Chapter 772: It is impossible to be selfless!

Yijing, Governor's Mansion

At 9:00 pm, Ye Mingsheng officially started his day’s work. Huo San, who had made an appointment in advance, walked towards the study under the guidance of Ye Cheng.
After an incense stick of time, Qiqige, who had received the news, immediately came to An Miaoyi and reported:

"Madam, Huo San has gone to the study!"

Upon hearing this news, An Miaoyi, who was tutoring Jingren in reciting the Analects, had a gleam of light in her eyes. After pondering for a moment, she asked Qiqige:
"What's going on with her?"

Although An Miaoyi did not directly say the other person's name but referred to her as "her", Qiqige, who was in tune with An Miaoyi, naturally understood what An Miaoyi meant and said with a gloating tone:

"That bitch may not know what happened now, but I'm afraid she will cry and scream in fear in a while!"

An Miaoyi heard this and whispered:
"Keep an eye on the Attendant Department and send any news here immediately!"

"understand!"

After Qiqige left, An Miaoyi turned her attention back to her son and taught him patiently:

"Learn and practice it, isn't it also a talk? It's a pleasure to have a friend from afar? People don't know but don't feel sullen, isn't it a gentleman?"

"What Confucius meant by this is that isn't it a pleasure to review what you learn? Isn't it a pleasure to have like-minded friends? Isn't it a pleasure to have like-minded friends? Isn't it a gentleman to not feel resentful when people don't understand me?"

Facing his mother's guidance, little Jingren pouted and muttered softly:

“How can this sage Confucius be so eloquent…”

Although Jingren's voice was small, An Miaoyi still heard it. She immediately gave Jingren a slap in the face and taught him:
"You are not allowed to slander the ancients! I will punish you by making you copy this sentence ten times!"

Touching his little head, Jingren said with great grievance:

"Mom, I know!"

While An Miaoyi was educating Jingren, in Ye Mingsheng's study, Huo San was introducing the latest investigation progress to Ye Mingsheng.

"Marshal, what we can confirm now is that Lu Chaogui of Liaoyang Provincial Government is a member of Ye Zhanpeng's gang. Ye Zhanpeng used his power to commit crimes such as illegally applying for special industry licenses, privately opening underground banks to lend money at high interest rates, evading taxes, illegally annexing fertile land, and forming cliques for personal gain!"

"Although Fang Peng, the former assistant governor of Liaoyang and the current governor of Hebei and Henan, has also engaged in some illegal annexation of fertile land and accepted bribes to assist businesses in tax evasion, his involvement in Ye Zhanpeng's case was not high. He only handled some land procedures for Ye Zhanpeng more than a year ago and accepted a bribe of 1,000 taels of silver from Ye Zhanpeng!"

"Fang Peng and Murong Zhe have a lot of dealings. Fang Peng even helped Murong Zhe deal with a woman. However, according to the current investigation, Murong Zhe did not accept money or any property from Fang Peng. He only attended several dinners organized by Fang Peng. Fang Peng has been escorted back to Beijing. We will conduct a more detailed investigation at this time!"

“Currently, regarding the case of Ye Zhanpeng, our Coordination Office has investigated and dealt with the Liaoyang Provincial Government, the Provincial Procuratorate, various prefectures and counties, the First Manufacturing Bureau, the Second Manufacturing Bureau, the Dadongsheng Company and other structures, a total of 171 officials, and seized 118,900 taels of stolen silver…”

"The investigation is still ongoing. We will continue to dig out Ye Zhanpeng's followers and recover the stolen money from Ye Zhanpeng!"

Listening to Huo San's report, Ye Mingsheng was silent for a while before speaking calmly:

"You, Zhang Dehui, and Ye Hongsheng donated a total of 110,000 taels of silver?"

Huo San felt a chill on his back as soon as he heard these words. He immediately bowed and said sincerely:

"I donated thirty thousand taels of silver myself, Marshal. As for Director Zhang and Shopkeeper Ye's donations, I was not aware of it! I hope you can see clearly!"

After saying this, Huo San paused for a moment, and secretly looked at Ye Mingsheng's expression from the corner of his eye. However, Ye Mingsheng still had no expression on his face at this time, so Huo San couldn't guess what Ye Mingsheng was thinking. Seeing this, Huo San could only bite the bullet and continue:

"After the incident of Marshal Ye Zhanpeng, I have been reflecting on myself. During the reflection process, I also realized that I have made many mistakes because of greed. I know that it will be difficult for me to make up for my mistakes in this life, but I still want to do my best! I hope that you, Marshal, can give me a chance!"

