Chapter 1453: Doubtful!

As he was pressing, Ye Mingsheng suddenly remembered what happened this afternoon, and immediately asked Pei Zhixiu:
"Is there something that my mother called you over for today?"

As soon as Ye Mingsheng said this, Pei Zhixiu's eyes changed a little. At this time, Ye Mingsheng was leaning over the bed and could not observe Pei Zhixiu's expression at all. However, from Pei Zhixiu's brief silence, Ye Mingsheng could feel something strange, and then he continued to ask:

"Isn't mother giving you any trouble today?"

Pei Zhixiu also came back to his senses after hearing this and said:

"Your Majesty, you're overthinking it. My mother just feels a little uncomfortable in her lower abdomen today. She just asked me to check her pulse!"

Hearing Pei Zhixiu's answer, Ye Mingsheng immediately turned around, sat up from the bed, and looked at his concubine.

Seeing Pei Zhixiu's calm expression and no dodging of his gaze, Ye Mingsheng felt a little confused and wondered if he was overthinking.

When he learned that Pei Zhixiu was called over by my mother, it was inappropriate for Ye Mingsheng to go there in person. So in order to prevent Pei Zhixiu from being targeted by my mother, Ye Mingsheng immediately arranged for An Miaoyi to go over in the name of sending jadeite, and asked An Miaoyi to smooth things over for Pei Zhixiu.

Because he had confidence in An Miaoyi's ability in this area, and Ye Mingsheng had to meet with Cui Shao and others in the afternoon to discuss some important matters, so Ye Mingsheng did not pay attention to this matter.

Although he didn't pay attention to this matter in the afternoon, Ye Mingsheng felt that nothing serious should have happened, otherwise Ye Cheng would have informed him long ago.

Ye Cheng, the director of the Attendant Department, is Ye Mingsheng's eyes and ears in the palace. He will report any disturbance to Ye Mingsheng. However, just in case, Ye Mingsheng asked Pei Zhixiu now...

Seeing Ye Mingsheng's doubtful look, Pei Zhixiu could also feel her husband's concern for her and her heart was warmed. She immediately leaned into Ye Mingsheng's arms and whispered:
"Your Majesty, don't worry. My mother didn't make things difficult for me. She just asked me to help her diagnose her pulse. Besides that, my mother asked me to go to Tianci Temple outside the city to pray for her!"

"The Queen Mother asked you to go to Tianci Temple to pray for blessings?" Ye Mingsheng asked with some surprise:

Pei Zhixiu nodded and said:

"Master Jingchen said that I have a predestined relationship with you. If I pray for you, everything will be twice as effective with half the effort!"

Ye Mingsheng frowned slightly. It was not new for Ye Cui to send people to Tianci Temple to pray for blessings. Over the years, Ye Cui would arrange for the maids and nannies around her to go to Tianci Temple to pray for blessings every once in a while, and send some money to Tianci Temple. Over the years, the amount of silver donated was at least 10,000 taels.

Although Ye Mingsheng felt that this was a bit of a waste, since his mother was willing to do so, he just let it go.

But it is a bit unbelievable that Ye Cui asked Pei Zhixiu to pray for blessings!

After all, what annoyed Ye Cui the most about Pei Zhixiu was that Pei Zhixiu didn't stay in the palace properly, but ran around outside all day. In the eyes of Ye Cui, a traditional old lady, this could be considered as being unfaithful to her husband, so she talked about this with Ye Mingsheng many times.

So now Ye Cui took the initiative to let Pei Zhixiu leave the palace to pray for blessings in Tianci Temple. It really made people feel a little unbelievable. The more Ye Mingsheng thought about it, the more he felt that this was not something Ye Cui could do.
Ye Mingsheng hesitated for a moment and said:
"Did Mom really tell you that?"

Seeing that Ye Mingsheng seemed a little unconvinced, Pei Zhixiu also said with a smile:

"I didn't believe it at first, but Master Jingchen insisted that I was the destined one, so mother finally gave me this task!"

"I have to leave the palace tomorrow. I wonder if Your Majesty will approve it?"

Seeing Pei Zhixiu smiling, Ye Mingsheng's worries were reduced. He nodded slightly and said:
"Jisu! If you want to go, go ahead! But be careful along the way!"

At the end, Ye Mingsheng seemed to be hesitant to speak, because the matter was too abnormal, so he really wanted to remind Pei Zhixiu to be careful of fraud, but then again, Ye Cui was his mother after all, and Ye Mingsheng didn't think it was right to say that, so even though the words were on the tip of his tongue, he didn't say them in the end.

