Chapter 715: Wearing a yellow robe? Ascending the throne to become emperor?
On June 11th, Ye Mingsheng’s temporary residence in Yujing, Jiyu.

In the study, Murong Yuliang bowed to Ye Mingsheng and said:

"Thank you, Marshal, for upholding justice for me..."

Ye Mingsheng asked Ye Cheng to get a chair for Murong Yuliang to sit down, and said to him with a smile:

"No problem! No problem! Lord Murong, you are the governor of my Fengwu Army. That traitor Xu Zhaojie dared to murder you, so I will naturally teach him a lesson for you!"

"Clip off some of his wings first, and when my army marches into Huainan soon, I will personally capture him and make him apologize to Lord Murong!"

Murong Yuliang heard this and continued to preach respectfully:
"Thank you for your kindness! The Marshal is the pillar of the country and the man of destiny. Xu Zhaojie is just a small thief. Compared with you, the Marshal, it is undoubtedly a firefly competing with the bright moon. His arrogance will surely lead to his own destruction!"

Ye Mingsheng thought quickly about Murong Yuliang's statement. Although Murong Yuliang was just flattering himself, Ye Mingsheng noticed one word among them - the man of destiny!
The emperor is also known as the Son of Heaven. The word Son of Heaven is the abbreviation of the Son of Heaven. Obviously, although Ye Mingsheng is the commander of the Fengwu Army, in name, he is still a subject of the Great Zhou. Therefore, it is obviously inappropriate to use such words to describe Ye Mingsheng. However, Murong Yuliang still uses this title, and the meaning is naturally self-evident!
Ever since the Fengwu Army entered the Pass, there have been constant calls for Ye Mingsheng to put on the yellow robe and ascend the throne to be emperor. However, as the Fengwu Army pacified Qi and Lu and captured Anqing recently, these calls have risen a lot, including from some senior generals in the Fengwu Army...
Although wearing the yellow robe is Ye Mingsheng's ultimate goal, but in the current situation, Ye Mingsheng still feels that the timing is a little inappropriate, so Ye Mingsheng is thinking about how to suppress this voice temporarily, but because of the recent busy war, Ye Mingsheng has not found the time to do this!

There is no doubt that Murong Yuliang also heard these voices, but he was not sure of his own thoughts, so he used this method to

It's a way to show his loyalty to me, and also to test my thoughts to see if I have the idea of ​​wearing the yellow robe!

Looking at Murong Yuliang, Ye Mingsheng said with a smile:

"Lord Murong, the emperor is still here, so please be careful with your words!"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng's words, Murong Yuliang quickly pretended to be very ashamed and said:
"Marshal, what you are teaching me is that I said the wrong thing, I said the wrong thing..."

Although he pretended to have said something wrong, Murong Yuliang was still very happy in his heart. He got the answer he wanted from Ye Mingsheng's words.

Although the Fengwu Army has been conquering cities and territories everywhere in recent years, it has now occupied Liaoyang, Youyan, Hebei, Henan, Anqing, Qi and Lu. It also intervened in the Yunbing area and took over Jinzhong and a small part of Yunbing. It can be said that it has occupied most of the north and almost half of the Great Zhou.

The Fengwu Army has achieved such great results in just a few years of its rise. A big reason for this is that Ye Mingsheng, the commander-in-chief, has a far-sighted vision and foresight. He enjoys a very high prestige in the Fengwu Army. Under his leadership, the Fengwu Army is like an interlocking machine running at high speed...
However, as the saying goes, success or failure is due to Xiao He, the current leadership model in the Fengwu Army is naturally invincible when the leader has a far-sighted vision. It can effectively mobilize the resources of the system and concentrate them together to accomplish great things!

But if there is a problem with the leader, the entire system will be dragged into the ditch and start to go downhill!

As the saying goes, there is a legitimate reason for the war. In the current war with Shangguan Hongyuan and Xu Zhaojie, the slogan of these two people is to follow the emperor's order to fight against Ye Mingsheng, the traitor with evil intentions.

Ye Mingsheng, on the other hand, held high the banner of "clearing the imperial court" and wanted to kill Shangguan Hongyuan and Xu Zhaojie, the two treacherous ministers who had disrupted the government. If he were to wear the yellow robe now, it would undoubtedly prove that Ye Mingsheng was the treacherous minister with evil intentions!
Although these things seem to be just some verbal disputes, behind them are disputes for justice. Although justice is something that is invisible and intangible like nothingness, it truly affects people's hearts. To betray justice is like betraying the hearts of the people!

