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

Chapter 517: Troublesome Waters

Chen Xinjian reminded Pei Yuan, "Captain, since Wei Ne has seen the memorial impeaching the captain for colluding with Liu Pang in the Ministry of Public Administration, I'm afraid it will be noticed by other people with ulterior motives."

"Your Majesty is very concerned about the Luo Sect's affairs. If the commander fails to report back after returning to the capital, he will certainly be blamed. Why not go to the palace first?"

Only then did Pei Yuan realize that he actually had a boss.

He looked at Chen Xinjian approvingly, "That makes sense."

He couldn't be so casual when he was going to meet Zhu Houzhao, so Pei Yuan changed into his official uniform and then hastily wrote a memorial, roughly explaining the situation in Shandong.

On his way back to Beijing, Pei Yuan received news that five hundred-household offices had been established in various places.

Song Yan, Mi Bin, Sun Ran, Ma Tao, Dong Xing and others successfully learned from Pei Qianhu's experience in Yanggu and promoted it.

First, they relied on the religious jurisdiction of Qianhu Suo itself and occupied large temples as bases in places with convenient transportation.

Then he began to check all the temples and Taoist temples in the city, first to see if they accepted money from the people, whether they had performed rituals for people outside, and then to check their certificates of ordination to see the nature of the monks and Taoists themselves.

Because Taoist Zhenji also had the responsibility to pay taxes to the temple, under the guidance of the local guide, he began to investigate the land where the temple had hidden and made offerings.

Then, using the imperial edicts of past emperors, they checked and compared the conditions of each temple one by one.

At the beginning, all the major temples were on high alert, thinking that the imperial court was finally going to activate the backup plan that they had been preparing for many years.

But unexpectedly, after a while of commotion, these people turned out to be much ado about nothing, and in the end they didn't even bother to perform. The main idea was the same.

——I want money!
The temples finally breathed a sigh of relief. Since the situation had not yet reached a point where everyone was doomed, there was still room for negotiation.

Finally, after repeated pressure, these hundred households successfully obtained the power to take a cut from the incense money of various temples.

These incense money is a huge income, enough to cover the daily expenses of the hundred households.

With the cooperation of the top leaders of the Luo Sect, the actions of these five trial centurions to suppress the Luo Sect were very successful.

Even some prefects and county magistrates praised him highly, believing that he had contributed to the stability of the local area.

Pei Yuan returned to Beijing this time with some achievements.

It had been a long time since he had seen the emperor. While sorting out his thoughts, Pei Yuan asked, "I heard that the emperor often hangs out in the Leopard House and Yongshou Marquis's Mansion. I wonder where the emperor is now?"

The Yongshou Marquis's Mansion is the former Taiping Warehouse, and the Zhenguo Duke's Mansion is behind it.

After Yongshou Bo Pei De had the good fortune to become Zhu Houzhao's son, he was used as a cover to cover up the construction of Zhu Houzhao's Zhenguo Mansion.

The so-called Yongshou Marquis’ Mansion, who dares to call himself Yongshou?
Looking at the alias Zhu Houzhao gave himself, Zhu Shou, you will understand that this is a secret base completely controlled by him.

So after it was completed, this place was given to him as the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion.

Before Chen Xinjian mentioned this, he had already asked his subordinates who were spying in the capital, and he immediately replied, "Your Majesty doesn't go to the Leopard House very often these days. He basically stays at the Yongshou Marquis's Mansion. Occasionally, he will lead people to train on the long street between the Yongshou Marquis's Mansion and the Imperial City."

Pei Yuan hummed.

It is not accurate to call it a long street, because Taipingcang was originally surrounded by some court offices and right next to the imperial city.

There is a large open space in the middle for exercises. If ordinary people don't have nothing to do and come to watch the fun, it won't affect anyone.

However, later on, in order to accommodate a large number of Xuanfu soldiers, the Zhenguo Prefecture was expanded and some nearby markets were razed to the ground.

Since the fourth year of Zhengde, there had been unrest in various places and Zhu Houzhao had exempted all the materials that needed to be collected and paid locally. This time, the construction of the Yongshou Earl's Mansion, as well as the repairs of the city walls, the Armory Bureau warehouse, the East Factory office, the Leopard House, and the granaries in Beijing and Tongzhou encountered great difficulties.

From the fourth year of Zhengde to the present, there have been three years in which no materials have been paid, and three years in which no corvee labor has been collected. It is obviously unrealistic to want to finish all the backlog work in one go.

Now we can only recruit some laborers from northern Zhili, Shandong and Henan, and the missing materials can only be supplemented with silver.

For this purpose, the imperial court also ordered that provincial governments in more remote areas such as Zhejiang no longer had to send people from thousands of miles away to serve, but instead implemented a policy of exempting people from military service by paying silver or granting them official positions, and use the silver to fill vacancies.

Paying silver to be exempted from corvee labor means spending a small amount of money to be exempted from corvee labor this time. Paying silver to be appointed to an official position means spending a large amount of money to buy an idle official status, and not having to perform corvee labor in the future.

