Chapter 1206 He’s dead! He’s dead!
On the same night, not only was Sun Xiuquan thinking about what to do next, but several streets away in Murong Mansion, Murong Yuliang was also thinking about what to do next.

However, unlike Sun Xiuquan who was sitting on a chair in the study thinking, Murong Yuliang was already lying on the bed at this time. But even though he was about to sleep, Murong Yuliang was still recalling the look Ye Mingsheng gave him before he left. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that Ye Mingsheng’s last look was so meaningful and worth pondering...

Although he suffered a major setback in his transfer to the central government, after experiencing a period of depression, Murong Yuliang cheered up and prepared to make some achievements in Huainan and fight a beautiful turnaround to save his career.

Therefore, since being transferred to Huainan a few months ago, Murong Yuliang has adjusted his state and devoted himself to his work, preparing to replicate his success in Hebei and Henan in Huainan!
His idea was to proceed in three steps. The first step was to eliminate the remnants of the Zhennan Army and the local banditry in Huainan and stabilize the public security in Huainan. The second step was to recruit back the people who had escaped from Huainan in recent years through propaganda. After all, a place needs people to develop!
As for the third step, Murong Yuliang is preparing for reform. Although Xu Zhaojie is dead and the Zhennan Army has fallen, most of the land and wealth in Huainan are still concentrated in the landlord gentry group represented by aristocratic families. Murong Yuliang knows very well that only by defeating them can the economic vitality be fully released!

So from the first day he arrived in Huainan, he was ready to fight!
He understood that his opponents had deep roots in Huainan and that the relationships between all parties were complicated. However, as an official who also came from an aristocratic family, Murong Yuliang knew better that these local factions in Huainan were not a monolithic entity and could not completely unite to face the outside world.

Based on this idea, Murong Yuliang had already decided on the strategy of winning over one faction and attacking the other. Born into an aristocratic family and having decades of experience in officialdom, Murong Yuliang was very familiar with this kind of thing.
He quickly won over a faction headed by Xie Wenjun and Fang Lin, who had a relatively good reputation and were also relatively open-minded, and listed Sun Xiuquan and Ma Jingui as the faction to be dealt with!
As a veteran who has been in the officialdom of the Great Zhou for decades, Murong Yuliang is very clear that promoting reform is not about treating people to a meal. It is a clash of interests and a life-and-death battle to cut off people's financial resources. Therefore, Murong Yuliang was prepared for the counterattack against Sun Xiuquan and Ma Jingui!
As Murong Yuliang continued to push for reforms, the conflict between the two sides continued to deteriorate, eventually leading to a complete breakdown in relations.

Murong Yuliang had anticipated such a result, so he began to secretly collect some evidence and black material about Sun Xiuquan and Ma Jingui to report to Ye Mingsheng.

As representatives of the local gentry class, it is not difficult to collect negative information about these two people. The gambling house of Sun Xiuquan's nephew, how the Sun family expanded their land over the years, and how the Ma family managed to own more than 50 shops in Shouchun City. These things are all a bloody history!

After learning that Ye Mingsheng was going to tour the south, Murong Yuliang was also ready to use this opportunity to launch a general attack on Sun Xiuquan and Ma Jingui, completely defeat these two political opponents, and seize all the power in Huainan!
However, there is no wall that is impenetrable, not to mention that the other party is a local tyrant in Huainan. So even though Murong Yuliang had kept it as secret as possible when sending people to collect evidence, the news still leaked out, making Sun Xiuquan and Ma Jingui alert...
Murong Yuliang was prepared for Sun Xiuquan's actions against his subordinates. As a veteran in officialdom, he knew very well what kind of people these people were. All crows are black, and the eldest brother will not talk about the second brother!
So he made preparations for both scenarios, because if his subordinates were framed, Murong Yuliang himself would lose face, so his initial idea was to go to Sun Xiuquan to negotiate and try to force Sun Xiuquan to retreat.

However, under Sun Xiuquan's firm attitude, Murong Yuliang could only take the second move, which was to capture these people himself and minimize the negative impact on himself as much as possible before Ye Mingsheng arrived in Huainan!
It was this move that put Murong Yuliang in a completely passive position after the Xie Wenjun incident broke out. It is no exaggeration to say that the outbreak of the Xie Wenjun incident made all of Murong Yuliang's previous efforts in Huainan go down the drain. It is not an exaggeration to describe it as a complete failure.

