Chapter 526: Secret War!

After learning about the crimes committed by the Ma family, Ye Mingsheng decided to target the Ma family. On the one hand, it was to implement his new policy reforms and give an explanation to the people, and on the other hand, he also wanted to make some money from the Ma family...

The original organization of the Fengwu Army was formulated based on the situation in Liaoyang, but with the current expansion of the Fengwu Army in Youyan territory and the needs of future wars, the current organization can no longer meet the needs of the war, so the General Staff has been formulating an expansion plan. The specific plan will be formulated within the next ten days and submitted to Ye Mingsheng for approval.

The expansion of the army, the recruitment of personnel, weapons and armor, food, clothing, housing and transportation, etc., all require a huge expenditure. Now the Liaoyang area is already doing its best to support the finances while maintaining social security and stability. In order to win the hearts of the people and stabilize the local area, Ye Mingsheng is also implementing a people-friendly policy of reducing taxes and burdens in the captured Youyan territory. In the short term, Youyan will not have much financial support.

Therefore, Ye Mingsheng must find a way to fill the financial gap caused by the military expansion. Of course, although the Ma family is wealthy, it is difficult for them alone to completely fill the financial gap. However, Ye Mingsheng only plans to slaughter the fat sheep of the Ma family as a temporary solution.

After passing this critical juncture, Ye Mingsheng will continue to deepen the reform and take control of the basic industries related to people's livelihood, such as grain, coal, cloth, salt, horses, and the financial industry including the ticket exchange. In this way, although the people-friendly policy of tax cuts and fee reductions has been implemented, the fiscal revenue from business is enough to make up for the fiscal expenditure brought about by the military expansion...

Although he had decided to take action against the Ma family, Ye Mingsheng did not act hastily. He ordered his soldiers to rush into Dai County to arrest the young and old of the Ma family and confiscate their property. He was fully capable of doing so and could have done so, but until now, Ye Mingsheng still remained restrained because he knew that what he was about to face was not just the Ma family, but a huge interest group composed of gentry, bureaucrats, and wealthy businessmen.

This interest group has been deeply rooted in Youyan for many years, and the Ma family is just an important part of this interest group. If they act rashly, it may trigger a series of domino effects, affecting Ye Mingsheng's plan to appease the people and consolidate his regime. And once they act, they must use the power of thunder to reach the vital points, so that this group of rabble will collapse in an instant!

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Dongquan County is one hundred and fifty miles northwest of Yijing.

At the second watch, Li Ergou, the sentry on the city wall, kept yawning and staring at the road outside the city with sleepy eyes. His mind was full of thoughts about when he could go home, whether his parents had received the military pay from the Dadongsheng Bank, and whether he could go home after fighting this battle to save some money and get married.

When he thought of his wife, Li Ergou instantly perked up and subconsciously touched the five taels of silver in his arms. He had been thinking about Xiaofang in the village for more than a year and had looked for her father several times, but her father insisted on asking for ten taels of silver as a betrothal gift, saying that he wanted a wife for Xiaofang's younger brother and would not agree to a penny less.

For this matter, he had been living frugally and tightening his belt for more than a year, and he was still far from the goal. Fortunately, this time the higher-ups sent troops into the pass, and he, Li Ergou, chopped off several Yan soldiers' heads and made military achievements. The higher-ups rewarded him with five taels of silver, and with these five taels of silver, he finally collected enough money for the bride price.

In addition to the five taels of silver, the government also allocated five acres of land to him in his hometown. He had the right to use the five acres of land for thirty years, and had the priority to renew the contract for another thirty years. Besides that, his status as a soldier also brought him some tax exemptions. Whenever Li Ergou thought of these, he felt very happy, and his heart was full of longing for the outside world...
As an ordinary soldier of the Second Division, Li Ergou had only attended private school for a few days, and the only characters he knew were his own name, "Li Ergou". Although he did not understand those big principles that made people's heads dizzy, as a young man from the countryside he also had his own simple understanding.

He didn't know whether the rumors in the city that Marshal Ye was a traitor of the Great Zhou and that he would become emperor after seizing Yujing were true or not. He only knew that when he was in his hometown, he worked on the farm for eight hours a day for the landlord, and was so tired that he couldn't survive and went out to beg for food, the almighty emperor ignored him. It was the Fengwu Army that took him in and gave him a bowl of rice, bringing hope to his originally confused life!

