Chapter 474 The arrangements are clear
Seeing that Captain Pei was determined, Chen Xinjian stopped asking questions and left as promised.
When Pei Yuan saw Chen Xinjian leaving, he couldn't help but shout from behind, "Do it beautifully!"
Upon hearing this, Chen Xinjian turned around and said respectfully, "I understand."
After Chen Xinjian left, Pei Yuan was no longer sleepy and got up from the bed.
He stood up, put on his clothes, and walked into the outer hall.
Summer is the time when the days are long. Pei Yuan roughly estimated the time and found that many government offices should have already adjourned their court sessions.
Yesterday Pei Yuan went to see Wang Qiong off and also welcomed the candidates from Shandong, and drank with them.
Then, I slept until now.
I haven't paid attention to worldly affairs for two days, and I don't know whether the commotion caused by the Xia family has had any effect; I don't know whether the eye drops Li Shishi gave to Xiao Jing have shaken the Queen Mother's opinion.
Pei Yuan opened his mouth to call Chen Xinjian, but when the words came to his lips, he remembered that the guy had gone out to help him with something.
Pei Yuan simply left the back house and returned to the old house outside.
The guard on duty saw Pei Yuan and immediately stepped forward and said, "Captain, do you need anyone now?"
Pei Yuan asked, "Who's here?"
The guard quickly replied, "General Cheng Zhihu is here."
"Oh." Pei Yuan responded.
Strictly speaking, Cheng Zhihu is the person that Cheng Leixiang left behind by Pei Yuan's side.
Cheng Leixiang is in a position that carries a huge responsibility, and the decision he makes at a critical moment may affect the life and death of countless people.
Cheng Zhihu staying with Pei Yuan was an unspoken understanding between the two parties.
Pei Yuan rarely let Cheng Zhihu take risks. When he took him out, he kept him by his side. When he returned to the capital, he kept him at home to look after the house.
Pei Yuan went straight to the quarters of his personal soldiers.
The door of the office was wide open. As soon as there was any movement from Pei Yuan's side, several personal soldiers rushed out from inside.
Cheng Zhihu came forward and asked respectfully, "Captain, do you need anyone?"
"Yeah." Pei Yuan responded, "I plan to, plan to..."
Pei Yuan originally wanted to say that he planned to go to Dongyue Temple to find Li Shishi, but suddenly changed his mind.
Although he could get a lot of high-level intelligence from Li Shishi, this guy knew too much about his recent actions.
From opening the imperial examinations and debating meritorious service to the recent operation of promoting Lu Ting to power, Li Shishi had a significant involvement in all of them.
Now that both sides have the same stance, that's fine.
If we wait until the two sides have divergent interests, or if we fall out with King Ning, there might be considerable hidden dangers left behind.
But if I don't go to find Li Shishi, where can I get the information from the high-level officials?
Xia family?
After the Queen Mother moved Queen Xia to another palace, the palace maids in the inner court understood the direction of the wind and began to block Queen Xia's external contacts.
The Xia family does not have the ability to obtain any important information.
Otherwise, I wouldn't have gone to him in such a panic last time.
Pei Yuan thought about it and only thought of his good brother Xiao Yan.
Xiao Yan..., let it be Xiao Yan.
As for how much impact a measure like this that cannot be clearly assessed can have, it would be more accurate to ask the victims themselves.
Pei Yuan then said, "I plan to go to the home of the Left Commander Xiao Yan and take a few people with me."
Cheng Zhihu took the initiative to say, "I am willing to personally lead people to escort Qian Hu."
Pei Yuan said calmly, "You can't."
No explanation either.
After saying that, he looked back, first passing by a few people, then looking back, and asked in confusion, "What do you guys do?"
Looks very familiar.
Those people really wanted to burst into tears. The leader stepped out and said, "Captain, I'm Song Yan, the trial captain you just promoted."
Several other people also reported their names one by one, namely Mi Bin, Sun Ran, Ma Tao, and Dong Xing.
Pei Yuan then remembered that he had asked Zhu Houzhao for an imperial decree to set up a "xingbaihusu" in each of the five prefectures in Shandong except Jinan, specifically to combat the Luo sect.
