Chapter 429 The surrounding situation!
After inspecting the second manufacturing plant, Ye Mingsheng, in a good mood, returned to his governor's mansion. As soon as he returned to the study and hadn't even sat down in the chair, his attendant Qi Dechao came to report with a memorial...

Glancing at the memorial in Qi Dechao's hand, Ye Mingsheng suddenly asked:
"Is there any news from the palace?"

"Yes! My lord, when you just went to inspect the second manufacturing plant, the General Staff sent someone to deliver the memorial!" After Qi Dechao finished speaking, he respectfully presented the memorial to Ye Mingsheng.

Ye Mingsheng, whose eyes were a little tired, rubbed his temples and said:

"Go ahead!"

"Yes!"

Upon hearing this, Qi Dechao took back his memorial and began to preach:
"General Yuan Song of the First Division reported that his troops have successfully captured Hamheung County and captured the enemy's defender Li Xuanren. Li Xuanren has now been handed over to the General Coordination Office. Since entering the palace, the First Division has suffered 361 casualties and 677 injuries. After resting for a day in Hamheung County, the First Division will continue to advance towards Seosan County as planned..."

Qi Dechao paused here, hesitated for a moment and said:
"General Yuan said in his memorial that Ye Dong was brave and resourceful in the battle in the palace this time, and he made great contributions by capturing thousands of palace soldiers. However, one of his commanders suffered a relapse of his old injury and could not continue to participate in the battle in the palace, so General Yuan asked the adults to approve Ye Dong's promotion to commander!"

Hearing the name "Ye Dong", Ye Mingsheng, who was leaning on the chair and rubbing the Qingming acupoint, slowed down his movements and a complex emotion emerged in his heart. As one of the first few brothers after he came to this world, he had always trusted Ye Dong very much, brought him by his side and made him the captain of his personal guards, and had been trying to cultivate him by words and deeds.

Although Ye Dong was loyal to him, and he believed that he would jump into a fire pit without hesitation even if he was asked to do so, he was always a little rash in doing things. When he was in Shoucheng, it was because of his negligence that he almost fell into danger.

After that incident, Ye Mingsheng, who was very disappointed with him, removed him from the position of captain of his personal guards and sent him to Yuan Song to train at the front line of the Fengwu Army...

Although Ye Dong was transferred away from his side, Ye Mingsheng had been secretly paying attention to his movements. When fighting the Zhenwu Army, Ye Dong had made many military achievements under Yuan Song's command.

When Yuan Song was besieged by the Zhenwu Army under the city of Dongning, he personally led a squad of suicide squads to block the breach in the camp, making great contributions to Yuan Song's troops being able to survive the siege of the main force of the Zhenwu Army!

Yuan Song, who was deeply impressed by Ye Dong's bravery in that battle, personally wrote a memorial to Ye Mingsheng to request credit for Ye Dong, hoping that Ye Dong could be promoted to commander. Ye Mingsheng was also very happy for his little brother that Ye Dong could make such a great contribution.

However, at that time, it was only a few months before Ye Mingsheng transferred Ye Dong. Ye Mingsheng was worried that promoting Ye Dong so quickly would make him proud and complacent, and the lesson he learned would not be profound, which would be detrimental to his future growth. So he suppressed the matter and just let Ye Dong continue to be a deputy commander.

Now more than half a year has passed, and when the people from the Coordination Office reported to him, they all said that Ye Dong has become much more calm and sophisticated, and is no longer as impulsive as before. Now that Ye Dong has made such a great contribution, Ye Mingsheng believes that he has matured a lot, so the time is ripe for him to be promoted, so he nodded and ordered:

"Yuan Song's request has been approved. Ye Dong will be promoted to the rank 7th rank commander. I will also tell Ye Dong to work hard with Yuan Song in the palace and bring honor to the Ye family!"

"Yes!"

"Apart from these, is there anything else mentioned in Yuan Song's memorial?"

"General Yuan didn't say anything else!"

Qi Dechao glanced at the time on the memorial and said to Ye Mingsheng:
"Oh, sir! General Yuan's memorial was sent from the palace three days ago. It is estimated that General Yuan's First Division should have arrived in Ruishan County by now..."

"Ok!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly, picked up the tea on the desk, took a sip and continued to ask:
"Any news about Guo Zhiping and the others now?"

As soon as the words fell, Qi Dechao said without hesitation:
"General Guo and his men have now arrived at Wanfeng Prefecture. According to the plan, they have only launched a feint attack on Wanfeng Prefecture. However, according to General Guo's report, the fighting power of the palace garrison of Wanfeng Prefecture is very weak. He asked if it is possible to capture Wanfeng Prefecture in one fell swoop?"

