Chapter 340 Let Dad get some sleep!
Jiang Chong was naturally furious that Ye Mingsheng split up and transferred his trusted subordinates away and brought in other surrendered bandits to fill the positions for him, but as the saying goes, when you live under someone's roof, you have to bow your head.

Under the threat of death, although Jiang Chong was filled with anger, he had to silently accept Ye Mingsheng's orders and dared not complain.

To be honest, Ye Mingsheng didn't want to keep Jiang Chong. This man was fickle and would be a nuisance if he stayed!

However, if Ye Mingsheng wants to stabilize the morale of the army and occupy the entire Posuo Mansion, he needs to show his magnanimity and use Jiang Chong to play the role of buying a horse with a lot of gold...

Since defeating Lu Zhan'ao's troops and obtaining a large amount of money and food, the logistics support problem that had been plaguing Ye Mingsheng has been alleviated to a great extent, which also allows Ye Mingsheng to expand his army with all his might.

In order to enhance the combat effectiveness of his subordinates, Ye Mingsheng selected more than 15,000 surrendered bandits and absorbed about 5,000 of them who could be reformed.

Due to the tight time and heavy tasks, Ye Mingsheng had no time to give these people rigorous training. He could only use a stick and a carrot to teach them a simple lesson, establish the concept of military rules and discipline in their minds, and make them realize that if they followed him, General Ye, obediently, they would get money and meat to eat, but if they disobeyed the military rules and discipline and resisted him, General Ye, they would only lose their heads.

Although the people have been selected and added to the various camps under his command, judging from the reactions of the military officers of various departments, these bandits who have been absorbed into the Fengzhou Army are generally still very uneasy...

They were afraid that Ye Mingsheng was only using them as a stopgap measure now, and that after Ye Mingsheng had used them up, he would eventually hold them accountable.

As the commander of the troops, Ye Mingsheng naturally knew that in such a situation where the morale of the troops was unstable and they were worried, it would be difficult for these recruited bandits to exert their full combat effectiveness. At the same time, there was still the tough nut to crack in Baihu Mountain, so Ye Mingsheng and his men were united and cooperated sincerely.

Therefore, Ye Mingsheng felt it necessary to set an example for these people to reassure them and make them work honestly for him.

Secondly, considering the long-term, as the prefecture with the most serious banditry among the six prefectures in Liaoyang, even if Ye Mingsheng wiped out the largest bandit group in Zhen Sanshan, there would still be various small gangs and petty thieves in the counties and towns under Posu Prefecture. Although these people did not pose any threat to Ye Mingsheng's rule, they were still annoying even if a toad lying on the shoe surface did not bite.

In order to completely control Posuo Mansion, Ye Mingsheng will definitely not let go of these stragglers, and it will be imperative to carry out a thorough cleanup of Posuo Mansion at that time...
In order to reduce the workload and to eliminate these bandits more quickly, Ye Mingsheng planned to use a two-pronged approach of elimination and recruitment. In order to make the recruitment more efficient and more effective, the best way is to let these bandits see an example!
As for this typical example that can calm people's hearts now and serve as a model for recruiting other bandits in the future, Ye Mingsheng thought about it and still felt that Jiang Chong was the most suitable candidate for his subordinates at present.

Although Guo Zhiping, the commander of the cavalry battalion who was more trusted and reliable by Ye Mingsheng, was also a bandit who accepted the amnesty, Guo Zhiping was just a small gang when the green forest was at its peak. He did not have a great reputation and influence in the green forest. Using him for propaganda would not achieve the effect that Ye Mingsheng wanted.

As the chief of the Liaoyang Green Forest, Zhen Sanshan, and the former top general under his command, Jiang Chong has a great reputation in Posa Prefecture and even in the entire Liaoyang Green Forest.

If Ye Mingsheng could make good use of his reputation and let other bandits see that he would treat them well after surrendering, he would naturally win people's hearts and the resistance to recruiting him would naturally be much smaller.

This is the biggest reason why, although Ye Mingsheng disliked Jiang Chong, he still spared his life and gave him two thousand soldiers and horses, and appointed him a seventh-rank commander...

