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

Chapter 504 Dream within a dream
Pei Yuan then mentioned what he had discussed with Kong Xu last time. "That's great. You don't have to sell your private salt anymore. Just ship it all to Yanggu. I'll have Kong Xu ship all the beans stored in Huai'an here to make soy sauce and condiments."

"A lot of salt will be used by then, which will be just enough to help you digest some of it."

"When there is profit this time, you can discuss with Chen Toutie how to divide it. You need to raise soldiers, and he needs to raise believers. We are all family, so you should accommodate each other."

Cheng Leixiang was delighted when he heard this. "Since there is a way out here in Yanggu, I will have someone deliver the salt here as soon as possible. If there is profit to be made, perhaps it can become a long-term business."

Pei Yuan thought to himself, it’s not impossible.

Whether it is to maintain troops or to fight wars, it ultimately depends on money and food.

As long as he could survive this wave of counterattacks and stabilize his ruling order, he could control the lifeline of the three guards of Tianjin with soy sauce and the lifeline of the Luo Sect with soybean oil.

By the way, you can also use the cotton cloth and cotton business to bind the Shandong Beiwodusi.

After finishing his business, Cheng Leixiang turned his head to look at the door and asked Pei Yuan in a low voice, "Why is Captain Han here?"

Pei Yuan winked at Cheng Lei.

Cheng Leixiang stopped talking immediately.

Pei Yuan patted Cheng Leixiang on the shoulder and said, "I have to go back to Beijing first. I'll leave the things here to you."

Cheng Leixiang whispered, "Don't worry, Qianhu."

Pei Yuan stood up and said with a smile, "This Liansheng Temple is the foundation of our Qianhu Office, so don't be unfamiliar with it. Since you are here, eat here before leaving."

"The person in charge here is Sikong Baihu, you are very familiar with him."

Cheng Lei responded.

Pei Yuan knew that Han Qianhu was still waiting, so he didn't want to waste any more time.

After going out, I saw that Chen Xinjian and his personal soldiers were also ready.

Thinking that there would be a lot of important things to come and that reliable people would be needed, Pei Yuan also called Cen Meng along.

Han Qianhu, who was sitting on a chair to rest, saw Pei Yuan coming out, glanced at him, and stood up.

The Jinyiwei surrounding them also took action.

Someone brought a horse for Han Qianhu. When Han Qianhu got on the horse, Cui Bohou and the elite cavalry also pulled out their horses and mounted them one after another.

Pei Yuan saw the old man Tan Tai Fang Tu strolling over and asked in confusion, "Why didn't you follow Han Qian Hu?"

Tan Tai Fang Tu laughed awkwardly and said sullenly, "Captain Han said that I am already on your side."

Pei Yuan clicked his tongue twice and said contemptuously, "You're the only one who doesn't understand."

Tan Tai Fang Tu sighed, looking like a frustrated old minister.

Pei Yuan was too lazy to pay attention to him.

If Captain Han still wanted to use these two people, why would they be assigned to him when he was escorting the tax silver?

Sikong Sui has a clearer understanding of this matter.

It’s just that the way old man Sikong wants to change his marginalized situation is to form a closer relationship with Han Qianhu through Pei Yuan’s efforts.

Cen Meng brought the horse to Pei Yuan, and Pei Yuan also got on the horse.

Looking back, the carts loaded with supplies were also ready to go.

Pei Yuan ordered everyone, "Let's go and follow Han Qianhu's team."

Because the carriage and baggage could not go through the main gate, the group went out from the back door of Liansheng Temple and walked for a while before reaching the main road.

Tan Tai Fang Tu knew that Pei Yuan did not like him, so he took the initiative to pick two people and followed behind to cover the rear.

Seeing Han Qianhu riding his horse in front, Pei Yuan couldn't help but ride his horse to chase after him.

Han Qianhu saw Pei Yuan coming over, turned his head and smiled softly and asked, "What's the matter? Are you in a hurry to go back and be the groom?"

Pei Yuan saw Han Qianhu bring this up again, and he gritted his teeth and argued, "This is just General Song's wishful thinking, and I haven't agreed yet. Besides, I'm just helping out and dealing with the situation."

Han Qianhu uttered "Huh" and said nothing more.

Pei Yuan followed for a while, but felt it was boring and slowly slowed down his horse.

Pei Yuan watched the team led by Han Qianhu moving forward quickly and fell behind little by little.

He was riding his horse slowly, waiting for his team to catch up, when he saw a carriage with carriages passing by from behind.

Pei Yuan looked at the carriage and thought that Captain Han was really a man of courage. He would rather sleep in the open air than seek comfort.

As I was thinking aimlessly, I saw the curtain of the carriage slightly lifted and a pair of eyes looking back.

