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

Chapter 408: Zhang Hulang's mouth spits out the poison of a long snake

After He Huan heard this, his eyes moved wildly, and his face was full of emotions. After a while, he swept the cups and plates on the table to the ground and said angrily, "How dare you fool me?!"

Guo Hui was also frightened by He Huan's move.

He was confused and had no idea what Pei Yuan meant by the three words "imperial bastard son".

But Pei Yuan's face instantly drooped, and he unceremoniously swept the cups and plates in front of him to the ground.

Hearing the crisp sound, Guo Hui was a little dumbfounded.

He Huan seemed to have not expected Pei Yuan to have this reaction. His pair of slightly bloodshot eyes stared at Pei Yuan fiercely with some surprise.

Pei Yuanhui stared at He Huan and growled rudely, "Be sensible. Captain Pei came all the way here, not to coax you!"

He deliberately spoke slowly, letting his voice swell in his throat like a growling wolf.

He Huan stared at Pei Yuan for a while, the fierceness in his eyes turned into suspicion, and after a long while he spoke, "Imperial bastard?"

Pei Yuan asked directly, "Do you remember the old things when Taizu founded the country? In order to firmly control the troops in his hands, Taizu adopted many sons to fight for him."

"for example……"

Pei Yuan paused and said, "Mu Ying, the Prince of Qianning, who will stay in Yunnan forever."

The expression on He Huan's face was once again as wonderful as before.

He was a little bit unbelieving, yet hopeful.

Pei Yuan continued, "The current emperor's reforms have been frustrated, and he has begun to retreat from the court. The rebellion in Bazhou has just been quelled, and all the generals are going to the capital to compete for merit. I have received very reliable news that the emperor intends to select capable candidates from those generals and adopt them as his sons."

"When the time comes, we will all have the emperor's surname, and we can call ourselves the emperor's bastards."

He Huan's guess was confirmed, and he couldn't wait to ask, "Really?"

Even Guo Hui, who was standing by, looked at Pei Yuan with shining eyes.

Pei Yuan said calmly, "It's fine to be like the King of Qianning, ruling a place forever."

Now He Huan couldn't keep calm at all.

His eyes moved quickly left and right, and it was unknown what he was looking at. Then he stared at Pei Yuan and asked, "So what do you mean by telling me this?"

Pei Yuan calmed down and said, "I have a say in front of the emperor, and I am very confident that I can put you on the list. It depends on whether you are willing to be the emperor's godson."

He Huan was indeed decisive at the critical moment.

He agreed immediately, "What's there to say? Those scholars all say 'ruler is ruler, minister is minister, father is father, son is son'. I think this 'ruler and minister' should be the same as 'father and son'."

"If the emperor is interested, I, He Huan, will naturally obey his orders!"

Guo Hui, who was standing aside, was so envious that he could not sit still.

He coughed lightly and took the initiative to make small talk, "Captain Pei, this bastard of the emperor you are talking about..."

Pei Yuan rejected it outright, "You can't."

After that, he gave an explanation, "When the Bazhou rebels marched south, Commander He also made great contributions. When the Nanjing Military Department reported his achievements, his ranking was only after the Southern Grand Marshal Wang Chang."

"This time Bazhou has been completely pacified, and the court is going to reward him according to his merits, and he deserves a share."

"And you, the Xuzhou Guard, lost the city of Xuzhou when the Bazhou Army fled north. You should be thankful that the court did not hold you accountable. How dare you covet other things?"

After listening to this, Guo Hui sighed for a while.

The loss of Xuzhou City was the responsibility of all parties, and it was not entirely his own fault.

He glanced at He Huan and couldn't help but mutter, "I haven't heard that Huai'an Wei has done anything big. Didn't they send away the Huai'an prefect last year?"

When He Huan heard this, he felt as if his heart was being cut by a knife.

His merits! They were earned by Pei Yuan in order to compensate him for the 80,000 taels of silver!

Pei Yuan looked back at Guo Hui and asked bluntly, "Are you arguing with me? Or are you arguing with the Ming officialdom?"

Guo Hui was so angry at Pei Yuan's words that he lost his temper.

If you really want to be serious, then the people he offended are really terrible.

Pei Yuan continued to question Guo Hui rudely, "When I teach you a lesson in the future, will you also be serious with me?"

Guo Hui's face flushed red, and he denied it flatly, "I didn't mean that."

He Huan was also afraid that the fool Guo would ruin his plans, so he slapped the table in front of him to signal Guo Hui that he was still there.

Although Guo Hui was envious and couldn't help but say sour words, it was indeed a bit embarrassing to do so in front of He Huan.

Seeing this, Pei Yuan also knocked hard on the table with his fingers.

But Pei Yuan stretched out his hand and knocked on the center of the table.