He groaned twice, patted his head, and lied, "I drank a little too much yesterday."
Pei Yuan simply said, "Then the five of you can follow me."
After that, he asked Song Yan who took the initiative to answer, "Has Chen Xinjian taught you how to be a good centurion these days?"
Song Yan answered boldly, "General Chen said that as long as we work loyally and wholeheartedly and obey Captain Pei's orders, everything will be fine."
Chen Xinjian was only a seventh-rank general flag officer, while Song Yan and the other five were already sixth-rank trial centurions.
However, these five trial centurions still understood why the general flag was higher than the trial centurion.
Pei Yuan smiled and looked at the others, "What about you?"
Mi Bin, Sun Ran, Ma Tao, and Dong Xing also said, "We swear to follow the captain until death and obey his orders."
Pei Yuan smiled and nodded a few times, "Okay, I'll give you a try in a few days."
Pei Yuan selected some people and took them out to look for Xiao Yan.
When we got there and asked, Xiao Yan was indeed at home.
Pei Yuan asked the doorman to report, and soon Xiao Yan came out hurriedly.
When he saw Pei Yuan, he first sighed, then pulled Pei Yuan's sleeve and walked inside.
Pei Yuan's heart moved, and he asked as he walked, "Brother Xiao, what's going on?"
Seeing that the servants behind him had not caught up, Xiao Yan anxiously whispered to Pei Yuan, "My uncle somehow offended the Queen Mother yesterday. Just because of a small matter, he was called in and severely reprimanded."
"This morning, the Queen Mother had my uncle summoned to serve in the garden. He stood in the sun for more than two hours under the eyes of many eunuchs."
"My dear brother, you are very resourceful. Please help me figure it out."
After hearing this, Pei Yuan couldn't help feeling a chill in his heart even though he had expected it.
The Queen Mother Zhang seemed to still have some charm, but I didn't expect that she was such a narrow-minded and cruel person.
Old man Xiao Jing is not young anymore. After standing under the scorching sun for four hours, he might have lost half his life.
Fortunately, Pei Yuan did not feel guilty at all because of Xiao Jing's plot against Pei Yuan. He thought for a moment and asked, "I heard that the emperor intends to use Eunuch Xiao in the inner court. Can he turn a blind eye to such a thing? Eunuch Xiao is also in charge of many affairs in the Imperial Household Department. How can he be treated as an ordinary slave?"
Pei Yuan was not afraid that Zhu Houzhao would stand up to protect Xiao Jing under pressure.
After all, if there was a dispute between the mother and the son over this matter, no matter what the outcome, Xiao Jing, who was being torn apart, would definitely be the one who felt the most uncomfortable.
Even if Zhu Houzhao won, Empress Dowager Zhang would eventually give in.
Could it be possible that a servant who brought shame to his mistress could still sit firmly in the position of the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department?
If Zhu Houzhao ever surrenders, Xiao Jing might be the best sacrifice.
Xiao Yan sighed and replied with a frown, "I also advised my uncle to ask the emperor to help speak. But the Queen Mother's nameless anger came from a strange place, and no one knows what has violated her taboo."
"Even if we want to apologize, we don't know where to start; even if we want to find someone to help plead for mercy, we don't know where to start."
"Besides, although my uncle is respected in both the inner court and the outer court, he is, after all, just a servant of the royal family. The Queen Mother's desire to punish a servant is just a small matter that she does as she pleases. Can anyone argue with her?"
"That's why my uncle tried his best to stop us from asking the emperor for mercy."
"Is that so?" Pei Yuan touched his chin, hiding his feelings.
This Xiao Jing is indeed an old fox who is well versed in the rules of inner court struggle.
He asked again, "Even if Eunuch Xiao didn't ask for it, how could such a big thing be hidden from the emperor's eyes and ears? Didn't the emperor say anything?"
Xiao Yan said helplessly, "So, it happened at an unfortunate time."
"These past two days, Zhang Rui got some evidence from somewhere and is accusing Zhang Yong of the Imperial Household Department of the Imperial Household Department of Zhang Yong."
"Zhang Yong asked the Queen Mother to plead for mercy, and the Queen Mother also sent a message to the Emperor, saying that Zhang Yong had worked hard and made great contributions, and it was not appropriate to blame him for a trivial matter."