When he saw that the evidence of Xie Wenjun's incident was solid, with witnesses and physical evidence, Murong Yuliang knew that after he suffered a setback in his transfer to the central government, he suffered another big setback in Huainan a few months later. Moreover, each of these two setbacks was more miserable than the last!

However, even so, when facing the conditions offered by Sun Xiuquan in the Censorate's classroom, although those conditions were relatively favorable to him, Murong Yuliang still chose to refuse. Although he lost in this political struggle, his pride and dignity did not allow him to accept the other party's pitiful charity...
Although he rejected Sun Xiuquan's deal and did not choose to retire due to illness, in order to prevent Sun Xiuquan from biting him or even throwing dirty water on him in the Xie Wenjun incident, Murong Yuliang actually made certain compromises!

You must know that Murong Yuliang has a lot of negative information about Sun Xiuquan in his hands, and these things that were originally intended to be handed over to Ye Mingsheng, Murong Yuliang has not handed them over to Ye Mingsheng until now!

Sun Xiuquan also knew this, so when Ye Mingsheng asked him at the meeting today whether Murong Yuliang was related to the Xie Wenjun incident, he said that the evidence currently available could not prove that Murong Yuliang was related to this matter!

This is the tacit understanding between the two old foxes. If you don't expose my dirty laundry, I won't bite you to death in this matter, thus avoiding a lose-lose outcome for both sides.

In fact, before today's meeting, Murong Yuliang still had a glimmer of hope, wondering if Ye Mingsheng would consider his contribution to promoting reform and, although he would hold him jointly responsible, he would not remove him from his title of Huainan Governor!

However, with Ye Mingsheng making the final decision at the meeting, Murong Yuliang's last bit of fantasy was completely shattered!

It was precisely because of the shattered fantasy that Murong Yuliang finally gave up and pleaded with Ye Mingsheng for Xie Wenjun's family!
At that time, Murong Yuliang was prepared for the worst, that Ye Mingsheng would be furious, but Ye Mingsheng’s next reaction was a surprise to Murong Yuliang...

Not only did Ye Mingsheng not make any statement in response to his request, but in the subsequent series of appointments, he seemed to be promoting Sun Xiuquan in name only and demoting him in reality!

With one order, Sun Jingan, who defeated him, was transferred to Jingchu. On the surface, this move was to promote Sun Jingan, but it was obvious that Sun Jingan could do nothing in Jingchu.

Ye Mingsheng sent his trusted confidant Gao Zhenji to Sun Jing'an's old nest, Huainan Anchasi. Murong Yuliang believed that Sun Xiuquan, who had done so many bad things, must be feeling very uncomfortable about this matter, and even sweating profusely!
Why did so many things end up in vain? Isn't it because you, Sun Xiuquan, control the Censorate?
And if you, Sun Xiuquan, leave the Censorate, then all these things will probably come to light, and then no one will be able to escape!
Thinking of this, Murong Yuliang's eyes couldn't help but flash with a gleam of light. He had followed Ye Mingsheng since the Fengzhou period in Liaoyang. He was a veteran who participated in the rise of the Fengwu Army from Liaoyang, entering the pass to compete for supremacy, and finally seizing power. So he had some understanding of Ye Mingsheng!

In his opinion, Ye Mingsheng is still an idealist at heart, so even if Ye Mingsheng cannot be said to hate evil, it can be said that his tolerance for evil is relatively low!
And what Sun Xiuquan did undoubtedly broke Ye Mingsheng’s bottom line and requirements. It was for this reason that Murong Yuliang planned to hand over Sun Xiuquan’s evidence to Ye Mingsheng as a general offensive against Sun Xiuquan...
Even if Murong Yuliang did not hand over the evidence of Sun Xiuquan's crimes to Ye Mingsheng, it did not mean that Ye Mingsheng knew nothing about what Sun Xiuquan had done. After all, there were still the Coordination Office and the Internal Security Bureau!
Although Murong Yuliang didn't know much about Zhao Wentao, a captain of the Coordination Office, before, he learned some rumors about Zhao Wentao after coming to Huainan, so he had no doubt about the working ability of Zhao Wentao and even the Coordination Office!

