Chapter 339 Reactions from all parties! (Thanks to the book friend Mu Ran Fei Liu Shang for the reward!)
In Guangning Prefecture, in the Cui family ancestral hall, more than a dozen core figures of the Cui family were seated.

Cui Shao, who was sitting in the main seat, glanced at the people below. Seeing that most people had arrived, he nodded slightly and said calmly:

"Cui Guang, please tell everyone about the situation outside!"

After hearing Cui Shao's instructions, Cui Guang, who was sitting last among the crowd, stood up from his chair and began to speak:
"According to the information we received earlier, Song Wenhui originally planned to issue a manifesto to suppress the bandits today, listing the eight major crimes of the Zhenwu Army, including forced conscription of civilian workers, bullying the people, and colluding with bandits, and then sending troops to wipe out the Zhenwu Army."

""However, because Ji Qiwei was defeated by Zhen Sanshan in Posuo Prefecture, Song Wenhui's military advantage has been reduced a lot, so Song Wenhui can only delay the attack time now."

“As for the Zhenwu Army, it’s very peaceful now. Under the command of Wang Muzhi, the 40,000-strong army relies on Fu’an County and other cities and hills for defense. Judging from the information reported by the spies, Wang Muzhi’s deployment can be said to be watertight. Even if an army of 100,000 comes to attack, they can at least hold out for half a month…”

Cui Guang paused for a moment, then continued with some complexity:
"The situation is the most complicated right now, and the biggest changes are happening in Posuo Mansion!"

Hearing what Cui Guang said, everyone in the ancestral hall looked at him with a hint of doubt and curiosity. They all knew the news that Zhen Sanshan forced Ji Qiwei to retreat. Logically speaking, Ji Qiwei, who had suffered heavy losses, must have led his troops to withdraw. The situation in Posuo Mansion could be said to be the clearest, so why did it become the most complicated in Cui Guang's mouth?

Feeling everyone's gaze, Cui Guang didn't keep the secret any longer and said directly:
"Ye Mingsheng has coveted Posuo Mansion for a long time. He joined forces with Jiang Chong, the artillery chief who betrayed Zhen Sanshan, to act together. Three days ago, Ye Mingsheng led 10,000 Fengzhou troops to attack Lu Zhan'ao's troops under Zhen Sanshan!"

"Lu Zhan'ao and his men were beaten to pieces by the Fengzhou army, suffering heavy losses and only a few thousand remnants left. Jiang Chong also attacked Baihu Mountain and almost killed Zhen Sanshan directly."

"In the past two days, after a short rest, the Fengzhou Army has advanced all the way to the foot of White Tiger Mountain. Ye Mingsheng also ate up Jiang Chong's troops. Now the total number of troops under his command is estimated to be nearly 20,000!"

As soon as this news came out, it caused an explosive sensation in the Cui family ancestral hall. All the bigwigs of the Cui family were talking about it in disbelief.

"This is impossible! Ji Qiwei was known as the best general in Liaoyang. He led 30,000 troops to clear out Zhen Sanshan, but he was beaten into a terrible state. How could Ye Mingsheng, a kid who hasn't even grown all his hair yet, be so powerful!"

"That's right! That's right! Lu Zhan'ao has 40,000 men, while Ye Mingsheng only has 10,000 men, and they are in Posuo Mansion. Cui Guang, who has deceived you?"

"Ye Mingsheng had some skills in wiping out Wang Laogun last time! But Wang Laogun is far superior to Zhen Sanshan. With the few men under Ye Mingsheng, he can only encircle Baihu Mountain if the sun rises from the west!"

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Listening to the discussions of people around him, Cui Guang gave a bitter smile, but he was not surprised!
When he first got the news from his spies, he thought it was fake news, just like everyone else now. How could Ye Mingsheng possibly defeat Zhen Sanshan, who had been entrenched in Liaoyang for decades?
But when several other information channels under his command also reported the news at the same time, he realized that this seemingly impossible thing had actually happened!
Ye Mingsheng not only defeated Zhen Sanshan, but also surrounded Baihu Mountain. It is no exaggeration to describe the situation Zhen Sanshan is facing now as precarious!
Cui Guang bowed to his brothers and uncles around him and said with a wry smile:

"This news will spread throughout Liaoyang in the next few days. If you don't believe it now, you can verify its authenticity in a few days!"

