Chapter 597: Secret confrontation!

Looking at Chen Chuande who was lying on the stretcher with his eyes closed pretending to be dead, Tong Wen smiled and had someone carry him away to keep an eye on him. Although he wanted to capture Chen Chuande alive, he was not very interested in him. He just wanted to use this to put on a show...
After cleaning up the battlefield, Ye Zhen came to Tong Wen and reported:

"Sir, Wang Mazi is back!"

Tong Wen nodded slightly and said:

"Now that he's back, we can spread the news!"

After saying this, Tong Wen paused and lowered his voice and ordered:

"Wang Mazi is an ungrateful bastard. After this is done, get rid of him cleanly!"

"Understood!" Ye Zhen responded in a low voice;
After telling the story of Wang Mazi, Ye Zhen hesitated for a moment and then asked:
"Master, did the higher-ups really let Feng Sanxi take the position?"

Listening to Ye Zhen's words, Tong Wen patted his shoulder and explained:
"Brother! You and I are from the Coordination Office and it is not convenient for us to come forward directly. Feng Sanxi is just a puppet pushed to the front. The military power is naturally still controlled by us. Besides, it was the director's idea to let Feng Sanxi take the position. I guess the director may have a deeper intention!"

"A deeper purpose?" Ye Zhen asked doubtfully:

Tong Wen waved his hand and said:

"Don't look at me! I don't know either! I asked the director and he didn't say anything. He just told me that Feng Sanxi was promoted to the position to protect you and me!"

At this point, Tong Wen looked at Ye Zhen meaningfully and said:
"Brother, you have made great contributions this time. You are also a member of the Ye family, a relative of our Marshal. The director has promised that if you are still willing to work in our Coordination Office, you will be promoted to a centurion after you return. If you don't want to work in the Coordination Office, the director will recommend you to the military. By then, even if you can't be a commander, a sentry leader will be no problem!"

Hearing this answer, Ye Zhen hesitated for a moment before nodding and letting go of the idea in his mind.

···························
···························
Yi Jing, in the General Staff Meeting Room
He Jingyun, the Chief of Staff, stood in front of the sand table, personally holding the command pole and explaining the situation in front of the station to Ye Mingsheng.

"Sir, our army has also expanded to a certain extent as planned for this battle. The main force participating in the battle will be the 46,000-man First Army under Commander Yuan. In addition, there are 25,000 men from the Third Division, 17,000 men from General Peng Ce's Fourth Division, and the mobilized reserve soldiers responsible for transporting food and supplies. There are about 100,000 people in total!"

"At present, the First Army has completed its preparations, and all the food, fodder and firearms have arrived. General Peng of the Fourth Division has also led his troops to Shunping City. Currently, only the Third Division is still waiting around Yijing to go to Zhuo County."

Listening to He Jingyun's explanation, Ye Mingsheng nodded and continued to ask:

"What is the operational plan of the General Staff for this battle?"

Facing Ye Mingsheng's question, He Jingyun said without hesitation:
"According to the investigation of the Coordination Office, there are more than 40,000 Henan troops in Yecheng. About half of them are stationed in Yecheng, and the remaining half are deployed outside the city in Huaide Mountain, Heqi Ridge, Majia Wopeng and other places. As early as the Zhao Fuqu period, in order to prevent Zhao Fuqu from invading Hebei and Henan, Gao Zongchang ordered the construction of city fortifications around Yecheng to block possible invasions by the Yan army."

“After our army captured Youyan, Gao Zongchang ordered his men to reinforce these fortifications because he was afraid of our firearms. Our army’s plan is that before the war, the soldiers of the First Army will make some moves around Youyan, Hebei and Henan in the name of exterminating the remnants of the Yan army to confuse the Henan army and cover up our army’s true combat intentions…”

"Because our army has made such moves several times before, if nothing unexpected happens, it will not cause too much vigilance for the Henan Army. After the battle begins, the cavalry of the Third Division will enter the battlefield as quickly as possible, and cooperate with our army's light red cannons, striving to sweep away the city fortifications outside Yecheng within three days, and kill as many enemy Henan Army soldiers as possible outside the city!"

