Chapter 17: Give You a Fortune (3000 words long chapter)
"It's almost over. The battle is over and the Luobi people have returned to the grassland. It won't be long before we can go back." Ye Mingsheng said calmly with a normal look:
"When I return to Luoan, I must go to Hongchunyuan to have a good time. I've been so bored in the palace for the past half year." Kong Ruian sighed, his small eyes full of longing, as if he had already thought of the beautiful days with beautiful girls around him.

Seeing his stupid look, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help laughing and said, "I heard that your father used all his connections to arrange a good marriage for you. The other party is the daughter of an imperial censor. She is very well-educated and has a strong character. You'd better restrain yourself."

"well········"

Kong Ruian sighed first, then said helplessly: "It is precisely because I want to marry that woman that I am in a hurry to go back. I have to spend some money for the last time. Otherwise, all the money I have saved will be left in the cellar to gather dust, right?"

Seeing that this guy still hadn't changed his bad habits and looked like he would die in a woman's belly sooner or later, Ye Mingsheng shook his head and said:
"Tell me, what do you want from me? You've never come to me at this time before!"

"hey-hey!"

Kong Ruian, whose little trick was discovered, laughed awkwardly, then lowered his voice and said, "Mingsheng, are you familiar with Liu Shilin?"

Hearing the name "Liu Shilin" from Kong Ruian, Ye Mingsheng was stunned at first, then asked with some doubt: "Isn't this house given to me by him? I know this Young Master Liu, but not very well. How is your matter related to him?"

Under Ye Mingsheng's gaze, Kong Ruian nodded seriously, then lowered his voice and said: "He asked me to tell you something, he wants to come here to see you!"

After hearing what Kong Ruian said, Ye Mingsheng became even more confused. If Liu Shilin wanted to see him, he could come to see him openly. He would definitely meet him just for the sake of the Liu Mansion being lent to him. There was no need for Liu Shilin to do so, because he had asked Kong Ruian to bring a message to him...

Seeing that Ye Mingsheng didn't understand what he said, Kong Ruian continued to explain in a low voice: "He wants to visit you late at night. He has something very important to discuss with you. I hope you must meet him!"

Ye Mingsheng narrowed his eyes and thought secretly in his heart. Although he didn't know what important matter Liu Shilin had, but since the other party was so mysterious, it seemed that this matter was also unusual.

Seeing Ye Mingsheng not speaking, Kong Ruian, who was sitting next to him, gritted his teeth and whispered, "This Liu family is not simple, there are people behind them!"

Kong Ruian's words immediately attracted Ye Mingsheng's interest, and he asked Kong Ruian, "What do you mean?"

"Deshengchang has business dealings with the Liu family. When you and I came to Gongdu this time, my father specifically told me that the Liu family has people above us, and when dealing with them, we must treat them with courtesy and not offend them. My father didn't tell me anything else. So when Liu Shilin found me yesterday and asked me to give you a message, I didn't refuse!" Kong Ruian told Ye Mingsheng the whole story.

Ye Mingsheng was silent for a while, then asked, "When does he plan to come?"

"Liu Shilin said the sooner the better!" Kong Ruian said without hesitation:

"Well, go back and tell him that I'll be waiting for him here tomorrow night!" Ye Mingsheng nodded and said seriously:

When Kong Ruian, who acted as the middleman, heard that Ye Mingsheng agreed to Liu Shilin's request, he immediately became delighted and thanked Ye Mingsheng repeatedly.

After seeing Kong Ruian off, Ye Mingsheng, who originally wanted to promote ethnic exchanges, no longer had that thought in his mind. Leaning back on the armchair, Ye Mingsheng rubbed his eyes and recalled what he remembered about the Liu family.

The Liu family is a well-known wealthy family in Ci'an North Road of Gongdu State. They have many industries in several counties including Ruishan and Xinping. Although on the surface, their family runs inns, sells medicinal materials and grains, but according to Ye Mingsheng's understanding, the Liu family is also secretly engaged in the business of smuggling arms, smuggling some abandoned arms of the Great Zhou to Gongdu for sale.

So it is obvious that Kong Ruian's information is correct. The Liu family must have a backer in the Great Zhou, and this backer is not small, otherwise they would not have the power to help them get the weapons.

Because with the help of the Ruishan County Magistrate, the Liu family lent the Liu Mansion in the county to Ye Mingsheng for temporary residence. Therefore, Ye Mingsheng and the Liu family's eldest son Liu Shilin exchanged a few words, and there was no other communication between them. Although they were not strangers to each other, they were far from being familiar with each other.

To be honest, Ye Mingsheng really couldn't imagine that Liu Shilin had something important to tell him, so he asked Kong Ruian to tell him to visit him late at night.

