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

Chapter 541 The battle begins again
Li Zhang grinned and said, "She must explain to Queen Mother Zhang where the letter came from, right? The fact that Queen Xia maintained close contact with people outside the palace during her house arrest is dangerous in itself."

"Empress Dowager Zhang is trying to find something to hold against her, how dare she speak out?"

"Is that so?" Pei Yuan's heart moved. He was only worried about being threatened by Queen Xia, but ignored the reality that she dared not speak out.

If that's the case, then I'm going to push it further...

Pei Yuan had already made up his mind, and he felt more confident about controlling Queen Xia.

Before leaving, he asked Li Zhang again, "Where are you going to work as the head of the Jing Army?"

Li Zhang replied, "Fortunately, I am still in charge of the Imperial Horse Administration."

The Jingjun of the Ming Dynasty's palace could be said to be the lowest of the lowest eunuchs.

They do the hardest and most tiring jobs. In addition to patrolling day and night, they also have to sweep and stand guard, carry firewood, pile up manure, and clean up feces and urine.

As we all know, among the eunuchs, there are many mentally abnormal ones due to their physical defects.

The layers of oppression became even more brutal.

These clean soldiers were almost at the bottom of the food chain, and had to endure bullying at every level, with many of them being brutally tortured to death by the big guards.

The Jingjun was affiliated with many departments, such as the Jingongjian, Yuyongjian, Yumajian, Zhidianjian, Xixinsi, and Zhonggusi.

Some of them gathered in Nanhai Zi and were supervised by a special eunuch. This part of the clean army was divided into 24 stations, specifically guarding each city wall.

As Xiao Jing's confidant, Li Zhang was immediately ostracized by many eunuchs who wanted to curry favor with the new head of the Imperial Household Department after Lu Ting came to power.

Although Li Zhang had not been caught doing anything wrong, he was still sent to manage the Jing Army as a disguised punishment.

When Pei Yuan heard that Li Zhang still belonged to the Imperial Stables, he thought this was convenient.

So he promised Li Zhang, "Do your job well. After you finish, I will send a letter to Gu Dayong to promote you to the position of assistant secretary."

When Li Zhang heard this, he couldn't tell for a moment whether Pei Yuan was serious or just trying to please him.

Li Zhang silently sorted out the current situation. He was Xiao Jing's man who was defeated in the competition for the seal of the Imperial Household Department. Now, he was handed over to Captain Pei by Xiao Jing.

Then, Captain Pei also promised to let Lu Ting, who had seized the position of the Chief of the Imperial Household Department, help his brother find a real position in the Flag Bearer Guard.

Then, Captain Pei also agreed to let Gu Dayong, the governor of the Western Factory and the one who took back the seal of the Imperial Stables, promote him.

Doesn't this mean that the two candidates for the seal of the Imperial Household Department and a powerful factory owner are all his people?

If you are really that awesome, you can sleep in the harem.

Li Zhang said tactfully, "You don't have to do this, Captain. Since I am serving you, I will do my best."

Pei Yuan did not try to persuade him, and said calmly, "Your secretary is gone."

After saying this, Pei Yuan waved his hand, indicating that Li Zhang could leave, and then he went back to the duty room near Wuying Palace.

Li Zhang looked at Pei Yuan's departing back and felt a little, a little...

I couldn’t describe the feeling at the moment.

Pei Yuan found the old road and slowly returned to the duty room. Just as he approached, he heard the sound of window panes rattling.

Pei Yuan looked in the direction of the sound, but couldn't tell which duty room had made the noise.

Pei Yuan knew it well and sneered secretly.

This must be because the Jinyiwei who were responsible for monitoring Pei Yuan suddenly discovered that he was missing, but they dared not make it public and could only monitor him secretly with a fluke mentality.

Seeing Pei Yuan coming back now, I finally felt relieved and just pretended nothing had happened.

Pei Yuan returned to his room and lay on the couch to rest.

Pei Yuan slept lightly for the rest of the time, and was awakened from time to time by the rotating Jinyiwei soldiers.

I slept in a daze for an unknown amount of time when someone knocked on the door.

Pei Yuan woke up and asked vigilantly.

After answering the call from outside the door, I found out that it was Qian Ning's adopted son Qian Yong.

It turned out that it was almost three quarters past three in the morning, and some of the Jinyiwei on duty could leave the palace to change shifts.

Pei Yuan and Qian Ning had almost fallen out yesterday, so there was nothing much to say between him and Qian Yong.

After a simple tidying up, Pei Yuan went out of the door and headed out of the palace with the yawning Jinyiwei.

When he arrived at the palace gate, Pei Yuan paid careful attention.

It was not known whether it was because of the strict entry and lenient exit policy or because they were used to it, but the soldiers guarding the gate just glanced at the badges on their waists and let them pass.

