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

Chapter 678 Li Xiuer

Pei Yuan was unfamiliar with the place, so he first asked Cheng Leixiang to spend some money to inquire about Li Mengyang's offense against the Prince of Huai.

It turned out that the first person Li Mengyang offended upon arriving in Jiangxi was Chen Jin, the Grand Censor-in-Chief.

Li Mengyang's position as Deputy Commissioner of Education, officially known as the Superintendent of Education and Deputy Commissioner of Judicial Review, was, according to the Ming Dynasty's system, subject to the supervision of the Grand Censor-in-Chief Chen Jin.

However, Li Mengyang was the literary advisor of Han Wen, the former Minister of Personnel, in Beijing. As one of the Seven Talented Scholars, he associated with outstanding figures of the time, and even the current Grand Secretary Yang Tinghe greatly admired him.

He commented that Li Dongyang, who was in charge of all literature, had a weak writing style. At that time, Li Dongyang was still the Grand Secretary. But Li Dongyang just smiled.

Why should I avoid the brunt of Governor Chen Jin's attacks?

After offending Chen Jin, Li Mengyang immediately offended the Imperial Inspector Jiang Wanshi.

We will follow the established practice of the Ming Dynasty.

Officials of the Jiangxi Provincial Judicial Commissioner's Office, as the local agency of the Censorate, were required to meet with the Censorate's circuit inspectors every five days.

Firstly, we're all part of the Censorate system, just in different positions. Maybe I'll return to the capital while you come to another place, so we can connect and look after each other in the future.

Secondly, we need to hand over the work of the past few days, see if the imperial inspector has found anything, and whether there is any chance for the local authorities to remedy the situation.

Li Mengyang: I don't even pay attention to Governor Chen Jin, so why should I avoid Jiang Wanshi?!
The colleagues at the Provincial Surveillance Commission all exclaimed, "Awesome!"

Feeling refreshed, Li Mengyang should also start thinking about work.

He was in charge of education and was very proud of his talent. He looked down on the current petty and despicable people. It was said that "the seven talented scholars all despised the world, but Mengyang was even more so."

Therefore, Li Mengyang instructed the students of the county and prefectural schools that when they met with higher-ranking officials, they should simply bow with their hands clasped and not kneel or kowtow.

This incident also laid the groundwork for the subsequent challenge against the Prince of Huai.

Later, when the Prince of Huai held a literary party, the students who were invited simply bowed in greeting, as instructed by their idol.

Then, he was beaten up by the captain of the Prince of Huai's mansion.

Li Mengyang was furious when he heard about this.

Among the princes of Jiangyou, Prince Ning was the most senior. Even Prince Ning admired him and politely invited him to inscribe a plaque for Yangchun Academy. How could a mere Prince Huai...

Should I avoid his sharp edge?!
So Li Mengyang ordered the troops of the Provincial Surveillance Commission to arrest the officers of the Prince of Huai and give them a severe beating.

Prince Huai: ...

Fine, I won't bother you anymore. I'll just tell on you, okay?

So the Prince of Huai wrote a letter to the emperor while weeping.

When Li Mengyang learned of this, he sat cross-legged at home and did some calculations. He realized that if the imperial court wanted to investigate, wouldn't that be Jiang Wanshi's job?
Therefore, before the court made its decision, he wrote a memorial attacking Jiang Wanshi, attacking him on everything from his character and morality to his abilities.

The imperial court took one look and thought, "Oh, it's Li Mengyang. He had historical merits in ousting Liu Jin back then, so we should at least respect his opinion."

Then... let's hand it over to Governor Chen Jin for investigation.

Chen Jin was busy suppressing the rebels in Jiangxi and didn't want to deal with these trivial matters, so he assigned the task to Zheng Yue, the Jiangxi Provincial Governor, to investigate.

After Cheng Leixiang finished recounting Li Mengyang's experiences over the past few days, he said, "Because Li Mengyang is under investigation, he hasn't gone to the government office these days and has been staying at home, not going out."

"It's broad daylight now, and there are plenty of informants around. Should we go get them tonight?"

Pei Yuan didn't want to waste any more time on this idiot, and immediately retorted angrily, "I went through all the trouble of coming all the way from Shandong, do I need to hide in broad daylight?!"

"Let's go, let's go beat him up!"

Deng Liang and Cao Xing naturally agreed without hesitation, and the four of them successfully found Li Mengyang's residence.

Upon arriving at Li Mengyang's door, Pei Yuancai realized he had spoken too soon and underestimated the great talent's reputation in the martial arts world.

Although Li Mengyang kept his door closed, scholars from all over the country still came to visit him in an endless stream. Among those who left their name cards and exchanged pleasantries with the steward, there were more than a dozen scholars in blue robes and turbans.

Cheng Leixiang, Deng Liang, and Cao Xing all looked at Pei Yuan together, "What about the commander?"

Pei Yuan was also a little uneasy. "We are all respectable people, one of us is a fifth-rank official and the other three are third-rank officials. It would be better if we covered our faces with square scarves."

