Chapter 533 Diplomatic Intervention!

Ye Mingsheng's words immediately woke up the Fengwu Army generals present. Under the current situation, the Fengwu Army has not fully prepared for the strategic material reserves for a long-term war, but the battles in Xinle and Shunping are progressing smoothly. If they stop here, they will be unwilling to do so. So, it seems that it may be the right choice to reduce the appetite and only take one of the two cities...
He Jingyun pondered for a while and suggested to Ye Mingsheng:
"Your Excellency's idea is very good, but in my opinion, of the two cities of Xinle and Shunping, Shunping's geographical location is more important. If our army captures Shunping, then even if Xinle is still in the hands of the Yan army, their situation in this area will be very passive. When our army decides to start a decisive battle, it will be easy to take Xinle into its pocket!"

Listening to He Jingyun's words, Ye Mingsheng was a little puzzled. It was not that he was not clear about Shunping's geographical advantages. The geographical locations of the two cities, Shunping and Xinle, had been clearly displayed on the sand table. As long as one had a little knowledge of military and geography, one could clearly realize that compared to Xinle, Shunping was more important. This was why the Yan army invested more troops in Shunping!
Being able to capture Shunping is naturally better than capturing Xinle, but the key to the problem is that there are 5,000 Yan troops in Shunping, and according to the intelligence from the Coordination Office, there are about 30,000 to 50,000 people in Shunping City. Based on this population base, the Yan army in Shunping can get 2,000 to 3,000 young and strong people from the city to help defend the city. If the qualifications are expanded, it is entirely possible to recruit more than 5,000 people.

Now Gu Shouting and Ma Zhongjun have a total of more than 10,000 soldiers and horses. It would be extremely difficult to capture Shunping with just these soldiers and horses.

Moreover, without Gu Shouting's presence in Xinle to hold them back, the Yan army in Xinle would most likely harass them from the side. If things really develop in this way, then the advantageous situation that Ma Zhongjun and Gu Shouting had worked so hard to create might be wasted...
This is also the reason why Ye Mingsheng wants to attack Xinle instead of Shunping. Ye Mingsheng believes that He Jingyun also understands this, so he is puzzled by what He Jingyun said. Although he doesn't quite understand He Jingyun's thoughts, since his chief of staff has spoken, Ye Mingsheng pondered for a while and asked:

"How confident are you that you can take down Shunping City with only Ma Zhongjun and Gu Shouting's 10,000 people?"

Facing Ye Mingsheng's question, He Jingyun replied calmly:

"Your Excellency's idea has pointed out the direction for us. I think we have a 50% chance of taking Shunping. Of course, even if we can't take Shunping, we will take Xinle as a nail buried in the central part of Youyan, laying a solid foundation for our army's next attack on Zhuo County!"

Upon hearing that He Jingyun was 50% sure and had Xinle as a backup, Ye Mingsheng thought it was okay to let He Jingyun take a chance and immediately asked:

"Do you have any requests?"

He Jingyun pondered for a while after hearing this and reported to Ye Mingsheng:

"If this battle is to succeed, we need the full support of the Coordination Office!"

Ye Mingsheng, who got the answer, turned his gaze to Huo San at the end and said:
"You've heard General He's thoughts. What do you want to say?"

Huo San stood up and replied respectfully:
"As long as you allow, my lord, our Coordination Office will fully cooperate with Chief of Staff He's actions..."

Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng immediately made the decision:

"Very good! This battle will be fully handled by General He. The Coordination Office must fully cooperate and there must be no mistakes!"

"I have received your order and will not fail in my mission and present Shunping to you!" He Jingyun said in a deep voice:
After dealing with the war situation in Xinle Shunping, Ye Mingsheng ended the combat meeting and returned to his residence in Yijing, where his trusted and beloved general Gu Sansi was already waiting for him.

Seeing Ye Mingsheng coming back, Gu Sansi, who looked solemn, handed a memorial to Ye Mingsheng and said:

"This is their joint letter to you, sir! They ask you to release Ma Hongde, disband the Coordination Office, and restore the people's livelihood order in Youyan!"

Ye Mingsheng, who had expected this, took the so-called "joint letter" with a normal look. He glanced at the words "Considering the people of Youyan, not competing with the people for profit" written on it. Ye Mingsheng smiled and shook his head, then called Ye Cheng in and instructed:

"I'll give you this joint letter. Write down all the names on it and give it to Huo San to investigate!"

