Chapter 1216 Traveling to Jiangnan!

Huainan, Shouchun

Although Ye Mingsheng dismissed Murong Yuliang from his post as the governor of Huainan because of the previous case of Xie Wenjun, Ye Mingsheng did not further pursue Murong Yuliang's personal responsibility.

According to official practice, officials at the level of provincial governor and provincial inspector who were dismissed would either be held accountable by the court or sent back to their hometowns to retire...
However, Ye Mingsheng did not give any follow-up solution for Murong Yuliang. He neither punished Murong Yuliang nor told Murong Yuliang to go home and retire. Therefore, under such circumstances, Murong Yuliang continued to stay in Shouchun, closed the door to visitors and reflected on his mistakes at home.

Although he was reflecting on his mistakes behind closed doors, Murong Yuliang was still paying close attention to the situation outside. At this time, a middle-aged man with decent clothes and a slightly fat figure was introducing to Murong Yuliang in the study:
"Lord Murong, although Gao Zhenji has not made any moves since he took office as the Censor, and has not made any moves against the Sun family as expected, I have observed that Gao Zhenji has been getting close to Wu Jia recently!"

As soon as these words came out, Murong Yuliang's expression changed slightly and he immediately ordered:

"Wang Haipeng, please tell me how Gao Zhenji and Wu Jia became so close?"

Wang Haipeng organized his words and said:

"I heard that the first thing Gao Zhenji did after taking office as the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner was to talk to Wu Jia. In addition, three days ago, Wu Jia's father celebrated his 60th birthday, and Gao Zhenji sent someone to deliver a gift. And yesterday, Wu Jia's subordinates were exposed for accepting money to settle a matter, and Gao Zhenji also handed it over to Wu Jia to deal with it!"

Murong Yuliang seemed to be thinking about something. After a moment, he asked again:
"What's going on over there, Ma Jingui?"

"Ma Jingui was very happy after taking over as the temporary governor, and his subordinates also celebrated one by one..."

"Ma Jingui's subordinates also suggested booking Fengde Building to celebrate for Ma Jingui, but it is said that because the Marshal is still in Shouchun, Ma Jingui is worried that booking Fengde Building is too high-profile and will make the Marshal unhappy, so he suppressed this idea and planned to book Fengde Building to celebrate later!"

Upon hearing this, Murong Yuliang couldn't help but sneer on his face. Although he had been in Huainan for no more than half a year, he already knew Ma Jingui's character very well. This man was as timid as a mouse, greedy and lustful. Although he was over fifty years old, he was young at heart and would marry a young girl every two or three years.

When this person does things, he is only thinking about himself. If it is beneficial for him to make money and climb up the ladder, he will go to great lengths to complete it. But if the task is thankless and he cannot gain any advantage, he will definitely stay away from it as far as possible!

In the past few months, Murong Yuliang was extremely annoyed with Ma Jingui and looked down on this scum who was just occupying a position but doing nothing!

But unfortunately, Ma Jingui was the deputy governor and one of the representatives of local forces, and Sun Xiuquan made it clear that he wanted to challenge him. So in order to deal with Sun Xiuquan, Murong Yuliang could only patiently win over Ma Jingui!
However, Ma Jingui was always hesitant about Murong Yuliang's solicitation. He was hesitant in the political struggle between Murong Yuliang and Sun Xiuquan, and was always unwilling to take a stand easily.
Although Murong Yuliang and Sun Xiuquan both hated Ma Jingui, in order to prevent Ma Jingui from being pushed to the other side, both of them adopted a strategy to win him over. And this time in the case of Xie Wenjun, compared to Sun Xiuquan who had been planning and scheming, Ma Jingui was the biggest winner and reaped the benefits. He was ordered by Ye Mingsheng to temporarily take over the post of Huainan Governor!

Seeing his official position being replaced by such an incompetent and greedy good-for-nothing, Murong Yuliang was extremely depressed!

However, according to Murong Yuliang's idea, Ye Mingsheng asked Ma Jingui to temporarily serve as the governor, just as a stopgap measure to win over and divide local forces so as to deal with Sun Xiuquan. Don't look at Ma Jingui laughing happily now, Murong Yuliang believes that he will not be able to laugh after a while!

Just when Murong Yuliang was thinking about how to deal with Ma Jingui in the future, Wang Haipeng seemed to have thought of something and introduced:

"Master Murong, there is something I need to tell you. Sun Gui's gambling house is preparing to reopen. It is said that they will reopen as soon as Marshal Ye leaves Shouchun!!"