He Huan remembered that he had just willfully knocked over those cups and plates, and immediately turned around and shouted, "More wine, more food!"

Maybe what they just talked about was too shocking, or maybe they haven't thought through their own thoughts yet.

After the food and wine came, the three of them didn't say much and started eating and drinking without caring about their image.

All three of them had big appetites, and the silent biting and chewing was like a ritual, biting and chewing every little idea into pieces, slowly settling them into thoughts.

When the wine was finished, Pei Yuan, who was burping, said to Guo Hui, "Don't worry, Commander Guo. One day I will come to you just like I came to Commander He. I will give you an explanation then."

Guo Hui was overjoyed and stood up to toast Pei Yuan.

Pei Yuan finished drinking the wine, and then reminded He Huan, "To be honest, I have already helped you with this matter before coming here. Many powerful generals in the army will enter the capital this time, and you don't have much advantage..."

Having said that, Pei Yuan looked at He Huan's figure.

He Huan was of medium height, with fair skin and a short beard. He looked rather elegant, but was nothing like a fierce general.

Pei Yuan said to He Huan, "Have you heard of Jiang Bin?"

He Huan looked slightly gloomy and said, "I heard something about it."

Pei Yuan said, "Jiang Bin was fighting with bandits in Huaibei and was shot by three arrows, one of which hit him in the face, with the arrowhead sticking out of his ear. Jiang Bin was not afraid and pulled out the arrow to fight again, as fierce as a ghost."

"How do you compare to Jiang Bin?"

He Huan looked a little unnatural, "Why not."

Pei Yuan continued, "There are many brave generals like this in the border army and the capital army, and there are many who are inferior to you. So when I asked everyone to recommend you, I called you a Confucian general and emphasized your wisdom. What do you think?"

After hearing this, the gloom on He Huan's face disappeared. This was indeed a point of confidence for him.

In order to give confidence to Pei Yuan, the recommender, He Huan said in a rare high-profile manner, "If you say so, I am always as good as others."

Pei Yuangang gave He Huan some hope and continued to suppress him, "But you know the emperor's temper. He always advocates bravery and has the strength to fight tigers and leopards. Qian Ning, do you know?"

He Huan was not very well-informed about the news in Beijing.

The news of Zhang Rong's downfall and Qian Ning's ascension to power was only a month or two ago, and had not yet reached Xuzhou.

He Huan could only say, "I don't know about that."

Pei Yuan introduced He Huan, "Qian Ning was favored by the emperor because of his strength and good archery skills. He often accompanied the emperor in fighting tigers and leopards. In a short period of time, he became the commander of the Jinyiwei."

He Huan felt heavy in his heart after hearing this. He asked in a deep voice, "So this road is not easy to travel?"

Pei Yuan gave He Huan advice and said, "Do you know where your disadvantage is?" He Huan thought, isn't he just trying to say that I can't fight?

This inheritance was inherited by me, and I don't need to build up my strength or martial arts.

But since Pei Yuan asked this, it was obvious that he had some hidden meaning.

He Huan could only say, "I'd like to hear the details."

Pei Yuan said to him, "Other generals, guerrillas, and commanders are standing there. The emperor only needs to look at them and know their bravery. But what about you? Even if you have countless plans and plots in your mind, how can you show them without a deep discussion?"

"Besides, the emperor has never had any impression of you. Is there any chance for you to get to know each other?"

Pei Yuan, drunkenly, looked at He Huan's expression and continued, "You should know that among so many civil and military officials in the court, only a few can talk to the emperor alone, let alone you, a foreign official who was lucky enough to be promoted suddenly?"

"If you cannot take the initiative and leave a deep impression on the emperor, even if I make you a bastard, how long do you think it will take for the emperor to forget about you?" Commander He

He Huan heard this, touched the wine glass and remained silent.

He was a man of wisdom and strategy, so he would not easily rely on others. While Pei Yuan was talking about various assumptions, he was already thinking about his own countermeasures.

But He Huan changed his mind and thought that since Pei Yuan took the initiative to propose it, he must have some ideas about it. This would be a good opportunity to test Pei Yuan's background.

He immediately asked Pei Yuan, "What do you think, brother Pei?"

Pei Yuan smiled and said, "That's something you should think about."

After saying that, I don't know whether it was out of arrogance or pride, he whispered to He Huan, "Neither you nor I should be the ones whose fate is determined by just one look from others."

"Isn't it?"

He Huan chewed over these words and felt that they touched the heart.

He didn't like to show his intentions, but he just drank the wine directly, a full glass.

Pei Yuan looked at He Huan, as if he was whispering something, but he calmly opened his tiger-like mouth and spit out the poison of a long snake.

