Chapter 1212 See you soon!

Huainan, temporary residence
Under the guidance of Song Haibo, a third-rank official wearing an official uniform with a peacock patch walked into Ye Mingsheng's study. This man was tall, handsome, and heroic, and it was obvious that he was a capable person!

When he walked into the study and saw Ye Mingsheng processing official documents, he immediately knelt down and saluted Ye Mingsheng:

"Your humble servant Gao Zhenji pays respect to the commander-in-chief!"

Ye Mingsheng did not raise his head when he heard this. He continued to comment on the memorial from the Ministry of Revenue and continued to speak:
"Get up!"

"Thank you, Marshal!"

Seeing Ye Mingsheng writing furiously, Song Haibo and Gao Zhenji did not dare to disturb Ye Mingsheng. They still stood respectfully by the side waiting for Ye Mingsheng to finish the work at hand······················
About half a cup of tea later, Ye Mingsheng finished writing the last word, then handed it to Song Haibo and instructed:

"Send it back to Yijing immediately at an expedited speed of 800 miles!"

"Yes!"

Hearing the five words "eight hundred miles urgent", Song Haibo did not dare to delay. He took the memorial and immediately walked out of the study. With Song Haibo's departure, only Ye Mingsheng and Gao Zhenji were left in the room.

After finishing this important memorial, Ye Mingsheng leaned back in his chair and looked at Gao Zhenji in front of him, then smiled and said:
"Gao Zhenji, you seem much calmer than when you were in Yijing!"

As soon as Gao Zhenji said this, he bowed and said:

"Your Excellency, I have experienced a lot and been tempered a lot since I came to Huainan this time!"

Gao Zhenji paused for a moment and then reported to Ye Mingsheng:

"My previous remarks were full of lies, but I am fortunate that you have been magnanimous. Gao Zhenji is deeply grateful!"

Ye Mingsheng waved his hand and said:

"It's okay! It's no big deal!"

After saying this, Ye Mingsheng changed the subject and asked:
"What are your feelings and thoughts about coming to Huainan this time?"

Perhaps he had expected Ye Mingsheng to ask this question, so Gao Zhenji did not hesitate at all and answered very seriously:
“Although the local families in Huainan were purged by Xu Zhaojie, they still have very strong power. They are the biggest obstacle to reform…”

When Ye Mingsheng said this, he raised his eyebrows and said with a smile:
"Gao Zhenji, you are implying something!"

"This is what I really think! I just came to Kangyin a few months ago, and I wanted to start drastic reforms right away, but the officials and servants in the government office all pretended not to obey, and played a game of "there are policies at the top, but there are countermeasures at the bottom" with me!"

"I asked them to do the work, but they just complained about the difficulties and finally gave up and mobilized the people to put pressure on me. Fortunately, with the help of Commander Zhang of the First Army, I was able to stabilize the situation and eliminate these bad apples!"

"But even so, there are still people who are trying to trip us up openly or covertly. In order to prevent their meat from being vomited out, these people can be said to have done everything they can. Fortunately, I am an official appointed by you, the Marshal, otherwise I am afraid that I will not be spared!"

Although Ye Mingsheng had learned about Gao Zhenji's work in Kangyin through the Coordination Office before, but after listening to Gao Zhenji's description, Ye Mingsheng could also feel a bloody smell!

After saying these words, Gao Zhenji also quietly checked Ye Mingsheng's expression. Although he was a disciple of Cui Shao and did not get along with Murong Yuliang in faction, as officials who were both parachuted into Huainan and shouldered the heavy responsibility of reform, Gao Zhenji and Murong Yuliang were on the same front when it came to promoting reforms...
Compared to the experienced Murong Yuliang, who took advantage of the conflicts and differences among the local families to win them over and divide them, Gao Zhenji, who was less than 40 years old, did not have such experienced means. He preferred to use simple and crude methods such as directly requesting the intervention of garrison troops and using force to maintain order!

Although requesting for garrison intervention is effective quickly, it can easily cause dissatisfaction among local families and further intensify the conflict!
These local tyrants also knew that Gao Zhenji had the help of the garrison and they could not defeat them head-on, so they chose to retreat. They hid behind the scenes and kept their troops in place, then fabricated rumors to slander Gao Zhenji, and at the same time used their influence and appeal among the people to incite the people to attack Gao Zhenji.