The Great Zhou Dynasty lasted for three hundred years. Although it now looks like a shabby house that can be knocked down with just one kick, if you really become an emperor and kick this broken house, then the rotten bricks and tiles in this broken house will hit you and hurt a lot, making you very embarrassed...

Although the Fengwu Army developed rapidly and seemed to be able to swallow up the world in one fell swoop, it also had some problems. This was because the Fengwu Army had only been rising for a short time, and most of the territories, including Hebei and Henan, had only been taken over in the past year or so. The Fengwu Army had not yet completely controlled them.

In addition, the reforms implemented by the Fengwu Army, on the one hand, greatly improved the lives of ordinary people, and on the other hand, strengthened the government's control over social resources. However, this greatly harmed the interests of some powerful families. Although they did not dare to act rashly on the surface due to the powerful military deterrence of the Fengwu Army, they were most likely thinking about how to counterattack in their hearts!

If Ye Mingsheng accepted the advice of his subordinates at this time and directly put on the yellow robe and ascended the throne to proclaim himself emperor, then this would not only betray the greater good, but would also give those with ulterior motives an excuse. These people who were already dissatisfied with the Fengwu Army's notice would surely use this incident to rise up and try to overthrow the Fengwu Army's rule.

Even if the Fengwu Army finally suppressed them, it would waste a lot of energy and time. In addition to causing unnecessary internal friction, when the Fengwu Army continues to expand towards Guanzhong and Jiangnan in the future, it will also encounter more resistance because of Ye Mingsheng's ascension to the throne!

Therefore, in Murong Yuliang's view, those voices within the Fengwu Army persuading Ye Mingsheng to ascend the throne were very short-sighted and irresponsible. These people's persuasion was entirely for their own selfish desires, thinking that once Ye Mingsheng ascended the throne, they would be the dragon's heroes and could follow his chickens and dogs to ascend the throne and transform themselves into new dignitaries...
Although he wanted to persuade Ye Mingsheng about this matter, Murong Yuliang was not sure of Ye Mingsheng's intentions. He was worried that bringing up this matter directly would anger Ye Mingsheng, so he used the title of "Son of Destiny" to test Ye Mingsheng and see how Ye Mingsheng would react!
The Fengwu Army is currently full of drive and if it continues to develop like this, it will be able to unify the world within ten years, or even five years. However, once Ye Mingsheng, who is in charge of the Fengwu Army, becomes ambitious and blinded by the wealth and glory, then the Fengwu Army may turn from prosperity to decline!
Obviously, Ye Mingsheng's correction to him also showed that Ye Mingsheng's mind was still very clear. He also understood that although becoming an emperor now sounded good in name and satisfied his inner vanity, it actually had many disadvantages, so he was not prepared to become an emperor!
After understanding Ye Mingsheng's intentions, Murong Yuliang began to discuss the main topic of this meeting with Ye Mingsheng.

“Marshal, the Duan family of Yecheng has been passed down for a hundred years and is a noble family in Hebei and Henan. Several generations have served as officials and are very prestigious among the officials. During the natural disasters in Hebei and Henan in recent years, the Duan family has insisted on opening porridge shops to provide relief to the victims. The people of Yecheng are grateful to their family…” After listening to Murong Yuliang's words, Ye Mingsheng was too lazy to listen to him continue. He immediately waved his hand to interrupt Murong Yuliang and said directly:

"Duan Shanhe visited you at your house three days ago. He asked you to come to me to ask for mercy, right?"

After arriving in Yujing five days ago, Ye Mingsheng appeased Murong Yuliang who was assassinated, and on the other hand, he ordered tax officials to move into all the businesses of the Duan family, the richest man in Hebei and Henan, and conduct a strict investigation to see if the Duan family had any tax evasion. The Censorate should also investigate every criminal case related to the Duan family in detail, and no one would be tolerated!

