Chapter 525 The storm is coming!

May 17, Yijing
With the help of his servants, Ma Hongde slowly got down from the carriage. Looking at the big words "Cui Mansion" on the plaque in front of him, he nodded slightly and led a group of servants carrying gifts towards the gate of the mansion...
Just as they were about to enter the mansion, the doorman came to meet them. Seeing that Ma Hongde was dressed in bright and elegant clothes and followed by many servants, the doorman realized that Ma Hongde was not ordinary, so he bowed to Ma Hongde and said;
"May I ask your name, sir? Have you made an agreement with my master?"

Ma Hongde smiled and said:
"My name is Ma Hongde. I came here in a hurry and didn't inform Lord Cui yet. But you can go back and tell Lord Cui that Ma Hongde came to congratulate him on his succession as the governor of Youyan. I'm sure Lord Cui will let me in!"

Listening to Ma Hongde's words, the concierge was somewhat skeptical. After hesitating for a moment, he bowed to Ma Hongde and said:
"Master Ma, please wait a moment. I will pass the message on!"

After a cup of tea, Cui Desheng, who received a visit from Ma Hongde, did not dare to make a decision and immediately went to Cui Shao's study to ask Cui Shao to make a decision. When he entered Cui Shao's study, he saw Cui Shao practicing calligraphy with ink. Cui Desheng, who knew the rules, was anxious in his heart, but he also stood aside and waited.

Perhaps he had sensed Cui Desheng's arrival, so Cui Shao, who was copying the calligraphy, quickly finished it. While wiping his hands with a towel, he thought about Cui Desheng and asked:

"What happened?"

Cui Desheng heard the words and said in detail:

“Third uncle Ma Hongde is here! He brought a lot of gifts, saying that he came to congratulate you on becoming the governor of Youyan…”

After these words, Cui Shao's expression remained calm, but his eyes narrowed slightly. Seeing that Cui Shao didn't say anything, Cui Desheng hesitated for a moment and said:
"Uncle San, I heard that Ma Hongde gave Gu Sansi a pair of jade bracelets, but not long after, Gu Sansi returned the bracelets to Ma Hongde. Gu Sansi is the governor's confidant and beloved general. He did this most likely with the governor's instructions!"

"And I heard that the Coordination Office is investigating some corruption in Youyan's officialdom. It is said that Wang Xuecheng has been working hard for several days and nights, as if he had been injected with chicken blood. He has dug up a lot of dirty information and arrested many people. Many of the things directly point to the Ma family. I think the commander-in-chief may want to deal with them!"

“Uncle San comes to visit you with so many gifts at this time. He must have heard some rumors. He hopes you can come forward to plead with the governor. Should we avoid seeing him to prevent the governor from having any other ideas? I’ll tell him that Uncle San is not here or he’s not feeling well…”

Listening to Cui Desheng's thoughts, Cui Shao shook his head and said with a smile:

"Before I came to Youyan, I heard that the Ma family in Dai County is very well-informed. Now it seems that their reputation is truly well-known! I just came back from the Governor's Office less than an hour ago, and he came to my door. If I don't meet him at this time, I will really be giving him no face!"

Cui Desheng wanted to say something after hearing this, but Cui Shao waved his hand and said:

"Although Ye Mingsheng is suspicious, he is not so foolish. Let Ma Hongde come in so that I can take a good look at what he is capable of!"

"Yes!"

Although Cui Desheng wanted to persuade him again, he could only follow Cui Shao's idea when he saw that Cui Shao had made up his mind. After a cup of tea, under Cui Desheng's guidance, Ma Hongde came to Cui Shao's study. When he saw Cui Shao, Ma Hongde immediately bowed deeply and said:

"I, Ma Hongde, greet Governor Cui!"

Although Ma Hongde called himself a commoner and seemed respectful, he was actually overstepping the boundaries. Although Ma Hongde was very powerful in Youyan and had close interests with many officials and generals, he was still a commoner in the final analysis. According to the laws of the Great Zhou, a commoner like him should kneel down and pay respect when meeting the governor, but now Ma Hongde just bowed to deal with it...
Although what Ma Hongde did was inappropriate, Cui Shao naturally would not make a fuss about this issue. However, Cui Shao would not be too enthusiastic towards Ma Hongde. He just responded lightly, and then gave a look to Cui Desheng on the side. Cui Desheng immediately retreated quietly, and deliberately did not close the door before leaving.

