Chapter 362 Gu Sansi’s senior brother!

Shoucheng, the study room in the general's mansion
Gu Sansi handed a letter of proclamation to Ye Mingsheng and said:

"Sir, this is a manifesto to fight against the enemy. What do you think of it?"

Upon hearing this, Ye Mingsheng took the manifesto and read it carefully. Although the struggle with the Zhenwu Army was mainly on the military level, Ye Mingsheng also had to argue for his rights in the political and moral aspects and could not allow the Zhenwu Army to attack him.

Whether in feudal society or modern society, one thing is important and that is - the teacher must have a legitimate reason!
Even if you are on Earth and you are envious of his oil and want to consolidate your own oil hegemony, you cannot use this reason to attack him directly. You also need to use the excuse of promoting free democracy and that he has laundry detergent to seize the moral high ground and start a war!

Ye Mingsheng is in a similar situation now. The wars he launched before were either to suppress bandits or foreign wars. As a member of the government army, he could easily gain the support of the people and had the upper hand morally. But this time is different. This time it is considered a civil war, and Ye Mingsheng, in a sense, has been at a disadvantage in public opinion.

Therefore, in order to change this situation and carve out a niche in the battlefield of public opinion, Ye Mingsheng, after extensive discussions with his advisers, specially asked Gu Sansi, the most talented writer under his command, to draft this anti-bandit manifesto against the Zhenwu Army...

The contents of the anti-traitor manifesto mainly consist of two parts:
The first part roughly means that your Zhenwu Army is harming the people, contacting with foreign tribes such as the Shiwei and Khitan, and is called an official army but is actually committing treason. Ye Mingsheng is a self-righteous man and is unwilling to associate with them. He breaks off his ties with them and raises an army to fight against them on behalf of the people.

In addition to these, another focus of the anti-traitor manifesto is that Ye Mingsheng, a native of Liaoyang, played the hometown card in the manifesto in order to win the widest support. The main point is that the people of Liaoyang should govern Liaoyang, and those who colluded with foreign races and harmed the people, such as Chen Dechang and Wang Muzhi, should be driven out of Liaoyang, so as to return a peaceful and harmonious paradise to the people.

Gu Sansi is worthy of being a Jinshi. His article is full of flowers and passionate. When you read it, you can't help but feel overwhelmed. You feel a common hatred for the enemy and wish to kill Chen Dechang and others on the spot...

Putting the manifesto on the table, Ye Mingsheng said admiringly:
"Mr. Gu has great literary talent. This article of yours is more powerful than a hundred thousand soldiers!"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng's praise, Gu Sansi did not feel any joy, but bowed to Ye Mingsheng and said:
"This anti-traitor manifesto was not written by me, but by one of my senior brothers. Please punish me for the crime of deception!"

Ye Mingsheng was a little surprised when he heard this. He didn't know what Gu Sansi meant by this. After thinking about it quickly, he felt that Gu Sansi must have his own intentions, so he said:
"Mr. Gu, if you have anything to say, just tell me!"

Seeing that Ye Mingsheng had made his point clear, Gu Sansi bowed again and said:
"I have a senior brother who wants to seek refuge with you, sir. I wonder if you are willing to accept him..."

Seeing Gu Sansi like this, Ye Mingsheng was even more surprised. He, Ye, was a child of a poor family. Unlike those children of aristocratic families, he had a family to support him and a family reputation to endorse him, which allowed those talented people to join him. Therefore, the lack of talent was indeed a major shortcoming of Ye Mingsheng's Fengzhou Army, a "startup company". Ye Mingsheng had only Gu Sansi as his counselor until now. Although Ye Mingsheng had a high vision, the main reason was that those talented people were unwilling to join him.

As Ye Mingsheng's chief strategist, Gu Sansi naturally knew Ye Mingsheng's needs in this regard. And if someone can be from the same school as Gu Sansi and be recommended by Gu Sansi, then this person must be a man of real talent and ability, and a great man!

Ye Mingsheng would definitely be eager to recruit talents like this. If they really want to join him, Ye Mingsheng is not an arrogant person. He can be courteous and humble. If it really doesn't work, he can still discuss it by visiting them three times...
So in such a situation, Gu Sansi's behavior was a little too strange, as if he was begging Ye Mingsheng to accept his senior brother!
As the saying goes, when something is abnormal, there must be something wrong. Could it be that there is something wrong with senior brother Gu Sansi?
Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng felt that it would be better to be cautious and not make any promises to Gu Sansi first, and immediately asked:

"Mr. Gu, who is this senior brother of yours?"

Seeing Ye Mingsheng being so cautious, Gu Sansi smiled bitterly and said earnestly:
"You have also met this senior brother of mine. He is the former Fengshan County Magistrate Ma Runchuan!"

Hearing the name Ma Runchuan, Ye Mingsheng's face darkened. Seeing this, Gu Sansi immediately knelt on the ground and begged Ye Mingsheng:
"I am able to serve you and put my life's learning to use thanks to the recommendation of Senior Brother Ma! I hope you can give Senior Brother Ma a chance for this favor!"

Seeing Gu Sansi kneeling down, Ye Mingsheng immediately helped his most important adviser up and said in a deep voice:
"Think twice, you may not know that your Senior Brother Ma has lofty ambitions and aspirations!"

"I'm afraid that this small temple of Ye's Fengzhou Army can't accommodate this huge Buddha!"

When Ye Mingsheng heard that the person recommended by Gu Sansi was Ma Runchuan, he understood why Gu Sansi did this...

Ma Runchuan was the first civil servant that Ye Mingsheng wanted to recruit when he was still in Fengshan County and had not yet become the general of Fengzhou!
At that time, Ye Mingsheng took a fancy to Ma Runchuan's talent and promised him that as long as he followed him, he could entrust all the political affairs of Fengzhou to him!
But later, Ma Runchuan felt that Ye Mingsheng was too bold and it was too risky to follow Ye Mingsheng, so he politely declined Ye Mingsheng and recommended Gu Sansi to Ye Mingsheng. Although Ye Mingsheng did not recruit Ma Runchuan under his command, he had a good impression of Ma Runchuan and had been secretly observing Ma Runchuan's recent situation, hoping to have a chance to take him down in the future.

Later, at the beginning of this year, when Ye Mingsheng took over Posuo Prefecture, because the official system of Posuo Prefecture was basically corrupt, at least half of the officials were hopeless, so while cleaning up these official parasites, it was also necessary to recruit some qualified officials from outside to govern Posuo Prefecture and give the people peace.

Ma Runchuan was also one of Ye Mingsheng's targets, but Ma Runchuan still declined Ye Mingsheng's invitation. Although Ye Mingsheng felt sorry for declining twice, he could also understand Ma Runchuan's choice.

(End of this chapter)