Chapter 198 Unpredictable (Thanks to book friends Wang Shi Sui Yuan and Mo Shao Bao for the reward!)
Xun Ke's words completely shattered He Jingyun's fantasy and made him face reality!
However, for Xun Ke, it is a warning to take a step back and the world will be broader.

He Jingyun was really unwilling to accept this!
Although I know that Ye Mingsheng is not as incompetent and good at currying favor as the rumors say...

But He Jingyun still didn't accept Ye Mingsheng from the bottom of his heart.

He Jingyun had been dormant for many years and finally made a comeback. How could he be inferior to a person like Ye Mingsheng?

Although he was not convinced by Ye Mingsheng.

Although I don't like Xun Ke's advice.

But He Jingyun had to admit that there was something Xun Ke said that was absolutely right.

That means the right time, right place and right people, all are on Ye Mingsheng's side!

The difference in official position naturally made Ye Mingsheng superior to him.

Ye Mingsheng, who returned to Liaoyang, could be said to have taken advantage of the geographical location, while He Jingyun was in a foreign land, living under someone else's roof.

The gap in manpower was like an insurmountable chasm. Ye Mingsheng had already recruited thousands of militiamen, but he could only command a dozen or so people he brought with him.

He Jingyun could understand all of this. He had even thought about this when he followed Ye Mingsheng to Liaoyang!

But the only thing he couldn't understand was - where did Ye Mingsheng get so much money?
During the time that He Jingyun had been with Ye Mingsheng, he had witnessed with his own eyes how generous and magnanimous Ye Mingsheng was, and how he was never stingy with his rewards.

At first, He Jingyun was very disdainful of this. Through his relationship with the Ministry of War, he knew that Chen Dechang had given Ye Mingsheng 10,000 taels of silver as a fee for recruiting soldiers, so he thought that the reason why Ye Mingsheng was so generous was because he had withheld military pay and taken advantage of the shortfall...

But when the recruitment began, He Jingyun was dumbfounded. He never expected that Ye Mingsheng would not withhold military pay.

Even the recruitment conditions he proposed were better than those in the Zhenwu Army plan, and he kept his word and fulfilled all of them without exception!

This is also the important reason why Ye Mingsheng’s recruitment work was able to progress so smoothly and he was able to recruit thousands of people within a few days.

If it had not been investigated in advance, Ye Mingsheng was just born in an ordinary landlord family in Liaoyang.

He Jingyun really thought that Ye Mingsheng was the legitimate son of a noble family and had the support of the entire family, which was why he did not treat money as money!

He Jingyun, who had been in Fengshan County for such a long time and was curious about the source of Ye Mingsheng's money, also secretly investigated the Ye family where Ye Mingsheng was.

However, after some investigation and understanding the background of the Ye family, He Jingyun was very sure that Ye Mingsheng's money did not come from the Ye family.

Since it was not from withholding military pay, nor was it obtained from the family, then where did Ye Mingsheng get the seemingly endless supply of silver?
He Jingyun was puzzled when he realized this problem. He felt that Ye Mingsheng's face, which seemed to be always calm, seemed to be covered with a thick layer of fog, making it hard to understand...

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In the mountain village on Jiukong Cliff in Daxing Mountains. "Hong Min died just like that?"

Guo Zhanshan looked at the note passed by his informant down the mountain and said in disbelief:

"Dad, it seems that we have underestimated Ye Mingsheng..." Guo Zhiping, who was standing aside, said with a look of admiration:

When he sent the message to Ye Mingsheng before, he knew that with the help of his information, Hong Min would most likely not pose any threat to Ye Mingsheng.

But he never expected that Ye Mingsheng did it so brilliantly. The ambush not only killed Hong Min directly, but also ensured that none of the 500 bandits under Hong Min escaped.

This was really beyond Guo Zhiping's expectations!

Guo Zhiping and Hong Min, the ghost-headed knife, had fought each other over the years due to some grudges. Although he beat Hong Min badly and left him in a miserable state, he was never able to completely kill this scourge.

Therefore, when Guo Zhiping revealed the news to Ye Mingsheng this time, he had two considerations.

On the one hand, he wanted to show goodwill to Ye Mingsheng and pave the way for what was to come.

On the one hand, he also wanted to use Ye Mingsheng to severely damage Hong Min, and then he could take advantage of the opportunity to gain benefits, add insult to injury, catch Hong Min off guard, and then kill Hong Min and swallow up his power.

He never thought that Ye Mingsheng would do it so quickly and efficiently, leaving him no chance to take advantage of.

Throwing the note in his hand into the blazing brazier, Guo Zhanshan said self-deprecatingly: "I still wanted to help him, but it seems that he doesn't need our help at all..."

Guo Zhiping did not respond to his father's self-mockery. After a moment of silence, he looked at Guo Zhanshan and said:
"Ye Tie just sent a message to us, telling us the locations of several secret warehouses hidden by Hong Min, saying that this is a gift in return for our reporting of the news."

"What's in these warehouses?" As an old bandit, Guo Zhanshan became interested when he heard this and asked directly:
"Ye Tie didn't say anything about this, but I guess they were all weapons, food and other things. There wasn't much silver, otherwise they would have kept it for themselves!"

"From what I've observed, Ye Mingsheng has been recruiting soldiers and horses during this period. He has made a lot of money, and he will definitely not let go of the money." Guo Zhiping shook his head and analyzed:
Hearing his son's analysis, Guo Zhanshan nodded in agreement. After thinking for a while, the old bandit seemed to have realized something and immediately said:
"Zhiping, did Ye Tie make this decision on his own? Or was it Ye Mingsheng who instructed him?"

Guo Zhiping thought for a moment and said with certainty:
"It must be Ye Mingsheng who agreed. Ye Tie is very loyal to Ye Mingsheng. Without Ye Mingsheng's authorization, he would not dare to give these things to us privately."

"Since it was Ye Mingsheng who made the decision, then he did this to show his goodwill to us... In that case, could it be that he guessed what we were thinking?"

As Guo Zhanshan grew older, his mind was no longer as sharp as it used to be. With such an intelligent eldest son, he simply didn't bother to think about it anymore and directly handed the problem to Guo Zhiping.

"Dad, what we two are thinking about is in our village. Not many people know about it. It is impossible for Ye Mingsheng to know it. However, his action is certainly a gesture of goodwill to us!"

"Although I can't explain more, this at least shows that Ye Mingsheng is not that opposed to our identities!" Guo Zhiping said with certainty:
(End of this chapter)