Chapter 473 Is there another reason?

Shen Yutong's father, Censor Shen Hui, was a Jinshi in the first year of Anhe. Because the chief examiner at that time was Murong Lun, the then cabinet minister, Shen Hui, who passed the imperial examination, was considered a disciple of Murong Lun according to the rules of the imperial examination. After becoming Murong Lun's disciple, Shen Hui followed the procedures and became a censor in the Censorate under Murong Lun's arrangement...

Because of Shen Hui's relationship, the women of the Shen family are very close to the women of the Murong family, especially Shen Yutong and Murong Qingwu. They are of similar age and both like books and classics, so they have been inseparable since childhood, as close as sisters, and studied under the same teacher.

The duty of the Censor is to supervise all officials in the court, and in factional struggles, the position of the Censor is used to fire cannons. Although Ye Mingsheng did not know the intention of Murong Lun in arranging Shen Hui into the Censorate, and Wang Xuecheng's investigation report did not mention it, he guessed that Murong Lun's purpose was to make Shen Hui a biting dog under his Murong family.

It is said that Murong Lun promised Shen Hui that he would use all the power of the Murong family to help Shen Hui make further progress in the Censorate. Therefore, Shen Hui was also loyal to Murong Lun. Under Murong Lun's secret instructions, he would fire shots in the court from time to time for the benefit of the Murong family.

Huang Zhonghe, the Right Vice Minister of Rites, Chen Jian, the Junior Minister of Dali Temple, and a number of officials were punished because of Shen Hui's advice. Huang Zhonghe, the Right Vice Minister of Rites, was especially punished because he was forced by Shen Hui to retire early. Huang Tinghe hated Shen Hui in his heart because of this, which also laid the groundwork for Shen Hui's beheading and confiscation of his property later...
Because he helped Murong Lun do several big things in succession, Murong Lun tried to help Shen Hui and take the position of Chief Censor of the Censorate in the early years of Anhe. However, due to too much resistance in the Censorate, his plan ended in vain!

In the third year of Anhe, there was a locust plague in Guanzhong and the Ministry of Revenue was ordered to provide disaster relief. However, the then Minister of Revenue, Sun Da, died suddenly of a serious illness. After the political game in the court, all parties reached a consensus on the candidate to succeed the Minister of Revenue, that is, to choose one between Murong Lun, the then Left Vice Minister of Revenue, and Chen Shizhong, the then Right Vice Minister of Revenue.

The assessment standard was the disaster relief. Each of them was responsible for an area. Whoever did a good job would take over the position of Minister of Revenue. In order to ascend to the position of Minister of Revenue, Murong Lun made two preparations. On the one hand, he actively provided disaster relief, and on the other hand, he arranged people to secretly hinder Chen Shizhong's disaster relief.

Hard work pays off. Under Murong Lun’s tactics, Chen Shizhong’s weakness was revealed. After Murong Lun got the weakness, he gave it to Shen Hui, the censor. Shen Hui used the weakness to attack Chen Shizhong in the court, making Chen Shizhong embarrassed. Finally, he lost the competition for the Minister of Revenue...
After Murong Lun became the Minister of Revenue as he wished, he also fulfilled his promise and strongly supported Shen Hui to become the Chief Censor of the Censorate. Shen Hui, who became the Chief Censor, was in high spirits.
At this time, Lin Shize and Shangguan Hongyuan were fighting for power in the court. Because Murong Lun and Lin Shize belonged to the same camp, Shen Hui often fired at Shangguan Hongyuan at Murong Lun's instruction.

Although the public opinion at that time was very bad for Shangguan Hongyuan, because he held military power, Shangguan Hongyuan was able to overthrow Lin Shize as he wished and became the powerful Prime Minister of Da Zhou. Shen Hui was also purged because of this. Shangguan Hongyuan, who had just ascended to the position of Prime Minister, wanted to show his magnanimity and save his image because of the bad public opinion environment.

So at the beginning Shangguan Hongyuan just wanted to demote Shen Hui from office, but at this time his confidant Huang Zhongxin also hated Shen Hui because of his brother Huang Zhonghe's affairs, so he repeatedly made suggestions to Shangguan Hongyuan, and with Huang Zhongxin's obstruction, Shen Hui was eventually sentenced to confiscation of property and beheading...

Shen Hui had hoped that Murong Lun could help him, but under the tyranny of Shangguan Hongyuan who was at the peak of his power at the time, Murong Lun had no choice but to surrender and was forced to give up Shen Hui, the good dog he had cultivated.

