Chapter 679 Murong’s worry!
Liaoyang, Dongning, Murong Prefecture

Looking at the resolute face of his second son Murong Shengwu in front of him in the study, Murong Yuliang was still a little worried in his heart·······················

More than half a year ago, he brought his children and family from Sichuan to Yijing, expressing his loyalty to Ye Mingsheng with practical actions, to which Ye Mingsheng also gave a practical response.

First, he rewarded them with a big house in Yijing. Then, according to Murong Yuliang's wishes, he arranged his eldest son Murong Zhe into the civil service system of Fengwu Army, and his second son Murong Shengwu into the Fifth Division of Fengwu Army. He even left Murong Shengwu in Dongning to keep Murong Yuliang company.

"Shengwu! Are you really ready to go to the front line?" Murong Yuliang hesitated for a while and asked:
Murong Shengwu nodded and said:
"Dad, I'm ready. The war is about to start, and it's a good opportunity for a man to show his skills. I don't want to miss this opportunity!"

Feeling the courage and expectation revealed in Murong Shengwu's words, Murong Yuliang was still a little worried. Their Murong family was a family with a tradition of passing down poetry and books. Although many people in the family had entered officialdom over the past few hundred years, most of them were civil servants and there were very few military officers. However, his second son, Murong Shengwu, was an exception!
Although he passed the imperial examination and became a scholar, Murong Shengwu knew very well that he was not cut out for a civil servant, because he loved wielding spears and sticks since he was young and dreamed of becoming a wielding general. So, despite his family’s objection, he joined the imperial guards at the age of nineteen...

Although Murong Yuliang was very dissatisfied with his son's choice, he had no choice but to support Murong Shengwu. Murong Shengwu did not disappoint. When Yongliang suppressed the Dangxiang people, he made great contributions and soon became a commander of the imperial guards, commanding a battalion of several thousand people!

However, in the imperial army at that time, the promotion from commander to general was a promotion from a mid-level military officer to a senior military officer, and senior military officers such as the commander, the deputy commander, and the assistant commander were all in their own positions. Therefore, even though Murong Shengwu had a strong family background, he still needed to accumulate some experience.
It took several years to accumulate this experience. However, when a vacancy appeared in the Hujie Imperial Guard and the Murong family was preparing to work for Murong Shengwu, the Luoan Incident broke out. The Murong family abandoned Shangguan Hongyuan and the entire clan went to Sichuan. Although Murong Shengwu also left the Imperial Guard, his chance of being promoted to a senior military officer did not fall through!
After arriving in Sichuan, the Murong family understood that troubled times were coming, so they wanted to seize military power. However, there was only one military officer in the family, Murong Shengwu. Therefore, the Murong family used family connections to exchange interests with other powerful people, allowing Murong Shengwu to become a general commanding tens of thousands of people in the Shu army.

However, in the battle against the offensive of the Imperial Army in Sichuan, because the Shu Army had many factions and serious internal strife, Murong Shengwu, as an airborne faction, was also boycotted by his subordinates and colleagues, and thus suffered a great defeat in Sichuan. Although he was not beheaded under the protection of his family, he was forced to resign and reflect on his mistakes. However, for a proud child of heaven like Murong Shengwu who was used to having a smooth journey, this was an extremely heavy blow...
After arriving in Yijing with his family, Murong Shengwu, who had experienced a low point, wanted to actively come out of retirement. Considering that he was Murong Qingwu's biological brother and for the purpose of winning over the Murong family, Ye Mingsheng met him in person and examined him. He felt that this man had some ability, so he arranged him in the staff department to be responsible for training new recruits.

After training the new recruits for several months, seeing that Murong Shengwu had a good reputation, Ye Mingsheng arranged him into the Fifth Division. However, he did not make him a general like he had been in the Shu Army. Instead, he downgraded his rank and only made him a commander!
Because the Fifth Division's general, Ye Tie, was the captain of Ye Mingsheng's personal guard, Ye Mingsheng trusted him very much and always arranged him in the rear, letting him serve as a strategic reserve and be responsible for maintaining stability. Therefore, the Fifth Division was also regarded as a garrison force, and there were rarely large-scale battles deep in the rear.

