Chapter 716 Ye Mingsheng’s thoughts! (Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to everyone!)

Looking at Ye Mingsheng who looked normal, Murong Yuliang thought quickly in his mind, wondering what Ye Mingsheng was planning...

The Duan family of Yecheng is the richest family in Hebei and Henan. In Yecheng, the second largest city in Hebei and Henan, there is a saying that Duan owns half of the city, which means that the Duan family’s wealth can buy half of Yecheng!
Although this statement is a bit exaggerated, it is enough to illustrate how wealthy the Duan family is!

In addition to wealth, the Duan family is also a prominent family in the Hebei and Henan regions. For more than a hundred years, members of the family have served as high-ranking officials in the Hebei and Henan government. During the reign of Emperor Gao Zongchang, the Duan family took the initiative to marry into the Gao family and offered a large amount of money.

When the Fengwu Army attacked Yecheng, the Duan family saw that the Fengwu Army was coming in full force and Gao Zongchang's regime was facing internal and external troubles, so they decisively abandoned Gao Zongchang and threw themselves into the arms of the Fengwu Army. To show their sincerity, the Duan family took out a large amount of money and grain!

At that time, the Duan family seemed to be quite aware of the current situation. In addition, the Fengwu Army had not yet completely taken over Hebei and Henan. The local aristocratic families in Hebei and Henan were all waiting and watching, wanting to see Ye Mingsheng's attitude towards them in the matter of the Duan family before deciding which side to support!
Therefore, after much deliberation, Ye Mingsheng thought that even if he could not win the support of the aristocratic families, he could not push them all to Gao Zongchang's side.

Therefore, even if he spent a huge sum of money to buy horse bones, he did not touch the Duan family. After the Fengwu Army completely occupied Hebei and Henan, Ye Mingsheng gradually realized that if he did not take action against the gentry represented by these famous families, the Fengwu Army’s size would not be able to solve the predicament of Hebei and Henan at all···························
Therefore, Ye Mingsheng began to use the rebel army to kill others with a borrowed knife and obtained a large amount of food and wealth. Although this ensured that there was no large-scale famine in Hebei and Henan last winter, it also allowed some prominent families to see Ye Mingsheng's true face.

Murong Yuliang speculated that it was because of this that the Duan family chose to betray the Fengwu Army and secretly contacted Xu Zhaojie!
However, the reality proves that they chose the wrong path and stood on the wrong side!
Therefore, the Duan family must and will be punished!
But the most important question now is, what is Ye Mingsheng’s attitude?

Do you really want to kill the Duan family with one blow, or do you have other ideas?
When Duan Shanhe came to visit a few days ago, Murong Yuliang accepted his request and pleaded with Ye Mingsheng on his behalf.

The first reason is the loyalty of their fathers. The reason why their Murong family can have such influence today and stand firm in the Great Zhou for hundreds of years is that they pay attention to the maintenance of personal connections.

Secondly, it was because Murong Yuliang only realized at the beginning that the Duan family was at most hooking up with Xu Zhaojie, but he never thought that the Duan family was so bold as to think of plotting a rebellion!

The third point is that Murong Yuliang also has considerations for the work to be carried out in Hebei and Henan. After coming to Yujing these days, Murong Yuliang has a pretty good understanding of the situation in Hebei and Henan...

The Fengwu Army reforms over the past few months have been very effective for Hebei and Henan. For example, dams and canals have been built in some key locations, which cracked down on merchants who hoarded goods and stabilized the prices of basic materials related to people's livelihood, such as salt, grain, and cloth. The land redemption policy has enabled hundreds of thousands of people to own their own land.

However, a few months of reform cannot completely change the problems that have accumulated in Hebei and Henan over the past few decades. If we want to deepen the reform process, the current priority is to increase production. The main factor restricting the development of production now is the lack of money!

Although the Duan family was harvested by Ye Mingsheng, as the richest family in Hebei and Henan, they have a deep foundation and a lean camel is bigger than a horse. They can provide financial support. In addition, the Duan family has extensive connections. If they can take the lead and contact several other major financiers in Hebei and Henan, then this problem can be solved.

Of course, the Fengwu Army could have been simpler and more brutal, and directly confiscated the Duan family's property, which might have given them more money and food. However, doing so would have caused grief among other prestigious families, making them feel that Ye Mingsheng would not let them go. At that time, at best it would have been detrimental to the stability of Hebei and Henan, and at worst it would have directly led to the resurgence of the war in Hebei and Henan that had just been quelled!
While the battle of Yunbing was still going on, the Fengwu Army did not have much food left to quell the rebellion in Hebei and Henan. Once the rebellion in Hebei and Henan broke out, even if the Fengwu Army was able to quell the rebellion, it would inevitably affect the battle situation in Yunbing. Now the battle situation in Yunbing could be said to be the top priority of the Fengwu Army...

Just when Murong Yuliang was feeling heavy-hearted and couldn't figure out Ye Mingsheng's attitude, Ye Mingsheng smiled and said, "Wang Xuecheng will handle part of the Duan family's affairs, and the rest will be left to you. I hope Jiyu can be completely renewed in your hands, Lord Murong!"

Murong Yuliang was very surprised to hear this, and looked at Ye Mingsheng in disbelief. Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng smiled and patted his shoulder to indicate that he had not heard wrong.

After a cup of tea, Murong Yuliang left the study. Ye Cheng, who had been waiting beside him, hesitated for a while and then asked Ye Mingsheng carefully:

"Sir, this Duan family is so hateful! Are you really going to let them go like this?"

Ye Mingsheng smiled slightly when he heard this:

"Ye Cheng, have you ever eaten sugarcane?"

Although he didn't know why Ye Mingsheng asked this, Ye Cheng nodded without hesitation. Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng smiled and said:
"You have to squeeze out the sweetness from the sugarcane first, and then spit out the waste..."

･･････････
･･････････
Jinzhong, 50 miles north of Dakou Township, Xiaolingpo.

In the central military camp of the Fengwu Army, a group of generals led by Guo Zhiping were holding a meeting.

Zhang Dabao, the chief scout of the Third Army, stood in front of the sand table and introduced the current situation around Dakouxiang to the senior generals.

"According to our scouts' investigation, Dakou Township is currently occupied by 70,000 enemy troops. To the northeast and southeast are Wang Muzhi's 40,000 Liang troops. They have taken advantage of the terrain and are responsible for blocking General Cui's troops from retreating to Jinzhong City!"

"To the west, near the Sanchuan River, are Shangguan Hongyuan's 30,000 Shenwu troops. These 70,000-plus enemy troops have surrounded Dakou Township. However, since they surrounded Dakou Township, the enemy has only bombarded it and has not organized any offensive operations. In the past few days, General Cui has led his troops to organize several breakout operations at night, but they were all repelled by the enemy. However, the enemy did not take the opportunity to attack!"

"Our scouts have already contacted General Cui's troops in Dakou Township. We are running out of gunpowder in Dakou Township, but we can still sustain food and fodder for five to seven days!"

After Zhang Dabao finished speaking, the generals who realized the difficulty of the task all looked solemn, and they all remained silent...
(Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival. Tongming wishes all readers a happy holiday, good health, and a happy family reunion! In order to thank everyone for their support, Tongming will also send red envelopes to the book club tonight. The red envelopes are not big, but they are a token of Tongming's heart. The group number of the book club is in the introduction. Everyone is welcome to join!)
(End of this chapter)