In the autumn of the fourth year of Anhe, Shen Hui and the male members of his family were beheaded at Caishikou, and the female members of his family were also sent to the Jiaofangsi. Shen Yutong became a prostitute because of this, but with the secret help of Murong Qingwu, although Shen Yutong suffered some grievances in the Jiaofangsi, she was still safe and sound.

As she grew older, Shen Yutong became more and more graceful and beautiful, which attracted countless peeping eyes in the Music Bureau. One of them was Murong Shancai from the Murong family. He was the third brother of Murong Lun, the third master of the Murong family, and the third uncle of Murong Qingwu. However, because he was born to a concubine and was mediocre, greedy and lustful, he just borrowed the reputation of the Murong family and became a fifth-rank official with no power!

And it was this Murong Shancai who had his eyes on Shen Yutong, intending to make her his concubine. Shen Yutong was also of a very strong character, because her parents and relatives all died because of the Murong family. Now Murong Shancai was trying to occupy her, so the increasingly grief-stricken Shen Yutong refused to obey, and even stabbed Murong Shancai who was trying to force her with a pair of scissors...
Because of this incident, Murong Shancai was furious and even wanted to find someone to beat Shen Yutong up. At this time, Murong Qingwu stood up and protected Shen Yutong and had a big quarrel with her third uncle. Although Murong Shancai was of higher seniority, Murong Qingwu was very much loved in the Murong family, so he could only be defeated in disgrace.

Although Murong Qingwu stepped forward to protect Shen Yutong, Murong Shancai's wife Liu was not a good person and was very jealous. She stubbornly believed that it was Shen Yutong who seduced Murong Shancai first, so she wanted to find someone to kill Shen Yutong. Although Murong Qingwu stopped her in the end, Shen Yutong could no longer stay in Luoan, and had to flee to Liaoyang to avoid disaster.

After carefully reading the investigation report given to him by Wang Xuecheng, Ye Mingsheng narrowed his eyes and tapped the desk lightly with his fingers...
Wang Xuecheng's report solved his initial doubts about the relationship between Murong Qingwu and Shen Yutong. From these things, it can be seen that the relationship between Murong Qingwu and Shen Yutong is indeed complicated and the Murong family has always been a huge mountain that cannot be avoided in the relationship between the two!

Although this doubt was solved, it brought another bigger doubt to Ye Mingsheng!

From Shen Yutong's story, we can see that this seemingly weak woman actually has a very strong character. She would rather die than obey Murong Shancai and even stabbed Murong Shancai with scissors. When dealing with Song Wenhui, she would rather pretend to have tuberculosis than stay by his side.

Then why is it that when it comes to me, Ye, I am willing to be given to myself as a gift by An Miaoyi?
Could it be that my charm has become so great?
Or is there some unknown reason behind this?

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Yijing, the Governor's Mansion.

Yan army general Shen Zhuo walked into the side room under the guidance of his servants. He looked at the smiling young man sitting on the chair and bowed to him, saying:
"I, your humble servant, greet you, Master!"

Seeing this, Zhao Jianan smiled and said:

"General Shen, no need to be so polite!"

When Shen Zhuo stood up, Zhao Jianan looked him up and down, then looked at the burly, tough-looking man in front of him and said slowly:
"The main reason I brought you back from Jizhou this time is to ask you about the situation in Jizhou..."

Shen Zhuo was a little confused by Zhao Jianan's question. He didn't know why the eldest son Zhao Jianan was not busy fighting for power with the second son Zhao Jianwen, but was suddenly concerned about the defense of Jizhou. However, after all, a higher-ranking official can crush a higher-ranking official, and the other party is likely to be the future successor of the Yan Army, so Shen Zhuo still said respectfully:
"Reporting to the eldest master, my army has a total of 11,131 people in Jizhou, of which 8,000 are stationed in Jizhou City, and the rest are stationed in the surrounding township outposts. Everything is as usual, and no abnormalities have been found!"

Zhao Jianan nodded and continued to ask:

"Recently, has Ye Mingsheng in the east been behaving well?" Listening to Zhao Jianan's words, Shen Zhuo showed a trace of disdain on his face and reported in a deep voice:

"The Fengwu Army under Ye Mingsheng is just a bunch of rabble. They are good at fighting the people of Gongdu, but they dare not have any conflict with the Yan Army. Their patrolling soldiers always walk around us when they see us, just like rabbits in the bushes!"

