Chapter 673: A half threat to Miaoyi!

Although it would be better for An Miaoyi and Shen Yutong to have their own children, it was not necessary for Ye Cuishi. After all, they were her grandchildren. So she was looking forward to Shen Yutong's delivery. When she learned that Shen Yutong gave birth to a boy, she came to visit in person...

Because of this, An Miaoyi regarded it as an opportunity to repair her relationship with Ye Cui. She wanted to take this opportunity to show her virtue and generosity as the eldest wife, and regain Ye Cui's trust and recognition!

"Madam, Shen Yutong is still fantasizing that she will be promoted to a higher position after giving birth to a son, and that Your Majesty will show her more favor in the future. However, it has been three days since she gave birth, and Your Majesty has only visited her twice, and Your Majesty has not named her son yet. I heard from Madam Wu that Shen Yutong is now eagerly waiting for Your Majesty to name her child!" Qiqige reported to An Miaoyi with a sarcasm on her face:

An Miaoyi smiled and didn't care too much about it. Shen Yutong was not worth her attention. After thinking for a while, she asked Qiqige:
"How's the situation with Pei Zhixiu?"

Faced with this question, Qiqige hesitated and said:
“Pei Zhixiu hasn’t had anyone from the medical school diagnose her, so we don’t know when she will give birth yet. But if we calculate the date, it will probably be this month. The adults have spent the past two nights with her. It is said that the adults have already named Pei Zhixiu’s child. If it’s a boy, he’ll be named Ye Jingxuan, and if it’s a girl, she’ll be named Ye Xingtong…”

An Miaoyi showed a bit of helplessness in her eyes when she heard that. She was also very troubled by Pei Zhixiu. Although she couldn't stand her eccentricity and not being as obedient to her as other people, she could only choose to ignore her because of Ye Mingsheng. Fortunately, although Pei Zhixiu was a little eccentric, she still knew etiquette and usually gave her face. This meant that although their actual relationship was average, they were still friendly with each other on the surface, and it wasn't too ugly!

"Madam, it's okay for Shen Yutong to give birth to a son. She can't turn the tables! But with your love for Pei Zhixiu, if she gives birth to a son this time, things will be a little troublesome!" Qiqige said with some concern:
An Miaoyi's expression became more serious after listening to Qiqige's words. In her opinion, the person who posed a threat to her and Ye Jingren in the Ye Mansion was a half-human!
This person refers to Murong Qingwu. There is an irreconcilable fundamental contradiction between the two parties and there is no room for compromise!
And the remaining half is Bae Ji-soo!

Compared to herself or Murong Qingwu, Pei Zhixiu's background is undoubtedly her biggest disadvantage. Secondly, she has no supporters among the civil and military officials under the rule of the Fengwu Army, unlike herself and Murong Qingwu who have a base.

Pei Zhixiu's advantage is beyond the reach of others, and that is Ye Mingsheng's favor!

Although An Miaoyi felt that she and Ye Mingsheng had a good relationship and Ye Mingsheng doted on her, she knew in her heart that when it came to doting, not to mention herself alone, even if Murong Qingwu, Ye Mingsheng’s dream lover from his early years, was included, the two of them together might not be as good as Pei Zhixiu··························
It was hard for An Miaoyi not to be jealous of this favor, which was one of the reasons why she disliked Pei Zhixiu. For this reason, she secretly encouraged Ye Cui, who also disliked Pei Zhixiu, to take action. However, to her disappointment, Ye Mingsheng, who had always been very filial, did not follow Ye Cui's wishes, but used a conciliatory approach to block the blame for Pei Zhixiu.

Seeing her son openly and secretly protecting Pei Zhixiu, although Ye Cui was still a little dissatisfied with Pei Zhixiu, in the end she could only pretend that she didn't see it and that she wasn't bothered.

An Miaoyi had always been confused as to why Ye Mingsheng doted on this woman from the palace. Although Pei Zhixiu was also very beautiful, she did not have much advantage in figure and appearance among the other women in the Ye Mansion, not to mention herself, even Murong Qingwu was better than her.