But this was not what Murong Shengwu wanted. The great defeat of Sichuan and Shu against the Imperial Guards could be said to be the shame of his life. He was thinking about revenge all the time and wanted to wash away this defeat with a victory. Obviously, staying in the rear could not achieve this goal. So after careful consideration, Murong Shengwu made a resolute decision to write to the General Staff to apply for transfer to the Second Army to the front line of the Yunbing battlefield!

Seeing Murong Shengwu's determined look, Murong Yuliang felt helpless. His second son had been very stubborn since he was young. In order to make him give up the idea of ​​joining the army and continue to take the imperial examination, he locked him in the woodshed for several days without giving him any food, and starved him to death, but he did not change his mind...

But the situation in Yunbing is really dangerous now. The Fengwu Army and the Imperial Army have gathered hundreds of thousands of troops there and a war is about to break out. The Second Army is also on the front line. If Murong Shengwu is not careful, he may easily die there, not to mention that Murong Shengwu has experienced previous lessons.

He had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the imperial guards in Sichuan and Shu back then. If it had not been for the Murong family arranging for him effective personal guards who fought desperately to protect him in Naichuan County, Murong Shengwu would probably have been a pile of dry bones by now. Therefore, Murong Yuliang was not optimistic about his trip to the Yunbing battlefield this time.

In Murong Yuliang's opinion, Murong Shengwu is fine on the front line, but he should not go to Yunbing, but should go to Qilu to pick up weak targets!
Seeing his father frowning, Murong Shengwu seemed to have thought of something. After hesitating for a moment, he cautiously asked:

"Dad, are you not optimistic about the Yunbing war this time?"

Murong Yuliang didn't say anything after hearing this, but his brows furrowed even deeper. Seeing his father like this, Murong Shengwu said in surprise:
"Father, the Fengwu Army has been victorious since its inception. In just a few years, it has conquered such a large territory. This time, it has gathered its main forces in Yunbing. How can it not win?"

"Dad, you didn't think the Fengwu Army couldn't win just because they lost Dagu County in the Yunbing War last year, did you?"

"In that battle, the Imperial Army assembled nearly three times its strength to attack Jinzhong. In the end, it paid the price of nearly 10,000 casualties before it captured a mere Dagu County...

"This time, the Fengwu Army will also send its main force to meet us. Marshal Ye may even personally take charge of Jinzhong. The situation will be completely different!"

Looking at his second son who was very optimistic and whose expression was full of respect when he mentioned "Ye Mingsheng", Murong Yuliang sighed slightly. If his colleagues had asked him at this time, he would definitely say that the Fengwu Army would surely win a great victory, but facing his own son, he needed to say some of his true feelings!

Looking at Murong Shengwu, Murong Yuliang said word by word:

"The key to the Yunbing battle does not lie in Yunbing, but in the situation in the south!"

Hearing his father say this, Murong Shengwu felt a little confused. He looked a little bewildered and had no idea what Murong Yuliang was talking about.

Seeing this, Murong Yuliang could only say:
"If it was just Yunbing, I believe the Fengwu Army would be able to win. But now Xu Zhaojie of Huainan has led his troops north, and the Marshal is determined to interfere in the situation in Qi and Lu. Now the Fengwu Army can be said to be fighting on three fronts, with too many spies. In addition, Hebei and Henan have not been completely pacified, and sporadic armed riots still need to be quelled!"

"Fortunately, the Yunbing war has not officially started yet, otherwise the finances would have to rob Peter to pay Paul. Now I hope that your uncle can hold on under the pressure from Shangguan Hongyuan, otherwise, once the money from Jiangnan is cut off, the finances will not be able to pay the military salaries and pensions in a few months..." After listening to what Murong Yuliang said, Murong Shengwu suddenly realized it. After thinking for a moment, he still said nonchalantly:
"A few months is more than enough to defeat Shangguan Hongyuan!"

Seeing his son being so arrogant, Murong Yuliang snorted coldly and taught him a lesson:

"Do you know what the He Jingyun plan of the General Staff is?"

Without waiting for Murong Shengwu to speak, Murong Yuliang said decisively:
"We took Jinyang in three months! And everything went smoothly. How dare you, a rebellious son, be so arrogant?"

Murong Shengwu shut up in dismay after hearing this. Seeing this, Murong Yuliang continued:
"Although the Fengwu Army has strict military discipline and is able to enforce prohibitions and fight bravely, what makes them truly invincible is the powerful firearms!"