After absorbing the 3,000 surrendered bandits under Jiang Chong, Ye Mingsheng, who had only 10,000 men when he went to war, now has a force of nearly 20,000 men. While other men's numbers decrease as the battle goes on, Ye Mingsheng's numbers increase as the battle goes on.

The troops have been stationed at the foot of Baihu Mountain these days, but they have never attacked the mountain. On the one hand, Ye Mingsheng is discussing ways to attack the mountain with his generals, and on the other hand, he is integrating the troops in his hands and adjusting his deployment.

Just when Ye Mingsheng was ready to attack the mountain, the situation changed. A bandit who claimed to be Lu Zhan'ao's confidant quietly ran down from Baihu Mountain and came to the military camp, saying that he came to meet Ye Mingsheng on behalf of Lu Zhan'ao.

Since the person is here, there is no harm in meeting him. However, in order to prevent the other party from becoming desperate and resorting to despicable means to assassinate, Ye Dong and other personal soldiers checked the bandit from head to toe. After making sure that there was no problem, they brought him into Ye Mingsheng's central military tent.

This young man with a medium build and a round face bowed down to Ye Mingsheng when he saw him in the tent.

"I, Liu Qiang, greet General Ye!"

Seeing that the young man recognized him at a glance, Ye Mingsheng asked with some surprise:

"you know me?"

"I used to do business in Fengzhou City and had the honor of meeting you, sir. Your majestic appearance is firmly engraved in my mind..." Liu Qiang said to Ye Mingsheng in a very flattering manner.

Ye Mingsheng was somewhat noncommittal when he heard this. Why would a bandit go to Fengzhou to do business?

Most likely he was selling stolen goods, or gathering information or something like that, but he didn't care about these details anymore. The most important thing was whether the other party was Lu Zhan'ao's man?

If so, what was Lu Zhan'ao's idea in sending someone to contact me at this time?
If not, what kind of conspiracy does the other party have?
After taking a closer look at Liu Qiang, Ye Mingsheng asked calmly:

"Are you Lu Zhan'ao's man?"

"Yes, Master Lu is my brother-in-law, and my sister is his fifth concubine!" Liu Qiang nodded and said:
"Master Lu wrote a personal letter to the general!"

After saying that, he took out a letter from his arms and was about to hand it to Ye Mingsheng with both hands. However, just as he took a step towards Ye Mingsheng, Ye Dong snorted coldly and took the letter from his hand. After confirming that there was no poison on it, he handed it to Ye Mingsheng with confidence.

After opening the envelope, Ye Mingsheng glanced at the contents on the letter. In the letter, Lu Zhan'ao was very humble, saying that he was from a poor family and had to join the outlaws. Now he has come to his senses and wants to start a new life. He hopes Ye Mingsheng can give him a chance to reform.

In addition, Lu Zhan'ao also mentioned that there are only about 5,000 soldiers on Baihu Mountain, of which 3,000 are under his command. Therefore, as long as Ye Mingsheng accepts his surrender, he is willing to take Baihu Mountain and offer it to Ye Mingsheng, and serve Ye Mingsheng at his whim...

In addition to the content of the letter, Ye Mingsheng also paid close attention to the handwriting of the letter, which was not very nice.

However, it is straight and straight, which shows that the person who wrote this letter should not have a very high cultural level, but he must have been very serious when writing this letter, which is consistent with Lu Zhan'ao's identity as a bandit and his mood at the time.

Although Ye Mingsheng felt that this letter was most likely written by Lu Zhan'ao himself, as Liu Qiang said, Ye Mingsheng did not easily believe what the other party said.

After all, a handwritten letter alone cannot tell whether the other party is really willing to surrender.

Lu Zhan'ao may have written this letter in order to surrender, or he may have wanted to lure Ye Mingsheng and teach him a lesson!
The ancients said it well, ninety of the hundred steps are half. In short, the closer it is to this critical moment of victory, the more Ye Mingsheng dares not to be careless.

