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

Chapter 617 The Art of Domination

If a ferocious beast that has always ignored you suddenly becomes interested in you.

There is only one reason.

The other party sees you as prey.

Sikong Sui never imagined that his situation would be seen so clearly.

He always considered himself to know Pei Yuan somewhat. He was like a silent observer, assessing the man's abilities, speculating on his intentions, and judging his stance.

Just when he thought he could use this capable guy to help him break the deadlock, the person he had been silently watching suddenly turned around fiercely and stared at him.

Sikong Sui looked at Pei Yuan warily, and even subconsciously took a step back.

Pei Yuan was not surprised by Sikong Sui's reaction.

He looked at Sikong Sui and decided to reveal something, "Let's talk about the matter in Yunyang. Haven't you all wanted me to get involved in this for a long time?"

Sikong Sui's expression was rather unpleasant. "What is the Commander saying?"

Pei Yuan naturally wouldn't reveal that Yun Weilin had betrayed him, but guessing Sikong Sui's intentions, he slowly spoke.

"I, Pei Yuan, am self-aware. I know very well what kind of person I am."

"So ever since I expressed my admiration for Commander Han, I've felt that old bastard Tantai Fangtu's attitude towards me is perfectly normal. On the contrary, your efforts to bring Commander Han and me together seem to have ulterior motives."

Sikong Sui frowned upon hearing this, seemingly not understanding Pei Yuan's logic.

Pei Yuan continued speaking to himself.

“I, Pei Yuan, am not a good person, so what you value must be something more practical, such as my problem-solving abilities.”

"You must have already realized that Commander Han looks down on me. So why did you arrange this doomed marriage?"

Pei Yuan glanced at Sikong Sui, a mocking smile playing on his lips, almost self-deprecating, "Of course... you didn't expect us to be happily together, did you?"

"So what can this marriage in name only bring you?"

Sikong Sui couldn't help but frown and say, "Isn't Commander Pei being a bit too petty?"

Pei Yuan almost laughed. "Then tell me a reason why you've been jumping up and down trying to marry Commander Han to someone like me."

Sikong Sui was starting to lose his composure.

Holy crap, that bastard.

He was so clear-headed it was almost cold-blooded.

Since things have come to this point, Sikong Sui has no reason to go against his conscience.

Instead of answering, he immediately found a counter-argument: "With Commander Han's appearance and demeanor, don't you want him?"

Pei Yuan couldn't help but laugh, finally showing some semblance of sincerity in the negotiations.

"Of course I want it."

After saying that, Pei Yuan looked at Sikong Sui seriously and said, "So, this is our business, and it's a problem that we need to work together to solve."

"You all helped me exert various influences to get Commander Han to marry me. Then I pretended not to know and let you secretly use me, how about that?"

Sikong Sui looked at Pei Yuan and listened to his almost absurd words, and suddenly felt a sense of crisis, as if he were dealing with a tiger for its skin.

Having said all that, Sikong Sui's original plan had to be completely overturned.

Sikong Sui was a decisive person. He immediately decided to make Pei Yuan, this troublemaker, back down, and then devise another plan.

He said calmly, "Since the commander wants to hear about Yunyang, then this humble servant will naturally tell you everything I know."

Sikong Sui cleared his throat and began, "It seems that the commander already knows something about the situation in Yunyang, so he should also know about the situation of the shantytown dwellers in Jingxiang."

Seeing Pei Yuan signal to continue, Sikong Sui said, "The people of Jingxiang are refugees who fled from various places. These people are scattered in the deep mountains and valleys of Jingxiang, making a living by relying on the abundant resources in the mountains and fields."

“The court killed wave after wave of people, but those shantytown dwellers were like weeds, impossible to eradicate. When the court pressed them harder, they repeatedly rebelled, declared themselves kings, and started their own uprisings.”

"After negotiations, the imperial court ceded three provinces and established six counties, which led many of the villagers to leave the deep mountains."

"Now, decades have passed, and the imperial court sees that the people of Yunyang are still relatively well-behaved. So it plans to abolish Yunyang Prefecture and redistribute the six counties to the three provinces."

"I'm sure Qianhu understands what that means, right?"

Pei Yuan nodded upon hearing this, without offering any further comment.

In the early years, when the Ming Dynasty was first established, there was wasteland everywhere. In order to restore production as soon as possible, the imperial court concentrated the population in flat and fertile areas. Therefore, some large mountains and rivers that were difficult to manage were sealed off, and people were not allowed to enter.

Now, after more than a century of development, with population growth and land expansion, resources in various places have been almost entirely allocated.

The powerful clans of the three surrounding provinces naturally set their sights on Yunyang Prefecture, which had just completed its expansion.

Sikong Sui said in a deep voice, "Yunyang Prefecture has a very weak foundation; it is basically composed of refugees."

Even if one slowly accumulates a family fortune, a newly emerging power will only last for three or four generations.

