Chapter 395: Is the lord confused?

At noon, the cavalry of the Imperial Envoy Gao Chen drove towards the east gate of Dongning City in a mighty procession. Ye Mingsheng also dressed up and led his civil and military officials to greet them at the city gate...

According to past rules, as the defending general Ye Mingsheng, he should have welcomed the imperial envoy thirty miles outside the city. However, because Ye Mingsheng returned home late, when he learned the news, Gao Chen and his party had almost reached the thirty-mile area.

Because he was running out of time, Ye Mingsheng simply greeted him at the city gate. Anyway, the situation of the imperial court on its southern tour was not optimistic due to Shangguan Hongyuan's counterattack, and it was the time when they needed support from the princes of various places. Therefore, the imperial envoy did not dare to say anything.

Under Ye Mingsheng's gaze, the cavalry slowly stopped, and a fourth-rank civil official wearing an official uniform with a goose-shaped patch slowly got off the carriage, holding a bright yellow imperial edict, and walked towards the welcoming team. Although Ye Mingsheng thought that this person was the imperial envoy Gao Chen mentioned in the news, he did not know him, so he looked at Murong Yuliang behind him with an inquiring look.

This time Gao Chen traveled across mountains and rivers from Sichuan to Liaoyang, not just to read out the imperial edict of the Southern Tour Court to Ye Mingsheng, but also involved further negotiations between the Southern Tour Court and the Liaoyang regime led by Ye Mingsheng...
In order to make the negotiations go more smoothly, Ye Mingsheng invited Murong Yuliang from Xuantu Mansion in advance to join the negotiations. Gao Chen's biological sister is Murong Yuliang's elder sister-in-law, and the two are real relatives. Ye Mingsheng plans to use this relationship to find out from Gao Chen about the situation of the court during the southern tour.

His Coordination Office was established just over a year ago. Although it has developed rapidly with the support of Ye Mingsheng, its main activities are still within Liaoyang. Ye Mingsheng's information channels outside Liaoyang are not very well-informed!

Ye Mingsheng really wanted to know whether the imperial court on the southern tour could withstand Shangguan Hongyuan's counterattack and how long it could hold out. This was very important for Ye Mingsheng to judge the time when he would lead his army into the pass.
Feeling Ye Mingsheng's gaze, Murong Yuliang nodded and whispered:

"Sir, this man is Gao Chen!"

After receiving a positive answer from Murong Yuliang, Ye Mingsheng no longer hesitated. A brilliant smile instantly appeared on his face. He led the officials behind him and walked towards Gao Chen, muttering to himself:

"I'm sorry, Mr. Gao. I had some important things to deal with before. I'm sorry for the delay!"

Although Gao Chen felt that he was treated coldly by Ye Mingsheng because Ye Mingsheng did not greet him thirty miles outside the city, he felt better after listening to Ye Mingsheng's words. Since he could be sent as an imperial envoy, he must be a man who is good at observing people's words and expressions and knows how to deal with current affairs. Naturally, he also understood that it was unwise to offend Ye Mingsheng in his territory for such a small matter...
Therefore, a smile appeared on Gao Chen's elegant face, and he also said politely:
"It's just a small matter, don't take it to heart, your military duties are more important!"

Seeing that Gao Chen was quite sensible, Ye Mingsheng greeted him enthusiastically and welcomed their convoy into Dongning City. In Ye's mansion, Gao Chen, as the imperial envoy, formally read out the imperial edict from the southern tour court to Ye Mingsheng, appointing Ye Mingsheng as the third-rank governor of the Great Zhou and the commander of the Fengwu Army.

From this moment on, the Fengzhou Army founded and led by Ye Mingsheng was officially renamed the Fengwu Army, and transformed from a local armed force in Liaoyang into the emperor's personal army. Of course, this was just a nominal statement, indicating that the Southern Tour Court was trying to win over Ye Mingsheng, a newly rising prince. In fact, Ye Mingsheng, the commander, was the "emperor" of the Fengwu Army.

After reading the imperial edict to Ye Mingsheng, Gao Chen went to Murong Yuliang's residence and read the imperial edict to Murong Yuliang. After receiving the title from the court during the southern tour, Murong Yuliang officially became the third-rank Liaoyang Censor.

