Chapter 804 Pei Zhixiu's inaction!
Seeing that Shangguan Hongyuan was determined to get to the bottom of the matter, Murong Lun realized that he could not fool him today, so he hesitated for a moment and said:

“I think Ye Mingsheng is an ambitious thief. He definitely doesn’t want to miss this good opportunity to invade Jingchu…”

"However, in the past year, the Fengwu Army has fought several battles in succession, and the casualties and consumption of money and food are very heavy, so I think Ye Mingsheng should be powerless now!"

When Shangguan Hongyuan heard the words "willing but powerless" from Murong Lun's mouth, a complex look flashed across his eyes. Ye Mingsheng was willing but powerless, and so was he. What's more tragic is that time is not on his side!
After adjusting his mood, Shangguan Hongyuan slowly said:
"The coalition forces of Xu Zhaojie and Wang Dayou have now reached Hanyang. Sun Chenggong has sent people to ask the court for help. What do you think of this, Minister Murong? Do you think the court should send troops?"

Hearing Shangguan Hongyuan ask this, Murong Lun couldn't help but become more cautious. He knew that Shangguan Hongyuan was testing him!
Recently the court has been arguing over whether to send troops to Jingchu. The war faction, led by the Minister of War Ma Chongyang and the commander of the Hujie Imperial Guards Tang Peng, believes that troops should be sent to Jingchu immediately to help Sun Chenggong repel the coalition forces of Xu Zhaojie and Wang Dayu before the Fengwu Army sends out troops, and gradually control the entire Jingchu, so that this populous province can be controlled by the court!

However, a group headed by Minister of Revenue Yan Gaofeng and Minister of Punishment Song Jingzhong believed that the court’s finances were in a very difficult situation. In order to pay salaries to officials of all ranks in the court, taxes had been collected one or two years in advance in places like Sichuan, Shu, Yongliang, and Liangshan. The people had been exploited to the extreme...
Therefore, at this time, if a large-scale military campaign is launched, taxes will inevitably be increased, and the local people will have no way to survive. The local stability maintenance work will be close to its limit. Once there is a large-scale influx of refugees and large-scale peasant uprisings, the court's rule will completely collapse.

Therefore, Yan Gaofeng and Song Jingzhong believed that the Luoan court should now recuperate and should not resort to war again in the short term!
As a member of the Luoan court cabinet, although the Minister of Personnel Murong Lun was in Luoan, he was well aware of the sufferings of the common people. At the same time, he was also aware of how tight the Luoan court's finances had become, so emotionally he was willing to stand on the side of Yan Gaofeng and Song Jingzhong.

However, from the perspective of his own interests, Murong Lun always spoke prudently and tried not to express his opinion as much as possible. If others asked him about it, he would just evade the question.

After all, his brother Murong Yuliang's family held high positions in the Fengwu Army, and his niece Murong Qingwu was Ye Mingsheng's wife, and had recently given birth to a baby daughter for Ye Mingsheng.
Although he had politically cut ties with Murong Yuliang's family by expelling them from the clan, many people in the Luoan court were still skeptical!
Some people even went so far as to believe that Murong Lun was in Cao's camp but his heart was with Han, and that he was a spy of the Fengwu Army!

Therefore, in such a situation, if he said that the court should not send troops to Jingchu now, he might be regarded as doing something beneficial to the Fengwu Army...
Although he had made up his mind not to make any statement, now that Shangguan Hongyuan insisted on asking about this matter, Murong Lun seemed to be very embarrassed!

Seeing Murong Lun's embarrassed expression, Shangguan Hongyuan smiled and waved his hand and said:

"Minister Murong, I know what you are worried about, but don't worry! I absolutely believe in you and know that you are devoted to the court and have no second thoughts!"

"That's why I asked you to meet here. What you said today will stay in my ears, and no one else will know it!"

Seeing Shangguan Hongyuan say this, Murong Lun was silent for a while and then slowly said:
"My Lord Prime Minister, I think we should send troops to Jingchu!"

After hearing this, Shangguan Hongyuan's expression remained calm, but his eyes narrowed unconsciously.

To be honest, Murong Lun's answer was really beyond his expectations. After all, although there had been a lot of debate in the court recently about whether to send troops to Jingchu, and all parties had different opinions, in general, most of the civil servants believed that they should rest and recuperate and not resort to war again.

