Chapter 713 Shangguan Hongyuan’s new prey!

After simply comforting his nephew, Shangguan Hongyuan got to the point...

"Have the scouts investigated the situation of the Fengwu Army on the opposite side?"

In response to Shangguan Hongyuan's question, Shangguan Tingshu nodded and said:

"According to the scouts' intelligence, since Guo Zhiping's troops went to the north to support the enemy's Eighth Division, the Fengwu Army on the east bank of the Sanchuan River is probably the infantry of the enemy's Third Division and two battalions of the Second Division, with a total strength of about 15,000!"

"Although the enemy has few troops, they have more than 50 artillery pieces on the east bank of the Sanchuan River. The artillery fire is very fierce. General Wang led his troops to attack several times but was beaten back by the enemy's artillery. After more than a month of stalemate, they still haven't been able to bite off this hard bone!"

After hearing his nephew's introduction, Shangguan Hongyuan nodded slightly. The situation of Fengwu Army on the east bank of Sanchuan River was similar to what he expected!

This battle between Yun and Bing, which had been prepared for half a year, had now lasted almost two months and had reached this point. Shangguan Hongyuan felt very unwilling.

In his original expectation, his 200,000 Luoan Imperial Guards should have planted the flag of victory on the city wall of Jinzhong at this time. However, the reality was extremely cruel. Since the beginning of the war, his Luoan Imperial Guards had lost tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, and consumed countless money and food. But he hasn't even seen the city gate tower of Jinzhong yet!
Although this battle was difficult, it was not the most difficult one. Although the logistical supplies for the 200,000 troops on the expedition had not been completely cut off, the court in the rear was already in a very difficult situation in order to support the money and food supplies of the 200,000 troops. At most, they could only hold on for half a month before they could no longer support themselves...
Therefore, although he was very unwilling and annoyed in his heart, Shangguan Hongyuan knew that he had to accept the reality now. He could not achieve the goal at the beginning of the war to capture Jinzhong and unify Yunbing!

Although he had to give up the goal of capturing Jinzhong, it did not mean that Shangguan Hongyuan intended to end the war just like that. His 200,000-man army, which he had put all his strength into, had ended up with a whimper!

Judging from the current situation, Shangguan Hongyuan knew that Ye Mingsheng, who defeated Xu Zhaojie, would definitely lead his troops north to support Yunbing.

But how many troops will Ye Mingsheng bring north?

Is this a very critical issue now?

Some advisers around Shangguan Hongyuan judged that Ye Mingsheng would most likely use his great reputation of defeating Xu Zhaojie to lead 100,000 Fengwu troops from Hebei and Henan to the north to counterattack Yunbing. So some people even advised Shangguan Hongyuan to stop while he was ahead and not to continue the attack and waste troops, but to place the troops in the fortified city to guard against Ye Mingsheng's possible counterattack.

However, Shangguan Hongyuan scoffed at the news. He absolutely did not believe that Ye Mingsheng would lead 100,000 Fengwu troops to the north!
Not to mention that Xu Zhaojie was defeated, but he was not killed and posed no threat. Besides, Qi, Lu, and Anqing were territories that the Fengwu Army had just conquered not long ago. The people in these territories have not yet won over, and some ambitious people are still waiting for an opportunity to act.

If the Fengwu Army wants to maintain the stability of these two places, it must leave a large number of troops stationed there to deter those villains hiding in the dark...

The Fengwu Army's troops in Hebei and Henan seem to be quite a lot, and with the incorporated Qi troops, there are more than 100,000 troops. However, when these troops are placed in such a large area of ​​Hebei, Henan, Anqing, Qi and Lu, they are really not enough!

And the most crucial point is that although the Luoan court is unable to continue the war as it has reached this point, Shangguan Hongyuan believes that the situation of the Fengwu Army is not much better according to various information collected by the Supervisory Office. At most, it is because the Fengwu Army implemented reforms and took the money and grain that originally belonged to the aristocratic families into their own hands.