This practice of converting corvée labor and material contributions into silver actually had some of the rudiments of the Single Whip System.

Pei Yuan was quite familiar with the way to the Yongshou Marquis's Mansion. He took a hastily written memorial and left in a hurry with a few personal soldiers.

When they arrived at the streets near Yongshou Marquis's Mansion, they saw a large group of Jinyiwei blocking the road.

Listening to the sound of galloping horses and the noisy shouts, Pei Yuan knew that Zhu Houzhao was up to something again.

In fact, there were many places for Zhu Houzhao to train his troops, and each guard in the capital also had a large parade ground.

But Zhu Houzhao loved to show off.

Before Pei Yuan went to Shandong, he had encountered the scene where Zhu Houzhao led a large group of cavalry to bomb the streets.

Later, as more and more officials impeached him, Zhu Houzhao changed the section from Yongshoubo Mansion to the Imperial City. Although the people could not see his heroic figure, at least they could hear his movements.

Pei Yuan asked Chen Xinjian to hand over his badge of deputy captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. The guard saw that it was an ivory badge and quickly reported it inside.

After a while, a military officer wearing a Feiyu uniform came out holding Pei Yuan's sign.

Pei Yuan took a look and found that it was also an acquaintance.

It was Qian Ning, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard whom he had met several times before. This man had been very favored recently and had been promoted to the commander-in-chief of the Embroidered Uniform Guard by taking advantage of Zhu Houzhao's adoption of a son.

Zhu Houzhao had repeatedly reminded Qian Ning in person that if Pei Yuan asked to see him, he must inform him promptly.

He knew Pei Yuan's importance. When he saw his subordinates handing over Pei Yuan's name card, he came out to meet him in person.

When he saw Pei Yuan, Qian Ning smiled and greeted him, "It turns out that Captain Pei has returned from Shandong."

Pei Yuan quickly bowed respectfully and said, "I am honored to meet the Commander-in-Chief."

Qian Ning was very polite. He held Pei Yuan's shoulders and lifted him up, and said, "Your Majesty was thinking about you a few days ago."

Pei Yuan, who thought he was a very good person, didn't know why Zhu Houzhao was thinking about him. He asked in a panic, "What is it that makes the emperor worry about it?"

Qian Ning said first, "The emperor is enjoying riding and shooting, let's wait here for a while."

As he spoke, he gestured to go to the shady area on the west side.

A soldier from the Imperial Guard brought a bench from the gatehouse next door and placed it for the two of them.

When Pei Yuan saw that this was going to be a long story, he felt a little more relaxed.

As we all know, few words mean a lot.

Since it's a long story, it shouldn't be a big deal. Qian Ning is very popular now, and this villain is always by the emperor's side. If he spreads some slander, it will easily disrupt Pei Yuan's plan.

What's more, Qian Ning and the Emperor seem to have an unclear relationship...

Pei Yuan immediately gave Qian Ning his respect and went over to listen to what Qian Ning had to say.

When the two of them sat down, Qian Ning said to Pei Yuan, "I remember Captain Pei was originally in the Northern Pacification Division, right?"

Pei Yuan replied, "Reporting to the commander-in-chief, my family has served the Northern Garrison for generations, but I was not very capable and lost face for the Jinyiwei when I worked in the East Factory, so I was asked by the Nanjing Jinyiwei to go there to do work."

Qian Ning sighed after hearing this, "What a shame, what a shame, Zhang Rong was blind, no wonder he ended up like this."

Pei Yuan felt uneasy after hearing this. Could this guy be pointing at him?

Fortunately, Qian Ning did not continue to discuss this topic, but said, "The Jinyiwei is short of people now. I wonder if Captain Pei is willing to come back and help me to support our Jinyiwei?"

Pei Yuan looked at Qian Ning in surprise, "Why did the commander say that?"

Qian Ning looked around and saw that the men of the two men were standing far away. He couldn't help but sigh, "It's all because of that evil villain Jiang Bin, who was arrogant and rude because of his favor. He also relied on his bravery to make us Jinyiwei lose face."

When Pei Yuan heard that Jiang Bin was involved, he became cautious and asked tentatively, "Jiang Bin is just a foreign soldier, he might not dare to act so recklessly, right?"

Qian Ning gnashed his teeth and said, "A few days ago, the evil thief Jiang Bin played chess with the emperor. Just because the emperor made a mistake in making a move, Jiang Bin actually fought with the emperor for victory and refused to give in."

"We, the Jinyiwei, have the responsibility to protect the emperor. How can we tolerate his disrespect? So Captain Zhou Qi stepped forward to scold him and told him to be careful."

"I didn't expect that Jiang Bin would find an excuse to frame Zhou Qi and then beat him to death!"

Pei Yuan listened quietly and roughly understood what Qian Ning meant.

He pretended to be indignant and asked, "Captain Zhou is not to blame. Why is Jiang Bin so reckless? What does your majesty say?"

