Chapter 386 Liaoyang Governor Ye Mingsheng!
Sanyuan County, in the Zhenwu Army camp.

Wang Muzhi, Zhu Chenjie, Xue Heping, Qin Guang and other senior generals of the Zhenwu Army gathered in the tent. Under the dim light, everyone fell into silence, and the expressions on their faces were extremely serious.

Glancing at the expressions of the people around him, Wang Muzhi knew that as the commander of the Zhenwu Army, he must not fail at this moment. With Chen Dechang dying and Gongsun Heng rebelling, if he, Wang Muzhi, was defeated by the difficulties, then the Zhenwu Army that the Prime Minister had spent countless money and food and planned for many years to build would be completely finished...
Taking a deep breath, Wang Muzhi looked at everyone and said loudly:
"Why are you all so gloomy?"

"Our army is indeed in a bad situation, but what does it matter?"

"We still have tens of thousands of soldiers and horses at our disposal. We are only one step away from Yutai County. We are far from being at the end of our rope. As long as we cross the Bohai Sea and meet up with Dengzhou General Shen Lang, we can open up new territory in Qingyan!"

“At that time, our army will march from east to west, and the Prime Minister will march from west to east. Naturally, we can wipe out all these rebels. By that time, all of you present here will be meritorious officials of the new dynasty, and your reputation will last forever, and you will be respected by future generations…”

Wang Muzhi became more and more excited as he spoke, and his eyes seemed to be shining with a gleam, as if the things he said were right in front of him and within reach.

It has to be said that Wang Muzhi still has some personal charm. After hearing the big picture he painted, the gloomy faces of Zhu Chenjie, Qin Guang and others eased a little, and they no longer looked as pale as before.

Seeing this, Wang Muzhi secretly gave Qin Guang a look. Qin Guang immediately understood Wang Muzhi's hint and said loudly with a very excited look:
"General, you're right! We still have tens of thousands of soldiers and horses. What are we afraid of with so many people?"

"It would be best if Ye Mingsheng came after us personally, so that I can tear his head off and hang it on a tree!"

Although everyone knew that Qin Guang was exaggerating, seeing Qin Guang's confident look, they relaxed a little. Several people stood up and cursed Ye Mingsheng and the generals of Fengzhou Army. For a moment, everyone seemed to forget the dangerous situation and smiles returned to their faces...

After boosting everyone's morale and restoring their confidence, Wang Muzhi let most of them leave, leaving only three or four of his most trusted generals to continue discussing countermeasures.

"Ye Mingsheng sent Guo Zhiping, Zhu Lin, Fang Dawei and a few others to lead 50,000 troops to chase us!"

Facing his subordinates' gazes, Wang Muzhi did not hide anything and told them the latest military intelligence very frankly!
After listening to Wang Muzhi's words, Xue Heping, Zhu Chenjie and others who had just built up a little confidence fell to the bottom again. Ever since Wang Muzhi chose to run away a few days ago, everyone in the army, from the commanding generals to the soldiers and cooks, understood that Zhenwu's situation was hopeless.

In such a situation where the army's morale was low and everyone was in danger, many people quietly deserted. At the beginning, Wang Muzhi dealt with it seriously and chopped off many people's heads, using their heads to intimidate the soldiers.

But they soon discovered that even beheading could not stop the soldiers from escaping. In just a few days, their number had dropped from over 35,000 at the beginning to less than 30,000. These soldiers from Liaoyang did not want to be buried with the Zhenwu Army on this doomed ship...
Seeing that Zhu Chenjie and Xue Heping were silent, Wang Muzhi couldn't help but ask anxiously:
"How are your men doing?"

Hearing Wang Muzhi's question, Zhu Chenjie knew he couldn't escape and shook his head and whispered:
"The situation is not good. More than 500 people escaped from my place last night, and all the soldiers of one sentry fled!"

Wang Muzhi's heart sank when he heard this. Although there were many deserters in the army in the past few days, they were basically individual behaviors, or three or five people acted together. There was no such organized escape. The current situation undoubtedly showed that the crisis of the Zhenwu Army was even worse.

"Sir, we can't delay this any longer. If we continue like this, before the Fengzhou army attacks us, our troops will have already escaped!" Qin Guang gritted his teeth and said to Wang Muzhi:
Listening to Qin Guang's words, Wang Muzhi looked at him and asked:

"Tell me what you think!"

With Wang Muzhi's permission, Qin Guang said without hesitation:

"Under the current circumstances, it is impossible to take all these tens of thousands of soldiers away! Yutai County may not have that many ships. Our army now needs to immediately identify those soldiers who are willing to share the hardships with us, and then promise them great benefits and take them away. Only in this way can our army act more quickly!"

