Chapter 508: Zhongyuan Yujing!

March 21st, Yujing, an important city in the central part of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, as the sun was setting, a group of more than ten envoys, under the protection of hundreds of Henan troops, walked into the city gate.

Pointing at the prosperous scenes on both sides of the road, Yu Jun Lieutenant General Zhang Huan was very proud and asked a middle-aged scholar beside him:

"Mr. Huang, what do you think of my Yujing compared to your Youyan's Yijing?"

Looking at the crowds coming and going, Huang Wen Ze nodded slightly and said:
"Yujing is the ancient capital of several dynasties. Looking at the prosperity of our Great Zhou, only Luoan can be compared with it. Of course, Yijing of Youyan is not as good as it!"

Listening to Huang Wen Ze's words, Zhang Huan, who was already very proud, became even more proud, and almost knocked his tail to the sky. However, at this moment, Huang Wen Ze changed the subject and continued:
“Although Yujing is full of flowers and is admirable, it is like a beautiful gem that makes people's heart beat so fast that they can't help but be greedy and want to possess it...”

As soon as these words came out, Zhang Huan's expression changed immediately, and he said coldly to Huang Wen Ze:

"Who is so bold as to come and provoke our Henan Army? If anyone is tempted, we will dig out his heart!"

Hearing Zhang Huan's harsh words, Huang Wen Ze just smiled meaningfully and didn't say anything else.

After walking in Yujing for a while, Huang Wenzhe and other Youyan envoys were arranged to stay in the post station and were not allowed to move around Yujing freely.

Ever since Zhao Fuqu followed Huang Wen Ze's advice seven days ago and gave up the plan to counterattack Yi Jing and retreated to the southern region of Youyan, Zhao Fuqu began to prepare to ask for help from Cao Changping and Gao Zongchang according to the plan. Since there was no suitable candidate around him and to highlight the importance he attached to the matter, Zhao Fuqu could only entrust Huang Wen Ze, whom he trusted the most, to handle the matter.

It was late at night at 11:00 p.m. Huang Wen Ze, who should have been lying in bed sleeping, was sitting on a chair with his eyes closed, as if waiting for something. After waiting for about an incense stick of time, a strange noise was heard in the yard.

Hearing the unusual noise, Huang Wen Ze immediately opened his eyes and quietly opened the door. A few seconds later, a young woman in night clothes quietly slipped into the room, bowed to Huang Wen Ze and said:

"Prajna meets sir!"

Huang Wen Ze looked up and down at the beautiful woman with a graceful figure, then asked in a low voice;
"Why are you later than the agreed time?"

In response to Huang Wen Ze's question, the woman named Prajna said calmly:

"Gao Dingshan drank too much and insisted that I accompany him. I finally took good care of him, and then I was able to get away and come to meet the adults..."

Listening to Prajna's explanation, Huang Wenzhe looked at her deeply, and then did not dwell on this topic but asked:

"What's Yujing's situation now?"

"After the news from Youyan arrived, some people headed by Gao Dingshan were deeply afraid of the Fengwu Army and felt that they should strengthen their military strength to deal with the Fengwu Army's continued southward advance. However, a group headed by Yang Yuanze believed that the Fengwu Army was far away and not to be feared. As for Gao Zongchang's own attitude, it is still unclear!" Prajna said without hesitation:
Huang Wen Ze frowned slightly after hearing this, and began to think quickly in his mind. Unlike the internal conflicts in Youyan over the issue of succession, Gao Zongchang, as the commander of Yujingdu, although he had dozens of children, had already decided to give the successor to his eldest son Gao Dingshan very early.

The young woman Prajna with a figure like Feng Sao in front of him was a chess piece arranged by Youyan in Yujing. Youyan used her family as a handle to force her to surrender, and then used some connections to enable her to get close to Gao Dingshan, and then climb into Gao Dingshan's bed and become Gao Dingshan's mistress, in order to collect intelligence on the core circle of Yujing.

The Yang Yuanze mentioned by Prajna was the deputy governor of Hebei and Henan. The reason why he was only a deputy governor was because Gao Zongchang, the local emperor of Hebei and Henan, was nominally only the commander of the Jade Capital, a third-rank official, not the governor-general of Hebei and Henan. In order to protect Gao Zongchang's power, the position of governor of Hebei and Henan was left vacant.

In addition, Gao Zongchang was old and mostly only cared about pleasure, while Gao Dingshan only cared about military affairs. Therefore, Yang Yuanze, the deputy governor, was actually the person in charge of the Hebei and Henan government, responsible for the stability and continuous operation of the Hebei and Henan government...

