Chapter 410 New trouble is coming!
In the evening, after having dinner with Ye Mingsheng and his wife, Ye Cui and others at the Governor's Mansion, and inviting Ye Cui to visit her parents' home, Cui Shao left the Governor's Mansion in Liaoyang with Ye Mingsheng's personal farewell and got on the carriage back to his residence.

Upon hearing the news that Cui Shao had returned from the Governor's Mansion, Zhao Yu and Yun Hanjie did not delay and came together to find Cui Shao to ask about the results of the negotiations even though it was night.

The original counterattack against Ye Mingsheng and the mutiny were only the first step in their plan. They were also going to use a series of means such as inciting public opinion, creating intimidation, and directing public opinion attacks on Ye Mingsheng in order to force Ye Mingsheng to compromise in the struggle...
But what they never expected was that Ye Mingsheng was well prepared. As soon as they mobilized the local generals to launch a mutiny, they were ruthlessly suppressed in the first place. Several generals headed by Fang Dawei were all executed by Ye Mingsheng!

They were a little panicked by this unexpected situation. They didn't know whether they should continue with the next plan and fight Ye Mingsheng to the end, or start negotiations with Ye Mingsheng immediately.

At this time, only Cui Shao stood up to calm people's hearts. He decided to talk to Ye Mingsheng to decide on everyone's next move.

Seeing Zhao Yuyun and Han Jie coming to visit, Cui Shao naturally knew why these two people came, which was to reveal the results of his negotiations with Ye Mingsheng.

"Twelve thousand hectares of land is so much?" Zhao Yu frowned and said:

Feeling the dissatisfaction in Zhao Yu's words, Cui Shao was too lazy to talk nonsense with him and said directly:
"This is what I discussed with Ye Mingsheng. If you have any questions, you can go and ask Ye Mingsheng yourself. Maybe Ye Mingsheng can give face to your Gongsun family and let you not hand over a single hectare of land..."

Hearing Cui Shao say this, Zhao Yu looked a little sullen. In this civil war in Liaoyang, the three clans in Liaoyang suffered losses. The Yun family, which initially supported Song Wenhui, suffered countless losses of money and grain. Although the Cui family chose the right Ye Mingsheng, in the process of Ye Mingsheng's victory, they also paid a lot of money and grain and contributed tens of thousands of tenants of the family.

Although both families suffered heavy losses, the Gongsun family suffered the most. The power of the Gongsun family was originally more focused on the military, and they were also the first to clearly support the Zhenwu Army at the beginning.

During the growth of the Zhenwu Army, the Gongsun family provided them with people and money. If the Zhenwu Army really succeeded, then they would naturally gain the most. But now that the Zhenwu Army has failed, they have lost both the wife and the army. Not only have countless people been killed and injured, but most of their family assets have been emptied.

Before, Zhao Yu and Yun Hanjie both sent visiting cards and wanted to meet Ye Mingsheng, but maybe because the strength of Gongsun family had been reduced too much, Ye Mingsheng did not choose to meet Zhao Yu, but chose to meet Yun Hanjie. This was not a good political signal for Zhao Yu...
In this mutiny planned by the three families, the main force was still the Gongsun family. They were very influential among the local generals. Fang Dawei, who was killed by Lin Huaiwu, was a former subordinate of Gongsun Heng of the Gongsun family. Therefore, the conspiracy of the mutiny was put down by Ye Mingsheng, and the Gongsun family suffered the greatest losses. This made their family situation, which was already not very good, even worse!

In addition, this mutiny also severely offended Ye Mingsheng, so Zhao Yu couldn't imagine the possibility of Ye Mingsheng meeting him under such circumstances!
After scolding Zhao Yu for a while, Cui Shao looked at Yun Hanjie and said:
"How's the preparation I asked you to do?"

Yun Hanjie nodded and said:

"We have already received 3,000 hectares of poor and wasteland. In a while, we can collect more from other small landlords and poor farmers!"

Upon hearing this, Cui Shao's eyes were somewhat complicated. Before he started the mutiny after learning the content of Ye Mingsheng's reforms, he had made two preparations just in case.

On the one hand, he was preparing to fight back in order to force Ye Mingsheng to give up the reform. On the other hand, he would let the three families start to secretly purchase some poor land and wasteland, and be prepared for the unstoppable reform promoted by Ye Mingsheng if the counterattack failed...

As the three largest landlords and rich people in Liaoyang, the lands of the Cui, Yun and Gongsun families were mostly fertile fields. It was naturally painful for them to sell such good lands cheaply to Ye Mingsheng. So Cui Shao thought of purchasing poor lands and wasteland and giving them to Ye Mingsheng to reduce the losses. Anyway, many people in the government were their people, so they could just do some manipulation and Ye Mingsheng would be kept in the dark.

