Chapter 472 Happy conversation
The brother-in-law beside him noticed something was wrong and asked Ouyang Bijin, "Little brother, do you know this person?"
Ouyang Bijin thought that this was the capital city, and also remembered what his brother-in-law had said about Wang Shouren, who was beside him and was both civil and military. He hesitated for a moment, wondering whether he should use this man's power and ability to get rid of the control of this evil villain.
While Ouyang Bijin was struggling with his thoughts, Wang Shouren asked in surprise, "Brother, how did you get to know Weizhong's brother-in-law?"
"???"
Ouyang Bijin blinked his eyes quickly and soon gave up.
Okay, no need to struggle with your thoughts.
They know each other.
Thinking of Pei Yuan's decisive character, Ouyang Bijin was scared. He quickly forced a smile, "Ah, ah, it turned out to be Pei..."
Pei Yuan hugged Ouyang Bijin's shoulders tightly again and interrupted him with a scolding look, "Why are you so distant? Call me big brother!"
Pei Yuan has one advantage.
He knew that he was not a good person, so he never fantasized that others would treat him as a good person.
Ouyang Bijin had not forgotten how he had threatened him in the first place, and neither had he.
Ouyang Bijin was a guy who was very good at reading the situation, otherwise, the little fat guy who sensed something was wrong that night at the post station would have become one of the dead.
He quickly pretended to be surprised and said, "Yes, yes, brother, why are you here?!"
Pei Yuan gestured to Wang Shouren and said, "My uncle is coming to the capital today. Big brother, please wait here with me."
Hearing Pei Yuan address him like this, Ouyang Bijin became even more afraid to act rashly.
So you two are in the same group.
Pei Yuan finally had some free time, and replied to Wang Shouren with a smile, "Last year when I was traveling south, I met Brother Ouyang on the road, and we became close friends."
"Afterwards, I discovered that Brother Ouyang and I got along very well, so we became sworn brothers."
Wang Shouren was a shrewd man and felt that it might not be that simple. However, since neither of them had made it clear, he did not dare to say anything more.
He pointed to the middle-aged scholar with a short beard beside him and introduced him to Pei Yuan, "This is Yan Song, Yan Weizhong, the second place in the second class in the 18th year of Hongzhi."
"Before that, because of the rampant abuse of power by Liu Jin, Jiao Fang and others, I had to return to Jiangxi on the pretext of illness. Later, when I was the magistrate of Luling County in Jiangxi, I met him several times, and we had a lot of pleasant conversations and became close friends."
Wang Shouren pointed at Pei Yuan and said, "This is Pei Yuan, the captain of the Jinyi Guard. Although he is in the Jinyi Guard, he is mainly responsible for the affairs of monks and Taoists, and is not involved with those treacherous gangs and villains."
Perhaps because Pei Yuan was a member of the Imperial Guard, Wang Shouren was afraid that Yan Song might misunderstand something, so he explained, "This brother Pei is strong and upright, not afraid of power, and has foresight and vision, and cares about the people. The Minister of Agriculture, Prince Wang, often mentioned him to me, and he always praised him highly."
"When I met Brother Pei today, it was like meeting a soulmate. We had a great conversation."
After hearing this, Yan Song hurriedly nodded to Pei Yuan and exchanged a few words.
Pei Yuan no longer cared about this treacherous minister who became famous in later generations.
In the early days, Pei Yuan was so destitute that he would grab hold of any hope he saw as if it were a life-saving straw.
Now, only more than a year has passed, and many of my previous ideas have slowly changed.
Apart from anything else, he, Pei Qianhu, is the father now!
If we follow the historical trajectory and wait for Yan Song to become successful, then there is still a lot to wait.
During the Zhengde period, Yang Tinghe first fought against Yang Yiqing and then fought against Wang Qiong, and his party dominated the court.
When Yang Tinghe's party was gradually defeated in the Great Ceremony Debate, it was time for the three little strong men, Zhang Cong, Huo Tao and Gui E, to rise.
Next came Xia Yan, who was able to write Qingci, and relied on the advantage of the small track to beat the three strongest opponents.
It was not until this time that Yan Song began to rely on his fellow villager Xia Yan, and slowly lay dormant with a humble attitude almost like a retainer, and finally repeated his success in the small track of Qingci.