"But the emperor was very determined to replace the seal of the Imperial Household Department. Seeing this, the queen mother didn't say anything."
"As a result, when the incident with my uncle happened, the Queen Mother heard that my uncle was one of the candidates to replace Zhang Yong, and she became even more unhappy."
"The emperor hasn't said anything yet..."
Fine.
Pei Yuan was not surprised by Zhu Houzhao's behavior. He was just a servant, huh.
Pei Yuan asked calmly, "Does this mean that Zhang Yong's position is completely lost?"
Xiao Yan replied, "It has come to this, there is definitely no hope. Without the emperor's approval, how dare Zhang Rui, the governor of the East Factory, rashly investigate the case of corruption by the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department?"
"Since the emperor has already taken action, does he still want Zhang Yong to be watching over him every day, making the emperor and his subjects uncomfortable?"
Pei Yuan followed up the conversation and said, "What the Queen Mother said makes some sense. Zhang Yong has been following Your Majesty since the Eastern Palace, and he has indeed worked hard and made great contributions. If Zhang Yong hadn't been there to mediate when dealing with Liu Jin, I'm afraid the situation would have been even more unsightly."
"Your Majesty..., have you said how to deal with Zhang Yong?"
Xiao Yan said, "I heard that it will be sent to Nanjing."
"If such an old friend were in front of me, I would feel sad if I heard something about him occasionally. It's better to send him away."
When Pei Yuan heard this, he felt much relieved.
As long as Zhang Yongshi is sent to Nanjing, Pei Yuan will have enough opportunities to completely eliminate this hidden danger!
Moreover, without Zhang Yong, when Zhu Houzhao wants to re-employ the old people in the Eastern Palace, the value of Gu Dayong and Qiu Ju will be greatly improved.
When Lu Ting steps down, he will be replaced by Gu Dayong. Pei Yuan can help Zhao Zige to arrange the inner court clearly.
Pei Yuan asked again, "What about Zhang Rong?"
It is better to eradicate this kind of thing completely.
Xiao Yan shook his head and said, "I'm not sure. He may have to follow Zhang Yong south. His Majesty still has some affection for Zhang Yong. I heard from some people that he may arrange a position for Zhang Rong in the Nanjing Jinyiwei, which can be regarded as taking care of Zhang Yong nearby."
Pei Yuan did not ask any more questions, and turned to Xiao Yan and said, "How can I help with matters in the palace? Since you have offended the Queen Mother, why don't you ask Shouning Hou?"
Xiao Yan sighed and said, "It's no use asking."
Then he explained to Pei Yuan, "The Xia family had previously written to His Majesty, asking His Majesty to decide on some disputed lands in Tianjin between the Xia family and the Zhang family."
"As a result, His Majesty favored the Xia family and allocated almost all the disputed land to the Xia family."
"Yesterday, the Xia family kid ran to the Zhang family's door and knelt down, saying that he didn't dare to take an inch of the Zhang family's land and planned to return the land to the Zhang family."
"I heard that there seems to be a son of the eldest princess begging there as well."
"The Zhang family knew that the emperor was in a bad mood recently, so they naturally didn't dare to take the land that the emperor had designated. The Xia family kid knelt in front of the door and refused to leave, attracting many people to watch."
"As a result, the emperor knew about this matter not long after."
"It is said that the emperor personally rode over in anger and beat the Xia family kid severely, and then threw the box containing the land deed on him."
"Zhang Heling heard that the emperor was coming, so he hurried over to meet him. Unexpectedly, the emperor ignored him and just left. The Marquis of Shouning doesn't dare to interfere now."
Pei Yuan secretly felt relieved after hearing this.
I didn't expect that Zhu Houzhao would be so angry that he went to destroy the place. Fortunately, I was busy drinking with those scholars yesterday and didn't have time to watch the fun.
If Pei Yuan had appeared at the scene yesterday, he might have been caught red-handed.
Given Zhu Houzhao's suspicious nature, he would probably suspect himself.
That wouldn't be fun.
