Chapter 773: Secret confrontation!

Looking at the Analects copied on the white paper, An Miaoyi couldn't help but frown. Although Jingren had written without any typos this time, some words were still written crookedly, which made her not very satisfied...

Just when she was about to ask Jingren to rewrite it, she saw Jingren looking up at her nervously, with a hint of expectation in his dark eyes.

Seeing this, An Miaoyi's heart softened and she nodded and said:
"That's all for today's homework! You must write more carefully tomorrow!"

As soon as these words came out, Jingren's face suddenly became very surprised. Under An Miaoyi's gaze, he nodded heavily and said in a baby voice:

"Mom, I know!"

Upon hearing this, An Miaoyi waved her hand and asked the maid to take Jingren out to play. After getting An Miaoyi's permission, Jingren immediately ran out of the house excitedly. Looking at Jingren's excited look, An Miaoyi shook her head lovingly. This boy is really too playful!
After letting Jingren go out to play, An Miaoyi also took a break from her busy life. She poured herself a cup of fragrant tea and read a novel called Three Feet of Peach Blossom with great interest while sipping the tea.

In recent years, the papermaking and printing technologies of the Second Manufacturing Bureau have made great progress, which has enabled the printing effects of paper and printing technologies to become better while the costs have also become lower.

This also laid a good foundation for the development of the novel. With the encouragement and promotion of Ye Mingsheng, several publishing houses appeared in Dongning. These publishing houses would publish their own newspapers and periodicals, and the novels would be serialized through these newspapers and periodicals...
Once these novels were published, they were warmly welcomed in Dongning City and satisfied the people's demand for entertainment. However, due to the limited literacy rate of the people and the fact that most families were still living around the poverty line, the people who bought and read the novels were generally wealthy people.

An Miaoyi, who had been influenced by the classics of sages since childhood, did not quite understand Ye Mingsheng's policy of encouraging the development of novels. She believed that these were all unorthodox and strange tricks that were not worthy of being published in the upper class and had no educational significance for the people.

Ye Mingsheng did not understand An Miaoyi's remarks. He believed that not everything had to be presented in a high-class manner to be educational to people. Just like you did not have to learn any knowledge or truth from a novel, if it could make you happy, then it had its meaning and value.

At the beginning, neither Ye Mingsheng nor An Miaoyi could convince the other, until Ye Mingsheng suggested that An Miaoyi could try reading the novel. An Miaoyi was attracted by the exciting plot of the novel. Although An Miaoyi is still stubborn now, her eyes are still very honest!

After reading for half an hour and catching up with the latest chapter, An Miaoyi closed the novel with a sense of unsatisfaction. She glanced at the sun hanging high in the sky outside the window and realized that it was already noon. Seeing that Qiqige had not come back, she was a little surprised...
Ye Mingsheng's daily schedule is very tight. It usually takes no more than an hour for his subordinates to report on their work. Huo San came at 9 o'clock, and now it is noon. Logically, Qiqige should have gotten the news from the Attendant Department and returned!

Just as An Miaoyi was puzzled, Qiqige returned to the house with a frown on her face. Seeing Qiqige's expression, An Miaoyi knew that things were not going as she wished. As expected, An Miaoyi whispered:
"My Lord fined Murong Yuliang one year's salary, and Murong Zhe was demoted three levels and transferred to Denong County under Posuo Prefecture to serve as the chief clerk. Fang Peng was escorted to Beijing and handed over to the General Coordination Office for further investigation!"

These words made An Miaoyi even more confused. In her impression, corruption has always been the red line set by Ye Mingsheng. And this time, Ye Zhanpeng's case was so huge in scale and had such a bad impact. Ye Mingsheng would definitely impose a severe sentence to make an example of him!
In this case, the Murong father and son involved in the incident would be in great danger if they didn't die. Even if Murong Yuliang was not arrested, the Ji-Yu governor would severely punish Murong Zhe, or at least demote him to a commoner and end his official career.

I really didn’t expect that Ye Mingsheng would only demote Murong Zhe by three levels. Although this punishment was also very severe, it still left Murong Zhe with a glimmer of hope and did not completely end his political career...

