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

Chapter 685 Frankness

Just as Xiao Tong was beginning to understand, another person who hadn't suffered a loss at Pei Yuan's hands was starting to feel uneasy.

Li Shishi's sedan chair stopped just two streets away.

The curtain of the sedan chair was lifted.

Li Shishi stared blankly at the crowds coming and going on the street, as if facing a formidable enemy.

No matter how many times his attendants questioned him, Li Shishi, with a solemn expression, gave the same answer.

"Don't rush, let me sort it out again."

The old servant had worked for Li Shishi for many years, and the relationship between the master and servant was quite deep.

Seeing Li Shishi's hesitation, he couldn't help but ask, "When you came out of Zhihua Temple, did you forget to tell me anything?"

Li Shishi remained silent for a long while before sighing, "The world is not peaceful; all sorts of demons and monsters have come out."

The old servant was confused. Why were they talking about demons and monsters again?

He continued, echoing Li Shishi's words, "Didn't I hear from the master that the Zhenxie Thousand-Household Office is in charge of this? Why don't we just let them handle it?"

Li Shishi found this statement utterly absurd.

So, what exactly happened to the Ming Dynasty?
He raised his hand weakly, gesturing to the sedan chair bearers, "Let's go, let's go back first."

The old servant breathed a sigh of relief and was about to help lower the sedan curtain when Li Shishi casually asked him, "Help me figure this out. If someone wants to do business with me and says they won't pay me for the time being, if they can give me a one-month grace period, I'll increase the amount by 50%; if they can give me a two-month grace period, I'll double the amount."

"If you were in that situation, what would you think?"

Thinking of Li Shishi's conflicted look earlier, the old servant roughly understood. "Could it be that the master is worried that the man will break his promise and go back on his word?"

Li Shishi thought about it and concluded that Pei Yuan's reputation was acceptable for the time being, so he shook his head.

The old servant immediately reassured him, "What's there to worry about? Master is the Grand Censor of the court; he can't just keep delaying the return, can he?"

What was originally just a casual word of comfort suddenly stunned Li Shishi, who subconsciously repeated, "Delay? Delay, delay..."

The sedan chair had already been lifted when Li Shishi came to his senses and hurriedly said, "Quickly back to Zhihua Temple, quick, quick!"

Upon hearing this, the sedan chair bearers and guards had no choice but to carry Li Shishi back to Zhihua Temple in a hurry.

Li Shishi was inside the sedan chair, leaning forward and peering out through the curtain.

As Zhihua Temple came into view in the distance, Pei Yuanzheng and his two men were chatting and laughing in front of the gate.

Pei Yuan's smug and self-satisfied demeanor, as if he had everything under control, made Li Shishi increasingly alarmed.

broken.

Something's not right. Something just happened.

While urging the sedan chair bearers to quicken their pace, Li Shishi nervously reviewed the situation in his mind.

The sedan chair carriers, feeling anxious from the urging, quickened their pace.

These servants are often better at reading people than ordinary people.

When Li Shishi stopped halfway and lingered, these people noticed that their master was restless.

The fact that they rushed back this time must mean something incredibly important happened.

Fearing they would become innocent victims of the wrath, the sedan chair bearers quickened their pace, carrying Li Shishi toward Zhihua Temple.

Li Shishi was being jostled around in the sedan chair, but he couldn't care less about anything else.

After Pei Yuan and the others finished speaking, they also noticed the sedan chair that was approaching in a hurry.

Xiao Tong glanced at the sedan chair and the surrounding guards and attendants, and said with some surprise, "Isn't this Li Daduxian who just left?"

Pei Yuan remained silent, calmly standing on the steps in front of Zhihua Temple and waiting.

When Li Shishi's sedan chair arrived at the gate of Zhihua Temple, it was quickly stopped.

Li Shishi stepped out of the sedan chair, and upon seeing Pei Yuan, immediately pointed his halberd and shouted, "Speak! Do you have any more schemes or plots against me?!"

Pei Yuan didn't answer directly, but asked in surprise, "Didn't the Grand Commandant leave? Why has he returned?"

Seeing that Pei Yuan avoided answering, Li Shishi felt a surge of relief.

Fortunately, Li Shishi's long-standing sense of crisis allowed him to take precautions; otherwise, the consequences might have been unimaginable.

Li Shishi was well aware of Pei Yuan's destructive power.

He looked around and saw that there were many people around, so he knew it wasn't the place to talk.

So he blindly rushed into Zhihua Temple.

Xiao Tong and Lu Yong looked at Pei Yuan, and seeing that he didn't intend to stop them, they had no choice but to let Li Shishi go in.

Pei Yuan smiled and slowly followed him inside.

Li Shishi walked to the courtyard and saw Pei Yuan following him. He then turned to Pei Yuan and said with great distress, "Brother, with our friendship, what can't we discuss openly? Why did it have to come to this?"

Pei Yuan asked in surprise, "What step? Which step did the Grand Commandant refer to?"

Li Shishi was quite straightforward, stating firmly, "Although I don't know which step it is, my intuition as the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate tells me that something is very wrong!"