Xiao Yan explained it clearly to Pei Yuan, and quickly pleaded, "Brother Pei, I don't have anyone around me who can help me, you must give me a hand!"
Pei Yuan sighed, "How can I help you when you are so irrelevant? The Queen Mother is still the Queen Mother after all. As long as the Queen Mother is still here, I am afraid that Eunuch Xiao will not have much chance."
Xiao Yan's heart sank and his brows furrowed even tighter.
Pei Yuan looked at Xiao Yan's expression and asked softly, "I heard that there is still a Grand Empress Dowager still alive in the palace. Why don't you ask the Grand Empress Dowager to help speak for her? The Empress Dowager should also be a little cautious when the old lady speaks, right?"
Xiao Yan rolled his eyes. "Where in the world can a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law get along well? Now that Empress Dowager Zhang's son is the emperor, why would Empress Dowager Zhang care about what the Grand Empress Dowager thinks?"
Pei Yuan spread his hands and said, "What else can we do? We can only wait until Empress Dowager Zhang becomes the Grand Empress Dowager, and then we can think of a solution."
As he said that, he joked, "I heard that Empress Dowager Zhang and Empress Xia don't get along very well. Then, won't Eunuch Xiao have a chance?"
Xiao Yan's face was full of "are you kidding me?" He said unhappily, "The emperor is now in his prime. When will he be able to wait for Empress Dowager Zhang to become the Grand Empress Dowager? How many years does my uncle have left?"
Pei Yuan thought to himself, this is hard to say, Xiao Jing can still serve another emperor.
But Pei Yuan couldn't say something like "The emperor will die soon", because who would believe it?
He could only show a plain smile and said slowly, "Eunuch Xiao can't wait, can Brother Xiao also not wait?"
Xiao Yan was stunned when he heard Pei Yuan's words. "What do you mean?"
Pei Yuan leaned forward and whispered, "If Eunuch Xiao is really forced to leave the inner court because the Queen Mother dislikes him, then Brother Xiao, do you think that the Left Commander under you can still hold on to his position?"
"Even if Brother Xiao can be your Left Commander securely, what will happen when Xiao Tong wants to enter the government in the future?"
(End of this chapter)
Seeing that Captain Pei was determined, Chen Xinjian stopped asking questions and left as promised.
When Pei Yuan saw Chen Xinjian leaving, he couldn't help but shout from behind, "Do it beautifully!"
Upon hearing this, Chen Xinjian turned around and said respectfully, "I understand."
After Chen Xinjian left, Pei Yuan was no longer sleepy and got up from the bed.
He stood up, put on his clothes, and walked into the outer hall.
Summer is the time when the days are long. Pei Yuan roughly estimated the time and found that many government offices should have already adjourned their court sessions.
Yesterday Pei Yuan went to see Wang Qiong off and also welcomed the candidates from Shandong, and drank with them.
Then, I slept until now.
I haven't paid attention to worldly affairs for two days, and I don't know whether the commotion caused by the Xia family has had any effect; I don't know whether the eye drops Li Shishi gave to Xiao Jing have shaken the Queen Mother's opinion.
Pei Yuan opened his mouth to call Chen Xinjian, but when the words came to his lips, he remembered that the guy had gone out to help him with something.
Pei Yuan simply left the back house and returned to the old house outside.
The guard on duty saw Pei Yuan and immediately stepped forward and said, "Captain, do you need anyone now?"
Pei Yuan asked, "Who's here?"
The guard quickly replied, "General Cheng Zhihu is here."
"Oh." Pei Yuan responded.
Strictly speaking, Cheng Zhihu is the person that Cheng Leixiang left behind by Pei Yuan's side.
Cheng Leixiang is in a position that carries a huge responsibility, and the decision he makes at a critical moment may affect the life and death of countless people.
Cheng Zhihu staying with Pei Yuan was an unspoken understanding between the two parties.
Pei Yuan rarely let Cheng Zhihu take risks. When he took him out, he kept him by his side. When he returned to the capital, he kept him at home to look after the house.
Pei Yuan went straight to the quarters of his personal soldiers.
The door of the office was wide open. As soon as there was any movement from Pei Yuan's side, several personal soldiers rushed out from inside.
