Chapter 707: Breakout! Breakout! Breakout!

May 31st, night.

In the Fengwu Army camp under Shenzhou City, Ye Mingsheng with a calm expression sat on the watchtower and looked at the distant Shenzhou City, as if he was thinking about something...

"My lord, it's very cold at night!"

Ye Cheng came to the side of Ye Mingshen and handed Ye Mingsheng a cotton coat and a cup of hot drink. Because Liaoyang was a famous fur production area in the Great Zhou Dynasty, when Ye Mingsheng was in charge of Fengzhou, some people gave Ye Mingsheng a very precious fur in order to please him.

However, Ye Mingsheng did not like to wear animal skins on himself, so he always refused this kind of fur and only wore a cotton coat when it was cold.

He put on his cotton coat and took the hot drink from Ye Cheng. He thought that the drink was his favorite Tieguanyin, so he took a big sip. However, when the drink entered his mouth, the bitter taste of the medicine made Ye Mingsheng frown slightly. He put down the cup and asked Ye Cheng helplessly:
"Didn't I tell you not to boil the medicine? Why are you still boiling the medicine?"

In response to Ye Mingsheng's question, Ye Cheng said seriously:

“Mrs. Pei said that you need to take medicine on time for your illness, and it should be at least a full course of fifteen days. But now it’s only half a course. For the sake of the people of Liming under the rule of Fengwu Army, you should also take medicine on time to ensure your health…”

Hearing Ye Cheng speak more and more seriously, Ye Mingsheng quickly waved his hand to interrupt him, then looked at Shenzhou City not far away and asked:
"What time is it now?"

Ye Cheng hesitated for a moment and then said:
"It should be three quarters past midnight now!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly after hearing this, then stood up from his chair and looked at Shenzhou City in the distance. Seeing Ye Mingsheng so serious, Ye Cheng asked in confusion:

"How do you know Xu Zhaojie will break out tonight? What if he pretends to break out like before and then attacks our artillery positions?"

After saying this, Ye Mingsheng said calmly:
"The reason is very simple. Xu Zhaojie has no time. In the past few days, Xu Zhaojie's tricks are all playing the trick of "crying wolf" on our army. He tries to use this method to make our army think that his target is our artillery position, so as to make our army relax its vigilance at the three important nodes of Zhaojiawazi, Yangliuxiang, and Kaoshantun!"

"According to the battle report Zhang Meng sent earlier, he will be able to take Anqing in the next two days. This means Xu Zhaojie doesn't have much time to dawdle. If he delays any further, he will really die in Shenzhou!"

Ye Cheng, who had no military experience, didn't quite understand Ye Mingsheng's explanation. Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng smiled and said:

"Do you have any idea of ​​going to Jiyu to be a county magistrate?"

Ye Cheng immediately became nervous after hearing this. After hesitating for a moment, he cautiously said to Ye Mingsheng:
"Before the Marshal came, Madam Pei repeatedly told me to remind you to take your medicine on time..."

Seeing Ye Cheng talking about this, Ye Mingsheng realized that Ye Cheng thought he was driving him away because he was dissatisfied with him because of taking the medicine. He immediately felt a little amused and waved his hand again:

"I'm not that petty. I just think that you, Ye Cheng, are a talent. It would be a pity for you to stay by my side and just serve tea and water. So I want to give you a chance. What do you think?"

After hearing what Ye Mingsheng said, Ye Cheng finally understood what Ye Mingsheng meant. He stood there and thought carefully. After hesitating for a long time, he bowed to Ye Mingsheng with some embarrassment and said:
"Sir, I haven't thought about this matter yet. Could you give me some time to think about it?"

Ye Mingsheng smiled and nodded when he heard this:
"This concerns your future and destiny. You should think about it carefully. Don't rush to tell me the answer before returning to Yijing!"

After getting Ye Mingsheng's agreement, Ye Cheng was somewhat moved and bowed deeply to Ye Mingsheng again, saying:

"Thank you for your understanding!"

