Chapter 385 Determined to reform!

Dongning City, Fengzhou military camp.

Seeing Ye Mingsheng and his group coming towards him, Yuan Song knelt on one knee in shame and reported to Ye Mingsheng:

"General Yuan Song pays homage to you, Your Excellency. In this battle, I was careless and fell into the enemy's encirclement, which caused our army to suffer heavy casualties and almost be wiped out. I am guilty of the crime of death, please punish me!"

Looking at Yuan Song who was apologizing, Ye Mingsheng smiled and personally helped Yuan Song up and said:
“General, please stand up. This battle was not our fault. Please don’t blame yourself. If you hadn’t always defended the camp and tied down the main force of the enemy, how could I have led my troops to the city of Dongning so easily…”

Ye Mingsheng really meant what he said. Yuan Song had done well enough when the main forces of the Zhenwu Army surrounded him from all sides and suddenly attacked him due to wrong intelligence. Any other general of the Fengzhou Army would not have been able to hold on under such circumstances, so it was difficult for Ye Mingsheng to ask for more.

And most importantly, Ye Mingsheng's spies in Yuan Song's army reported that when the Zhenwu Army's offensive was the most fierce, Wang Muzhi sent Yuan Song's former colleagues in the Longxiang Army to persuade him to surrender, but Yuan Song did not even meet this person and directly put on an attitude of fighting to the death. Therefore, Ye Mingsheng was very pleased with Yuan Song's loyalty.

With Ye Mingsheng's comfort, the ashamed Yuan Song's face looked better. The generals following him breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Ye Mingsheng's kind words to Yuan Song. Before meeting Ye Mingsheng, they were all worried.

Although they managed to hold the battle, they suffered heavy casualties after all. They didn’t know whether Ye Mingsheng would get furious, so everyone was very nervous. However, Ye Mingsheng’s comforting of Yuan Song undoubtedly sent a clear political signal, telling everyone that he was not going to pursue responsibility...
After pacifying Yuan Song, Ye Mingsheng visited the generals under his command. After doing this, Ye Mingsheng led his troops and marched into Dongning City, the political and economic center of Liaoyang Province.

At this time, Yun Guanjing, the head of the Yun family, who surrendered at the city gate, and his uncle Yun Hanjie, who had previously been a diplomatic envoy to the Fengzhou Army, as well as Gongsun Huan of the Gongsun family, Zhu Lin, the former general of the Zhenwu Army, Fang Dawei and other prominent figures, gathered at the city gate to welcome Ye Mingsheng's arrival after knowing that Ye Mingsheng was entering the city today.

Although he hated these fence-sitters, for the sake of overall stability, Ye Mingsheng could only suppress the disgust in his heart and chat with them with a cheerful face. It took him nearly an incense stick of time to finish all these face-saving efforts.

As soon as he entered the city, a personal soldier came to Ye Mingsheng and reported:

"Sir, the rebel leader Chen Dechang committed suicide by drinking poison..."

Upon hearing the news, Ye Mingsheng, who was supposed to go directly to his office, hesitated for a moment and decided to turn around and take a look at Chen Dechang's residence.

Since deciding to join Ye Mingsheng, the Yun family, the Gongsun family and several Zhenwu Army generals have been vying to curry favor with Ye Mingsheng, and the gift they are willing to offer is the head of Ye Mingsheng's former "old leader" Chen Dechang!
But unfortunately, he didn't care at all about Chen Dechang, an old man who was basically paralyzed in bed due to anger. If you asked him to send Wang Muzhi's head, Ye Mingsheng would be quite happy. As for Chen Dechang, he is in that state now. What use would Ye Mingsheng have for his head?

So after Ye Mingsheng clearly expressed his disinterest, these people were no longer interested in Chen Dechang. After Wang Muzhi ran away, they joined forces to control Dongning City. They did not harm Chen Dechang’s personal safety, but only took over Chen’s mansion, preparing to hand Chen Dechang over to Ye Mingsheng for handling...
Unexpectedly, on the day Ye Mingsheng entered the city, Chen Dechang actually committed suicide by taking poison. Worried that there might be remnants of the Zhenwu Army in Chen's mansion, after Ye Mingsheng arrived at Chen's mansion, his personal guard captain Ye Kui did not let Ye Mingsheng go in directly. Instead, he arranged for the personal guards to enter first. After making sure that there was no danger in the mansion, Ye Mingsheng entered the mansion under the escort of his personal guards.