As a rising star in the Fengwu Army who was highly regarded by Ye Mingsheng, Gao Zhenji was always known for his decisiveness. He had already made plans to kill those local tyrants as a warning to others if they dared to cause trouble!
But he really didn't expect that this group of local tyrants would actually use the people as weapons. When those BX who didn't know the truth were instigated to surround the government office, Gao Zhenji felt very helpless. He, who was always known for his decisiveness, was also caught in a dilemma.

Fortunately, Zhao Wentao arrived at the critical moment and found out several organizers of the trouble for Gao Zhenji, thus averting the storm!
After experiencing this incident, Gao Zhenji had a deeper understanding of the dangers of political struggle. In order to completely eradicate these local snakes, he, like Murong Yuliang, also collected some black material and prepared to impeach Ye Mingsheng when Ye Mingsheng came to Huainan for inspection...

Although he had this idea, Gao Zhenji had accidentally learned that Murong Yuliang was also collecting materials to prepare a plan to impeach Sun Xiuquan to Ye Mingsheng, and Sun Xiuquan was also preparing to fight back against Murong Yuliang.

After realizing that the conflict between Murong Yuliang and Sun Xiuquan was irreconcilable, Gao Zhenji also started to make his own plans.

Impeachment is a risky thing. If the impeachment is successful, with Ye Mingsheng's support, he can arrest people with confidence. He doesn't have to be hesitant like he is now in order to avoid making things unmanageable!

However, if the impeachment fails, not only will Gao Zhenji's reputation be affected, but the conflicts with those local tyrants will also become irreparable. At that time, the reforms he has implemented will inevitably stagnate or even fail.

Once the result is like this, it will be difficult for him as the prefect of Kangyin to achieve results. This will also become a huge stain on his political career and affect his subsequent career development.

Although Gao Zhenji believed that the possibility of successful impeachment was still very high based on his understanding of Ye Mingsheng, nothing is absolute, and Sun Xiuquan's counterattack seemed to be very powerful, so Gao Zhenji believed that there was uncertainty.

After carefully weighing the pros and cons, Gao Zhenji decided not to rush to impeach Murong Yuliang and let him explore the way first. If Murong Yuliang's impeachment was successful, he would follow up and make the final move. If Murong Yuliang failed, he would seek to promote the reform process in other ways...
For Gao Zhenji, there was a factional struggle between him and Murong Yuliang, so even if he and Murong Yuliang faced the same problem, there was no need for him to stand on the same front with Murong Yuliang. He could just sit on the mountain and watch the fight between the two tigers to see who would have the last laugh between Murong Yuliang and Sun Xiuquan!
It was with this idea in mind that Gao Zhenji did not impeach Ye Mingsheng when Ye Mingsheng was in Kangyin at the beginning. After Ye Mingsheng arrived in Shouchun, Gao Zhenji was also anxiously observing the changes in the wind direction!
When the Xie Wenjun case broke out, Gao Zhenji realized that Murong Yuliang was finished, and couldn't help but sigh at Sun Xiuquan's shrewdness! After learning that Murong Yuliang did not impeach Sun Xiuquan to Ye Mingsheng, and Sun Xiuquan did not hold on to Murong Yuliang over the Xie Wenjun case, Gao Zhenji also realized that the two old guys had reached some kind of political tacit understanding!

After thinking about this at that time, although Gao Zhenji was helpless, he decided to give up the impeachment plan. After all, Murong Yuliang had given up. If he impeached alone, he would be isolated and helpless. He would be very uncomfortable if he was bitten back!
However, when the news came that Ye Mingsheng had transferred Sun Xiuquan to the post of Governor of Jingchu and asked him to temporarily take over as the Censor of Huainan, Gao Zhenji was shocked and thought he had figured out Ye Mingsheng's intention, and the words just now were just Gao Zhenji's starting point...

Ye Mingsheng pondered for a moment and asked Gao Zhenji:
"I am going to hand over the Huainan Censorate to you. What are you going to do next?"

Facing Ye Mingsheng's question, Gao Zhenji continued to preach without hesitation:
"General, I plan to use Wu Jia as a breakthrough point. He has been an important assistant to Sun Xiuquan in the Censorate over the years. Many of Sun Xiuquan's affairs were handled by him. As long as we can deal with him, everything will be easy to handle!"