Although they still couldn't believe the news, after seeing Cui Guangdu say this, some people in the ancestral hall began to realize that the news might be true...

For a moment, the entire ancestral hall fell into silence, and after a moment, everyone's eyes were all focused on Cui Shao.

As the head of the family, Cui Shao enjoys high prestige in the family. He is the backbone of the entire Cui family and the most indispensable person in the family. Now is the time when the head of the family is needed to stand up and make decisions to lead the direction of the family!
Facing everyone's gaze, Cui Shao said calmly:
"It's true! The government has also received the news. Ye Mingsheng defeated Zhensanshan and annihilated tens of thousands of enemies. This big bandit leader now has only a few thousand remnants left to guard Baihu Mountain!"

The matter was confirmed by Cui Shao, and no one in the ancestral hall questioned the authenticity of the matter. Those who had just sworn and mocked him suddenly felt their faces burning. They all closed their mouths in embarrassment, wishing they could find a crack in the ground to crawl into...

Cui Zibo, who was sitting at the end of the seat at this time, looked at the admiring expressions of his father and uncles around him, and his heart was filled with irrepressible envy and jealousy, as well as a hint of confusion.

As a child of an aristocratic family and the future successor of the Cui family, Cui Zibo has his own pride deep in his heart. From childhood to adulthood, he has always been self-disciplined, studied hard, and strictly demanded of himself, just hoping to gain the recognition and praise of his father Cui Shao.

However, Cui Shao either turned a blind eye to his efforts or nodded lightly. Only a few times would he say "not bad"

However, the things that he had gone through so much trouble to get were easily available to Ye Mingsheng. Cui Zibo clearly remembered that every time Cui Shao mentioned Ye Mingsheng, there was such admiration in his eyes, as if Ye Mingsheng was his biological son!
Cui Zibo asked himself that he was definitely not a narrow-minded person. If it were just these, he could endure it!
But what he couldn't accept was that the dream lover he had been thinking about since childhood was about to fall into Ye Mingsheng's arms, and to enjoy the pleasure of this man of humble origin...

Although the last conversation with Cui Shao gave Cui Zibo a new understanding of Ye Mingsheng and An Miaoyi, he didn't care about it.

Before today, he still stubbornly believed that he, Cui Zibo, just didn't have the opportunity. If he was in Ye Mingsheng's position, he could definitely do better than Ye Mingsheng.

However, now that he learned that even the big bandit leader Zhen Sanshan, who was beyond the reach of Song Wenhui, was defeated by Ye Mingsheng, Cui Zibo couldn't help but ask himself, can he defeat Zhen Sanshan with only 10,000 soldiers?
Although he was reluctant to admit it, the remaining rationality in Cui Zibo's heart told him that he could not do this...

After realizing that he might not be as good as Ye Mingsheng, Cui Zibo's inner defenses were on the verge of collapse, and he looked dispirited and dazed, as if he had lost his spirit!
Cui Shao did not notice his son's inner thoughts at this time. He instructed everyone:
"Prepare 10,000 taels of silver and 50,000 dan of grain, and send them to Fengzhou quietly in the next few days!"

"Since Ye Mingsheng has demonstrated his strength, we should also show our strength. If we take over Zhensan Mountain, Ye Mingsheng will be qualified to cooperate with our Cui family!"

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In the city of Changqing Prefecture, Shen Jianzhong and Chen Dechang both fell into silence as they looked at the intelligence just delivered by the spies.

After a moment, the two looked at each other, and both saw the regret in each other's eyes. "Damn it! How come all the good things are caught up by this wolf cub Ye Mingsheng?"

Chen Dechang cursed indignantly. As an old warrior who had fought on the battlefield for decades, he could naturally see that the reason why Ye Mingsheng was able to achieve such a great victory so quickly this time was largely because he took advantage of the conflict between the snipe and the clam and chose the right time to strike.

If you act one day earlier or one day later, you won’t get such good results...

Thinking of how he had personally promoted Ye Mingsheng in Luoan and sent him so much money, food and supplies, Chen Dechang couldn't help but say with a melancholy look:

"Master Shen, do you think we are raising a tiger to cause trouble?"

Shen Jianzhong hesitated for a moment after hearing this, but finally nodded and acknowledged the fact.