Pei Yuan also moved forward, but slower, and accidentally met that gaze.

Soon, the curtain fell and the beauty disappeared into the carriage.

Pei Yuan only glanced at the woman in the carriage for a split second and was stunned for a moment.

——Bai Yujing.

Pei Yuan's mind went blank for a moment.

Previously, when he was in Liansheng Temple, he heard a familiar female voice next door. Later, when he peeked into Han Qianhu's courtyard, he saw the back of a long-legged maid.

Although he felt it was true at the time, he was not so sure.

However, the delicate face that was slightly revealed just now was clearly Bai Yujing.

Bai Yujing is now working as a maid for Han Qianhu?

Why didn't Han Qianhu mention it before?

Pei Yuan almost subconsciously pressed the reins and slowed down little by little.

A slight cloud of gloom flashed through his mind, and he immediately thought of Qin Lingbo, with whom he had had a brief affair.

Although Pei Yuansu was originally heartless, he didn't really care about anything, nor did he intend to lose points in front of Han Qianhu because of this woman.

But Qin Lingbo was more or less someone that Pei Yuan had entrusted to Han Qianhu, and Han Qianhu had never mentioned it this time.

And since Bai Yujing appeared here, it meant that Qin Lingbo had confessed everything, and the Baiyu Temple where Mei Qinniang nurtured her Yin body was also exposed.

That's why Captain Han was able to capture Bai Yujing.

Bai Yujing is here, but where is the Yin body raised by Mei Qinniang?
At that moment, countless thoughts flashed through Pei Yuan's mind.

Just as Pei Yuan's face was dripping with gloom, the curtain of the carriage in front was slowly opened again.

This time, Bai Yujing's pretty face was completely exposed through the car window, but the beautiful woman smiled at Pei Yuan frivolously and silently, and her eyes contained the warmth that Pei Yuan was familiar with.

Thinking of a certain possibility, Pei Yuan almost fell off his horse due to dizziness.

Looking at Han Qianhu in the front, his figure in black tights and driving fast seemed shrouded in thick darkness.

The carriage went farther and farther away, slowly losing angle, and Bai Yujing's face could no longer be seen.

Pei Yuan then noticed that he had completely stopped his horse.

The team behind caught up. Chen Xinjian and Cen Meng saw that Captain Pei looked very unhappy, so they surrounded him from the left and right and asked, "Captain Pei, what's wrong?"

Pei Yuan's throat was a little dry. He opened his mouth several times before he managed to say, "No, nothing."

A huge sense of loss enveloped him, making him feel as if his heart was empty and his hands and feet were somewhat weak.

Chen Xinjian looked at Pei Yuan worriedly, then glanced at the team in front and asked in a low voice, "Captain, do you want to rest for a while? We have few people and not much baggage, so we can catch up."

"No need." Pei Yuan said and kicked the horse lightly.

Pei Yuan's horse slowed down again and slowly caught up with the marching team. Chen Xinjian and Cen Meng exchanged glances and followed Pei Yuan closely.

Leaving Yanggu and heading north, the road gradually becomes smooth.

This team of hundreds of people brought a large amount of baggage, so they did not need to rely too much on post stations.

If you continue to go north, you have two options: either go to Dongchang and go to Linqing from Chongwu Water Post, and then continue north along the canal. Or go to Gaotang Prefecture, where there is Yuqiu Horse Post, where you can replace a large number of post horses.

During the break and meal, Captain Han asked someone to come and call Pei Yuan.

Pei Yuan urged his horse a few more steps with a calm expression and arrived at the place where Han Qianhu and his men were temporarily staying.

Captain Han was drinking water and eating dry food under the shade of a tree. When he saw Pei Yuan coming, he buckled his water bag and asked with a smile, "Do you have any urgent matters to deal with? If so, we can go to the water station first."

Pei Yuan also sat next to Captain Han and said with a smile, "I am not used to sitting on a boat, so I am willing to follow Captain Han."

Han Qianhu hummed and said nothing else, then started eating.

Seeing Pei Yuan staring at him in a daze, he couldn't help but frown.

After a moment, he chuckled again, picked up a piece of dry food from his bag and threw it over.

Pei Yuan took the dry food and chewed it slowly.

Then Han Qianhu jokingly warned again, "Don't look around this time."

Pei Yuan smiled awkwardly and lost interest for a moment.

He took a glance to hide his mistake, but saw that Captain Han was wearing neat official boots, which obscured the charming appearance of his tabi.

Thinking of the tabi, he also remembered Bai Yujing, who was wearing the tabi with her long legs spread out and chasing him like a spider spirit.

Pei Yuan felt that the dry food in his mouth had less taste.

Pei Yuan looked at Han Qianhu's water bag.

After just two glances, Han Qianhu scolded in dissatisfaction, "If you are planning on this, get out of here right away."

