Chapter 591 Pressure and Opportunity!
Half a month later, in the study of the Governor's Mansion

Ye Mingsheng was writing furiously, giving instructions on the water conservancy projects in Youyan, when he heard Ye Cheng knocking on the door...

Ye Mingsheng continued to give instructions and said without thinking:
"come in!"

Under Ye Mingsheng's order, Ye Cheng came to Ye Mingsheng with a stack of memorials and said:

"Your Excellency, the results of the prosecution's decision on the persons involved in the Zhao Sheng case have been sent to you!"

Hearing this, Ye Mingsheng immediately became interested. He took the memorial from Ye Cheng and started to read it. After a few seconds, a faint smile appeared on Ye Mingsheng's face and he said:
"Sentenced to fifteen years? This Zhang Chengzhong is quite interesting!"

Ye Cheng also echoed and said:

"This time, the way Zhang Ancha handled Gu Shoude was really unexpected. He actually sentenced him to fifteen years in prison. This really didn't give his teacher any face at all!"

Ye Mingsheng waved his hand and said with a smile:

"Without Gu Zhongshi's instruction, Zhang Chengzhong would never dare to do this! This old guy Gu Zhongshi is really ruthless. He even gave up his own eldest son and said he didn't want him anymore! He really makes me look at him with new eyes!"

Handing Gu Shoude over to the Censorate for handling was a conspiracy set up by Ye Mingsheng, who wanted to test how important family affection was in Gu Zhongshi's eyes!

Now it seems that Gu Zhongshi is indeed a veteran bureaucrat, he is really heartless and cold-blooded!
The answer given by Gu Zhongshi surprised Ye Mingsheng a little. However, if Gu Zhongshi thought that he could protect himself and prevent himself from taking back the power, he would be too naive. After a moment of silence, Ye Mingsheng said:
“Promote Zhang Chengzhong to the position of Censor, and ask him to go to Yuyang to further investigate Zhao Sheng’s underground illegal activities…”

Hearing Ye Mingsheng's instructions, Ye Cheng's eyes flashed with surprise, and he spoke carefully:
"Sir, this Zhang Chengzhong is Gu Zhongshi's student and a well-known member of Gu's party in the government!"

Ye Mingsheng said meaningfully after hearing this:
"He is the one I use as a party member!"

Although he didn't understand the deep meaning of Ye Mingsheng's move, under Ye Mingsheng's order, Ye Cheng nodded and said:
"Understood, sir. I'll do it right away!"

"When will Zhang Juning come?" Ye Mingsheng asked again:

Ye Cheng said directly:

"I made an appointment with Master Zhang to meet at 15:00. Master Zhang arrived half an hour early and is waiting outside now!"

Looking at the document he was about to approve, Ye Mingsheng nodded and said:
"Let him in!"

"Yes!"

After a cup of tea, Zhang Juning, the God of Wealth of the Fengwu Army and the Director of the Finance Department, came to Ye Mingsheng. After greeting each other, Ye Mingsheng went straight to the point and asked:

"What is our current financial situation?"

Zhang Juning calmly replied with his hands clasped:
"Your Excellency, we currently have 398,630 taels of silver, 100,300 catties of salt, 50,000 pieces of cloth in our warehouse. Adding up all other supplies, it totals about 116,000 taels of silver! As for food, because of the disaster relief work and General Lin's attack on Jinzhong, a lot of food was consumed, so there are only about 153,000 shi left in the warehouse..."

"But there is still one month left before the autumn harvest. According to the estimate of the governor, we will be able to receive about 300,000 dan of grain. This can basically guarantee that even if we encounter any emergencies, our granaries can support our Fengwu Army, and there will be no large-scale food shortage or starvation!" When he said this, Zhang Juning's fat face involuntarily revealed an expression of pride.

Youyan is adjacent to Qi and Lu, Hebei and Henan, so the natural disasters encountered in these two places naturally also affected Youyan, causing a considerable negative impact on Youyan's grain production. However, due to the stable situation, the tax reduction efforts have increased the enthusiasm of farmers, and the large-scale promotion of fertilizers, agricultural tools and livestock, these favorable factors not only offset the negative impact, but instead increased Youyan's grain production.

After listening to Zhang Juning's answer, Ye Mingsheng felt much more at ease. In today's chaotic world, Ye Mingsheng was not afraid of anyone, but the only thing he was afraid of was running out of food. Now that he had food in his hands, he was not panicked!

