Chapter 731 Seeking peace!

Yijing, Military Governor's Mansion
Ye Mingsheng sat on a chair in the study, looking at the scenery outside the window, but his thoughts drifted away with the wind························
Murong Qingwu has been pregnant for almost two months. Calculating the date, it should have been conceived during those crazy nights before he led his troops to the battle.

This was a good thing for Ye Mingsheng, and he was very happy. However, what surprised Ye Mingsheng was that during the time when he was away from home, Murong Qingwu tried her best to hide her condition and dared not say anything. She always said that she was not feeling well and stayed in her courtyard.

She seemed to be afraid that the news of her pregnancy would leak out, so she only told me the news carefully after she returned home.

To be honest, Ye Mingsheng felt a little uncomfortable seeing the jewel in the crown of the Murong family, the pride of the Great Zhou, being so cautious.

To be honest, Ye Mingsheng didn't know what feelings he had towards Murong Qingwu!
Among all the wives and concubines around him, he only truly loved one and a half of them. The rest were just pure desires without much emotion. As for Murong Qingwu, Ye Mingsheng didn't know what he felt towards her.

If you ask him whether he likes Murong Qingwu or not, Ye Mingsheng would give an affirmative answer without hesitation. After all, with Murong Qingwu's figure, appearance and temperament, if you ask a hundred men, at least ninety-five of them will say they like her, and the remaining five may have some problems with their physiology or sexual orientation.

But if you ask whether he loves her or not, Ye Mingsheng is a little confused. The reason why he wanted her in the first place was on the one hand to fulfill his wish of chasing Bai Yueguang, and on the other hand, he also wanted to win over the Murong family and Guanzhong Group...
After marrying her, the two of them treated each other with respect. Although they seemed to be in love and had a good relationship, there was always a hint of politeness between them.

Back to Murong Qingwu herself, Ye Mingsheng was still very satisfied with her. It was very aggrieved for the Murong family's jewel in the crown and the proud daughter of the Great Zhou to be willing to become his concubine. To be honest, when she first came in, Ye Mingsheng was somewhat worried that Murong Qingwu would have a conflict with An Miaoyi.

Now, from a factual point of view, Murong Qingwu has done a very good job. She did not use her family background with a strong background to challenge An Miaoyi. Instead, she respected An Miaoyi very much, fulfilled her duties as a concubine and was very obedient. In addition, she also tried very hard to please her mother-in-law.

You know, because of the Cui family, Ye Cui has always stood on An Miaoyi's side. But when she came to pay her respects in the morning these few days, while An Miaoyi was away, Ye Cui said a lot of good things about Murong Qingwu, saying that it was not easy for Murong Qingwu to be treated well in the mansion.

This made Ye Mingsheng somewhat suspicious, wondering if there was something wrong in his backyard, and if he was too indulgent.

Although An Miaoyi is very smart and knows that he doesn’t like her to be too involved in military and political affairs, so on the surface she basically never participates in these things. She seems to be a good wife, but Ye Mingsheng knows some things clearly in secret. However, because An Miaoyi has not crossed the line, Ye Mingsheng pretends not to know······························
After marrying him, An Miaoyi deliberately wanted to keep a certain distance from Cui Shao, trying to make himself think that they had lost contact, but in fact the connection between them always existed.

After realizing that exerting influence directly would make her very disgusted, An Miaoyi also tried to save the country in a roundabout way and wanted to use Cui Shao's power to exert influence on military and political affairs. Ye Mingsheng was very clear about all this. Therefore, Ye Mingsheng had some deeper purpose when he married Murong Qingwu. In addition to giving An Miaoyi a warning, he also planned to use the Murong family to balance the power.

Although he knew that An Miaoyi had always had ambitions in her heart, Ye Mingsheng still had deep feelings for his first wife, especially when she gave birth to Jingren. He saw with his own eyes how An Miaoyi almost lost her life in order to give birth to him. Because of this childbirth, An Miaoyi also suffered from some health problems.
Therefore, Ye Mingsheng felt pity for An Miaoyi. It was at that time that Ye Mingsheng told himself in his heart that he must treat An Miaoyi well and not let her down.
However, Ye Mingsheng could not understand. An Miaoyi seemed to have no sense of security in her heart. Maybe she did not want to harm anyone, but she always liked to grab everything she could. Obviously, she was the legal wife and Jingren was the eldest son, but she always seemed to be worried about something...