If you talk about being open-minded, although Pei Zhixiu is not as conservative as herself, she is not as flattering and submissive to Ye Mingsheng as Bai Yuanyuan and Jinyu. As long as Ye Mingsheng wants to play with them, they both obey unconditionally. Sometimes Pei Zhixiu even dares to throw a tantrum and show her temper to Ye Mingsheng. If it were someone else, they would be directly abandoned by Ye Mingsheng.

After thinking it over, An Miaoyi could only come to the conclusion that Pei Zhixiu was Ye Mingsheng’s first woman. She accompanied Ye Mingsheng through his youth, and Ye Mingsheng had special feelings for her. This was what made Pei Zhixiu special compared to Ye Mingsheng’s other women...

If this is the case, then there is no doubt that Pei Zhixiu is more dangerous than Murong Qingwu. After all, with Ye Mingsheng's absolute control over the Fengwu Army, as long as he is determined to make Pei Zhixiu's child the heir, things will not change. Anyone who dares to stop him will be ruthlessly eliminated by Ye Mingsheng, and the civil and military officials loyal to Ye Mingsheng will unconditionally support Ye Mingsheng's decision.

Despite such danger, An Miaoyi still only regards Pei Zhixiu as a half threat. The reason is that Pei Zhixiu may have a vital point!
This vital point caused the baby in Pei Zhixiu's belly to withdraw from the competition for the throne even though it was not yet born!

An Miaoyi even suspected that the reason why Ye Mingsheng doted on Pei Zhixiu so much had a lot to do with this vital point of hers. This vital point made the relationship between Ye Mingsheng and her free from any interest entanglement, but was just the purest love between men and women!
During the time she was married to Ye Mingsheng, An Miaoyi understood Ye Mingsheng's temperament and character better. Although Ye Mingsheng always insisted on seeking truth from facts in his style of doing things and was very realistic and driven by interests, An Miaoyi felt that Ye Mingsheng was an idealist at heart!
Although Ye Mingsheng never said it, An Miaoyi could feel that he was dreaming of a pure relationship without any mixed interests in his heart, which she could not give him, and neither could Murong Qingwu. The only thing that could give Ye Mingsheng was Pei Zhixiu, who had already withdrawn from the competition...
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In the study, Ye Mingsheng frowned slightly as he looked at the financial report in his hand, and then asked Zhang Juning in the hall:

"According to your Finance Department's estimate last month, shouldn't the fiscal revenue from Jiangnan this month be more than 150,000 taels of silver? How come it's only a little over 100,000 taels of silver now? Where did the remaining 50,000 taels of silver go?"

Facing Ye Mingsheng's question, Zhang Juning did not reply immediately, but looked at Gu Sansi beside him. Seeing this, Gu Sansi also took over the conversation and introduced:

"My Lord, this is what happened. Half a month ago, Murong Lun sent a letter to Governor Lu. I don't know what Murong Lun wrote to Governor Lu, but Governor Lu still continued the military purchase contract with us!"

"But they added a 50% tariff on our glass bottles, ginseng, kerosene lamps and other products exported to Jiangnan. This caused some rumors in Jiangnan that Governor Lu might cut off trade with us, so the businesses in Jiangnan dared not place new orders with us for a while!"

Ye Mingsheng was a little surprised when he heard this, he knew that in order to cut off his trade with Jiangnan, Shangguan Hongyuan had gone to great lengths, using both civil and military means. Not only had he issued an imperial edict to Lu Jianchao in the name of the young emperor, he had also cut off the trade routes of Jingchu, and finally asked Xu Zhaojie to mobilize the navy...
But even so, Lu Jianchao did not retreat at all and continued his trade with this side. However, now this letter from Murong Lun has caused him to lose one-third of his fiscal revenue from Jiangnan?
Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng became more and more unbelievable. As if seeing Ye Mingsheng's surprise, Gu Sansi introduced in a low voice:

"Murong Lun and Lu Jianchao were once colleagues in the Ministry of Revenue. They had a very good relationship. Lu Jianchao was framed and imprisoned in the Ministry of Revenue, and it was Murong Lun who stepped forward to help Lu Jianchao settle the matter and saved his life!" "The two are now in-laws. Lu Jianchao's eldest son Lu Houde married Murong Lun's third daughter Murong Qiaoyun. In addition, Murong Lun's youngest son Murong Zhengshan has also been engaged to Lu Jianchao's third daughter Lu Wanru. It is precisely because Murong Lun and Lu Jianchao have a very close relationship that those Jiangnan merchants dare not do business with us after hearing the news!"