As soon as Ye Cheng finished speaking, he heard a faint shout of killing coming from the direction of the artillery position. Seeing that what was supposed to come had finally come, Ye Mingsheng's expression became more serious. Half a cup of tea later, he saw flames rising from the direction of the artillery position. Then Ma Zhongjun hurried to Ye Mingsheng and said:
“Reporting to the Marshal, Xu Zhaojie sent thousands of people to attack our artillery positions. Many of them were Xu Zhaojie’s loyal soldiers. They rushed into our artillery positions carrying flaming oil and explosives. At present, our army has surrounded and suppressed this enemy force, but more than a dozen cannons on the artillery positions were damaged…”

Ye Mingsheng heard this and said coldly:
"It doesn't matter if a few cannons are destroyed. The important thing is that Xu Zhaojie will escape tonight! How are the deployments in Zhaojiawazi, Kaoshantun, and Yangliuxiang going?"

"Everything is ready, Marshal. General Ye Dong is leading the 9th Division to garrison in the direction of Kaoshantun. As long as Xu Zhaojie tries to break out tonight, our army will definitely hold him back here. As long as we hold on until dawn, our cavalry will arrive and the situation will be settled!" Ma Zhongjun said in a deep voice. Looking at the confident Ma Zhongjun, Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly and ordered:
“Ma Zhongjun, go get busy!”

"Yes!"

With Ma Zhongjun's departure, Ye Mingsheng sat back in his chair. Although he wanted to kill Xu Zhaojie right here, his reason and Yuan Song's advice made Ye Mingsheng understand that with the troops near Shenzhou, it would not be a problem to defeat Xu Zhaojie, but it would be very difficult to wipe out all of Xu Zhaojie's troops. Xu Zhaojie was as cunning as a fox, and he had long since asked his trusted subordinate Wang Sai to lead an army of 10,000 people to deploy in Chengfeng County.

Although this troop is not large in number, they are the elite soldiers of the Zhennan Army with strong combat effectiveness. In addition, the geographical location of Chengfeng County is also very important. It is located right behind Kaoshantun and Yangliu Township. Therefore, if Xu Zhaojie is determined to break out at all costs, we here will most likely not be able to stop him...
After realizing this, although he still wanted to get to the bottom of the matter with Xu Zhaojie, Ye Mingsheng also let it go. It would be great if this battle could annihilate most of the Zhennan Army's manpower. The Zhennan Army in Hebei, Henan and Anqing were all veteran and elite troops of the Zhennan Army. Killing these veterans and elite troops would be equivalent to breaking the backbone of the Zhennan Army.

Even if Xu Zhaojie managed to escape by chance, he would be powerless without the resources. Even if Xu Zhaojie was powerful, it would be difficult for him to cause any trouble with the broken Zhennan Army. Moreover, under Xu Zhaojie's high-pressure exploitation policy, the people of Huainan had long been dissatisfied with him. The reason they dared not resist was because they were afraid of the Zhennan Army's offensive.

Now, as long as he successfully kills these veteran elite soldiers of the Zhennan Army, I believe these Huainan people will also be ready to make a move. At that time, he can let the Coordination Office fan the flames from behind, and maybe he can kill Xu Zhaojie. Even if he can't kill Xu Zhaojie directly, it will be enough to make Huainan unstable and make Xu Zhaojie suffer.

Even if we take a step back and take Anqing and severely damage the veteran elite soldiers of the Zhennan Army, even if Xu Zhaojie is Zhuge Liang again and can stabilize the situation in Huainan, he will still need at least three to five years to lick his wounds, recuperate and recover his strength.

With these three to five years, Ye Mingsheng will be able to absorb the two populous provinces of Hebei, Henan and Shandong. By then, relying on the effect of the reform, the strength of the Fengwu Army will be unprecedentedly strong. Compared with Xu Zhaojie who is trapped in Huainan, Ye Mingsheng can easily gather three times the number of troops, ten times the artillery, and five times the cavalry!

By then, as long as Xu Zhaojie doesn't change his name to Liu Xiu and become the son of the plane to summon a meteor shower to hit himself, Ye Mingsheng really doesn't know how Xu Zhaojie will win?
...
...
Just when the battle of Shenzhou was at its most critical moment, Murong Yuliang and his convoy arrived at Shanze County, 200 miles away from Yujing.

