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

Chapter 683 Little Thousand Household
Li Shishi had never seen Pei Yuan speak so gently and softly.

I felt a great sense of satisfaction.

Fortunately, he also knew that bringing down De Fan would benefit everyone.

So Li Shishi didn't waste any more words on this and said directly, "I will tell this to Prince Ning."

Pei Yuan said, "There's no need to rush. Instead of you saying this, why doesn't His Majesty say it?"

Li Shishi couldn't help but ask, "What do you mean?"

Pei Yuan spoke frankly, “Consultant of the Capital, think about it. If things in Shandong continue to drag on like this, who will look worse? Of course, His Majesty will look worse.”

"In Shandong, it's not just about investigating Zheng Wang's seditious words anymore; it's also involved the prince's collusion with local officials and the rebels in Bazhou. For the emperor, this is intolerable for both his family and the country."

Li Shishi felt inexplicably guilty upon hearing this.

He quickly asked, as if to cover up his embarrassment, "And then?"

Pei Yuan said, "At this time, if we want to forcefully push forward the trial and quickly resolve the Shandong case, we need an elder from the imperial clan to stand up and uphold justice."

"Instead of the Grand Censor personally recommending Prince Ning, why not wait for the Emperor to personally seek out Prince Ning? Only in this way can Prince Ning's virtue be truly demonstrated."

Upon hearing this, Li Shishi was also tempted.

Why go out and recommend yourself when you can have the emperor take the initiative to show goodwill? Besides, this way, even if something goes wrong with the case in Shandong, you'll have more flexibility in handling the situation.

Li Shishi was about to subconsciously agree when he suddenly became alert.

He blamed himself in his heart, thinking, "Li Shishi, you are no longer the Li Shishi you used to be."

Why do they still obey this lowly commander so readily?
Now that the Crown Prince has entered the court to oversee incense offerings, all the officials are eager to curry favor with me. Even if he were to challenge Yang Tinghe and Yang Yiqing, he might not be unable to do so. How can I allow this mere commander to show his disrespect in front of me again?

Li Shishi could tell that Pei Yuan intended to persuade the Prince of Ning to get involved in the Shandong case.

He deliberately changed his words, saying, "As for this matter, I still need to consider it further. Prince De is also a powerful member of the imperial clan. If Prince Ning were to step forward at this time, I'm afraid it would provoke resentment from the members of the imperial clan."

"Besides, there are also high-ranking members of the imperial clan such as Prince Shen, Prince Chu, and Prince Tang. Even if Prince Ning doesn't take action, there are plenty of people who can solve these problems."

As Li Shishi spoke, he surprisingly found it quite good.

In the past, when the Prince of Ning wanted to do something, he would often get involved personally and rely on his power and money to push things forward.

This approach of ignoring cause and effect and only seeking personal gain vaguely resembles the style of this young Deng.

After hearing this, Pei Yuan didn't react much to the Left Censor-in-Chief's rebellion, only saying, "I see."

Li Shishi was somewhat skeptical that Pei Yuan would be so calm, so he deliberately said, "If there's nothing else, I'll return to the Censorate first. The court is going through a turbulent time right now, and I can't stay away for too long. When the person who wants to see you arrives, you can speak to him yourself."

Pei Yuan didn't insist, and said with a smile, "Then I'll see the Grand Commandant off."

Li Shishi was somewhat pleased to have Pei Yuan personally escort him, but... it wasn't as pleasant as he had imagined.

The main problem was that Pei Yuan's attitude was too indifferent, which made Li Shishi somewhat unsure of what to do.

Could this lowly commander be plotting something again?

Thinking about the losses he had suffered at Xiao Deng's hands in the past, Li Shishi suddenly became as wise as a sage.

He had a premonition that as he was about to leave, Xiao Deng would have a tough argument with him, trying to convince him again.

When they arrived at the gate of Zhihua Temple, Li Shishi subconsciously slowed his pace, and then Pei Yuan grabbed his sleeve as expected.

I'm coming!

Li Shishi's heart pounded with excitement.

If I can force Xiao Deng to back down this time, I will completely sweep away my inner demons and embrace a brand new self.

Sure enough, Pei Yuan said somewhat embarrassedly, "By the way, I have a favor to ask."

Li Shishi's throat tightened slightly, but he quickly recovered and said impatiently, "Tell me about it."

Pei Yuan then said, "It's like this, the Grand Commandant also knows that I run some money shops. These money shops have been buying up Ming Dynasty banknotes these days, which has cost me a lot of money, and I'm a little short on cash lately."

"Could the Grand Commandant grant a one or two-month grace period for the ransom owed to the Bazhou bandits?"

Li Shishi was already somewhat disappointed that Xiao Deng wasn't showing weakness as he had imagined. When he heard Pei Yuan want to owe him money, he immediately refused without hesitation, saying, "You know that I am also working for the Ning Kingdom. How can I make decisions on my own?"