Deng Liang went out for a walk and brought back a few pieces of white cloth from the steamer baskets at the place that sold steamed buns.

The four tied a cloth around the corner of the wall, and then rushed toward Li Mengyang's gate.

Although Li Mengyang is nominally a recluse, as a literary idol, he naturally cannot appear too aloof.

The scholars who came to visit all had their visiting cards presented to them by the steward.

Those scholars understood Li Mengyang's predicament, knowing that he needed to focus on dealing with the court's investigation. So they all politely left their name cards and gifts, expressing their admiration for the great talent.

Just then, exclamations suddenly came from the outside.

The crowd looked in the direction of the sound and saw four burly men with square scarves wrapped around their faces charging fiercely toward them.

At this moment, the people in front of the door were mostly scholars who had never seen much of the world. Upon seeing such a scene, they instinctively hurriedly hid to the side.

Seeing that the courtyard gate was ajar, Cheng Leixiang kicked it open before the stewards and servants could react.

Pei Yuan, Deng Liang, and Cao Xing understood each other perfectly and rushed inside.

Cheng Leixiang turned around and closed the courtyard gate from the inside, then locked it with the bolt.

Those outside then realized what was happening and began pounding on the door, shouting, "There's a thief! Go to the county government office and get help!"

The servants in Li Mengyang's residence were also alerted and came out to check.

Upon seeing four masked men barging into their home, their expressions changed drastically, and they tried to flee.

Pei Yuan moved quickly, grabbed one of them, and shouted, "Where is Li Mengyang?"

The man was terrified and cried out, "Your Majesty, spare my life!"

Pei Yuan shouted, "I'm only looking for Li Mengyang. If you don't answer, I'll beat you to death."

Cheng Leixiang, Deng Liang, and Cao Xing also arrived nearby.

All four of them exuded a murderous aura, and the servant was terrified. He quickly pointed to the backyard and said, "He's in the study at the back."

Pei Yuan carried the servant directly to the back. When Cheng Leixiang saw a servant sneaking around trying to open the gate, he immediately turned around and said, "You go first, I'll stay here."

With that, he roared and chased away the servants who were trying to let people in.

Pei Yuan, along with Deng Liang and Cao Xing, made their way to a side courtyard amidst the shouts and scrambles of the servants.

The servant hurriedly replied, "This is where the master reads; he never lets anyone in casually."

Pei Yuan knocked the servant unconscious with a punch and casually threw him down.

He pushed the courtyard gate open and saw that it opened easily, so he knew that Li Mengyang was at home and not on guard.

Pei Yuan entered the courtyard first and saw that the study window was open.

There was a rather fat middle-aged man with a short beard, who was writing something intently at a table by the window.

Pei Yuan, with his sharp eyes, noticed that besides what Li Mengyang was writing, there was another draft and a letter on the table.

Li Mengyang was clearly very cautious, focusing intently on the three documents, checking them from time to time, and writing as he pondered. Pei Yuan was a little puzzled and wanted to take a closer look, but Deng Liang had already rushed in first.

No one was more indignant than his fellow villager about the sordid affair between Kang Hai and Li Mengyang.

Li Mengyang also noticed the presence of strangers in her home and asked in surprise, "Who are you?"

Then, his expression changed and he shouted, "Help! Help!"

But his hands instinctively reached out to grab something from the table.

Just as he was frantically trying to put those things away, Deng Liang grabbed him and punched him on the head.

Deng Liang, a soldier by training, was quite strong. With just one punch, he made Li Mengyang see stars and speechless.

Pei Yuan also stepped forward and slapped Li Mengyang's hand hard.

Li Mengyang's hand felt as if it had been stung by a scorpion, and the things in his hand scattered all over the ground.

Pei Yuan picked up the three items haphazardly and looked at them, somewhat puzzled.

He didn't have time to study it at the moment. He stuffed all three letters into his pocket and saw Deng Liang and Cao Xing punching and kicking Li Mengyang.

Li Mengyang was rolling on the ground, wailing in pain.

Pei Yuan was also itching to get rid of this fatso, so he didn't hold back and went up to give him a good beating.

After fighting for a while, even though everyone was holding back, Deng Liang, who had attacked first, couldn't help but remind them, "Stop fighting! Stop fighting! You're going to die!"

All three of them stopped.

Seeing Li Mengyang's bruised and swollen face covered in blood, he thought to himself, "I hope he's not really dead."

Pei Yuan quickly gestured to the two of them, then abandoned Li Mengyang, who was lying there like a dead dog, and hurried out of the courtyard.

Then, Deng Liang went to greet Cheng Leixiang.

Pei Yuan grabbed another servant and demanded, "Where's the back door?"

The servant hurriedly pointed in a direction, and was immediately punched in the forehead by Pei Yuan, knocking him unconscious.

Pei Yuan and Cao Xing first occupied the back door, and only after Cheng Leixiang and Deng Liang followed did they rush out through the back door together.

The four had a clear objective and left as soon as they succeeded.

