Chapter 31 Pei Yuan's Plot

Chapter 31 Pei Yuan's Plot

Chapter 31 Pei Yuan's Plot

"Tailor-made a merit?"

Chen Toutie and Cheng Leixiang were shocked.

"Correct."

Pei Yuan looked at the two men and said word by word, "I injured Liu Qi, the leader of the Bazhou bandits, during the chaos and took away his precious sword. How do you think of this achievement?"

Chen Toutie and Cheng Leixiang were both numb from listening.

How cruel is Pei Baihu's bottom line?

How can you be so shameless?

Cheng Leixiang even asked blankly, "Isn't this a gift that Mr. Liu Qi kindly gave you?"

Pei Yuan reiterated, "Cheng Leixiang and I injured Liu Qi, the leader of the Bazhou bandits, in the chaos and took away his precious sword. How about this achievement?"

Cheng Leixiang immediately fell silent.

After hearing this, Chen Toutie twisted his body back and forth as if something was stuck under his butt.

Pei Yuan smiled at the two of them and said, "You two guys and I injured Liu Qi, the leader of the Bazhou bandits, in the chaos and took away his precious sword..."

He paused here, raised his chin towards the two people opposite him, and said, "How about this credit?"

Chen Toutie swallowed his saliva and said, "Isn't this a false report of military achievements?"

Pei Yuan did not answer this question, but said seriously, "If you two are willing to get involved, let's discuss it. Let's see how to turn the fake into the real without causing trouble for ourselves afterwards."

The two of them lowered their heads and hesitated for a while. Chen Toutie said carefully, "How about we give it a try?"

Pei Yuan looked at Cheng Leixiang.

Cheng Leixiang swallowed hard and was more decisive than Chen Tou. "It's a free credit anyway, so why not take it?"

Pei Yuan looked at the two of them and said slowly, "Okay."

Then he stared at the two of them and said, "But let me be frank. After this, the three of us are completely tied together. If I get sold out, no one else will survive."

Chen Toutie and Cheng Leixiang were both startled, knowing that Captain Pei was taking this opportunity to make the two of them surrender.

They did not dare to hesitate and said directly, "Don't worry, sir, I will never say a word about this matter until I die!"

Pei Yuan looked at the two of them and didn't answer.

He first opened the "Debt Settlement System" and located the creditor Liu Qi. Seeing that he had never left the city, he felt that he was 70% to 80% sure about the matter.

As long as he compiled enough information cocoons, Pei Yuan could turn a fictional battle into reality even if he never met Liu Qi again.

——For example, the famous trans-temporal red cannon incident in later generations.

With the super-time and space red cannon, Yuan Chonghuan was able to kill Nurhaci with one shot seven months later.

In the meantime, Nurhaci happily celebrated his 68th birthday and was full of energy in the expedition against the Khalkha Mongols. He didn't even know that he was already dead.

How sad.

What Pei Yuan had to do was to forge intertwined credentials and information and create a war that only existed in official documents and intelligence exchanges.

To accomplish this, the benefits are huge, but the risks are also huge.

Pei Yuan thought for a moment and said, "A single piece of evidence is not enough. If we want to make this a permanent success, we have to find some important people to get involved! We are lowly officials, and with just this knife, I'm afraid no one will pay any attention to us."

Hearing that they were going to find someone else, Chen Toutie felt a little unwilling and asked tentatively, "Well, wouldn't that mean we're dividing the credit? Besides, what if someone else wants to take advantage of us and take the credit?"

Pei Yuan obviously already had an idea.

He took out a bamboo chopstick from the chopstick bucket on the table, broke it into pieces with force, and placed it on the table.

Then he said to the two of them, "Let's think of the whole thing as this chopstick."

He picked up the chopsticks and motioned to the two of them, "This is what we want the credit for."

Then he pointed to the broken chopsticks and said, "This is the part I want them to be involved in."

"We divide the whole thing into separate independent events. In this way, they can participate in part of the whole thing and become our circumstantial witnesses, but they will not participate in the whole thing and affect our results."

Cheng Leixiang thought for a while and wondered, "But, if this happens, doesn't that mean that everyone who participated will be eligible to take credit for our work? Then wouldn't we have worked in vain?"

Pei Yuan smiled. This was the most ingenious part of his design.

He reached out and messed up the chopsticks that were broken on the table, then smiled and said, "What if, like this?"

Seeing the two people looking confused, Pei Yuan did not explain in detail and changed the topic to something else.

