Chapter 382 Ye Mingsheng? Song Wenhui? (Thanks to book friend wink 22692 for the reward!)

Secondly, this plan will most likely empty the Cui family's assets and use up all the money and grain that Cui Shao's father, grandfather, great-grandfather and other ancestors have worked hard to accumulate. These money and grain are an important part of the Cui family's strength and political influence. Therefore, in Cui Shao's eyes, Ye Mingsheng's move is to kill two birds with one stone, not only defeating the Zhenwu Army, but also depleting the Cui family's strength!
So even though Ye Mingsheng was willing to offer compensation and allow the Cui family to extend their tentacles into their weakest army, Cui Shao still chose to reject Ye Mingsheng's plan after careful consideration.

In his opinion, although the conditions offered by Ye Mingsheng were very tempting, all the power of the army was concentrated in Ye Mingsheng’s hands. Ye Mingsheng could allow the Cui family to enter the army now, and he could also cut off their tentacles at any time in the future. If this happened, then the Cui family’s emptied assets would be completely wasted...
As a cautious, steady and responsible head of a noble family, Cui Shao needs to safeguard the interests of his family, so he refuses such risks!

Cui Shao could not accept that the Fengzhou Army and the Zhenwu Army were fighting a war of attrition and draining the Cui family's money and food. The war between the two sides must not be dragged on. This battlefield must be ended as soon as possible to allow Liaoyang to recuperate and enter the post-war recuperation stage!
Under such a premise, Cui Shao was also facing a new and very serious problem, that is, how to make the Fengzhou Army defeat the Zhenwu Army in a short period of time!
If they fail to win the battle against the Zhenwu Army, the Cui family will face the risk of having their property confiscated and their clan exterminated. Therefore, Cui Shao must not only safeguard the interests of his family, but also ensure that his political alliance with Ye Mingsheng can defeat the Zhenwu Army and become the final winner!

So after thinking for a long time, Cui Shao came up with his solution to this matter!
This plan was to use the battle plan given to Wang Muzhi to intensify the conflict between the local faction and the imperial guards faction in the Zhenwu Army. Then he, a prominent figure from the Liaoyang aristocratic family during the reign of Song Wenhui, would come forward and make full use of all the connections of the Cui family in Liaoyang to win over the Liaoyang local faction in the Zhenwu Army for the Fengzhou Army...

As long as the local faction represented by the Gongsun family, the Yun family and some Liaoyang generals in the Zhenwu Army and the Imperial Guards faction headed by Wang Muzhi become disloyal, drag their feet and tip off Ye Mingsheng to turn against them on the battlefield, then the Imperial Guards faction, which is already under time pressure and needs to enter the pass as soon as possible to provide support, will be doomed to failure!

Moreover, just like Ye Mingsheng's plan of fortifying the city, clearing the countryside, fighting a war of attrition, and using the Zhenwu Army to consume the Cui family's strength, Cui Shao's plan also had his own calculations and thoughts in the end. Like Ye Mingsheng, he set his sights on the new power structure in Liaoyang after the war.

Cui Shao believed that after defeating the Zhenwu Army and taking Liaoyang, Ye Mingsheng, who was in power and was wary of the aristocratic families, would most likely tear off the veil of his affection for the aristocratic families and begin to suppress the power of the aristocratic families. Facing such suppression, it would be difficult for the Cui family to cope with it on its own. Therefore, the Cui family needed help, and the Gongsun family and the Yun family, who were also aristocratic families, were their best helpers.

Song Wenhui, who had just entered Liaoyang and became the Governor-General of Liaoyang nearly twenty years ago, was once in power and full of ambition. He wanted to use the power in his hands to clear away those aristocratic families who were in the way and hindered him, concentrate the power in Liaoyang in his own hands, and realize his ambitions!

However, under the joint attack of the Cui, Gongsun and Yun families, he suffered successive failures. Finally, facing failure, Song Wenhui recognized and accepted the reality. He was forced to cease fire with the noble families and allow them to jointly control the power of Liaoyang with him.

Having said that, if Ye Mingsheng decided to fight a war of attrition, the Zhenwu Army would be forced to accept the challenge and transfer the financial and food pressure to local factions such as the Gongsun family and the Yun family. This would undoubtedly greatly consume their strength. After the war, it would be difficult for them to concentrate their strength to help the Cui family deal with the suppression from Ye Mingsheng.

Therefore, Cui Shao wanted to avoid this situation. He had to preserve the power of the Liaoyang local faction and allow them to better integrate into the Fengzhou military system, so as to cope with the new power structure in Liaoyang and make Ye Mingsheng a new Song Wenhui!

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Thousands of Zhenwu Army prisoners of war in Huanglinling, under the escort of Fengzhou Army soldiers, handed over all their weapons dejectedly and returned to their camp, waiting for their trial and punishment by the Fengzhou Army.

An hour ago, the Fengzhou army launched a general attack on Huanglinling. Although the shouts of the Fengzhou army and the roar of cannons were deafening, under the command of the defending general Huang Leng, the 5,000 Zhenwu army soldiers on Huanglinling were determined to fight the Fengzhou army to the death and fight to the last moment to buy time for the main force of the Zhenwu army under Dongning City to annihilate Yuan Song's troops!

But what no one expected was that as soon as the Fengzhou Army rushed forward, Deputy General Sun Cheng led his men to rebel in front of the battle line, opening the defense line he was responsible for defending...

Sun Cheng's rebellion was beyond the expectations of all the Zhenwu Army on Huanglinling. Under this unexpected blow, the morale of the army plummeted. What was even worse was that with the breakthrough in the defense line that Sun Cheng was responsible for, a large number of Fengzhou troops quickly poured into the Zhenwu Army's camp.

Under such an absolute advantage in military force, although Huang Leng, the backbone of the Imperial Guards in the Zhenwu Army, commanded his subordinates to fight desperately, he was ultimately powerless to reverse the situation and was shot in the face and died.

After Huang Leng's death, the will to resist of the Zhenwu Army soldiers on Huanglinling completely disappeared. Except for a few military officers sent by the Imperial Guards who still resisted to the end, most of them chose to kneel down and surrender, enduring humiliation and living a life of hardship under the swords of the Fengzhou Army and the slogans of "surrender without killing".

Looking at the groups of Zhenwu Army prisoners passing by, Ye Mingsheng, who had won a great victory, did not feel the slightest bit happy. He knew that he would face an opponent who was far more terrifying and more difficult to deal with than the Zhenwu Army in politics next...

He has to face an eternal problem, that is, how to strike against the privileged class of gentry families and concentrate more power in his own hands. Although he knows that this road is difficult, Ye Mingsheng has firm determination and belief that he will win!

Ye Mingsheng knew how to deal with them. The experience summed up with blood and tears over thousands of years was in his mind, and he would surely win the final victory!

If the world is ruled by one person, how can the world serve one person?
(End of this chapter)