Chapter 741 If you want to dominate, you must first conquer the East Island of the Palace Capital!
A few years ago, when the Fengwu Army had not yet entered the Pass, in order to eliminate the threat from Wang Kangxin, the Fengwu Army once marched into Guanzhong and defeated the Gongdu New Army led by Wang Kangxin. Wang Kangxin himself even committed suicide after the defeat. Although this battle was fought against Wang Kangxin, it also made the princes and nobles in Gongdu tremble in fear·······························

After this battle, because Ye Mingsheng still placed the focus of the Fengwu Army in Guanzhong, he did not deploy too many troops in the palace, leaving only 3,000 troops and one palace general, Tong Dazhi.

In order to maintain the significant influence of the Fengwu Army on the Gongdu Kingdom under such circumstances, Wang Xuecheng, deputy director of the General Coordination Office, deliberately maintained a balance in Gongdu under the instruction of Ye Mingsheng. He used the opposition Li Xuanchang to contain Gongdu King Li Xuanmin, and also used Li Xuanmin to suppress Li Xuanchang.

As a result, Li Xuanchang and Li Xuanmin, the brothers who were as hostile as water and fire, both turned to the Fengwu Army for help in order to defeat each other. The Fengwu Army naturally became the decisive force that influenced the direction of the political situation in Gongdu. The Fengwu Army also gained a lot of benefits in Gongdu and became the actual suzerain of Gongdu.

However, the condition of King Gungdu Lee Hyun-min is serious and he is in critical condition. With the support of the people of Dongdao, Lee Hyun-chang is ready to make a move and contact the court officials in Gungdu to seize power!

There is no doubt that the current balance of power in the palace will be broken with the death of Lee Hyun-min, and a new round of power reshuffle will be brewing over Ryugyong!

Ye Mingsheng was somewhat helpless about this. The cost of directly taking over the palace and ruling it was too high, which would inevitably distract the Fengwu Army who were determined to unify the Great Zhou...

The Fengwu Army's current priority is naturally to unify the Great Zhou. In addition, with the existence of two major threats, the Luoan court and the Zhennan Army, it is difficult for the Fengwu Army to concentrate its forces to expand its territory and outward. This is why Ye Mingsheng could have taken over the palace in one fell swoop, but never did so.

Ye Mingsheng has a point of view that if the Celestial Empire wants to dominate, it must first conquer the Imperial Capital East Island!

Therefore, in Ye Mingsheng's plan, the Fengwu Army would use this subtle and silent method to slowly infiltrate into the palace and form a strong influence.

When the Fengwu Army has conquered the world, that is, when the palace becomes part of the new dynasty, then use the palace as a springboard to shorten the supply line of the expedition to Dongdao, and attack Dongdao from the west and south.

However, the current imbalance of power in Gongdu is undoubtedly a major challenge to Ye Mingsheng's plan. Judging from the current situation, if the Fengwu Army does not send additional troops to attack Gongdu, the 3,000 Fengwu Army deployed in Liujing will not be able to influence the situation in Gongdu at all.

If things continue to develop in this way, Li Xuanchang may become the biggest winner. Although this man has repeatedly shown goodwill to the Fengwu Army before, and has also told the Fengwu Army that if the Fengwu Army supports him to take office, he will promise the Fengwu Army more benefits····························

However, according to the investigation of the Coordination Office, Li Xuanchang always remembered that Ye Mingsheng had ambushed Liujing and forced his father King Li Zaiyuan to death. And behind him was a Dongdao person. Like Ye Mingsheng, Dongdao Taiko Toyotomi Ieyasu had always wanted to use Gongdu as a springboard for an expedition to Da Zhou, so he had been helping Li Xuanchang with all his might.

The fact that Li Xuanchang, the down-and-out prince, has been in opposition for so many years and still has so many supporters in the palace is inseparable from the help of the people of Dongdao. Therefore, if Li Xuanchang is allowed to come to power, then it is natural to imagine what will happen next!
Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but feel a headache. Currently, the Fengwu Army is closely preparing for the Yunbing counterattack. Everyone hopes to use this counterattack to recapture the five counties in Jinzhong. If troops are sent to interfere in the affairs of the palace at this time, it will inevitably lead to a shortage of troops for the Yunbing counterattack, and the counterattack may not achieve the expected results!
However, Gongdu is an important part of Ye Mingsheng's plan for external expansion. The Fengwu Army has also been operating in Gongdu for several years. If Li Xuanchang were to take power now, not only would all the painstaking efforts of the Fengwu Army over the years be wasted, but it would also cost a greater price to take it back!
After careful consideration, Ye Mingsheng made a decision in his mind. The palace capital must not be lost. When necessary, the Fengwu Army needs to intervene militarily to ensure the interests of the Fengwu Army in the palace capital. However, before that, the Coordination Office needs to do its utmost to ensure that the situation in the palace capital does not continue to deteriorate...