Pei Yuan was speechless. "The Grand Commandant is overthinking it."

Li Shishi stopped beating around the bush with Pei Yuan and said directly to him, "Brother, you look travel-worn; you must have just returned to the capital not long ago, right?"

Pei Yuan had no reason to hide anything about it, and immediately nodded, saying, "That's right, we entered the city at dawn."

Li Shishi reacted quickly, calculated the time, and said directly, "Then I should be the first person you want to see after you arrive in the capital, right?"

Pei Yuan's expression shifted slightly, but he did not deny it, and still said, "That's right."

Li Shishi felt relieved and said frankly, "Brother, you came to the capital and rushed to see me. You must have something important that you hope I can help you with?"

Pei Yuan listened calmly and did not reply.

It was only now that Li Shishi realized that his previous manipulative tactics had inadvertently offended Pei Yuan.

Having confirmed this, Li Shishi also filled in the blanks in his mind.

This must be because Ning Fan's rapid advancement led to his arrogance, causing him to lose his composure when facing Commander Pei.

Sensing the shift in the relationship, Pei Yuan immediately abandoned his plans to cooperate and instead implemented other schemes. The clearest evidence of this was his attempt to delay payment to the Ning Kingdom by offering an extra ten thousand taels of silver as bait.

The reason Pei Yuan did this is very likely because he felt that, under the new plan, Prince Ning would no longer be able to collect the money two months later.

Thinking of all this, Li Shishi couldn't help but feel a chill of fear.

He thought for a moment, then looked Pei Yuan straight in the eye and asked directly, "What do you plan to do?"

Pei Yuan finally stopped pretending at this point.

He smiled and said, "The Grand Commandant is from Jiangxi. I wonder if the Grand Commandant has heard about the latest events that have happened in Jiangxi?"

Li Shishi frowned as he looked at Pei Yuan, unsure of what he meant by those words.

Pei Yuan asked directly, "I heard that the Prince of Huai is secretly raising assassins with treacherous intentions and almost beat Li Mengyang, the Vice Commissioner of Education in Jiangxi, to death. Is this true?"

Li Shishi had indeed heard of this matter, and immediately nodded, saying, "That's true, but I heard that it was four thugs who broke into Li Mengyang's residence and committed violence, and I haven't heard that it was related to the Prince of Huai."

Pei Yuan laughed and retorted indifferently, "You think it's unrelated to Prince Huai just because you say so?"

Seeing that Li Shishi was puzzled, Pei Yuan reminded him, "Don't forget the Shandong case that shocked the court and the public."

"Officials in Shandong are all suspended from their posts pending investigation for protecting De Fan. In Jiangxi, such a major case has occurred, and Li Mengyang has just offended the Prince of Huai and is currently engaged in a court case with him."

"Which Jiangxi official would dare to stand up and say, at a time like this, that this matter has nothing to do with the Prince of Huai?"

"With such a glaring example from Shandong, wouldn't that make the court suspect that Jiangxi, like Shandong, has become a mere echo of the vassal kings?"

"The Grand Censor is in charge of the Censorate. I suppose the memorials he has recently received from Jiangxi are all impeaching the Prince of Huai?"

Upon hearing this, Li Shishi suddenly understood what was going on.

No wonder those Jiangxi officials suddenly started impeaching the Prince of Huai, mostly for trivial matters. It turns out the commotion in Shandong had made them extremely nervous, so to avoid suspicion, they preemptively impeached the Prince of Huai to prove their innocence. This way, it's easy for public opinion to become irrefutable, and for slander to destroy a person.

Pei Yuan continued, "The matter of Li Mengyang being beaten was not a big deal, but it wasn't a small one either."

"However, because of the reactions of Jiangxi officials who expressed their positions, the matter of the Prince of Huai and the matter of the Prince of De have been linked to each other to a certain extent."

“I can tell you definitively that Prince De will definitely not have a good end, and perhaps even the entire De clan lineage will collapse.”

"With the example set by Prince De, someone will surely go to Jiangxi to investigate Prince Huai as well."

Li Shishi knew a bit about the situation in Jiangxi and couldn't help but say, "The Prince of Huai has been embroiled in a dispute with his relatives and the Ministry of Rites over the matter of posthumously granting him the title of Prince of Qingjiang. How could he possibly have the mind to secretly raise assassins? He can withstand scrutiny."

Pei Yuan, unaware of the situation, asked with some doubt, "The Prince of Qingjiang?"

Li Shishi quickly replied, "Yes. The previous Prince of Huai, Zhu Qiquan, never had a legitimate son and was very worried about finding an heir."

Pei Yuan responded with an "Oh".

Li Shishi added, "But his concubines bore him seven sons, six of whom grew up to adulthood."

Pei Yuan swayed slightly, his expression displeased, and said, "Stop rambling and get to the point."

He couldn't stand hearing this.