Qiqige looked at An Miaoyi and hesitated for a while, but soon made a decision in her heart. The next second, she knelt in front of An Miaoyi and slapped herself twice. This made An Miaoyi a little confused. She didn't know what Qiqige was doing.

Just when An Miaoyi stood up and was about to help Qiqige up, she heard Qiqige's very guilty voice.

"Madam, the news from the Attendant Department said that before making a decision, the master asked about Ye Chenggao's mother. This matter is all my fault. If I hadn't been careless, these bitches of the Murong family would not have escaped!"

Hearing what Qiqige said, An Miaoyi was stunned for a moment, and a bitter smile appeared in her heart. She was originally somewhat glad that her little trick could be hidden from Ye Mingsheng, but now it seems that Ye Mingsheng doesn't care about her.

Shaking her head slightly, An Miaoyi helped Qiqige, who was kneeling on the ground with an apologetic look on her face, up, and then comforted her softly:
"Qiqige, you don't have to blame yourself so much! My husband now favors the Murong family. Even if you hadn't done this, he wouldn't have been able to bring them down!"

After getting up, Qiqige felt even more guilty about An Miaoyi's comfort, so An Miaoyi continued to comfort her.

After calming down, Qiqige assured An Miaoyi:

"Madam, I know I was wrong this time. I will never be smart again in the future..."

Hearing what Qiqige said, An Miaoyi nodded with satisfaction. She held Qiqige's hand and said softly:
"Qiqige, it's very commendable that you can realize this!"

"The Murong family has been able to stand in the court of the Great Zhou Dynasty for hundreds of years, but they are definitely not a group of people who are easy to deal with. You must be very careful when you are against them!"

Listening to An Miaoyi's words, Qiqige nodded seriously and said:

"I understand. From now on, Madam, I will do whatever you ask me to do, and I will never do anything you don't allow me to do!"

An Miaoyi nodded with a smile, and then she seemed to have thought of something, and said softly to An Miaoyi:
"When your husband comes next time, Qiqige, you must take the initiative and admit your mistake to him. Don't try to get away with it. He is a pushover. Instead of waiting for him to come to you, you have to take the initiative to find him!"

As soon as these words came out, Qiqige immediately remembered Ye Mingsheng's training on her. Her cheeks immediately flushed, and her heartbeat accelerated. She whispered:
"Madam, I listen to you!" Just as An Miaoyi and Qiqige were talking, Murong Qingwu in another courtyard of the Governor's Mansion also received the result of Ye Mingsheng's treatment.

Ying Er said in complete confusion:

“Why did your Excellency banish the young master to Posuo Mansion? It’s a barren land…”

Compared to Ying Er's indignation, Murong Qingwu seemed more rational. She shook her head and said:
"This matter involves such a big issue, my husband has already let it go!"

Ying Er pouted and said:
"It was Fang Peng who killed the man. The young master didn't do anything wrong. How are you going to explain this to the old lady?"

Murong Qingwu shook her head and said:

"Brother, your personal ethics are also flawed in this matter. It will be good for him to learn such a lesson this time! As for mother, I believe that mother can also figure out the pros and cons!"

"This is the best possible outcome! Even if I intercede for mercy, it won't get any better!"

Hearing Murong Qingwu's words, Ying'er, the little girl, didn't know what she was thinking of and said angrily:

"The Cui family is such a troublemaker! They spend all day thinking about how to scheme against others. Sooner or later, their whole family will be punished by God!"

Upon hearing this, Murong Qingwu said nothing and looked far to the south, which was the direction of Ji and Yu.

Three days ago, she received a letter from her mother, Wang. In her heart, in addition to asking Murong Qingwu to plead for her elder brother Murong Zhe, Wang also insisted that this matter was done by the Cui family!
Wang's reason for this is very simple, that is, apart from the local snake Cui family, no one else has the ability to stir up such a big wave in Liaoyang...
Besides, Cui Shao also had every reason to do so. Murong Yuliang was the only one in Fengwu Army who could threaten his position and replace him. Therefore, Cui Shao's conspiracy was to undermine Murong Yuliang's prestige and eliminate dissidents in Fengwu Army.