Looking at Chen Dechang, who was lying on the bed in front of him with a haggard expression and closed eyes, Ye Mingsheng didn't know why, but the scene of when he first went to Guangshunhou to pay a visit to Chen Dechang in Luoan emerged in front of his eyes. Chen Dechang had a rosy face and was in high spirits. Although he, Ye, was conceited and ambitious at that time, he did not expect things to come to this point.

After a moment of silence, Ye Mingsheng turned to the trembling maid and asked:
"Lord Chen, did you tell me anything before you left?"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng's words, the little maid who looked only seventeen or eighteen years old was moved, but she quickly shook her head.

Seeing her like this, Ye Mingsheng smiled and said:
"But it's okay, I won't blame you!"

As if she was infected by Ye Mingsheng's smile, the little maid mustered up the courage to whisper:

"Lord Chen said that he is waiting for you in the underworld..."

Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but smile and shook his head when he heard that. It seemed that his "old leader" hated him so much that he was still thinking about him before he died.

Although Ye Mingsheng didn't care much about Chen Dechang's words, the Zhenwu Army general Zhu Lin who followed him took the initiative to flatter him and pretended to be indignant on Ye Mingsheng's behalf and said:

"This old villain Chen Dechang aided the tyrant and oppressed the people. Now he has committed suicide out of fear of punishment, but he still curses Lord Ye. Lord Ye, please order this old dog to be chopped into pieces and exposed in the wilderness to set things right!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but glance at Zhu Lin. Under Ye Mingsheng's gaze, Zhu Lin, who was old enough to be Ye Mingsheng's father, quickly knelt down and acted respectful.

Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng smiled and said:

"No need to do that. Chen Dechang is dead, so let the past go with the wind. Send the order to select a good coffin and bury Chen Dechang!"

After hearing Ye Mingsheng's words, Zhu Lin, who had suggested to Ye Mingsheng to leave Chen Dechang's body exposed in the wilderness, quickly changed his words and said:

"I truly admire Lord Ye's benevolence. The people of Liaoyang will surely live and work in peace and harmony under your rule..." To be honest, Ye Mingsheng did not like Zhu Lin's flattery. He even felt a little disgusted. In order to quiet his ears, Ye Mingsheng persuaded him with kind words and then arranged for him to leave. Looking at Zhu Lin's departing back, Ye Mingsheng's eyes revealed a hint of contempt.

Although Zhu Lin has a bad character, he is indeed a good dog. As long as you give him a bone, he will bite people for you.

Ye Mingsheng will definitely need something like this in the future!
"Sir, this old fellow Chen Dechang is old in appearance and heart. He has found several concubines at his age. What do you think we should do with them?" Ye Kui reported to Ye Mingsheng:

Ye Mingsheng didn't think much after hearing this, and immediately opened his mouth and ordered:

"Reward those who are willing to do so, and send those who are unwilling to do so back home with some silver!"

"I understand!" Ye Kui nodded and replied:
After dealing with Chen Dechang's affairs, Ye Mingsheng finally arrived at his office in Dongning Prefecture. Although Wang Muzhi fled to Sanyuan County with some remnants of the Zhenwu Army, the Zhenwu Army had not been completely wiped out. But now everyone knows that the Zhenwu Army is now a thing of the past, and Ye Mingsheng of the Fengzhou Army is the future ruler of Liaoyang...

Therefore, in order to better rule the entire Liaoyang and better deploy troops in the interior, Ye Mingsheng needs to move his headquarters to manage Dongning Prefecture!

Ye Mingsheng's previous base, Fengzhou, was managed very carefully by Ye Mingsheng and had great development potential. Unfortunately, that place was a frontier area after all. It was close to the Songmo grassland and the Shiwei, Khitan, and Luobi peoples. If it was chosen as the headquarters, there would be no strategic buffer and it would be easy to be attacked by foreign races and it would be very dangerous!

Of course, choosing Dongning as the headquarters also has many disadvantages. After all, the Cui family, the Yun family, the Gongsun family and other gentry and bureaucratic forces in Dongning Prefecture have already taken deep roots. The forces of all parties are intertwined and one move can affect the whole body.

To be honest, Ye Mingsheng was a little worried about this, but he had already decided to launch fundamental reforms to change the poverty in Liaoyang since ancient times. The situation in the world did not give Ye Mingsheng time to carry out the reforms slowly, so Ye Mingsheng could only choose to carry out reforms in a drastic manner and it was impossible to adopt the slow and gradual approach.

Therefore, in order to achieve his goal more quickly, Ye Mingsheng needs to stir up some waves in the deep water area of ​​Dongning Prefecture...