After dealing with the affairs of the palace, Ye Mingsheng began to deal with the fifth matter of the day. Unlike the previous four matters, this fifth matter was not a military or political matter. If you must talk about it, it was more like Ye Mingsheng's family affair!
This is a letter jointly signed by seven elders of the Ye clan to Ye Mingsheng, and the purpose of their writing the letter is to request Ye Mingsheng to repair the Ye clan ancestral hall!
To be honest, Ye Mingsheng felt a headache after seeing this letter. You know, when Ye Mingsheng took Liaoyang, the Ye Family Ancestral Hall had already been rebuilt in Dongning for a while, and Ye Mingsheng paid 20,000 taels of silver for it. This time, the elders of the Ye Family wanted to build a Ye Family Ancestral Hall in Yijing.

Honestly speaking, if it was just to build a Ye's ancestral hall, it would not be a big deal for Ye Mingsheng. He could just approve a piece of Feng Shui treasure land to build an ancestral hall without spending much money. Not to mention that Ye Mingsheng's surname was Ye, just because countless Ye's descendants had devoted themselves to the cause of the Fengwu Army, Ye Mingsheng should also show courtesy.

However, things are far from that simple. What the elders of the Ye family requested to build is more like a ancestral temple than a clan hall!
There has always been a voice in the Fengwu Army that has been encouraging Ye Mingsheng to become emperor. Some people even thought that Ye Mingsheng could not afford to lose face, so they planned to directly put the yellow robe on Ye Mingsheng. If Ye Mingsheng had not stopped them at the critical moment, Ye Mingsheng would probably have become the second Yuan Shu!
Among those voices encouraging Ye Mingsheng to become emperor, the Ye family can be said to be the main force!
After all, if Ye Mingsheng becomes emperor, the Ye family, as Ye Mingsheng's relatives, will naturally become the royal family, and some people will be qualified to be crowned kings...
Ye Mingsheng was naturally clear about all these little tricks, and he could understand these thoughts. Everyone followed you with their heads on the line, through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, just to seek wealth and glory, right?

However, now is not a good time! If you rashly declare yourself emperor, you will become the target of public criticism, and the road to unifying the world will add obstacles!

Besides this, Ye Mingsheng felt that the Ye family might be a little inflated now. He has not yet proclaimed himself emperor, but many people in the family already regard themselves as royal family members. Especially some of them are very corrupt. There are several elders in the family who regard themselves as Ye Mingsheng's elders and openly oppose the reform. They have done a lot of things like usury and annexation of land.

When Gu Sansi, who was in charge of reform, tried to stop them, they still arrogantly confronted him and even formed a group to find Ye Cui to interfere in politics.
In this regard, Ye Mingsheng was grateful for their help when he started the rebellion, so he confiscated their illegal gains and did not punish these elders.

Honestly speaking, because the Ye family is his own family, Ye Mingsheng asked himself that he has been very good to the Ye family over the years, giving them many benefits. He also turned a blind eye to some privileges. After all, if the water is too clear, there will be no fish...

For example, those elders of the clan were just farmers in Fengshan County before. They would bow and scrape when they met an official. But now, they are all powerful people. However, perhaps it is because of the law of gratitude that some people are overwhelmed by greed and they are so greedy that they don’t know how to appreciate what they have and are never satisfied!
Just like now, they actually asked Ye Mingsheng to allocate a sum of 150,000 taels to build a Ye clan ancestral hall for them in Yijing.

Not to mention how tight the Fengwu Army's finances are right now, the Third Army now has to be reduced to a division and then prepare for war.

