Chapter 642 Important information! (Thanks to the book friend 34646 for the reward!)

Just as Ye Mingsheng was thinking secretly, a burst of hurried footsteps sounded outside his study. Ye Mingsheng immediately looked up and saw Ye Cheng walked into the study and reported to Ye Mingsheng very seriously:

"Sir, Director Huo of the Coordination Office wants to see you for important military intelligence..."

Hearing the words "important military intelligence", Ye Mingsheng's expression became serious. Although he didn't know what Huo San wanted to report, if he remembered correctly, Huo San went on a business trip to Jinzhong a few days ago to inspect the intelligence network of the Coordination Office in Yunbing area to prepare for intelligence work for next year's war.

According to Huo San's previous work arrangements, Huo San's trip would take ten days, and Huo San's hasty return was enough to show that the situation had changed greatly. Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng nodded and said directly:
"Let Huo San in!"

"Yes!"

After a cup of tea, Huo San, who looked exhausted, appeared in front of Ye Mingsheng. After bowing to Ye Mingsheng, he spoke directly:
"According to reports from our secret agents in Luoan, Shangguan Hongyuan plans to give up his position as the Minister of Personnel, and Murong Lun will take over. Murong Lun will also join the cabinet of the Luoan court. As for Murong Lun's experience during the southern tour of the court, Shangguan Hongyuan will clear Murong Lun's name in the name of the young emperor!"

Hearing what Huo San said, Ye Mingsheng's eyes showed some surprise. The fall of the Southern Tour court and Murong Lun's re-employment in the Luoan court were already within Ye Mingsheng's expectations. However, serving as such an important position as the Minister of Personnel was still beyond Ye Mingsheng's expectations...
You know, although Murong Lun is very famous among the powerful families and has a good reputation, and is known as a modest gentleman, he is a surrendered minister after all. Does the old guy Shangguan Hongyuan trust Murong Lun so much?

Seeing Ye Mingsheng's puzzled expression, Huo San seemed to understand what Ye Mingsheng was thinking, and immediately explained:
"The secret agent also sent a message saying that the Luoan court will soon declare our army as traitors in the name of the emperor, and call on knowledgeable people from all over the Great Zhou to fight against our army. After Xu Zhaojie took over Huainan, Shangguan Hongyuan has been sending envoys to contact him. At present, the two sides have basically reached an agreement. Xu Zhaojie will recognize the Luoan court, and the Luoan court will also, in the name of the little emperor, appoint Xu Zhaojie as the governor of Huai'an, the commander of the Zhennan Army, and the inspector of the three southern regions!"

"And Murong Lun is also ready to respond to Shangguan Hongyuan's call and is preparing to remove the family of Murong Governor and Murong Hui, who served as the Governor in our army, from the family tree!"

"The Luoan court and the Golden Horde are secretly negotiating a peace treaty. The general content of the treaty is that both sides agree to only keep a small number of troops on the border and strengthen mutual trade between the two sides. It is reported that the negotiations began at the beginning of this year, but there have been major disagreements on the issue of taxation recently, which has led to a deadlock in the negotiations. However, there are reports that the Luoan side is likely to make concessions to promote the conclusion of the negotiations!"

“In addition, Luoan will soon send 30,000 additional troops to Jinyang. These additional troops will be equipped with Luoan’s latest developed Shenwu guns and Zhengdong cannons. After obtaining these troops, Yunbing General Feng Han is likely to launch a tentative attack on Jinzhong controlled by our army, in order to test the strength of our army in the Yunbing area…”

Although Huo San did not say many words about the five things, the amount of information he contained was enormous. After listening to what he said, Ye Mingsheng's usually calm expression became a little interesting. However, Ye Mingsheng soon returned to normal and fell into deep thought!
Because they had long realized that a war with Shangguan Hongyuan was inevitable, the top leaders of the Fengwu Army, under the leadership of Ye Mingsheng, had already prepared various contingency plans in advance. Among these plans, in addition to military struggle, the most important thing was to guard against the public opinion offensive launched by Shangguan Hongyuan.

Although with the continued unrest in recent years, the Great Zhou ship, which has been sailing for three hundred years, has been riddled with holes and is only one last huge wave away from completely smashing it to pieces, but before it was sunk by the huge wave, this ship still had a great influence and could affect the judgment of many people. Therefore, with the young emperor and those important ministers in his hands, Shangguan Hongyuan still has a great advantage in public opinion, and in the war with the Fengwu Army, Shangguan Hongyuan will definitely maximize this advantage in public opinion.