At this point, even the county government was unaware of the situation, so naturally no one paid attention to these developments.

Once they reached the alley outside and found a secluded spot, Pei Yuan removed his handkerchief and said to the three, "Li Mengyang has a great reputation and is also the Deputy Provincial Education Commissioner. I'm afraid he'll be conducting a city-wide manhunt soon. Our identities are difficult to explain, so I'm afraid we can't stay in this city."

Cheng Leixiang said, "The commander can make the decision himself."

Pei Yuan said, "Since it's still early, let's head towards Raozhou Prefecture. We can travel day or night, as long as we pass Raozhou, we'll be in the territory of Southern Zhili."

"The documents for the Jiangxi manhunt will never reach the territory of Southern Zhili. We can take a good rest then."

Cheng Leixiang, Deng Liang, and Cao Xing were very pleased with themselves for beating Li Mengyang. Deng Liang, in particular, felt that he had done something particularly boring but also somehow meaningful with the new boss. So they all said, "We'll do whatever the commander says!"

So the four of them split up and bought lots of wine and meat to take with them.

After leaving the city, they no longer needed to use the identities they had forged. They chose merchants with many livestock and spent thirty taels of silver to buy four fine horses at a high price.

They then headed towards Raozhou.

In fact, once they left Nanchang Prefecture, the case became impossible to investigate.

Upon entering Huizhou, they brazenly went to the post station and used their forged identities as members of the Embroidered Uniform Guard to obtain better conditions.

Although they lack official documents and the official seals of the Imperial Carriage and Cavalry Bureau, they can still obtain considerable conveniences by paying money.

It was at this time that Pei Yuan finally had some free time and spent the evening carefully studying Li Mengyang's three letters.

The first letter had no cover and was incomplete; it seemed to be just a page taken from another letter.

Pei Yuan looked at the incoherent content and the insincere politeness, and finally his gaze fell on the three words "Brother Wan Shi".

Pei Yuan thought to himself, recalling the news he had heard earlier, "Could this be the letter that the Imperial Inspector Jiang Wanshi wrote to Li Mengyang?"
With these two identities in mind, let's look at this seemingly incomplete page again.

Pei Yuan could roughly understand it; it seemed to have happened around the time Li Mengyang had confronted Jiang Wanshi.

Jiang Wanshi knew that Li Mengyang had powerful connections, so he could only swallow his anger and take the initiative to reconcile with Li Mengyang. A large portion of the paper he wrote expressed his admiration for Li Mengyang, stating that this admiration should not be influenced by the corrupt practices of officialdom.

Pei Yuan then looked at the second document.

This appears to be a draft of a letter.

Because the content was complete, Pei Yuan read it carefully and understood most of it.

This draft was an impeachment of Chen Jin, the Grand Censor-in-Chief.

It says that Chen Jin was greedy and incompetent, unable to control his subordinates, and that his troops were cruel and bloodthirsty, plundering supplies and capturing civilians everywhere.

Now the people of Jiangxi are starving, and there are corpses of the starving in the fields. Meanwhile, the Grand Censor-in-Chief is leading beasts to eat people, which makes the people of Jiangxi want to rebel.

In addition, he mentioned another matter, saying that through secret investigation, he learned that a man named Zheng Yun had spent a large sum of money to bribe Liu Jin.

After reading the manuscript, Pei Yuan sighed inwardly and felt a sense of unease about why Prince Ning was able to muster such a large force at the last moment.

Without a Grand Censor-in-Chief who led beasts to devour people, where would the people who rose up in rebellion come from?

Pei Yuan sighed for a while, then picked up the third manuscript.

This manuscript is not finished; it seems the intention is to formally transcribe the previous draft. Not only is the paper of high quality, but the handwriting is also very formal.

He was interrupted after writing only half of it, before he could finish listing Chen Jin's crimes.

After reading it, Pei Yuan felt that there was nothing particularly special about it.

Just as I was about to casually put the three documents away, the image of the fat man carefully writing appeared in my mind's eye again.

A sudden inspiration struck Pei Yuan, and he placed the three documents back in front of him.

Then rearrange the order to mimic how it looked back then.

The incomplete official document lay before him, with the draft and Jiang Wanshi's letter on either side above it.

Pei Yuan glanced at it once and immediately understood what was going on.

It turns out that Li Mengyang was imitating the handwriting of the Imperial Inspector Jiang Wanshi in writing a letter to report the Chief Censor Chen Jin.

Pei Yuan couldn't believe his eyes.

What the hell!

Is it even possible to play like this?

Why the hell are you still calling yourself Li Mengyang? You should just call yourself Xiuer!
But is this all the tricks the top scholar of the Seven Talents has up his sleeve? Are you playing child's play with all the bigwigs in the court?
That's so childish.

But when Pei Yuan thought of Li Mengyang's little note saying "Save me, mountain!" last time, he felt that Li Mengyang's arrogant and domineering behavior when he was showing off, and his sneaky behavior when he knew he was scared, was very much like Li Mengyang.

(End of this chapter)