Just talking about the matter of repairing the ancestral hall, although they said nice things, like it was in line with the current status and position of the Ye family, it brought honor to the ancestors and established a foundation for the Ye family that would last for generations, etc!
But Ye Mingsheng knew very well what he was thinking. If the 150,000 taels of silver were granted to them, it would be good enough to have 50,000 taels of silver to build the ancestral hall! Taking a deep breath, Ye Mingsheng's eyes flashed with a cold light. He really didn't want to attack his own people, but some things might have to be done...

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August 28th, Palace
Fifty miles north of Kangshan Port, the largest port in Gongdu, there is a village called Shangjin Village. Since Kangshan Port is the closest major city to Dongdao in Gongdu, it has been harassed and invaded by countless Dongdao ronin since the day it was built. These losers in the internal struggle of Dongdao tried to resume their domineering life in Gongdu.

In this context, Shangjin Village, which is very close to Kangshan Port, is often attacked by ronin, so the people in the village are very tough and fierce. Today, a convoy of twelve carriages slowly drove into the village.

"Brother Yin, long time no see! Long time no see!"

Jin Zhengtai, the village chief of Shangjin Village, walked towards the leader of the convoy, Yin Dahai, a sturdy man in black clothes with a long sword on his waist.

Seeing Jin Zhengtai appear, Yin Dahai forced a smile on his face and turned over and said:

"Brother Jin, I am here to bother you again today!"

Jin Zhengtai, with a red face, waved his hand and said:

"Brother Yin, what are you talking about? You are our God of Wealth. We in Shangjin Village are counting on you to make a fortune!"

Yin Dahai heard this and said:
"Let's get rich together! Let's get rich together!"

After a few greetings, Jin Zhengtai ordered the men in the village to unload the goods from Yin Dahai's horse team, and then he invited Yin Dahai into the room.

After returning to the house and having the maid serve tea to Yin Dahai, Jin Zhengtai said to Yin Dahai mysteriously:
“Brother Yin, I heard that next month is your birthday. As a friend, I have a gift I want to give you…”

After he finished speaking, Jin Zhengtai clapped his hands, and the next second a servant walked into the room holding a wooden box. Taking the wooden box from the servant, Jin Zhengtai pushed the wooden box in front of Yin Dahai, then smiled and stretched out his hand to signal Yin Dahai to open the wooden box.

Seeing this scene, Yin Dahai was also a little curious about what Jin Zhengtai had prepared for him. He immediately opened the wooden box and saw that there was a jade Buddha pendant in the wooden box.

This jade Buddha pendant is very round and translucent. You can tell at a glance that the jade color is very good, and the Buddha statue is carved vividly. It is obvious that it is made by a famous artist. Such jade quality and excellent carving make this jade Buddha even more precious!

Although he liked the jade Buddha pendant very much as soon as he saw it, Yin Dahai also understood that such a jade Buddha pendant would cost at least more than one hundred taels of silver on the market. Now that Jin Zhengtai gave it to him like this, he must have other intentions!
Thinking of this, Yin Dahai also put down the wooden box, pushed it to Jin Zhengtai, and then looked at Jin Zhengtai and said seriously:

“Brother Jin, I accept your kindness, but your gift is too valuable. I am truly not worthy of it. Please take this treasure back…”

Hearing what Yin Dahai said, Jin Zhengtai immediately waved his hand and said:

"Brother Yin, you are wrong. I don't believe in Buddhism, so why should I keep it? Brother Yin, you are a Buddhist, and you and this treasure are a perfect match. This is a fate destined by heaven!"

Yin Dahai was also tempted when he heard this, but his mind told him that this treasure was too hot to handle, so he was still prepared to refuse. Jin Zhengtai seemed to see through his thoughts, and then he picked up the wooden box with some feigned anger and said:
"Brother Yin, I, Jin Zhengtai, never take back the gifts I give out. If you don't like this, I will smash it right now. Watch out!"

After saying this, Jin Zhengtai was about to throw the wooden box to the ground. Seeing this, Yin Dahai, who was a devout Buddhist, could not bear to see this precious jade Buddha pendant broken into pieces. In the critical moment, he quickly said to Jin Zhengtai:

“I want it! I want it! Brother Jin said this and that, if I don’t accept it, I will be ungrateful! In that case, I will respectfully obey your command··································"

(To be honest, I am still best at writing conspiracies! You can guess what I want to write. I am trying to lay out a big plot. I hope my writing skills can support such a layout, and I hope you can like my writing style! Tongming, who just came back from the hospital, wishes you all good health and all the best!)
(End of this chapter)