Pei Yuan counted with his fingers, with all the people coming and going, who could Yan Song be considered?
To be honest, Xia Yan, whom Yan Song flattered, is still a juren now!
As far as I can remember, Xia Yan took part in the examination in the ninth year of Zhengde, but failed.
Now that a special examination has been opened ahead of schedule, Pei Yuan has specifically hinted to the emperor that Liang Chu, the chief examiner in the ninth year of Zhengde, should still be in charge of this matter. So in the general direction, the marking tendency of the ninth year of Zhengde may very likely repeat itself.
Xia Yan, who was able to beat off the three little strong men, will most likely fail the exam.
As for Yan Song's official career..., Xia Yan had failed, let alone him.
Although Pei Yuan was very interested in this historical celebrity, he certainly could not give him a good position.
Pei Yuan has currently obtained Huo Tao, one of the three little strong men. In the future, he will definitely take Huo Tao as the core and try to gather the three little strong men to build a political team.
In the original history, Zhang Cong and Gui E both served as Grand Secretaries, and Huo Tao was in a weaker position, playing the role of a younger brother.
But Pei Yuan didn't intend to do so.
After all, among the three little strong men, Zhang Cong was historically evaluated as "wanting to break up the private party of ministers, and becoming the party leader first", and Gui E had a reputation for disobeying his superiors.
It's obvious that these two guys like to overthrow their superiors, so they are difficult to deal with.
It would be a bit of a headache for Pei Yuan to deal with them himself, so it would be better for him to let Huo Tao be the leader.
In history, Zhang Cong and Gui E were able to form an alliance with Huo Tao, which meant that they should have similar personalities and had the potential to form a powerful government.
The fact that these three people were able to overturn the huge Yang Ting and his party has already proved their abilities.
In addition, Pei Yuan was still thinking about Jiao Fang's party who wanted to revive, and was preparing to use Jiao Fang's legacy as his own political periphery.
Unless Yan Song has reached the level of political maturity in history, Pei Yuan does not intend to spend too much time on him.
After Pei Yuan greeted Yan Song, he asked him casually, "Brother Yan, are you coming to the capital this time to be reinstated?"
Yan Song did not expect Pei Yuan to ask so directly. After hesitating for a moment, he said honestly, "The situation is unclear now, so we might as well wait and see. This time I came to Beijing mainly for my brother-in-law's imperial examination. As for the reinstatement..."
Yan Song hesitated and couldn't make up his mind.
The current situation is a confrontation between Yang Tinghe and Yang Yiqing.
Yang Yiqing's political foundation was anti-Liu Jin, and his base was people from Jiangxi and Yuyao.
If Yan Song entered the official career now, he would be passively involved in this vortex. Because of his background, he would become the target of suppression by Yang Tinghe.
He paused and said, "I have no plans to reinstate myself for now."
Wang Shouren sighed when he heard this.
He also took advantage of the downfall of Liu Jin to return.
However, he was not as patient as Yan Song and was already considering reinstatement.
In history, Wang Shouren would eventually join Wang Qiong's camp to fight against Yang Tinghe. In addition to Wang Qiong's kindness, there were also some difficulties that he could not help. In this time and space, the situation of Saint Wang is better.
At least his father, Wang Hua, became the Minister of Rites because of some behind-the-scenes influence.
His father alone has enough influence to protect him from the wind and rain.
Pei Yuan remembered that there were still Shandong candidates waiting behind him, so he didn't waste time and joked with Yan Song, "A wise man has many considerations, so why not consider them again? Brother Yan, there is really no need to be anxious."
Then he turned to Wang Shouren and said, "When I went to Shandong to deal with the Luo Sect, I met several scholars of the same generation. This time they are coming to Beijing to take the imperial examination, so I must do my best to show my hospitality."
"As for my uncle, I'd like to trouble you to apologize. I will definitely visit him to ask for advice in the future."
Wang Shouren laughed and said, "Just go ahead. I just wanted to do this on a whim. I dragged you along. There's no need to apologize."
Pei Yuan patted Ouyang Bijin again and said to Yan Song, "My brother happens to be in the same class as them. I'll take him with me to make some friends. Brother Yan, do you want to come along?"