"Yes!"

After receiving Ye Mingsheng's order, Ye Cheng immediately went down to do his job.

After Ye Cheng left, Gu Sansi, who was watching Ye Mingsheng's operation quietly, hesitated for a moment and reminded Ye Mingsheng:

“Sir Ma Hongde is their lifeblood. At least half of them are in collusion with Ma Hongde. So after they knew that Ma Hongde was taken away by the Coordination Office, they were all very emotional. They were all worried that Ma Hongde would betray them. So they were eager to get Ma Hongde out. If we don’t release him, they are likely to take more radical actions…”

Ye Mingsheng's eyes flashed with coldness when he heard this, and he waved his hand and said:
"For the sake of the overall situation, I only killed a few scum who had committed many evil deeds, and did not carry out a major purge. If they still don't feel grateful and know how to advance and retreat, the swords in the hands of the Fengwu Army will make them understand this. Don't worry, Sansi. Wang Xuecheng has already made a comprehensive deployment. A few scumbags can't cause any trouble!"

Ye Mingsheng's answer undoubtedly gave Gu Sansi a reassurance. As the person in charge appointed by Ye Mingsheng to implement the new policy in Youyan, he was already in a political vortex. People from all walks of life wanted to influence him and interfere with his decision. Although he had Ye Mingsheng as a strong backer, Gu Sansi still bore a lot of pressure in the process of promoting the new policy.

Now the public-private partnership he led has just started to show some signs of improvement. The prices of grain, salt, cloth and other basic necessities in Youyan have begun to fall sharply compared to the beginning of the year, and have gradually stabilized. Stable prices and sufficient supply have also reduced the living pressure of the people, and the public grievances have therefore been greatly reduced.

And at this time, the Ma Hongde incident happened. Although Gu Sansi strongly supported Ye Mingsheng in eradicating this scourge and dismantling the interest group behind this guy, he was also very worried in his heart whether the Ma Hongde incident would cause some disturbances in the people's livelihood in Youyan. Now Ye Mingsheng's answer really made him feel at ease.

After pacifying Gu Sansi, Ye Mingsheng continued:
"You should have known about Huainan's situation, right? What do you think about it?"

Gu Sansi seemed a little surprised when he heard Ye Mingsheng's question. He hesitated for a moment and asked, "Sir, are you talking about Xu Zhaojie, the Marquis of Zhenyuan, who stabbed Feng Keqin, the governor of Huainan?"

Ye Mingsheng didn’t say anything, just looked at Gu Sansi and nodded·······················

Gu Sansi was a little unsure about Ye Mingsheng's attitude. Although Ye Mingsheng did not say it explicitly, he vaguely felt that there was a grudge between Ye Mingsheng and Xu Zhaojie!
Gu Sansi was recommended by Ma Runshan in Liaoyang to join Ye Mingsheng, who was then the general of Fengzhou. He only knew that Ye Mingsheng had served in the Xuanwu Imperial Guards, and that Xu Zhaojie, the Marquis of Zhenyuan of the Great Zhou, had served as the commander of the Xuanwu Imperial Guards and was Ye Mingsheng's old superior. As for other things, Gu Sansi was not very clear.

Seeing that Gu Sansi was trying very hard to figure out his feelings and hesitated for a long time without saying a word, Ye Mingsheng directly said in a deep voice:
"Xu Zhaojie and I have a feud that cannot be sworn. Now that Xu Zhaojie has defeated Feng Keqin in Huainan and is aggressively expanding his territory, I cannot sit back and watch. I brought you here today to see if you have any good ideas to influence Huainan and stop Xu Zhaojie's expansion!"

After Ye Mingsheng finished speaking, although he still didn't know what kind of grudges there were between Ye Mingsheng and Xu Zhaojie, as a subordinate, Gu Sansi already knew what Ye Mingsheng was thinking. He thought for a while and carefully considered his words, and reminded Ye Mingsheng:

“My lord, although our army has entered the pass with great momentum, it has been a short time since then and there has not been much communication between the various forces. It is very difficult to exert influence on the Huainan area and stop Xu Zhaojie’s offensive at this time, unless our army can open up the road to Huainan…”

Listening to Gu Sansi's dissuasion, Ye Mingsheng said calmly:

"This is not just a personal grudge between Xu Zhaojie and me, but also a matter of our army's strategic layout. Although Xu Zhaojie is sinister and despicable, he is also a hero of the time. If he seizes Huainan, he will use Huainan as a base to compete with our army for the Central Plains and try to stop our army from moving south. Therefore, our army must not sit idly by and watch Xu Zhaojie get Huainan so easily!"