“It would be fine if Ye Mingsheng is as honest as he is now, but if he has any ill intentions, I, Old Shen, will go to Dongning and chop off Ye Mingsheng’s head. Then I will capture An Miaoyi and see if she is as beautiful as the rumored reincarnation of Bao Si…”

Although he was just asking casually, Zhao Jianan felt something was wrong when he heard Shen Zhuo, who was in charge of Jizhou's defense, look down on Ye Mingsheng, so he opened his mouth to warn him:

"General Shen, the Fengwu Army may not be a match for our Yan Army, but Ye Mingsheng also came from the Imperial Army. He started from the bottom and worked his way up. He defeated Wang Muzhi of the Zhenwu Army in Liaoyang, and now he has conquered Gongdu without a single drop of blood. This man is definitely not as bad as you think!"

"General Shen, you must not let your guard down. Jizhou is the eastern gate of Youyan. If Jizhou is lost, the east of Yijing will be undefended!"

Listening to Zhao Jianan's warning, Shen Zhuo disagreed in his heart, but under Zhao Jianan's gaze he could only pretend to be serious and nodded in agreement.

Although he saw through Shen Zhuo's pretense at a glance, Zhao Jianan couldn't say anything harsh to a general like Shen Zhuo who commanded a large army. After all, he was only the eldest son now, not the governor of Youyan. Moreover, Zhao Jianan didn't think that Ye Mingsheng really had the courage to draw his sword against Youyan at this time...
After showing concern for Jizhou's defense and praising Shen Zhuo's ability, Zhao Jianan suddenly turned the subject to Shen Zhuo and asked:

"General Shen, what do you think of our army's battle in Yunbing?"

Shen Zhuo was startled when he heard this, and after thinking for a while, he said calmly:

"Although our army suffered a setback in Yunbing this time, fortunately the Governor is fine, so the setback is only temporary. After the New Year, our army will be able to regroup under the command of the Governor and defeat the traitor Shangguan in Jinyang and aim at Guanzhong in one battle!"

Listening to Shen Zhuo's meaningless polite words, Zhao Jianan glanced at him indifferently, then pretended to be nonchalant and said:
"My father plans to transfer a troop from Youyan to Yunbing for support after the New Year. Currently, the person leading the troops has not been decided. General Shen, you must be prepared..."

Shen Zhuo was a little surprised when he heard this, but he still nodded and bowed in response to Zhao Jianan's gaze and said:

"Thank you for your reminder, Young Master. As a member of the Yan Army, I, Shen Zhuo, will certainly accept your invitation if the Governor-General intends to employ me!"

"Very good! General Shen is worthy of being the pillar of our Yan army!" Zhao Jianan clapped his hands and praised:

After saying this, Zhao Jianan gave a few more instructions and then let Shen Zhuo leave. Just as Shen Zhuo bowed and said goodbye and was about to walk out of the room, Zhao Jianan's voice suddenly came from behind him again.

"General Shen, I heard that you have recently acquired a few beauties? Although they are beautiful, you must take good care of yourself!"

Listening to Zhao Jianan's meaningful words, Shen Zhuo's mind suddenly tensed up, but he still said calmly:

"Your Excellency is right. I will follow your instructions!"

"Go!"

After half a cup of tea, Zhao Jianan watched Shen Zhuo's back gradually turn into a small black dot, and instructed the attendant beside him:

"Bring Mr. Sun here!"

"Yes!"

Half an incense stick later, Sun Zhunde, with a gloomy face, came to Zhao Jianan. When Zhao Jianan saw Sun Zhunde, he said angrily:
"Mr. Sun, this Shen Zhuo is not honest at all. I have warned him but he is still trying to fool me. Does he really think that he took in that bastard Jianwen's five Yangzhou skinny horses and did it secretly without anyone knowing?"

The reason why Zhao Jianan called Shen Zhuo back from Jizhou this time was nominally to understand the defense situation of Jizhou, but in fact it was because he heard that Shen Zhuo had taken in five skinny horses from Yangzhou from Zhao Jianwen, so he called Shen Zhuo back specifically to give him a good warning.

The main force of the Yan army followed Zhao Fuqu to Yunbing. Currently, there are only more than 50,000 Yan army soldiers left in Youyan. Among them, 20,000 are under Zhao Yong, 20,000 are under Zhao Jianan, and the remaining 10,000 are under Shen Zhuo. If Shen Zhuo sides with Zhao Jianwen at this time, there is no guarantee that Zhao Jianwen will not do something desperate when the situation is really critical...
(End of this chapter)