Upon hearing this, Yan Song glanced at Ouyang Bijin.
Ouyang Bijin nodded quickly, like a chicken pecking at rice, "That's exactly what I meant."
Yan Song had just heard Wang Shouren praising Pei Yuan, and heard that even the Minister of Revenue Wang Qiong was Pei Yuan's friend regardless of age difference. He also thought that the person he was going to make friends with was also a fellow examinee of the same year, so he immediately said with relief, "In that case, let Ren Fu go with you. Bo An and I haven't seen each other for a long time, so let's talk here."
Pei Yuan knew that Yan Song had other intentions, and that he must have heard about Wang Hua's affairs and was planning to take advantage of the opportunity to gain personal advantage. So he did not try to persuade him and took Ouyang Bijin back to the other candidates.
Pei Yuan introduced the candidates, "This is my sworn brother, the champion of Ji'an Prefecture, who is here to take the exam with you."
As soon as Pei Yuan introduced Ouyang Bijin's identity, the candidates from Shandong immediately stood in awe.
That’s Ji’an Prefecture in Jiangxi!
Ji'an Prefecture was so glorious in those days. In the second year of Jianwen, the top three scholars in the first class were all from Ji'an Prefecture in Jiangxi.
Then in the second year of Yongle, not only the top three in the first class, but also the top four in the second class, were all from Ji'an Prefecture in Jiangxi Province.
Although the power of Jiangxi people to interpret ideology became weaker later on and their performance in the imperial examinations gradually showed signs of decline, it was still Ji'an Prefecture after all.
A champion of Ji'an Prefecture is still worthy of everyone's respect.
Seeing that Pei Yuan and Ouyang Bijin seemed to be on good terms, Huo Tao secretly became alert and worried about his own ecological niche for a while.
Pei Yuan still boasted to the candidates, "Brother Ouyang and I hit it off right away. We talked for a few minutes and felt that we had met too late. We became brothers of different surnames. Thinking about it today, I still feel happy."
When many Shandong candidates heard this and thought of that scene, they felt that Captain Pei in front of them had a similar temperament to an old friend from Yuncheng.
Pei Yuan asked Chen Xinjian to make arrangements first, and then went back to the city with everyone else, talking and laughing.
When Pei Yuan was welcoming these candidates, he naturally could not take them to Zhihua Temple.
Halfway through the journey, the Jinyiwei who had been arranged earlier reported back that the banquet had been prepared, and they went back to Zhihua Temple to find the experienced Zhang Song to accompany the guests.
Many candidates were touched by Pei Qianhu's generosity and hospitality.
After arriving at the restaurant, Zhang Song saw Pei Yuan leading people in and had already come out to greet them.
When they heard that the person who came to accompany the guests was a Jinshi, many of the candidates were flattered.
Pei Yuan did not understand the Four Books and Five Classics, and did not have much in common with these scholars, so he simply talked about interesting things in the capital and entertained them with wine and food.
Zhang Song was surprised and concerned to see Pei Yuan's enthusiasm for these unknown candidates.
Sitting next to him was Huo Tao.
Perhaps it was because it was the first time he had seen a scholar under Captain Pei, Huo Tao did not dare to look down on this Jinshi. While he was trying to persuade him to drink, Huo Tao whispered to Zhang Song, "I hope you can give me more guidance in the future."
Zhang Song held the wine glass in confusion for a long time, not knowing what Huo Tao meant.
Huo Tao could only introduce him in an awkward whisper, "One of us."
Only then did Zhang Song realize that Huo Tao had already joined Captain Pei's camp.
He understood his own importance and did not dare to be negligent, and the atmosphere between the two of them quickly became harmonious.
Zhang Song watched the interaction between Captain Pei and the candidates. He observed silently for a while. Finally, while Captain Pei was trying to persuade people to drink, he could not help but whisper to Huo Tao beside him, "Brother, the Captain seems to value these candidates very much..."
Huo Tao was a little surprised when he heard this, "Senior, don't you know?"
Zhang Song looked a little embarrassed.
Huo Tao's eyes moved, and he didn't know how to answer for a moment.
With just one sentence, Huo Tao was able to distinguish the importance of each other.