Murong Yuliang was a little surprised when he heard this. He frowned and asked in confusion:

"Is Sun Gui so bold? Hasn't his great uncle Sun Xiuquan been transferred to Jingchu? How dare he open his gambling house?"

Wang Haipeng explained:

“It is said that Sun Gui gave Ma Jingui’s son Ma Quan 30,000 taels of silver in exchange for handing over 50% of the shares in the gambling house, and got in touch with Ma Jingui…”

Upon hearing this, Murong Yuliang couldn't help but shook his head helplessly. He actually supported Ye Mingsheng's strategy of winning over the local faction in order to stabilize the situation. He believed that doing so would reduce the unrest caused by the change of regime and would cause less harm to the people!
But after meeting Ma Jingui, Sun Xiuquan and the like, Murong Yuliang couldn't help but reflect on whether it was a good thing to keep these people?
Feeling the helplessness in Murong Yuliang's expression, Wang Haipeng couldn't help but say:

"Since you, Lord Murong, were dismissed by Marshal Ye, the business of attracting investment from Jiangnan has come to a complete standstill. Now several shop owners have begun to back off and are preparing to have their employees take the money back. Now no one has the energy to do anything!"

Hearing what Wang Haipeng said, Murong Yuliang's heart sank. He had always been in charge of the matter of introducing Jiangnan merchants. Ma Jingui and Sun Xiuquan, as representatives of the local faction, believed that the arrival of these Jiangnan merchants infringed upon their interests, so they strongly opposed it. This was also the fuse of the conflict between the two sides!

And now that Murong Yuliang has been dismissed and Ma Jingui has taken over, he naturally will not continue to use Murong Yuliang's ideas. It is already a good thing that the situation has reached a stagnation now. It is probably because the Marshal is still in Shouchun and Ma Jingui dare not be too presumptuous, otherwise his men would have already taken action!
Thinking of this, Murong Yuliang also explained to Wang Haipeng:
“Manager Wang, you must help me calm everyone’s emotions. You must tell everyone that the darkness is temporary, and the day will soon dawn. The prospects for Huainan are still very bright…”

Wang Haipeng smiled bitterly and said:

"Lord Murong, if even a veteran of the Fengwu Army like you has fallen, will the day really dawn?"

"You know how greedy Ma Jingui is. He doesn't dare to do anything wrong now that the Marshal is still in Huainan, but if the Marshal leaves, he will definitely not let us go. He will do anything for money! In addition to making things difficult for us with the procedures, he even asked his Ma family's servants to disguise themselves as city bandits and rob us!"

After hearing this, Murong Yuliang was also shocked and asked:

"Has Ma Jingui ever done something so evil?"

Wang Haipeng nodded and introduced:

"The seven shops of the Ma family at the north gate were previously owned by a businessman named Zhao Dalei. Because the seven shops were in a good location, the annual rent of each shop was hundreds of taels, and the rent of the seven shops added up to thousands of taels. So Ma Jingui was jealous. In order to take the seven shops for himself, Ma Jingui began to make trouble for Zhao Dalei and asked Zhao Dalei to transfer the shops to him at a low price!" "But Zhao Dalei was also very stubborn. Although he was troubled by Ma Jingui, he would not let Ma Jingui succeed no matter what. So Ma Jingui took ruthless action and asked the servants of the Ma family to attack Zhao Dalei when he was out doing business, and killed him mercilessly!"

"After Zhao Dalei died, the deeds to the seven shops fell into the hands of his wife and children. How could the widow and orphan dare to offend Ma Jingui? In order to protect themselves, they had no choice but to agree to Ma Jingui and hand over the deeds to the seven shops."

“This happened seven or eight years ago. Because Zhao Dalei was a famous wealthy businessman in Shouchun, this incident caused quite a stir in Shouchun back then. But in the end, Ma Jingui and the Censor colluded with each other, and the Censor simply arrested two bandits and figured out the matter…”

Listening to Wang Haipeng's story, even though Murong Yuliang had been in officialdom for many years and had rich experience, he was still shocked to hear about Ma Jingui's "glorious deeds".

At this time, Wang Haipeng continued his bitter sermon:

"Master Murong, Zhao Dalei's case is not an isolated one. The Ma family has dozens of shops in Shouchun, and each one is filled with blood and tears. Ma Jingui was so careless with human life back then. Now that he has become the governor, he will definitely be even more rampant and lawless!"