Although Ye Mingsheng didn't say anything, Pei Zhixiu knew what Ye Mingsheng wanted to say by looking at his expression. She then gently stroked Ye Mingsheng's face and said:
"Your Majesty, it's just a prayer, don't think too much about it!"

Hearing Pei Zhixiu say this, Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly. After talking about this topic, the couple talked about some private matters and then went to sleep with their clothes on.

Ye Mingsheng consumed a lot of energy at work during the day, and running also consumed a lot of physical energy, so it wasn't long before his head touched the pillow and he fell asleep, snoring a little.

Listening to Ye Mingsheng's snoring, Pei Zhixiu slowly opened her bright eyes, and her expression was no longer disguised. Recalling the straightforward words that Ye Cui said to her during the day, a trace of entanglement appeared in her eyes...

······················
······················
next morning
After having breakfast at Pei Zhixiu's, Ye Mingsheng went to the Imperial Garden and jogged for an incense stick of time to stretch his muscles, and then came to the Imperial study to prepare for work.

After Ye Mingsheng drank a sip of Tieguanyin, Ye Cheng came to Ye Mingsheng holding a large memorial. "Your Majesty has a total of eleven memorials to deal with this morning, two of which are more important. The first memorial is the Yunqian battle report that just arrived this morning. General Zhang has won many victories in Yunqian. The second memorial is Ge Xiong's confession!"

After saying this, Ye Cheng paused for a moment, considered his words, and continued:

"Ge Xiong confessed a lot of things!"

Hearing Ye Cheng's deliberate emphasis on this point, Ye Mingsheng picked up the teacup and took a sip. Seeing this, Ye Cheng did not say anything and immediately bowed and walked out.
Ye Mingsheng took the battle report of Yunqian, only to see that it was written by Zhang Meng, the commander of the First Army appointed by him. In the report, Zhang Meng enthusiastically stated that since the war began, the soldiers of the First Army under his command had not only conquered the Xiong chieftain who had been entrenched in Yaonan Mountain for hundreds of years, but also occupied half of Yunqian's land in more than a month.

Currently, the First Army led by him is besieging Jinzhi City. Zhang Meng is confident that although the Li chieftains in Jinzhi City are still resisting stubbornly, they are trapped in a jar and will not be able to jump for long under the layers of siege by the First Army soldiers.

Zhang Meng also said that when this battle report traveled across mountains and rivers, across the north and south of Daqian, and after several months, it arrived in Ye Mingsheng's hands, he had already planted the flag of Daqian on the top of Jinzhi City, making Jinzhi City a territory actually controlled by Daqian...

In addition to expressing the situation of the battle, Zhang Meng also said that because he had used the surrendered chieftains' soldiers and horses to fight many times, although he encountered stubborn resistance from some of the chieftains' soldiers and horses, the casualties of the First Army itself were not high, with only more than 1,000 casualties, of which nearly 40% were due to illness due to acclimatization.

Zhang Meng also expressed his views on the current situation in Yunqian. He was very optimistic and believed that after the Xiong chieftains and the Li chieftains were successively destroyed, the Mu chieftains entrenched in the southwest would realize how stupid it was to be an enemy of Daqian, so they would kneel down to Daqian and become Daqian's obedient subjects!

Therefore, Zhang Meng is fully confident that he can completely take over Yunqian before this year and make the entire Yunqian an integral part of Daqian's territory!

In the last part of the battle report, Zhang Meng said that he heard that during the previous negotiations between Daqian and the three chieftains of Yunqian, Xiong Ping, the patriarch of the Xiong chieftains, had been disrespectful to Ye Mingsheng in his words, so he deliberately captured Xiong Ping alive and presented him to His Majesty for His Majesty to deal with!

Seeing Zhang Meng had captured Xiong Ping, Ye Mingsheng was also a little surprised. Previously, when Su Yi was reporting to him on the progress of the Yun-Qian negotiations, she had said that during the negotiations these chieftains played the good cop and the bad cop in order to gain their interests!

The attitudes of the chieftains of the Xiong family and the Mu family were extremely arrogant. They demanded food, cloth, and salt from Daqian, and even wanted Ye Mingsheng to make them kings. The most unacceptable thing was that they also wanted 500 young girls every year for their clan to reproduce offspring...
If Daqian did not agree to their demands, they threatened to harass the Jingchu, Sichuan and Shu areas. Among them, Xiong Ping was the worst. Although Su Yi did not tell Ye Mingsheng what Xiong Ping said, he also used the four words "full of foul language" to describe him.

Ye Mingsheng had also climbed up from the bottom, so even though Su Yi did not describe it specifically, Ye Mingsheng could more or less imagine what kind of ugly words Xiong Ping had cursed.

