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

Chapter 713 My Great Ming Dynasty actually has so many invincible people?

Everyone who witnessed this scene was somewhat stunned, except for the North Korean envoy, Cao Jishang, who maintained a calm and sharp mind.

He darted ahead of the other foreign barbarians, bent over, and prostrated himself on the ground, shouting, "The might of the Great Ming Dynasty!"

After Cao Jishang said this, many people came to their senses.

People from other foreign lands also hurriedly bowed and offered their congratulations.

Although the Ming court officials were somewhat bewildered, this was not the time to delve into the details, so they all took the opportunity to offer their congratulations to Zhu Houzhao.

Zhu Houzhao was overjoyed and first told everyone to stand up.

Then he said to the old monk Liao'an Guiwu, "You have witnessed the true heroes of the Ming Dynasty, are you satisfied?"

Zhu Houzhao spoke with an air of triumph, "You think you can fool me with just a few words? I'm merely going with the flow to show you what a great man of the Ming Dynasty is like."

Liao'an Guiwu's lips trembled and he remained silent, while Shi Guangyao, who had escaped death, kowtowed repeatedly, saying, "We are ignorant, and only today do we realize that we are like frogs in a well."

Zhu Houzhao became smug and boasted, "I told you long ago, my third brother is invincible!"

After he finished speaking, he received no response, and the ministers began to cough lightly.

Zhu Houzhao was slightly taken aback and looked over in confusion, only to see the ministers giving him meaningful glances.

Zhu Houzhao quickly turned his head to look and saw his invincible third brother, whose armor belt had just been untied by someone stepping on his back and whose straight-brimmed iron helmet had been pulled off. He was patting his head and talking.

Zhu Houzhao was somewhat shocked, "My Great Ming Dynasty actually has so many invincible forces?"

Just now, he secretly speculated that Pei Yuan was only knocked down by that person because he was just exhausted.

Pei Yuan had already sat up and was still talking to the man, and surprisingly, he didn't resist much.

Then the man raised one finger in front of Pei Yuan, and then raised two fingers.

He then got up and left.

The ministers whispered amongst themselves, wondering what that meant.

Someone whispered, "They're probably arguing about who's first and who's second, right?"

Some people worried, "Won't another fight break out?"

Then someone objected, "Judging from this, Commander Pei was completely subdued after being dealt with. Our Great Ming Dynasty truly has hidden dragons and crouching tigers."

After considering everyone's opinions, Zhu Houzhao's confidence in Pei Yuan wavered slightly. Seeing Lu Yin's gesture to him, he knew there might be other reasons behind it, so he immediately brushed it off vaguely.

During the latter half of the banquet, Zhu Houzhao and Pei Yuan left. Now, at this opportune moment to show off, how could he let the envoys from various countries leave?
Zhu Houzhao quickly stopped everyone, ordered the Court of State Ceremonial to resume the feast, and sent someone to inquire about Pei Yuan's situation, intending to invite him to drink together.

The envoys from the surrounding foreign lands were filled with fear and naturally dared not disobey.

The court officials felt quite differently.

They looked at the Japanese corpses lying scattered about, and then thought about the brutality of Pei Yuan's massacre.

Many people have this idea in their hearts.

Such a person should be chained up like a tiger; how could he be allowed to appear in the imperial court?

When Li Sui, the Minister of Works, was watching the commotion, he happened to be close to Yang Tinghe. Relying on his usual neutrality and easy-going nature, he casually inquired, "What is the background of this Pei Yuan?"

Yang Tinghe actually knew.

Firstly, there was the "Green Signature Case," which Yang Yiqing's faction used as a pretext to attack Yang Tinghe. This forced Yang Tinghe to learn about the "Green Signature Case."

After roughly figuring out the whole story, Yang Tinghe concluded that the Jinyiwei officer had been showing off while drinking with someone, and coincidentally, he had actually succeeded in doing so.

The reason Yang Tinghe came to the seemingly impossible conclusion of "coincidence" was because he personally selected all the papers of the top scorers in this year's special examination.

He can doubt anyone, but he can't doubt himself, can he?
Does Yang Tinghe not know whether he conspired with Pei Yuan or not?
Asking such a question is simply ridiculous.

The second reason was that before Xiao Chong was about to head south, Pei Yuan suddenly came to his residence, warned him, and showed him some account books related to Zhang Feng's embezzlement and corruption.

Prior to that, Yang Tinghe's stance was to protect Zhang Feng at all costs. They harbored considerable suspicion about Pei Yuan's intentions.

