Chapter 53: A traitor appeared in Suzhou 1
Chapter 53: A traitor appeared in Suzhou No. Middle School
After Pei Yuan finished reading the letter, he looked at Chen Toutie again and said, "Grind the ink."
Chen Toutie quickly spread out paper and pen in front of the window, put the inkstone he had just taken aside and began to grind ink.
Pei Yuan looked at the moonlight and felt that there was no need to light a lamp, so he re-copied the letter by the window in the moonlight.
Chen Toutie looked at Pei Yuan's strange behavior and asked in confusion, "Sir, what do you mean by this?"
Pei Yuan finished writing, blew the letter slowly, and said with a smile, "You don't think I'm working so hard for Gu Dayong, do you?"
After the letter dried, Pei Yuan read it again under the moonlight, and said, "I never thought that Sun Keding, a Jinshi, would be so shameless as to flatter a eunuch. He really brings shame to scholars."
Chen Toutie on the side was speechless.
Didn’t they write it down according to what you dictated?
Fortunately, Pei Yuan spoke frankly, and Chen Toutie now understood what Pei Yuan meant, so he asked tentatively, "Sir, do you want to keep a handle to threaten Sun Keding in the future?"
Pei Yuan corrected him disapprovingly, "What threat? We are all brothers from now on."
As he spoke, he handed the handwritten letter to Chen Toutie, "Seal the letter and send it to Eunuch Gu through the Jinyiwei tomorrow morning."
He picked up the copy written by Sun Keding and said, "As for this copy, keep it safe for me. It will be useful when Gu Dayong gets into trouble in the future. Go to the place where we stayed last time and hide for a few days. Don't show up in front of Sun Keding for the time being."
Chen Toutie reminded him earnestly, "If you do this, I'm afraid he may not be willing to return, and it will leave hidden dangers in the future."
Pei Yuan disagreed and said meaningfully, "If that day really comes, maybe he will be grateful to me."
Upon hearing this, Chen Toutie said nothing more. He took the paper and pen on the table and quietly left.
Although Chen Toutie didn't quite understand what the point was for a centurion and two small flags to work together to plot against a Jinshi, but Captain Pei had even said something like "cultivate your own prime minister of the cabinet", so Chen Toutie could only watch his boss go crazy in silence.
After seeing Chen Toutie off, Pei Yuan couldn't sleep.
Trying to control Sun Keding was Pei Yuan's first attempt to gain power.
A low-ranking military officer like Pei Yuan has almost no say in politics.
Even if one day Pei Yuan climbed to the top and became the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, when the emperor and his ministers sat and discussed political affairs, he would just be a standing guard on the side.
It's like a math problem. If the first number is zero, no matter how big the number is, it will be meaningless.
And Sun Keding is the number that can make Pei Yuan’s efforts meaningful.
Although Sun Keding has been dismissed from his position as county magistrate and has no power, he is a genuine Jinshi with great potential for growth.
As long as it can be managed well, even if he cannot enter the cabinet in the future, there is great hope that he can have a place in one of the six ministries.
For example, Pei Yuan’s operation this time.
At the beginning of the seventh year of Zhengde, letting Sun Keding curry favor with Gu Dayong was a completely sound decision.
Because for Gu Dayong, the seventh year of Zhengde was very critical.
In this year, he missed one of the most important ally in his life.
——Lu Wan!
As mentioned before, when Liu Jin was in power, he had two powerful officials, Grand Secretary Jiao Fang and Minister of Personnel, as his cronies. When Zhang Yong was in power, Yang Yiqing, the General of Three Frontiers, was in touch with him and gave him advice.
So in the seventh year of Zhengde, when the eunuch Zhang Yong, who held the seal of the Imperial Household Department, was ousted by Qiu Ju, the director of the Eastern Depot, was it possible for Qiu Ju and Gu Dayong, who had the greatest chance, to completely fill Zhang Yong's position and become the new head of the inner court, and even start the final script of the eunuchs, reorganizing the armaments and resisting the barbarians?