After all, the Chinese New Year is still more than a month away, so let’s all calm down for a while and have a peaceful and stable New Year!
The generals on the other hand generally advocated war, believing that Jingchu now had a golden opportunity that should not be missed...
Although Jingchu was not as prosperous as Jiangnan and Huainan, during the years under Sun Liangyu's rule, although it was exploited a lot by corrupt bureaucrats headed by Sun Liangyu, it was still peaceful overall and had not experienced major wars and famines, so the people still had some money.

Therefore, if we can capture Jingchu and obtain its land, population, money and food, it will be very helpful in maintaining the rule of the court!

The most crucial point is that the Fengwu Army has not made any move against Jingchu and does not seem to have much interest in Jingchu. This undoubtedly boosts the confidence of the generals in the Luoan court. In their view, as long as the Fengwu Army does not interfere, the imperial army's combat effectiveness can quickly complete the conquest of Jingchu.

However, Murong Lun, now the Minister of Personnel, did not follow the traditional political stance. Instead, he supported sending troops, which really surprised Shangguan Hongyuan.

After pondering for a moment, Shangguan Hongyuan looked at Murong Lun and said deeply:

"Minister Murong, is this what you really think?"

Seeing this, Murong Lun shook his head and said:
"My Lord Prime Minister, I, Murong Lun, am not afraid of others pointing fingers and gossiping behind my back! I support sending troops because I truly believe that the court should send troops to Jingchu!"

Seeing that Murong Lun had actually made his point clear, Shangguan Hongyuan became even more interested and asked with a smile:

“Minister Murong, if you have any ideas, feel free to speak up…”

Murong Lun heard this and preached very sincerely:
"Master Prime Minister, I have just said that Ye Mingsheng does not want Jingchu, but now he is trapped in the Fengwu Army's exhausted troops after continuous battles and the financial difficulties. He is unable to march south, but this is only a temporary situation!"

"Under a series of reforms promoted by Ye Mingsheng, almost all profitable businesses within the Fengwu Army's jurisdiction were monopolized by him, and the administrative efficiency of the Fengwu Army was greatly improved!"

"So in a few months, the Fengwu Army's predicament will be alleviated. If Jingchu is still like it is now, I believe he will definitely not sit idly by and the horseshoes of the Fengwu Army will definitely step on the land of Jingchu!"

"Now the Fengwu Army has occupied almost half of the world. If the Fengwu Army is allowed to occupy Jingchu, then forgive me for being frank, the imperial court will be completely cornered!" As soon as these words came out, Shangguan Hongyuan's expression became very serious. He knew that Murong Lun's use of the word "corner" was already very euphemistic. When the time really came, it would be most appropriate to describe it as chronic death!

However, if troops were really dispatched, if the war did not go well or if the Fengwu Army also dispatched troops, it would result in the failure to capture Jingchu in a short period of time and the country would be stuck in the quagmire of war again. It is very likely that the already precarious Luoan court would collapse completely!
When Shangguan Hongyuan thought of this, he became a little torn and couldn't decide whether to take a gamble!
Seeing the silent Shangguan Hongyuan, although Murong Lun looked respectful on the surface, his heart was full of disappointment···························

Due to historical reasons, the various forces within the Luoan court are inherently complicated, which leads to very slow administrative efficiency. In addition, various interest groups are entrenched in the court to suck the blood and eat the flesh, making the already meager financial revenue even more insufficient!

In the face of internal and external troubles, Shangguan Hongyuan still didn't dare to give it his all, but continued to be afraid of wolves in front and tigers behind, and was hesitant in doing things. The future of the Luoan court was almost in doubt, and now it was just a matter of time!

Murong Lun was also very emotional when he thought of this. Time is really the greatest enemy of mankind. If it was the Shangguan Hongyuan who was in his prime, aggressive and unbridled twenty years ago, he would definitely not be sitting here to test himself now. He would lead his troops to Jingchu to fight with the Fengwu Army to determine the fate of the country.
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Yijing, Ye Mansion

At three quarters after the evening, Yijing was completely plunged into darkness. Pei Zhixiu coaxed her son Ye Jingxuan to sleep, and then asked the maid to close the doors and windows and prepare to go to bed early.

