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

Chapter 213 The Real High-End Political Struggle

Pei Yuan had never tried to treat his concubine as a plaything.

He never thought that just holding a beautiful woman's hand and teasing her could make people so happy.

That kind of spiritual joy and the sense of dominance are indeed different feelings.

He was just itching to find another excuse to bully the little beauty "Pepper and Salt", but when he saw her tearful face, he felt that it was a bit too much to tease such an inexperienced girl in such an unreasonable way.

Pei Yuan let go of Jiao Yaner's little hand, but was unwilling to let her go. Instead, he grabbed her legs with force and held them in his arms.

Miss Jiao didn't expect Pei Qianhu to be so untrustworthy. She couldn't help but said angrily, "You, you don't keep your word."

Such a cute and straightforward accusation was too much for even the black-hearted Pei Qianhu to bear.

Pei Yuan coughed dryly and changed the subject, "How about we talk?"

This simple suggestion made Pei Yuan feel a little uncomfortable.

He still remembered that during the days when he followed the rebels from Bazhou, Pei Yuan would suddenly wake up in the middle of the night from time to time because of his previous bad experiences.

Jiao Yan'er, who was in the same military tent, was a light sleeper and would sometimes be woken up by Pei Yuan.

Pei Yuan, who was bored at that time, liked to use the four words "Let's talk" as his opening remarks and chat with Jiao Yaner for a while.

Since we woke up in the middle of the night, there was no special topic, so we just talked about whatever came to our minds.

Jiao Yan'er comes from a scholarly family and has unexpectedly much experience.

And who is Jiao Fang, the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet?

He is a man who is well versed in high-end political struggles.

What you think is high-end political struggle: forming cliques and factions, spreading followers, finding the opponent's weakness, then impeaching him through censors, making a big fuss together, and forcing the opponent to fall.

Real high-end political struggle:
When Jiao Fang was working as an editor in the Hanlin Academy for nine years, he was eligible to be promoted to the position of Imperial Lecturer. Someone said to the Grand Secretary Wan An, "How can someone like Jiao Fang, who is so ignorant and incompetent, be a lecturer?"

Cabinet Grand Secretary Wan An said, I will think about it.

When Jiao Fang heard this, he became furious.

He neither wrote a short essay nor submitted an anonymous letter, but made the statement directly in public.

"Damn it! This must be Peng Hua who is behind my death. If I can't become a bachelor, I will chop him to death on Chang'an Road!"

Who can afford to offend this?

Not to mention Peng Hua, even the Cabinet Grand Secretary Wan An was trembling with fear.

So Jiao Fang successfully passed the organization's assessment.

Jiao Yan'er was born into a family of practical scholars, and her way of looking at problems is different from that of ordinary people.

Occasionally, a few words would give Pei Yuan some inspiration.

Every time they chatted at night, the final result was usually that Pei Yuan would fall into a sound sleep, and the beautiful Jiao, who was originally sleeping well, would not feel sleepy anymore.

At that time, the feeling between the two was like that of friends who respected each other.

But now...

Pei Yuan was embarrassed for a few seconds and moved his hands off the little beauty's soft buttocks.

However, Pei Yuan has already made up his mind and will not regret it.

It's time to clarify the relationship between the two.

Pei Yuan looked at Jiao Yan'er and said bluntly, "You probably can't go back to Biyang. I'm sure you understand the reason, right?"

Pei Yuan clearly felt Jiao Yaner's body stiffen.

With Jiao Yaner's intelligence, she certainly understood what Pei Yuan meant.

How could a family of a cabinet minister have a woman who lost her virginity to a thief?

Not to mention that she couldn't go back to Biyang, the Jiao family would most likely collude with each other overnight to give different confessions and deny having such a daughter.

In other words, just give her a title of committing suicide to preserve her chastity.

If Jiao Yan'er came from an ordinary family of scholars, she might really have taken that path.

But Jiao Fang's biological granddaughter is different after all.

She wants to live.

She wanted to see if God would give her a chance to survive if she held on to the end.

She lived a more tenacious life than other abducted women, but also a more repressed life than other abducted women.

But she is alive after all.

However, the man in front of her still brought up a topic that she could not avoid.

What should I do in the future?

Pei Yuan looked at Jiao Yan'er directly and said, "From now on, you will be my concubine."

Jiao Yaner's body was still stiff, and she looked somewhat at a loss and confused.

Pei Yuan held the little beauty in his arms and loved her so much.

It's just that due to the promise I made just now, I can't do it for the time being.

At this moment, Cheng Leixiang shouted from afar in the courtyard, "Master Qianhu, General Song is here, and he seems to have something urgent to do."

Pei Yuan was cheered up when he heard this and said to himself, "That's good."

My good friend, look at me, I’m going to stand up and kick you.