Seeing how Wang Haipeng was so bitter and resentful, Murong Yuliang knew that if he didn't tell Wang Haipeng the truth, this shopkeeper Wang would probably back down without anyone telling him!
Murong Yuliang hesitated for a moment and said soothingly:

"Manager Wang, you can rest assured. Shouchun belongs to the imperial court and Marshal Ye. It is not Ma Jingui's turn to do whatever he wants here!"

Listening to Murong Yuliang continue to speak these official words, Wang Haipeng still had a bitter look on his face. Seeing this, Murong Yuliang also said in a deep voice:
"Manager Wang, you should have heard about the siege of Kangyin Prefecture some time ago?"

Although he didn't know why Murong Yuliang suddenly brought up this matter, Wang Haipeng still answered truthfully:

"I have heard a little bit about this matter. I heard that it was a big commotion in Kangyin at that time. It was said that there were more than ten thousand people involved!"

"Manager Wang, do you know who is the mastermind behind this incident?"

"Lord Murong, you are joking. How can a businessman like me know about such things?"

Listening to Wang Haipeng's answer, Murong Yuliang said very seriously:

"Manager Wang's answer to this question is clear at a glance. To be able to organize so many people to besiege the government office in a few days, the mastermind behind the scenes must be a very influential figure in Kangyin!"

Wang Haipeng was still a little confused by Murong Yuliang's story. It seemed that he still didn't understand what Murong Yuliang was saying. Seeing this, Murong Yuliang could only speak directly:
"Who has been in charge of Kangyin for many years?"

Wang Haipeng suddenly understood what was going on. Seeing this, Murong Yuliang continued:
"Censor Gao is deeply trusted by you. The Marshal has entrusted him with this important task and has high hopes for him. You must trust Censor Gao. He will definitely make the decision for you!"

Wang Haipeng was also somewhat moved when he heard this, but after thinking for a moment, he still spoke with some concerns:

"Lord Murong, no matter how powerful this Gao Anchashi is, even if he is trusted by the Marshal, he is just one person in the Ancha Division. As the old saying goes, two fists cannot beat four hands!"

Murong Yuliang smiled slightly and said something meaningful:
"So guess why Gao Anchashi wants to win over Wu Jia?"

Wang Haipeng was stunned at first, and then he spoke excitedly:
"That's it! That's it!"

After saying this, Wang Haipeng gave Murong Yuliang a thumbs up and said with great admiration:

"Lord Murong, you are a man of foresight and nothing can be hidden from you..."

Upon hearing this, Murong Yuliang waved his hand and said with some self-mockery:
"Forget about the four words 'foresight'. If I really had foresight, how could I end up like this?"

After he finished speaking, Murong Yuliang warned again:
"You must remember that Gao Zhifu has a bright future and is entrusted with great trust by the Marshal. You must not bribe him with material things. As long as you tell him the situation, he will most likely help you, but you'd better not tell him to do it for me!"

"Master Murong, why is this happening? Weren't you all sent to Huainan by Marshal Ye to promote reforms?"

Facing Wang Haipeng's question, Murong Yuliang did not give an answer but said calmly:
"I've told you the truth. It's up to you whether you want to listen or not! If you insist on telling him about me, you'll have to bear the consequences yourself!"

Wang Haipeng was a little frightened after hearing this. He didn't understand what the conflict was between Murong Yuliang and Gao Zhenji. At this moment Murong Yuliang was also a little annoyed. He immediately picked up the teacup and took a sip. Seeing this, Wang Haipeng immediately bowed and took his leave.

He was a local businessman in Huainan. During the period when Murong Yuliang was the governor, he actively approached Murong Yuliang and was a beneficiary of Murong Yuliang's encouragement of the development of industry and commerce!
So even though Murong Yuliang is in trouble now, Wang Haipeng disguised himself as a servant and quietly entered the mansion to report to Murong Yuliang the news he had heard!
After Wang Haipeng left, Murong Yuliang was planning to take a break, but he didn't expect the housekeeper to come over and report:

"Master, Director Song from the Attendant Department just sent someone over to say that the Marshal will leave for Jiangnan on June 15th. The Marshal wants you to accompany him and ask you to be ready!"

As soon as these words came out, Murong Yuliang's eyes flashed with joy and he immediately asked back:
"What else did the visitor say?"

"It just told you to be ready to go to Jiangnan. It didn't say anything else."

(End of this chapter)