Because he had received news long ago that Murong Yuliang was the new governor of Hebei and Henan, his immediate superior, the magistrate of Shanze County, Deng Feng, led the chief clerk and others to wait twenty miles north of the city without waiting for Murong Yuliang to enter the city. When Murong Yuliang entered the city, they paved the road with yellow earth, poured clean water on the streets, and asked the people to beat gongs and drums. The whole place was extremely lively, which made Murong Yuliang a little flattered.

If the welcome ceremony only made Murong Yuliang feel flattered, then when it came to the welcoming banquet, looking at the extremely luxurious table of fish and meat, Murong Yuliang felt dissatisfied. If he remembered correctly, in the past three years, Shanze County was one of the areas in Hebei and Henan that was most affected by drought.

Last winter, it was thanks to the Fengwu Army that tens of thousands of shi of grain were transferred from Youyan, which prevented this county town with a population of tens of thousands from suffering from the tragedy of starvation and cannibalism that had occurred in the past few years.

Now, only half a year has passed, and a welcoming banquet is so extravagant? These twelve dishes of fish and meat are the food rations of many people...
Murong Yuliang didn't bother to be polite with Deng Feng on the spot. He scolded him directly and told him to work hard to serve the people instead of doing these crooked ways. This will not be a mistake. If he does it again, he will definitely be severely punished!

Deng Feng humbly accepted Murong Yuliang's criticism, but he also carefully made a request to Murong Yuliang, which was to hope that Murong Yuliang could come forward and get some loans from the Dadongsheng Company for their Shanze County so that they could buy more farm tools, fertilizers, and livestock.

Over the past few months, the Fengwu Army has been building water conservancy projects in Hebei and Henan through work-for-relief programs, allowing some water-scarce dry fields to obtain valuable water through canals and become fertile fields. This has also greatly increased farmers' enthusiasm for farming. In response to this, the Fengwu Army has also provided a batch of professional farm tools, cattle, and fertilizers.

However, Hebei and Henan are a large province with a population of millions. Although the Fengwu Army provided a lot of support, it was still a drop in the bucket for such a large population. Therefore, only a few households in Shanze County could get a set of professional farm tools, and only a few hundred households could get a cow.··························
In order not to miss the farming season, the people worked from morning to night but the progress was still slow!
Deng Feng, the county magistrate, was anxious about this and wanted to seize the opportunity of Murong Yuliang coming to Shanze County.

Murong Yuliang did not agree to Deng Feng's request immediately. He had been an official for decades and was no longer a young man. He would easily believe what others said!

Although Deng Feng's words sounded nice, Murong Yuliang had seen many people who spoke nicely. Most of them asked for money with various excuses, and then started to embezzle the money. They said they would use the money for disaster relief and infrastructure repair, but in the end they embezzled most of the money. So Murong Yuliang had to investigate Deng Feng's background before considering this matter!

Secondly, although Ye Mingsheng supported his work, the Fengwu Army was now fighting on two fronts and the financial pressure was also very great. Although the Dadongsheng Company still had some silver, it was borrowed by issuing bonds. Not only did he have to repay the principal, but he also had to pay interest.

Besides, the biggest use of these silvers is to support the Fengwu Army to continue the war. It’s not that Murong Yuliang can get the silver just by asking...

At night, his wife Wang was sleeping soundly beside him in the inn, but Murong Yuliang could not sleep, as his mind was full of thoughts about Deng Feng's report. He knew very well that the situation in Shanze County was not an isolated case in Hebei and Henan, but a common situation in most counties in Hebei and Henan!
If he wants to achieve results during his tenure as the governor of Hebei and Henan, he must first solve this problem. Although he was full of confidence when he came, the situation he faced at this time made Murong Yuliang feel very difficult.

It is probably not feasible for Guan Ye Mingsheng to ask for this approach. Ye Mingsheng may be able to give him the face of twenty or thirty thousand taels of silver, but twenty or thirty thousand taels of silver is simply a drop in the bucket in the entire Hebei and Henan provinces and can't do much. However, if it is more, the Finance Department and Dadongsheng Company cannot afford it!

For a province as big as Ji and Yu, it would take at least 500,000 taels of silver to solve this problem!
But how can I raise these 500,000 taels of silver?

(End of this chapter)