Although Ye Mingsheng did not directly order a search and seizure of the Duan family, this series of combined punches made everyone realize that the Duan family had angered him. And in the territory of the Fengwu Army, to offend Ye Mingsheng would undoubtedly be tantamount to seeking death. Soon, the Duan family, which used to be bustling with people, became deserted. Everyone was afraid of being implicated in Ye Mingsheng's rage!
However, it must be said that the Duan family has a deep foundation in Hebei and Henan as it has been passed down for a hundred years. At this time when the family's survival was at stake, he also found many people to try to plead with Ye Mingsheng, and said that as long as Ye Mingsheng was satisfied, the Duan family would do anything. However, Ye Mingsheng did not meet any of these people who begged for mercy!
Hearing Ye Mingsheng’s straightforward words, Murong Yuliang felt somewhat embarrassed, but facing Ye Mingsheng’s questioning, knowing that he could not escape Ye Mingsheng’s discerning eyes, he still nodded honestly································

The father of Duan Shanhe, the head of the Duan family, was called Duan Zhichun. He was a Jinshi in the same batch as his father. When his father came to Jiyu to serve as the Censor, Duan Zhichun was the prefect of Yujing. The two had a very good relationship. Although this relationship has become much more distant now, the affection between them is still there. Therefore, Duan Shanhe also came to the door and wanted to ask Murong Yuliang to plead for him with Ye Mingsheng!
Seeing Murong Yuliang nod, Ye Mingsheng continued to ask:
"Since you are here to plead for them, do you know what the Duan family has done wrong?"

Murong Yuliang hesitated for a moment after hearing this, and then spoke very cautiously:

"Duan Shanhe told me that he only bought 50,000 taels of Dongsheng bonds, which made you think he was stingy and get angry with him!"

After saying this, Ye Mingsheng showed a hint of amusement on his face, and continued to speak calmly:
"That's what he told you, so what do you think?"

Seeing Ye Mingsheng say this, Murong Yuliang thought for a moment and then spoke:
"Although Duan Shanhe seems smart, he actually has little wisdom but no great plans, so he often changes his mind and acts in two ways. The sale of bonds by Dadongsheng Company happened at the beginning of Xu Zhaojie's invasion of Hebei and Henan. Therefore, I boldly guess that he was probably afraid that Xu Zhaojie would take over Hebei and Henan, and the bonds he bought from Dadongsheng would become waste paper, so he bought 50,000 taels of bonds!"

"Sir, your move against the Duan family this time is to punish them for changing their attitude according to the wind!"

Hearing this, Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly. If Murong Yuliang really believed Duan Shanhe’s lies, he would have to consider whether it was the right decision to let Murong Yuliang serve as the governor of Hebei and Henan...

Under Murong Yuliang's gaze, Ye Mingsheng smiled and instructed Ye Cheng:

"Ye Cheng, find the report on the Duan family and show it to Lord Murong!"

"Yes!"

After receiving Ye Mingsheng's order, Ye Cheng immediately found the report in the study and handed it to Murong Yuliang. Seeing Murong Yuliang getting the report, Ye Mingsheng smiled and said:

"Look! The Duan family's burden is much greater than you think!"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng say this, Murong Yuliang immediately had a bad feeling and opened the report sent by Ye Cheng.

After reading only the first page of the report, Murong Yuliang's expression changed slightly, and a hint of anger appeared in his eyes. After a cup of tea, he finished reading the report and said angrily:
"How dare the Duan family secretly collude with Xu Zhaojie? They really don't know how to live or die!"

Listening to Murong Yuliang’s words, Ye Mingsheng smiled faintly. The Duan family was indeed very courageous. In addition to hooking up with Xu Zhaojie, they also promised Xu Zhaojie that as long as the Zhennan Army conquered Fengqiu and defeated the First Army of the Fengwu Army stationed there, their Duan family would start an uprising in Yecheng and echo Xu Zhaojie...

For this reason, Xu Zhaojie also generously promised that after the Fengwu Army was driven away, he would give half of Hebei and Henan to the Duan family!
The plans of both sides were very good, the atmosphere was harmonious and warm, and the negotiations progressed very smoothly. Unfortunately, the reality was cruel. Yuan Song quickly resisted the Zhennan Army. By the time Ye Mingsheng personally led his troops to support, Xu Zhaojie was not only driven out of Hebei and Henan, but also suffered heavy losses and even lost his old nest in Anqing.

As a result, the agreement between the two parties became a piece of waste paper, and the Duan family was also very worried, fearing that the Coordination Office would find out. For this reason, they ruthlessly eliminated some people who knew about the matter, just to make sure that no one knew about it!

To be honest, as the local boss of Hebei and Henan, the Duan family is indeed capable and has done a lot of work. The people from the Coordination Office did not find any clues from them at the beginning.

But unfortunately, this kind of thing is a two-way thing. The spies planted by the Coordination Office in the Zhennan Army also reported the matter, making all the efforts made by the Duan family in vain.

(End of this chapter)