This matter was still somewhat confidential within Pei Yuan's small group, and it was a bit reckless of him to talk to Zhang Song rashly just now.
Fortunately, Zhang Song quickly explained with a bitter face, "I have been working in Zhihua Temple in place of Governor Kong Xu. A few days ago, they asked me to be responsible for entertaining these scholars from Shandong. The thousand households didn't mention any specific rules."
"I have never done anything like this before, and I am still confused. I am just afraid that I might do something wrong."
Huo Tao felt relieved after hearing this. He picked out what he could say and briefly told Zhang Song about Pei Yuan's plans.
In short, Pei Yuan intended to recruit these people to work for him, but because of his shallow foundation and lack of money, he could not come up with good chips.
Therefore, we can only treat them well first and see if we can appeal to their emotions.
After hearing this, Zhang Song remained silent for a moment.
He watched Pei Yuan enthusiastically drinking with those people, with a rare bright smile on his face, and whispered to Huo Tao, "The thousand households really value these people."
Huo Tao also sighed in a low voice, "Yes, Governor Wang and I have worked so hard for so long, and we have only found more than ten suitable people. It is really not easy. I don't know how many of them we can win over."
Zhang Song listened and nodded silently, and some ideas slowly sprouted in his mind.
Pei Yuan's alcohol tolerance was average, and he was drinking with so many people, so he was already drunk halfway through the party.
Upon seeing this, Chen Xinjian hurriedly led his personal guards forward and wanted to help Pei Yuan back.
Pei Yuan was confused but he held on to the table and refused to let go.
He was very strong, and his five fingers were holding the wine table, which was squeaking as it dragged on the ground.
Many candidates who could drink a lot, not only did not look down on him, but instead sighed, "Captain Pei is such a straightforward person."
They also came forward to help comfort him, and Pei Yuan finally loosened his grip and fell asleep in a daze.
A strong soldier in brocade uniform quickly stepped forward and carried Pei Yuan on his back.
Seeing that Pei Yuan was very drunk, Chen Xinjian did not dare to be careless. He personally led people to send Pei Yuan back to the old house in Dengshikou and handed him over to the care of his young lady.
(End of this chapter)
The brother-in-law beside him noticed something was wrong and asked Ouyang Bijin, "Little brother, do you know this person?"
Ouyang Bijin thought that this was the capital city, and also remembered what his brother-in-law had said about Wang Shouren, who was beside him and was both civil and military. He hesitated for a moment, wondering whether he should use this man's power and ability to get rid of the control of this evil villain.
While Ouyang Bijin was struggling with his thoughts, Wang Shouren asked in surprise, "Brother, how did you get to know Weizhong's brother-in-law?"
"???"
Ouyang Bijin blinked his eyes quickly and soon gave up.
Okay, no need to struggle with your thoughts.
They know each other.
Thinking of Pei Yuan's decisive character, Ouyang Bijin was scared. He quickly forced a smile, "Ah, ah, it turned out to be Pei..."
Pei Yuan hugged Ouyang Bijin's shoulders tightly again and interrupted him with a scolding look, "Why are you so distant? Call me big brother!"
Pei Yuan has one advantage.
He knew that he was not a good person, so he never fantasized that others would treat him as a good person.
Ouyang Bijin had not forgotten how he had threatened him in the first place, and neither had he.
Ouyang Bijin was a guy who was very good at reading the situation, otherwise, the little fat guy who sensed something was wrong that night at the post station would have become one of the dead.
He quickly pretended to be surprised and said, "Yes, yes, brother, why are you here?!"
Pei Yuan gestured to Wang Shouren and said, "My uncle is coming to the capital today. Big brother, please wait here with me."
Hearing Pei Yuan address him like this, Ouyang Bijin became even more afraid to act rashly.
So you two are in the same group.
Pei Yuan finally had some free time, and replied to Wang Shouren with a smile, "Last year when I was traveling south, I met Brother Ouyang on the road, and we became close friends."
"Afterwards, I discovered that Brother Ouyang and I got along very well, so we became sworn brothers."
Wang Shouren was a shrewd man and felt that it might not be that simple. However, since neither of them had made it clear, he did not dare to say anything more.