Although he couldn't understand it, Ye Mingsheng also reflected on whether it was his behavior that made his wife so insecure. However, Ye Mingsheng didn't think he had done anything wrong. This also made him feel a little tired in his heart, and he understood why emperors since ancient times had to be alone.

In the near future, Ye Mingsheng plans to have a good talk with her to resolve some current conflicts. Ye Mingsheng believes that he can handle this problem.

Just when Ye Mingsheng was thinking about it, there was a knock on the door. Ye Mingsheng sorted out his mood and said:
"Enter!"

Under Ye Mingsheng's order, Ye Cheng walked into the study and reported to Ye Mingsheng:

"Sir, Director Huo San is here!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded and said:

"Let him in!"

"Yes!"

Looking at Ye Cheng's back, Ye Mingsheng shook his head slightly. This time, he also wanted Ye Cheng to be sent out to gain experience like Qi Dechao, but Ye Cheng had his own ideas. He felt that he was still young and was not in a hurry to be sent out. He wanted to learn from him.
Although Ye Mingsheng wanted to send him out, seeing that he was not very willing, Ye Mingsheng temporarily gave up these plans.

This is good as there have been a lot of things going on recently and Ye Mingsheng has been quite busy as there are many military and political affairs to deal with. Although the Guards’ Office also has some other staff, if Ye Cheng leaves, Ye Mingsheng and the new guards will need some time to get used to each other, which will undoubtedly affect the efficiency of the work······························

After a while, Huo San came to Ye Mingsheng. Unlike usual, Ye Mingsheng was not in a hurry to listen to Huo San's report, but was concerned about his family situation. Huo San had been with him for so many years, and with his tacit consent, he also got some benefits. Not to mention other money and real estate, Huo San married seven wives and concubines. Although he had seven wives, the gender of the babies they gave birth to Huo San was very single. Seven women gave birth to eight girls in a row. Under the ideological constraints of feudal etiquette, Huo San was still very depressed about this. He always wanted a boy to carry on the family line and inherit the incense.

He even made a promise to his seven wives and concubines that whoever gave birth to a boy would be rewarded with 500 taels of silver and could buy whatever she wanted in the future.

As the saying goes, a great reward will always bring a brave man, or maybe God will reward those who work hard. Finally, a month ago, Huo San's new concubine gave birth to a baby boy for him. This made Huo San extremely happy but also a little scared. After all, this baby was eight and a half months premature, and the child mortality rate in this era was not low, especially premature babies were the most dangerous.

Therefore, Huo San specially wrote a letter to Ye Mingsheng for this matter, hoping that Ye Mingsheng could send experts from the medical school to help. Ye Mingsheng naturally would not refuse Huo San's request and directly gave him an approval note.

With better medical care, Huo San's son successfully reached his full moon. Two days ago, a full moon banquet was held and Ye Mingsheng even sent someone to deliver a gift...

For Ye Mingsheng's concern, Huo San once again expressed his gratitude to Ye Mingsheng and expressed his loyalty to Ye Mingsheng.

After showing some concern, at Ye Mingsheng's signal, Huo San also began his report.

"Marshal, three days ago, Shangguan Hongyuan led the Imperial Guards back to Luoan. This time, the Luoan Imperial Guards suffered heavy casualties. In order to appease these casualties, Shangguan Hongyuan looted hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in Jinyang before leaving, and only then was he able to temporarily appease some of the voices in the Imperial Guards!"

"Although Shangguan Hongyuan pacified the imperial guards, he offended all the gentry and common people in Jinyang City because of this looting. Many people lost their families and at least 300 people were killed. In order to quell the public resentment, Shangguan Hongyuan dismissed Feng Han from his post!"

Hearing this news, Ye Mingsheng smiled slightly. He was anxious about the post-war compensation and rewards, not to mention the even worse financial situation of the Luoan court. Shangguan Hongyuan's actions were inevitable and the only solution.
Huo San paused for a moment, and seeing that Ye Mingsheng had nothing to instruct him on, he continued to introduce:

“In addition, in order to replenish the casualties of the Imperial Army, Shangguan Hongyuan also took this opportunity to disperse tens of thousands of Liang Army soldiers and recruit them into the Imperial Army…”

Hearing this news, Ye Mingsheng became slightly interested and said:
"If I remember correctly, Wang Muzhi seems to be the commander of the Liang Army. Since Shangguan Hongyuan has disbanded the Liang Army and added its troops to the Imperial Army, what is he doing now?"