Ye Mingsheng was a little annoyed when he heard this, but he was also impressed by the profound foundation of top powerful families like the Murong family, whose various relationships were so intertwined and their power was so huge that it was astonishing.

After Murong Lun took office as the Minister of Personnel of the Luoan court, he wrote two letters for Shangguan Hongyuan. The first letter helped Shangguan Hongyuan pacify Yongliang and gain control of tens of thousands of Liang troops, greatly enhancing Shangguan Hongyuan's strength.

However, the second letter struck at his own financial resources, causing concerns for his financial resources in Jiangnan. He had lost so much silver. Fifty thousand taels of silver in the first month was not a lot, but if this continued, it would inevitably have a great impact on the Fengwu Army’s next plans...

However, writing a letter to Lu Jianchao might not be Murong Lun's original intention. Although this old fox Murong Lun served in the Luoan court, he did not bet all his money on the Luoan court.

Therefore, although he wrote articles to scold himself and the Fengwu Army during this period, he did not actually take any action. This was most likely due to Shangguan Hongyuan's coercion. If Murong Lun really wanted to write this letter, he would have written it long ago to take credit for it from Shangguan Hongyuan!
After thinking for a while, Ye Mingsheng asked Gu Sansi, who was in charge of diplomatic affairs:
"What solutions do you have for this matter?"

In response to Ye Mingsheng's question, Gu Sansi said without hesitation:
"When the incident happened, our envoy Ye Shengwen in Jiangnan had already proposed to Lu Jianchao for a visit, but Lu Jianchao avoided meeting him. Ye Shengwen is currently actively doing public relations with other officials in Jiangnan. In addition, Su Yi is also going to take a boat to Jiangnan to pay a visit to Lu Jianchao in the next two days!"

Hearing this, Ye Mingsheng thought for a moment, nodded slightly and said:
"You ask Su Yi to wait for two days before leaving. I will write a letter to Lu Jianchao!"

Gu Sansi's expression showed some joy when he heard this.
"My Lord, it would be the best thing for you to write to Lu Jianchao in person. I believe Lu Jianchao will have more comprehensive considerations!"

Although Gu Sansi's words were very good, Ye Mingsheng felt that he was not sure how much influence he could have on Lu Jianchao. After thinking for a while, he continued to ask:

"If Lu Jianchao continues, does the Foreign Affairs Department have any plans?"

Facing Ye Mingsheng's question, Gu Sansi was not as straightforward as before. He thought for a while and said:
“Manager Ye and I have discussed this matter. Although Jiangnan businesses dare not place orders with us due to political reasons, our products still sell very well in Jiangnan region, and the market demand is huge. If things don’t develop as we wish, we may be able to resort to smuggling…”

"Smuggling?" Ye Mingsheng frowned slightly and asked back:
"Yes!"

, Gu Sansi continued to introduce:

"We can lower the prices of some goods to tempt Jiangnan merchants to bypass Jiangnan's supervision and purchase goods from us privately. This is also the last resort. We can currently earn about 50,000 taels of silver from our ordinary goods trade with Jiangnan every month. If we adopt this method, the profit may be reduced to 30,000 taels, and it will also offend Jiangnan!"

"However, considering that firearms are a necessity for Jiangnan, even if they are very angry, it is expected that they will not stop the firearms trade between us!"

Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng fell into deep thought. Although he really wanted to maintain normal and harmonious trade relations with Jiangnan in order to obtain more silver to maintain his own financial operations.

But if Lu Jianchao is really in the same mind as Murong Lun, then I'm afraid I have to make some preparations. Spring is about a month away. Judging from the current developments in Luoan, they will definitely take action in Yunbing. Once the war breaks out, it will be a huge test for the finances, and every income will be very important.

So since Lu Jianchao is unkind, don't blame yourself for being unjust. Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng made a decision in his heart and said in a deep voice:

"Think twice, I agree with your idea. This matter will be left to you and Hong Sheng..."

(End of this chapter)