Wang Muzhi felt a little disappointed when he heard this. He thought Qin Guang would give him a good plan, but he didn’t expect it to be such a heroic move...

Wang Muzhi had naturally thought of this trick. In fact, he had been hesitating whether to do so in the past few days. He was unwilling to abandon so many soldiers, so he had been trying to boost the morale of the army during this period. It was for this reason that the Zhenwu Army stayed in Sanyuan County for a long time.

Wang Muzhi knew that if he made a heroic move, the morale of the Zhenwu Army would be completely broken, and there would be no more than a few thousand soldiers willing to follow him to Qingyan.

They went to Dengzhou to fight, hoping to continue cooperating with Prime Minister Shangguan Hongyuan in the strategy of attacking from both east to west and west to east. However, if only this number of troops went to Dengzhou, it would be difficult to accomplish anything, at least in a short period of time. Then the strategy of Prime Minister Shangguan Hongyuan would have been bankrupt in fact.

But if we don't make drastic measures and continue to struggle here, the situation will hardly change. Once caught up by the pursuers sent by Ye Mingsheng, it will be difficult for even one person to escape, let alone thousands of people...
Looking at Wang Muzhi's tangled expression, Qin Guang anxiously advised:

"As long as you leave us here, we will never run out of firewood. Although we have fewer soldiers when we go to Dengzhou, we will be more united. With your ability, it won't take long for us to pull out a team of tens of thousands of people again!"

Feeling the expectant eyes of the generals around him, Wang Muzhi finally made a decision in pain, closed his eyes, nodded and said:

"Go get ready!"

"Yes!" The generals took the order and left.

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Three days later, Ye Mansion in Dongning City

Ye Mingsheng, who was writing furiously on several documents in his study, heard footsteps coming from outside the study and asked Qi Dechao who came in:

"Is there any news from Guo Zhiping?"

Upon hearing this, Qi Dechao reported:

"Yes, General Guo reported that Wang Muzhi cut off his arm to survive, and abandoned a large group of Zhenwu soldiers in Sanyuan County. He only took a few thousand soldiers loyal to him and rushed to Yutai County overnight. After General Guo got the news, he immediately sent cavalry to chase him!"

“However, because they encountered an attack by the remnants of the Zhenwu Army in Yutai County, they were still a step late and were able to escape by boat. However, they also killed more than 2,000 rebels including the rebel general Qin Guang, captured more than 30,000 enemy soldiers, and thousands of war horses…”

Upon hearing the news, Ye Mingsheng frowned slightly, but after thinking about it, he still ordered:

"Let's issue a commendation!"

"Yes!" Qi Dechao replied:

Although it was a bit of a pity that Wang Muzhi was not killed, the results of this battle were brilliant and huge, and it was of great political significance. It represented that there would no longer be any military force in Liaoyang that could confront the Fengzhou Army head-on, so Ye Mingsheng still had to reward them accordingly!

After giving the order, Ye Mingsheng prepared to deal with the official documents. After writing a few words, he found that Qi Dechao had not left, so he raised his head and asked Qi Dechao:
"Is there anything else?"

Upon hearing this, Qi Dechao bowed and congratulated Ye Mingsheng:
"Congratulations, sir! News has come from the imperial court that they have appointed you as the third-rank Liaoyang military governor and commander of the Fengwu Army! The emperor's envoy has already set out from Sichuan with the imperial edict and will arrive in Liaoyang soon!"

After hearing this news, Ye Mingsheng continued to ask calmly:
"What are the official positions of Cui Shao and Murong Yuliang?"

"Cui Shao is the third-rank Liaoyang governor, and Murong Yuliang is the fourth-rank Liaoyang censor!" Qi Dechao replied:
Ye Mingsheng showed a satisfied smile on his face after hearing this. During this period, while dealing with the affairs in Liaoyang, Ye Mingsheng was also paying special attention to the affairs of the world. Since the Luoan Incident broke out, Lin Shize and the conspiracy teamed up but failed to deal with Shangguan Hongyuan, so he was forced to lead his troops to withdraw from Luoan and go to Sichuan...
Although the conspiracy of the aristocratic families and the royal family did not succeed, it did not mean that Shangguan Hongyuan's life would be easier. On the contrary, although Shangguan Hongyuan now completely controlled Luoan, the power center of the Great Zhou, his situation had become very difficult.