"The price of ten thousand taels of silver was something you personally promised me. This matter has also been reviewed by Prince Ning; how can we easily change it?"

Pei Yuan was somewhat disappointed. "I see."

Then, as if remembering something, he quickly added, "I won't let the Grand Commandant work for nothing. If this payment can be delayed for a month, I'm willing to pay 50% more. If it can be delayed for two months, I'm willing to pay double the price."

"What?" Li Shishi was taken aback.

According to Pei Yuan's statement, if payment were made two months later, wouldn't they be able to earn an extra ten thousand taels?

This is quite a windfall!

Li Shishi couldn't help but become suspicious. "Brother, what do you mean by this?"

Pei Yuan sighed, "We expanded too much in the early stages and invested all our money in paper money. Now we're having some cash flow problems."

Then, as if afraid that Li Shishi would suspect him of defaulting on the debt, he quickly explained, "But it doesn't matter. After the New Year, when the customs starts collecting paper money, there will definitely be a strong demand. At that time, I will be able to sell the paper money at a high price."

Li Shishi looked at Pei Yuan with a mixture of belief and doubt.

He was also involved in the matter of the paper money last time.

When the price of the paper money reached the point where "one string of paper money could be exchanged for one coin," Li Shishi did indeed reap considerable profits from the paper money he held.

However, Li Shishi believed that this surge in prices was entirely driven by the court's renewed collection of paper money. Since the memorials from the Ministry of Finance had not yet been submitted, he felt that the peak should be yet to come.

Therefore, Li Shishi held onto the paper money without selling it.

Who would have thought that on the very day the memorial from the Directorate of Keys was made public, before the court session had even ended, the price of paper money in the market would plummet.

Only then did Li Shishi suddenly realize what was happening and quickly start shipping the goods.

The Ning prince almost perfectly missed out on this upward trend with his precious paper money, and then left with minimal profits during the stampede.

Li Shishi, who insisted on operating the operation himself afterward, even pretended to be rich and told Pei Yuan that he had made a fortune and wouldn't budge.

Therefore, when Li Shishi heard that Pei Yuan was continuing to invest heavily in paper money and was preparing to buy back silver when the policy was implemented at the beginning of next year, he was instinctively not optimistic.

After all, the first wave of the currency crash occurred when the Imperial Treasury's memorial was issued. When the seven major customs offices began collecting the currency, who could say there wouldn't be a second wave of collapse? Li Shishi, tempted by the silver promised by Pei Yuanduo, probed, half-jokingly, "Brother, the currency has been declining for over a hundred years. It's not so easy for us to profit from it. We don't want to lose our money later."

Pei Yuan, aware of Li Shishi's concerns, confidently said, "Don't worry, even if the price of these banknotes is discounted again, with my wealth, getting tens of thousands of taels of silver won't be a problem."

"It's not that we can't afford to pay the Grand Magistrate."

Li Shishi felt that Xiao Deng was up to no good, so he didn't dare to accept it directly. Instead, he said, "Let me go back and think about it. I'll give you an answer tomorrow."

Pei Yuan said to Li Shishi in a low voice, "I have other matters to attend to on my return to the capital, so it's not appropriate for me to show myself right now. I'll leave you here for now. Please forgive me, Grand Commandant."

Li Shishi was completely bewildered, feeling as if Xiao Deng in front of him was in a fog or in the clouds.

Once Li Shishi had walked a distance away, Xiao Tong approached Pei Yuan with some confusion and said, "Commander, why does Li Shishi seem much tougher this time?"

Pei Yuan glanced at Xiao Tong and said, "You noticed it too."

As he spoke, he explained to Xiao Tong, "The emperor appointed the heir of the Ning prince to officiate at the incense ceremony for him; it would be strange if Li Shishi didn't act arrogantly."

Xiao Tong was even more puzzled upon hearing this. "I think the emperor is still young, so why did he send the princes' sons to the capital so early?"

Pei Yuan crossed his arms.

Pei Yuan actually knew a little about the whole story.

Both the historical "Ning Prince's Incense Offering Incident" and the Ning Prince's early arrival in the capital in this timeline have profound underlying logic.

Many people may find this matter quite outrageous.

After all, in ancient times, there was a saying that "the most important matters of state are sacrifice and war." Not to mention people in ancient times, even people in later generations are very sensitive to the special significance of sacrifice.

So why did Zhu Houzhao appoint a prince of the Ning Prince, who was not related to him at all, as the incense master?

Could it be that Zhu Houzhao was too unruly to understand the meaning behind this?

it's not true.

Because Zhu Houzhao not only did this, but when he issued the decree, he also specially used the standard of "different colored dragon paper, with gold added as a reward".

This specification was the standard specification used by the Crown Prince when he was in charge of the country during the Ming Dynasty!

In other words, Zhu Houzhao's action essentially signaled that the heir apparent of the Ning Kingdom would come to oversee the country.

