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

Chapter 669 The Beast in the Cage
Pei Yuan returned to the courtroom, and the military officers who had been whispering all fell silent.

Many people are puzzled by the Emperor's indifferent attitude towards these auspicious omens. Otherwise, he wouldn't have allowed the Ministry of Rites to intercept these auspicious omens reported from various regions at the Thousand-Household Office.

Moreover, auspicious grains like Jiahe are considered low-ranking among auspicious omens and are not particularly noteworthy.

I never expected that my own commander would be so concerned about this.

Pei Yuan asked Yun Weilin, "Does the Thousand Household Office have any urgent matters to attend to recently?"

Yun Weilin looked around at everyone present. Not to mention the two centurions and several captains, even the junior officers were mostly selected from Pei Yuan's close associates.

Whether the lower-ranking Jinyiwei (Imperial Guards) are truly of one mind is another matter, but at least these people in front of them can be described as an unbreakable bond after the weddings of the two commanders.

So Yun Weilin said directly, "There are two more things. One is about Junior Flag Officer Chen Shu, and the other is about Junior Flag Officer Cai Rong."

Pei Yuan thought for a moment.

The junior officer Chen Shu was the one ordered to keep an eye on Liang Gu, the chief clerk of the Ministry of Personnel, while the junior officer Cai Rong was the broker who was fluent in Japanese and was sent by him to make contact with the Japanese delegation.

Pei Yuan hadn't had time to take care of either of these matters yet, and he didn't know what the current situation was.

Pei Yuan immediately said, "Speak."

Yun Weilin then recounted the report he had compiled, detailing all the relevant statements.

Pei Yuan was truly amazed after hearing this.

According to the statement, ever since Pei Yuan started setting up Liang Gu, he has used the secret channels of the Embroidered Uniform Guard to bring many of the villains who used to hang out with Liang Gu to the capital to see him.

As a result, following Qu Ang, Wei Duan and others, more than ten people disappeared after searching for Liang Valley.

Liang Gu's mental state has also become somewhat abnormal.

According to the secret investigation by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Liang Gu would stand in the courtyard and watch the gate every day after returning to the capital from his official duties, until he heard the evening drum sound in the city, at which point he would take off his official robes and go to eat and read.

Chen Shu, along with his Imperial Guards, secretly searched Liang Gu's house several times while Liang Gu was at the yamen. However, they found no trace of the crime, nor even the body.

Those people vanished without a trace, as if they had never been there at all.

Seeing that Liang Gu seemed to be on the verge of a mental breakdown, Chen Shu dared not bring anyone to the capital to meet him anymore.

What to do next depends on the instructions from the thousand households.

Upon hearing this, Pei Yuan couldn't help but marvel. This official in charge of the Ministry of Personnel was truly a ruthless person!

In his youth, he was a gangster who committed robbery and vandalism on the streets. After a few years of sudden enlightenment, he passed the imperial examination with his own abilities and became a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations). He also became a confidant of Yang Yiqing by relying on his self-taught knowledge of officialdom and became the head of the Ministry of Personnel's Qingli Division, which held the fate of countless local officials in his hands.

Historically, if this guy hadn't been forced into a corner and deliberately instigated the Guishan King Rebellion to eliminate Yuan Zhi and Zhao Yan, who were threatening him, he might have been able to peacefully ascend to the position of Grand Minister of the Seven Kingdoms.

What makes a truly formidable person? This is a truly formidable person!

However, compared to the original history, Lianggu is now in a much more tragic state.

Before the local evil forces could even realize his meteoric rise, Liang Gu was already being targeted by another unspeakable entity.

Then, that demonic being, like feeding monsters, sent him his old acquaintances one by one for him to kill.

Liang Gu meticulously planned a series of murders, and finally managed to eliminate several old acquaintances.

As a result, his old acquaintances who knew his background were still being fed food at a leisurely pace.

Now, Liang Gu is no longer just anxious about his past identity being exposed, or about the murder of his old acquaintance being revealed. He is now tormented every day by the mastermind behind the scenes who has yet to come forward.

He already understood that someone was deliberately treating him like a caged beast.

But this caged beast was unwilling to give up a life that had finally emerged from the mire, nor was he willing to accept the helplessness of being controlled by others without any recourse.

Pei Yuan tapped his fingers on the gong table for a while before asking, "Are there any other fellow townsmen from Liang Gu who have come to the capital?"

Yun Weilin said, "There are two more, both from Dongping. I heard that Liang Gu became an official in the Ministry of Personnel and wants to use some of the things he did back then to get promoted and make money."

"After explaining Liang Gu's situation, I was afraid that if I continued to provoke Liang Gu, things would get worse. So I spent some money to have the Daxing County government find an opportunity to arrest those two fellow villagers."

Pei Yuan thought for a moment and said, "Does our thousand-household unit have any secret places where we can do dirty work?"