"How is the autumn tax going?" Ye Mingsheng asked again:
According to the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, taxes should be paid to the national treasury on an annual basis. However, because Ye Mingsheng is now frequently waging wars abroad, if he continues to pay taxes on an annual basis, there will not be enough silver to support the wars in a short period of time. So Ye Mingsheng changed the rules and asked all parts of the Fengwu Army to transport silver to Yijing on a quarterly basis.

Under Ye Mingsheng's gaze, Zhang Juning said calmly:

"Reporting to the Marshal, in about ten days, the autumn tax silver from various places will be delivered to Yijing one after another. According to the estimated report from the Governor's Office, we will be able to receive about 350,000 taels of silver this time..."

After getting the answer, Ye Mingsheng fell into deep thought. The number given by Zhang Juning was about 10% more than his own prediction. It was very gratifying to achieve such results in less than a year. It was enough to show that all colleagues in the Fengwu Army worked together with one heart.

But this also made Ye Mingsheng's mind active! After thinking for a while, Ye Mingsheng first encouraged Zhang Juning's work results, and asked him to strictly control the financial management of Fengwu Army, continue to optimize the financial structure, and reduce unnecessary expenditures. He also asked him to work together with the Provincial Secretary to stabilize the prices of basic living materials such as grain and salt, and there must be no sharp rise or fall.

As an old man who has followed Ye Mingsheng for many years, Zhang Juning blinked his eyes when he heard Ye Mingsheng's request, and seemed to realize something, and asked Ye Mingsheng tentatively:

"Sir, is our army going to fight again?"

Ye Mingsheng did not say anything in response to Zhang Juning's question, but just looked at him calmly. Although his heart was pounding at Ye Mingsheng's gaze, Zhang Juning still mustered up the courage to say:

"Sir, although we have accumulated some wealth during this period, our wealth is still too thin. Winter is coming soon. If a major natural disaster occurs, it will be easily consumed!"

“If we rashly send out troops at this time, if we fail to win the battle quickly and run out of money and food, our army will be easily trapped. If some natural disasters occur in the rear, I’m afraid... If we can wait, in less than half a year, I guarantee that we can double our food and money!”

Feeling Zhang Juning's concern, Ye Mingsheng said calmly:

"I will consider your idea carefully. Just do your job well!"

Zhang Juning wanted to say something more, but under Ye Mingsheng's gaze, he could only close his mouth, bow and leave.

Looking at Zhang Juning's leaving back, Ye Mingsheng slowly closed his eyes, leaned back in his chair, and kept studying and pondering in his mind. What Zhang Juning just said was his previous idea, to store up grain and slowly claim the throne and live in harmony with the people, rest for more than a year, thoroughly complete the reform of Youyan, and then swallow up the Central Plains in one breath.

However, the current external environment, while making Ye Mingsheng feel a sense of urgency, also allows Ye Mingsheng to see opportunities!
Although the sphere of influence of the Coordination Office had not yet expanded to the southern provinces and obtained core information from within the Southern Tour Court, Ye Mingsheng was able to clearly realize through the actions of the Murong family and other noble families who betrayed the Southern Tour Court that the Southern Tour Court was already in danger. In a few months or a year, Shangguan Hongyuan would capture Chengdu and completely control the young emperor and Sichuan.

Don’t think that the Luoan court led by Shangguan Hongyuan is submissive and extremely restrained towards him, and has strong strategic determination. Even when he sent troops to capture Jinzhong, they didn’t even fart, and always maintained the greatest degree of patience. However, Ye Mingsheng knew very well that this was just a temporary move by Shangguan Hongyuan to avoid a war on two fronts...

As long as we take down Rongcheng, Shangguan Hongyuan, who is determined to unify the north, will regard the Fengwu Army as a thorn in his side, and it will only be a matter of time before he launches a large-scale attack!

So from the perspective of time, the Fengwu Army has no advantage. Ye Mingsheng was originally from the Imperial Guards, and he knows very well how powerful the Great Zhou Imperial Guards under Shangguan Hongyuan are. Even if the Fengwu Army now has the advantage in firearms, it would be very difficult to defeat the Imperial Guards on a frontal battlefield.

Even if they win, the Fengwu Army will suffer heavy losses, and the war will likely develop into a tug-of-war and a war of attrition!