But as it turned out, Pei Yuan's warning was extremely important. Xiao Chong, who was careless about it, died on his way south to Shandong, and the Zhang Feng case indeed involved more and deeper things.

It even got Yang Yiqing's people involved.

It was from that time that Yang Tinghe began to have Pei Yuan thoroughly investigated, and obtained a great deal of information about him.

Shortly after, something else happened that left a deep impression on Yang Tinghe.

Pei Yuan later spoke to Yang Tinghe on behalf of the emperor.

During the questioning, Pei Yuan clearly showed a bias towards Yang Tinghe. He even offered the opinion that "heroes should investigate heroes, good men should investigate good men, and Shandong people should investigate Shandong people."

This later indeed propelled the case forward, bringing considerable benefits to the personnel who went to Shandong to handle the case.

Therefore, when Yang Tinghe heard Li Sui ask, he casually mentioned something he could say, "He is from the Zhenxie Thousand-Household Office and has close ties with the Ministry of Rites."

Li Sui asked, "I've never heard of the Embroidered Uniform Guard having such a thousand-household unit before."

Yang Tinghe explained, “They belonged to the Nanjing Embroidered Uniform Guard. Later, Emperor Taizong moved the capital to Beijing and rebuilt the Embroidered Uniform Guard in Beijing, transferring most of the capable personnel to Beijing.”

"This thousand-household office is not included in the reconstruction plan and continues to operate in the south. It was only last year, because of the trouble caused by the cult, that Pei Yuan, in the name of deputy thousand-household officer, opened an office in Beijing and began to do things."

After hearing what Grand Secretary Yang had said, the surrounding officials were all speechless.

Goodness, who would believe that Pei Yuan isn't one of yours?

Li Sui thought for a moment and then advised tactfully, "Your Excellency should keep a proper eye on him. It would be better to send him back to Nanjing, as he is so reckless in his actions."

Yang Tinghe sensed something was amiss, frowned slightly, but did not express his opinion on the spot.

While everyone was returning to Fengtian Hall, Zhu Houzhao took the opportunity to ask Lu Yin, "You seemed to have something to say just now. What was it?"

Lu Yin quickly replied, "Your Majesty, this old servant recognizes that later military officer."

"Oh?" Zhu Houzhao's spirits lifted, and he quickly asked, "Then who exactly is it?"

Lu Yin said, "He was one of Commander Pei's former subordinates. The two had fought side by side before, so he is quite trustworthy."

"In my opinion, Commander Pei was on edge just now, so he was extremely vigilant at the slightest disturbance."

"Commander Pei must have lowered his guard upon seeing this person, which is why he gradually calmed down."

"Oh, is that so?" Zhu Houzhao was slightly disappointed. In just a short while, the Ming Dynasty went from having two invincible warriors to having only one. But fortunately, his good third brother hadn't lost his paint. Zhu Houzhao's mood improved after a quick change of heart.

He whispered to Lu Yin, "Have someone check if Pei Qing is injured, and how serious it is. If he is badly injured, let him go back and rest. If he is in better condition, get him ready and bring him to Fengtian Palace."

Lu Yin, who also wanted to see how Pei Yuan was doing, said, "This old servant will go and take a look myself, lest the subordinates handle it poorly."

Zhu Houzhao nodded repeatedly, urging Lu Yin to hurry up.

Lu Yin descended from the steps and headed towards the antler-shaped wooden fence.

Now that the emperor and his high-ranking officials had left, the imperial guards who were originally in charge of maintaining order no longer cared about anything else and swarmed forward, surrounding the area densely and completely.

Even many of the imperial guards on duty lost their focus and craned their necks to look in this direction.

When Lu Yin arrived, a young eunuch stepped forward and dismissed the crowd, making way for him.

When Lu Yin saw Pei Yuanzheng sitting on the ground in a disheveled manner, chatting and joking with several nearby Imperial Guards, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

These people want to have a good ending, and they rely on more than just Pei Yuan's reckless courage.

Upon seeing Lu Yin approach, Pei Yuan pretended to get up and bow to the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial.

Lu Yin quickly stepped forward and pressed him down, then asked, "His Majesty wants to ask you, were you injured this time?"

As he spoke, he carefully looked her up and down.

When Pei Yuan was asked this question, his expression turned somewhat awkward, and he silently looked up at the sky.

Lu Yin's expression immediately changed, and he hurriedly asked, "No way, are you really injured?"