Yun Weilin laughed and said, "Commander, you're joking. If we're talking about hiding filth, nothing compares to temples. There are so many temples, big and small, in Beijing, and many of them are places where dirty things are done."

Pei Yuan didn't ask for details, but directly inquired, "Are there any small temples near the Liang family?"

Yun Weilin thought for a moment and said, "Dazhi Temple is nearby."

Pei Yuan said calmly, "First, release one person and arrange for him to stay at Dazhi Temple. Then, write a letter to Liang Gu, instructing him to go to Dazhi Temple and kill him."

Yun Weilin's heart skipped a beat when he heard this, and he asked, "Commander, are we going to reveal our identities now?"

Pei Yuan shook his head, "No need, I have other things to arrange for him to do. Wait until he's finished..."

Pei Yuan considered whether or not to accept this ruthless person. After thinking it over, he was still undecided. After a while, he finally exhaled and said, "We'll see when the time comes."

Then, Pei Yuan asked, "What's going on with Cai Rong?"

Pei Yuan seemed to remember that Cai Rong had said he had something to discuss with him last time, but that was right when the results of the imperial examinations were announced.

Pei Yuan was so focused on this that he had no time to pay attention to it, and he didn't bother to ask about it again afterward.

Yun Weilin replied, "Cai Rong has already infiltrated the Japanese delegation. Because the court forbids Ming people from having private contact with Japanese, the Japanese chief envoy, An Keigo, plans to have him disguise himself as a Japanese."

"Cai Rong was worried about violating the national law and wanted to ask the commander for his opinion."

“At that time, the commander had important business to attend to, and Cai Rong had not received orders for a long time. Fearing that he would delay the commander’s business, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and pretend to be a Japanese to join the mission.”

Pei Yuan nodded. "I see."

It is estimated that Cai Rong was frightened by Pei Yuan's killing of Song Suqing, and therefore hesitated to accept An Guiwu's suggestion.

Fortunately, Cai Rong ultimately decided to take the risk.

Pei Yuan said to Yun Weilin, "Then let someone contact Cai Rong. In a few days, I should also focus my attention on the mission. Have Cai Rong find out for me what the situation is with the Ouchi and Hosokawa clans in their mission. No matter their rank or how small the matter, we need to find out and report back in a timely manner."

Yun Weilin quickly agreed.

Pei Yuan's Thousand-Household Office wasn't a very large government office. Although it handled a variety of matters, nothing truly went wrong. Pei Yuan, still somewhat unsatisfied, turned to his subordinates and said, "You can all speak freely now. Tell me if you've heard anything interesting lately?"

Seeing how approachable Commander Pei was, the young officers couldn't help but excitedly speak up.

This place has good wine, that gambling den is cheating, someone swindled a few taels of silver from a shop, someone offended an official and was chased by the city patrol.

Pei Yuan listened for a long time but didn't get any useful information.

Yun Buxian remarked, "I heard the war in Jiangxi is coming to an end. Censor-in-Chief Chen Jin has already submitted a memorial to the court, and they are currently pursuing the fleeing enemy and wiping out the remaining remnants. I reckon they'll be returning to the capital in a few days?"

Pei Yuan thought to himself, "Why haven't I heard Wei Ne from the Office of Transmission mention this before?"

Then, some guesses were made, and it was estimated that Wei Ne did not realize the importance of this matter.

The rebellion in Jiangxi was very different from the rebellion of the bandits in Bazhou.

The Bazhou bandits were roving bandits who relied on an elite cavalry force to roam around, gathering a large number of vassal troops to fight alongside them, causing immense damage.

In addition to the material losses caused by burning, killing, and looting, a large number of people were also taken away, leaving the four provinces still unable to recover.

However, the rebels in Jiangxi were different. After their rebellion, they had very little room to maneuver in Jiangxi's pocket-shaped terrain.

Therefore, the rebels in Jiangxi mainly relied on the strategic terrain to occupy key locations and hold their ground.

The imperial court expended enormous effort and suffered numerous casualties in its attacks on these rebels, but without achieving significant results.

On the positive side, these rebels, trapped in the rugged mountains, did not cause too much harm to the local area.

Spurred by the suppression of the rebellion in Bazhou, the Grand Commander-in-Chief Chen Jin quickly assembled a motley crew and launched a decisive battle against the Jiangxi rebels.

Unfortunately, although the battle was won, the consequences of this great war were not so easily quelled.

Pei Yuan had little interest in this Grand Censor Chen Jin. Once Chen Jin returned in triumph, Grand Secretary Fei Hong would naturally seize the opportunity to deal with him thoroughly.

Pei Yuan was more interested in Chen Jin's son-in-law, Jiang Mian.

Jiang Mian is currently serving as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and his main backer is Fei Hong.

Fei Hong was the top scholar in the Dingwei year of the Chenghua reign, and he was the first among his contemporaries to rise to prominence. As fellow Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) of the Dingwei year, they naturally felt close to Fei Hong.