"After entering the capital, you must behave well and actively demonstrate your wisdom."

"Don't embarrass me and the others who recommended you."

"Don't... let others look down on you."

Then he said half jokingly, half offensively, "Even if it's your father."

Of course, Pei Yuan was not talking about He Huan's father, but was using the excuse of the emperor's illegitimate son to implicitly refer to the current emperor.

Even with He Huan's wisdom and gloom, he fell into the trap set by Pei Yuan unknowingly. He was already racking his brains to figure out how to demonstrate his advantages and stand out in front of the emperor.

Pei Yuan raised his glass and smiled at He Huan, "When I accomplish this, whether you become a noble person like the King of Qianning or an ordinary illegitimate son of the emperor, the grudge between us will be over. How about it?"

He Huan also quickly raised his glass and clinked it with Pei Yuan, and said with emotion, "He Huan has met many people, but has never met a person like Pei Qianhu."

"Compared to knowing Captain Pei, what are those eight things?"

They both drank the wine.

Pei Yuan did not stay any longer and stood up and said, "That's enough for now. I'm exhausted and sleepy, so I'll go back and rest now."

After saying this, he was about to leave despite the two people's attempts to keep him.

Before leaving, he said to Guo Hui, "If I have time in the future, I will go find you."

Guo Hui was delighted and said, "Brother Pei, if you pass by Xuzhou, just invite me to your home. I have plenty of good wine and good food."

Pei Yuan did not respond, and said to He Huan, "See you in the capital."

He Huan was delighted to hear this and said, "Thank you for your good words."

Pei Yuan stood up and shook twice, and was about to leave, but suddenly patted his head, turned back, pulled He Huan's sleeve and walked two steps out.

He Huan was somewhat puzzled and asked, "Brother Pei, do you have anything else to tell me?"

Pei Yuan said to He Huan, "I am helping someone run a business. I want to get a piece of land in Huai'an to make some oil and soy sauce. If Commander He gets promoted in the future, who should I ask to help take care of him?"

When He Huan heard that what Pei Yuan entrusted to him was a private matter, his vigilance towards Pei Yuan was greatly reduced.

Being able to help each other with personal matters is a symbol of a closer relationship.

At least it shows that Pei Yuan is very willing to get close to He Huan.

He Huan immediately patted his chest and said, "Just do your job, my dear brother. As long as it's in Huai'an, no one will dare to cause trouble for you. If I can get promoted, I will use my connections to try my best to push Zhou Chao up."

"If the court appoints someone else as the commander, it doesn't matter. You can just go find Zhou Chao."

Pei Yuan understood.

After several generations of management by the He family, Huai'an Wei has become an ironclad system with no room for outsiders to interfere.

Zhou Chao is He Huan’s agent.

If you want to control Huai'an Guard, you can't just seize a few important official positions.

Pei Yuan smiled and asked again, "Do you want me to take care of the Dahe Guard?"

He Huan said casually, "No need, just find Zhou Chao."

Pei Yuan sighed inwardly.

Huai'an Wei and Dahe Wei.

These two big rocks blocked Pei Yuan's Grand Canal strategy.

It just so happened that He Huan, a person who made Pei Yuan uneasy, was in charge of these two garrisons.

Putting He Huan in front of Yang Tinghe will not completely eliminate the hidden dangers.

If we want to open up the Grand Canal and remove any more siltation, we must remove Huai'an Wei and Dahe Wei.

So how can I do this?

Pei Yuan was thinking about it, and suddenly remembered what Guo Hui had said at the table just now.

correct.

Last year, when Huai'an Guard and Dahe Guard were fighting against the Bazhou bandits under the leadership of Huai'an Prefect Liu Xiang, the troops of the two guards scattered at the front line, leaving the dumbfounded Liu Xiang at the front.

As a result, this "Duke of Huainan" who was sold out was captured by the Bazhou army and tied up like a dumpling. The people of Huai'an were asked whether he was a good official or a bad official.

Fortunately, Liu Xiang had a good reputation, and most of the Huai'an people who were asked thought he was a good official, so Liu Xiang saved his life.

Later, when Shen Qi, a student from Muyang County, heard that the prefect had been captured by the bandits, he rushed into the bandit camp without hesitation, explained the pros and cons, and finally expressed his willingness to sacrifice himself.

The Bazhou army was already full of chivalrous spirit, and they were deeply moved by this and released Liu Xiang.

I just don’t know if this guy is still in Huai’an.

Pei Yuan then asked He Huan tentatively, "Do you still need to take care of the prefect of Huai'an?"

He Huan smiled and said, "It's a waste of money to do it, let's wait and see."

Pei Yuan knew that Liu Xiang's political career was about to end. It seemed that no one in the court or the local areas would protect him.

(End of this chapter)