Murong Qingwu had a different opinion about her mother. Although she had only met Cui Shao a few times, she knew that this leading figure in the Fengwu Army's civil service system was one of the smartest people in the Fengwu Army.

Cui Shao should have been very clear that his husband had noticed the struggle between him and Murong Yuliang, and he should also understand where his husband's bottom line is. His husband would never allow him to dominate among the civil servants, and would never allow something like this that would seriously damage the unity of the Fengwu Army to happen.

Therefore, in Murong Qingwu's opinion, it is absolutely impossible for Cui Shao to be completely unaware of this matter. After all, the Cui family is the biggest local tyrant in Liaoyang, and their influence has penetrated into all walks of life in Liaoyang. The Ye Zhanpeng case caused such a big fuss, if you say they don't know anything about it, you are lying!

However, Murong Qingwu did not believe that Cui Shao was the one who conspired behind the scenes. Although Cui Shao undoubtedly had the ability to do so, he should have understood from his command that this matter would not do him any good, and the disadvantages would far outweigh the advantages!

If the truth of the matter is really as I guessed, then who is the person who secretly fanned the flames and planned the conspiracy?

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Pingyun County, Jinzhong
Standing on the city wall of Pingyun County, looking at the listless Yunbing army prisoners in the city, Lin Huaiwu felt infinite emotion in his heart.

Although several days have passed, Lin Huaiwu still feels excited when he thinks back to that day!
Facing Wang Zhide's desperate fight at Sanmenling that day, Xun Ke used the classic tactic of besieging a point and attacking its reinforcements. Not only did he successfully annihilate Wang Zhide's troops, he also captured Wang Zhide alive, who had originally wanted to commit suicide. After being captured alive, Wang Zhide still wanted to pretend to be tough and acted as if he would rather die than surrender, but under Xun Ke's soft and hard tactics, Wang Zhide finally chose to cooperate.

After learning from Wang Zhide that Wang Muzhi had asked all prefectures and counties around Jinyang to prepare for strong defenses and clear the fields, Xun Ke realized that even if he crossed Sanmenling and reached the vicinity of Jinyang, he would not achieve very good results and would not be able to achieve the expected results in the plan.

Therefore, Xun Ke, whose plan failed, came up with another one. He asked the Fengwu Army to pretend to be the Yunbing Army and tricked the city gate open in the name of Wang Zhide.

Because Wang Zhide is Wang Muzhi's cousin, the plan went smoothly with this relationship. The generals guarding Pingyun County had no doubts about Wang Zhide at all. The Fengwu Army that entered the city immediately controlled the city gate and resisted the counterattack of the Yunbing Army. When Lin Huaiwu led the main force to completely capture Pingyun County...
In this battle, the Fengwu Army not only captured Pingyun County and annihilated more than 10,000 enemies, but also swept away the gloom of defeat in the previous battle of Pingyun County. The morale of the entire army suddenly boosted, and everyone was full of confidence and expectations for the upcoming battle!

Thinking of this, Lin Huaiwu couldn't help but look at Xun Ke beside him. Although he was the commander-in-chief of the Yunbing battle appointed by Ye Mingsheng, he knew that the current situation was mostly due to Xun Ke's efforts!
With Xun Ke's ability, it won't be long before the Fengwu Army will have its fourth commander after himself, Yuan Song, and Guo Zhiping!
Just as Lin Huaiwu was feeling emotional, a messenger came over and reported:
"The commander-in-chief's scouts discovered the latest situation in Dagu County. Wang Muzhi led more than 50,000 troops to retreat to Jinyang. Now there are only more than 10,000 defenders left in Dagu County!"

Lin Huaiwu was not surprised to hear the news. He just felt that Wang Muzhi was really quick. One day later, he would have sent troops to surround Dagu County and catch the turtle in the jar!

Looking at Xun Ke, Lin Huaiwu asked:
“General Xun, what do you think…”

(Everyone can tell Tongming what they think of the storyline! Tongming is always ready to listen!)

(End of this chapter)