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

Chapter 565: Just lie to your brothers, you really believe it
Pei Yuan's younger brothers usually prided themselves on being scholars and having achieved success in the imperial examinations. They made friends with Pei Yuan out of respect for his character and did not care about his fifth-rank military officer position.

In the past, when they were chatting and laughing with Pei Yuan, they basically didn't pay much attention to the seventh-rank younger brother who was quietly adding wine and serving tea.

But now they heard that the seven great ministers actually regarded the little brother who poured wine as a guest of honor, which made them very uneasy.

Especially at this moment, Chen Xinjian was still greeting Li Shishi politely at the last seat.

This made them feel a little subtle.

Pei Yuan glanced at his brothers, raised his arm and pressed it, motioning them to sit down.

Seeing Brother Pei Yuan's actions, these little Karamis who had not yet entered the officialdom suddenly seemed to have gained confidence and sat back in their seats one after another.

Although he was still as quiet as a chicken, his mind was surprisingly peaceful at this moment.

Pei Yuan waved his hand and turned to talk to Li Shishi, "Now Xinjian has been given a real position in Xuanfu, serving as the captain of the Xinghe Guarding Thousand Households."

Li Shishi was still somewhat surprised at the speed of expansion of Pei Yuan's group.

I just heard a few days ago that Chen Toutie, who used to follow Pei Yuan, was appointed as the commander-in-chief of Shandong Military Region. I didn't expect that Chen Xinjian would be assigned to the border army so soon, serving as a very independent captain.

Li Shishi had almost no idea about the border troops, let alone where Xinghe was, but he still praised him politely, "It can be said that the hero has a place to use his skills."

Pei Yuan thought that the matter of Xuanfu had already been dealt with by both parties, so it might not hurt to do his elder brother a favor, so he tilted his head slightly to the side.

Li Shishi came over knowingly.

Pei Yuan whispered, "Brother, you can pay attention to Xuanfu recently, there may be something big happening."

When Li Shishi heard this, his eyes moved.

Xuanfu?

Ning Fan did not do much homework on the border troops.

For Prince Ning's camp, the first choice was peaceful evolution. Taking advantage of the fact that Zhu Houzhao had no son, they encouraged the ministers to directly support him.

The second option was to wait until Zhu Houzhao had caused public outrage and then take advantage of the chaos to launch an uprising. But even if they did, the Ning clan in Nanchang would have the highest priority of going down the river to seize the old capital of Nanjing.

Many officials of the six ministries in Nanjing had already been infiltrated. If they seized Nanjing, they would have a ready-made imperial court.

When the time comes, Prince Ning will go to pay homage to Taizu and ascend the throne directly. He can then rely on the six ministries in Nanjing to issue orders, and with the supporters from all over the country responding, he will soon be able to cut off the grain transport to the north and take over all the fertile land in the south of the Yangtze River. How wonderful!

Without the money and food from Jiangnan, the border towns would immediately quarrel with the court in Beijing over the lack of food. King Ning could just sit back and watch the chaos in the north, and then issue an edict to settle the matter.

Prince Ning has money and food in his hands. Is he still afraid that the border troops in trouble will not surrender?

Therefore, not only Prince Ning, but even counselors such as Li Shishi and Liu Yangzheng did not spend too much time on winning over the border troops.

But since Pei Yuan mentioned it, Li Shishi would definitely go and find out about it out of recognition of this guy's destructive power.

While Pei Yuan and Li Shishi were whispering, Chen Xinjian had already directed the Jinyiwei to set out the wine and food.

Pei Yuan thought that Li Shishi was also one of the bigwigs of the dynasty, and many people in the court were flirting with Ning Fan, so perhaps he knew something.

So he smiled and asked tentatively, "Brother, have you read the four book questions this time?"

Li Shishi was a little surprised, "You still care about this?"

Pei Yuan also noticed something strange when the candidates were discussing the examination questions. He said vaguely, "Well, it sounds interesting."

Li Shishi smiled and said, "It's quite interesting."

He refused to say anything else.

There was some noise when the food and wine were served just now, and the younger brothers took the opportunity to breathe a sigh of relief, and those who were nearby even whispered a few words.

Now, hearing their brother and another big boss discussing the test questions in such an ambiguous tone, they all felt that there seemed to be something they didn't know in this high-level conversation.

These candidates are usually experts in keyboard politics. They were previously immersed in the exam and were only analyzing the questions from the perspective of answering them without thinking too much.

When I thought about it now, I immediately became a little uneasy.

Three questions, three distinct positions.