Ye Mingsheng's official residence was not located in the traditional central area of ​​Dongning City, but in the northeast corner of the city. The reason why Ye Mingsheng did this was purely to prepare for a rainy day. Considering the reforms he was preparing for, if the local forces could not accept them, they would definitely resort to violence to resist.

If the official residence is placed in the core area, then the surrounding areas are all the houses of local bureaucrats and generals, and they have hidden a lot of private soldiers in the yard! Once they suddenly attack, it will be difficult to defend Ye Mingsheng's official residence.

So for the sake of safety, Ye Mingsheng chose the northeast corner, which is relatively empty. In addition to Ye Mingsheng's own residence, it can also accommodate some places like the Fengzhou Army Staff Headquarters and the residences of various generals. With the joint protection of these people, the residence will be relatively safe in the event of any accident.

After entering the mansion, Ye Mingsheng immediately started working and asked Qi Dechao who was following him:
"Have the casualties from Yuan Song been reported?"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng's question, Qi Dechao immediately reported:

"Reporting to the Lord, the casualties on Yuan Song's side have just been reported. In this battle, General Yuan's troops lost 5,081 people in the attack and 6,130 were injured. The grenade reserves were used up, and the six red cannons equipped were all damaged. More than half of the Weiyuan guns, Po Lu guns and other firearms were also lost..."

"Don't read it!" After hearing these numbers, Ye Mingsheng held his head and waved his hands and said:
Although he had anticipated that Yuan Song's troops would suffer heavy losses, Ye Mingsheng still couldn't help but shudder when he heard these figures. You know, Yuan Song only had more than 20,000 men under his command, and now the casualties totaled more than half.

The casualties in this battle were almost the same as the total casualties in the previous battles between the Fengzhou Army and the Khitans, the bandit suppression in Posuo Prefecture, or the later battles with the Liaoyang Army and the Zhenwu Army. Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but sigh again.

It is true that only those who run the household can know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are. While Ye Mingsheng has been recruiting soldiers and accelerating expansion, the financial situation of the newly rising Fengzhou Army is not very good. The war has been able to continue until now, largely due to the Cui family's transfusion behind the scenes.

At the moment, the reward for the soldiers who captured Liaoyang is a large sum of money, and now the pensions and follow-up expenses for these ten thousand people are another large expense...

In response to this, Ye Mingsheng secretly strengthened his determination to reform. Without reform, the finances of Fengzhou Army would not be fundamentally improved, and Liaoyang would never be able to change its backward and poor situation.

However, reform is reform, and one must eat one bite at a time and walk one step at a time. The most important thing at the moment is to annihilate the remnants of Wang Muzhi's Zhenwu Army. After they are wiped out, there will be no military force in the entire Liaoyang area that dares to confront him head-on. Now that he has complete control of the gun, he can better implement the reform.

"Where are Wang Muzhi and the others?" Rubbing his temple, Ye Mingsheng asked Qi Dechao:

Looking at Ye Mingsheng's expression, the clever Qi Dechao made a cup of hot tea for Ye Mingsheng and handed it to the table, while reporting:

"According to the intelligence sent by Director Wang, Wang Muzhi and his men have already arrived in Sanyuan County. In addition, since Wang Muzhi started to flee, the morale of the Zhenwu Army has been unstable, and deserters have appeared one after another. Director Wang estimates that the number of Zhenwu troops under Wang Muzhi's command is no more than 30,000. It is expected that their next step will be to attack Yutai County and cross the Bohai Sea to Qingyan through Yutai County."

A sneer appeared on Ye Mingsheng's warm mouth. Wang Muzhi, this bastard, betrayed more than 10,000 of his soldiers and wanted to run away. It was really wishful thinking...
"Send the order to have Lin Huaiwu stay and garrison Dongning Prefecture. Guo Zhiping, take Zhu Lin and Fang Dawei to Sanyuan County and make sure to annihilate Wang Mu's troops. Since Zhu Lin and Fang Dawei want to have a place in my Fengzhou army, you must show me your loyalty and show your abilities!" Ye Mingsheng sneered and said:

Even though Zhu Lin, Fang Dawei and others have surrendered and become generals of the Fengzhou Army, they are different from Yuan Song and Lin Huaiwu. They are more like warlords, and the soldiers under their command are all their private armies. Ye Mingsheng will definitely not tolerate this, and he will definitely take action to strike back when the situation stabilizes, so let them fight the Zhenwu Army for now!
(End of this chapter)