Chapter 24 Maybe This Is Life

Chapter 24 Maybe This Is Life

Chapter 24 Maybe This Is Life
For Pei Yuan, being a hero for no reason was never an option for him.

The concept of the whole world is very vague, but the daily calculations are very clear.

But actually.

Or were there some things in his heart that urged him to "give it a try"?
Chen Toutie didn't say anything. Cheng Leixiang held a blade of grass in his mouth, as if he wanted to open his mouth, but pretended to chew it.

Pei Yuan simply stood up and changed his horse.

"Let's go. Go far away and get some good sleep before the rebels catch up with us."

The three men rode out of the forest on horseback, this time taking the main road.

Pei Yuan thought that there was no way out here, so he simply headed east, towards the hinterland of Shandong.

Although Linqing's location is critical, it is located at the junction of Shandong and Hebei, and its ruling power is relatively weak.

Further east is Jinan Prefecture.

Zhu Di suffered a lot when he fought against Jinan, so Liu Liu and Liu Qi should not have the courage to move eastward.

After walking eastward for another day, they arrived near Gaotang at night.

Pei Yuan looked at the top of the city wall with some hesitation, not knowing whether he should go into the city and spend the night.

The news that the Bazhou rebels were attacking Dongchang Prefecture should have started to spread, but it was definitely not as fast as the three of them.

If they stayed in the city overnight, they would probably wake up to find that Gaotang City had received the warning and had sealed the city gates, and it would be too late to leave the city by then.

Cheng Leixiang finally couldn't help but ask Pei Yuan, "Didn't you say you were going to Jining? From what I see from your direction, you plan to go to Jinan Prefecture first?"

Pei Yuan realized that Cheng Leixiang was abnormal, and looked at him calmly, "Is there a problem?"

Cheng Leixiang shrank back under Pei Yuan's gaze.

Finally, he gritted his teeth and said, "Sir, let's not go to Jinan Prefecture, otherwise, I'm afraid there will be some trouble."

Pei Yuan stopped beating around the bush with Cheng Leixiang, and suddenly raised his voice and shouted directly, "Speak!"

Chen Toutie also looked at Cheng Leixiang, looking him up and down.

Cheng Leixiang was startled, but he put aside his thoughts and said honestly, "Sir, do you still remember Xue Songqi who blocked our way yesterday?"

Pei Yuan frowned and interrupted directly, "Don't talk nonsense like that!"

Cheng Leixiang then said, "There are two secret forces in the Jinan Prefecture and Dongchang Prefecture area, one is called the Baishi Society, and the other is called the Hongshi Society. The Baishi Society specializes in killing people and robbing goods, while the Hongshi Society often pretends to welcome a wedding and forcibly abducts women."

"Last year, seven or eight empty coffins were sent to the home of the governor of Puzhou. The governor was furious and blocked off the entire city for a search. He also had the coffins thrown out of the east gate and burned."

"Who would have thought that when the coffin was half burned, someone discovered that the judge's entire family had appeared out of nowhere inside."

"The prefect was furious and afraid. The next day, he was found hanged in the government office. People in the martial arts world said that the one who presided over this was Xue Songqi, the leader of the Sword Hall."

"And then?" Pei Yuan looked at Cheng Leixiang with an unpleasant expression, "What do you mean by telling me this now?"

Then, Cheng Leixiang told Pei Yuan a piece of news that surprised him.

"As far as I know, the backer of the Funeral Association is Prince De Zhu Jianlin."

"what?"

Pei Yuan couldn't believe it, "How is it possible?"

What surprised Pei Yuan was not that Prince De Zhu Jianlin would support these shady forces, but that Prince Ning Zhu Chenhao was harboring a large number of gangs, pirates and bandits.

What surprised Pei Yuan was how the power of Prince De Zhu Jianlin could appear among the rebels of Liu Liu and Liu Qi!

Could it be that King De has some influence on this rebellion?
Then, Pei Yuan subconsciously denied it.

impossible!
Zhu Jianlin was the second son of Zhu Qizhen, the god of war of the Ming Dynasty, and his fief was Dezhou in Jinan Prefecture.

