Chapter 567 Output uprising!

Seeing that there was no one around, Ye Mingsheng's heart moved, and he grabbed Pei Zhixiu's slender little hand and pulled her into his arms, feeling the fragrance of the beauty in his arms. Facing Ye Mingsheng's sudden attack without warning, Pei Zhixiu was also a little surprised. She symbolically struggled twice and whispered:
“Don’t be like this, there are others…”

Ye Mingsheng smiled and said:

"I've seen it all, now it's just you and me!"

"That's not allowed! In broad daylight, if you're not ashamed, then I'll be ashamed too."

Pei Zhixiu said this very firmly, and then she held Ye Mingsheng's hand to prevent Ye Mingsheng from going any further.

After gently kissing Pei Zhixiu's tender cheek, Ye Mingsheng continued:
"My dear, if it's not possible in broad daylight, then can it be done at night?"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng's words, Pei Zhixiu seemed to have thought of something and said calmly;
"Didn't you just take in a pair of sisters? Isn't it the most fresh time? Why are you bothering me?"

Although Pei Zhixiu's tone was very calm, Ye Mingsheng could still sense the strong jealousy in her words. He knew that he had been busy with official duties recently and neglected the beauty and Pei Zhixiu, so he immediately started to coax her:
"They are not as good as you, Ji Soo. Only when I am with you, Ji Soo, can I truly feel the harmony and the dreamlike feeling..."

Listening to her lover's words, Pei Zhixiu's cold eyes could not help but reveal a hint of joy, but she still said unyieldingly:

"Humph! Who wants to merge with you like water?"

After saying this, Pei Zhixiu lightly flashed away, broke free from Ye Mingsheng's arms, and walked towards her own courtyard carrying her medicine box. Looking at Pei Zhixiu's graceful back as she left, Ye Mingsheng showed a faint smile on his face. Although Pei Zhixiu said this, he was familiar with her character and knew that he would have a very memorable night!
After bidding farewell to Pei Zhixiu, Ye Mingsheng returned to his study. Although he had a beautiful woman by his side, he could not slack off on government affairs. Although Ye Mingsheng did not consider himself a famous monarch throughout the ages, he did not want to be a tyrant who was easily deceived by his subordinates.

Seeing Ye Mingsheng return to the study, Ye Cheng brought a stack of official documents and placed them on Ye Mingsheng's desk before introducing them:

"Sir, these are the documents that the Chief Secretary and the Coordination Office just sent over. You need to make a decision and understand the situation!"

After saying that, Ye Cheng picked up the top document from the pile of documents and handed it to Ye Mingsheng, saying:

"This is the intelligence report on Hebei, Henan, and Qilu sent by the Coordination Office. It was written by Director Huo himself and is the second-level top-secret intelligence of the Coordination Office!"

Hearing the words "Level 2 top secret intelligence", Ye Mingsheng's expression became serious. In order to distinguish the importance of intelligence, the Coordination Office divided intelligence into two levels: confidential intelligence and top secret intelligence. Each level is further divided into three levels, one, two and three, with level one being the highest and level three being the lowest.

There is only one level one top-secret intelligence in the Fengwu Army, and that is the overall strategy of the Fengwu Army. Now Huo San has classified this intelligence report as level two top-secret intelligence of the Fengwu Army, which is enough to show how much importance this intelligence chief attaches to this intelligence...
Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly when he heard this, then took the document from Ye Cheng. Seeing this, Ye Cheng bowed and left the study, leaving Ye Mingsheng with a quiet environment. Ye Mingsheng opened the document and read the contents carefully.

After a stick of incense, Ye Mingsheng, who had carefully read every word in the document three times, put down the letter and fell into deep thought.

In this intelligence report, Huo San gave Ye Mingsheng a detailed introduction on how the crops in Qi, Lu, Hebei and Henan suffered heavy losses due to the drought and insect plagues in the recent period.

Although Gao Zongchang and Cao Changping were not good people, their IQs must be above average to have made it to this point. They knew that the lives of the lower classes were already hard enough, and that further exploitation would arouse public indignation and lead to peasant uprisings, so they prepared a series of tax reduction and disaster relief policies.