“In the local area, there is still no one who can unite people’s hearts.”

"Officially speaking, let alone political resources, since the establishment of Yunyang Prefecture, not a single person has passed the imperial examination in the past few decades."

"Once the imperial court decides to use the combined power of the three provinces to divide up Yunyang, how should we deal with the current fragmented state of Yunyang Prefecture?"

After listening to Sikong Sui's words, Pei Yuan had a general understanding of the crisis facing Yunyang Prefecture.

Pei Yuan was not in a hurry to express his opinion, and continued to inquire, "I heard that the Huguang Regional Military Commission is under your control. Since you have troops, how bad can the situation be?"

Seeing that Pei Yuan's intention to intervene had not been dispelled, Sikong Sui quickly added, "Chief, you may not know this. The guard posts under the jurisdiction of the Huguang Regional Military Commission are extremely complex. Only the nine chiliarch posts of Yunyang Guard are newly established, and the military officers in the guard are those who were dismissed during the White Lotus Rebellion."

"The soldiers of Yunyang Guard are truly our own people in Yunyang Prefecture."

"The remaining garrisons were mostly transferred from the Huguang Military Command. Although a large number of able-bodied men from the shantytowns were also added to those garrisons, they were all low-ranking soldiers and could not play a significant role."

"When the imperial court established its jurisdiction, it set up a separate governor in Yunyang, with the Grand Censor-in-Chief of the court serving as the chief civil and military official in Yunyang. At the same time, some prefectures and counties in Henan, Shaanxi, and Huguang were also included in the jurisdiction of the Yunyang governor."

Fearing Pei Yuan might not have a concrete understanding, Sikong Sui emphasized, "Besides Yunyang Prefecture, there are also Xiangyang Prefecture, Jingzhou Prefecture, and Anlu Prefecture in Huguang; Nanyang Prefecture in Henan; Hanzhong Prefecture and Xi'an Prefecture in Shaanxi; and Kuizhou Prefecture in Sichuan, totaling eight prefectures." "The troops of the military commands and garrisons in these eight prefectures are also under the command of the Governor of Yunyang. In other words, in case of any unforeseen circumstances, the Governor of Yunyang can even directly draw upon troops from the military commands of Huguang, Shaanxi, and Henan."

Upon hearing this, Pei Yuan couldn't help but marvel at it.

This isn't politics, it's art!
First, a Huguang Regional Military Commission was established to incorporate the Yunyang Guard, which consisted mainly of young and strong people from the shantytowns. Then, several guard posts were allocated from the surrounding areas and packaged into a whole.

Then, taking Yunyang as the administrative center, the Yunyang Prefecture and the seven surrounding prefectures were packaged into a regional structure, forming a Greater Yunyang concept.

This greater Yunyang jurisdiction also covered parts of the surrounding three provinces, as well as some garrisons of the three military commands.

Even the upstream prefecture of Kuizhou in Sichuan is in the same QQ group as them.

Unfortunately, the official title of the Governor of Yunyang was "Governor," which only had "administrative authority" but not "governance authority."

In other words, the Xiangyang Prefecture, Jingzhou Prefecture, and Anlu Prefecture in the Greater Yunyang region still belonged to the Huguang Provincial Administration Commission in terms of "governance"; the Hanzhong Prefecture and Xi'an Prefecture still belonged to the Shaanxi Provincial Administration Commission; the Nanyang Prefecture belonged to the Henan Provincial Administration Commission; and the Kuizhou Prefecture belonged to the Sichuan Provincial Administration Commission.

This means that, according to the rule of the overlapping functions of the three offices of Du, Bu, and An, the guarding office, patrol office, and military affairs office were superimposed on this ruling structure.

The provincial judicial commissioners of these provinces also had the power to directly intervene in the Greater Yunyang region, and, relying on the power structure of the Yunxiang Garrison, Jingqu Garrison, Nanyang Garrison, and Hanzhong Garrison, they had the ability to control those garrisons.

These governing structures, like beautiful array patterns, locked down Yunyang Prefecture and Yunyang Guard.

After Sikong Sui said that, Pei Yuan was almost persuaded to give up.

He looked at Sikong Sui with some suspicion, "If it really comes to this, what's the point of all this fuss? Commander Han wouldn't have bothered sending all these troublemakers north of the Huai River, would he?"

Sikong Sui knew that Pei Yuan was not so easily fooled, so he immediately tried to smooth things over.

He said sheepishly, "That's not quite how it works."

"When the Huguang Regional Military Commission was established, Xiang Zhong, who was in charge of pacification, in order to deplete the able-bodied men among the refugees, selected one male from each household of those refugees who came out of the deep mountains and sent them to fill various garrisons."

"As a result, an epidemic broke out, and Xiang Zhong forcibly drove them away, and many people died on the ships that were sending them away."

"After this incident, every household in Yunyang hated Xiang Zhong and consequently distrusted the imperial court."