The 200,000 most elite imperial guards of the Great Zhou Dynasty, which originally intimidated the world under his command, have now been not only severely damaged because of the Luoan Incident, but have also been divided into two. Tens of thousands of imperial guards followed Lin Shize and Zheng Wang Jiang Guang to Sichuan. According to the news from Luoan, Shangguan Hongyuan now has no more than 150,000 troops under his command.

To be honest, although the military blow was painful, Shangguan Hongyuan could still bear it. However, the Luoan Incident really brought a huge threat to Shangguan Hongyuan politically.

Previously, Shangguan Hongyuan held the young emperor Jiang Rui firmly in his hands. It can be said that he was holding the emperor hostage to command the princes, and no one in the world dared to disobey. Although the local vassal states and princes had been making small moves in secret, they had to obey Shangguan Hongyuan's orders in public.

Just like the previous Liaoyang Governor Song Wenhui, Shangguan Hongyuan recruited soldiers to establish the Zhenwu Army in his territory. Even though he hated it so much, he could only bite his teeth and swallow it. He dared not say a word, and even had to continue to pay taxes to the court controlled by Shangguan Hongyuan...

But now it is different. In addition to the young emperor Jiang Rui and the empress dowager being taken to Sichuan and Shu by Lin Shize and Zheng Wang Jiang Guang, nearly half of the ministers from the six ministries and other court departments also followed. Then, just like they had joined forces with Shangguan Hongyuan back then, this time in Sichuan and Shu, the former Prime Minister Lin Shize and Zheng Wang Jiang Guang, who represented the power of the royal family, jointly announced that the emperor would tour the south to reorganize the court in Sichuan and Shu. Lin Shize would come out again as Prime Minister, and Zheng Wang Jiang Guang would serve as the admiral of the imperial guards.

The most important thing is naturally the court's southern tour, which declared Shangguan Hongyuan a traitor and called on the whole world to punish Shangguan Hongyuan!

With Jiang Rui as a deadly weapon in hand, and the fact that the princes of the world had long been resentful of Shangguan Hongyuan's dominance over the years, Lin Shize and Jiang Guang's Sichuan-Shu court immediately gained the support of various dignitaries such as Yongliang Qin King Jiang Zhen, Youyan Governor Zhao Fuqu, and Huainan General Chen Ce as soon as it was established.

Although Shangguan Hongyuan also announced that Lin Shize, Jiang Guang and others had conspired to rebel and kidnapped Emperor Hui Jiang Rui, his court in Luoan was still orthodox. He wanted to lead his troops to purge the court and kill Lin Shize and Jiang Guang, and take back the little emperor Jiang Rui. However, under such a massive condemnation from the hostile forces, his announcement seemed very weak...
Although Ye Mingsheng was not interested in Lin Shize and the power of the royal family, and had no contact with them before, as the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Therefore, in front of the common enemy Shangguan Hongyuan, Ye Mingsheng was naturally prepared to choose to support Lin Shize, and then let the southern tour court recognize his regime in Liaoyang. Ye Mingsheng's plan was very good, but for a while he suffered from the lack of channels to communicate with the southern tour court.

However, Ye Mingsheng soon found the person who served as a bridge between him and the imperial court during the southern tour!
After deciding to join forces with the Cui family, Ye Mingsheng prepared for the future and ambushed a chess piece. This chess piece was Murong Yuliang, who had previously cooperated with him in Fengzhou.

Ye Mingsheng originally planned to use the reputation of Murong Yuliang and the Murong family to check the power of the Cui family in the Liaoyang government. However, for Murong Yuliang, troubled times were coming and the world was torn apart. In order to maintain the family honor and ensure that the family would not fall, they, the Murong family, naturally had to spread the risks and ensure that they would always stand on the side of the winner. Therefore, they needed not to put all their eggs in one basket and let family members invest separately.

After witnessing Ye Mingsheng's methods, the speed of Fengzhou Army's development, and realizing Ye Mingsheng's ambitions, Murong Yuliang, after discussing with his elder brother Murong Lun, decided to represent the Murong family, continue to serve in Fengzhou Army, help Fengzhou Army develop, and thereby obtain his own interests.

Therefore, under the temptation of power offered by Ye Mingsheng, Murong Yuliang was willing to accept the political task assigned to him by Ye Mingsheng after careful consideration, to compete with the local faction headed by Cui Shao.

This time, it was through a letter from Murong Yuliang to Murong Lun, who continued to serve as the Minister of Revenue during the southern tour of the court, that Ye Mingsheng got in touch with the southern tour court and quickly reached a series of political consensus. Both sides got what they needed and achieved many political results!

(End of this chapter)