Although Dezhou is a good place, its location is very critical. The Jingnan Campaign, which lasted for a total of three years, was fought back and forth in Dezhou for two years.

Not to mention that the people of Dezhou had a hard time, even the newly built Prince De’s Palace was extremely shabby.

Zhu Jianlin had been spoiled since childhood and had always been accustomed to pleasure. Now that his father, the god of war, had returned, how could he live in a doghouse again? So Zhu Jianlin refused to leave.

When his good brother Zhu Jianshen, who depended on him for everything, succeeded to the throne, Zhu Jianlin became less polite.

I want both! And more!
What else can you do for a man as affectionate as Emperor Chenghua? Pamper him.

So Zhu Jianshen moved Zhu Jianlin's fiefdom from Dezhou to Licheng, the seat of Jinan Prefecture (he wanted it both times), and then gave all the land before the King of Qi was abolished (he wanted it again) and the land before the King of Han was abolished (he wanted it again) to Zhu Jianlin.

Emperor Chenghua had a deep affection for Prince De. Now that Zhu Jianlin was still alive, how could he have the nerve to rebel against Zhu Houzhao?

This is the little grandson of my good brother Zhu Jianshen. Even if the whole world rebels, Prince De will not.

But since this is a matter concerning his own life, Pei Yuan doesn't dare to gamble.

He looked at Cheng Leixiang, "Do you think Prince De will rebel?"

Cheng Leixiang was afraid that he might mislead Pei Yuan's judgment. He scratched his head and said, "I dare not say that. I only know that Xue Songqi is the King of De's man."

Pei Yuan was silent for a moment.

It was normal for the princes of the Ming Dynasty to act recklessly. Harming the people and killing officials were just basic operations.

After the death of the tyrannical King of Qin, even his father Zhu Yuanzhang cursed him to death.

Today, Prince De might just be one of these people.

However, it never hurts to be cautious.

Pei Yuan thought for a moment and said, "Then let's not go to Jinan Prefecture, let's go directly to Jining."

Chen Toutie pointed to the city in the distance and asked, "Are you still entering the city?"

Pei Yuan shook his head, "Let's not go into the city. Let's go to a nearby village and stay overnight."

The next morning, the three of them slept well and continued on their journey.

When passing Gaotang Prefecture, I saw that the city gate was tightly closed.

Feeling thankful, Chen Toutie half-jokingly said, "After sleeping for one night, the news has spread faster than us. It seems that it is impossible to make another fortune."

Pei Yuan thought about Chen Toutie's words and suddenly felt as if the clouds had been cleared and the sun had appeared. He could not help but sighed, "So that's how it is."

The two flags asked quickly, "What did the lord say?"

Pei Yuan speculated with his own malicious intent.

"What the Prince of De did might be the same as what we did. It's just that we covet a few hundred taels of silver, while he might covet Dongchang Prefecture."

While the three men were fleeing in a panic, they were still thinking of using this information advantage to rob the officials in the post station.

So, did the great King De not see the benefits that could be brought about by the civil unrest in Bazhou?
Judging from the appearance of Xue Songqi, Prince De may not only have taken advantage of the situation, but also deliberately led the rebels to attack Dongchang Prefecture.

Chen Toutie said in surprise, "These are rebels, how is it possible?"

Pei Yuan said, "So what if they are rebels? How could such a big Ming Dynasty be defeated by rebels? As long as you can get enough benefits, there will always be someone to clean up the mess."

Cheng Leixiang and Chen Toutie looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

Pei Yuan also felt that what he said was quite unprincipled.

Weren't they so unscrupulous at the beginning, not caring at all about what the rebels would gain in order to snatch those few hundred taels?

Now seeing Prince De's even uglier eating habits, Pei Yuan felt a little uncomfortable.

Everyone thought that the Ming Dynasty would not fall, but later it did.

Fortunately, Pei Yuan was not a person who would hesitate. He looked at the money in the bag and felt that these things were still so irresistible.

Maybe this is life.

(End of this chapter)