Chapter 1282 Auspicious signs are coming!

Half an hour later, An Miaoyi returned to her room from Ye Cui's courtyard. Seeing An Miaoyi's gloomy face, the other maids and servants were silent, not daring to get close, for fear of accidentally provoking An Miaoyi's wrath. Only Qiqige saw that An Miaoyi seemed a little thirsty, so she made a cup of honey water and handed it to An Miaoyi.

After taking a sip of honey water, An Miaoyi couldn't help but sigh. Seeing this, Qiqige asked with some concern:
"Is the old lady giving you trouble again?"

An Miaoyi, who was hit on the heart, did not respond, but just smiled bitterly and shook her head.

Just now, in addition to discussing the issue of the country's name, Ye Cui and An Miaoyi also hinted that An Miaoyi should ask for some benefits from Ye Mingsheng for the Ye clan!
An Miaoyi was very helpless about this, but under the pressure from Ye Cui, she had no choice but to agree to this matter.

In fact, a few days ago, after learning the news that Ye Mingsheng was finally going to become emperor, the Ye family found An Miaoyi, hoping that An Miaoyi could act as their representative and say a few good words for their Ye family relatives in front of Ye Mingsheng, and confer more titles of dukes and marquises on the Ye family and reward them with more land and wealth.

When An Miaoyi faced these people's requests, she was also very clear that if she succeeded in this matter, her influence in the Ye clan would greatly increase in the future...

But in the end, An Miaoyi politely declined these people's requests. The only reason she did so was that An Miaoyi was not sure she could help them get things done and get the titles, property, and land they wanted from Ye Mingsheng!

An Miaoyi knew very well that she didn't have that much face with Ye Mingsheng. Even if she shamelessly talked to Ye Mingsheng about this, Ye Mingsheng would not give her face. Ye Mingsheng would only reject her mercilessly and even blame herself for taking on such a thing!
So since it was impossible, An Miaoyi simply gave up. However, what she didn't expect was that these members of the Ye clan did not give up and actually found Ye Cui!
Ye Cui, as the biggest backer of the Ye clan in the Yijing court, has the same idea as the members of the Ye clan!

Ye Cui believed that Ye Mingsheng would be able to unify the world, and that the descendants of the Ye clan had made great efforts. When Ye Mingsheng was recruiting soldiers in Fengshan County, the descendants of the Ye clan responded immediately, and many young people followed Ye Mingsheng to conquer the world!

As the saying goes, a general dies in a hundred battles, and a warrior returns after ten years. To this day, the descendants of the Ye clan have also experienced many fierce and bloody battles, large and small. According to incomplete statistics, about one-third of them died on the battlefield, and a considerable number of the remaining two-thirds were left disabled.

Although Ye Mingsheng had not treated his clansmen badly over the years, and countless of the Ye family members had been promoted and made rich, those family members who unfortunately died in battle also received pensions, their families and children were supported, and those who were left disabled not only received compensation, but also received food subsidies from the local government every month.

But now Ye Mingsheng is going to be crowned emperor after all, as the old saying goes, when one person succeeds, all the family members of the Ye clan will automatically become royal family. So Ye Cui also hopes that the people of the Ye clan can live with the country and share the glory and wealth...

Although Ye Cui thought so, as a mother she also knew Ye Mingsheng's character. So in order not to damage the mother-son relationship between herself and Ye Mingsheng, Ye Cui gave this glorious task to her daughter-in-law An Miaoyi!

Although An Miaoyi had to take on this matter due to pressure from Ye Cui, to be honest, she didn't have any good solution for it. She knew that Ye Mingsheng wanted to control the number of titles in order to prevent the noble group from becoming bigger!

So although Ye Mingsheng's specific ideas about conferring titles are still unknown, in An Miaoyi's expectation, the only five people in the Ye family who can be conferred the title of nobility are Ye Tie, Ye Dong, Ye Kui, Ye Tao, and Ye Hao. The others really have no chance of being conferred the title of nobility, and the most they can do is to see if they can get a good title.

As for land and money rewards, there will definitely be some, but they shouldn't be much. After all, the current financial situation of the Yijing court is here. Although the financial situation of the court has been greatly alleviated thanks to the windfall that Ye Mingsheng made in Jiangnan, the debt problem of Dadongsheng has also been resolved in the short term.