Cheng Zhihu came forward and asked respectfully, "Captain, do you need anyone?"
"Yeah." Pei Yuan responded, "I plan to, plan to..."
Pei Yuan originally wanted to say that he planned to go to Dongyue Temple to find Li Shishi, but suddenly changed his mind.
Although he could get a lot of high-level intelligence from Li Shishi, this guy knew too much about his recent actions.
From opening the imperial examinations and debating meritorious service to the recent operation of promoting Lu Ting to power, Li Shishi had a significant involvement in all of them.
Now that both sides have the same stance, that's fine.
If we wait until the two sides have divergent interests, or if we fall out with King Ning, there might be considerable hidden dangers left behind.
But if I don't go to find Li Shishi, where can I get the information from the high-level officials?
Xia family?
After the Queen Mother moved Queen Xia to another palace, the palace maids in the inner court understood the direction of the wind and began to block Queen Xia's external contacts.
The Xia family does not have the ability to obtain any important information.
Otherwise, I wouldn't have gone to him in such a panic last time.
Pei Yuan thought about it and only thought of his good brother Xiao Yan.
Xiao Yan..., let it be Xiao Yan.
As for how much impact a measure like this that cannot be clearly assessed can have, it would be more accurate to ask the victims themselves.
Pei Yuan then said, "I plan to go to the home of the Left Commander Xiao Yan and take a few people with me."
Cheng Zhihu took the initiative to say, "I am willing to personally lead people to escort Qian Hu."
Pei Yuan said calmly, "You can't."
No explanation either.
After saying that, he looked back, first passing by a few people, then looking back, and asked in confusion, "What do you guys do?"
Looks very familiar.
Those people really wanted to burst into tears. The leader stepped out and said, "Captain, I'm Song Yan, the trial captain you just promoted."
Several other people also reported their names one by one, namely Mi Bin, Sun Ran, Ma Tao, and Dong Xing.
Pei Yuan then remembered that he had asked Zhu Houzhao for an imperial decree to set up a "xingbaihusu" in each of the five prefectures in Shandong except Jinan, specifically to combat the Luo sect.
He groaned twice, patted his head, and lied, "I drank a little too much yesterday."
Pei Yuan simply said, "Then the five of you can follow me."
After that, he asked Song Yan who took the initiative to answer, "Has Chen Xinjian taught you how to be a good centurion these days?"
Song Yan answered boldly, "General Chen said that as long as we work loyally and wholeheartedly and obey Captain Pei's orders, everything will be fine."
Chen Xinjian was only a seventh-rank general flag officer, while Song Yan and the other five were already sixth-rank trial centurions.
However, these five trial centurions still understood why the general flag was higher than the trial centurion.
Pei Yuan smiled and looked at the others, "What about you?"
Mi Bin, Sun Ran, Ma Tao, and Dong Xing also said, "We swear to follow the captain until death and obey his orders."
Pei Yuan smiled and nodded a few times, "Okay, I'll give you a try in a few days."
Pei Yuan selected some people and took them out to look for Xiao Yan.
When we got there and asked, Xiao Yan was indeed at home.
Pei Yuan asked the doorman to report, and soon Xiao Yan came out hurriedly.
When he saw Pei Yuan, he first sighed, then pulled Pei Yuan's sleeve and walked inside.
Pei Yuan's heart moved, and he asked as he walked, "Brother Xiao, what's going on?"
Seeing that the servants behind him had not caught up, Xiao Yan anxiously whispered to Pei Yuan, "My uncle somehow offended the Queen Mother yesterday. Just because of a small matter, he was called in and severely reprimanded."
"This morning, the Queen Mother had my uncle summoned to serve in the garden. He stood in the sun for more than two hours under the eyes of many eunuchs."
"My dear brother, you are very resourceful. Please help me figure it out."
After hearing this, Pei Yuan couldn't help feeling a chill in his heart even though he had expected it.
The Queen Mother Zhang seemed to still have some charm, but I didn't expect that she was such a narrow-minded and cruel person.
Old man Xiao Jing is not young anymore. After standing under the scorching sun for four hours, he might have lost half his life.