By then, even if Liaoyang and Youyan completed the reform, Ye Mingsheng did not think that the advantage would be on his side when these two border provinces fought against Shangguan Hongyuan's Guanzhong, Yunbing, and Sichuan.

What's more, Shangguan Hongyuan still has the little emperor as a weapon. Although the Zhou Dynasty is in decline at that time, if Shangguan Hongyuan declares himself and the Fengwu Army as rebels in the name of the little emperor, although it will not actually have much impact on his side, it will be a big blow to the morale and reputation.

Although Shangguan Hongyuan's covetous eyes made Ye Mingsheng feel pressured, he also saw opportunities in the Central Plains as he was determined to go south!
Ever since a large-scale peasant uprising broke out in the Central Plains, Ye Mingsheng has been paying close attention to the direction of events in the Central Plains. He asked the Coordination Office to collect more information, and then asked the General Staff to combine this information to conduct a deeper analysis and research on the combat effectiveness of the Henan Army...
Although these peasant uprisings did not completely overthrow Gao Zongchang's rule and were suppressed by the Henan Army in less than three months, which did not bring more surprises to Ye Mingsheng, it did allow Ye Mingsheng to discover the situation of the Henan Army, which was strong on the outside but weak on the inside. This made Ye Mingsheng feel restless, and now the improving financial situation also gave Ye Mingsheng the confidence to take action.

What interested Ye Mingsheng the most was that the Coordination Office had already discovered that Zhu Sanshan was entrenched in the Yingcheng area. He had annihilated tens of thousands of Henan troops in the battle of Daya Mountain and had successfully attracted the attention of Gao Zongchang. Although Gao Zongchang did not mobilize the 40,000 Henan troops on the front line of Yecheng due to his precautions, he had ordered his eldest son Gao Dingshan to lead half of the Henan troops to Daya Mountain to eliminate Zhu Sanshan.

This has resulted in a situation in which heavy troops are concentrated in the north and south of Hebei and Henan, and the hinterland is empty. As long as the Fengwu Army can quickly capture Yecheng, they can march straight to the city of Yujing. According to the report of the Coordination Office, after most of the troops were transferred to Gao Dingshan to suppress bandits, there are only a mere 10,000 people in Yujing City. As long as the Fengwu Army moves fast enough, they may be able to capture Yujing, the political and economic center of Hebei and Henan, in one go.

As a local lord who was also tyrannical and lavish, Gao Zongchang, who occupied the Central Plains, did not have a more stable base than Zhao Fuqu. After all, Zhao Fuqu still had the banner of fighting against foreign races.

Under the rule of this Tiger of the Northern Frontier, the Luobi people did not dare to invade easily and protected the security of the Great Zhou border. This made the people of Youyan, who had suffered from foreign invasions, have some respect for Zhao Fuqu in their hearts. Some people were even loyal to Zhao Fuqu and were willing to sacrifice their lives for him...
Gao Zongchang and his family had a very bad reputation in Hebei and Henan. When the common people talked about this fat and bloated Gao Zongchang, they could be said to wish that he could be crushed to dust, eaten, and slept on to vent their hatred.

Therefore, as long as Yujing is taken and Gao Zongchang is killed, the Gao family's base in Hebei and Henan will collapse, and there will be no situation like Zhao Fuqu occupying the southern part of Youyan and confronting Ye Mingsheng.

Of course, taking Yujing in one go is the best scenario. Assuming that things don't go so smoothly, as long as they can surround Yujing after taking Yecheng before Gao Dingshan returns to support, the Fengwu Army can then annihilate Gao Dingshan's troops under the city of Yujing while they are well rested. By then, Yujing will still be impossible to defend.

Realizing this, Ye Mingsheng's heart surged with emotion, and he had an urge to put it into practice immediately. However, he soon calmed down again. After thinking carefully again, Ye Mingsheng knocked on the table. The next second, Ye Cheng walked in from outside the door, bowed and asked Ye Mingsheng:

"Sir, what are your orders?"

"Go there in person and ask He Jingyun and Gu Sansi to put down their work and come over!" Ye Mingsheng ordered in a deep voice:
Although he already had his own ideas, Ye Mingsheng still needed his important ministers to help him with advice, and everyone should brainstorm to come up with a better solution.

Although he didn't know what Ye Mingsheng wanted to do, after listening to the meaning of Ye Mingsheng's words, Ye Cheng also realized the importance of the matter. He immediately nodded and said:
"I understand, sir. I'll go there right away..."

(End of this chapter)