As soon as Pei Yuan said this, Qian Ning, who was originally indignant, immediately felt as if he was struck by frost.

After a while, he said, "Your Majesty laughed at Zhou Qi's inferior skills, but did not blame Jiang Bin."

After hearing this, Pei Yuan didn't know what to say.

Zhou Qi seemed to be a loyal defender of his master, but when Zhu Houzhao was humiliated, he deliberately jumped out to expose the truth, simply with the intention of sowing discord.

Jiang Bin must have understood what was going on, so he killed Zhou Qi before the incident got out of hand and let the emperor decide the right and wrong of the matter immediately.

With Zhu Houzhao's ability, he naturally saw it more clearly.

The dogs below are fighting for favor and biting each other, so he naturally wants to protect the more useful one.

Therefore, between winning the hearts of the border troops and maintaining the face of the Jinyiwei soldiers, he decisively chose to support Jiang Bin in order to further win the support of the soldiers in the four towns.

Qian Ning sighed gloomily again, "There is another thing that I did that was not to Your Majesty's liking. Last time, Your Majesty was playing with a tiger in Tiger City, and the tiger suddenly jumped out. Your Majesty was excited at the time and called me to catch the tiger together."

"The tiger was extremely ferocious. I was trying to outwit and outwit it, but Jiang Bin took the opportunity to fight with it and led the tiger away, deliberately causing me to offend the emperor."

Pei Yuan said nothing.

Qian Ning was a little embarrassed when he didn't get any response, but he didn't care. He looked at Pei Yuan and continued.

"Jiang Bin also knew that he had offended me, so he formed an alliance with Wanquan Commander Li Cong and Shaanxi Commander Shen Zhou, and became more aggressive."

"I originally thought that the Jinyiwei had no one available to fight against Jiang Bin. But my elder brother He Huan said that Brother Pei is as brave as Jiang Bin, and he is also a member of the Jinyiwei, so he is Jiang Bin's opponent."

"Would you like to return to Beizhen, my dear brother? It is better for us brothers to work together than to let outsiders gain the advantage."

Pei Yuan was silent for a moment.

The current situation is obviously that the conflict has broken out between Qian Ning and Jiang Bin, the two favorite ministers around Zhu Houzhao.

The competition for favor between these two lucky ministers seemed like a child's play, but it led to an extremely important historical turning point.

That is Jiang Bin, an outsider who was worried about being plotted against by Qian Ning. In order to make Zhu Houzhao leave the capital where Qian Ning's followers were everywhere, he took the initiative to lure Zhu Houzhao to Xuanfu, his own territory.

Xuanfu is the closest military town to Beijing, where a large number of border troops are stationed. It was originally the place where Zhu Houzhao had been secretly planning his deployment.

A large number of officials from the Tongzhengsi system were also relocated to Xuanfu.

However, Zhu Houzhao's limited imagination prevented him from thinking that he, as an emperor, could leave the capital directly and establish a second central government in a border town.

The key person who broke this barrier and allowed Zhu Houzhao to go deep into the grassroots and get close to the border troops was Jiang Bin.

Of course, mature political thinking does not affect personal enjoyment of life.

Zhu Houzhao met the young man with a very white waist in a border town.

Now that Jiang Bin has won over Wanquan Commander Li Cong and Shaanxi Commander Shen Zhou, Qian Ning naturally began to form cliques in response.

But Pei Yuan doesn't want to wade into this muddy water!
From Pei Yuan's point of view, he should not become the enemy of the border army under any circumstances.

Especially after Zhu Houzhao gradually strengthened the morale of the border troops and improved their combat effectiveness, becoming unstoppable.

To a certain extent, this army that can defend the northern border and provide the Ming Dynasty with a sufficiently stable environment to rebuild its country may be the most important legacy that Zhu Houzhao can leave behind.

But it’s not easy to offend Qian Ning.

The two guys fought until Zhu Houzhao vomited blood and died suddenly, but the winner was still unknown, and there was no real winner.

Pei Yuan avoided answering and changed the subject, asking, "Is the commander also familiar with Brother He?"

Qian Ning heard this and replied, "Of course, he is our eldest brother after all."

After saying this, he seemed to remember that he and Jiang Bin were brothers in name only, so he explained, "Jiang Bin is unruly and has always been dissatisfied with his elder brother."

Pei Yuan had anticipated this situation.

He Huan is of medium stature. As a military officer, he has no deterrent power when facing Jiang Bin, Shen Zhou and other warriors who have fought on the battlefield. It is normal for him to be looked down upon.

I just didn't expect that He Huan, that jerk, would drag me into this.

Pei Yuan was unwilling to agree, but it was not easy to refuse, so he could only evade the request, saying, "He Huan is my beloved relative, my brother, and since this is his idea, I have to listen to him explain it to me personally."

"Given the friendship between him and me, what can't be said? What does it matter if there is Brother Qian in between? How about I talk to Brother He in person?"

(End of this chapter)