Fortunately, Pei Yuan did not feel guilty at all because of Xiao Jing's plot against Pei Yuan. He thought for a moment and asked, "I heard that the emperor intends to use Eunuch Xiao in the inner court. Can he turn a blind eye to such a thing? Eunuch Xiao is also in charge of many affairs in the Imperial Household Department. How can he be treated as an ordinary slave?"
Pei Yuan was not afraid that Zhu Houzhao would stand up to protect Xiao Jing under pressure.
After all, if there was a dispute between the mother and the son over this matter, no matter what the outcome, Xiao Jing, who was being torn apart, would definitely be the one who felt the most uncomfortable.
Even if Zhu Houzhao won, Empress Dowager Zhang would eventually give in.
Could it be possible that a servant who brought shame to his mistress could still sit firmly in the position of the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department?
If Zhu Houzhao ever surrenders, Xiao Jing might be the best sacrifice.
Xiao Yan sighed and replied with a frown, "I also advised my uncle to ask the emperor to help speak. But the Queen Mother's nameless anger came from a strange place, and no one knows what has violated her taboo."
"Even if we want to apologize, we don't know where to start; even if we want to find someone to help plead for mercy, we don't know where to start."
"Besides, although my uncle is respected in both the inner court and the outer court, he is, after all, just a servant of the royal family. The Queen Mother's desire to punish a servant is just a small matter that she does as she pleases. Can anyone argue with her?"
"That's why my uncle tried his best to stop us from asking the emperor for mercy."
"Is that so?" Pei Yuan touched his chin, hiding his feelings.
This Xiao Jing is indeed an old fox who is well versed in the rules of inner court struggle.
He asked again, "Even if Eunuch Xiao didn't ask for it, how could such a big thing be hidden from the emperor's eyes and ears? Didn't the emperor say anything?"
Xiao Yan said helplessly, "So, it happened at an unfortunate time."
"These past two days, Zhang Rui got some evidence from somewhere and is accusing Zhang Yong of the Imperial Household Department of the Imperial Household Department of Zhang Yong."
"Zhang Yong asked the Queen Mother to plead for mercy, and the Queen Mother also sent a message to the Emperor, saying that Zhang Yong had worked hard and made great contributions, and it was not appropriate to blame him for a trivial matter."
"But the emperor was very determined to replace the seal of the Imperial Household Department. Seeing this, the queen mother didn't say anything."
"As a result, when the incident with my uncle happened, the Queen Mother heard that my uncle was one of the candidates to replace Zhang Yong, and she became even more unhappy."
"The emperor hasn't said anything yet..."
Fine.
Pei Yuan was not surprised by Zhu Houzhao's behavior. He was just a servant, huh.
Pei Yuan asked calmly, "Does this mean that Zhang Yong's position is completely lost?"
Xiao Yan replied, "It has come to this, there is definitely no hope. Without the emperor's approval, how dare Zhang Rui, the governor of the East Factory, rashly investigate the case of corruption by the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department?"
"Since the emperor has already taken action, does he still want Zhang Yong to be watching over him every day, making the emperor and his subjects uncomfortable?"
Pei Yuan followed up the conversation and said, "What the Queen Mother said makes some sense. Zhang Yong has been following Your Majesty since the Eastern Palace, and he has indeed worked hard and made great contributions. If Zhang Yong hadn't been there to mediate when dealing with Liu Jin, I'm afraid the situation would have been even more unsightly."
"Your Majesty..., have you said how to deal with Zhang Yong?"
Xiao Yan said, "I heard that it will be sent to Nanjing."
"If such an old friend were in front of me, I would feel sad if I heard something about him occasionally. It's better to send him away."
When Pei Yuan heard this, he felt much relieved.
As long as Zhang Yongshi is sent to Nanjing, Pei Yuan will have enough opportunities to completely eliminate this hidden danger!
Moreover, without Zhang Yong, when Zhu Houzhao wants to re-employ the old people in the Eastern Palace, the value of Gu Dayong and Qiu Ju will be greatly improved.
When Lu Ting steps down, he will be replaced by Gu Dayong. Pei Yuan can help Zhao Zige to arrange the inner court clearly.
Pei Yuan asked again, "What about Zhang Rong?"
It is better to eradicate this kind of thing completely.
