Chapter 375: Speed ​​of Life and Death! (Thanks to book friend 28539 for the reward!)
From a military perspective, Wang Muzhi's plan to attack Guangning Prefecture was indeed a brilliant move!
This move of his can be said to have forced Ye Mingsheng to give up the strategy of fortifying the city and fighting a war of attrition that he had originally formulated. However, this undoubtedly also exposed Wang Muzhi's political immaturity!
If the alliance between Fengzhou Bureau and Cui family came together because of a common enemy, then the union between Zhenwu Army and Liaoyang local faction can be said to be just a product of interests. The degree of mutual trust and political foundation between the two sides are not very solid.

In fact, after everyone realized that the Zhenwu Army did not really want to stabilize Liaoyang, but only wanted to gather troops in Liaoyang and enter the pass to support the court, and that they did not hesitate to introduce those wolf-like and ferocious foreign races for this purpose, a rift had already appeared between the Liaoyang local faction and the Zhenwu Army.

The reason why the two sides can still maintain superficial affection is simply because everyone believes that the Zhenwu Army will be the final winner.

Now the plan that Wang Muzhi has put forward can easily make the Liaoyang local faction realize that the imperial guards faction like Wang Muzhi does not care about their interests at all, they only care about completing their own tasks.

After realizing this, the Liaoyang local faction in the Zhenwu Army would naturally feel dissatisfied with the imperial guards faction headed by Wang Muzhi.

Therefore, the plan proposed by Wang Muzhi can be said to have weakened the mutual trust between the two sides and intensified the division and confrontation within the Zhenwu Army at a time when the two factions should have united, eased conflicts, and cooperated sincerely to fight against the Fengzhou Army.

And this is undoubtedly a point that Ye Mingsheng can take advantage of. In this feudal society, local sentiments are still very popular. Therefore, after Ye Mingsheng played the local card, Ye Mingsheng gained widespread support and sympathy in Liaoyang. All walks of life in society are supporting Ye Mingsheng's Fengzhou Army in their own way...
Among them were some Liaoyang local forces within the Zhenwu Army. A large number of them defected to the Liaoyang Army after its defeat. Because they were surrendered soldiers and generals, they were not taken seriously within the Zhenwu Army. Some of them were even humiliated and discriminated against by the generals of the Imperial Guards. Therefore, they were very conflicted and restless in their hearts.

They were very dissatisfied with the Imperial Guards and wanted to rebel, but they were also worried that the Fengzhou Army was no match for the Zhenwu Army. In the end, they chose the wrong side and were liquidated.

Although Ye Mingsheng despised these people's fence-sitters and swaying behavior, in order to weaken the fighting spirit within the Zhenwu Army, Ye Mingsheng was still proactive and ordered the Coordination Office to organize personnel to contact and lobby the Liaoyang locals in the Zhenwu Army...
The reason why the Coordination Office was able to know about this supposedly top-secret plan that Wang Muzhi brought out at the core meeting of the Zhenwu Army was that it actually played a role in contacting and lobbying these Liaoyang local factions. And Wang Muzhi's plan was undoubtedly a great assist for the Fengzhou Army's attempt to instigate the Liaoyang local faction to rebel!

According to the feedback from the Coordination Office, the local generals of the Zhenwu Army who were originally hesitant about the rebellion, after Wang Muzhi came up with this plan, all felt betrayed and became furious. They all accelerated the negotiations with the Fengzhou Army and began to ask what price Ye Mingsheng would offer for their surrender!

After learning about this situation, Ye Mingsheng's initial worries about Wang Muzhi's plan have undergone a drastic change. He has even begun to expect Wang Muzhi to implement his plan regardless of opposition.

In that case, Ye could instigate most of the Liaoyang locals in the Zhenwu Army to rebel, and take over Dongning and Changqing prefectures without fighting. By that time, the Fengzhou Army would have been a losing cause, and Wang Muzhi would be a lost dog. It would only be a matter of time to wipe him out...
Yuan Song, who didn't know what Ye Mingsheng was thinking, gradually came up with an idea after thinking about it for a while, and reported to Ye Mingsheng:

"Reporting to the general, if the Zhenwu Army really intends to concentrate its forces to attack Guangning Prefecture, then I think our Fengzhou Army should change its strategy of holding out!"

"We will attack Dongning Prefecture from Lelang. Yutai County is less than 300 miles away from Dongning City, and there are no strong cities or natural defenses along the way. As long as the enemy's troops blocking the way do not exceed 10,000, I am confident that I can reach Dongning City within five days."