Li Shishi could only say, "Prince Huai, Zhu Qiquan, never had a legitimate son until he grew old, so the court appointed his eldest son by a concubine, Zhu Jianlian, as the heir apparent of Prince Huai. But unexpectedly, this eldest son by a concubine, Zhu Jianlian, died of illness before Prince Huai. Moreover, Zhu Jianlian had no heir, so his second son by a concubine, Prince Qingjiang, Zhu Jiandian, had to inherit the throne."

"Unexpectedly, just one month after the death of Prince Huai, Zhu Qiquan, his second son, Prince Qingjiang, Zhu Jiandian, also died of illness."

"Zhu Jiandian's death left behind a big problem, because he had not yet formally inherited the position of Prince of Huai. Not only did he have several younger brothers who were eyeing the throne, but he also had a young son."

"The third son of a concubine, Zhu Jianying, the Prince of Nankang, wanted to use the new succession as an excuse to seize the throne of the Prince of Huai. In the end, it was the late emperor who intervened and saved the young Zhu Youqi's position as the Prince of Huai."

Upon hearing this, Pei Yuan realized that this was just a repeat of the story of the Crown Prince Zhu Yunwen and his uncle Zhu Di.
However, the Prince of Huai still had the imperial court above him, and Emperor Hongzhi as his backer.

Pei Yuan asked, "Isn't this just a matter of course?"

Whether it was a logical step or not is not important; what is important is that it was Emperor Xiaozong's idea.

When it comes to such trivial matters as the succession of a royal title, Emperor Xiaozong was the right person.

Li Shishi said, "The matter is not over yet. After Zhu Youqi inherited the throne of the Prince of Huai, he requested that his father, the Prince of Qingjiang, be posthumously honored as the Prince of Huai and enshrined in the family temple. However, the relatives of the Prince of Huai's family and the Ministry of Rites of the court unanimously believed that the Prince of Qingjiang was not qualified to be posthumously honored as the Prince of Huai, and only the most rightful heir, Zhu Jianlian, was qualified to be posthumously honored."

"Prince Huai, Zhu Youqi, was very dissatisfied with this. He openly referred to Zhu Jianlian as 'Uncle Wang' and his biological father, Prince Qingjiang, Zhu Jiandian, as 'Father Wang'. He also made Zhu Jianlian's wife move out of the palace and bring his own biological mother into the palace."

"The reason why Li Mengyang and his disciples clashed with the Prince of Huai's subordinates was because the Prince of Huai insisted that he inherited his grandfather's throne, not his uncle's. His uncle had no children and the lineage had ended, so he was the rightful heir to his grandfather's title of Prince of Huai. Therefore, from this perspective, his father, the Prince of Qingjiang, should be posthumously honored."

Pei Yuan was even more speechless upon hearing this. Wasn't this the "Great Rites Controversy" that Jiajing had struggled with for half his life?

What about "Wang Bo" and "Wang Kao"? What about driving away the former prince's wife and letting his own birth mother enter the palace? What about posthumously conferring the title of Prince Huai on his father and having him enshrined in the family temple?

The plot is exactly the same.

No wonder Emperor Wanshou started fighting for this at such a young age.

It turns out that it was because a kind uncle from the neighboring province had already had several back-and-forth battles with the family.

By observing and learning from others' experiences, one can naturally imitate these behaviors when they happen to oneself.

If Jiajing was simply learning by analogy from his uncle, and the script wasn't even changed, then he would just seem like an ordinary kid, right?

Add to that the disastrous civil administration under Jiajing, and the military prowess of being driven back to the gates of Beijing, cowering in the palace... tsk...

Pei Yuan felt that his fascination with the so-called most intelligent emperor of the Ming Dynasty had instantly vanished.

Li Shishi concluded, "The Prince of Huai's mind is entirely focused on posthumously honoring his father, and he can't even attend to the affairs of the Prince of Huai's residence. How could he possibly be secretly raising assassins or plotting something treacherous?"

Pei Yuan's gaze shifted, and he stroked his chin, saying, "If you put it that way, I'm afraid the Prince of Huai might not necessarily have a good ending."

As he spoke, Pei Yuan gave Li Shishi a meaningful reminder, "Think about why your Prince Ning's heir was able to come all the way from Jiangxi to Beijing to perform the incense ceremony? Isn't it because the current emperor has no son?"

"If Your Majesty were to see these things about the Prince of Huai and then think of yourself, how could you not feel hatred and disgust?"

Li Shishi was taken aback upon hearing this, "This..."

Pei Yuan continued, "If the imperial court were to send people to Jiangxi to investigate the case, even if the Prince of Huai could withstand the investigation, could your Prince of Ning withstand it?"

Facing Pei Yuan, who already knew a bit about his background, Li Shishi couldn't hide anything and hesitated before whispering, "I'm afraid... I'm afraid it won't stand up to scrutiny."

Pei Yuan then slowly said, "The prince who investigates the Shandong case will likely become the prince who investigates the Jiangxi case."

"So when you refused to take on the Shandong case and didn't want Prince Ning to clean up my mess, didn't you think that if Prince Ning didn't rush to sit at the table, he might become the one at the table?"

(End of this chapter)