However, the fundamental financial situation of the Ministry of Revenue has not been resolved, so even if Ye Mingsheng wants to give out large-scale rewards, the Ministry of Revenue cannot afford to pay so much money to make everyone happy.

If you want to completely change the financial situation of the Ministry of Revenue and even the Yijing court and turn losses into profits, there are only two ways!
The first solution is to increase taxes!
At present, the taxation of Fengwu Army is still very low compared with the past. Overall, it is only 30% to 50% of the past. Moreover, many places have been exempted from taxes by Ye Mingsheng. As long as Ye Mingsheng resumes taxation, the financial situation of Yijing will definitely improve...
As for the second method, it is to complete the reforms promoted by Ye Mingsheng, streamline the staff team to improve the efficiency of the government, vigorously develop industry and agriculture, encourage the development of overseas trade, and earn trade differentials from overseas!
These two methods are completely incomparable in terms of difficulty. The first method can be accomplished by Ye Mingsheng with just one command. Everyone will be happy except the people. Everyone can play music and dance all the time. In the end, it will only make the people suffer more.

Even if the rich are feasting and drinking while others are freezing to death on the streets, everyone can just turn a blind eye and not be bothered, and can continue to live a life of drunkenness and sing songs!
The second way is difficult and is bound to affect the interests of many people. If you are not careful, it will shake the foundation of the country and even cause unmanageable trouble. An Miaoyi, who comes from a noble family, sometimes really can't understand why Ye Mingsheng has an easy way but insists on going to the tiger mountain even though he knows there is a tiger there.

Just when An Miaoyi was in a state of confusion, Qiqige reported to her:
"Madam, Zhao Wanxian from the Jiyu Provincial Government reported to the court about the auspicious signs in Jiyu. He said that colorful auspicious clouds appeared in Yujing, and even a dragon appeared in the Yushui River. It is said that the Liaoyang Provincial Government also discovered the mythical beast Qilin!"

Hearing these stories about the dragons and unicorns, An Miaoyi's eyes showed a hint of disdain.

These rhetoric was enough to fool the common people, but An Miaoyi didn't believe in them. She knew very well that because Ye Mingsheng was going to establish a new dynasty and ascend the throne to become emperor had become an open secret in the Yijing court, many people were preparing for auspicious signs.

Like the divine dragon, unicorn, phoenix, white tiger, even stone man, magic stone, all the auspicious signs you can think of are prepared, just waiting for Ye Mingsheng to nod, and these various things will be officially unveiled···················

Feeling the disdain in An Miaoyi's eyes, Qi Qige said in a low voice:

"Madam, I heard that the plan of the Attendant Department is that the Marshal will go to Liangzhen Camp for inspection after returning to Yijing. At that time, Yuan Song, Zhao Han and others in Liangzhen Camp will wear yellow robes, but the Marshal is determined not to accept it. When Ye Mingsheng returns to Yijing, Liu Ning will organize a large-scale welcoming ceremony, and the little emperor will express his abdication at the welcoming ceremony!"

"However, the Marshal still refused to accept the invitation during the welcoming ceremony. After the welcoming ceremony, the ministers presented a petition and the Marshal refused again. After three times, the Marshal finally accepted it with great reluctance!"

Listening to Qiqige's words, An Miaoyi snorted and said:

"Will he then say that the officials have caused me so much trouble?"

As soon as these words came out, Qiqige's mind immediately appeared the image of Ye Mingsheng's bitter and vengeful look, and she couldn't help but laugh out loud.

In response to this, An Miaoyi shook her head and said:

"My husband has always been very free and easy and not afraid of criticism from the world. I thought he would accept the abdication directly, but I didn't expect that he would fall into the cliché in the end!"

Qiqige smiled and said, "Madam, this is human nature. After all, the pen of history is as sharp as a knife!"

An Miaoyi shook her head when she heard this, and then asked Qiqige as if she remembered something:

"Is there any news about Wang Rui?"

When An Miaoyi mentioned this name, Qiqige also restrained her smile and said seriously:

“Madam, the Yijing government and the Youyan Censorate have both sent people to look for him, but there is still no news. I think Wang Rui might have been killed, and the other party seems very skilled in his methods…”

An Miaoyi nodded slightly when she heard this. After so many days, she was already prepared for Wang Rui's death, so at this time she continued to ask:

"Who do you think is the murderer of Wang Rui?"