"Besides that, I think Guangning Prefecture cannot be lost. The money and food stored by the Cui family is also the lifeblood of our army. Our army should send a detachment to attack Guangning Prefecture to help the Cui family's troops resist the offensive of the Zhenwu Army!"

Ye Mingsheng narrowed his eyes slightly when he heard Yuan Song’s plan. According to Yuan Song’s idea, this would be a matter of life and death...
It depends on whether the Fengzhou Army captures Dongning Prefecture first, or the Zhenwu Army captures Guangning Prefecture first. Whoever captures the target first will have a strategic advantage!
After thinking for a while, Ye Mingsheng nodded at Yuan Song and said:
"I understand what General Yuan is thinking. It's getting late. Please go back and rest!"

"Yes, please don't work too hard, take care of yourself and rest early!" Yuan Song bowed and said:
"Okay!" Ye Mingsheng said with a smile:

After seeing Yuan Song off, Ye Mingsheng washed up and went to bed as soon as possible. Lelang Prefecture was only the first battle of his inspection plan. He would go to Xuantu City tomorrow to check on the situation of Lin Huaiwu's troops.

Early the next morning, when it was still dark, Ye Mingsheng led his personal guards to leave Lelang Prefecture. Before leaving, Ye Mingsheng handed a man to Yuan Song. This man was his former personal guard captain Ye Dong. Ever since Ye Dong's dereliction of duty last time allowed the assassin to get to Ye Mingsheng, Ye Mingsheng dismissed Ye Dong and began to think about how to deal with Ye Dong.

After repeated and careful thinking, Ye Mingsheng finally felt that he should not always keep him under his wing, but should hand him over to the battlefield and temper him with the iron and blood of the battlefield. So Ye Mingsheng decided to let Ye Dong go to Yuan Song to serve, fight on the front line of Fengzhou Army, and let him experience the baptism of war...

Two days after leaving Lelang, Ye Mingsheng arrived at Xuantu City under the escort of his personal guards. As usual, he checked the combat readiness of Lin Huaiwu's troops, boosted the morale of the soldiers on the front line, and asked Lin Huaiwu what he thought about the Zhenwu Army's gathering of troops to attack Guangning Prefecture.

Lin Huaiwu's views are basically consistent with Yuan Song's. They both want to compete with the Zhenwu Army in speed. The only difference is that Lin Huaiwu hopes that the main direction of the attack on Dongning Prefecture will be Xuantu Prefecture where he is stationed, rather than Lelang Prefecture where Yuan Song is stationed. He also gave his views on this.

Although Xuantu Prefecture is not as close to Dongning City as Lelang Prefecture, opposite Xuantu City is Ye Mingsheng’s hometown, Fengshan County of Dongning Prefecture. Therefore, attacking and taking Fengshan County from Xuantu Prefecture is of great symbolic significance to the Fengzhou Army. It can greatly boost morale, undermine the morale of the enemy, and shock the enemy psychologically.

After listening to Lin Huaiwu's advice and finding out the war preparedness of Xuantu Prefecture, Ye Mingsheng returned to his general headquarters in Shoucheng.

As the saying goes, a short separation is better than a new marriage. Under Geun-yu's flattery and Pei Ji-soo's affection at night, General Ye still couldn't control himself...
After teaching the two girls everything he knew, Ye Mingsheng lay on the bed with a tired look, enjoying his sage moment.

"Master, do you know what kind of person Miss An is?"

On the bed, Jinyu massaged Ye Mingsheng's back while whispering in Ye Mingsheng's ear: Ye Mingsheng was too lazy to think about these questions and just said:
"I don't know! You'll know after a while."

Ye Mingsheng's answer obviously did not satisfy Jinyu. She raised her red lips slightly and said with some resentment:
"You don't care at all now, are you just waiting to have sex with this beauty?"

"I heard that An Miaoyi is the reincarnation of Bao Si, and King You of Zhou lit beacons to trick the princes in order to make her laugh. If you get this beauty, you will probably forget all about us sisters and completely..."

Speaking of this, the self-pitying Geun-Ok did not forget to encourage Bae Ji-Soo on the other side and said:

"Sister Pei, don't you think so? If Miss An comes, I'm afraid the two of us will be left alone... Then Jinyu and sister will keep each other company, and we can depend on each other in the general's mansion!"