After thinking for a while, Huang Wen Ze asked Prajna:

"From what I remember, Gao Dingshan and Yang Yuanze didn't seem to have any conflicts. Why would Yang Yuanze stop Gao Dingshan's suggestion?"

In response to Huang Wen Ze's confusion, Prajna explained:
"Gao Dingshan and Yang Yuanze really have no conflicts. In fact, they have a fairly harmonious relationship. The reason why Yang Yuanze rejected Gao Dingshan's suggestion is that last year, due to drought, the grain output in Hebei and Henan decreased by 20% to 30%, while the rent demanded by the landlords did not decrease at all. So since the autumn harvest last year, there have been many peasant uprisings in various parts of Hebei and Henan, and peasants have fled to the mountains and become bandits!"

"Just over half a month ago, the bandit Zhang Dadao, who was entrenched in the Tumenlong area, gathered more than 10,000 soldiers and besieged Fengqiu for five days. If the Henan Army had not come to help in time, the bandits would have rushed into Fengqiu and looted everything!"

"Therefore, Yang Yuanze's idea is that the situation in Hebei and Henan is not very stable now. The unrest in various places has been suppressed by the Henan Army. If Gao Dingshan strengthens the military and prepares for war at this time, it will inevitably make the already tight finances of Hebei and Henan even more unsustainable." "The current financial situation is already very dire, and if we are preparing for war, facing the extra financial pressure, the government led by Yang Yuanze will have no good solution but to transfer this pressure to the landlords and gentry!"

“The landlords and gentry will transfer the pressure to the poor tenants underground. When the pressure continues to increase, it will inevitably lead to refugees everywhere and bandits running rampant. In this way, before Ye Mingsheng can attack, a large-scale peasant uprising will break out in Hebei and Henan sooner or later...”

Huang Wen Ze frowned as he listened to Prajna's explanation. It seemed that Ji Yu's situation was not as good as he thought!
Seeing Huang Wen Ze frowning, Prajna hesitated for a moment and said:
"Gao Dingshan has long heard of your great name, sir. He was very excited to hear that you came to Yujing. I think he will meet you soon!"

"But now, although Gao Zongchang is not in charge of things much, military affairs are handed over to Gao Dingshan, and government affairs are handed over to Yang Yuanze, but Gao Zongchang still needs to make the final decision on major matters. Whether it is Gao Dingshan, Yang Yuanze, or others, they can only make suggestions but not the final decision-making power."

Huang Wen Ze nodded and said:

"I know everything you said! You did a great job in Yujing!"

As soon as Huang Wen Ze finished speaking, he picked up a letter from the desk, handed it to Prajna and said:
"This is a letter written to you by your parents and your younger brother. Your brother is now working as a police officer in Zhuo County and has just married a new wife. The whole family is living very well in Zhuo County. You don't need to worry too much..."

After hearing what Huang Wen Ze said, Prajna's eyes suddenly revealed a glimmer of surprise. She quickly took the letter and bowed deeply to Huang Wen Ze and said:
"Thank you Mr. Huang and the Marshal for your care. I will serve the Marshal till my death!"

Huang Wen Ze nodded with satisfaction and then ordered:

"You've been out for quite some time. Go back quickly to avoid Gao Dingshan getting suspicious. If you have any news, contact me immediately!"

"Yes!"

After receiving the order, Prajna bowed and retreated.

Huang Wenzhe looked serious again as he watched Prajna gradually disappear into the darkness outside. This time when he was sent to Yujing, he thought that with the help of those backup forces, it would be a sure thing to get support from Ji and Yu. Then, when he was sent to Licheng, he would bring Cao Changping from Qi and Lu with him to form an "anti-Feng alliance" to deal with Ye Mingsheng!

But now it seems that the situation in Hebei and Henan is not very good. The contradiction between the landlords and the poor people is very big, and this huge contradiction is like a huge powder keg. If you are not careful, it will sweep across the Central Plains. This also ties up most of the energy and resources of Gao Zongchang's regime.

Considering the current situation of Gao Zongchang’s Hebei-Henan regime, perhaps I should lower my expected goals when I visit Yujing to meet Gao Zongchang this time...
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When Zhao Fuqu and his men began to proceed step by step according to their plan, Ye Mingsheng, who had already learned that Zhao Fuqu had led the remaining troops to withdraw to the southern part of Youyan, began to deal with his own affairs in addition to regret. In order to appease the people's hearts, he gathered hundreds of thousands of people in Yijing. Under the gaze of these hundreds of thousands of people, Ye Mingsheng made a public speech, making three rules for the people: those who kill will pay with their lives, those who injure and steal will be detained.