Before meeting Ye Mingsheng this time, Cui Shao had no hesitation in his plan. After all, although he was the governor of Liaoyang and the nominal head of the Liaoyang government, he was first and foremost the head of the Cui family, and the interests of the family were above everything else to him!
But after discussing with Ye Mingsheng, Cui Shao's ideas changed a little...
Thinking back to what Ye Mingsheng had said to him before, "The Prime Minister, two cabinet ministers from one family," Cui Shao gradually made a decision and said:

"Just these three thousand hectares! Don't harvest any more!"

Hearing Cui Shao say this, Yun Hanjie and Zhao Yu were both shocked and looked at each other, wondering why Cui Shao would say such a thing.

"Master Cui, did those hawks and dogs at the Coordination Office discover anything?" After thinking for a moment, Yun Hanjie cautiously asked:

Cui Shao shook his head upon hearing this and said:
"Ye Mingsheng didn't tell me any news about this!"

After hearing this answer, Yun Hanjie and Zhao Yu looked at each other and felt relieved. Then Yun Hanjie said with some confusion:
“Since we haven’t been discovered, why do you want to stop, Lord Cui? Ye Mingsheng wants a full 12,000 hectares of land. If you stop now, our three families will each hand over 3,000 hectares of land to Ye Mingsheng. This is 3,000 hectares of land…”

Feeling Yun Hanjie's doubt, Cui Shao asked back:

"Do you think Ye Mingsheng can defeat Youyan?"

When Cui Shao said this, Yun Hanjie was a little stunned and lowered his head to think. At this time, Cui Shao looked at Zhao Yu and said:
"I know that your Gongsun family has been secretly in contact with Youyan since the defeat of the Zhenwu Army, so Zhao Yu, please tell me about Zhao Fuqu's attitude towards Liaoyang!"

Hearing his family’s secret being revealed by Cui Shao, Zhao Yu was stunned. He didn’t know whether to answer or not answer Cui Shao’s question...
Seeing this, Cui Shao continued:

"Zhao Yu, since you don't want to say it, then I'll say it for you. Zhao Fuqu doesn't look down on Liaoyang or Ye Mingsheng at all. He has always wanted to expand to Yunbing and Jinyang. Zhao Fuqu will take action within two months. Feng Han in Jinyang is a powerful general under Shangguan Hongyuan. He has tens of thousands of elite soldiers and sufficient food. He has been operating in Jinyang and Yunbing for many years. Even if Zhao Fuqu can defeat him, he will not only have to do his best, but it will also take at least half a year!"

"If nothing unexpected happens, the battle between Zhao Fuqu and Feng Han will be in full swing in the early spring of next year. What will happen if Ye Mingsheng launches a surprise attack on Jizhou at this time?"

“We all know the strength of the Fengwu Army. With their strength and the firearms they are equipped with, unless the main force of the Yan Army is on high alert in Jizhou, they will definitely not be able to stop the Fengwu Army. Once Jizhou is destroyed, Yuyang, Fanyang, Shanggu, Yijing, Bei'an, Daixian and other places in the heart of Youyan will be exposed to Ye Mingsheng’s sword...”

"At that time, Zhao Fuqu's main force was in Yunbing, and he was completely unable to stop Ye Mingsheng's invasion. Even if he could repel Feng Han's return, Youyan would have lost at least half of it, and his troops were also exhausted. Ye Mingsheng was well-rested and the advantage was on his side!" "As long as Youyan is captured, Ye Mingsheng can swallow up the heartland of Hebei and Henan, and can retreat to defend the northern border. He can advance and retreat freely, and the foundation of the kingship has taken shape!"

Cui Shao said this, Zhao Yu and Yun Hanjie both understood his idea. Yun Hanjie said with some dissatisfaction:

"Master Cui, what you said is too simple. Zhao Fuqu has been in Youyan for more than ten years. How powerful was Shangguan Hongyuan back then? How powerful were the 200,000 imperial guards under his command? Isn't it impossible to do anything about Zhao Fuqu? No matter how powerful Ye Mingsheng is, can he be as powerful as Shangguan Hongyuan? No matter how powerful the Fengwu Army is, can it be as powerful as the Imperial Guards?"