It stands to reason that if all these tax reduction and disaster relief measures are fully implemented and the people can truly feel the benefits, then although it cannot change their fate of being ripped off and exploited, it will at least help them get through this disaster year.

But unfortunately, the officialdom of the Great Zhou Dynasty is rotten from the root. It is not just a few people who are corrupt, but a widespread corruption. In order to change the political atmosphere in Liaoyang, Ye Mingsheng took great courage and killed 39 officials of all ranks, and then threw more than 100 officials into prison. Only then did he barely stop the trend of corruption and make the power departments efficient and honest...

Obviously, both Cao Changping and Gao Zongchang had close ties with the local localists, and even their regimes were based on the support of the localists. Therefore, they did not have the courage and determination like Ye Mingsheng to completely change the atmosphere in the officialdom.

Therefore, under such conditions, even if these two people now wake up and want to give the people a way out, so that they can continue to exploit them in the future, the people under them will not think so! These people still deceive their superiors and subordinates as before, collect silver according to the previous tax amount, and then divide the part exempted by the superiors among themselves.

As for those who couldn't pay, their homes were confiscated first and then their land was taken away. Such greedy practices caused many small peasant families who were already overwhelmed to become homeless! And the relief food, cloth and other supplies sent to the disaster area were secretly withheld by these termites, and then sold in the market. At this point, if there was still a conscience, they would take out a small part and buy some moldy rice and tattered cloth to deal with the job.

Those who are completely black-hearted are too lazy to even pretend to do anything, and simply turn a blind eye to everything, allowing the people to live in dire straits!
Under the double pressure of natural disasters and man-made calamities, the anger of the people finally erupted again. In the past month, according to the observations of the Coordination Office, several small-scale peasant uprisings occurred in Qi, Lu, Hebei and Henan.

The number of bandits and robbers entrenched in various hilltops is also expanding rapidly. Among them, the bandit Sanshanhao in Daya Mountain in Hebei and Henan has developed the fastest. Now he has gathered thousands of soldiers and horses and entrenched in Daya Mountain...

According to the investigation of the Coordination Office, the bandit nicknamed Sanshanhao, whose real name was Zhu Sanshan, had served as a captain in the Luoan Huwei Imperial Guards in the early years of Anhe. He had fought against the Cumans many times and had rich combat experience. However, in the sixth year of Anhe, he was ordered to be arrested for molesting the women of Luoan dignitaries while drunk. However, this guy heard the news in advance and escaped back to his hometown in Jiyu lying in a coffin.

Although he escaped back to his hometown, because Luoan had issued a warrant for his arrest, Zhu Sanshan had no choice. Having grown up in the open, he could only hide from place to place for fear of exposing his whereabouts. This situation lasted for several months. Forced by his livelihood, Zhu Sanshan had to go up the mountain and become a bandit, and joined Ma Jindao, a bandit in Daya Mountain at that time.

After all, Zhu Sanshan had been a captain in the imperial guards. Not only was he an excellent martial artist, but his ability to lead troops in battle was also unmatched among the bandits. He was soon appreciated by Ma Jindao, and after doing several major tasks in succession, he was promoted by Ma Jindao to the second in command.

In this way, time came to the eighth year of Anhe. Ma Jindao, who was greedy for the tax silver that Yingcheng gave to Yujing, led a large number of bandits down the mountain to rob. However, they did not know that this was indeed a trap set for them by the government troops. In this battle, Ma Jindao was captured and the bandits in Dayashan also suffered heavy casualties.

However, when everyone thought that Dayashan would be easily wiped out by the government troops under such circumstances, Zhu Sanshan led the remaining bandits, took advantage of the government troops' arrogance and underestimation of the enemy, and attacked the government army camp late at night. Not only did he defeat the government troops, but he also rescued the bandit leader Ma Jindao...

This battle made Zhu Sanshan completely famous among the green forests of Hebei and Henan. Not only did his reputation soar, but he also earned himself a reputation as a loyal righteous man. Many bandits and robbers came to join him.

After being captured by the government troops, Ma Jindao was tortured and injured. Even though he was rescued by Zhu Sanshan, he was seriously injured and died after a few months. After Ma Jindao's death, Zhu Sanshan relied on his prestige to become the new bandit leader of Dayashan. Because he was generous and loyal, his friends in the green forest gave Zhu Sanshan a nickname "Sanshanhao".