After getting up, Ma Hongde looked at Cui Shao, who had a cold expression on his face. After noticing that the door was not closed, he already knew Cui Shao's intentions. He simply stopped pretending and looked directly at Cui Shao and said:

"Master Cui, General Ye is your nephew, are you so afraid of him?"

Faced with Ma Hongde's direct provocation, Cui Shao, who was already old, would not be fooled and said calmly:
"If you came here in public just to tell me these things, I am really disappointed!"

Ma Hongde was also expecting Cui Shao not to fall for the trick. He glanced at the open door and said meaningfully to Cui Shao:
"It seems that you, Lord Cui, are also very clear that there is a ghost from the Coordination Office in your mansion!"

Cui Shao shook his head and said:
"When I went to Luo'an to report on my work in my early years, I passed by Dai County and met your father Ma Yaowen once. To be honest, Ma Hongde, your means of collusion between officials and businessmen are even better than your father's, but in terms of character and personality, you really embarrass your father..."

Ma Hongde's face turned pale as soon as these words came out, but he could not refute them. Seeing that it was difficult to sow discord, he took a deep breath, looked at Cui Shao and said:

"Master Cui, I'm sure you have guessed why I came here today, right?"

Cui Shao smiled and said:

"You didn't come to me to ask me to plead for you with the Overseer!"

Ma Hongde did not hide his smile in response to Cui Shao's words and said;

"Master Cui, you really have a keen eye, which is admirable!"

Feeling the confidence revealed by Ma Hongde, Cui Shao looked at him deeply and said:
"You are acting like this, which makes me curious about what your trump card is."

In response to Cui Shao's question, Ma Hongde smiled mysteriously and said:

"Master Cui, I believe it won't be long before you know!"

After saying that, Ma Hongde changed the subject and said, "Since it has come to this, I will speak frankly. The purpose of my trip is to make a deal with Lord Cui. I am a businessman, and the key to doing business is win-win, so that everyone can get rich. Now I have a win-win deal. I wonder if Lord Cui is interested?"

Cui Shao said without comment:
"tell me the story!"

After getting Cui Shao's answer, Ma Hongde said with a stern expression:
“I know that you have great skills, Lord Cui. You are no worse than Zhang Liang and Xiao He. But this is Youyan, not Liaoyang…”

"Even if you have a thousand tricks, Master Cui, you can't cook without rice. If you want to secure the position of the governor, you need someone to help you. I'm afraid you know that Master Gu Zhongshi has always regarded the position of the governor as something in his pocket!"

"And now, Lord Cui, you have come out of nowhere and taken the position of the governor. What will Lord Gu Zhongshi think?"

After understanding Ma Hongde's bargaining chips, Cui Shao asked calmly:
"What do you need me to do?"

Ma Hongde said seriously:
"It's very simple! I need you, Lord Cui, to persuade the Governor General at the critical moment not to do something that would destroy everything together and leave a way for us to survive. Since we have already chosen the Fengwu Army, we can only follow the Governor General to the end. Why should we be put to death for some poor Koreans?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Cui Shao's eyes flashed with a fleeting gleam of light. Facing Ma Hongde's gaze, he still did not give an answer and continued to ask:

“You can always ask Gu Zhongshi to do this. Why bother me?”

Ma Hongde shook his head with some disdain and said:
"At first I thought Gu Zhongshi had this face, but in the eyes of Governor Ye, his face is shit. Governor Ye came to see him but he didn't see him, so what else can we talk about?"

After saying this, Ma Hongde seemed to have thought of something, and looked at Cui Shao with a half-smile and said:
"As for choosing you, Lord Cui, not only because you are the uncle of General Ye and are deeply trusted by General Ye, but also because you, Lord Cui, are the biggest victim of General Ye's reforms. If there is anyone in the Fengwu Army who hopes that I can succeed, it must be you, Lord Cui!"

Cui Shao said calmly:
"You are too conceited!"

Ma Hongde shook his head and said:
"Master Cui, you are wrong! I am not conceited, I am confident! If I didn't have this confidence, how could I dare to put my entire worth and life on the line this time!"