Hearing this, Ye Mingsheng hesitated for a moment and said:
"Write him a reply! Tell him that the purpose of our army's expedition to Gongdu this time is not to occupy Gongdu, but to eliminate the remnants of Wang Kangxin, Shen Jianzhong and others. So let him act according to the plan and pay close attention to the movements of the enemy in Liujing. Once Wang Kangxin takes the bait, he and Peng Ce must ensure that they support Yuan Song's First Division as quickly as possible and annihilate all the enemy's living forces!"

After remembering Ye Mingsheng's instructions word for word, Qi Dechao continued:

"Director Wang of the Coordination Office went to Gongdu five days ago to assist Kobayakawa Takahide in his work. He reported that he had met with representatives of the royal family of Gongdu, and the negotiations between the two sides were progressing very positively. The other party stated that as long as our army does not continue to station troops in Gongdu, they will not interfere in the internal and foreign affairs of Gongdu."

'They can help us capture Wang Kangxin and Shen Jianzhong, and continue to recognize our Great Zhou as our suzerain state, and pay tribute to our Great Zhou every year...'

Upon hearing this, Ye Mingsheng sneered and replied calmly:
"Now it is of utmost importance to eliminate Wang Kangxin and Shen Jianzhong, two hidden dangers. The interests of Gongdu can be put aside for now. Let Wang Xuecheng agree to the request of the royal family of Gongdu. When our army enters the pass and captures Youyan, it will not be too late to take back Gongdu after we have time!"

Before listening to the battle plan of the General Staff and deciding to send troops to Gongdu to kill Wang Kangxin, Ye Mingsheng took into account the possibility that Wang Kangxin and Shen Jianzhong would play a game of defending the city to the death, clearing the countryside, and stalling for time with him. So Ye Mingsheng used Kobayakawa Takahide as a chess piece to make the first move, contacting the forces within Gongdu, winning them over and dividing them, and making them oppose Wang Kangxin.

In this way, even if Wang Kangxin and Shen Jianzhong want to defend the city to the death, they are not united internally. Ye Mingsheng can still break through their defenses from within and send these two guys to death...

After saying this, Ye Mingsheng's eye fatigue was almost relieved, and he began to deal with the accumulated official documents. Just as he wrote a few words on a petition for silver relief for the flood, Ye Mingsheng saw that Qi Dechao did not leave the study as usual, so he asked with some surprise:
"Is there anything else going on in the palace?"

Qi Dechao shook his head and said:
"Yes, there is something else, but it's not from the palace, but news from inside the country!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Mingsheng immediately became interested. He put down the brush in his hand, leaned back in his chair and said:
"Tell me about it!"

"Sir, first of all, here is the news from Yunbing. After Zhao Fuqu led his troops into Yunbing territory, he encountered a stubborn resistance from Feng Han's troops. But now Zhao Fuqu has successfully fought his way to Jinzhong, which is only a few hundred miles away from Jinyang. There are only 10,000 defenders in Jinzhong. If Feng Han, who is stationed in Jinyang, does not send troops to support him, the General Staff estimates that Zhao Fuqu will be able to take Jinzhong within half a month at the latest!"

After listening to Qi Dechao's words, Ye Mingsheng narrowed his eyes and began to think silently.

Previously, He Jingyun and other staff officers of the General Staff believed that Zhao Fuqu would take over Jinzhong before the cold winter came. But now it seems that Zhao Fuqu’s progress in sending troops to Yunbing is ten to twenty days faster than the time deduced by the General Staff...
It seems that the Yan army under Zhao Fuqu is stronger than expected! If this is the case, then the previous combat simulation of the General Staff should be restarted to recalculate the progress of Zhao Fuqu's expedition to Yunbing and the strength of the Yan army.

Seeing Ye Mingsheng lost in thought, Qi Dechao hesitated for a moment, still wanting to express his own views, and said tentatively:

"My lord, I think it's not surprising that the Yan army is advancing so fast..."

Listening to Qi Dechao's words, Ye Mingsheng calmly ordered:

"Keep talking!"

With Ye Mingsheng's permission, Qi Dechao's confidence was boosted. He organized his words and said
"Sir, according to the report from the Coordination Office, Zhao Fuqu has been plotting against Yunbing for a long time. The Yan army's spies disguised themselves as traveling merchants several years ago and began to set foot in Yunbing's territory, measuring the topography, mountains, rivers and rivers in preparation for invading Yunbing!"

