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

Chapter 509: Ceremonial Doctor
Pei Yuan looked at the capital city so close at hand, feeling a lot of emotion in his heart.

Pei Yuan's trip to the south lasted for more than a month, and his biggest gain was getting rid of the two major hidden dangers, Zhang Yong and Zhang Rong.

The death of these two people can prevent their revenge after they come back to life.

Secondly, after the death of Liu Jin and the retirement of Gao Feng, the death of Zhang Yong will allow the remaining people such as Gu Dayong to share more political dividends.

When Emperor Zhengde realized that those old people from Hongzhi were not on the same page with him, he would start to think of the eunuchs who had accompanied him during the Eastern Palace era.

According to the original history, Zhang Yong and his team will have a chance to rise again in just over a year.

Now that Zhang Yong is gone, Gu Dayong and Qiu Ju, the two most powerful ones, will inevitably be able to seize more power.

Pei Yuan was naturally happy to see this happen.

Moreover, the core interests he needs to fight for now are not in the court, but he must take advantage of this rare opportunity to make up for his own shortcomings.

As for Pei Yuan’s shortcomings, they are also very clear.

He came from a humble background and served in the court for only a little over a year.

He has no base of his own, nor many talents at his disposal, and even less of an armed force strong enough to support his self-protection.

In order to gain huge profits, Pei Yuan often took risks and rode on the crest of the wave.

Although these brought Pei Yuan huge benefits and made his power swell like a balloon.

However, the interests he leveraged were extremely superficial, and there was very little room for error.

This is like a child wielding a machete, there is always the risk of hurting himself.

What Pei Yuan needs to do now is to try to save up as much real assets as possible before this inflated balloon bursts.

No matter what kind of political game, in the end, you still have to show your guns.

Pei Yuan's shallow foundation prevented him from obtaining enough high-ranking civil servants as his vassals.

If he continues to focus his energy on the court, then because he does not have enough people to replace him, he will likely get rid of one trouble and another one will arise.

In the end, all the hard work would most likely be in vain, and the window of time before Zhu Houzhao broke with the civil service group would be completely wasted.

Instead of doing that, it is better to hold something real in your hands.

Pei Yuan will continue to focus on conquering Shandong, and will allow Zhu Houzhao to implement his "Military First Ming" policy and escalate the conflict between him and the court officials.

Therefore, being able to exchange Zhang Yong's head for the full support of Bi Zhen, the eunuch guarding Shandong, was undoubtedly another gain.

Besides, Bi Zhen's surrender does not just represent himself.

He also has his own small group. He belongs to the Three Avengers. The other two are the eunuchs guarding Henan and Nanjing.

Henan is a major agricultural province, and its model overlaps greatly with Shandong.

With Liu Jing's support, once Shandong's foundation is consolidated, the Shandong model can be easily copied.

The status of the eunuch guarding Nanjing was even more important.

However, Pei Yuan had other ideas about Liu Lang and was not prepared to use this chess piece hastily.

Pei Yuan and his men entered the city exhausted.

Seeing that it was still early, he said to Tang Gao and the other two, "It's not long before the Imperial Examination, and I guess there are no good inns to stay in. There is a Zhihua Temple in the city, and this thousand households have always worked there. The environment is pretty good, so you can stay there for the next few days."

Tang Gao and the other three were somewhat surprised when they heard this, but hesitated and asked, "How can this be so embarrassing?"

Pei Yuan smiled and said, "Why should we be so pedantic at such a critical moment? Besides, I am also a guest staying at Zhihua Temple, and you are not living in my place."

After Pei Yuan said this, the three of them were a little moved.

They had come to take the exam many times before, so they knew how crowded the inns in the city would be when the exam was approaching.

Judging from the fact that Pei Yuan escorted them all the way here, he is indeed a kind-hearted person who is eager to help others.

They no longer had much resistance in their hearts.

Tang Gao was so focused on the imperial examination that he didn't care about anything else. Seeing Pei Yuan's sincerity, he said without hesitation, "I will repay the thousand households' kindness one day."

Pei Yuan laughed and said, "That's not necessary."

Tang Gao said seriously, "I am not the kind of ungrateful person."

Huang Chu and Cai Ang were also very grateful for Pei Yuan's help and made promises sincerely.

Pei Yuan just smiled and said nothing more.

Chen Xinjian on the side glanced at the three of them, but thought in his heart, if you three had not been favored by the thousand households and had not had the fate of being on the same ship, I am afraid that if you wanted to set foot in the threshold of Zhihua Temple, you would have to endure twenty or thirty years in your official career.