"The refugees were worried that they would be killed after being tricked out of the mountains, which led to the formation of the Yunyang Guard as a separate army."

"And those who seized military power at that time were the descendants of the army that had been abandoned by the court after the suppression of the White Lotus Buddha Mother Tang Sai'er."

“Those people were already disliked by the court and had always been out of place in the Huguang Regional Military Commission. They were also grateful to the Thousand Households Office for helping their ancestors settle in Jingxiang, which allowed them to barely make ends meet.”

"Therefore, the nine thousand-household units of Yunyang Guard have always been loyal to Commander Han. These thousand-household units circumvented the jurisdiction of the military commissioner by using the battalion system, and trained several battalions of soldiers with considerable combat power."

Upon hearing this, Pei Yuan couldn't help but laugh and said, "I'm afraid they were already desperate, so they took the initiative to seek refuge with Han Qianhu, who is still active outside and holds a certain amount of real power, as an external ally."

As Pei Yuan spoke, he looked at Sikong Sui and said unhurriedly, "And you? Are you a hereditary military officer of the Thousand Households, or a bandit who came from the wilderness of Yunyang?"

Sikong Sui didn't expect Pei Yuan to ask so directly.

He thought for a moment and then made no attempt to hide anything, “The Thousand Households Office and Yunyang are essentially one entity. Many people in the Thousand Households Office come from Yunyang Prefecture. Although Thousand Households Han’s maternal family is from Xiangyang, they are still under the jurisdiction of the Governor of Yunyang.”

"This humble servant is from the Zhushan Thousand-Household Garrison of Yunyang Guard, and Tantai Fangtu is from the Yiling Thousand-Household Garrison. Many people from other Thousand-Household Garrisons also serve under Commander Han."

Pei Yuan had a general idea of ​​the forces this faction could mobilize.

Then Sikong Sui continued.

"The powerful clans and princes of the surrounding provinces only saw the people of Yunyang Prefecture being tamed and coveted the newly reclaimed land. They forgot what the root cause of all this was."

"While their eyes were fixed on the resources of Yunyang Prefecture, people from all over the country who had no way to survive continued to flee into the mountains of Jingxiang. The number of people living in makeshift shelters continued to grow, and now it has reached a staggering one million."

Sikong Sui gritted his teeth and said, "Back then, when the imperial court was forcing us, Jingxiang also mobilized a million people to resist. After experiencing this rebellion in Bazhou, I have come to understand that the imperial court is no longer the same as before."

"Since those bandits of Bazhou can accomplish great things by relying on a small number of elite soldiers to coerce the people, if they really push us too far, our Yunyang Prefecture might just be able to cause a big commotion."

Pei Yuan asked, "Just you, a mere Yunyang Guard?"

Sikong Sui said, "As long as we create a stir, other garrisons with people from Yunyang might also be drawn into action."

Pei Yuan roughly understood what these people were thinking.

It's simply that some people have become beneficiaries by taking advantage of the changing times.

However, before these people could grow strong, they attracted the covetous eyes of larger fish outside.

At this moment, they suddenly remembered their background as shantytown dwellers and wanted to rely on Han Qianhu's influence to rally a larger group of shantytown dwellers, attempting to use public opinion to resist the imperial court.

No wonder Commander Han looked down on these people.

Pei Yuan rubbed his forehead, feeling a bit of a headache. "You guys really are a bit of a loser."

Seeing that Pei Yuan seemed to have given up on the idea, Sikong Sui should have been happy, but he couldn't feel happy at all.

Despite his disdain for them, Pei Yuan was still quite interested in these guys.

The mountains of Jingxiang and the small prefecture of Yunyang alone could support nearly a million people, no wonder there is a saying that "when Hubei and Hunan are prosperous, the whole country is well-fed".

If these refugees are properly utilized, they may be able to break through the array's blockade and create a completely new situation.

In Pei Yuan's memory, the imperial court encountered considerable resistance in abolishing Yunyang Prefecture and Huguang Regional Military Commission.

It wasn't until the Wanli era that Yunyang Prefecture and Huguang Regional Military Commission were forcibly abolished.

Then, after a few years of abolition, it was discovered that things had become quite serious, and there were even signs of a mutiny. The court then sheepishly re-established Yunyang Prefecture and Huguang Regional Military Commission.

Pei Yuan went through the timeline and felt that things might not be so bad; there might be a chance to get something for free.

So Pei Yuan said, "I can inquire about this matter first and see who is eyeing Yunyang."

"As for you people, hehe, I suppose you're not doing this for the benefit of the people of Yunyang, but for yourselves, right?"

Seeing that Sikong Sui was about to argue, Pei Yuan waved his hand, "No need to talk to me about this."

"Since you believe that since the establishment of Yunyang Prefecture, no Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) have formed official families in the area, which is why outsiders covet it, then I, the commander, will help you solve this problem."

(End of this chapter)