He pointed to the middle-aged scholar with a short beard beside him and introduced him to Pei Yuan, "This is Yan Song, Yan Weizhong, the second place in the second class in the 18th year of Hongzhi."
"Before that, because of the rampant abuse of power by Liu Jin, Jiao Fang and others, I had to return to Jiangxi on the pretext of illness. Later, when I was the magistrate of Luling County in Jiangxi, I met him several times, and we had a lot of pleasant conversations and became close friends."
Wang Shouren pointed at Pei Yuan and said, "This is Pei Yuan, the captain of the Jinyi Guard. Although he is in the Jinyi Guard, he is mainly responsible for the affairs of monks and Taoists, and is not involved with those treacherous gangs and villains."
Perhaps because Pei Yuan was a member of the Imperial Guard, Wang Shouren was afraid that Yan Song might misunderstand something, so he explained, "This brother Pei is strong and upright, not afraid of power, and has foresight and vision, and cares about the people. The Minister of Agriculture, Prince Wang, often mentioned him to me, and he always praised him highly."
"When I met Brother Pei today, it was like meeting a soulmate. We had a great conversation."
After hearing this, Yan Song hurriedly nodded to Pei Yuan and exchanged a few words.
Pei Yuan no longer cared about this treacherous minister who became famous in later generations.
In the early days, Pei Yuan was so destitute that he would grab hold of any hope he saw as if it were a life-saving straw.
Now, only more than a year has passed, and many of my previous ideas have slowly changed.
Apart from anything else, he, Pei Qianhu, is the father now!
If we follow the historical trajectory and wait for Yan Song to become successful, then there is still a lot to wait.
During the Zhengde period, Yang Tinghe first fought against Yang Yiqing and then fought against Wang Qiong, and his party dominated the court.
When Yang Tinghe's party was gradually defeated in the Great Ceremony Debate, it was time for the three little strong men, Zhang Cong, Huo Tao and Gui E, to rise.
Next came Xia Yan, who was able to write Qingci, and relied on the advantage of the small track to beat the three strongest opponents.
It was not until this time that Yan Song began to rely on his fellow villager Xia Yan, and slowly lay dormant with a humble attitude almost like a retainer, and finally repeated his success in the small track of Qingci.
Pei Yuan counted with his fingers, with all the people coming and going, who could Yan Song be considered?
To be honest, Xia Yan, whom Yan Song flattered, is still a juren now!
As far as I can remember, Xia Yan took part in the examination in the ninth year of Zhengde, but failed.
Now that a special examination has been opened ahead of schedule, Pei Yuan has specifically hinted to the emperor that Liang Chu, the chief examiner in the ninth year of Zhengde, should still be in charge of this matter. So in the general direction, the marking tendency of the ninth year of Zhengde may very likely repeat itself.
Xia Yan, who was able to beat off the three little strong men, will most likely fail the exam.
As for Yan Song's official career..., Xia Yan had failed, let alone him.
Although Pei Yuan was very interested in this historical celebrity, he certainly could not give him a good position.
Pei Yuan has currently obtained Huo Tao, one of the three little strong men. In the future, he will definitely take Huo Tao as the core and try to gather the three little strong men to build a political team.
In the original history, Zhang Cong and Gui E both served as Grand Secretaries, and Huo Tao was in a weaker position, playing the role of a younger brother.
But Pei Yuan didn't intend to do so.
After all, among the three little strong men, Zhang Cong was historically evaluated as "wanting to break up the private party of ministers, and becoming the party leader first", and Gui E had a reputation for disobeying his superiors.
It's obvious that these two guys like to overthrow their superiors, so they are difficult to deal with.
It would be a bit of a headache for Pei Yuan to deal with them himself, so it would be better for him to let Huo Tao be the leader.
In history, Zhang Cong and Gui E were able to form an alliance with Huo Tao, which meant that they should have similar personalities and had the potential to form a powerful government.
The fact that these three people were able to overturn the huge Yang Ting and his party has already proved their abilities.
In addition, Pei Yuan was still thinking about Jiao Fang's party who wanted to revive, and was preparing to use Jiao Fang's legacy as his own political periphery.
Unless Yan Song has reached the level of political maturity in history, Pei Yuan does not intend to spend too much time on him.