"The land of Youyan has been home to many heroes since ancient times, and its people are tough. The Yan army under Zhao Fuqu has been fighting against the Luobei people for many years, and its combat effectiveness is already among the best among the many vassal states of the Great Zhou. This time, they have accumulated a lot of experience and obtained the manufacturing method of the Po Lu gun from us. With thousands of Po Lu guns, their combat effectiveness has greatly increased. It is normal for them to progress so quickly!"

“But in my opinion, Feng Han is no ordinary person as he is valued by Shangguan Hongyuan and is in charge of Yunbing. Jinyang is one of the most powerful cities in the world with high walls. Shangguan Hongyuan will not sit idly by and watch Feng Han perish in Yunbing. So I feel that Zhao Fuqu’s next actions in Yunbing will not be so smooth…”

After telling Ye Mingsheng everything he was thinking, Qi Dechao looked at Ye Mingsheng with some anticipation and some trepidation.

Under Qi Dechao's gaze, Ye Mingsheng glanced at him, then a faint smile appeared on his face and he said:
"Good, you can think of these things, which means you have used your brain!"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng say this, Qi Dechao said somewhat embarrassedly:

"It's all thanks to your words and deeds. De Chao has benefited a lot!"

"It's also your own hard work that makes you better!"

After encouraging Qi Dechao for a few words, Ye Mingsheng asked again:

"Have the two thousand Po Lu guns that the Yan army ordered from us been delivered to You Yan?"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng's question, Qi Dechao recalled and said:
"Sir, if I remember correctly, the two thousand Po Lu guns were urgently needed by Youyan. In order to get the full payment as soon as possible and provide loans to farmers to buy seeds and farm tools, we directly took out some old Po Lu guns from our combat troops and sent them over..."

"Although we use second-hand ones, the quality is better than those produced by Youyan. So a few days ago, I heard that people from Youyan were negotiating with Mr. Gu to purchase another 1,000 Po Lu guns from us, and in addition, they also want to purchase 2,000 Weiyuan guns!"

After introducing these situations, Qi Dechao thought about the previous content and asked thoughtfully:

"Sir, are you not going to sell it this time? You're going to hold back the Yan army?"

Ye Mingsheng waved his hand and smiled, saying meaningfully:

"Sell! Of course I will! As long as Zhao Fuqu can afford the price, I will sell it to him for whatever he wants. Why not make some money that is delivered to my doorstep?"

"However, our army's expedition to Gongdu also consumes a huge amount of firearms, so we can't deliver them all at once like in the past. We need to deliver them in batches, and we also need to coordinate the time for the batch delivery!"

"In addition, we in Liaoyang are poor and have financial difficulties, so in order to allow the factory to start producing firearms for them, we need Youyan to pay the fees first!"

When Ye Mingsheng finished speaking, Qi Dechao gave him a thumbs up and said with heartfelt emotion:

"Sir, this is a really great idea! It's like killing two birds with one stone!"

In response to Qi Dechao's compliment, Ye Mingsheng just smiled and didn't pay much attention to it. Then he asked:

"Except for Zhao Fuqu, how are Shangguan Hongyuan and Lin Shize doing outside the pass?"

“Shangguan Hongyuan is stationed in Luoan and has sent his general Li Chengen to lead 100,000 imperial troops to encircle and suppress Lin Shize and his court on their southern tour. Li Chengen has already captured Hanzhong and will enter Sichuan next. Although the imperial troops are attacking fiercely, without the supply of money and food from the world, it is unknown how long they can last. In addition, Sichuan and Shu are protected by natural barriers, so it is still unknown who will win or lose between the two sides...”

"Duan Yuting, the inspector general of Anqing, who is loyal to the Southern Tour Court, has become seriously ill and is dying, so he has submitted a petition to the Southern Tour Court, hoping that the emperor can send someone to take his place!"

Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but feel emotional when he heard the news. Although the Zhou Dynasty is now divided by local warlords and many heroes are rising up, the Zhou Dynasty has lasted for 300 years and there are still many people who care about the Zhou Dynasty and want to be loyal to the emperor.

Anqing is a wealthy place. Duan Yuting, the Anqing Inspector General, has tens of thousands of troops under his command. Now he says he doesn't want them and directly gives them to the court on its southern tour. This Duan guy is truly a loyal minister of the Great Zhou!

As Ye Mingsheng was expressing his feelings, Qi Dechao continued to introduce:

"It is said that the imperial court on its southern tour intends to send Xu Zhaojie to take over Duan Yuting's position and his people..."

(End of this chapter)