Whatever Murong Yuliang could find out, Zhao Wentao could definitely find out as long as he wanted to. Even things that he could not find out, Zhao Wentao could find out!

Realizing this, Murong Yuliang was so excited that he sat up directly from the bed, which also scared his wife Wang, who was sleeping next to him.

Seeing Murong Yuliang, who was disheartened and discouraged before, suddenly become excited, Wang couldn't help but worry about Murong Yuliang, because the blow he suffered from this incident was too great and he had mental problems, so she sat up from the bed, held Murong Yuliang's hand and comforted him:
"Master, you've worked so hard for so long, it's time to take a break. It's normal to have ups and downs in the officialdom. Maybe you'll make a comeback in the future!"

Facing his wife's consolation, Murong Yuliang didn't care at all. He was immersed in his own thoughts and said excitedly: "Ye Mingsheng wants to kill Sun Xiuquan! Ye Mingsheng wants to kill Sun Xiuquan!"

Murong Yuliang said it twice in a row with an excited look, but Wang Shi still didn't understand what Murong Yuliang meant, and asked in confusion:
"Master, what are you talking about?"

In response to his wife's question, Murong Yuliang put his hands on Wang's shoulders and repeated what he had just said.

“Ye Mingsheng wants to kill Sun Xiuquan…”

This time Wang heard her husband's words clearly, but she still asked in confusion:

"Master, didn't you just tell me that the Marshal promoted Sun Xiuquan to the position of Governor of Jingchu during the meeting today, and asked him to recommend a candidate for the Deputy Provincial Surveillance Commissioner? How could he want to kill him if he trusted him so much?"

"Hahaha, this is just the surface!"

"Madam, our Marshal Ye always plans before he acts, and this time is no exception. He asked Ma Jingui to temporarily take over as the governor in order to win over Ma Jingui and prevent him from standing on Sun Xiuquan's side, so as to divide and disintegrate the local faction!"

"Asking Sun Xiuquan to recommend the candidate for the deputy provincial governor is to make Sun Xiuquan complacent and careless. He will have the illusion that the commander-in-chief still trusts him, and then he will honestly go to Jingchu to take up the post. As long as he goes to Jingchu, he will be the second Sun Jingan!"

"Hahaha, Sun Xiuquan used this trick to deal with me in the first place. He deliberately spread the dirty tricks about his plan to deal with Fang Lin and the others, making me think that this was all he was capable of. As a result, I was careless and fell into his evil scheme. I didn't expect that the Marshal would use his own method to deal with him this time!"

Looking at Murong Yuliang with a smile on his face, Madam Wang didn't want to dampen his enthusiasm, but she couldn't help but remind him:
"Master, this is just what you think. Marshal Ye may not do it the way you think!"

Murong Yuliang waved his hand and said:

"Ma'am, you don't have much contact with him and don't understand him. Believe me, he will definitely do this! He will definitely do this!"

After hearing Murong Yuliang repeat his words twice, although Wang Shi didn't know where Murong Yuliang got such great confidence from, she did not question his judgment.

At this time, Murong Yuliang continued to say excitedly:

"As long as Sun Xiuquan is defeated, I will have a chance, and everything will be bright and beautiful!"

Seeing Murong Yuliang's confident look, although Wang didn't say anything, the worry on her face was obvious. She was obviously worried that this incident was too much of a blow to Murong Yuliang, causing him to suffer some kind of mental stimulation and thus become mentally ill!
Noticing the worry on Wang's face, Murong Yuliang laughed and said:

"Ma'am, don't worry, I have no problem. I am more sober than ever before. I know what I am saying and what I am doing!"

"I haven't lost yet, it's not over yet!"

Hearing Murong Yuliang say this, Wang couldn't help but persuade him:
"The master wants me to tell you that you should not get involved in this matter. Huainan is a dirty place and there is no need for us to get involved. Why not take this opportunity to withdraw and leave?"

Murong Yuliang smiled and said:

"When you are in the underworld, you have no choice! I am very sure of my judgment. The Marshal will definitely kill Sun Xiuquan. If Ma Jingui can be more sensible, then he may be able to have a good ending. But if he is not sensible, then he will not be able to escape!"

"The position of Huainan Governor will eventually belong to me, Murong Yuliang..."

(End of this chapter)