Cui Shao shook his head and said:

“You and I have both seen the battles of the Fengwu Army and its factories. Ye Mingsheng and the Fengwu Army may not be as good as Shangguan Hongyuan and the Great Zhou Imperial Army now, but if Ye Mingsheng and the Fengwu Army are allowed to grow wildly, no one can say what will happen…”

"And the most important thing is that when facing Shangguan Hongyuan, Zhao Fuqu was extremely cautious, fearing that he would make the slightest mistake. But when facing Ye Mingsheng now, Zhao Fuqu is full of contempt. He doesn't think Ye Mingsheng is a threat to him at all!"

"It's just like Song Wenhui and Chen Dechang. Just last year, they thought Ye Mingsheng was just a chess piece they could manipulate at will. But in just one year, both of them committed suicide, and Ye Mingsheng suddenly became the governor of Liaoyang!"

Yun Hanjie opened his mouth when he heard this, as if he wanted to say something else, but after thinking about it, he became speechless and could not say anything.

Zhao Yu frowned and said:

"Master Cui, do you really want to join Ye Mingsheng?"

"Submission? Didn't we submit a long time ago?" Cui Shao asked with a smile.

“Instead of thinking about how to resist Ye Mingsheng’s exploitation of us, I think we can change our mindset and broaden our horizons and think about what we can get from Ye Mingsheng…”

"I am almost sixty this year, and half of my body is about to be buried in the ground. I don't have many years left, so I want to take a gamble and give Ye Mingsheng a chance, and also give myself a chance to see if I, Cui Shao, can surpass the ancestors of the Cui family and bring the Cui family to a new height!"

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The next morning, after finishing breakfast and going to work, Ye Mingsheng sent a message to He Jingyun and Gu Sansi, asking them to postpone the plan. Since he had already talked with Cui Shao, Ye Mingsheng believed in Cui Shao's influence on the three clans in Liaoyang, so he gave Cui Shao some time to persuade the Gongsun family and the Yun family.

Ye Mingsheng thought that this would be an ordinary working day. In the morning, he would work on cracking down on illegal merchants who hoarded goods. At noon, he would have lunch, exercise and take a short nap. In the afternoon, he would deal with a batch of disarmament matters. At night, he would flip the cards and take a nap.

However, what he didn't expect was that before he finished the first task, Qi Dechao came to report to Huo San that he had something important to report. Although he didn't know what Huo San wanted to report, Ye Mingsheng had a hunch that he was in new trouble...

"Your humble servant greets His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief!" Huo San walked into Ye Mingsheng's study and bowed to greet him.

Looking at Huo San who suddenly arrived, Ye Mingsheng waved his hand and said:
"No need to be polite, just tell me what's going on!"

"Yes! Your Excellency, according to our spies in Gongdu, there are some new developments in Gongdu. A coup has taken place in Liujing, and the King of Gongdu, Li Xuanmin, has been sidelined. Although most of the military forces of Gongdu are nominally controlled by General Li Jiande, the actual leader is Wang Kangxin!"

"Wang Kangxin got a transfer order from somewhere, saying that he was appointed as the general of the palace by the Great Zhou court and was to lead the troops of the palace. Behind him were the shadows of Shen Jianzhong and the Black Dragon Society. Shen Jianzhong is currently confirmed to be in the palace. He is very active in the palace and seems to be plotting a counterattack on Liaoyang!"

After Huo San finished speaking, Ye Mingsheng knew that his premonition had come true again!

When Ye Mingsheng heard Huo San mention the name "Wang Kangxin", a familiar figure immediately emerged in his mind!

The design forced the original owner to commit suicide. Wang Kangxin, who told himself in Liujing that the mountains and rivers will never change, will never fade.

Although he had some doubts that the Wang Kangxin mentioned by Huo San was the Wang Kangxin he knew, the possibility of having the same name and surname still existed, so for the sake of caution, Ye Mingsheng asked:

"Who is this Wang Kangxin you are talking about?"

"Report to the Lord, this Wang Kangxin served as the commander of the Xuanwu Imperial Guards in the eighth year of Anhe. After the Gongdu Incident, he followed the army to attack Liujing and the Luochuan Road granary..."

Having said this, Huo San raised his head and looked at Ye Mingsheng, with an expression that seemed to indicate he wanted to say something but was hesitant.

After hearing Huo San's introduction and seeing his expression, Ye Mingsheng knew that this Wang Kangxin was his "colleague" from the past!

Although Wang Kangxin had said to him with a face full of resentment that the mountains and rivers would never change, Ye Mingsheng had never seen him again after he retreated from Liujing under the order of Xu Zhaojie.
When the Zhenwu Army was first established, Wang Kangxin’s name was not on the list of generals. Ye Mingsheng was curious and inquired about the news, but he only learned that Xu Zhaojie had not only tried to kill him, but also ambushed Wang Kangxin. Since then, there has been no news about Wang Kangxin...

(End of this chapter)