Facing An Miaoyi's question, although Qiqige had thought about it before, she still hesitated for a moment and said:
"During this period, Wang Rui has done a lot for you, Madam, and has offended a lot of people. To be honest, if we talk about who has the motive to kill him, there may be two or three suspects, and these people all have reasons to kill Wang Rui!"

"But based on my understanding of these people, they may be able to kill Wang Rui, but they definitely can't do it so cleanly that we won't be able to find any clues at all!"

Hearing what Qiqige said, An Miaoyi's beautiful eyes flashed with a gleam of light and asked in a deep voice:
"Qiqige, who do you suspect?"

"The internal guards around the Marshal, or the killers of the Murong family! Although the Coordination Office is also very powerful, many of our manpower came from the Coordination Office. If it was really the Coordination Office that did it, there is no way we didn't get any news!"

An Miaoyi seemed to be thinking deeply after hearing that. She knew how powerful the gray-clothed men hiding in Ye Mingsheng’s shadow were. If it was really done by the inner guards, it was reasonable that they did it so cleanly. However, An Miaoyi did not think that it was done by the inner guards...

After being with Ye Mingsheng for so many years, An Miaoyi also understands Ye Mingsheng. She knows that Ye Mingsheng has a red line for her. If she crosses the red line, she will be punished by Ye Mingsheng, but if she does not cross the red line, Ye Mingsheng will basically not have any reaction.

Although Wang Rui helped her with some things, An Miaoyi viewed these things as just skirting the red line at best. According to Ye Mingsheng's previous practices, Ye Mingsheng could be said to be too lazy to care about it, let alone send out the inner guards to kill Wang Rui. There was no precedent for such a thing.

Of course, this is just An Miaoyi's idea. We cannot rule out the possibility that it was Ye Mingsheng who really ordered the internal guards to kill Wang Rui as a warning to An Miaoyi!

However, compared to the internal guards, An Miaoyi believed that it was more likely that it was the killer from the Murong family.

"Qiqige, are the killers of the Murong family very powerful?"

Facing An Miaoyi's question, Qiqige nodded seriously and said:

"Madam, the number of assassins in the Murong family is not large. According to some information we have received, there may be less than ten people in this group, but each of them is extraordinary in skills, and one can defeat ten. They have been trained by the Murong family since childhood and are extremely loyal to the Murong family. Each of them is a ruthless character who kills without blinking an eye!"

Hearing Qiqige's description, An Miaoyi's eyes showed a chill. Although she could not be sure that Wang Rui was killed by Murong's killer, but when she thought about Murong Qingwu raising such a group of people, she felt a chill in her heart·······················

"Qiqige, find these people! Kill them! Don't let any of them go!"

Facing An Miaoyi's order, Qiqige hesitated for a moment and said:
"Madam, we have never relaxed our search for the Murong family's killers, but these people are hiding too deeply, and there is very little information about them, so there is not much useful information at the moment!"

Hearing this, An Miaoyi looked a little unhappy, and at this time Qiqige immediately said:
"Madam, we will definitely try our best to find them. As long as we find any clues, we will act immediately and will never let these Murong family bastards have any chance of survival!"

After hearing what Qiqige said, An Miaoyi nodded reluctantly and asked again:

"Is there any movement from Chu Zhiyi's side?"

"Yes! Even though the people he sent to investigate were killed, Chu Zhiyi still did not give up the investigation. He sent a few more people to investigate!"

"Do you know what Chu Zhiyi is investigating?"

"It seems to be related to a case of privately storing seized items, and it is said that contraband is involved. We don't know who did it yet, but according to the information we have received, the person who was killed last time by Chu Zhiyi to investigate should have something to do with the Flying Tiger Battalion!"

"Oh? Is the news accurate?"

“It’s probably accurate!”

After hearing Qiqige's affirmative answer, An Miaoyi's expression became somewhat interested. Although she didn't know who Chu Zhiyi was investigating regarding contraband and the Flying Tiger Battalion, An Miaoyi had a hunch that this person was not a small character but might be a big fish...
(End of this chapter)