"I have previously asserted that the Bazhou rebels will definitely attack Jining. Their move to return to Hebei should be a feint to confuse the court."

"Now that Liu Qi has appeared in Jining City, this is a strong signal. I'm afraid that the Bazhou rebels will soon show their fangs."

Upon hearing this, the two of them flattered him, "Your Excellency is indeed very knowledgeable."

Pei Yuan ignored the compliments of the two men and stared at them back and forth, "In your opinion, can Jining City be defended?"

Chen Toutie immediately shook his head. "Under the attack of the Bazhou rebels, the Jining Left Guard lost Linqing almost overnight. The combat power of the Jining Guard and the Jining Left Guard is equal, so there is no hope. If the troops of the Caopu Military Preparation Road heard that Jining was going to fight, they would probably flee back halfway."

Cheng Leixiang also echoed, "The Grand Canal passes through the city, and both sides of the river are prosperous, so it is impossible to defend it. Once the rebels from Bazhou attack, they can just send ships down and Jining City can be taken in one fell swoop."

Then, Cheng Leixiang also forgot about the chivalry of the Jianghu and said, "There are thousands of grain ships transiting in the big lake south of Jining City. If something happens to those grain ships, I'm afraid the morale of the soldiers defending the city will collapse immediately. Master Liu Qi is not entering the city for this reason?"

Pei Yuan didn't care how reliable the two people's words were. He looked at them and said, "Very good, we have reached the first consensus. Jining City can no longer be defended. Defeat is imminent."

Pei Yuan then asked, "If that's the case, once Jining City is captured and thousands of grain ships are burned, who will be responsible for this?"

Chen Toutie knew more about official affairs and gave his answer immediately.

"The governor of the river must be the first one. Wang Ding, the Right Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, just took office this year. The cabinet appointed him just to supervise the river. Now he has been the part-time governor of the river for less than three months. It's bad luck for him." Pei Yuan felt more confident after hearing this, and continued the topic, "He has only been the Right Censor-in-Chief and the governor of the river for three months. As long as Jining City is captured, everything will come to nothing. Do you think he will be willing to accept this?"

Then, he asked himself and answered, "He definitely won't accept this. So as long as we throw out the bait, he will definitely take it and treat it as a life-saving straw."

Pei Yuan then asked, "Who is secondarily responsible?"

Chen Toutie had no choice but to continue, "Hou Gong, the commander of Jining Guard, and Fan Bi, the governor of Jining, are responsible for defending the territory. If we lose Jining, we will be in big trouble."

Pei Yuan asked again, "And then?"

Chen Toutie thought for a long time, "Zheng Du of Caopu Military Preparations Department might be implicated. The Governor of Hedao has already given him the order to assist in the defense. No matter what Zheng Du does, as long as Jining City is lost, the Governor of Hedao will hold him to task. Because this is the only effort the Governor of Hedao has made to save the situation."

"Then there is Gu Dayong, the governor of military affairs. Since he has taken on the position of governor of military affairs, any loss in any place is his responsibility. However, he is not the one directly responsible. At most, he will bear the blame from the court and the public. It may be embarrassing, and he may also fall out of favor with the emperor who loves military affairs."

Pei Yuan nodded in approval and said, "Yes, in my opinion, Wang Ding, the governor of the river, Hou Gong, the commander of Jining Guard, Fan Bi, the governor of Jining, and Zheng Du, the military governor of Caopu, these four people are the chess pieces we can use."

"If Jining Prefecture is lost, the Grand Canal will be cut in half. The four of them will definitely rack their brains and grasp at every straw that can save their lives. In other words, they have the motive to join forces with us to commit fraud."

Pei Yuan put down another piece of chopsticks next to the chopstick heads that represented the contributions of the three people, "This is Gu Dayong."

Then he explained it to the two of them.

"Gu Dayong does not need to participate in the fraud, because I was really recommended by Gu Dayong. In this matter, Gu Dayong lost face. As long as I can save his face, Gu Dayong will naturally support me."

"If Jining Prefecture is conquered, but the people recommended by Gu Dayong are able to injure the bandit leader Liu Qi and seize his precious sword, then this strong contrast will be of great benefit to Gu Dayong."

"Because the main responsibility lies with the local authorities, Gu Dayong was implicated. If the people he recommended perform well, the government and the opposition cannot blame him for negligence. Our interests are the same."

After listening to Pei Yuan's analysis, both of them felt as if they had suddenly realized something.