However, although there was no evidence, his intuition told him that the purpose of Liu Shilin's visit to him was definitely not simple, and it was very likely related to that incident... Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng, who had closed his eyes to rest, opened his eyes and a gleam of light flashed in his eyes.

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The next day, Ye Mingsheng inspected the military camp as usual during the day, and returned to Liu's mansion early in the afternoon, waiting for Liu Shilin's arrival.

Ye Mingsheng did not have to wait too long. Just after the hour of Xu in the evening, Liu Shilin, wearing a black robe, walked in from a remote door of the Liu Mansion under the cover of the dark moonlight. Liu Shilin did not bring any followers with him. He appeared in front of Ye Mingsheng alone.

After taking a deep look at the thin, smiling, gentle scholar in blue, who was sitting in front of him, Ye Mingsheng, who had been waiting for him all night, did not beat around the bush and took the initiative to get straight to the point:

"Master Liu, you came to see Mr. Ye so late at night. What you did must not be simple."

Liu Shilin didn't seem surprised by Ye Mingsheng's frank words. He nodded openly, then smiled and whispered, "If I'm right, Lord Ye should have finished his talk with Lord Wang Kangxin?"

Upon hearing Liu Shilin's words, Ye Mingsheng's heart exploded with a thunderbolt. Although he was extremely shocked, he still kept his composure on his face and said expressionlessly:
"Master Liu, what do you mean by that?"

Seeing that Ye Mingsheng was still hiding something, Liu Shilin shook his head slightly, then took out an iron token from his arms and presented it to Ye Mingsheng with both hands.

After taking the token and taking a closer look, Ye Mingsheng could no longer hide his surprise. His expression changed slightly. The token was engraved with three large, bright red characters: "Supervision Department"!

Different from the wooden waist badge that he got from Ma San before, which was also engraved with the words "Inspection Office", the token in front of him was much better in terms of specifications, style, material, etc. If Ye Mingsheng remembered correctly, only a captain of the fifth rank in the Inspection Office was qualified to hold such a token!

"Is this Wang Zhongsen, Lord Wang?"

After Ye Mingsheng returned the token to Liu Shilin, he pondered for a moment and said;
As the most important intelligence organization of the Great Zhou court, the Supervisory Department has personnel not only throughout the Great Zhou court, but also in other countries outside the Great Zhou. It mainly has one commander-in-chief of the third rank, five pacification envoys of the fourth rank, and sixteen captains of the fifth rank.

According to the division of labor, the person in charge of the palace area is Jin Yingquan, the pacification envoy of the Liaoyang Supervisory Office. Under Jin Yingquan, there is only one thousand households, Wang Zhongsen. So although Ye Mingsheng's words seem to be a question, they are actually an affirmation.

However, what Ye Mingsheng did not expect was that after hearing his words, Liu Shilin, who had taken back the token, smiled strangely, and then shook his head very simply under his gaze. Without waiting for Ye Mingsheng to ask again, he opened his mouth and said:
"Master Ye, if you don't mind, why not tell me, do you really intend to stop the Gongdu army in Ruishan County and prepare for Wang Kangxin's attack on the Luochuan Road granary?"

After hearing Liu Shilin describe Wang Kangxin's plan in such detail, Ye Mingsheng looked at Liu Shilin with some doubt in his eyes.

It was not surprising that Liu Shilin knew Wang Kangxin's plan since he was holding the token of the Supervisory Office. What really puzzled Ye Mingsheng was what was the purpose of Liu Shilin's words to him?
"What do you want to do?" After thinking for a while, Ye Mingsheng asked in a deep voice:
Liu Shilin smiled slightly, then came up to Ye Mingsheng and said mysteriously: "I came here specially to give Master Ye a great fortune!"

"So Young Master Liu is from the Zongheng School. I am so disrespectful!"

Ye Mingsheng did not seem to be very interested in Liu Shilin's words "huge wealth". Instead, he pretended to bow to Liu Shilin and said jokingly:

Liu Shilin, a scholar in blue, didn't care about Ye Mingsheng's ridicule that he was exaggerating. He said with a serious face: "I didn't say a single word of falsehood when I said that I was extremely rich. Lord Ye, don't you think that neither Ruishan County nor Luochuan Road Granary is as valuable as that place?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Ye Mingsheng, who had been studying the map of the palace capital in the past few days, immediately realized what place Liu Shilin was referring to. Seeing that Ye Mingsheng had reacted, Liu Shilin nodded at Ye Mingsheng with a smile on his face, indicating to Ye Mingsheng that he was not wrong.

"Master Liu, it's so late, go back and take a shower and go to bed!"

Ye Mingsheng said coldly. He felt that Liu Shilin was just making fun of him.

(End of this chapter)