Since Ye Mingsheng occupied Dongning, Cui Shao claimed to be sick and stayed in Guangning Prefecture, probably to prevent Ye Mingsheng from doing something. So in Dongning, Gao Chen could only read the imperial edict to Ye Mingsheng and Murong Yuliang on behalf of the court. If Gao Chen wanted to give the imperial edict to Cui Shao, he had to go to Guangning City...
At night, Ye Mingsheng, who had just been promoted to the position of military governor, personally attended the welcoming banquet for Gao Chen. After three rounds of wine and five kinds of dishes, Gao Chen, who had drunk a few glasses of wine, said to Ye Mingsheng with hazy eyes:

"Master Ye! Commander Ye! Do you know that you are the youngest third-rank official in our Great Zhou? You are also the youngest frontier official in the three hundred years since the founding of our Great Zhou? Even Xu Zhaojie, the Marquis of Zhenyuan, was one year older than you when he became a third-rank official!"

Hearing Gao Chen say this, Ye Mingsheng didn't know what he meant, so he could only smile and agree:

"Really? Then this is all thanks to your Majesty and the elders for their appreciation!"

Perhaps he was waiting for Ye Mingsheng to say this, Gao Chen said:

"Sir Ye, His Majesty, Prime Minister Lin, and Prince Zheng, after hearing about your deeds in Liaoyang and how you thwarted the conspiracy of the traitor Shangguan Hongyuan in Liaoyang, all praised you as a pillar of the court and the country. In particular, His Majesty has always wanted to meet you..."

If Ye Mingsheng was still a little doubtful before whether Gao Chen was really drunk, now he can be sure that Gao Chen must have done it on purpose.

Realizing this, Ye Mingsheng pretended to be very happy and touched and said:

"It is my great honor to be valued by your Majesty, Prime Minister Lin, and His Royal Highness Prince Zheng. I am willing to serve the court and your Majesty until my death!"

After saying this, Ye Mingsheng felt disgusted in his heart, but Gao Chen seemed very satisfied with Ye Mingsheng's statement and his eyes were full of joy.

After exchanging a few more pleasantries with Gao Chen, Ye Mingsheng used the excuse of being drunk to leave the banquet and handed Gao Chen over to Murong Yuliang for arrangements. He then returned to his own Ye Mansion, which was also the Governor's Mansion!

Because it was already very late, Ye Mingsheng thought that all the women in the mansion were asleep, so he didn't want to disturb anyone and prepared to ask the chef in the mansion to prepare some hangover soup for him. However, what he didn't expect was that An Miaoyi had indeed been waiting for him in the mansion, and had already prepared the hangover soup and kept it warm in the pot.

Seeing An Miaoyi, who looked a little tired, and obediently gave him the hangover soup with both hands, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help feeling touched...
After drinking the sobering soup and chatting with An Miaoyi for a few more words, Ye Mingsheng was ready to fall asleep with the beauty in his arms. However, at this moment, a word from An Miaoyi made him wake up again.

"My husband, my third uncle sent someone to pass on a message to me through Qiqige, saying that he would give me the Liaoyang branch of the Dalongchang Company as a gift for my marriage!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Mingsheng narrowed his eyes and started thinking secretly in his heart. Since Ye Mingsheng came to power, he has closed down all the branches of Dalongchang Company in Liaoyang. However, Dalongchang Company has been operating in Liaoyang for many years, and some of their financial and human resources have been moved underground. Wang Xuecheng is closely tracking these people, but he didn't expect An Zhirong to take the initiative to send these people to his door.

Based on Ye Mingsheng's understanding of An Zhirong, he didn't think An Zhirong would be so kind, so what was his purpose in doing this?
Just as Ye Mingsheng was trying to figure out An Zhirong's thoughts, An Miaoyi whispered in Ye Mingsheng's ear:
"Sir, in addition to sending the Dalongchang Company over, Dong Jiangchuan also sent a message saying that the Cui family knew about your disarmament plan, and they joined forces with the Yun family, the Gongsun family and several local generals to plot to stop your disarmament plan..." "Oh? Really? Did Dong Jiangchuan tell you all this?" Ye Mingsheng raised his eyebrows and asked with interest:

This Dong Jiangchuan was the shopkeeper of the Dalongchang Company in Fengzhou when Ye Mingsheng was stationed in Fengzhou. He was also responsible for the operation of the Dalongchang Company's caravans to Khitan and Luobi. Later, Ye Mingsheng attacked Dalongchang. Although he captured many of the Dalongchang Company's employees and guards, and seized a lot of goods and horses, he let Dong Jiangchuan escape.

