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

Chapter 706 A Classic Reappears
After Xiao Tong left, Pei Yuan was about to speak.

Thinking about all the things that Pei Yuan had tricked away from his family time and time again, Xiao Ying put his hand to his chest with a pained expression and said, "Brother, wait a moment, let me catch my breath."

Pei Yuan was completely confused. "I just have some questions for you, sister-in-law. What's with that expression?"

Xiao Ying stared at Pei Yuan with suspicion. "Really?"

Then, still puzzled, he asked, "What is there that Xiao Tong can't know?"

Seeing that no one was around in the reception room, Pei Yuan whispered to Xiao Ying, "Sister-in-law, shouldn't you be going to the palace to pay your respects today? Have you seen Empress Xia?"

Xiao Ying finally breathed a sigh of relief.

So it was about Empress Xia. No wonder they were avoiding Xiao Tong.

Previously, Xiao Jing had somehow offended Empress Dowager Zhang, which forced him to withdraw from the competition for the position of Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial.

Subsequently, in order to avoid further retaliation from Empress Dowager Zhang, Xiao Jing was transferred to the Zunhua Ironworks.

There are only a few masters in the palace. The Xiao family offended Empress Dowager Zhang, and the emperor had no son, so they could only place their hopes on Empress Xia.

This is also the main reason why Pei Yuan was able to get away with nothing and take away Xiao Jing's years of hard work in the palace from the Xiao family.

When Empress Xia was mentioned, Xiao Ying said with some concern, "I've heard that Empress Xia hasn't been doing well lately."

"The Empress Dowager is clearly not going to let this go, and His Majesty is still the same. Do you think Empress Xia can get through this?"

Pei Yuan was also a little annoyed by this, so he said, "What's the point of all this guessing? Why don't we go and call my sister-in-law over to ask her?"

Xiao Ying immediately ordered his servants to summon his wife.

Xiao Ying's experience was similar to Lu Yong's in his early years; he also lived a relatively poor life in his hometown.

After all, most of the eunuchs in the palace came from poor families.

Only after Xiao Jing was able to grant them preferential treatment did they enter the capital and become minor officials in the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

He was able to be ennobled as an earl and become a first-rank Left Commander-in-Chief thanks to his contribution in the Battle of Yanggu.

Xiao Ying married young; his wife was the daughter of a peddler.

When she came in, Pei Yuan glanced at her and saw that Xiao Ying's wife looked to be in her forties. Although she did not look very old, the signs of hardship from her early years were still evident.

Xiao Ying said to Madam Xiao, "This is the Brother Pei I mentioned before."

Pei Yuan quickly greeted her, "Younger brother greets sister-in-law."

Madam Xiao smiled warmly and said, "I've heard from Xiao Ying that my two uncles were earned with your help, and Xiao Tong also works under you. Our two families are so close, we should visit each other more often."

Pei Yuan naturally wanted to strengthen his relationship with his good brother Xiao Ying, so he said, "My wife lives in Nanjing most of the year, and I only have one concubine in the capital. I was afraid of being presumptuous in the past, but since you say so, I will have her come to visit me another day."

Madam Xiao was overjoyed to hear this, "That's wonderful, our two families should get closer in the future."

Xiao Ying said impatiently, "Let's get down to business."

Pei Yuan was also concerned about Empress Xia, so he asked directly, "May I ask, sister-in-law, did you see Empress Xia when you went to the palace to celebrate today?"

Madam Xiao replied matter-of-factly, “Of course. We’re going to the palace to pay our respects to the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager, and the Empress.”

Pei Yuan breathed a sigh of relief when he heard from Madam Xiao that he had met Empress Xia in person.

Since she can still attend such occasions, it means that Empress Dowager Zhang cannot do anything to her for the time being.

At least, the option of deposing the empress is something Empress Zhang cannot yet offer.

Pei Yuan then inquired of Madam Xiao, "How did the Empress behave at the celebration? Did she speak with the Empress Dowager?"

He was still somewhat worried that Empress Xia and Empress Dowager Zhang would confront each other directly.

Madam Xiao smiled and said, "The Empress is the mother of the nation, noble and extraordinary, naturally everyone admires her. Her relationship with the Empress Dowager is very close, and they are both humble and considerate of each other, which makes us all envious."

Pei Yuan breathed a sigh of relief.

Thinking about it carefully, I can understand this situation.

The New Year's Day court gatherings brought together noble ladies and noblewomen from all over the capital. Under such circumstances, how could Empress Xia tolerate losing her composure and making a fool of herself in public, becoming the subject of gossip among all the noble ladies and noblewomen?

Having been empress for so many years, she cares far more about her outward appearance than any other interests.

Even if they had suffered a lot of injustice before, they could only swallow their anger and keep quiet.