"Although the Fengwu Army still has a great advantage in terms of quality and quantity of firearms, Shangguan Hongyuan already has the Zhengdong Cannon and the Shenwu Gun, which are also very powerful. It will definitely not be as easy for the Fengwu Army to defeat Youyan and Jiyu as it was!"

"I am already very satisfied that we can guarantee an undefeated victory in this battle between Yun and Bing!" Murong Yuliang said with some worry:

After hearing his father's words, Murong Shengwu fell into silence. After thinking for a moment, he raised his head and said to Murong Yuliang very seriously:

"I still want to go to Yunbing!"

"you!"

After listening to Murong Shengwu's words, Murong Yuliang was so angry that he was about to explode. It turned out that all my talk with you was useless!

Seeing this, Murong Shengwu said firmly:
"Dad, I know you have reason to worry, but I still believe in the Fengwu Army! I believe in Marshal Ye!"

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Yijing, Governor's Mansion, Study
After spending the whole afternoon dealing with the official documents sent by the Hebei-Henan Provincial Government regarding the planting after the spring, the construction of canals and other infrastructure, Ye Mingsheng, although very tired, still insisted on asking Ye Cheng:

"Has the memorial from Jiyu been delivered?"

Ye Cheng nodded when he heard this, but seeing the fatigue on Ye Mingsheng's face, he couldn't help but persuade him:
"My Lord, it's getting late today. How about we deal with it tomorrow?"

Ye Mingsheng shook his head and said:

"Today's work is done today, just bring your things here!"

Seeing that Ye Mingsheng insisted on doing so, Ye Cheng had no choice but to hand the official document to Ye Mingsheng. Ye Mingsheng opened the document and began to read it carefully.

However, after only reading two pages, Ye Mingsheng’s face turned blue with anger. In the beginning, for the sake of peace and stability in Hebei and Henan, Ye Mingsheng did not send officials from the Fengwu Army to serve as the governor and censor of Hebei and Henan. Instead, he made certain compromises and promoted Chen Huaiyu, a local bureaucrat in Hebei and Henan, as the censor of Hebei and Henan, and Wang Ke as the governor. He only picked Zhang Zhiwen from the Fengwu Army to serve as the deputy governor of Hebei and Henan, mainly responsible for promoting the reform...
However, only two months later, the Coordination Office discovered corruption in the disaster relief work in Hebei and Henan. Ye Mingsheng was furious and sent Murong Hui to serve as deputy provincial governor to investigate the matter thoroughly. Murong Hui was indeed very capable and it only took him seven days to get to the bottom of the matter. Ye Mingsheng also intended to use this incident to make an example of others, so he severely punished the corrupt officials involved in the case. More than one hundred people were killed, and as many as seven hundred people were implicated.

Ye Mingsheng thought that this was enough to alert some people and prevent them from acting rashly again, but now it seems that he still underestimated their greed. They dared to privately hoard the disaster relief food for hundreds of thousands of people in an entire county, and distributed some rotten and moldy food to the victims, causing dozens of people to vomit and die from diarrhea after eating these things.

What Ye Mingsheng didn't expect was that the county magistrate involved was actually Wang Ke's son-in-law. It was because of this that Murong Hui wrote to Ye Mingsheng to ask whether he should continue the investigation!
In response to this, Ye Mingsheng immediately issued an instruction, telling Murong Hui that no matter who was involved in this matter, it must be investigated thoroughly and no leniency would be shown to the evil!
After dealing with these, Ye Mingsheng took a break for a cup of tea before his mood gradually calmed down. He then started to check the next memorial sent by Ji Yu.

This memorial was written by Zhang Zhiwen to Ye Mingsheng. Its main purpose was to introduce the land distribution situation in Hebei and Henan to Ye Mingsheng, and to tell Ye Mingsheng that the farmers in Hebei and Henan were very motivated after they were allocated their land, farm tools and livestock. Some people who had originally fled to Jingchu, Anqing and Huainan to escape famine also returned to their hometowns.

In addition, under the policy of work-for-relief, Zhang Zhiwen has organized more than 100,000 laborers to build canals and dams in Hebei and Henan to prevent mountain torrents during the flood season and protect the lives and property of local people. Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly. This was what he wanted. While thinking about it, he turned to the last page of the memorial, on which was attached a portrait of a woman in palace dress...
(End of this chapter)