"After sweeping the periphery, the cavalry of the Third Division will be responsible for cutting off the connection between Yecheng and the outside world, blocking and eliminating possible reinforcements from the Henan Army, while the task of attacking the city will be handed over to the First Army and the Fourth Division. In order to ensure that Yecheng is captured within ten days without any mistakes, the twelve specially made heavy red cannons that just came off the production line of the First Manufacturing Bureau have also been handed over to the Fourth Division!"

"As long as we conquer Yecheng, our army will quickly march towards Yujing and try to take it down in one fell swoop!"

He Jingyun paused for a moment and added:

"Everything is ready now. As long as the Coordination Office succeeds in Dayashan, we can start the operation within three days!"

Ye Mingsheng was very satisfied with He Jingyun's introduction, so he did not ask more questions about this issue, but changed the subject and said:
"Did you go to the Guo residence yesterday?"

Because going to Guo's house was done to figure out Ye Mingsheng's intentions, He Jingyun did not hide his feelings and nodded honestly and said:
"Yes, I went to see General Guo..."

"What does he think?" Ye Mingsheng asked casually:
Although Ye Mingsheng seemed to be asking casually, He Jingyun knew what he was going to say next. It was related to Guo Zhiping's future and fate, so he said very carefully:

"General Guo is in a very peaceful state of mind in his residence. He has been reflecting on his actions. When I talked to him, he was full of regret!"

At this point, He Jingyun took out another letter, handed it to Ye Mingsheng and said, "This is the letter of repentance that General Guo asked me to pass on to you, sir!"

Ye Mingsheng did not check the letter of repentance immediately, nor did he say much to He Jingyun on this issue. He just nodded and asked He Jingyun to continue to advance the preparations for the military operation to the Central Plains according to the plan, and ensure the orderly development of logistics supply for the army to enter Hebei and Henan.

After He Jingyun left, Ye Mingsheng was in the study and started reading Guo Zhiping's letter of repentance. The letter had thousands of words. The general meaning of the letter was that Guo Zhiping had deeply realized the seriousness of his mistake and was very regretful for his mistake. He begged Ye Mingsheng to give him a chance to reform and assured Ye Mingsheng that if he made the same mistake again, he would commit suicide.

Ye Mingsheng did not find anything new in Guo Zhiping's letter of repentance. After reading it, he dealt with the official document sent up from below, requesting to mobilize the army to help build water conservancy projects. Then his study welcomed the second guest, Huo San, the director of the Coordination Office, who came to report the surrounding intelligence as usual...
After the greetings, Huo San, who was familiar with Ye Mingsheng's style, went straight to the point and said:
"Sir, before the Battle of Jinzhong, the focus of the Supervisory Department's intelligence work was on dealing with the southern tour of the imperial court in Rongcheng. However, after the Battle of Jinzhong, the Supervisory Department has begun to consciously send more spies to Youyan. At the same time, they have also increased their financial investment. In the past two months alone, we have captured 47 spies affiliated with the Supervisory Department. In addition, there are eight corrupted officers and generals of our army. These eight people are all middle and lower-level officials. The Supervisory Department's goal is to use these eight people to follow the clues and find opportunities to place secret stakes in the upper echelons of our army."

At this point, Huo San paused and looked at Ye Mingsheng with some hesitation, as if he wanted to say something to Ye Mingsheng but didn't know how to start.

Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng said calmly:

"But it doesn't matter!"

With Ye Mingsheng's permission, Huo San dared to speak:
"We have received news from our secret line in Luoan that the eldest lady's brother, An Tianyu, will arrive in Yijing in the near future, and he will be accompanied by someone from the Supervisory Department!"

Although Huo San's words were obscure, combined with what he said above, Ye Mingsheng probably understood what he meant and immediately fell into deep thought. Because of An Miaoyi, Ye Mingsheng had been paying attention to the changes in the An family. Even when the head of the An family, Kunshan Marquis An Hetu, was seriously injured and unable to govern the country and lost power, the An family was still able to ensure that the family would not fall. This was largely because An Zhirong became Shangguan Hongyuan's white glove, making profits for Shangguan Hongyuan in the gray area.

After the Luoan Incident, Shangguan Hongyuan and his clan members completely fell out, and he no longer had to hide his gray interests.

Therefore, An Zhirong, the white glove, gradually lost its effect, and the An family gradually lost power and was completely squeezed out of the core circle of the powerful. Some of the family's industries were also occupied by others. Although life was not as good as before, fortunately, the family had a large business and deep roots, so the whole family had no worries about food, clothing and other expenses...