This made Pei Yuan more confident about entering the palace.

When they said goodbye outside the palace gate, Qian Yong still had a smile on his face, but no one knew what that smile meant.

Qian Yong said to Pei Yuan, "The captain should go back and make preparations early. If there is anything useful, you can ask someone to go to Beizhen to ask for it."

"As long as it's not gunpowder or lead, everything else is fine."

Pei Yuan was too lazy to pay attention and just turned his back to him.

It is not easy to get the benefits of Beizhen, and Pei Yuan has no intention of taking them.

It was already dawn at this time, and people could be vaguely seen from a distance. As soon as Pei Yuan left the palace, he was surrounded by the personal soldiers who had been guarding all night.

Chen Xinjian and Cen Meng were both there, and they asked nervously, "Captain, is everything alright on this trip?"

There were many people around at this time, so Pei Yuan didn't say much. He just said, "Let's go."

The group surrounded Pei Yuan and headed towards Zhihua Temple.

Chen Xinjian also took the opportunity to get close to Pei Yuan and reported in a low voice, "Captain, I asked someone to ask in detail. Yesterday, the people from the Four Outer Armies first made a commotion in Yongshou Marquis's mansion, and then went to the mansions of Li Cong, Shen Zhou and other generals and made a lot of noise, demanding that they seek justice for Jiang Bin."

"Li Cong and Shen Zhou came out to appease them, and once again publicly declared that they would never let Qian Ning go."

Pei Yuan sneered after hearing this. This was nothing more than playing the good cop and the bad cop at the same time, taking the opportunity to coerce the court.

It's just that these idiots did a very rough job.

What is the capital city? It is the place with the most intelligent people in the world.

Who can I hide this from?

Instead of trying to be cunning here, it would be better to just rush to the Ministry of War and block the door. This is where they are good at.

Pei Yuan asked again, "Did they go to Jiang Bin's place?"

Chen Xinjian said, "No. Jiang Bin was only guarded by some soldiers from the Four Outer Armies, and there was no eye-catching movement."

Pei Yuan nodded and said, "That's right. Although the source of this incident was Jiang Bin, the focus of the incident cannot revolve around Jiang Bin."

"Otherwise, if too much attention is attracted, and this guy who claims to be seriously injured and waiting to die is found to be fine, it will become a farce."

Pei Yuan asked again, "Didn't they go to Zhihua Temple to cause trouble?"

Pei Yuan's Qianhu Suo was not an official government office, but a temporary headquarters set up in Zhihua Temple. Except for those temples that were directly managed, other people knew nothing about it.

But as long as you want to find it, as long as you ask through the official channels, you can still find Zhihua Temple through the power of those mysterious passages.

Chen Xinjian replied, "No, they probably don't know that our Jinyiwei is divided into the north and south. They just think Qian Ning is the biggest one and don't know that we are two families."

Pei Yuan thought it was very reasonable.

Of course we have to find the one who took the lead in this kind of thing. As long as Qian Ning is dealt with, nothing else will be a problem.

Maybe in the eyes of the border troops, Pei Yuan was just someone who followed orders.

In other words, according to the original development of events, Qian Ning should have borne most of the pressure, and Pei Yuan only needed to lie down and wait for Zhu Houzhao to come out and settle the matter.

Moreover, according to Jiang Bin and others' demands, the person they wanted to drive away was Qian Ning, who was surrounding Zhu Houzhao.

Pei Yuan, this small follower, has only a personal grudge with Jiang Bin, but has no conflict with the Border Army Group.

But Qian Ning's situation was different. Not only was he in direct competition with Jiang Bin and others, but he also repeatedly obstructed Jiang Bin and Li Cong from promoting border troops.

Thinking of this, Pei Yuan almost wanted to quit his job.

Just thinking of Qian Ning's words that Zhu Houzhao was also concerned about this matter, Pei Yuan didn't know how much to believe it.

As I was walking, I smelled a fragrance from the roadside.

Pei Yuan glanced at the food stall that had been set up aside early, sighed helplessly, and thought, now that things have come to this, let's eat first.

Then he led everyone to sit down, ordered a bowl of mutton soup, and some fried cakes and braised meat, and had a good meal.

While eating, Chen Xinjian wanted to come over and say something, but Pei Yuan waved his hand to stop him, "Let's talk about it when we get back."

Chen Xinjian immediately started eating the fried cakes in silence.

After Pei Yuan finished eating, he led everyone back.

Thinking about the mood of that day, I looked back at the palace, then turned back to look at the market, and for a moment I couldn't help but smile.

When they arrived at Zhihua Temple, Chen Xinjian consciously dispersed the crowd.

For a moment, Cen Meng didn't know whether he should stay or not, and just stood there awkwardly.

Pei Yuan thought that he had something to tell the two later, so he told them that Qian Ning asked him to go to the palace.