After entering the city, Pei Yuan simply did his best to please them and sent them to the Ministry of Rites to complete the examination procedures.

After the three were led in by the clerk to verify their identities, Chen Xinjian could no longer suppress his curiosity and asked Pei Yuan, "I really don't understand why the captain values ​​these three so much?"

Pei Yuan felt a little tired and the weather was too hot, so he waved his hand and took his personal soldiers to sit in the shade nearby.

Then, without avoiding the guards around him, he lazily said to Chen Xinjian, "The top scholar, the second scholar, and the third scholar, there are only three such treasures in this year's special examination, and they all happened to be in my cup. Tell me, do I treasure them or not?"

Chen Xinjian was shocked when he heard this, but he couldn't help laughing and said, "Qian Hu is really good at joking."

Pei Yuan didn't say much, wiping his sweat listlessly, he said, "When the gold medal list comes out, you go and wait in advance. If the names of these three people are on it, I will deduct one month's salary from you."

Chen Xinjian listened and thought it was unlikely.

But he also felt something was not good, as if a large amount of money was about to slip away from him.

He quickly shook his head, "No bet, no bet."

Pei Yuan glanced at him and said, "Do you agree? It's your own bad luck."

Chen Xinjian was speechless for a moment, but he didn't dare to say anything more.

After waiting for a long time, I saw three people coming out.

When they saw Pei Yuan waiting in the shade, the three of them were relieved.

Cai Ang said with lingering fear, "Luckily, Captain Pei helped us get here in time. The verification will end this afternoon. If we were a little later, I'm afraid our trip to Beijing would have been in vain."

Tang Gao and Huang Chu also had expressions of gratitude in their eyes.

They first sailed north without stopping, and after changing horses in Texas, they continued on their journey without stopping.

If they did not have the power of the captain of the Jinyiwei, how could they have the locks of the ships opened immediately wherever they went, and how could they borrow horses at will at the official post station of the imperial court?
It can be said that if any of the links in the process go wrong, they will miss out on this year's Enke. Pei Yuan did not expect that things would be so thrilling, and he could not help but feel scared.

If he had been delayed on the road, wouldn't all his hard work have been in vain?
However, Pei Yuan couldn't say such realistic words at this moment, so he just said, "I am very happy to be able to help you three."

A large group of Jinyiwei chatting with the candidates in front of the Ministry of Rites was indeed quite eye-catching, and many officials passing by couldn't help but take a few more glances.

A doctor from the Ministry of Rites who was away on official business came back and just got off the sedan chair when he saw this scene.

After taking another look, he recognized the person and did not rush back to the Ministry of Rites. Instead, he came over with a smile and said, "Isn't this Captain Pei? How come you have time to come to the Ministry of Rites? Are you here to ask to see Minister Mao?"

Pei Yuan thought about it and recognized the man.

Isn't this the official from the Ministry of Rites who came to Zhihua Temple to deliver the official documents from the Ministry of Rites and threw the big bomb of changing the worship of gods in various places and modifying the sacrificial rituals of the Four Rivers to himself?
Damn, it’s this bad thing!
Pei Yuan's face immediately darkened.

He had forgotten to ask in detail at first, so he simply asked Chen Xinjian in front of the man without giving him face, "Who is this?"

The official from the Ministry of Rites looked a little unhappy, and he shifted his gaze slightly and looked into the distance, waiting for Chen Xinjian to introduce himself.

Chen Xinjian whispered to Pei Yuan, "This is Liu Pang, the doctor of rituals in the Ministry of Rites. Many of our affairs with the Ministry of Rites are handed over to Doctor Liu."

Pei Yuan thought to himself that he was just a fifth-rank doctor.

Although everyone is of the fifth rank, Pei Yuan feels that his fifth rank is obviously more valuable.

Then Pei Yuan came to his senses.

The Minister of Rites?

Hey, isn’t this the first hurdle that Prince Ning needs to face in his three-level challenge?

According to the original history, King Ning was stuck in front of this elite monster for a long time and could not make any progress.

In this time and space, Li Shishi originally had the opportunity to serve as the Minister of Rites by accident.

Even though he did not hold the position for long and was eventually forced to resign, this period of time was enough for Prince Ning to remove Liu Pang's obstacle and pass the three tests.

However, in order to protect his own interests, Pei Yuan strongly intervened in the selection of the Seven Ministers. Ultimately, Li Shishi missed the opportunity to enter the Ministry of Rites and continued to serve as the Left Censor-in-Chief.

This immediately slowed down Prince Ning's progress in breaking through the three levels.

In other words, Li Shishi was busy with the Beijing inspection recently and did not dare to leave any handle for the time being, otherwise he would have come to me and asked me to continue to push the progress.