Ye Mingsheng said calmly:
"This Wu Jia has followed Sun Xiuquan for many years and is loyal to him. Do you think you can deal with him?"

Gao Zhenji answered seriously:
"When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter. Wu Jia will weigh the pros and cons. And as far as I know, he is very dissatisfied with Dou Kai being the deputy provincial governor. Before Sun Xiuquan left Shouchun, he wanted them to shake hands and make peace, but Wu Jia refused. I think this is a point that can be exploited!"

"Sun Xiuquan and his nephew Sun Gui have done too many bad things in Huainan over the years. Especially his nephew Sun Gui's gambling house is a den of evil that harms people. Over the years, many families have been forced by this evil man to sell their children and daughters, and their families have been broken up!"

"The reason why Sun Gui was able to escape justice is entirely because Sun Xiuquan was protecting and condoning him! If Sun Xiuquan doesn't kill Sun Gui, it will not be enough to appease the people's anger!"

Listening to Gao Zhenji's decisive voice, Ye Mingsheng fell into deep thought. After a moment, he instructed Gao Zhenji:

"I'll leave this matter to you. I'll let Zhao Wentao help you!"

"I only have one request about this matter: don't exaggerate it!"

"Gao Zhenji, do you understand what I mean?"

When Ye Mingsheng said this, Gao Zhenji's expression froze, but under Ye Mingsheng's gaze, he still nodded and agreed:

“Marshal, I know what to do…”

After hearing this answer, Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly, then encouraged Gao Zhenji a few more words and let Gao Zhenji leave.

After finishing the meeting with Gao Zhenji, Ye Mingsheng wanted to take a break. Including the official documents he had dealt with before, he had been working for almost three hours straight and felt a little tired both physically and mentally.

However, just as Ye Mingsheng was about to lie down on the bed and straighten his back, Song Haibo came over with a stack of memorials. Looking at Ye Mingsheng lying on the bed, he was a little unsure whether to report to Ye Mingsheng. Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng ordered:

"Haibo, read to me what's written there! Read the key points!"

Upon hearing this, Song Haibo also began to read:
"Marshal, the most important thing is the news sent by the Coordination Office. Muto Masaaki has been killed!"

"Who did you say was killed?"

"Muto Masaaki, one of the three great leaders of the Toyotomi shogunate in Higashima!"

Even though Song Haibo repeated it again, Ye Mingsheng still found it hard to believe and asked back:

"How did he die?"

“Your Majesty, according to the news sent back by Wang He, the battle between the shogunate and the Hojo and Watanabe families has caused East Island to fall into a very serious internal conflict. Muto Mazaaki has always wanted to stop the continuation of the war, but under Ishihara Nobuyuki’s insistence, the war has never been truly stopped. This also makes Muto Mazaaki see no hope of the end of the war...”

"So in order to end the civil war in East Island, Muto Masaaki sent his ninjas to assassinate Ishihara Nobu, who advocated the war. However, the assassination failed. Ishihara Nobu led his troops back to Heian-kyō and killed more than a thousand Muto clan members, including Muto Masaaki!"

Upon hearing the news, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but frown slightly. Although he had never met Muto Masaaki, he had learned about this legendary Toyotomi shogunate boss through some channels, so he felt a little curious about Pei Zhixiu's biological father!

Originally, Ye Mingsheng was thinking of capturing Muto Masaaki and his Muto family alive after taking over Dongdao, and handing them over to Pei Zhixiu for disposal!

However, unexpectedly, things are unpredictable. Before Ye Mingsheng could take action, Muto Masaaki was killed by his own people. This is really sad!

Ye Mingsheng actually didn’t think that Muto Masaaki’s death was a big deal. The only thing he was worried about was Pei Zhixiu’s reaction!
Although Pei Zhixiu never mentioned her biological father when she was with him, Ye Mingsheng could feel that Pei Zhixiu had complicated feelings for her biological father!

It is for this reason that Ye Mingsheng wanted to capture Muto Masaaki alive and then hand him over to Pei Zhixiu for handling, but it is too late to say this now!
Seeing Ye Mingsheng frowning, Song Haibo asked tentatively:
"Should the Marshal tell Madam Pei about this?"

Ye Mingsheng pondered for a moment and said calmly:

"There's no wall that's impenetrable. I'll write to her and tell her the news later..."

(End of this chapter)