Pei Yuan replied helplessly, "It was fine before, but when Commander Song knocked me down, he twisted my hamstring. I just happen to be too weak right now, otherwise I would have gotten up a long time ago."

Lu Yin breathed a sigh of relief and said thankfully, "Thank goodness."

He then said, "His Majesty wishes you to attend the banquet with him."

Looking around, the Imperial Guards who were watching hurriedly took a few steps back.

Lu Yin then asked in a low voice, "What are your plans?"

Seeing Pei Yuan's confusion, Lu Yin added, "If you don't want to go, I'll help you think of a way."

Pei Yuan quickly replied, "No need to consider that, I happen to have some things to do as well."

Although this battle was somewhat inexplicable, Pei Yuan has made a name for himself among the envoys from Korea and Japan.

Pei Yuan had always wanted to expand into these two countries, but he hadn't found a good way to do so.

He had previously tried to use Liu Pang's connections to get in touch with the delegations from these two countries, but how much sincerity could he expect from a mere acquaintance of a senior official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?
Now that Pei Yuan has made a name for himself, and both Japan and Korea are typical examples of "fearing power but not appreciating virtue," he might actually find a collaborator among them.

Besides, all Pei Yuan wanted was to sell cotton-padded clothes and quilts there, and incidentally pave the way for the import of "Yongle Tongbao" coins.

Lu Yin said, "In that case, I will go and report to His Majesty. I will have someone take you to wash off the bloodstains later; they are waiting over there."

Lu Yin then left a few eunuchs behind and had them take Pei Yuan to bathe.

Pei Yuan struggled to his feet.

When the Imperial Guards saw Pei Yuan stand up again, for some reason, they all suddenly shouted excitedly in unison.

Pei Yuan laughed and waved to the people who were looking at him.

He was extremely satisfied.

While the collusion of interests is indeed more solid, this spontaneous admiration also has unimaginable effects.

At least... he didn't really give anything in return.

Pei Yuan didn't want to look too pathetic in front of these people, so he forced himself to walk to the Huagai Hall behind the Fengtian Hall.

Inside the Huagai Hall, a small area had been cordoned off with curtains, and a large wooden barrel had been placed inside.

Pei Yuan knew there was no time for a relaxing soak right now, so he quickly washed himself to get rid of the bloodstains. Then, urged by the eunuchs, he dried himself off with a cotton cloth.

Before donning his armor, Pei Yuan had already removed his fifth-rank official robes, so he no longer needed to search for suitable ones.

However, the cotton-padded coat inside was punctured in many places and soaked with blood, making it unwearable.

Fortunately, in a place like the palace where thousands of people serve one person, once things get going, the efficiency is astonishing.

When Pei Yuan took off his cotton-padded clothes and started taking a bath, the blood-stained clothes were taken away.

After Pei Yuan washed himself clean and dried himself off, a new cotton coat of exactly the same size was presented to him.

Pei Yuan was somewhat surprised when he tried it on; it fit him exceptionally well.

Pei Yuan put on his new clothes and his official robes, then left the Huagai Hall and headed towards the Fengtian Hall in front.

The eunuch left behind by Lu Yin led Pei Yuan through the back door, then circled the hall until he came into Zhu Houzhao's view. Only then did Pei Yuan step forward and address the emperor, saying, "Your subject, Pei Yuan, commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, wishes Your Majesty the Great Ming a long and peaceful life."

Zhu Houzhao laughed heartily upon hearing this.

Today is a day of grand court celebrations, and Pei Yuan's congratulations, though the latest, made Zhu Houzhao the happiest.

Zhu Houzhao quickly said, "Minister Pei, come closer and sit down."

As he spoke, his gaze unconsciously darted left and right, trying to figure out where to best place Pei Yuan.

However, those who could sit next to Zhu Houzhao were all key ministers. No matter how unreliable Zhu Houzhao was, he could not allow him to change his seat in such a grand occasion because of Pei Yuan.

These people are all supported by a large group of people.

Zhu Houzhao could only focus his attention on his own people, as they were always easier to appease.

Zhu Houzhao glanced at Xu Tai, who was sitting at the very front, and immediately made up his mind, "Well, Pei Qing, you can sit at the same table as Xu Tai."

Upon hearing this, Pei Yuan looked around the table, trying to find Xu Tai's seat.

Xu Tai had been secretly watching Pei Yuan for a while, silently praying that this guy would have some self-awareness and not try to take his position as the Vice Commander-in-Chief.

When Xu Tai's eyes met Pei Yuan's, he immediately felt a tightness in his anus and cowardly lowered his head.

(End of this chapter)