As soon as the voice fell, the fearful Huo San knelt down with a plop. He had followed Ye Mingsheng for so many years, and although he still couldn't guess Ye Mingsheng's thoughts, he could more or less understand Ye Mingsheng's temper. He knew that no matter whether he stretched his neck or shrunk it, in the end it would still be a knife. Therefore, instead of Ye Mingsheng asking, it would be better for him to take the initiative to say it...
After explaining everything, Huo San waited for Ye Mingsheng's decision. Although Huo San was hoping for a lucky break at this moment, he was also prepared for the worst. However, what he didn't expect was that Ye Mingsheng didn't make any statement about his proactive reflection, but just kept silent and left him alone, which made him feel even more tormented.

After half an incense stick of time, just when Huo San was about to give up, Ye Mingsheng's voice finally came.
"You are quite smart. You even knew to go find Gu Sansi!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Huo San was immediately shocked, and looked at Ye Mingsheng in disbelief. That night he went to find Gu Sansi. In addition to helping him find the doubts in the matter, Gu Sansi also pointed out a clear way for him, which was to donate silver to atone his sins!

The incident involving Ye Zhanpeng completely exposed the corruption within the Fengwu Army to Ye Mingsheng, especially the corruption of high-ranking officials like him.

If it was a normal time, although Ye Mingsheng cracked down on corruption, he might have thought of their contributions to the Fengwu Army and would not have shed tears and killed Ma Su to leave them a way out. However, the Fengwu Army was not doing well in the war in Yunbing, and the finances were very tight. The Finance Department had already used up the special budget. And they were wealthy, and now they had committed such a crime. Whether from the perspective of establishing authority or replenishing financial resources, Ye Mingsheng had reasons to kill them.

Therefore, if they want to survive, there is only one way, which is to voluntarily hand over their illegal gains without Ye Mingsheng’s help. In this way, Ye Mingsheng, who has obtained the money, may give them a lighter sentence because of their understanding and past achievements...

Gu Sansi's analysis at that time frightened Huo San so much that he broke out in a cold sweat. He originally thought that Ye Mingsheng might deal with him in this Ye Zhanpeng incident, but would not kill him. Now from Gu Sansi's analysis, he knew that he had already stepped into the gates of hell!
Huo San deeply agreed with Gu Sansi's analysis, so during this period of time when he went to Liaoyang to investigate and prove his ability to Ye Mingsheng, he also asked his wife at home to quietly dispose of some real estate and other valuables under his name and donated a total of 30,000 taels of silver.

It is worth mentioning that Huo San knew the special nature of his identity, so in order to avoid Ye Mingsheng thinking that he was forming a clique with others, he did not inform Ye Hongsheng and Zhang Dehui about his donation of silver.

However, what Huo San did not expect was that Ye Hongsheng and Zhang Dehui were also well-informed. Seeing that Huo San had donated silver, they both realized the pros and cons of the matter and immediately followed suit by selling their property to donate silver. As the shopkeeper of Dadongsheng, Ye Hongsheng was relatively wealthy and donated more than 50,000 taels, while Zhang Dehui donated more than 20,000 taels.

Although he didn't know how Ye Mingsheng knew that he was going to find Gu Sansi, Huo San was a man of integrity and knew that he was the one who dragged Gu Sansi into this trouble, so he immediately pleaded with Ye Mingsheng:

"Marshal, this matter is all my fault. It has nothing to do with Mr. Gu!"

Seeing Huo San trying to be a hero with him, Ye Mingsheng smiled and said something meaningful:

"The day after you went to see Sansi, Sansi submitted his memorial..."

Huo San was stunned when he heard this, as if he couldn't understand why Ye Mingsheng did this. Ye Mingsheng then asked:

"Does this matter have anything to do with Murong Yuliang?"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng's question, Huo San immediately became nervous. He knew that although Ye Mingsheng's question was very plain, it actually contained murderous intent. After thinking quickly for a while, he said:
"Reporting to the commander-in-chief, based on all the clues so far, I believe that Governor Murong is innocent!"