Seeing Chen Dechang's somewhat lonely expression, Shen Jianzhong couldn't help but comfort him:
"Lord Chen, things have developed to this point. Ye Mingsheng has indeed become a disaster, but as long as we overcome this difficulty, we will have the opportunity to get rid of Ye Mingsheng ourselves!"

Hearing what Shen Jianzhong said, Chen Dechang's expression suddenly became better, and he asked Shen Jianzhong:

"How are your arrangements going?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Jianzhong said, "Everything is ready except for the east wind. Everything is going according to plan. As long as Song Wenhui dares to take action, he will never come back!"

Seeing Shen Jianzhong so confident, Chen Dechang was also infected by him, and his mood gradually eased. After thinking about it, he still said with some concern:

“Sir Shen, dealing with Song Wenhui is our top priority right now, but this wolf cub Ye Mingsheng is developing too fast. If we let him continue to develop like this, it will be difficult for us to deal with him even if we kill Song Wenhui. What’s more, there is still an ambiguous relationship between him and the Cui family…”

"So, Mr. Shen, you in the Supervisory Department must think of a way to contain Ye Mingsheng. You can't let him continue to grow wildly like this."

Upon hearing this, Shen Jianzhong's expression became solemn and he said in a deep voice:
"I understand your instructions, Lord. I will make arrangements soon!"

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Ye Mingsheng, who didn't know at the moment that he had been targeted, was now standing at the foot of Baihu Mountain, looking at the huge monster in front of him.

Compared with famous mountains like Mount Tai, Baihu Mountain is just a small hill at best...

However, more than 70% of Liaoyang's area is plains, so you can pick the tallest man among the short ones and the general among the lame ones. Therefore, Baihu Mountain is considered a high mountain in the entire Liaoyang area!

Although the Fengzhou Army had fought many battles, big and small, since it was founded by Ye Mingsheng, it had never fought a siege battle. Therefore, Ye Mingsheng had to study carefully how to capture Baihu Mountain.

He had received the news, and just as he thought, after Ji Qiwei suffered a crushing defeat, Song Wenhui had ordered Ji Qiwei to be withdrawn in order to maintain his superior force over the Zhenwu Army. Sun Dahai's gang of bandits also realized that they could not gain any benefits, so they withdrew from Posa Mansion and returned to their old nest, Lelang Mansion.

This means that the only remaining military forces in Posuo Prefecture are Ye Mingsheng’s Fengzhou Army and the bandit forces in Zhen Sanshan!

Therefore, now that he has taken over Baihu Mountain and killed the three mountain guards inside, Ye Mingsheng has completed the feat of swallowing up everything. He has become the master of Posa Prefecture and occupied one of the six prefectures in Liaoyang...

Hearing the familiar footsteps behind him, Ye Mingsheng did not turn around, but asked directly:
"How are things going?"

"It has been done. Only one thousand men were left for Jiang Chong, and another thousand were added from the surrendered bandits under Zhen Sanshan. As for the cavalry under his command, they have all been added to the various divisions!" Ye Tie replied:

Although Jiang Chong was forced to surrender under the threat of Ye Mingsheng, he hoped that Ye Mingsheng could retain his troops. However, Ye Mingsheng, who had long known that he had rebellious intentions, would never give him this opportunity.

After recruiting Jiang Chong to surrender, Ye Mingsheng split and reorganized his subordinates. The generals under his command were drooling over Jiang Chong's cavalry...

Liaoyang is mostly plains, and under such terrain conditions, the combat effectiveness of cavalry is far superior to that of infantry. Therefore, every general is eager to have a cavalry unit under his command, and everyone accepts all cavalry, the more the better!

Because there were few war horses, in order to concentrate his forces to accomplish great things and use the best horses where they are needed most, Ye Mingsheng, except for a few senior generals under his command who were able to have a group of mounts for transportation, all other war horses were concentrated in Guo Zhiping's cavalry battalion.

Under Ye Mingsheng's command, although the generals were envious of Guo Zhiping's cavalry troops, they had no choice but to drool in secret.

When Jiang Chong was forced to land this time, almost all the generals found Ye Mingsheng, hoping that Ye Mingsheng could distribute the surrendered cavalry to everyone so that everyone could have a cavalry unit under their command. Ye Mingsheng naturally responded to everyone's idea and fulfilled everyone's wish.

(End of this chapter)