Because he has the power to assist in managing the affairs of the mansion, Pei Zhixiu now has to check the mansion's expenditure accounts every day in addition to dealing with the Changshan Medical Clinic. The daily workload is still very heavy, so he needs to rest early.

Just as the maid locked the doors and windows, Pei Zhixiu's ears moved slightly as if she heard something. A strange look flashed in her eyes, and then she said to the maid helplessly:
"Open the door!"

The maid was very surprised to hear Pei Zhixiu's words. She didn't know why the lady who had just asked her to close the door asked her to open it again. Although she was very confused, the maid still obediently opened the door that had just been locked.

After reopening the door, about half a cup of tea later, footsteps were heard outside the door, and then Ye Mingsheng, who looked a little tired, walked into the room. He seemed to smell of alcohol. Pei Zhixiu was a little surprised to see Ye Mingsheng like this.

"Go and make a bowl of hangover soup for the master!" Pei Zhixiu whispered to the maid Xiaohuan:

"Ok!"

After hearing the order, Xiao Huan secretly glanced at Ye Mingsheng, and then obediently went to the kitchen. At the same time, Pei Zhixiu came to Ye Mingsheng and asked softly:
"My husband, what happened?"

Hearing Pei Zhixiu’s words, Ye Mingsheng forced a smile on his face and shook his head. He suddenly remembered that today, November 17th was his birthday. Thinking of the past, he felt a little depressed for a while, so after finishing work today, he drank some more wine································
Seeing that Ye Mingsheng seemed unwilling to say more, Pei Zhixiu did not ask any more questions. She just leaned quietly on Ye Mingsheng. Feeling Pei Zhixiu's company, Ye Mingsheng felt some warmth in his heart.

Taking a deep breath and quickly adjusting his state, Ye Mingsheng scratched Pei Zhixiu's face and asked with a smile:

"I heard that you have been checking your accounts very strictly recently?"

Seeing Ye Mingsheng asking this, Pei Zhixiu asked back:
"Did Qiqige file a complaint?"

Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng smiled and said:

"She knows she's in the wrong, why would she complain to me?"

Hearing this, Pei Zhixiu snorted lightly. After a few days of investigation, she also discovered that several maids and nannies under An Miaoyi, including Qiqige, were corrupt to varying degrees. However, Pei Zhixiu did not make it public and kept silent!

The reason why Pei Zhixiu checked the accounts in the mansion this time was just that she was angry about the fight between An Miaoyi and Murong Qingwu, which dragged her into the vortex of power and disrupted her peaceful and fulfilling life. She didn't really intend to completely break up with An Miaoyi!

Pei Zhixiu knew very well that An Miaoyi was the mistress of the mansion. Ye Mingsheng gave her all the power in the backyard, and she was just an assistant manager in the final analysis. If she really revealed all these things, Qiqige and the others would definitely be punished. However, as long as An Miaoyi was still there, Qiqige would definitely be saved...

Therefore, Pei Zhixiu's plan was to keep her troops in place and wait for An Miaoyi to come to negotiate with her. Then, she would get a promise from An Miaoyi that she would not disturb her anymore, and then she would let Qiqige and the others go. However, what she didn't expect was that instead of An Miaoyi, Ye Mingsheng came!

Seeing Pei Zhixiu's confident look, Ye Mingsheng felt much more relieved. He was worried that Pei Zhixiu would not be able to handle the situation well and would suffer a loss in a showdown with An Miaoyi, but now that he saw that Pei Zhixiu had already made a plan, he did not intend to interfere in this matter!
Ye Mingsheng has always been aware of the corruption of Qiqige and others. Although he does not seem to care about the trivial matters of the women in the mansion, there are many eyes watching him secretly. Although he hates corruption, Ye Mingsheng has a different attitude towards the affairs of Qiqige and others.

After all, this is his family affair, not his work. Although Qiqige has many shortcomings, she has always done her best to serve him, which makes him very satisfied.

In fact, it stands to reason that I should have given her the title of a concubine and the treatment of a concubine long ago, but she and An Miaoyi were like sisters and did not want to leave, so she had always kept the identity of a maid...
(End of this chapter)