After saying this, Jinyu looked pitiful, with a few tears in the corners of her eyes. Pei Zhixiu didn't say anything, but just lay in Ye Mingsheng's arms and smiled gently. Seeing this, Jinyu was undoubtedly even more angry, and she also got into Ye Mingsheng's arms to compete with Pei Zhixiu for territory.

Seeing that another war was about to break out, Ye Mingsheng hurriedly turned hostility into friendship. He now understood a truth more and more: there are only cows that die of exhaustion, but no land that dies of plowing. If the love between two people is long-lasting, why should they be together day and night?

There is a lot of time to come! There is a lot of time to come!
After resting for a few days in the general's headquarters, it was the third day of August, and there were still seven days left until Ye Mingsheng and An Miaoyi's wedding.

The Fengzhou army has also begun to enter the final preparations. Ye Mingsheng has two requirements for this wedding!

The first is that the scale must be large and the reputation must be loud, so that more people will know that he, Ye, is going to marry An Miaoyi!
This is because his wedding is a political signal, representing that Ye Mingsheng and the Cui family stand more closely together. It also means that his Fengzhou military regime, Ye, has the political endorsement of aristocratic families, which is not comparable to those grass-roots teams. In the end, it is also to give face to the Cui family and the An family, showing that he attaches great importance to this matter and makes the two families look good.

Secondly, in addition to being grand, Ye Mingsheng also required his wedding to be as frugal and simple as possible, avoiding extravagance and waste as much as possible...
Now the front line is still preparing for war and the situation may change at any time, so Ye Mingsheng feels that we must resolutely prevent the situation where the front line is in a tight spot and the rear is in a tight spot.

Although the financial situation of Fengzhou Army has been supplemented by the money and grain from the Cui family, which has greatly improved the money and grain problem that has always plagued the development of Fengzhou Army, it is only not as tight as before, but it is still far from reaching the level of wealth.

Therefore, holding an extravagant wedding will greatly increase the financial pressure on the Fengzhou Army, and may have an adverse impact on many issues such as the purchase of medicines, the payment of military salaries and pensions, etc. This is something Ye Mingsheng absolutely does not want to see.

The officials in charge of wedding preparations were very troubled by Ye Mingsheng's request for a grand yet frugal wedding.

But there was nothing they could do. Ye Mingsheng had given a death order, and the approved budget was only three thousand taels of silver, so they had no choice but to do their job.

Three days before the wedding, An Miaoyi came to Shoucheng, led by Cui Shao and a group of elders from the Cui family. Although Ye Mingsheng was very curious about her and wanted to see if his new daughter-in-law was as beautiful as the rumors said, he was also willing to respect traditional customs, An Miaoyi and the Cui family, and did not try to meet her privately.

On the tenth day of August, just after dawn on the wedding day, it was an emergency time, so in order to prevent assassinations and sabotage of the wedding by spies from the Supervisory Office, a large group of Fengzhou soldiers controlled all streets in Shoucheng. In addition, a large number of plainclothes officers from the General Coordination Office were also hiding in the crowd, alert to any possible dangers...
In such a festive and tense atmosphere, at the hour of You, Ye Mingsheng, wearing a bright red wedding gown, led the wedding procession from his own general's headquarters. Because Ye Mingsheng required a very large-scale ceremony and there was not much money for funding, the officials in charge could only plan for Ye Mingsheng to set out from the general's headquarters in the north of Shoucheng and go to the Cui family residence in the south city to pick up the bride.

In this way, the wedding procession happened to be walking on the prosperous and broad main road of Shoucheng. People from all over the city could participate and witness it together. With everyone joining together, the scale was definitely sufficient.

When the wedding procession arrives, everyone will shout slogans together to create a festive and harmonious atmosphere. Although this is a little simpler, the scene is grand and spectacular enough.

Wherever Ye Mingsheng's mighty welcoming team went, there was cheering and applause, and the people shouted:

"Congratulations to General Ye on his wedding!"

"I wish General Ye and his bride a long and happy marriage and a son soon!"

"I wish General Ye and his bride a life of love and long life together!"

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Feeling everyone's blessings, Ye Mingsheng, who was riding on a tall horse, frequently bowed to the people on both sides with a smile, and the personal soldiers and attendants following behind him also threw some copper coins, candies and other things to the crowd on both sides, so that everyone could share in the joy.

(I was originally planning to lay the groundwork for a few chapters, but seeing that the subscriptions have not reached 50, I decided to speed up the pace. If nothing unexpected happens, the protagonist will become the governor of Liaoyang this month. Dear readers, please look forward to it!!!)
(End of this chapter)