After Pei Yuan greeted Yan Song, he asked him casually, "Brother Yan, are you coming to the capital this time to be reinstated?"
Yan Song did not expect Pei Yuan to ask so directly. After hesitating for a moment, he said honestly, "The situation is unclear now, so we might as well wait and see. This time I came to Beijing mainly for my brother-in-law's imperial examination. As for the reinstatement..."
Yan Song hesitated and couldn't make up his mind.
The current situation is a confrontation between Yang Tinghe and Yang Yiqing.
Yang Yiqing's political foundation was anti-Liu Jin, and his base was people from Jiangxi and Yuyao.
If Yan Song entered the official career now, he would be passively involved in this vortex. Because of his background, he would become the target of suppression by Yang Tinghe.
He paused and said, "I have no plans to reinstate myself for now."
Wang Shouren sighed when he heard this.
He also took advantage of the downfall of Liu Jin to return.
However, he was not as patient as Yan Song and was already considering reinstatement.
In history, Wang Shouren would eventually join Wang Qiong's camp to fight against Yang Tinghe. In addition to Wang Qiong's kindness, there were also some difficulties that he could not help. In this time and space, the situation of Saint Wang is better.
At least his father, Wang Hua, became the Minister of Rites because of some behind-the-scenes influence.
His father alone has enough influence to protect him from the wind and rain.
Pei Yuan remembered that there were still Shandong candidates waiting behind him, so he didn't waste time and joked with Yan Song, "A wise man has many considerations, so why not consider them again? Brother Yan, there is really no need to be anxious."
Then he turned to Wang Shouren and said, "When I went to Shandong to deal with the Luo Sect, I met several scholars of the same generation. This time they are coming to Beijing to take the imperial examination, so I must do my best to show my hospitality."
"As for my uncle, I'd like to trouble you to apologize. I will definitely visit him to ask for advice in the future."
Wang Shouren laughed and said, "Just go ahead. I just wanted to do this on a whim. I dragged you along. There's no need to apologize."
Pei Yuan patted Ouyang Bijin again and said to Yan Song, "My brother happens to be in the same class as them. I'll take him with me to make some friends. Brother Yan, do you want to come along?"
Upon hearing this, Yan Song glanced at Ouyang Bijin.
Ouyang Bijin nodded quickly, like a chicken pecking at rice, "That's exactly what I meant."
Yan Song had just heard Wang Shouren praising Pei Yuan, and heard that even the Minister of Revenue Wang Qiong was Pei Yuan's friend regardless of age difference. He also thought that the person he was going to make friends with was also a fellow examinee of the same year, so he immediately said with relief, "In that case, let Ren Fu go with you. Bo An and I haven't seen each other for a long time, so let's talk here."
Pei Yuan knew that Yan Song had other intentions, and that he must have heard about Wang Hua's affairs and was planning to take advantage of the opportunity to gain personal advantage. So he did not try to persuade him and took Ouyang Bijin back to the other candidates.
Pei Yuan introduced the candidates, "This is my sworn brother, the champion of Ji'an Prefecture, who is here to take the exam with you."
As soon as Pei Yuan introduced Ouyang Bijin's identity, the candidates from Shandong immediately stood in awe.
That’s Ji’an Prefecture in Jiangxi!
Ji'an Prefecture was so glorious in those days. In the second year of Jianwen, the top three scholars in the first class were all from Ji'an Prefecture in Jiangxi.
Then in the second year of Yongle, not only the top three in the first class, but also the top four in the second class, were all from Ji'an Prefecture in Jiangxi Province.
Although the power of Jiangxi people to interpret ideology became weaker later on and their performance in the imperial examinations gradually showed signs of decline, it was still Ji'an Prefecture after all.
A champion of Ji'an Prefecture is still worthy of everyone's respect.
Seeing that Pei Yuan and Ouyang Bijin seemed to be on good terms, Huo Tao secretly became alert and worried about his own ecological niche for a while.
Pei Yuan still boasted to the candidates, "Brother Ouyang and I hit it off right away. We talked for a few minutes and felt that we had met too late. We became brothers of different surnames. Thinking about it today, I still feel happy."
When many Shandong candidates heard this and thought of that scene, they felt that Captain Pei in front of them had a similar temperament to an old friend from Yuncheng.