Hearing this, people in later generations might find it even more outrageous.

Zhu Houzhao was an only son, but Emperor Chenghua had more than one son, Zhu Youcheng.

For example, the young Emperor Wanshou of Huguang was very close to Zhu Houzhao by blood and could have been a more suitable successor.

But what about the Prince of Ning's heir? Let alone whether he's related to Zhu Houzhao by blood, he's not even related to the Yongle Emperor.

So how did the Prince of Ning's heir manage to overcome all competitors, gain Zhu Houzhao's favor, and enter the capital to serve as the incense master with the grand honor of "exotic dragon-patterned paper and gold as a reward"?

The answer is that previous generations ridiculed Zhu Houzhao's absurdity without considering the special historical context of the time.

According to the original timeline, this event occurred in the eleventh year of the Zhengde reign.

Let's talk about the special historical background of the eleventh year of Zhengde's reign.

In the eleventh year of the Zhengde reign, Zhu Houzhao successfully used the resulting weak cabinet to strengthen his control over the border troops. Moreover, disregarding his own safety, he trekked to every important town in the north.

During this period, the exceptionally fierce Mongol prince repeatedly raided the northern border, killing soldiers in fortified villages, plundering the border people, and even breaking through the pass from Shanxi to attack areas near Henan.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao made up his mind to have a decisive battle with the Mongol prince!

Before the decisive battle, Zhu Houzhao fully prepared himself for the possibility of death, or even repeating the fate of Emperor Yingzong.

However, he had no sons or brothers.

The situation that the Ming Dynasty faced afterward might even be more difficult than what happened after the Tumu Crisis.

That's why Zhu Houzhao carefully selected the Prince of Ning's heir as his successor before the decisive battle.

First, Prince Ning's son is already grown up and will not be controlled by the court officials and the Empress Dowager.

Secondly, the Prince of Ning's fiefdom is far away in Jiangxi. If the decisive battle is lost and the north is invaded, the Prince of Ning will have enough time, space and willingness to organize resistance.

Third, Prince Ning was not only older than the princes in the south, but also had high prestige, which enabled him to suppress the imperial clan and prevent the Ming Dynasty from falling into division due to the struggle for the throne.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao's decision to abandon the Xingwang lineage, which was closer in blood, and choose the Ningwang lineage, which had a better chance of ensuring the survival of the Ming Dynasty, before the decisive battle actually carried a certain tragic tone.

When this emperor was fighting a decisive battle for the Ming Dynasty in the northern frontier, he even considered the possibility of his own death.

What reason do later generations have to ridicule or belittle the sacrifices he made?

Faced with those altered and redacted histories, how many people can truly understand Zhu Houzhao's actions of "presenting a gift of a different colored dragon-patterned letter with gold, and appointing the Prince of Ning's heir to oversee incense offerings"?

Fortunately, Zhu Houzhao won in the end, completely repelling the continuous invasions that had begun in the first year of the Zhengde reign.

That aggressive and once-powerful Mongolian prince never reappeared.

By the time the new Mongol prince was rampaging across the outskirts of Beijing on horseback, the emperor in the city had already been replaced by the Daoist Emperor, who was later hailed as the most intelligent man.

Unfortunately, Zhu Houzhao's desperate arrangements and his crown prince plan backfired after he won the battle.

With Zhu Houzhao having no son for a long time, many court officials approved of this arrangement and rushed to pledge allegiance to Prince Ning.

In fact, by re-examining the ministers' dependence on Prince Ning, Prince Ning's rebellion, Zhu Houzhao's suppression of the rebellion, and even Zhu Houzhao's eventual death, wouldn't we gain a completely new perspective?

As for the current timeline, the reason why the matter of having the Prince of Ning's heir to oversee incense offerings was, to some extent, Pei Yuan's own fault.

In order to strike at the two marquises of the Zhang family, Pei Yuan had calculated that Empress Dowager Zhang would deal with Empress Xia.

So he deliberately had Li Shishi release a bait in court, which provoked Empress Zhang to strike back with lightning speed.

This allowed Pei Yuan to easily demonstrate his power to Xia Ru and his son, forcing them to further pledge their allegiance. Incidentally, it also angered the emperor, who then took his anger out on the two Zhang family marquises, thus dampening their arrogance.

Empress Dowager Zhang successfully humiliated the Emperor and Empress Xia, and also found a reason to move Empress Xia to another palace, effectively banishing her to the Cold Palace.

However, this also tore away Zhu Houzhao's last fig leaf, leaving him with no more excuses to delay.

It was after that that Zhu Houzhao was forced to confront the problem and realized that if he wanted to reorganize the military, he had to make a decision regarding the successor.

With Zhu Houzhao's intelligence and foresight, after weighing all the options, he still chose the Prince of Ning's heir, just as he had in history.

(End of this chapter)