The answer is that Qiu Ju had no chance, and Gu Dayong watched the opportunity slip away.
Gu Dayong watched this opportunity slip away and missed the opportunity to form an alliance with Lu Wan, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and the Right Censor-in-Chief.
Lu Wan, this guy, can be said to be almost perfect in Pei Yuan's aesthetic of civil servants. Timid, cowardly, greedy for money, easy to control... but very capable.
These can be clearly seen from Lu Wan's life experience.
Back then, when Lu Wan was studying at Suzhou No. 1 Middle School, a eunuch named Wang Jing came south on business and had a conflict with the students. The students were so angry that they rushed up and beat the eunuch.
After the fight, everyone looked back and saw that Lu Wan didn't dare to go up.
This is crazy...
Everyone felt very unhappy.
What does this kid mean? !
There is a traitor in Suzhou No. 1 Middle School! He is a traitor!
Later, the eunuch Wang Jing, with a bruised face, said that he would not let them go and would report them to the emperor.
Therefore, Lu Wan, who did not participate in the beating of the eunuchs because of his cowardice, was promoted to the top of the list by the teachers and students in indignation and became the main culprit in the beating of the eunuchs.
When the complaint was submitted, the local governor Wang Shu thought that the eunuch Wang Jing was not a good person, so he was beaten. Then he wrote to the emperor, asking to let the matter go.
Then, a funny scene occurred.
Not long after, Lu Wan and his classmates took the imperial examination in the 23rd year of Chenghua and passed the examination as Jinshi.
When the day came for the official positions to be granted, everyone went to pay a visit to the Minister of Personnel, and it turned out that the Minister of Personnel in charge of the allocation of official positions was actually the former Governor Wang Shu.
When Wang Shu saw Lu Wan's name, he was impressed. "Isn't this the Lu Quanqing from Suzhou No. 1 Middle School who led the attack on the eunuchs?"
When Lu Wan heard this, his whole body trembled.
So he mustered up his courage and stood up amidst the incredulous gazes of his classmates.
"Yes, I did it! I will never reconcile with eunuchs!"
Upon hearing this, the Minister of Personnel was very impressed and said, "You are such a good man. You should start from the most noble position of Supervisory Censor!"
Thus, Lu Wan entered the fast lane of Ming Dynasty officialdom.
It is said that after the news spread back to Suzhou, many teachers and students of Suzhou No. 1 Middle School experienced varying degrees of psychological discomfort.
Of course, Lu Wan's real rise to fame came after he joined eunuch Liu Jin.
——Because of his cowardice, he became a brave warrior against eunuchs, and because of bribing Liu Jin, he became the Left Censor-in-Chief.
——He had been a civil servant for half his life, but with his extraordinary military command ability and repeated military exploits, he became the Minister of Personnel and the Prince's Guardian, the first person under the cabinet.
——Just when he was about to reach the peak of his life, he was deprived of everything because of the Ning Wang Rebellion and his failure to explain historical issues clearly.
But Lu Wan's life trajectory is such that every step is taken in places that people would never expect.
Although Lu Wan has various shortcomings, he has one most important advantage, which is that he is capable!
The entire Bazhou rebellion was almost entirely sustained by Lu Wan's outstanding command ability.
Moreover, Liu Hui, Xu Tai and Jiang Bin, who were favored by Emperor Zhengde in the later period, were all Lu Wan's subordinates, and Lu Wan always maintained considerable influence on them.
If Gu Dayong could form an alliance with Lu Wan, the effect would definitely be no less than the combination of Zhang Yong and Yang Yiqing.
Fortunately, this is not a bad thing for Pei Yuan.
Since Gu Dayong missed Lu Wan, it means that the missing piece of the puzzle is still there. If Sun Keding joins him at this time, it will be easy for him to be appreciated by Gu Dayong.
Pei Yuan's move can also bring out the greatest value.
(End of this chapter)