Cheng Leixiang's words outside also startled the little beauty in his arms.

The stiff body began to struggle again.

Pei Yuan picked her up, put his forehead against hers and kissed her, then said, "I have something to do, you should take a good rest first."

After putting Miss Jiao down, Pei Yuan went out to meet Song Chunniang.

After opening the door, Cheng Leixiang reported, "Captain, General Song is in the outer courtyard."

Pei Yuan was a little surprised, "Why didn't you bring her in?"

Cheng Leixiang said, "She brought a lot of people with her, and she refused to give up her weapons."

"Oh." Pei Yuan felt relieved. After all, Song Chunniang was used to traveling around the world and had at least some safety awareness.

Pei Yuan was not too surprised that Song Chunniang could not come in.

Although several big leaders of the Bazhou Army said that the Bazhou Army would let Pei Yuan come and go, Pei Yuan was too important now.

Many things concerning the survival of the Bazhou Army are closely related to Pei Yuan.

In this situation, who would dare to be careless?
Therefore, when Zhao Sui proposed to send more "protective personnel" to Brother Pei, Liu Qi, with his generosity and loyalty, chose to agree.

Pei Yuan then followed Cheng Leixiang out of the courtyard and headed towards the outer courtyard.

When we arrived at the outer courtyard, we saw Song Chunniang and a dozen other people, looking around boredly.

"Kan Potian" brought a team of people to stand guard nearby.

Both sides had their swords in their sheaths, and they looked quite peaceful. When Song Chunniang saw Pei Yuan, she immediately showed a look of surprise on her face.

Pei Yuan gestured to "Kan Po Tian" and said, "My people."

"Kan Potian" said in embarrassment, "This is what Deputy Commander Zhao said. He said that he was afraid that someone would come to assassinate Captain Pei, so he did not allow anyone to bring weapons to see you."

Pei Yuan didn't care about these things, and said to Song Chunniang, "Leave the weapons outside. I just need to find you for something."

Seeing Pei Yuan was safe and sound, Song Chunniang heaved a sigh of relief, threw the embroidered spring knife in her hand back, and said, "Wait for me outside."

Someone stepped forward and swiftly took the knife, then stepped back.

Pei Yuan took a look at the dozen people and felt that they looked unfamiliar, so he asked Song Chunniang, "Are they from the Qianhu Suo?"

Song Chunniang said, "No, he is Han Qianhu's man, not from the Jinyiwei. He is a man of few words, but he is very capable."

Pei Yuan understood what was going on after hearing this.

The interests involved in the Huai'an roasted nuts this time were too huge, and Han Qianhu probably couldn't keep her composure anymore, so she threw out some of her cards.

Pei Yuan didn't expect a military officer who could secretly build a falconet to be a good person, even if she was a woman.

Thinking of the military officer, Pei Yuan suddenly had an idea in his mind. Could this be Captain Han's elite servant?
Then this combat effectiveness is very exciting.

After all, as a front-line garrison dealing with the underworld, the Zhenxie Qianhu Unit is a battle-hardened unit with elite personnel.

If on this basis, we can recruit a group of selected servants, the combat effectiveness of these people will definitely be higher than those of Cui Bohou.

Pei Yuan himself was planning to raise some private soldiers after the situation stabilized, so he was naturally not surprised by this situation.

He said to Song Chunniang, "Let's go in and talk."

As he said this, he led Song Chunniang to the room.

Cheng Leixiang glanced at the "Kan Po Tian" for a few times, and seeing that they had no intention of following him, he followed Pei Yuan and Song Chunniang.

Pei Yuan took Song Chunniang directly back to his room.

He asked as he walked, "How did you find it?"

Song Chunniang felt that Pei Yuan was talking nonsense.

"Now the whole Huai'an knows that Suqian City has surrendered. I'm not deaf. The last time Cheng Leixiang went back, he boasted about your ability as Pei Daqian Hu, so when we met people, we said we were friends of the 'Living Jiang Gan'."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Leixiang, who was following behind, immediately regretted following in.

Pei Yuan turned around and glared at him fiercely. Damn it, you were very smart before. Don’t you understand what to say?
Facing Pei Yuan's gaze, Cheng Leixiang said with a stiff face, "I am thinking that someone will definitely go to look for Qian Hu later. If I don't explain the situation clearly, I am afraid it will cause trouble."

Song Chunniang was a little puzzled by Pei Yuan's dissatisfaction, "Your title is quite useful, I heard that those cavalrymen of the Bazhou Army came to look for you, and they even took away our weapons."

Pei Yuan didn't want to explain this anymore, so he just said, "Let's talk about it later."

Thinking of the idea of ​​standing up and kicking the iron rod just now, he took the opportunity to say to Cheng Lei, "Get out of here."