Now Liu Chun has become the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and Jiang Mian has become the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. Both of them are outstanding graduates of the Chenghua Dingwei examination.

It should be noted that the Ministry of Personnel was Yang Yiqing's territory. In the midst of their power struggle, the court officials silently placed two knives on Yang Yiqing's left and right sides.

This is similar to Li Shishi's situation back then.

Hong Zhong, the former Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, was unable to perform his duties, resulting in Wang Ding, the River Conservancy Governor of Jining, being promoted instead of demoted thanks to Liang Chu's backing. He returned to the capital as the Right Censor-in-Chief and took charge of the Censorate.

In the case of Liang Cishu, Wang Ding, who was in charge of the trial, stepped forward without hesitation to take the blame, telling the emperor that Liang Cishu's case was serious but the law was lenient, and it could not be judged by ordinary rules.

This matter did not cause much of a stir at first, but after Pei Yuan persuaded Zhu Houzhao to change his stance, Zhu Houzhao retaliated by dismissing Wang Ding from his position as Right Vice Censor-in-Chief under the pretext of flattering his superior.

Following the reshuffling of the Censorate, Li Shishi rose to power. Not long after, during the grand evaluation of merits, Pei Yuan used the "Bian Xian and Xiao Chong case" as a subplot to attack He Jian.

Having been exonerated, Bian Xian and Xiao Chong returned to the Censorate as Right Vice Censor-in-Chief.

One of these two men was Yang Yiqing's, and the other was Yang Tinghe's. With the position of Right Vice Censor-in-Chief vacant, these two Right Vice Censors-in-Chief were like two knives pointed at Li Shishi's back.

Yang Yiqing was extremely distressed by this situation, yet there was nothing he could do about it.

Because his main enemy is Yang Tinghe, and he is already at a great disadvantage, if he were to open a new front with Grand Secretary Fei Hong, Yang Yiqing could simply retire and return to his hometown.

Fortunately, although Yang Yiqing was in a difficult situation, with these two vice ministers around, and the Ministry of Personnel occasionally receiving assistance from Fei Hong, he had no choice but to endure it.

However, things will soon be different.

When Chen Jin was in Jiangxi, he not only failed to control the rabble recruited from various places, but he also became extremely corrupt himself.

Jiangxi, that's Fei Hong's hometown!

What made things even more difficult for Chen Jin was that some soldiers had robbed Fei Hong's hometown, and in order to please the Grand Scholar, they even gave the young men and women they had robbed to Fei Hong as slaves.

The outcome of Fei Hong and Chen Jin's falling out was that Jiang Mian, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, was completely put in an awkward position.

Jiang Mian experienced the pain of losing his wife in his early years. At that time, Chen Jin, who was in the Censorate, greatly admired Jiang Mian and gave his eldest daughter to Jiang Mian as his second wife.

The relationship between the father-in-law and son-in-law is also very good.

When Jiang Mian's backer and his father-in-law started to clash, he was in the most awkward position.

Not to mention that Jiang Mian was caught between two sides in front of Fei Hong and Chen Jin, he was also trembling on the edge of the confrontation between Yang Tinghe and Yang Yiqing.

Pei Yuan thought of Jiang Mian and couldn't help but sigh, "Another future Grand Scholar."

However, this person was a Hanlin Bachelor and held the official position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, so he had a promising future. How could we take advantage of the crisis at that time to win him over as an ally?
Pei Yuan thought for a moment and then instructed Yun Buxian, "Keep an eye on this matter and see when Chen Jin will enter the capital."

Yun Buxian was slightly puzzled and hesitantly pointed to himself, "Me?"

"What's wrong?" Pei Yuan asked, somewhat puzzled.

Yun Buxian said with difficulty, "I'm afraid I can't do it. Although I have some connections, most of them are from all walks of life in the capital. How could I possibly know the whereabouts of the Censor-in-Chief at the front?"

Pei Yuan asked with some surprise, "Then how did you know about Chen Jin?"

Yun Buxian quickly explained, "It's because these past few days, I've been having people keep an eye on the exchange rates of banknotes at other money shops. I heard someone say that Chen Jin will be returning to the capital soon, and they don't know if the court still has any banknotes to distribute as rewards. It sounds like those people want to take this opportunity to raise the price."

Pei Yuan understood; they must be those influential people with access to information.

Pei Yuan asked Yun Buxian with interest, "Do you think the price of the precious paper money will rise because of Chen Jin's triumphant return?"

Yun Buxian hesitated for a moment, then agreed with the assessment of the paper money merchants. "This humble servant also thinks it's possible. I heard that there isn't much money left in the court. A few days ago, even His Majesty was forced to take money from the Imperial Treasury to speculate on paper money."

"If the imperial court gives too little as a reward, it won't look good; if it gives too much, they won't be able to afford it. So it's better to use paper money as a substitute."

"Firstly, it is customary to use paper money to reward military merits, and secondly, it allows one to accomplish great things with little money."

(End of this chapter)