So what kind of answer will satisfy the final examiner?
Even more, if you are just answering questions without a consistent train of thought, and you waver on each question, what impact will it have on your answers?
Originally, many candidates were quite satisfied with their answers, but when they realized that off-site factors were more important than their own efforts, many of them began to sweat on their foreheads.

As a result, the field fell silent again. The younger brothers listened carefully to the high-level conversation between the two bosses and were extremely worried about their own future.

But Pei Yuan sighed, "Interesting, but actually quite boring."

It was supposed to be a national talent selection ceremony, but it became a battlefield for multiple parties to fight. Some people who simply wanted to take the exam seriously inadvertently chose a side that would affect their future and destiny.

At this moment, Li Shishi spoke his mind, "The world is like this, what can we do?"

Pei Yuan did not sigh for long. He picked up the tea and gestured to Li Shishi, then said with a smile, "I am also a layman. I am going to make you laugh if I say this."

Li Shishi also took a sip of tea and said indifferently, "What are you laughing at? Who in this world is not a vulgar person?"

Pei Yuan waited for Li Shishi to put down his cup and glanced at the nervous faces of his younger brothers who were candidates for the imperial examination.

There was no emotion on his face. He calmly stretched out his index finger, drew a half circle on the table in front of Li Shishi, and then tapped on the table.

"These are my people. How about letting them go to your Censorate when we observe government affairs in the future?"

Those who were listening to the high-level conversation between the big guys held their breath, processing the information they heard at a rapid speed in their minds.

Pei Yuan addressed everyone present as his people, but no one felt particularly surprised.

After entering the Buddhist temple just now and seeing that painting, many people actually had some kind of enlightenment in their hearts.

What shattered the faith of these newbies who had not yet entered the officialdom was that one of the parties involved in this blatant collusion and deal was actually the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, who was in charge of the court's discipline.

But putting aside the issue of shattered beliefs for now, what does “observing politics in the future” mean?
Could it be that Brother Pei Yuan has already determined that these people have a chance of passing the imperial examination and becoming Jinshi?
If it were before, they still had some confidence, many of them would have felt that they had done well in the exam.

But after listening to the conversation between the two just now, it is clear that the off-field factors of this imperial examination are the most critical point.

This is an exam where "standpoint" and "attitude" are more important than the knowledge itself!
Thinking of this, everyone suddenly felt something in their hearts.

and many more.

Position, attitude! Off-field factors!
Someone immediately remembered some sample essays that the guy named Chen Xinjian had secretly sent to them from time to time a few days ago.

"hiss--"

Perhaps it was because everyone's mental journey was similar, and everyone had wonderful expressions on their faces, regardless of order.

Could it be that Brother Pei Yuan also belongs to that mysterious "standpoint and attitude" and "off-field factors"?
How to do?
My heart is in a mess.

Li Shishi was a little surprised after hearing Pei Yuan's words.

He also looked around, first at his 12th brother who was expectant and anxious, then at Tang Gao and the other three who were not so sociable. Tang Gao, Huang Chu and Cai Ang were also feeling particularly conflicted at the moment.

They witnessed a political peace talks, and they didn't want to get involved, but they also inexplicably hoped that they were also what Pei Yuan called "my people."

He was named on the imperial examination and entered the Censorate.

This behind-the-scenes operation happening in front of them was so tempting.

But the more they look forward to it, the more sober they become.

The wine that Pei Yuan prepared was obviously for the person in the painting.

All three of them are outsiders.

Compared with those people who had no idea what their relationship with Captain Pei was, the three of them were able to participate in this special examination simply because of Captain Pei's favor.

What right do they have to ask Pei Qianhu to pay for them again?
As if noticing Li Shishi's gaze on the three people, Pei Yuan spoke at the right time, "Not counting the three of them, there are only twelve."

Pei Yuan's words came out.

Tang Gao and the other three were no longer worried.

It was just a feeling of discomfort in my heart, and an awkward expression on my face that I didn't know whether to smile or feel sad.

Thinking of Pei Yuan's previous confident words praising them as heroes of the time, the three of them felt an inexplicable sadness in their hearts.

So will love disappear?
Just when they were feeling mixed emotions, they heard Pei Yuan say lightly, "These three are going to enter the Hanlin Academy. Your Censorate is too small."

Li Shishi groaned, thinking Pei Yuan was joking, and half-jokingly said, "Twelve Censorates and three Imperial Academy, my dear brother, you have a good appetite."

When Pei Yuan said this, not only did Li Shishi not believe it and the other candidates were in an uproar, even Tang Gao, a veteran who had passed one subject after another, could no longer hold back.

You are not a Qianhu. You are just bragging. You are just trying to fool your brothers. You actually believe it.