Empress Dowager Zhang dared to allow Empress Xia to attend such an occasion, presumably because she had foreseen these things.

As Madam Xiao was speaking, she suddenly remembered something.

He then added with a smile, "There's another interesting thing."

"We were talking with the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager and the Empress. Suddenly, a palace attendant brought two roast geese for the Empress."

We were all utterly puzzled.

"It was Empress Dowager Cisheng Kangshou who told us the reason. It turned out that the Emperor had come to pay his respects to the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager. He was greatly surprised to see that Empress Xia had become somewhat thinner and asked her why she had become so thin."

Empress Xia did not answer at the time.

"I didn't expect the Emperor to remember it. He immediately sent two roast geese to Empress Xia."

Upon hearing this, Pei Yuan was deeply moved.

I didn't expect it, I didn't expect it.

Despite the different time and place contexts, this classic has managed to be recreated.

In other words, Madam Xiao was careless and did not think things through carefully. However, at that time, there were many noblewomen in the capital, and there were quite a few who were meticulous.

What kind of husband would be surprised by his wife's thinness upon seeing her?

They are all women; how could they not understand the intricacies of the matter?

Zhu Houzhao's unintentional and reckless, seemingly caring actions easily shattered the composure that Empress Xia had maintained in front of the noblewomen while suppressing her grievances.

She tried her best to act like an empress, striving to maintain her past pride, suppressing her hatred, and gracefully chatting and laughing with Empress Dowager Zhang.

But in an instant.

On this grand occasion, the ladies of the court understood that she, the Empress, was a woman her husband hadn't touched in a long time.

Pei Yuan remained calm and continued, "And then?"

Madam Xiao replied, "There's nothing more to it."

"Empress Xia had her maid accept the roast goose sent by the Emperor. Then..."

Madam Xiao paused for a moment.

Because Pei Yuan kept pressing her about Empress Xia, Madam Xiao finally managed to recall the Empress's reaction at the time. She continued, "Then Empress Xia fell silent, as if she didn't say anything more."

Pei Yuan changed the subject and asked, "So, what do you think of the Empress Dowager, my sister-in-law?"

Empress Dowager Cisheng Kangshou was Empress Wang, the second empress of the Chenghua Emperor. For most of her time as empress, she was overshadowed by Wan Zhen'er.

After Emperor Chenghua passed away, Empress Wang, who had no ties to the throne, lived a more comfortable life simply because of her rank.

Madam Xiao was puzzled, wondering why her younger brother Pei was always concerned about things in the palace.

But based on her impression of today, she said truthfully, "I feel pretty good. She doesn't talk much and is very kind to everyone."

Pei Yuan smiled and nodded slightly.

When the Chenghua Emperor was the crown prince, the Yingzong Emperor selected several candidates for his crown princess.

Emperor Yingzong of Ming was most fond of Lady Wang, but unfortunately, Emperor Chenghua's stepmother and birth mother did not like this woman, and in the end, Lady Wu was chosen as the crown princess.

Unfortunately, Emperor Chenghua's favorite was still Wan Zhen'er, who had been with him since childhood.

Empress Wu was deposed because she angered Wan Zhen'er.

The one who then became empress was this Lady Wang.

Empress Wang was not favored by Emperor Chenghua, and she had always endured Wan Zhen'er's advances. During her twenty years as empress, she was favored by him less than five times.

It is obvious which side such an Empress Dowager would take when faced with the struggle between her nominal daughter-in-law and nominal granddaughter-in-law.

Although Empress Zhang enjoyed exclusive favor, her domineering and tyrannical behavior was just like that of another Wan Zhen'er.
Isn't this empress, who was banished to the cold palace and could not even see the emperor normally, just a microcosm of her?
Wang's public revelation of the crux of the matter may well have been intended to break Empress Xia's restraint and draw the attention of high-ranking officials to the issue through the words of these noblewomen.

Unfortunately, the current situation is completely different from what she was in the past.

Now it's no longer a time when simply holding onto the position of Empress, enduring hardship for years until Empress Dowager Zhang passes away, will bring peace and quiet.

Pei Yuan asked a few more questions, but they were all just trivial matters.

But Pei Yuan wasn't too disappointed, because he had already gotten what he wanted to know.

—Since Empress Xia and Empress Dowager Zhang did not publicly break off their relationship, there is still room for maneuver.

—In addition, Empress Xia is in a very sorry state.

Seeing that Pei Yuan couldn't get any more information, Xiao Ying waved his hand, signaling his wife to return to the inner quarters.

He asked, somewhat puzzled, "Brother, has something happened?"

Pei Yuan shook his head. "It's hard to say. By the way, I just remembered I have some things to take care of, so I won't eat here."