Cheng Leixiang stopped immediately, regained his consciousness, and went to guard the gate of the courtyard.

Song Chunniang thought she had some understanding of Pei Yuan's character.

When Pei Yuan chased Cheng Leixiang away, Song Chunniang didn't dare to speak directly. After Cheng Leixiang walked away, she warned him, "I have something important to do this time! Don't mess around."

Pei Yuan was slightly startled when he heard this.

At first he thought it was just a matter of Chanheji.

With Captain Han in charge, Pei Yuan was naturally relieved, so he was not particularly anxious about Song Chunniang's purpose.

I didn't expect there was something important?
Pei Yuan stopped talking, looked around, and stepped into the house.

Song Chunniang strode into Pei Yuan's room.

Thinking that Cheng Leixiang was guarding the gate, Pei Yuan didn't have to worry about anyone coming over to eavesdrop, so he closed the door.

Song Chunniang looked around the room and waved to Pei Yuan.

Pei Yuan leaned over and heard Song Chunniang whisper, "The spy in Jiangxi has reported back."

Pei Yuan suddenly perked up, "What about Prince Ning? What did he say?"

Song Chunniang whispered, "Captain Han followed the method you gave her and had someone secretly contact Liu Yangzheng in the name of the rebel leader."

"When Liu Yangzheng heard that it was the Bazhou Army that contacted him, he was overjoyed. He flattered King Ning and said that King Ning was a virtuous man, known to the world, and people from all over the world came to him."

"Prince Ning is also very happy, but this matter sounds too unbelievable. Although Prince Ning is very tempted by the combat power of the Bazhou Army, he has been hesitant to make up his mind."

Pei Yuan lost his temper when he heard this. "What happened next?"

If we can't sell the Bazhou Army at a good price, it will be a big loss.

Song Chunniang said, "That Liu Yangzheng worked very hard on this matter in order to make his contribution real."

"Later, King Ning said that our people must prove their identities first, otherwise, everything will be in vain."

Pei Yuan asked directly, "What are their conditions?"

Then he continued, "It's probably not easy to convince them just by self-evidence. I guess this must be the method they came up with, right?"

Song Chunniang gave Pei Yuan a look that showed she had guessed correctly, "They said that if the Bazhou Army could come up with the slogan 'Purge the emperor's side and support the virtuous king', they would believe that we are on the Bazhou Army's side."

Pei Yuan widened his eyes and asked in disbelief, "Is Zhu Chenhao crazy?"

During the Zhengde period, the Ming Dynasty still had a solid foundation. Wouldn't it be easy to deal with it?
Is he going to jump out so soon?
That would rewrite history!

Song Chunniang said, "That's exactly the condition they proposed. It's just that Prince Ning's people said that after the Bazhou Army shouted this slogan, they should make it clear to the world that they want to support the current Prince De. As long as the Bazhou Army shouts this slogan and puts pressure on the court, they are willing to pay 100,000 taels of silver in military expenses to help the elite troops of the Bazhou Army retreat to Jiangxi."

"Prince De?" Pei Yuan was stunned.

Then he reacted and couldn't help but praise, "What a great Prince Ning, he still has two useful people around him."

Zhu Chenhao was trying to put the blame on Prince De. Not only could he verify the sincerity of the Bazhou Army through this major event, he could also take the opportunity to target Prince De.

Although the lineage of Prince De is not of any importance, they are loyal to the lineage of the Emperor.

If the Bazhou Army raises this banner, the whole world will be in an uproar, and even if the De clan will not be abolished, it will inevitably be weakened.

In this way, the strength of the emperor's lineage will be weakened.

If he weakened Prince De and caused hostility from other vassal princes, then Prince Ning Zhu Chenhao might be able to replicate the situation that Prince Yan Zhu Di had experienced in the past.

If the princes of various places turned a blind eye, or even if some were willing to secretly assist him, then after Zhu Chenhao led his troops into Beijing and replaced Zhu Houzhao, he would not have to worry about the backlash from the royal family.

When Pei Yuan thought of this, he thought to himself, Zhu Chenhao really didn't lose out.

Even if he spent the 100,000 taels of silver as a reward, it would be enough to make his money back as long as he could overthrow Prince De.

Song Chunniang asked, "What should we do?"

Pei Yuan didn't care about that and said directly, "King De is King De, it has nothing to do with us. Besides, King De himself has gained a lot of benefits with the help of the Bazhou Army. He himself has a dirty bottom. If we really investigate, we might find something."

Song Chunniang asked, "Is the Bazhou Army easy to deal with?"

Pei Yuan said, "It's not a big problem. I'll go talk to Liu Qi about this later."

"One hundred thousand taels." Song Chunniang sighed. She was fully aware of the matter. In order to exchange for this information, General Song paid a considerable price.

(End of this chapter)