Therefore, in order to resist Shangguan Hongyuan’s series of offensives, the Fengwu Army’s high-ranking officials also prepared a series of precautions. Originally, the Fengwu Army’s high-ranking officials, including Ye Mingsheng, generally believed that the Luoan court led by Shangguan Hongyuan should complete internal integration before starting to target the Fengwu Army. However, Shangguan Hongyuan obviously did not act step by step as the Fengwu Army expected. Instead, he prepared to carry out internal integration while fighting the Fengwu Army...

But it doesn't matter if it's earlier than later. The Fengwu Army is also well prepared. The next battle of public opinion will depend on who will criticize first!

Compared with the public opinion offensive, it was the content that Huo San said that attracted Ye Mingsheng's attention more!

First of all, there is the problem of Xu Zhaojie. The two positions of Governor of Huai'an and Commander of Zhennan Army appointed by Shangguan Hongyuan are of no importance. After all, in fact, Xu Zhaojie's army has completely controlled Anqing and Huainan. The Luoan court merely recognizes Xu Zhaojie's rule over these two places.

As for the commander of the Zhennan Army, it was even simpler. The troops under Xu Zhaojie were originally called the Anqing Army, which was a name full of local color and had great limitations. Now that Xu Zhaojie had occupied Huainan, it was obviously inappropriate to continue to call it the Anqing Army, which was not conducive to Xu Zhaojie's rule in Huainan. So it was reasonable to change the name to the Zhennan Army! However, when the Zhennan Army was combined with the later Three Southern Inspectors, it was inevitable that people felt it was meaningful!

First of all, the Three Souths refer to Jiangnan, Huainan and Lingnan. These three southern regions of the Great Zhou Dynasty were the most prosperous. Among them, Jiangnan was the richest place in the Great Zhou Dynasty. Before the Luoan Incident, Jiangnan paid millions of taels of tax silver to the court every year. It was the main source of finance for the Great Zhou Dynasty. Although Huainan was not as wealthy as Jiangnan, it was also among the best in the Great Zhou Dynasty in terms of wealth, belonging to the top five or top three levels...

Although Lingnan is larger than Huainan and Jiangnan in terms of territory, it is mostly a barren land full of miasma, and there are also many troublesome foreign races. During the heyday of the Great Zhou Dynasty, it did not have much control over this place, and much of the real power was in the hands of local chieftains.

In the bureaucratic system of the Great Zhou Dynasty, although the Inspector General was not responsible for local government affairs like the Provincial Governor, this official had the authority to inspect officials!
There is no doubt that Xu Zhaojie is definitely not a jack of all trades. Shangguan Hongyuan wants the position of Inspector of the Three Southern Provinces. He is using the political endorsement of the Luoan court to nominally extend his hand into Jiangnan and Lingnan. This makes people ponder why Xu Zhaojie did this!

In Ye Mingsheng's opinion, there was only one reason why Xu Zhaojie did this, which was to prepare for the next military invasion. Of course, as long as Xu Zhaojie was still smart, he would most likely not step into Lingnan at this time, allowing this place to tie down his limited military forces. You must know that during the heyday of the Great Zhou Dynasty, many military expeditions could not completely control Lingnan, and it could only be a symbolic rule, allowing local chieftains to actually control power.

However, it seems that Xu Zhaojie is very likely to want to take a bite of the juicy piece of meat that is Jiangnan. Although it is a bit surprising that Xu Zhaojie, who has already colluded with Shangguan Hongyuan and is ready to stab him in the back, still has time to think about Jiangnan, this seems to be reasonable.

After all, Jiangnan is so rich. Ye Mingsheng feels that if he were Xu Zhaojie, he would probably be thinking about Jiangnan. As long as he takes over Jiangnan and holds the two richest identities in Da Zhou, Xu Zhaojie will have a basic base to unify the south. By then, no matter whether he or Shangguan Hongyuan wins the victory in the north, Xu Zhaojie can advance to the north to unify the world, or retreat and divide the country and rule the country...
The position of Inspector General is the stepping stone for Xu Zhaojie's strategic conception. He can use the power of Inspector General to inspect officials and declare that the Governor-General of Jiangnan, Lu Jianchao, is a figurehead who does nothing but eat and exploit the people. Then, just like he did with Youyan, Ji and Yu, he can swallow the big piece of fat meat of Jiangnan in one gulp!
Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng's expression became much more solemn. Xu Zhaojie's plan was indeed a good idea. If he were allowed to complete this idea, he would become the biggest stumbling block to his unification of the world. Therefore, Ye Mingsheng must not let him turn this plan into reality. However, the Fengwu Army's main energy will be focused on the confrontation with Shangguan Hongyuan and the Luo'an court. It will be difficult to withdraw troops to interfere in the situation in the south. Therefore, how to stop Xu Zhaojie's plan requires Ye Mingsheng to plan carefully.