At this time, the other party will definitely resort to all kinds of insidious and despicable means in order to survive. Ye Mingsheng would rather spend more time at this time to ensure that he can win steadily...
"I heard that your brother-in-law is the trusted general of Zhen Sanshan!" Looking at Liu Qiang, Ye Mingsheng said meaningfully:

Feeling the meaning behind Ye Mingsheng's words, Liu Qiang immediately explained:

"Tens of thousands of troops were driven into flight by you, my lord. Now your army is surrounding the mountain, and there are only a few thousand troops in Baihu Mountain. If they want to resist, it is undoubtedly a mantis trying to stop a chariot, and they will only seek their own death!"

"As the old saying goes, a man who knows the current situation is a hero. Although my master Lu is grateful for Zhen Sanshan's promotion, he has elderly parents and young children to take care of, as well as a large family. So he doesn't want to fight to the end and be buried with Zhen Sanshan!" Ye Mingsheng nodded when he heard this, and then said with a smile:

"Your reasons are good, but I think there is more to it than that. Isn't Lu Zhan'ao famous for his loyalty to Zhen Sanshan? Now he writes me a letter of surrender. What must have happened on Baihu Mountain?"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng's words, Liu Qiang was suddenly startled. Then he felt Ye Mingsheng's two sharp gazes like an eagle, as if looking directly into his heart, leaving him with nowhere to hide his thoughts!

Before saying this, Ye Mingsheng was just guessing, but after seeing Liu Qiang's expression, Ye Mingsheng knew that he guessed right!
Under Ye Mingsheng's gaze, Liu Qiang's expression changed several times, and finally he smiled bitterly and said:
"Lord Ye has a sharp eye. I am in awe! Just as you guessed, something unexpected did happen on Baihu Mountain...Zhen Sanshan is dying..."

As soon as these words came out, Ye Mingsheng narrowed his eyes and thought quickly in his mind. At this time, Liu Qiang continued to explain:
"When Zhen Sanshan was young, he fought in Liaoyang and suffered many injuries. Now that he is old, his health has not been very good. In addition, Zhen Sanshan is a heavy smoker and cannot live without a pipe. In recent years, he has been using drugs to support himself."

"His health has been deteriorating for a few days, but Zhen Sanshan has been blocking the news of his health, so everyone doesn't know much about the specific situation."

"However, this time, when Jiang Chong launched a surprise attack on the mountain, Zhen Sanshan went to Sandakou in person to boost morale, but his body could not hold up. Many people saw him vomiting blood and needing help to walk. It seemed that he didn't have much time left!"

“In addition, Zhen Sanshan also found his disabled son Zheng Xiaolin. He must have wanted to help Zheng Xiaolin take the throne before he died. So our Master Lu…”

Although Liu Qiang didn't say everything, Ye Mingsheng understood Lu Zhan'ao's thoughts.

This old fellow might have thought before that Zhen Sanshan could pass the position to him, but now seeing that there was no hope of succession and that his own army was at the gates of Baihu Mountain and in imminent danger, he was so angry that he simply surrendered to me.

Or maybe it was because Zhen Sanshan was there before, Lu Zhan'ao felt that the people on the mountain were united and could stop him together, but now that Zhen Sanshan was dead, the people on the mountain would lose their morale and would not be able to stop his army, so they all sought their own way to survive.

No matter which of the two options Lu Zhan'ao had in mind, or if he had some other plans, at least from the current perspective, he had sufficient reasons to surrender!

Ye Mingsheng didn’t find anything wrong from Liu Qiang’s words...

And if Lu Zhan'ao's surrender was true, and they could take over Baihu Mountain without fighting, that would be a huge thing for Ye Mingsheng!

Baihu Mountain itself is just an ordinary hill and has no value to Ye Mingsheng. The reason why Ye Mingsheng insisted on attacking Baihu Mountain was largely because he wanted to take the money and grain accumulated by Zhen Sanshan for decades for himself!
Compared to this reason, wiping out the gang of bandits in Zhen Sanshan is secondary!

Therefore, a hidden danger arises here. Once the bandits in the mountains become desperate and burn all the accumulated money and grain, Ye Mingsheng will be in tears and this trip will be in vain.

Therefore, Ye Mingsheng certainly hopes to take down Baihu Mountain without bloodshed and ensure that the money and food can be obtained safely...