The Li chieftains played the role of the good guys, saying that they had always admired Ye Mingsheng and wanted to pay homage to him. They also wanted to give Ye Mingsheng Yunqian's local specialties and beauties, and they also expressed their various difficulties in Yunqian and cried poor.

Although Ye Mingsheng knew that this was the negotiation strategy of the chieftains in Yunqian, and that they were just asking for a sky-high price and waiting for the right price, and did not really want these things, he was still a little angry, and this prompted Ye Mingsheng to make the decision to use force.

Although he was somewhat angry about the words of some chieftains headed by Xiong Ping, Ye Mingsheng did not ask Zhang Meng to capture Xiong Ping and others alive and bring them back to Yijing in this war.

Therefore, now Zhang Meng actually captured Yi Jing from Xiong Ping, which was somewhat of an unexpected surprise for Ye Mingsheng!
Although when he heard Su Yi's description before, Ye Mingsheng had the idea of ​​cutting Xiong Ping into pieces and letting him die in endless pain and wailing...

But now that his anger has subsided and he thinks back on his thoughts, Ye Mingsheng feels that it is meaningless and even a loss of face to compete with Xiong Ping.

Moreover, Ye Mingsheng has always had the idea of ​​making Daqian's punishments more humane. For example, abolishing such cruel methods of execution as being cut into pieces and being torn apart by five horses, and changing such extremely insulting punishments as nose picking, ear cutting, and facial tattooing to forced labor.

So although Ye Mingsheng did not intend to let Xiong Ping go, Ye Mingsheng still decided to give him a quick death. Ye Mingsheng was too lazy to see him, so he directly ordered Xiong Ping to have a full meal and then took him to Caishikou for execution.

After dealing with the battle report sent by Zhang Meng, Ye Mingsheng did not read Ge Xiong's confession immediately, but picked up the teacup and drank tea!
Even though Ye Cheng's words just now were very vague, only saying that Ge Xiong confessed a lot of things, Ye Mingsheng knew what Ye Cheng meant by saying that.

Therefore, before flipping through the book, Ye Mingsheng decided to prepare himself mentally, so as not to get so angry that he almost died!
Ye Mingsheng slowly finished drinking all the Tieguanyin in the cup and felt almost done, then he finally opened Ge Xiong's confession!

Looking at Ge Xiong's confession, although Ye Mingsheng had just prepared himself mentally, his face couldn't help but become gloomy at this moment.

Over the years, countless people have spoken ill of the United Coordination Office to Ye Mingsheng, saying that the Office violated laws and disciplines, and was engaging in all kinds of money and women transactions.

Although Ye Mingsheng expressed his disbelief on the surface, he knew in his heart that although there was some exaggeration in these people's words, there were indeed problems with the Coordination Office itself...
In fact, when Ye Mingsheng decided to set up the Coordination Office, he knew that this kind of thing would happen. After all, the purpose of the Coordination Office's existence is to do some dirty work in the dark, so you can't expect the Coordination Office to be clean.

Therefore, Ye Mingsheng has turned a blind eye to some issues of the Coordination Office over the years. As long as they don't go too far, he will pretend not to know!

However, what Ye Mingsheng did not expect was that Ge Xiong, the captain of a thousand households, had accumulated wealth worth tens of thousands of taels through various improper means!
And this is still a conservative estimate. As the saying goes, gold is valuable in troubled times and treasures are valuable in prosperous times. There is still a big market for things like calligraphy and paintings, antiques and porcelain, house deeds and land deeds. If all the things are put together and you are not in a hurry to sell them, it is not impossible to sell them for 15,000 taels of silver, or even 20,000 taels of silver.
This Ge Xiong is Wang Xuecheng's little brother, and he follows Wang Xuecheng to get benefits. He has made so much money, so you can imagine how much Wang Xuecheng has made!
In the past, Ye Mingsheng thought that Wang Xuecheng could only make 20,000 to 30,000 taels of silver at most as the director of the Coordination Office, but now Ge Xiong is close to this number!
Moreover, Ge Xiong also mentioned Baiheyuan in Xicheng in his confession, and Wang Xuecheng was the boss behind the scenes!

When Ye Mingsheng was on an incognito visit before, he had passed by the Lily Garden. At that time, he was somewhat shocked by the popularity of the Yijing sex industry. He thought that this line of business was really making a fortune. He didn't expect that this was actually Wang Xuecheng's industry!
The amount of silver that Baiheyuan alone has provided to Wang Xuecheng over the years is probably more than 20,000 or 30,000 taels of silver!

Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng, who originally felt a little sorry for Wang Xuecheng's death, immediately felt that Wang Xuecheng was really a big borer of Daqian and his death was not a pity...