He eats and wears Marshal Ye's clothes, so naturally he has to work for Marshal Ye. If Marshal Ye says to beat someone, Li Ergou will rush up and risk his life to beat him.

Just as Li Ergou was thinking about returning to his hometown and living a wonderful life with his wife Xiaofang and children, the sound of hurried horse hooves in the distance interrupted his dream.

Seeing someone outside rushing towards his city gate, Li Ergou shouted to the outside of the city gate as usual:

"The gates are closed. They will be opened at 11:00 am tomorrow..."

Before Li Ergou could finish his words, he heard someone outside shouting:

"The Coordination Office is investigating the case. Open the city gates immediately!"

Hearing the words "Coordination Office", Li Ergou, who was feeling a little sleepy at first, instantly became alert. He had heard from others that this Coordination Office was the Supervisory Office of Liaoyang, a complete devil's den, and the people inside were all ruthless characters who would kill without blinking an eye!

In view of the other party's reputation, Li Ergou did not dare to neglect him and immediately said:

"Wait a moment, I'll go over and we'll all come over!"

Although the officials of the coordination office outside the city were very impatient and somewhat annoyed with Li Ergou's answer, they also knew that opening the city gate late at night was not something a small sentinel could decide, so they immediately agreed and said:

"Hurry up! The work of the Coordination Office has delayed us! You can't afford it!"

"Understood, understood, I'll go in now!"

While replying, Li Ergou hurried into the watchtower, woke up the sleeping captain Zhang Dashan, and reported the matter to him. When he heard that it was related to the Coordination Office, Zhang Dashan lost all sleepiness and quickly came to the city wall, lowered the hanging basket, and obtained the token of the official of the Coordination Office outside the city gate.

Then Zhang Dashan, who also didn't dare to make the decision, took the token to report to the higher-level leaders. After an incense stick of time, Wang Licheng, the commander of the Second Division of the Fengwu Army stationed in Dongquan County, personally came to the city gate to open the gate and let them pass...
Seeing that the commander, who was so high and mighty in his eyes, was ignored by the officials of the Coordination Office who were entering the city one after another, Li Ergou was secretly shocked and said to Zhang Dashan, the head of the city, who was also standing respectfully beside him:

"Boss, how come this person from the Coordination Office is so powerful!"

Listening to his fellow villager Li Ergou talking to him, Zhang Dashan quickly made a gesture to keep quiet, and then for the sake of his fellow villager, he lowered his voice and said:
"Keep your voice down! I heard from the sentry commander that this group of people are not ordinary people from the Coordination Office. The leader seems to be the deputy director of the Coordination Office, named Wang Xuecheng, who is a very important official!"

Li Ergou, who had only been in private school for a few days, had no concrete concept of the description of a great official, but he could not suppress his curiosity and continued to ask in a low voice;
"Boss, how big of an important official is this?" Zhang Dashan thought for a moment and said in a low voice:

"The kind that can meet Marshal Ye!"

Just as Li Ergou and Zhang Dashan were talking quietly, Wang Xuecheng and his group were galloping through the city on horseback, and came to a hidden courtyard in the city. Wang Xuecheng dismounted and headed for the house. Beside him, his adjutant Ye Musheng followed closely in his footsteps. After entering the courtyard, Ye Musheng hesitated for a moment and whispered:
“Sir, I heard that Wang Licheng is the favorite general of Lord Lin Huaiwu of the Second Division. Are we being so disrespectful to him…?”

Wang Xuecheng said without turning his head:

"The Coordination Office only needs to be responsible to the Marshal, and no one else needs to care about it!"

Listening to Wang Xuecheng's teachings, Ye Musheng nodded and said:

"Yes!"

Wang Xuecheng seemed to have thought of something and suddenly stopped, then looked at his adjutant and brother-in-law Ye Musheng and said:

"Mu Sheng, I'm giving you a piece of advice. The work of the General Coordination Office is to offend people. There are countless people in the Fengwu Army who are eyeing our position, and they want to find something to hold against us. If you want to survive in the General Coordination Office for a long time, it's best not to get involved with the military. It's good to be quick-witted, but it's not used in this way. Do you understand what I mean?"