After a moment of hesitation, Ye Mingsheng, who had an idea in mind, smiled and said to Liu Qiang:

"Since Lu Zhan'ao is willing to give up his evil ways, the Fengzhou Army is also willing to open its doors and arms to him. Go back and tell Lu Zhan'ao that as long as he surrenders Baihu Mountain, I can promise the safety of his and his subordinates' lives and property!"

"All the troops under his command will be organized into a camp of Fengzhou Army, and Lu Zhan'ao himself can serve as the seventh-rank commander of Fengzhou Army!"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng's promise, Liu Qiang smiled and bowed to Ye Mingsheng and said:
"With your words, Master Lu can rest assured. Please give us three days. After three days, we will hand over White Tiger Mountain to you intact!"

"Very good! It's a deal then!" Ye Mingsheng nodded with a smile.

It will take some time for the Fengzhou army to attack the mountain. There is no need to worry about the chaos on Baihu Mountain in three days. It would be best if Lu Zhan'ao could hand over Baihu Mountain as agreed by then. If the Fengzhou army is not ready, they can do it themselves!

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In a heavily guarded room on Baihu Mountain.

Zhen Sanshan, who looked very energetic and had a rosy face, said to Zheng Xiaolin in front of him with some regret and apology:

"I thought I had made sufficient preparations so that you could take over with peace of mind. However, I never expected that man's plans are always inferior to God's plans..."

"We chased away Jiang Chong and beat Ji Qiwei, but we didn't expect to attract that wolf cub Ye Mingsheng!"

"Perhaps I should have listened to Jiang Chong and taken advantage of Ye Mingsheng's lack of foothold in Fengzhou to kill him in one fell swoop!"

"If I had really done that at the time, there wouldn't be an enemy at the gates right now. I really regret it now!"

"Xiao Lin, I'm sorry for you!"

Feeling the apology in his father's words, the usually strong Zheng Xiaolin couldn't help but feel a lump in his throat. He suppressed the grief in his heart and forced a smile on his face and said:
"It's no big deal. Father, didn't you always say that we should fight against enemies with our generals and block the floods with earth? Although Ye Mingsheng is coming with great force this time, Baihu Mountain will definitely be safe and sound!"

Hearing Zheng Xiaolin's consolation, Zhen Sanshan nodded slightly, but after hesitating for a moment, he couldn't help but said:
"Xiao Lin, if it really comes to the end when there is nothing you can do, don't fight stubbornly. It's not shameful for us bandits to surrender when we can't defeat the government troops. After all, it's better to live a miserable life than to die..."

"The impoverished and weak Fengzhou has been completely transformed and full of vitality in just half a year under the leadership of Ye Mingsheng. This is enough to show how powerful Ye Mingsheng is!"

"Although I have never seen Ye Mingsheng in person, I have heard that he is a man of great ambitions. I think he is broad-minded and tolerant! If you give him the money, food, and troops, he will not kill us all!"

Seeing that Zhen Sanshan had reached such a point and was still trying his best to plan for himself, Zheng Xiaolin, even though he was strong, couldn't help but feel sad and burst into tears.

Although Zhen Sanshan looked good at this moment and was much better than a few days ago, Zheng Xiaolin, who was proficient in medical skills, could see clearly that Zhen Sanshan was already at the end of his life and his current complexion was just a last gasp. If nothing unexpected happened, Zhen Sanshan would not survive the night...

Looking at Zheng Xiaolin with tears streaming down his face, Zhen Sanshan smiled, patted the back of Zheng Xiaolin's hand, and said lightly:

"Let Dad get some sleep."

"Yeah!" Zheng Xiaolin, who was guarding Zhen Sanshan's bedside, wiped his tears. He wanted to see his father off for the last time tonight.

An hour later, Zhen Sanshan passed away in his sleep. The hero who had dominated Liaoyang for decades fell like this...

Zheng Xiaolin did not make public the death of Zhen Sanshan and kept the news secret in the yard. He knew very well that although he was the son of Zhen Sanshan, a disabled man like him could not suppress those fierce villains on the mountain. If the news of his father's death leaked out, he would be torn to pieces by these people immediately!
(End of this chapter)