When he heard that Qian Ning and the emperor were going to put the blame on Pei Yuan, he asked him to expose the fact that Jiang Bin faked an injury in order to ease the situation.

Chen Xinjian and Cen Meng both took a deep breath and then looked at each other.

Cen Meng said hesitantly, "Captain, I am not afraid of death, but I heard that Jiang Bin's mansion not only has many elite servants, but also a large number of border troops from the four outer armies who take turns guarding. With just our few people, I'm afraid we may not even be able to rush into the mansion gate."

After he finished speaking, seeing that Chen Xinjian did not speak in agreement, he was afraid that it might shake the morale of the troops, so he quickly went back to make amends.

"If those elite soldiers of Xuzhou Guard who followed us were still here, we might be able to give it a try. But now the Qianhu Suo in the capital only has some remnants of Jinyiwei soldiers that Tan Tai Fangtu just recruited. I'm afraid they won't be of much use at a critical moment."

Before Pei Yuan could say anything, Chen Xinjian said worriedly, "Qian Ning has evil intentions and is clearly trying to trick Qian Hu. We can't let him succeed. We have to think of another way."

After that, he turned to Pei Yuan and said, "This matter is very difficult. How about I go find Tian Fu and Huo Tao to discuss it?"

Pei Yuan always praised the talents of Tian Fu and Huo Tao. Chen Xinjian had also witnessed their abilities and was very convinced of them.

Now is the time for that person to do his best.

Pei Yuan shook his head and said, "That's not necessary. Qian Ning thought he could kill two birds with one stone and force me to jump into the fire pit myself, which would not only intensify the conflict among the border troops in advance, but also take the opportunity to get rid of me."

"Unfortunately, this little trick is not worth mentioning to me."

"Because he made a mistake in his calculations."

Chen Xinjian and Cen Meng were both cheered up after hearing this.

Chen Xinjian quickly asked, "Which point?"

Pei Yuan said, "I grew up in the mud of the market, and was able to become a dragon overnight, but I never forgot where I came from."

Chen Xinjian was puzzled and asked, "What does Qianhu mean by this?"

Pei Yuan said calmly, "I am more shameless than they think."

The two were speechless for a moment, not knowing how to respond.

Chen Xinjian even secretly regretted that he should have let Cen Meng ask just now.

Pei Yuan ignored their mixed emotions and said to Cen Meng, "Go find Zhang Song and ask him to draft a letter of challenge for a duel in three days, and then send it to Jiang Bin."

"This matter must be made public and known to everyone."

Upon hearing this, Cen Meng immediately said, "I obey your command."

Chen Xinjian said at this moment, "Captain, if Li Cong and his men want to force the emperor to make concessions and expel Qian Ning, then they will definitely not care about such a small matter."

"Otherwise, if Jiang Bin came to duel with Qian Hu, wouldn't their lies be exposed?"

Pei Yuan nodded and said, "So this is just my first step."

Pei Yuan then instructed Cen Meng, "They won't agree easily. We have a feud with the border troops. Try to get someone else to do this. Don't get yourself involved."

Fearing that Cen Meng didn't understand clearly, he said bluntly, "Find a few scapegoats."

Cen Meng chuckled and nodded, "I know what the captain means. I will go to the gambling house and find a few guys who have lost a lot of money. As long as you give them money, they will do anything."

Pei Yuan felt relieved and said to Chen Xinjian, "Come closer and listen."

Upon hearing this, Chen Xinjian subconsciously glanced at Cen Meng before moving closer.

Pei Yuan asked in a low voice, "Did any villain in the capital spread dirty rumors about me before?"

Chen Xinjian's body was shocked, and he answered technically, "It's groundless."

Pei Yuan did not ask about the matter in detail. He whispered a few words in Chen Xinjian's ear. Chen Xinjian was shocked and looked at Pei Yuan in disbelief.

"Qian Hu, you..."

Pei Yuan was very confident and said, "It will definitely work wonders."

Chen Xinjian couldn't help but bow down in admiration, secretly thinking that Captain Pei was really a ruthless man who could use such a trick at the critical moment.

Afterwards, Pei Yuan asked the two of them to go about their business, and he went back to his room to have a good rest.

Cen Meng waited for Pei Yuan to leave, and asked Chen Xinjian anxiously, "What did Qian Hu say to you just now?"

Chen Xinjian thought for a moment and asked, "There were only three people here just now, why did the captain want me to lean over?"

After hearing this, Cen Meng left sadly.

Chen Xinjian waited until Cen Meng left before he went to do his job in secret.

So, within a short period of time, a shocking news began to spread in the capital.

——The reason why the four outer armies mutinied this time was because Jiang Bin, who was rated as the bravest in martial arts by Gu Dayong, was raped and killed by a vicious Jinyiwei!
(End of this chapter)