After saying this, Ma Hongde didn't wait for Cui Shao's reply. He looked at Cui Shao meaningfully, then turned around and left.

Looking at Ma Hongde's departing back, Cui Shao's eyes showed a bit of solemnity. He had underestimated this man before. This time, this man gave him gifts with great fanfare, but it turned out that he was just pretending to do so in front of Ye Mingsheng. In fact, he did have other purposes. Seeing that he looked determined to win, Ye Mingsheng seemed to be in real trouble...

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Yijing, Military Governor's Mansion
Ye Mingsheng was sitting on the armchair, slowly sipping the new tea brought from Jiangnan while flipping through the classics in his hands.

When Qin attacked Chu, it sent Wang Jian to lead an army of 600,000 men. The First Emperor personally escorted him to Bashang. When Wang Jian was on his way, he requested many beautiful fields, houses and gardens. The First Emperor said, "General, you are leaving now, why are you worried about poverty?" Wang Jian said, "As a general of Your Majesty, I can never be granted a title of nobility even though I have made meritorious contributions. Therefore, when Your Majesty pays homage to me, I will also ask for the gardens and gardens in time for my descendants to inherit." The First Emperor laughed. Wang Jian had reached the pass.

Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng smiled faintly and murmured in a voice that only he could hear:

"You want to be Wang Jian, then what am I? Qin Shi Huang?"

After saying that, Ye Mingsheng smiled and shook his head, then put the books on the table and prepared to start working. Ever since he was beaten by himself last time, and knowing that there was a vacancy for the deputy censor in the Liaoyang Censorate, he worked extra hard and dug out several big tigers in the government, and there were countless flies and wolves.

Although he was determined to change the atmosphere in Youyan's officialdom, Ye Mingsheng did not plan to deal with them all at once for the sake of the stability of his regime. Instead, he planned to respond to the public's call first, deal with a few people who had aroused great public outrage and committed unforgivable crimes, then transfer the others from important positions, and then deal with them in batches to minimize the impact as much as possible.

After all, the Fengwu Army had just captured Yijing. If they took all these people down at once, on the one hand, it would paralyze the administrative and judicial institutions. On the other hand, it would also cause very bad consequences and cause a violent backlash from local forces...

Just as Ye Mingsheng was about to make a choice from the list of tigers submitted by the Coordination Office, his new attendant Ye Cheng also came over and reported to Ye Mingsheng:

"Your Excellency, the Coordination Office is reporting that just one stick of incense ago, Ma Hongde brought many valuable gifts to visit Master Cui's residence!"

Ye Mingsheng, who was selecting people from the list, paused as soon as these words came out. Seeing this, Ye Cheng hesitated for a moment and continued:
"I heard that some time ago, Ma Hongde mobilized the power of Guangtaiheng Company and found three authentic works of Yan Zhenqing. Lord Cui is the best calligrapher in his life, and he especially admires Yan Zhenqing in calligraphy. Ma Hongde must have known this, so he catered to his tastes!"

Ye Mingsheng was silent for a while, then nodded and said:

"I know about this matter! Go and urge the General Staff to bring the latest situation of the battles in Xinle and Shunping as soon as possible!"

"Yes!"

After receiving Ye Mingsheng's order, Ye Cheng hurriedly took the order and left.

After Ye Cheng left, Ye Mingsheng was alone in the study, thinking about Ma Hongde's matter. Before, he asked Gu Sansi to return the bribes given by Ma Hongde to Gu Sansi. This was a warning to Ma Hongde. If Ma Hongde could repent and reform at that time, Ye Mingsheng might be able to show leniency to him.

But unfortunately, Ma Hongde not only did not understand Ye Mingsheng's good intentions, but he went even further and tried to take the lady's route by giving gifts to the women in his family. Fortunately, An Miaoyi knew her own rules and did not accept this gift that was full of people's hard-earned money.

Now, after a series of investigations by the Coordination Office, it was discovered that the masterminds behind many illegal activities in the Youyan market, such as bullying, hoarding, market manipulation, insider trading, and harvesting leeks, all pointed to the Ma family, and above the Ma family there were umbrellas of all sizes, protecting their interests...
(End of this chapter)