After thinking clearly about the other party's identity, Pei Yuan was not surprised that this person came forward to contact him.

Those matters were indeed related to rituals and were within Liu Pang's scope of authority.

Pei Yuan figured it out. He immediately frowned and sneered, "So it's Doctor Liu. I just happened to come here to teach you a lesson. Where's Minister Mao? Ask him to come out and see me!"

Liu Pang was already somewhat dissatisfied with Pei Yuan's arrogance. Hearing Pei Yuan's arrogant words, he could not help but angrily asked, "Who are you? How dare you shout and make the young master of the clan come out to see you?"

Pei Yuan said with a fake smile, "If you don't agree, just go find Mao Ji. I have taken so many scapegoats for him. What's wrong with asking him to come out and see me?"

Liu Pang often heard Mao Ji praising this captain of the Jinyiwei, so he privately thought that his superior might have some friendship with this Jinyiwei.

It was precisely because of this that when he saw Pei Yuan, Liu Pang took the initiative to approach him and try to get close to him.

But I didn't expect that this little captain would be like a mad dog.

Mao Ji was the Shao Zong Bo, who was about to become one of the Seven Great Ministers, but this guy dared to bark and asked the Shao Zong Bo to come out to see him.

Liu Pang felt that it was a bit unlucky. If he had known this, he would not have come over to say hello.

He turned around and was about to leave.

Unexpectedly, Pei Yuan reached out and grabbed his clothes.

Liu Pang turned around and said unhappily, "Captain Pei is at least a fifth-rank official of the imperial court. There's no need to be so disgraceful."

As he spoke, his eyes also glanced at the other people around him.

Seeing that Tang Gao and the other three were dressed like scholars, he looked at them a few more times with some confusion.

Tang Gao and the others were frightened by Liu Pang's gaze, but they dared not say a word.

The Ministry of Rites was in charge of the country's culture and education, and the imperial examination was within their management scope.

Even those scholars in the capital who like to meddle in politics, although they are usually fearless, will immediately behave themselves when they meet the Ministry of Rites.

The three of them were worried that they would be implicated because of Pei Yuan, and they also felt that it was shameful for them to have such thoughts. They wanted to stand up and help persuade him, but when they thought of their own future, they still did not dare to speak.

Pei Yuan only pulled Liu Pang for a moment, then sneered at Chen Xinjian and said, "Bring the things here."

Without any further instructions, Chen Xinjian took out several official documents from the bag of a personal soldier and handed them to Pei Yuan.

Pei Yuan took the document, with an indifferent expression, and unfolded it in front of Liu Pang with a smile.

Then he said, "If Mao Ji doesn't come out to see me now, then I will go to see the Minister of Rites Wang Hua. I want to see if this Minister Wang knows the value of the Beidu Daji God and understands the consequences of submitting this memorial."

After saying that, he glanced at them calmly and said, "There's no need for me to name the other ones one by one."

Liu Pang's expression changed slightly, and he looked at Pei Yuan and said, "What nonsense are you talking about?!"

Pei Yuan sneered, "Doctor Liu must not be well-educated enough. I wonder if Minister Wang understands the deep meaning of this."

Liu Pang immediately stood there with a gloomy expression.

Pei Yuan pointed out, "You must be Mao Ji's man, right?"

"Think about it, why did I want to see Minister Mao with these things instead of going directly to see Minister Wang?"

"You should understand what to do, right?"

Seeing Pei Yuan say this, Liu Pang had to soften his words, "Shao Zongbo is indeed not in the Ministry of Rites."

Seeing Pei Yuan's "I'm going to get mad" attitude, he quickly added, "Minister Wang is not here either."

Pei Yuan didn't say anything. Chen Xinjian behind him said in a gloomy tone, "Oh? Then do you want me to ask the Jinyiwei brothers on duty at the Ministry of Rites?"

Liu Pang didn't even look at Chen Xinjian, but explained to Pei Yuan, "The imperial examination is about to begin. The Grand Master and the Junior Master have already been enfeoffed to the Imperial Academy. Even if Captain Pei has any dissatisfaction, he should wait until the imperial examination is over and the Junior Master comes out before speaking."

Pei Yuan was stunned when he heard this, and then he realized that he had been negligent.

The chief examiner of this subject is Grand Secretary Liang Chu, the deputy chief examiner is Hanlin Academician Mao Cheng, and in addition there are some other co-examiners.

This kind of thing is a good opportunity to quickly improve your qualifications and recruit a large number of disciples and juniors, so naturally everyone will rush to go.

(End of this chapter)