Chapter 124 Heading to the Ministry of War
Although he didn't know what Xu Zhaojie was up to, he had to get his transfer to the Zhenwu Army done before he returned to Luoan and make this matter a done deal!
Otherwise, once Xu Zhaojie knew about this matter, it was foreseeable that he would definitely stop me from leaving. At that time, if he, as my immediate superior, disagreed, even the Ministry of War would have no way to force me to transfer to the Zhenwu Army.

However, the silver lining in this unfortunate situation was that things went smoothly. Fang Jing did not disappoint him and provided him with the contact of Li Guangbin. With Fang Jing's introduction, all that was left was for him to put the money in place, and his transfer to the Zhenwu Army would probably be halfway accomplished. This undoubtedly made Ye Mingsheng feel a little relieved!
Although now with Li Guangbin as a connection, the possibility of being transferred to the Zhenwu Army has greatly increased, but in view of the current environment, Ye Mingsheng still dare not relax. He has decided to ask Qian Buli to come out tomorrow to see if he can get any help from him.

It just so happens that Fang Jing needs five days to inform Li Guangbin, so he can use this five days to make good preparations.

The next morning, because he did not make an appointment with Qian Buli in advance, Ye Mingsheng went directly to the Ministry of War where Qian Buli worked.

As one of the "Six Ministries" of the Great Zhou, the Ministry of War is nominally in charge of national military mobilization and the promotion of military officers. Although its power has been weakened a lot in recent years as the Great Zhou court's control over local vassal states has gradually weakened, it is no longer as powerful as it was in the past. However, today, there are still hundreds of officials of all ranks serving in it, and the hundreds of thousands of Great Zhou troops actually controlled by Prime Minister Shangguan Hongyuan still obey the orders of the Ministry of War.

The Ministry of War had four sub-departments: the Headquarters, the Driving Department, the Treasury Department, and the Staff Department. Each department had officials such as Langzhong, Yuanwailang, and Zhushi. Qian Buli, whom Ye Mingsheng was looking for, was the Zhushi in the Treasury Department of the Ministry of War.

As the name suggests, the Treasury Department is the department in charge of the warehouse of the Ministry of War. Things like food, weapons, cotton clothes, gunpowder, etc. stored in the warehouse are all under their control!

This is also the reason why Qian Buli has a very close relationship with Kong Ruian, the son of an important official of Deshengchang, the royal merchant who is responsible for purchasing.

As an official in charge of the warehouse, Qian Buli was usually quite idle. He would report to the yamen in the morning, eat a government lunch at noon, take a nap in the afternoon, and then go home after get off work at 4 p.m. His life was pretty comfortable.

However, there is a disadvantage to being in charge of a warehouse, that is, when there is a war or other things that require the mobilization of materials in the warehouse, his workload will increase greatly and he is often too busy to handle.

Now that the Zhenwu Army has been established, Qian Buli has been so busy pulling out all kinds of military equipment, cotton-padded clothes and flags from the warehouse that he is complaining a lot.

"Show me the warrant, approval document!"

Qian Buli, who had just finished processing a hundred three-barreled guns and was writing them down on the desk, saw someone approaching him. He did not look up to see who the person was, but habitually asked:
However, what surprised Qian Buli was that after he asked the question, the other party did not answer. Seeing this, he raised his head in anger and asked again: "Show me the warrant..."

However, he stopped talking halfway through. Looking at the smiling young military officer in front of him, he was stunned for a moment, then said with great surprise:
"Brother Ye, you're back from the palace!"

"Well! I came to the Ministry of War to do some handovers. I haven't seen you for a while, so I came to see you. How about we go out tonight and have dinner at Zui Xiang Ju? I'll treat you!" Ye Mingsheng pretended to be generous and said:
Hearing the words "Zui Xiang Ju, I'll treat you", Qian Buli, who loved food very much, suddenly had a gleam of light in his eyes and was very tempted, but he still declined, saying, "How can I do this... Brother Ye, you have returned from the palace, I should treat you to a meal to welcome you, how can I let you spend money!" Seeing Qian Buli's pretentious look, Ye Mingsheng, who was asking for help, didn't care. He waved his hand and said, "You and I are good friends, it doesn't matter who treats. Let me do it this time. Since you have a lot of things to do here, I won't bother you any more. I'll book a private room in Zui Xiang Ju tonight, remember to come!"

"Since Brother Ye is so kind, then I would be honored to refuse..." In front of Zuixiangju, after being reserved for a while, Qian Buli did not hesitate and nodded in agreement.

“See you later!” Ye Mingsheng smiled, bowed, and then left the room.

After leaving the Ministry of War, Ye Mingsheng came to Zuixiangju, located in Changningfang in the East District.

This Zui Xiang Ju is not ranked among the many restaurants in Luoan, but it is still considered a relatively good restaurant in Luoan.

Not only does the food taste very good, but the restaurant also has a group of young and beautiful dancers who come out to dance every night. As a result, it has gained a lot of popularity and the restaurant is always packed. If you want to reserve a private room, you must make a reservation in advance, otherwise there will be no seats available when you go in the evening.

Zui Xiang Ju can be said to be Qian Buli's favorite. After he went there once, he was reluctant to leave. However, his salary was low and he was timid. Although he was guarding the gold and silver mountain of the Ministry of War's warehouse, he did not dare to have any improper thoughts, so he did not have much money in his pocket.

He usually had to save money for a month before he could go to Zuixiangju to have some fun. This time, Ye Mingsheng had a request for him, and by meeting him at Zuixiangju, he was catering to his wishes.

After booking a private room at Zui Xiang Ju, Ye Mingsheng stopped by Luo'an, the prosperous western market, on his way home to buy some rice, flour, grain, oil, vegetables, meat, and other daily necessities.

Luoan is the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Not only is housing expensive, but everything else is also very expensive. With such a high consumption level, even though Ye Mingsheng has some money on him, he cannot take his men out to eat every meal. So, cooking at home and eating out occasionally has become a necessity.

Fortunately, when Ye Tie was in the green forest, he cooked and ate alone, so his cooking skills were pretty good, so everyone didn't have to stare at the ingredients in astonishment...
The purchase went smoothly, but the process left Ye Mingsheng with deep feelings. He had only been back in Luoan for a few days, and the price of grain had risen by 20% due to the war, drought and other factors, reaching one or two taels of silver and three cents of silver per stone of grain. When he was young and had just come to Luoan, this price could have bought two or two and a half stones of grain.

(End of this chapter)