He just used powerful administrative means to use these precious money and grain in a more concentrated and efficient manner, making the situation appear better than his own side. Shangguan Hongyuan believed that Ye Mingsheng was just like him now, and he was going to continue fighting this battle with gritted teeth!
After coming to the conclusion that the Fengwu Army also faced a difficult logistical supply situation, Shangguan Hongyuan thought of the Fengwu Army’s combat effectiveness again!
Before the Battle of Yunbing, although he had not yet directly fought with the Fengwu Army, through the glorious record of the Fengwu Army sweeping across Youyan, taking Jinzhong in the east, and heading south to Hebei and Henan, Shangguan Hongyuan knew that the damned traitor, the Fengwu Army under Ye Mingsheng, was definitely a tough opponent!
Precisely because of his fear of Ye Mingsheng and the Fengwu Army, Shangguan Hongyuan spent more than half a year preparing and tried his best to gather a real army of 200,000...

Now that they were really fighting the Fengwu Army, Shangguan Hongyuan was undoubtedly more impressed by the Fengwu Army's strong fighting power. Many times, he felt that the Fengwu Army was about to collapse due to heavy casualties under the fierce attack of the Imperial Army, but the Fengwu Army held on by shouting the slogan of dying for the Marshal.
As an old soldier who has fought in the world for decades, Shangguan Hongyuan believes that the strong combat effectiveness of the Fengwu Army, in addition to the powerful artillery advantage, strict discipline, skilled battle coordination and other factors, there is another very important factor!

The reason for this is that the soldiers of the Fengwu Army all trusted Ye Mingsheng very much. They believed that even if they died in battle or were disabled, the Fengwu Army would take good care of their families and the rest of their lives, and would give them the money and food rewards they deserved. It was for this reason that the soldiers, who had no worries, would entrust their lives to Ye Mingsheng and would never regret dying for him!
Therefore, under the background of the Fengwu Army's equally tight finances, if Ye Mingsheng still insisted on leading 100,000 people from Hebei and Henan to the north, the money and food consumed by these people along the way would inevitably make the financial hole in the Fengwu Army bigger and bigger.

In order to fill this hole, Ye Mingsheng had to either break his promise to the soldiers, or, as he had done before, continue to exploit and oppress the aristocratic families under the rule of the Fengwu Army and squeeze out the last of their money and food.

If they choose the former, Ye Mingsheng's breach of trust will undoubtedly lead to a decline in the combat effectiveness of the Fengwu Army. If they choose the latter, those aristocratic families have been forced to give up many interests under the reforms promoted by Ye Mingsheng, and they have already accumulated a lot of anger towards Ye Mingsheng in their hearts!

If Ye Mingsheng did not have the military power to protect him, and the Fengwu Army had hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses only obeyed the orders of Ye Mingsheng, Ye Mingsheng and his entire family would probably have been torn into pieces and tortured to death...
As the saying goes, even a rabbit will bite when it is cornered. If Ye Mingsheng tries to take away the last ounce of silver and a stone of grain in their pockets, then there is no doubt that these aristocratic families will have to stand up and resist Ye Mingsheng's tyranny, which will lead to instability in the rear of the Fengwu Army. At that time, under internal and external troubles, the Fengwu Army may even collapse across the board!
Shangguan Hongyuan believed that Ye Mingsheng understood such a simple interest relationship. Of course, if Ye Mingsheng really wanted to do something stupid, Shangguan Hongyuan would definitely be happy to see it happen!

Shanguan Hongyuan believed that Ye Mingsheng would never lead 100,000 men to the north. At best, he would bring 20,000 to 30,000 fresh troops to Yunbing for counterattack. These troops alone were not enough for the counterattack. Therefore, the troops of the Fengwu Army in Yunbing were very important. They would be a very important part of the Fengwu Army's counterattack in the future!
Although Shangguan Hongyuan gave up the plan to capture Jinzhong, he absolutely could not accept that the territory he had conquered at such a high price would be taken back by the Fengwu Army. This would make his 200,000-man army's eastern expedition meaningless and would also be a major blow to his personal prestige! The so-called Luo'an court now relied on the military support of the imperial guards on the one hand, and Shangguan Hongyuan's personal prestige on the other hand to continue to exist.
Therefore, in order to ensure that the territory currently occupied will not be retaken by the Fengwu Army, Shangguan Hongyuan must destroy the Fengwu Army's vitality in the Yunbing area. Therefore, after giving up Jinzhong, Shangguan Hongyuan set his sights on a new prey!
Shangguan Hongyuan believed that as long as he got this prey, not only would Ye Mingsheng be in great pain, but he would also be unable to launch a counterattack even if he led his troops to Yunbing...
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Jiyu, Yujing
In a mansion's study, looking at the dusty Wang Xuecheng, Ye Mingsheng asked calmly:
"Have you found out?"