After becoming the bandit leader of Daya Mountain, Zhu Sanshan led the bandits on the mountain and committed several major crimes in succession, robbing several landlords and killing several corrupt officials who oppressed the people. For a time, he was very famous in the green forest, but this was also regarded as a thorn in the eye by the Henan Army. The Henan Army had encircled and suppressed Daya Mountain several times, but Zhu Sanshan relied on the dangerous terrain of Daya Mountain and flexible and changeable tactics to escape danger every time, causing the Henan Army a lot of headaches.

In this disaster year, perhaps feeling that the time had come, Zhu Sanshan chose to open the granary to recruit refugees. Under the temptation of food, tens of thousands of refugees flocked to Zhu Sanshan, and Zhu Sanshan also recruited young and strong people among these refugees. His strength grew very fast. The original army of more than a thousand people has now expanded to thousands of people, and he has the momentum to become the number one bandit in Hebei and Henan...

In addition to Sanshanhao, other bandits and robbers in Hebei, Henan, Qi and Lu were also expanding rapidly in an environment with refugees everywhere.

It was after observing this situation that Huo San came up with a bold idea, that is, the Fengwu Army would secretly give some support to these bandits, robbers, and peasant uprisings that might emerge in the future, in order to disrupt the local situation, consume the strength of the Henan Army and the Qi Army, and prepare for the Fengwu Army's next move south.

After understanding this situation, Ye Mingsheng was also somewhat tempted. According to the intelligence obtained by the Coordination Office, because the Fengwu Army's firearms performed very well in the war, the surrounding Fengwu Army, such as the Henan Army, the Qi Army, the Luoan Imperial Guards, and Xu Zhaojie's Anqing Army, all obtained the Fengwu Army's Po Lu Gun and Weiyuan Gun through various channels, and summoned firearms craftsmen to conduct research and imitation.

Ye Mingsheng had long anticipated their actions, and it was difficult to stop them. After all, both the Weiyuan Gun and the Polu Gun were mass-produced firearms, with tens of thousands produced. It was basically impossible to prevent the enemy from obtaining them on such a large scale.

The only thing Ye Mingsheng could do was to order the Ordnance Manufacturing Bureau to speed up the research and development of a new generation of muskets and expand the scale of production in order to defeat the opponent in terms of quality and quantity. At present, the research and development of the new generation of muskets of the Fengwu Army is progressing smoothly and has entered the final testing stage. As long as the test results go well, they can be put into mass production and equipped in large quantities in the Fengwu Army...

Although Ye Mingsheng already has a way to deal with it, it is an indisputable fact that the Fengwu Army's firearms advantage has been reduced. Therefore, Ye Mingsheng has to invest more energy in the overall strategy and form alliances to ensure the Fengwu Army's strategic advantage.

Now Huo San's proposal is in line with Ye Mingsheng's idea. The general policy of the Fengwu Army will still be to move south. Cao Changping of Qi and Lu and Gao Zongchang of Hebei and Henan are the targets in Ye Mingsheng's eyes.

However, since it takes a certain amount of time to digest the Youyan territory, Ye Mingsheng cannot take action against them in a short period of time. Therefore, using bandits and peasant uprisings to consume the strength of the Qi and Henan armies is a very good choice!

Although the idea is good now, we need to control more carefully who to support, how to support, how to hide the identity of Fengwu Army, and how to respond to the accusations of Qi Army and Yu Army once they are discovered by Qi Army and Yu Army.

After all, the entire Great Zhou is still controlled by these feudal aristocrats. If they support the bandits and peasant uprisings, it would be tantamount to opposing the entire ruling class. Once the matter is exposed, Ye Mingsheng and the Fengwu Army will be condemned by the world's public opinion, which does not conform to Ye Mingsheng's policy of storing grain and slowly becoming king.

Therefore, the whole thing still needs detailed planning and perfect preventive measures. Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng made important comments on Huo San’s report. He first affirmed Huo San’s idea, praised Huo San for his good idea, and asked Huo San to come up with a detailed plan as soon as possible and submit it to him for approval...

(End of this chapter)