As for the third thing Huo San mentioned, the change in the Murong family, because it happened suddenly, Ye Mingsheng didn't know the details yet, so it was difficult for Ye Mingsheng to make any judgment for the time being. However, according to Ye Mingsheng's understanding, the Murong family was still united, and the relationship between Murong Yuliang and Murong Lun was very good. From a cognitive point of view, Ye Mingsheng felt that the incident itself might be a drama.

However, the matter of removing the family tree was too decisive in this feudal society, and there was almost no room for maneuver. So whether the Murong family was putting on a show for himself and Shangguan Hongyuan, Ye Mingsheng felt that he should find some time recently to meet with Murong Yuliang, his cheap father-in-law, observe the situation, see what he said, and then make a judgment...

The fourth thing that Huo San mentioned was the negotiations between Shangguan Hongyuan and the Golden Horde. Although it seemed to have nothing to do with him, it was actually aimed at him. The reason why Shangguan Hongyuan was regarded as a strong man by the world and had a high prestige in the court was largely because he always adhered to an ultra-tough policy in foreign policy. During his years in power, he almost never signed any treaties that were humiliating to the national dignity. His attitude towards foreigners has always been, if you are cruel, I will be more cruel than you!

The reason why Shangguan Hongyuan is willing to make concessions on trade taxation is naturally because he wants to reduce the number of troops on guard against the Golden Horde. And it goes without saying who these reduced troops will be used to deal with!
The fifth thing Huo San mentioned was that the 30,000 additional troops from Luoan in Jinyang might have been the troops originally used by Luoan to guard against the Golden Horde.

Compared with Luoan’s increased investment in Jinyang area, Ye Mingsheng was more concerned about the firearms they developed, the Shenwu Gun and the Zhengdong Cannon. The Coordination Office also attached great importance to the newly developed firearms by Luoan. Although Luoan had done a good job in protecting the new firearms, under the personal planning of Huo San, the Coordination Office’s secret agents in Luoan successfully rebelled. A craftsman who participated in the development of the Shenwu Gun and the Zhengdong Cannon used fake death to come to the territory of Fengwu Army...

With the help of this person, the First Manufacturing Bureau successfully produced imitations of the Shenwu Gun and the Zhengdong Cannon. According to the identification of the firearms experts of the First Manufacturing Bureau, Luoan newly developed these two firearms based on the Weiyuan Gun and the Red Cannon. Although their power far exceeds that of the old firearms, piracy is piracy after all. Whether it is the power of the firearms, workmanship quality, production speed, etc., they are far inferior to the Fengwu Army.

In addition, these firearms experts also brought Ye Mingsheng a surprise. After experiments and tests, the Fengwu Army's flintlock rifle has been developed and officially mass-produced into three thousand units. It has begun to be equipped to the troops on a large scale. After Ye Mingsheng received this good news, he personally went to the shooting range to watch the power of the flintlock rifle and experience the shooting of the flintlock rifle.

Although its performance was still far inferior to that of later weapons, compared with the Po Lu gun and Wei Yuan gun originally equipped by the Fengwu Army, the flintlock rifle had made great progress in power, rate of fire, accuracy, etc. Ye Mingsheng was very satisfied with this and named the flintlock rifle Fengwu.

According to the current production speed of the Ordnance Manufacturing Bureau, it can basically be guaranteed that more than 10,000 Fengwu guns will be produced before next summer. Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but look forward to it. After the Yunbing War begins next year, the Luoan Imperial Guards will come to the battlefield with their Shenwu guns, full of confidence, and then they will be hit by the Fengwu guns!
This was a surprise that Ye Mingsheng prepared for Shangguan Hongyuan. Ye Mingsheng had prepared some surprises like this for Shangguan Hongyuan, just waiting to present them to Shangguan Hongyuan when the battle began...

(End of this chapter)