In response to Ye Mingsheng's question, Huo San said without hesitation:
"After Shangguan Hongyuan captured Feng Han, he ordered Wang Muzhi to be the governor of Yunbing, commanding all military and political affairs of Yunbing, and he also transferred 10,000 men from the Xuanwu and Hujie armies to stay in Yunbing. Together with the original troops of Yunbing, Wang Muzhi now has about 40,000 to 50,000 men under his command!"

Ye Mingsheng was a little disappointed when he heard this. He and Wang Muzhi had met each other in Liaoyang in the past. This man was born in a commoner family but had very strong abilities. In addition, he was promoted by Shangguan Hongyuan, so Shangguan Hongyuan trusted him very much.

This is not good news for the Fengwu Army's subsequent counterattack in Yunbing!
Because the casualties of the Fengwu Army on the Yunbing front were much greater than expected, coupled with the financial deficit, these forced Ye Mingsheng to postpone the counterattack plan...
The current plan is that three months after the autumn harvest, the Fengwu Army, which has completed a new round of reorganization, will launch a counterattack with the goal of recovering the five captured counties in Jinzhong.

Just as Ye Mingsheng was thinking about his counterattack plan, Huo San said:
"General, according to the intelligence sent by Luoan, Shangguan Hongyuan seems to be interested in negotiating with our army, and is preparing to send Qian Buli, the Minister of War, as a special envoy!"

Ye Mingsheng was not surprised that Shangguan Hongyuan wanted to negotiate with him. This was within his expectations. As the saying goes, the first attack is a good start, the second is exhausted, and the third is weak. Shangguan Hongyuan gambled his life on the Yunbing battle this time, but failed to capture Jinzhong. Therefore, Shangguan Hongyuan and the Luoan court are in urgent need of a breather.

The so-called Luoan court was largely maintained by Shangguan Hongyuan's personal prestige, and in this Battle of Yunbing under the leadership of Shangguan Hongyuan, the 200,000 imperial troops suffered heavy losses and consumed countless money and food but only got five counties. There is no doubt that this is definitely not a satisfactory result for anyone!
This undoubtedly dealt a heavy blow to Shangguan Hongyuan's personal prestige, and as Shangguan Hongyuan's prestige declined, some internal contradictions in the Luoan court would gradually emerge. Therefore, in order to maintain the operation and stability of the Luoan court, Shangguan Hongyuan would have to solve some internal problems and would not be able to take care of Yunbing for the time being. That's why Shangguan Hongyuan wanted to ask for peace...

Although he was not surprised that Shangguan Hongyuan asked for peace, Ye Mingsheng always felt that the name Qian Buli, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War who was sent to negotiate, sounded very familiar to him. He seemed to know this person, but he could not think of where he had heard this name before.
Seeing Ye Mingsheng thinking, Huo San, his subordinate, reminded him tactfully:
"Qian Buli was born in the Qian family and once served as the head of the Ministry of War!"

Huo San's reminder made Ye Mingsheng suddenly remember his former friends in Luoan. Thinking back on the past, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but sigh.

In order to avoid Xu Zhaojie and come to Liaoyang for development, he even asked Qian Buli to invite him to dinner and asked him to help him make connections!

Just for this matter, I still owe money to someone!
But after he came to Liaoyang, they were separated from each other and had no contact with each other anymore!
How come this guy is now the Minister of War?

This is a high-ranking official of the third rank!
His father was about the same level back then. For a bastard like him to have made it to this point, it seems he has some luck!
Seeing Ye Mingsheng’s interested look, Huo San took the initiative to briefly tell him how Qian Buli got in touch with Shangguan Tingshu and his experiences in the Luoan court over the years...

(Yesterday I counted and found that this book has 35 readers who subscribed automatically. Thank you very much for their trust in this book and Tongming! The highest etiquette in the martial arts world - bowing!!! In addition, the following plot is a little confusing. If you have any ideas, please let me know!)
(End of this chapter)