Pei Yuan stood up awkwardly and threw the dry food in his hand.

He said he was going to find some water to drink.

From beginning to end, Pei Yuan never even glanced at the carriage.

After a simple meal, the team continued on their journey.

As sunset was approaching, a Jinyiwei came up and delivered Captain Han's order, saying that it would rain at night and requiring the troops to speed up and try to reach the next post station.

The summer rain was so fierce that the tents they brought could not shelter them.

The troops sped up together and arrived at Chongwu Water Post before dark.

Chongwu Water Posthouse was a large post station on the canal, and there happened to be quite a few vacant rooms, just enough to squeeze in all the people.

Because there were no horses to exchange here, Cui Bohou specially assigned some people to look after the horses.

As a deputy captain, Pei Yuan naturally had a separate room to live in and did not have to squeeze together with others.

After a quick dinner, Pei Yuan returned to his room.

Soon, heavy rain came down, and perhaps because it was close to the canal, the humidity was even heavier.

Pei Yuan looked at the continuous heavy rain and let out a breath.

Perhaps it was the similar scene that reminded Pei Yuan of his trip south.

That time, he and Chen Toutie, Cheng Leixiang, Song Chunniang and the other four were running around in the rainy night in a panic.

It was very cold at that time and they didn't bring any rain gear.

The freezing rain fell on their bodies, slowly stripping them of their body heat, leaving them all freezing cold as if they were about to collapse in the wilderness at any moment.

However, Wang Chang, the Grand Marshal at the post station, refused to allow Pei Yuan to enter to take shelter from the rain, on the grounds that most of the post station was destroyed and there was no place to stay.

Pei Yuan, who was forced into a desperate situation, became extremely vicious and, together with Yue Qingfeng whom he met, they hacked and killed everyone in the post station.

Then, he rode to the post station again.

Wang Chang resolutely admitted his mistake and let Pei Yuan and the others go into the post station to shelter from the rain.

Afterwards, in order to eliminate hidden dangers and silence them completely, Pei Yuan, despite his exhaustion, set up a court with several of his men and interrogated the survivors one by one.

Eventually all hidden dangers were eliminated.

Pei Yuan listened to the sound of the rain and looked at the gloomy night. He finally couldn't help but said in a self-deprecating voice, "How similar..."

"She and I are so much alike."

When the most unlikely answer came to mind, Pei Yuan couldn't help but ponder it.

Pei Yuan finally figured out why it was him.

Why would Captain Han travel all the way to the capital to find this guy who had made a fool of himself, to help investigate Mei Qinniang's case?

Because I am the final hidden danger.

He saw through the danger and escaped from the vortex in a miserable manner.

Then it also attracted the attention of Han Qianhu.

Pei Yuan thought about the scene where the beautiful captain in the flying fish costume questioned him about every detail, and he felt mixed emotions for a moment.

At that time, Pei Yuan, who was ignorant, was still embarrassed by his own insignificant dignity because of asking those questions.

Thinking about what happened next, Pei Yuan couldn't help but shudder.

If it weren’t for Yuan Lang and their team, they would have been dispersed by the Bazhou Army.

If the imperial court had not given the ridiculous task of escorting tax silver to the Zhenxie Thousand Households Unit, it would have turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

If it weren't for his greed at the moment, he would have come up with the plan to use the tax money to speculate in commodities and successfully attracted Han Qianhu's interest.

In this series of what-ifs, if just one step went wrong, or even just a little bit of bad luck, Pei Yuan couldn't imagine what the situation would be like now.

That way...

Will there still be the Pei Yuan who has won admiration for his abilities and is heavily favored by Han Qianhu?
Will there still be the Pei Yuan who can make clouds and rain with a wave of his hand and treat the three dukes and nine ministers as puppets?

As for Bai Yujing, no, as to why Mei Qinniang appeared next to Han Qianhu, the answer is even more obvious.

Because she was originally Han Qianhu's running dog.

Now, it has just returned to its master.

A strong sense of loss enveloped Pei Yuan, making him feel as if he was in a dream within a dream.

As Pei Yuan gradually gained power and indulged in his ambitions, he once placed all his good wishes on Han Qianhu, the woman who pulled him out of the quagmire. He even regarded sleeping with Han Qianhu, his white moonlight, as the most important goal in his life.

However, after realizing it suddenly, Pei Yuan realized that his difficult journey here had always been in her hands.

The depression and shame in his heart made Pei Yuan want to roar loudly in this rainy night.

However, that last bit of rationality suppressed him, forcing Pei Yuan to suppress his anger layer by layer, slowly condensing it until his face became calm.

Pei Yuan's gaze slightly turned, and for the first time, he looked in one direction so aggressively.

Han Qianhu.

(End of this chapter)