Xiao Ying thought to himself, "When did I say I was going to invite you to dinner?"

But he feigned politeness and said, "How can we do that? We're already here."

As he spoke, he escorted Pei Yuan out.

After leaving the Xiao family, Pei Yuan saw that Xiao Tong, who had been somewhat melancholy, had become cheerful again, so he instructed him, "You should know Li Zhang in the palace, right? He is Eunuch Xiao Jing's man."

Xiao Tong nodded quickly.

Pei Yuan continued, "Li Zhang has a nephew named Li Jin, who is currently a commander in the Banner Guard. Find Li Jin and have him deliver a message to Li Zhang when he goes to the palace on duty. Just say..."

Pei Yuan thought for a moment and said, "Just tell him to prepare an extra batch of charcoal recently. He'll understand what I mean."

"If Li Jin replies, tell him to come find you."

Xiao Tong was completely confused, so he quickly repeated it again before hurriedly going to do his work.

In the following days, Pei Yuan thought he would have a short period of leisure.

Unexpectedly, just before the Lantern Festival holiday, the imperial court issued an urgent appointment, promoting Gao Youji, the Right Provincial Administration Commissioner of Shaanxi Province, to Right Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, and appointing him as Governor of Datong and concurrently in charge of military affairs.

This was like setting a bad precedent for the eighth year of the Zhengde reign.

On the second day of the short holiday, the imperial court promoted Meng Chun, the Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Stud, to Right Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate and Governor of Xuanfu.

Then, the Beijing army also mobilized.

Before the festive atmosphere of the New Year had even faded, Zhu Houzhao began to consolidate the four outer armies under his control.

Xu Tai was temporarily appointed as the Deputy Commander-in-Chief in charge of the Daredevil Battalion, Jiang Bin was appointed as the Vice Commander-in-Chief in charge of the Divine Might Battalion, and Chen Xi, the Earl of Wuping, was in charge of the Five Armies Battalion. The troops were also transferred to the Left Wing to begin training.

Most intriguingly, it happened to be the anniversary of Emperor Yingzong's death. After Zhu Houzhao performed the sacrificial ceremony at Fengxian Hall, according to past practice, he should have sent the Imperial Son-in-Law Cui Yuan to offer sacrifices at Yuling Mausoleum.

However, Zhu Houzhao, who had never liked such trivial matters and who rarely had a long holiday, personally led the Ganyong Battalion out of the city to visit the Yuling Mausoleum.

I heard that Zhu Houzhao looked extremely serious and did not joke around as usual.

Subsequently, on the last day of the short holiday, Zhu Houzhao issued an imperial edict.

An urgent order was issued to Cong Lan, the Commissioner of the Court of Judicial Review who was lingering outside, to come to the capital!
Upon hearing this information, Pei Yuan immediately concluded that Zhu Houzhao had made up his mind.

Cong Lan, the jungler, has been suppressing rebellions throughout the Ming Dynasty in the past year or two, and has performed exceptionally well.

Without using Lu Wan, this is Zhu Houzhao's strongest card.

When Cong Lan arrives in the capital, it will likely be the time for Zhu Houzhao to begin his general mobilization.

Then, the short holiday ended, and the officials offered their congratulations again. Zhu Houzhao held a grand banquet for civil and military officials and envoys from all over the world.

Zhu Houzhao, who was determined to establish his authority, indeed did not indulge the Koreans at all.

During the banquet, the Korean envoy was instructed to wear leather jackets that exposed his arms and perform archery for entertainment.

The Korean envoy angrily recorded that he felt deeply humiliated at the time, forced a smile, and that the emperor was extremely rude! The watermelon was delicious!
The Japanese envoy was also extremely frustrated.

Based on their previous demands, Ryoan Keigo believed that Japan was more powerful than Korea and explicitly stated that he wanted to be in the leading position among the Eastern Barbarians at the banquet.

However, according to the conventions of the Ming Dynasty, because of the constant harassment of the Japanese pirates along the coast, Japan could only be regarded as a medium-sized country.

Japanese envoy Ryoan Keigo was furious to discover that his rank was below that of Korea.

Zhu Houzhao insulted Korea, but he also didn't want to appear petty or narrow-minded, as a great nation should.

So they had Xu Taiye perform a sword dance, giving the Korean envoys a way out.

The Korean envoys' expressions softened slightly when they saw that the generals of the Celestial Empire were also making a good impression at the banquet.

Unexpectedly, Ryoan Guiwu, who had long harbored resentment, said to Zhu Houzhao in public, "This old monk has heard that the devil Pei Yuan is the true hero. I wonder how he compares to the people in the hall."

"This old monk is from a remote place and does not know heroes. I wish to have a meeting with him."

(End of this chapter)