Xiao Yan shook his head and said, "I'm not sure. He may have to follow Zhang Yong south. His Majesty still has some affection for Zhang Yong. I heard from some people that he may arrange a position for Zhang Rong in the Nanjing Jinyiwei, which can be regarded as taking care of Zhang Yong nearby."
Pei Yuan did not ask any more questions, and turned to Xiao Yan and said, "How can I help with matters in the palace? Since you have offended the Queen Mother, why don't you ask Shouning Hou?"
Xiao Yan sighed and said, "It's no use asking."
Then he explained to Pei Yuan, "The Xia family had previously written to His Majesty, asking His Majesty to decide on some disputed lands in Tianjin between the Xia family and the Zhang family."
"As a result, His Majesty favored the Xia family and allocated almost all the disputed land to the Xia family."
"Yesterday, the Xia family kid ran to the Zhang family's door and knelt down, saying that he didn't dare to take an inch of the Zhang family's land and planned to return the land to the Zhang family."
"I heard that there seems to be a son of the eldest princess begging there as well."
"The Zhang family knew that the emperor was in a bad mood recently, so they naturally didn't dare to take the land that the emperor had designated. The Xia family kid knelt in front of the door and refused to leave, attracting many people to watch."
"As a result, the emperor knew about this matter not long after."
"It is said that the emperor personally rode over in anger and beat the Xia family kid severely, and then threw the box containing the land deed on him."
"Zhang Heling heard that the emperor was coming, so he hurried over to meet him. Unexpectedly, the emperor ignored him and just left. The Marquis of Shouning doesn't dare to interfere now."
Pei Yuan secretly felt relieved after hearing this.
I didn't expect that Zhu Houzhao would be so angry that he went to destroy the place. Fortunately, I was busy drinking with those scholars yesterday and didn't have time to watch the fun.
If Pei Yuan had appeared at the scene yesterday, he might have been caught red-handed.
Given Zhu Houzhao's suspicious nature, he would probably suspect himself.
That wouldn't be fun.
Xiao Yan explained it clearly to Pei Yuan, and quickly pleaded, "Brother Pei, I don't have anyone around me who can help me, you must give me a hand!"
Pei Yuan sighed, "How can I help you when you are so irrelevant? The Queen Mother is still the Queen Mother after all. As long as the Queen Mother is still here, I am afraid that Eunuch Xiao will not have much chance."
Xiao Yan's heart sank and his brows furrowed even tighter.
Pei Yuan looked at Xiao Yan's expression and asked softly, "I heard that there is still a Grand Empress Dowager still alive in the palace. Why don't you ask the Grand Empress Dowager to help speak for her? The Empress Dowager should also be a little cautious when the old lady speaks, right?"
Xiao Yan rolled his eyes. "Where in the world can a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law get along well? Now that Empress Dowager Zhang's son is the emperor, why would Empress Dowager Zhang care about what the Grand Empress Dowager thinks?"
Pei Yuan spread his hands and said, "What else can we do? We can only wait until Empress Dowager Zhang becomes the Grand Empress Dowager, and then we can think of a solution."
As he said that, he joked, "I heard that Empress Dowager Zhang and Empress Xia don't get along very well. Then, won't Eunuch Xiao have a chance?"
Xiao Yan's face was full of "are you kidding me?" He said unhappily, "The emperor is now in his prime. When will he be able to wait for Empress Dowager Zhang to become the Grand Empress Dowager? How many years does my uncle have left?"
Pei Yuan thought to himself, this is hard to say, Xiao Jing can still serve another emperor.
But Pei Yuan couldn't say something like "The emperor will die soon", because who would believe it?
He could only show a plain smile and said slowly, "Eunuch Xiao can't wait, can Brother Xiao also not wait?"
Xiao Yan was stunned when he heard Pei Yuan's words. "What do you mean?"
Pei Yuan leaned forward and whispered, "If Eunuch Xiao is really forced to leave the inner court because the Queen Mother dislikes him, then Brother Xiao, do you think that the Left Commander under you can still hold on to his position?"
"Even if Brother Xiao can be your Left Commander securely, what will happen when Xiao Tong wants to enter the government in the future?"
(End of this chapter)