You have to know that if you want to enter the Hanlin Academy, you either have to pass the imperial examination and become a first-class Jinshi, or you have to fight for another round of selection to become a Shujishi.

Moreover, the Shujishi were not selected universally. Only those among the second and third class Jinshi who had both beautiful writing and good calligraphy were selected.

For a moment, even Tang Gao was almost mentally broken.

Although his articles and policy papers are good, they are not elegant in language.

Tang Gao, whose mentality was broken by the threat of being killed, even lowered his bottom line. He no longer expected to be successful in the Censorate, and just hoped to be able to pass the imperial examination.

Pei Yuan was naturally not the kind of person who would ask for benefits without any words, so he openly told Li Shishi, "This matter can be discussed. I will definitely give you enough conditions to satisfy you."

Upon hearing this, Li Shishi couldn't help but look at Pei Yuan.

Whether things are easy or difficult is a technical issue to be considered later. But as long as there is an equal exchange, there will be no disagreement in principle.

Seeing Pei Yuan's frankness, Li Shishi thought that Pei Yuan had already firmly bound these subordinates, so he did not have too many reservations when speaking.

But even though he was tempted, he still shook his head and refused to give in easily. "How can it be so easy to recruit twelve imperial censors at once?"

"Although there are some vacancies in the Metropolitan Censorate, according to convention, we still have to select some top three Jinshi with excellent performance from the previous few subjects."

"This is also the rule set by Emperor Xianzong. Otherwise, how could any Jinshi be willing to serve as an official in a local area and benefit the people?"

"This matter is difficult to handle."

Pei Yuan immediately said, "I can add more money, and I can also give you some other benefits."

"This..." Li Shishi was moved.

It turned out to be a deal with a premium.

He wanted to confirm the final number of people so that he could make a strong offer to Pei Yuan, so he asked, "With so many people here, can you guarantee that they can all pass the exam?"

When these words were spoken, many candidates became a little nervous.

Although they had some guesses before, they couldn't help feeling uneasy as they didn't get any solid words from Pei Yuan.

Pei Yuan even deliberately glanced at them before he said with certainty, "Twelve of them were Jinshi graduates, and three of them passed the imperial examinations."

Just kidding, if the test was really about literary proficiency, Pei Yuan wouldn't be very confident.

But seeing that the emperor and his ministers were competing with each other on the imperial examination and getting so excited about it, what else did Pei Yuan have to worry about?
What Pei Yuan asked them to figure out was the political views of Huo Tao, who ranked first in the imperial examination.

Even if they cannot compare with others in writing, they can firmly maintain their position at the top just by sitting well.

In the imperial examination of that year, the top seven were all from Ji'an, Jiangxi Province, which had long since dispelled Pei Yuan's fascination.

The imperial examination was a battle for the right to interpret ideology. Now, if you follow the ideology of the first-place winner in the examination, it will be difficult to fail.

As for Tang Gao and the other two, Pei Yuan was also quite confident.

Those who could have their papers read by the Grand Secretaries and then handed over to the Emperor, and then be selected by the Emperor as the top three, I dare not say anything else, but they must be three masters who can keep the water even.

Pei Yuan's confidence gave Li Shishi a great shock.

He pondered for a long time. Some of the negotiations were too in-depth, so he couldn't speak directly. So he said, "Brother, can you please excuse me for a moment?"

Pei Yuan stood up and led Li Shishi to the back of the Buddha statue in the Buddhist hall.

Li Shishi followed.

The people sitting around watched in silence as the two men went to the Buddha statue to discuss the terms of the transaction.

After Pei Yuan and Li Shishi arrived at the Buddha statue, they did not haggle over every detail as everyone thought. Instead, they chatted as if they were having a casual conversation.

Li Shishi first asked tentatively, "Could it be that you, my dear brother, had a hand in this imperial examination?"

Pei Yuan spoke truthfully, "It's hard for me to explain."

Li Shishi did not force it, and continued to present the difficulty, "I am afraid that if I bring up the twelve censors of the same nationality, they will be impeached by the six ministries. I am the Left Censor-in-Chief, and I cannot do whatever I want."

Pei Yuan thought for a moment and said, "I'll take care of this matter and won't embarrass you."

Li Shishi's heart skipped a beat again.

Li Shishi was not surprised that Pei Yuan could manage three first-class Jinshi candidates. Li Shishi was not surprised that Pei Yuan could manage twelve second-class Jinshi candidates.

Li Shishi was not surprised that these fifteen people took the top fifteen places in this special examination.

Li Shishi himself is from Jiangxi, so he knows exactly what is going on.

However, the difficulty of getting twelve people of the same hometown into the Censorate, which is in charge of supervision, is beyond imagination.

(End of this chapter)