Feeling the firm determination in Ye Mingsheng's words, Gu Sansi knew that Ye Mingsheng was determined to deal with Xu Zhaojie. Realizing this, Gu Sansi spoke:
"Since you have made up your mind, please tell me and I will do my best to do it!"

Seeing that Gu Sansi and he had the same idea, Ye Mingsheng ordered:

"I remember you recommended someone to me before. I can't quite remember his name, but I remember you praised him very much and said he was a natural lobbyist!"

Gu Sansi immediately introduced:

"This man is called Su Yi. He is from Jizhou, Youyan. He was once a scholar in the eighth year of Anhe. He originally went to Luoan to participate in the palace examination, but the emperor was on a southern tour. A poor boy like him could not be valued by Zhao Fuqu, so he stayed in his hometown to farm and study, and opened a private school to teach some children to read and write!"

“Because Su Yi is a man who teaches everyone and has won a lot of praise in the countryside of Jizhou. After we opened the public private school, he also came to apply for the position of teacher…”

"After meeting him, I felt that he was knowledgeable, quick-witted, and especially good at diplomacy. What's more, he was bold and careful, and remained calm even when faced with a mountain collapse. No matter what happened, he could handle it calmly and calmly. He is a rare diplomatic talent!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded upon hearing this, and then asked:
"What is he doing now?"

"Your Excellency, Su Yi is currently serving as a deputy minister in the Chief Administrative Office, helping me communicate with all parties!"

After Gu Sansi finished speaking, he raised his head again and said to Ye Mingsheng tentatively:

"Sir, Su Yi is currently performing very well at work. Do you think I should ask him to come and meet you?"

Ye Mingsheng shook his head and said:
"I'm not going to see him anymore. I believe in your vision, Sansi. I'm going to give him a mission! Let him serve as the envoy of my Fengwu Army to represent my Fengwu Army to Qi and Lu, and go to Licheng to meet Cao Changping, the governor of Qi and Lu!"

After these words came out, Gu Sansi's eyes showed a trace of hesitation, and then he said to Ye Mingsheng:
"Sir, are you planning to use Cao Changping to deal with Xu Zhaojie?"

Seeing that Gu Sansi understood his idea, Ye Mingsheng nodded and said in a deep voice:
"It was the conspiracy between Cao Changping and Xu Zhaojie that caused Feng Keqin to fall into the trap. Until now, we still don’t know whether he is alive or dead..."

"There is no deep affection between Cao Changping and Xu Zhaojie. They are temporarily together because of their own interests. They both have their eyes on the rich land of Huainan and want to take it for themselves. While they are united to deal with Feng Keqin, they are also fighting openly and secretly against each other and calculating against each other!"

"It's just that Xu Zhaojie is more skilled, so Cao Changping has to bear the pressure of resisting Feng Keqin head-on in Langya, and the losses are very heavy. Even if Feng Keqin is defeated now, he is unable to continue invading Huainan, and can only watch Xu Zhaojie capture cities in Huainan!"

"So I want Su Yi to represent me to meet Cao Changping and tell him that I support him going south to fight with Xu Zhaojie for Huainan. For this, I can sign a non-aggression treaty with him to ensure that my Fengwu Army will not take advantage of the situation to invade Qi and Lu when he goes south. In addition, if he needs it, I can sell him a batch of arms!"

"Think carefully, do you think Su Yi is capable of this task?"

After listening to Ye Mingsheng's words and realizing that Ye Mingsheng was still calm, Gu Sansi felt relieved and nodded and said seriously:
"Sir, I believe Su Yi is capable enough to take on this task. I will go back and tell him right away!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Mingsheng explained:
"Then you should ask him to prepare to set off as soon as possible. Xu Zhaojie is expanding very quickly in Huainan. According to the information from the Coordination Office, he is now almost occupying one-third of Huainan's territory. The sooner Cao Changping sends troops, the greater the threat to Xu Zhaojie..."

(End of this chapter)