Pei Yuan asked Chen Xinjian to make arrangements first, and then went back to the city with everyone else, talking and laughing.
When Pei Yuan was welcoming these candidates, he naturally could not take them to Zhihua Temple.
Halfway through the journey, the Jinyiwei who had been arranged earlier reported back that the banquet had been prepared, and they went back to Zhihua Temple to find the experienced Zhang Song to accompany the guests.
Many candidates were touched by Pei Qianhu's generosity and hospitality.
After arriving at the restaurant, Zhang Song saw Pei Yuan leading people in and had already come out to greet them.
When they heard that the person who came to accompany the guests was a Jinshi, many of the candidates were flattered.
Pei Yuan did not understand the Four Books and Five Classics, and did not have much in common with these scholars, so he simply talked about interesting things in the capital and entertained them with wine and food.
Zhang Song was surprised and concerned to see Pei Yuan's enthusiasm for these unknown candidates.
Sitting next to him was Huo Tao.
Perhaps it was because it was the first time he had seen a scholar under Captain Pei, Huo Tao did not dare to look down on this Jinshi. While he was trying to persuade him to drink, Huo Tao whispered to Zhang Song, "I hope you can give me more guidance in the future."
Zhang Song held the wine glass in confusion for a long time, not knowing what Huo Tao meant.
Huo Tao could only introduce him in an awkward whisper, "One of us."
Only then did Zhang Song realize that Huo Tao had already joined Captain Pei's camp.
He understood his own importance and did not dare to be negligent, and the atmosphere between the two of them quickly became harmonious.
Zhang Song watched the interaction between Captain Pei and the candidates. He observed silently for a while. Finally, while Captain Pei was trying to persuade people to drink, he could not help but whisper to Huo Tao beside him, "Brother, the Captain seems to value these candidates very much..."
Huo Tao was a little surprised when he heard this, "Senior, don't you know?"
Zhang Song looked a little embarrassed.
Huo Tao's eyes moved, and he didn't know how to answer for a moment.
With just one sentence, Huo Tao was able to distinguish the importance of each other.
This matter was still somewhat confidential within Pei Yuan's small group, and it was a bit reckless of him to talk to Zhang Song rashly just now.
Fortunately, Zhang Song quickly explained with a bitter face, "I have been working in Zhihua Temple in place of Governor Kong Xu. A few days ago, they asked me to be responsible for entertaining these scholars from Shandong. The thousand households didn't mention any specific rules."
"I have never done anything like this before, and I am still confused. I am just afraid that I might do something wrong."
Huo Tao felt relieved after hearing this. He picked out what he could say and briefly told Zhang Song about Pei Yuan's plans.
In short, Pei Yuan intended to recruit these people to work for him, but because of his shallow foundation and lack of money, he could not come up with good chips.
Therefore, we can only treat them well first and see if we can appeal to their emotions.
After hearing this, Zhang Song remained silent for a moment.
He watched Pei Yuan enthusiastically drinking with those people, with a rare bright smile on his face, and whispered to Huo Tao, "The thousand households really value these people."
Huo Tao also sighed in a low voice, "Yes, Governor Wang and I have worked so hard for so long, and we have only found more than ten suitable people. It is really not easy. I don't know how many of them we can win over."
Zhang Song listened and nodded silently, and some ideas slowly sprouted in his mind.
Pei Yuan's alcohol tolerance was average, and he was drinking with so many people, so he was already drunk halfway through the party.
Upon seeing this, Chen Xinjian hurriedly led his personal guards forward and wanted to help Pei Yuan back.
Pei Yuan was confused but he held on to the table and refused to let go.
He was very strong, and his five fingers were holding the wine table, which was squeaking as it dragged on the ground.
Many candidates who could drink a lot, not only did not look down on him, but instead sighed, "Captain Pei is such a straightforward person."
They also came forward to help comfort him, and Pei Yuan finally loosened his grip and fell asleep in a daze.
A strong soldier in brocade uniform quickly stepped forward and carried Pei Yuan on his back.
Seeing that Pei Yuan was very drunk, Chen Xinjian did not dare to be careless. He personally led people to send Pei Yuan back to the old house in Dengshikou and handed him over to the care of his young lady.
(End of this chapter)