The Coordination Office has always wanted to catch Dong Jiangchuan, but this guy has disappeared for some time. There was news that he was dead. If An Miaoyi hadn't mentioned him, Ye Mingsheng would have almost forgotten about Dong Jiangchuan.

In response to Ye Mingsheng's question, An Miaoyi nodded and said:

“After you, my husband, took action against the Dalongchang Company, Dong Jiangchuan followed my third uncle’s order to develop in Gongdu, Goguryeo, and Silla. He only came back from Gongdu recently and took over the Dalongchang Company’s business in Liaoyang. This time, it was also him who sent someone to find Qiqige and passed the news over…”

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly when he heard this. He was quite pleased that An Miaoyi could be so frank.

Seeing Ye Mingsheng nod, An Miaoyi hesitated for a moment and asked tentatively:

"My husband, do you want the Dalongchang Company?"

"Why not?"

Ye Mingsheng asked back with a smile. The reason why he kept pursuing the Dalongchang Company, a product that had passed its prime, was not because he, Ye, had much hatred towards the Dalongchang Company. It was entirely due to the situation.

As the saying goes, "One who does not manage household expenses does not know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are!" Since Ye Mingsheng came to power in Liaoyang, he has had many feelings. Among them, the deepest feeling is the financial difficulties of Liaoyang, which is also one of the main reasons why he insisted on disarmament.

Although Ye Mingsheng had taken Liaoyang for some time, the rewards for his subordinates were still being delayed. The General Staff and the Finance Department had been negotiating. The reason why the negotiations took so long was mainly because they were poor...
Precisely because of the huge financial pressure, Ye Mingsheng hoped to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, and the Dalongchang Company was an important target of the task. According to the estimate given by the General Coordination Office, the Dalongchang Company still had at least 100,000 taels of silver hidden in Liaoyang. Getting this silver would ease a lot of financial pressure. Therefore, if the Dalongchang Company was willing to surrender now, Ye Mingsheng would naturally be happy.

"Tell Dong Jiangchuan that as long as the Dalongchang Company is willing to surrender, I will treat them well!" Ye Mingsheng promised An Miaoyi:

An Miaoyi nodded when she heard this, and then, as if she realized something, she looked at Ye Mingsheng expectantly and said:
"My husband, you care so much about the Dalongchang Company, but you don't care about the Cui family's affairs. Could it be that you have already made up your mind?"

Seeing An Miaoyi asking this question, Ye Mingsheng did not hide anything and said calmly:
"The Coordination Office hasn't reported this to me yet, but when I was formulating the disarmament plan, I thought that they would jump out to obstruct it. If they do nothing, that would be abnormal..."

"As for the countermeasures, I still don't know what the Cui family will do, so for now, we can only remain unchanged in the face of ever-changing circumstances!"

An Miaoyi pouted slightly at the answer given by Ye Mingsheng, as if she didn't believe that Ye Mingsheng really intended to remain unchanged in the face of ever-changing circumstances. However, in order to avoid suspicion, she didn't ask any more questions. After chatting for so long, Ye Mingsheng was a little tired, so after kissing An Miaoyi's delicate face, he covered himself with the quilt and fell asleep.

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The next day, in the study.

Ye Mingsheng picked up his pen and wrote down several personnel appointments in a row, then handed them to Qi Dechao and said:

"Let's pass this down to someone else!"

Upon hearing this, Qi Dechao subconsciously took the order and agreed to it, then turned and walked out of Ye Mingsheng's study. However, half an incense stick later, he knocked on Ye Mingsheng's door with an embarrassed look on his face, holding the order that Ye Mingsheng had just signed.

Seeing Qi Dechao coming back, Ye Mingsheng raised his head from the official documents, glanced at the order in Qi Dechao's hand, and then looked at Qi Dechao who was hesitant. He roughly understood what was going on, and immediately asked:
"What's matter?"

After hearing what Ye Mingsheng said, Qi Dechao couldn't help but speak out, so he mustered up the courage to say to Ye Mingsheng:
"Sir, these are all members of the Cui family you appointed. Let them hold these important positions..."

Ye Mingsheng smiled and nodded and said:

"I know what you want to say, pass on the order!"

Ye Mingsheng's words really made Qi Dechao open his eyes wide, feeling it was really unbelievable!

Isn’t your Excellency very disgusted with the Cui family?
Why were so many important official positions given to the Cui family this time? If the Cui family occupied all these positions, wouldn’t they be the only one in control of the government in Liaoyang?
Is the lord confused?

But adults are not old!

(End of this chapter)