After receiving Huo San's answer, Ye Mingsheng did not express anything, but changed the subject and continued to ask

"How much of Ye Zhanpeng's stolen money has not been recovered?"

Seeing Ye Mingsheng asking this, Huo San thought for a moment and said:
"The exact amount is still being calculated, but a conservative estimate is that it should be more than 150,000 taels!"

A hint of coldness flashed across Ye Mingsheng's eyes when he heard this. Although he had long known that Ye Zhanpeng had made such a big deal and the amount of stolen money must be huge, but 150,000 taels was still a conservative estimate. It still made Ye Mingsheng angry. Such a large amount of money was all the hard-earned money of the people. This Ye Zhanpeng really deserved to be put to death, and his crime could never be redeemed by death!
"Huo San, today is September 29th. I hope that by this time next month, the stolen money will have entered the Treasury Department's warehouse!" Looking at Huo San, Ye Mingsheng said in a deep voice:

Feeling the chill in Ye Mingsheng's words, Huo San was also shocked and said immediately:
“I promise to complete the mission…”

After an incense stick of time, Huo San had left the study. Ye Mingsheng picked up a document on the desk and read it carefully.
Because this matter involved Murong Yuliang, Ye Mingsheng also took it very seriously. Although he felt that someone like Murong Yuliang, who valued his reputation and was not short of money, would not accept bribes, after all, one cannot judge a person by his appearance. Therefore, Ye Mingsheng ordered the Coordination Office and the Internal Security Bureau to conduct an open and a secret investigation.

And now the results of the investigation are the same, that is, Murong Yuliang is clean. This makes Ye Mingsheng very relieved. He feels that he did not trust the wrong person and Murong Yuliang did not disappoint his expectations of him.

However, although Murong Yuliang had no problems, Fang Peng, whom he promoted, was very capable, but he was an out-and-out corrupt official. Not only did he embezzle and accept bribes, he also took human lives lightly. It can be said that he had talent but no morals.

Although Ye Mingsheng felt sorry for such a person's talent, he also knew that keeping such a person would be a scourge. Therefore, he decided to publicly execute him after further investigation into him in order to rectify the atmosphere.

Although Fang Peng was doomed to be killed, Ye Mingsheng was at a loss as to how to deal with Murong Zhe. Two days before Huo San came to report, Murong Yuliang submitted a memorial to him, telling him about Murong Zhe’s crimes, and pleaded guilty to Ye Mingsheng for not educating his son well...
If you think about it carefully, what Murong Zhe did was not particularly serious. He was just entangled with a married man. After being threatened, Fang Peng dealt with the other party for him.

Apart from this, Murong Zhe did not commit any crime. At most, he just had a few meals with others. Although the meals were with Ye Zhanpeng, and the content of the meals was how officials and businessmen colluded to seek profits, from a legal perspective, having meals with others does not constitute a crime.

If Murong Yuliang had not confessed voluntarily, Ye Mingsheng might not have hesitated and dealt with Murong Zhe impartially. According to the laws of the Fengwu Army, although Murong Zhe could be spared from death, he would still have to lose his public office and perform hard labor.

However, now that Murong Yuliang has confessed voluntarily and Murong Zhe is a first-time offender, Ye Mingsheng feels that he can be given a lighter sentence. He can be exempted from his post as a provincial governor, and as for hard labor, he can be suspended for a period of time. If Murong Zhe is honest, he will be exempted. If he still does not behave well, he will be punished for multiple crimes!

Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng was ready to start writing. However, before he started writing, Ye Mingsheng suddenly remembered something. He stopped writing and thought for a while. He called Ye Cheng over and asked:
"Grandma Gao, how is the investigation going by the Coordination Office?"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng ask this, Ye Cheng also said carefully:

"The Coordination Office has closed the case and arrested several secret agents of the Supervisory Department lurking in Yijing!"

Ye Mingsheng felt a little complicated after getting this answer, but he understood that this matter could only be handled in this way, so he waved his hand and let Ye Cheng leave.

A man was silent in the study for a while, and then Ye Mingsheng wrote a transfer order, demoting Murong Zhe by three levels and sending him to Posuo Prefecture in Liaoyang to serve as the chief clerk of Denong County.

Looking at the transfer order, Ye Mingsheng showed a self-deprecating smile on his face. After all, he could not be selfless and unkind...
(End of this chapter)