Listening to his brother-in-law's words, Ye Musheng immediately felt a chill in his heart and nodded quickly and said:
"I understand!"

After getting Ye Musheng’s answer, Wang Xuecheng looked at Lin Musheng carefully. Just when Lin Musheng felt a little uneasy, Wang Xuecheng patted him on the shoulder and continued to walk deeper into the yard...
Upon learning of Wang Xuecheng's arrival, a capable young man hurried over and bowed to Wang Xuecheng and said:

"Your humble servant Jiang Le pays respect to Director Wang!"

Wang Xuecheng had no interest in Jiang Le, a small centurion. He nodded slightly as a greeting and said directly:
"Are you sure you have captured Ma Hongye's cronies?"

Facing Wang Xuecheng's question, Jiang Le did not dare to be negligent and immediately said:

"Sir, the man I caught is called Chen Sanbiao. He has a nickname called Master Biao in Youyan Dao. Ma Hongye's shady tasks are all assigned to him. This man is Ma Hongye's absolute confidant. Ma Hongye even arranged for his favorite mistress, Xiao Cuixiang, to be Chen Sanbiao's wife!"

Wang Xuecheng frowned slightly after hearing this, as if he did not understand Jiang Le's words. Seeing this, Jiang Le said in detail:
“I’m reporting to you, sir. Ma Hongye’s wife, Gao, comes from a prominent family. She is the daughter of Gao Hai, the former Censor of Youyan. Gao Hai is also one of the protectors of the Ma family in Youyan. Therefore, relying on the power of her natal family, Gao is very jealous and does not allow Ma Hongye to find other women. When Gao found out that Ma Hongye secretly kept Xiao Cuixiang outside, she made a big fuss and almost killed Xiao Cuixiang…”

"In order to appease Gao, Ma Hongye could only assure Gao that he had cut off contact with Xiao Cuixiang and gave Xiao Cuixiang to Chen Sanbiao. But this was just a trick of Ma Hongye. Chen Sanbiao was just a cover. He and Xiao Cuixiang had never broken off contact. Ma Hongye often went to Chen Sanbiao's house to meet Xiao Cuixiang privately under the pretext of discussing things with Chen Sanbiao!"

"Therefore, I think that the fact that Ma Hongye can do such things with Chen Sanbiao is enough to show that the two of them have a very close relationship. If Chen Sanbiao is caught, it is very likely that the bastard Ma Hongye will be caught as well!"

Listening to Jiang Le's analysis, Wang Xuecheng nodded in agreement and then asked:

"I remember that Chen Sanbiao's whereabouts were erratic, and few people had seen his true face. How did you know for sure that he was Chen Sanbiao?"

In response to Wang Xuecheng's question, Jiang Le continued:
"You are right, sir. This man's whereabouts are indeed strange and unpredictable. We also learned by chance that Dongquan County is his hometown and his family is buried here. Chen Sanbiao may come back to worship at any time every year. We happened to be on duty in the area, so we tried our luck and arranged for people to set up surveillance here!"

“At first, after being caught, this man was unwilling to admit that he was Chen Sanbiao. It was not until my men tortured his two henchmen that they could no longer bear it and finally confessed…”

After listening to Jiang Le's answer, Wang Xuecheng felt that there was no problem and asked again:

"Has Chen Sanbiao spoken now?"

As soon as Wang Xuecheng finished speaking, Jiang Le, who had just been talking confidently, suddenly showed an embarrassed look on his face and said helplessly:
"Director Wang, Chen Sanbiao is really a tough guy. We have used all the severe tortures we can, but Chen Sanbiao still refuses to speak. He also refuses to eat or drink water. We can only force-feed him some rice soup!"

After hearing this, Wang Xuecheng raised his eyebrows and said:
"How many times have you used waterboarding?"

Jiang Le thought about it and replied helplessly:
"Your Excellency, we have done this about thirty times. However, because Chen Sanbiao refused to eat or drink and was determined to die, and was tortured so severely, he has already lost half his life and is now dying. If we continue to torture him, he may die, so we have stopped the torture now!"

Listening to Jiang Le’s report, Wang Xuecheng also felt a little bit tricky. Ever since Ye Mingsheng taught them the water torture, their Coordination Office has subdued many tough guys with this trick. Few people can resist twenty times, let alone thirty times...
(End of this chapter)