Pei Yuan looked at the table silently for a while, and placed the four scattered chopsticks in front of him. "So we have to send intelligence to these four people in the identity of Jinyiwei and put them in the link of this matter."

"For example, we can tell the governor of the river that the prefect of Jining has discovered that Liu Qi, the leader of the Bazhou bandits, is planning to burn the canal boats, and is working with the Jinyiwei to capture him, so we ask for his assistance."

"Then no matter what reaction the Hedao Governor makes, we can thank him afterwards and tell him how many bandits we killed, how we injured Liu Qi, how we took away the sword, and how many people were killed and injured when Liu Qi was ambushed by the Jining Guards while fleeing."

"Although the Governor of the River Channel did nothing, in the Governor of the River Channel's world, he was tied to the Jining Prefect and the Jining Guard. The three of them together formed a link in the discovery, siege, and ambush of Liu Qi."

"Moreover, there is circumstantial evidence from the Jining prefect and the Jining guards, and the envoy from the Jinyiwei has personally confirmed this matter. He can believe it and take the credit for it."

Pei Yuan gestured.

"For four people, we only need to send out four sets of false information and make a certain person disappear in each other's world one by one, which will form four links of three people."

"For example, in the world of Zheng Du, the military governor of Caopu, it is possible that he discovered the support of the Bazhou rebels outside the city, defeated the enemy, and notified Jining Prefecture. Then the governor of Hedao assisted the Jinyiwei in completing the encirclement and suppression of Liu Qi."

"For example, in the world of Jining Zhizhou Fan Bi, it was he who completed the pursuit of Liu Qi, and the source of the intelligence became the Governor of Hedao, and the one who completed the ambush was Zheng Du, the military governor of Caopu."

"Each of them has the desire to prove their merit and atone for their sins, but they also have to rely on other people's circumstantial evidence to prove their merits, which creates a clever game."

The two were a little confused after hearing this, and Cheng Leixiang asked blankly.

"But even if we can help make this fabricated military achievement a reality, these people can still take away our credit. How can we, the three centurions and small flags, be qualified to compete with them?"

Pei Yuan couldn't help but reveal a sinister smile.

"That's why I mess with these sessions."

"As long as the Embroidered Spring Knife I swung before Jining City fell hits Liu Qi after Jining City fell, this matter will never be explained."

"What happens if everyone involved can prove that this happened, but then they contradict each other and confuse each other?"

Before the two could figure it out, Pei Yuan said, "The result is that those who seek credit from the court will be suspected of lying about their military achievements."

The two continued to be confused, "But what good will this do us?"

Pei Yuan patted the long sword wrapped in layers of linen and said meaningfully, "Because, we have this!"

"This is the only solid evidence that can be produced in this system of lies."

Pei Yuan took out a chopstick head from the pile of chopstick segments, stared at the two of them and said word by word, "This will become the anchor of everything!"

"When the credits they report are self-contradictory and cannot be explained, we must first prove that our credits are real."

"Because only if this thing is proven to be true can we prove that other things are true."

Pei Yuan patted Liu Qi's precious sword and said confidently, "So, our contribution is real. No one should think of leaving us aside against their conscience."

Chen Toutie and Cheng Leixiang were both speechless.

As the starting point of all lies, how can you be so confident?
After a long while, Chen Toutie said hesitantly, "Then shouldn't we just trick them all?"

Pei Yuan and Cheng Leixiang remained silent upon hearing this.

The scene was quiet for a moment. Pei Yuan looked at the two and asked, "Just say whether you want to do it or not?"

The two men were unequivocal when they heard this, and gritted their teeth and said, "Wealth and honor are sought in danger. Brothers will do whatever the adults say!"

The three of them ate a big meal and drank a lot of wine.

Then he went back to his original place to pick up his luggage and moved to a new place with Pei Yuan.

Pei Yuan had a simple map showing the creditor's location to help him locate it, and he easily found a place to stay near the inn where Liu Qi and his group were hiding.

The three of them secretly observed the movements of Liu Qi and others while inquiring about information from outside.

As the atmosphere in the city became increasingly tense, news soon arrived.

After joining forces with Yang Hu who was heading west, the Bazhou rebels made a feint towards the capital. Gu Dayong, who had originally predicted that the Bazhou rebels would attack Jining, was horrified and quickly ordered his troops to return north to prevent the rebels from attacking the capital directly.

Unexpectedly, the rebels reduced their troops and increased their camps along the way, and used the withdrawn troops to quickly capture Yanggu County and Shouzhang County, and forced their front line to the border of Jining Wei.

(End of this chapter)