River in the North."

"Although the Ji River is already weak, it is the god of the North Du and the Great Ji River appointed by Taizu, and its status is far higher than that of various gods bestowed by the king."

"Who would dare to say anything about the Ji River, even if it is only a finger wide?"

In later generations, Pei Yuan never heard of the name of Ji River again, and thought that moving it away from the list of Yellow River, Yangtze River and Huai River was a harmless matter.

I didn't expect there were so many things involved.

Han Qianhu flicked the document in his hand and said to Pei Yuan, "During the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Taizong Li Shimin offered sacrifices to the Five Mountains and Four Rivers. He also felt that the inclusion of a small river like the Jishui River in the offerings seemed a bit of an eyesore, so he asked his ministers, 'There are no large rivers or valleys in the world that are included in the offerings, but the Jishui River is so small that it is included in the Four Rivers. Why?'"

"Xu Jingzong told him that 'Du' means 'alone'. There are many rivers in the world that are stronger than the Ji River, but it is one of the four that can reach the sea on its own without relying on the strong. Although the Ji River looks weak and is cut off from time to time, it is respected by people because of its tenacity and independence."

"This document from the Ministry of Rites can be said to be extremely rude."

Pei Yuan suddenly realized.

Then, Han Qianhu asked, "When did this memorial reach you?"

Pei Yuan roughly estimated the time, "It should be at least a month."

Han Qianhu thought for a moment and said, "I remember that the Minister of Rites should have just taken office, right?"

Pei Yuan's heart moved, and he said, "The Minister of Rites, Wang Hua, also came to the capital a month ago."

Han Qianhu's eyes fell on the document. "Then show this document to Wang Hua and see what he says."

Pei Yuan immediately understood what Han Qianhu meant.

This matter might be that Mao Ji, the guy with thick eyebrows and big eyes, was secretly trying to trip up Wang Hua.

If this matter finally came into the hands of Wang Hua and was signed by Wang Hua, it would inevitably be a violation of Taizu's ancestral teachings.

Moreover, if we really investigate further, it is very likely that apart from the two major enemies, Pei and Han, from the Qianhu Suo, only a Yuanwailang from the Ministry of Rites was involved.

When Pei Yuan thought of this, he felt so angry that his teeth itched.

He decisively took all the documents.

"Leave these matters to me. I will handle them well."

"You?" Han Qianhu looked at Pei Yuan suspiciously, and reluctantly said, "Okay."

Pei Yuan took on this matter not simply to solve the trouble he had caused, but because he suddenly realized a major problem.

Mao Ji, the Left Vice Minister of Rites, is now only one step away from becoming the Minister of Rites.

If Wang Hua was criticized when he first arrived at the Ministry of Rites, he would inevitably give people the impression that he was only good at academics but not at doing things.

According to the timeline, the next one to come is Enko, who has received great attention from both the government and the opposition.

If there is any trouble in Enke, those who have already formed prejudices will easily think that it is Wang Hua's fault.

Thinking that Mao Ji, the second-in-command of the Ministry of Rites, had the motive to take action, Pei Yuan immediately lost his composure.

Pei Yuan has already placed a heavy bet on this Imperial Examination and cannot afford for anything to go wrong!

What's more, for the sake of soybean oil sales, Pei Yuan should take some time to return to Beijing and say hello to Zang Xian.

Thinking of this, Pei Yuan could only look at Han Qianhu and laughed dryly, "Qianhu, when will your, uh, investigation of me be finished? I may have to go to the capital."

Han Qianhu asked curiously, "For this, there is no rush for this matter, right?"

Pei Yuan hurriedly said, "There are other things."

However, there are some things that Pei Yuan is not willing to tell Han Qianhu in too much detail.

(End of this chapter)