Although Ye Mingsheng's voice was very calm, it made Wang Xuecheng feel a heavy pressure. He took a deep breath and bowed to Ye Mingsheng and said:
"Reporting to the Marshal, according to our investigation, the assassin who assassinated Lord Murong in Dazhang Town was Xu Zhaojie's men!"

Upon hearing the news, Ye Mingsheng's expression did not change at all, and he asked calmly:
"How did they do this specifically?"

After saying this, Wang Xuecheng continued to explain:
"Your Excellency, Xu Zhaojie was unwilling to give up after his defeat in Ji and Yu, and he also learned that you, the Marshal, appointed Lord Murong as the governor of Ji and Yu, so in order to retaliate against our army, he ordered Xu Benlei and his spies in Ji and Yu to assassinate Lord Murong, trying to stop the reform process of our army in Ji and Yu!"

“In addition to this, Xu Zhaojie also tried to use this incident to influence and sow discord between our army and the Guanzhong Group…”

"So far, our Coordination Office has uncovered 131 spies of the Zhennan Army in Hebei and Henan, and dug out 17 secret agents arranged by the Zhennan Army in our army. Under our army's thundering attack, the Zhennan Army's intelligence network in Hebei and Henan has suffered a thundering blow and has been completely destroyed!"

Listening to Wang Xuecheng's report, Ye Mingsheng began to think in his heart. Knowing that Xu Zhaojie did this made Ye Mingsheng feel relieved. He was really worried about who did this inside the Fengwu Army. If that was the case, Ye Mingsheng would have a hard time dealing with the difficult situation of the Fengwu Army!
After learning about Murong Yuliang's assassination two days ago, Ye Mingsheng ended his vacation a day early and came to Yujing with his personal guard battalion.

In Yujing Ye Mingsheng visited Murong Yuliang and his frightened wife Wang. Murong Yuliang, the real target of the assassination, was not in any serious trouble. Instead, his wife Wang was frightened to death. She looked a little sick and did not look well. It seemed that it would take at least some time for her to recover.

Although Murong Yuliang had done nothing wrong, Ye Mingsheng was very angry that an important official of the Fengwu Army was assassinated on his own territory. Therefore, Ye Mingsheng immediately instructed the Coordination Office to thoroughly investigate the matter and find out the mastermind behind the assassination of Murong Yuliang!
Now that we have found out that Xu Zhaojie was the one who did it, we can finally give an explanation to everyone!

However, Xu Zhaojie is doing more and more despicable things like this!

Before, this bastard knew that Jingcheng, Xingtong and Jingxuan of his family celebrated the full moon banquet together, and he wanted to send assassins to carry out a Zisha-style attack. If Wang Xuecheng hadn't discovered it early, the consequences would have been disastrous·······························
If Xu Zhaojie really succeeds in this matter, then today Ye Mingsheng will lead the army into Huainan and cut off Xu Zhaojie's flesh piece by piece, even if it means giving up Jinzhong!
Just when Ye Mingsheng was about to say something, Wang Xuecheng saw that Ye Mingsheng was still silent, and seemed to have thought of something, so he cautiously said:

"During this investigation, our Coordination Office not only found out that the assassin was sent by Xu Zhaojie, but also unexpectedly discovered that someone around Lord Murong had been bribed!"

When these words came out, Ye Mingsheng raised his sword-like eyebrows and said with a smile:
"Cui Shao?"

Facing Ye Mingsheng's question, Wang Xuecheng nodded and said:

"Your Excellency is wise! Lord Murong is also a thoughtful person. He knows that the slaves he found from Liaoyang were adulterated. Although he pretended not to know on the surface, he was actually carefully monitoring them. And the servants and maids serving Lord Murong were all the servants and maids he brought from Guanzhong!"

"Many of these servants and maids have been servants in the Murong family for generations. They are very loyal to the Murong family and it is difficult for them to be infiltrated!"

“However, Lord Cui found another way and planted a nail next to Lord Murong. This nail is…”

After saying this, seeing that Ye Mingsheng had not yet expressed his opinion, Wang Xuecheng asked again:

"Does the Marshal need to remind Lord Murong about this matter?"

Ye Mingsheng pondered for a while after hearing this, shook his head and said:

"No need for that. Just have your people monitor this nail! Record his every move! By the way, you should increase your efforts to infiltrate Huainan and assassinate his confidants. You must not let Xu Zhaojie live in peace!"

"Yes!"

(End of this chapter)