He also announced the abolition of some extremely cruel tortures that Zhao Fuqu had used during his tenure, the execution of some unscrupulous vendors who had raised prices, and the preferential policy of halving taxes under the rule of the Fengwu Army. This set of policy combinations by Ye Mingsheng immediately caused thunderous applause and cheers from the hundreds of thousands of people present, winning their trust and making them begin to look forward to a brand new life under the rule of the Fengwu Army.
After finishing his public speech, Ye Mingsheng immediately went to meet with Gu Zhongshi and his party in person, accepted the surrender of the Gu family, and stated on the spot that the personnel of Yuyang would remain unchanged. In addition, he would ask the emperor to appoint Gu Zhongshi as the deputy governor of Youyan Provincial Administration. Since the emperor was far away in Sichuan, he would take office immediately!

After receiving Ye Mingsheng's promise and feeling Ye Mingsheng's sincerity, Gu Zhongshi also reciprocated and stated on the spot that their Yuyang Gu family would donate 200,000 taels of silver, 300,000 dan of grain, and 50,000 pieces of cloth to the Fengwu Army. In addition, they would mobilize the family's connections passed down from generation to generation to actively lobby for the Fengwu Army in Youyan...
After dealing with the Gu family's affairs, Ye Mingsheng originally wanted to set off back to Dongning, but at this time Guo Zhiping captured Shanggu and captured Shanggu's general Cai Cheng, so Ye Mingsheng had to work overtime. He initially thought of executing Cai Cheng as a warning to others.

However, later on, because Cai Cheng admitted his mistakes with a very good attitude, and he had served as the general of Shanggu for many years and was always on the front line against the Luobi people, he was quite famous in Shangu and other northern Youyan areas. When they heard that Cai Cheng was captured by the Fengwu Army, many people came forward spontaneously to plead for Cai Cheng. Therefore, Ye Mingsheng spared his life for the time being because of his contribution to fighting against foreign races and defending the land and the people.

However, although he could escape the death penalty, he could not escape the punishment of life imprisonment. Ye Mingsheng confiscated a large sum of his property and then released him and confined him at home to reflect on his actions.

After doing all this, Ye Mingsheng temporarily handed over the military power of the Youyan front to Yuan Song, and asked him to lead his troops to gradually erode some places in the central part of Youyan, control these territories and let them provide resources for the Fengwu Army, and use them to oppress the strategic depth of the remnants of Zhao Fuqu.

As for government affairs, Ye Mingsheng handed it over to Gu Sansi. On the one hand, he asked him to temporarily replace himself in receiving envoys from all parties. On the other hand, he also asked him to integrate the Youyan government, eliminate the parasites in Zhao Fuqu's regime, find out their crimes, and make them public, so that the people can realize the corruption of Zhao Fuqu's regime and make the people stand on the side of his Fengwu Army...

Because Gu Sansi's tasks were very heavy and the workload was very large, Ye Mingsheng deliberately left his attendant Qi Dechao to Gu Sansi, asking him to assist Gu Sansi in his work and help Gu Sansi. On the one hand, this was to reduce the work pressure of this capable subordinate of his, and on the other hand, it was also to allow Qi Dechao, who was about to serve as a civil servant, to follow Gu Sansi and adapt to the work of a civil servant in advance. This could be regarded as killing two birds with one stone.

After everything was settled, Ye Mingsheng quietly led more than a thousand soldiers of the Royal Guard Battalion and quietly left Yijing on a dark and windy night. Although careful arrangements had been made, in order to avoid unnecessary trouble, only the core leaders of the Fengwu Army knew about Ye Mingsheng's departure, and no one else would know about it.

Dongning, Military Governor's Office.

Pei Zhixiu was staying in her own yard, tending to the flowers and plants she raised. Because she liked quietness very much, unlike other ladies in the mansion who wanted more servants to serve them, she only left one maid, Xiaohuan, in the yard, who was quite pleasing to the eye. She was responsible for cooking for her on weekdays and taking care of the flowers, plants and medicinal herbs in the yard when she went to the clinic to see patients.

Knowing that Pei Zhixiu was not like other women who liked luxury goods such as jewelry and silks, but liked precious medicinal herbs to study their pharmacology and medicinal properties, Ye Mingsheng supported her hobbies very much. While reminding her to be careful and not to test the drugs on herself, he also ordered his subordinates to find some precious medicinal herbs as gifts for Pei Zhixiu to study. Some of the seeds of these medicinal herbs were planted by Pei Zhixiu in her own small yard...

(End of this chapter)