After marrying me, An Miaoyi has been exchanging letters with her family. A few days ago, she learned from a family letter that her father An Hetu had passed away. She was too sad to fall ill. Now, it seems that Luo An is still focusing on the situation in Rongcheng. Seeing that he can't win by force, he plans to use the An family to play dirty tricks on me.
Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng ordered in a deep voice:

"We need to strengthen our anti-infiltration efforts against the Supervisory Department. We also need to invest more resources in our infiltration efforts against Luo'an. As for An Tianyu, we need to determine his location as soon as possible, but we must not act rashly. If he makes any move, report it to me immediately!"

"Also, the little emperor of Rongcheng sent someone to deliver an imperial decree, asking us to send 10,000 muskets. I had originally not intended to respond, but now it seems that I still have to give face to the emperor of the Great Zhou. Let the news go out and say that I promised to send the 10,000 muskets, but because the number is too large, they need to be sent in batches!"

Listening to Ye Mingsheng's words, Huo San's heart moved and he asked tentatively:

"Sir, are you going to let Luoan come to us?"

"What else?" Ye Mingsheng said calmly:
"It's rude not to reciprocate. Since that old man Shangguan Hongyuan thinks that he has a sure win in taking Chengdu City and starts to play dirty tricks on me, I'll also give him a heads-up. We don't have anything else in our warehouse, but we still have several thousand second-hand muskets..."

"I understand, sir. I'll arrange it right away!" Huo San nodded and said:
"No hurry!" Ye Mingsheng waved his hand and asked again:

"How is Guo Zhiping doing?"

Hearing this question, Huo San said without hesitation:
"General Guo is very honest in the mansion. Some of his subordinates wanted to see him, but he refused. In addition, General Guo has a favorite concubine, Wang, who complained about you in order to please General Guo. General Guo whipped her and gave her a severe beating!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Mingsheng raised his eyebrows, feeling somewhat amused. He ordered Guo Zhiping to suspend his duties and reflect at home, but he deliberately did not prevent Guo Zhiping from meeting guests in his house, just to see whether Guo Zhiping was seriously reflecting and repenting. Now, judging from the information gathered from all aspects, Guo Zhiping still did not let him down completely and lived up to his trust and cultivation of him.

According to the combat plan of the General Staff, the 3rd Division needs to undertake a big combat mission. Although Acting General Cui Desheng did a good job and ensured the training quality of the 3rd Division after the reorganization when Guo Zhiping was away, the General Staff still believes that it is a more appropriate choice to let Guo Zhiping take on this important task...
Ye Mingsheng also agreed with the idea of ​​the General Staff. In Ye Mingsheng's mind, Guo Zhiping was one of the top three generals in his Fengwu Army. He was especially good at commanding cavalry and conducting large-scale operations. Even Yuan Song could not do better than Guo Zhiping in this regard. This was why Ye Mingsheng acquiesced to He Jingyun's visit to Guo Zhiping at Guo's Mansion.

After seeing Huo San off, Ye Mingsheng called Ye Cheng into the study and instructed:
"Send the order to release Guo Zhiping from his closed-door reflection and have him temporarily take over the post of general of the Third Division and participate in the battle to the south. Tell him that if he fails in this battle, he will have to stay at home and never come out for the rest of his life!"

"Understood, I'll pass the message right away!" Ye Cheng replied cheerfully:
"Sir, what if General Guo wants to come to the Governor's Mansion to pay a visit and apologize to you in person?"

Upon hearing this, Ye Mingsheng explained:
"I don't want to see him yet, but if he fights well and makes great contributions in this battle, I will prepare a celebratory wine for him in Yijing!"

"Yes!"

After explaining all these things, seeing that it was getting late outside, Ye Mingsheng, who remembered An Miaoyi's illness, wanted to go see his wife and also visit little Jingren. In order to satisfy his sense of accomplishment and to show his goodwill to the Guanzhong nobles, and because An Miaoyi needed rest and many other factors, Ye Mingsheng rested at Murong Qingwu's place these days, working hard like a diligent old ox.

In the morning, Ye Mingsheng heard Pei Zhixiu say that Miaoyi would recover soon, so he planned to go see her. She was too sad that day and had a high fever, which really scared Ye Mingsheng...

(End of this chapter)