Chapter 814: Sacrifice for the cause!
Yijing, Sanjiang Theater

“Three bronze guillotines shine brightly. Black Bao Gong sits upside down in the Golden Palace of the Southern Yamen to receive the imperial edict. Chenzhou releases grain to pacify the people. The men and horses drag forward. In front of us comes the Ten-Li Pavilion. The Ten-Li Pavilion is set up as a mansion. Civil and military officials come to witness the process. I, Prime Minister Bao, behead little Bao Mian in anger. I cannot go to Chenzhou to release grain. I will not go to Chenzhou to release grain. I have to apologize to my sister-in-law..."

The performance of Black Bao Gong and En Sao was lively on the stage, and hundreds of spectators below the stage were watching with great interest and concentration. Did anyone notice that in a corner of the theater, a sturdy, bearded middle-aged man was looking around vigilantly.

After taking a look at the sky outside, Wu Kui, who was disguised as a bearded man, became a little anxious. Two hours ago, he received a call to wait at Sanjiang Theater at 15:00. Now that 15:00 has passed, the other party has not shown up yet, which makes Wu Kui feel a little worried!
After all, he had agreed on a meeting time before, but he was always very punctual and had never been late!
And now it’s past the hour of Wei and it hasn’t come yet, which is enough to show that something unexpected has happened!

Thinking of this, Wu Kui felt a little uneasy. Just when he was about to leave carefully, a belated figure appeared in front of him.

Although he is not dressed like a Confucian scholar in the past, his elegant demeanor of being well-read and well-read has not changed at all.

When the visitor sat down, Wu Kui asked:
"What happened?"

In response to Wu Kui's question, the scholar said calmly:
“There’s a little trouble…”

Although the scholar said it was just a minor trouble, Wu Kui became more serious when he heard that there was real trouble. Their line of work is like walking on the edge of a knife, and they must do their best to stay out of any trouble, otherwise they will end up with their heads and bodies separated if they are not careful.

After thinking for a while, Wu Kui whispered:
"How can I help?"

After hearing this, the scholar was silent for a moment, then he said:
"Do you still remember Zhang Chengzhe?"

When Wu Kui heard the scholar mention this name, he could not help but think of the young bricklayer in Chen Shangye's house, and then he sneered and said:

"Of course I remember. If it weren't for him, my plan wouldn't have failed!"

The scholar said in a deep voice:
"Find a chance to kill him!"

Hearing the scholar's words, Wu Kui raised his eyebrows and asked in surprise:
"If you hadn't stopped me last time, saying you were worried about alerting the enemy, I would have cut him into pieces in Chen Shangye's mansion. How long has it been since you let me get rid of him? Now you are not worried about alerting the enemy?"

The scholar said in a deep voice:

"This is a different time now, and I can't take care of many things now!"

Feeling the seriousness in the Confucian scholar's words, Wu Kui felt increasingly uneasy and asked very seriously:
"Tell me the truth, how bad is the situation now?"

In response to Wu Kui's question, the scholar fell silent again. At this time, only the opera singer on the stage sang:

"As the men and horses marched forward, a big hole appeared on the ground. Lord Bao wanted to explore the cave, but I don't know whether he succeeded or not. Lord Bao has to pay the price..."

Hearing the last sentence of Bao Gong's apology, the scholar couldn't help but smile bitterly, and then he calmly said to Wu Kui:
"Be prepared to die for your cause!"

Although he had a premonition in his heart, Wu Kui's heart still trembled when he heard the words "sacrifice for the sake of righteousness" from the Confucian scholar.

At this time, the scholar continued:

"Liu Zheng, this chess piece, has long been captured by the Coordination Office. The intelligence he sent over before was all prepared by the Coordination Office in order to paralyze and confuse us. You must send this news back to Luoan as soon as possible!"

"Zhang Chengzhe will leave Yijing for Posuo Mansion in Liaoyang in three days. You should keep a close eye on him until he leaves Yijing before you can take action!"

Hearing the Confucian scholar's order, Wu Kui nodded and said:
"I understand. I'll get it done as soon as possible!"

After receiving Wu Kui's reply, the scholar drank the tea in the bowl and then walked out of the Sanjiang Theater.

Looking at the scholar's slightly desolate back, Wu Kui had a premonition that this might be the last time he would meet him. Thinking of this, Wu Kui couldn't help but feel a sense of grief. Although he had only been in contact with the scholar for a few months and they had met only a few times, their relationship was not very good.

But at this moment he was also worried about the fate of the Confucian scholar. Although he did not know the other party’s specific identity, Wu Kui could probably guess one or two based on his experience. Even if the other party was not the ghostly Jiang Kuang, he was definitely Jiang Kuang’s confidant...
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Yijing, North Camp

Accompanied by Yuan Song, Guo Zhiping and other generals, Ye Mingsheng was inspecting the representatives of meritorious disabled soldiers in the military camp. In the past year, the Fengwu Army had conquered Yunbing in the west, Qi and Lu in the east, Anqing and Huainan in the south, and had conquered a large area of ​​territory.

The price of such a great achievement was also staggering. According to incomplete statistics from the General Staff, in the past year, 50,000 Fengwu soldiers were killed in battle, and the number of wounded and disabled soldiers reached 100,000.

Therefore, in order to commemorate the achievements of these soldiers, the General Staff proposed to Ye Mingsheng to hold a commendation meeting to publicly commend those soldiers who have made outstanding contributions and those who are disabled. Ye Mingsheng naturally agreed to this proposal and scheduled it to be held today in the North Camp. He also asked the Finance Department to approve a special fund of 20,000 taels of silver.

Because there were as many as 100,000 meritorious and disabled soldiers, it was impossible for all of them to attend the commendation meeting, so each department nominated representatives to attend the meeting.

From the very beginning, the General Staff wanted Ye Mingsheng to be in charge of this commendation conference. However, there have been a lot of things to do recently due to the end of the year. In addition, the establishment of departments such as the Personnel Bureau and the Legal Affairs Bureau made things even more chaotic, making Ye Mingsheng physically and mentally exhausted. Therefore, the reply given was that he would participate depending on the situation.

Regarding Ye Mingsheng’s reply, the General Staff Headquarters, which was responsible for hosting the commendation conference, felt that Ye Mingsheng was too busy and could not attend but it was not easy to say it out loud, so they gave this reply. Therefore, after discussion, they were very considerate and did not disturb Ye Mingsheng again, and planned to let the Chief of General Staff Yuan Song to preside over the commendation conference································

On the day of the commendation meeting, everything went according to plan, but no one expected that when the commendation meeting was about to end, Ye Mingsheng, surrounded by the guards, arrived at the venue with a tired body, which really caught Yuan Song, Zhao Han and others off guard. The commendation meeting was already coming to an end, but with the arrival of Ye Mingsheng, the meeting had to be postponed. However, for the thousands of soldiers and representatives at the venue, Ye Mingsheng's appearance was definitely an unexpected surprise. Seeing Ye Mingsheng's appearance, everyone was very excited.

Since the establishment of the Fengwu Army, although Ye Mingsheng delegated the combat command because he was not good at commanding battles, in order to be able to firmly control the troops in his hands, Ye Mingsheng, while managing personnel with his left hand and finances with his right hand, also spent a lot of effort on propaganda to guide the soldiers to worship him as a personality.

These Fengwu Army soldiers felt that the reason their families could now divide the land and one person’s salary could support the whole family was all because of Ye Mingsheng. Following Marshal Ye, they would never have to worry about food and clothing, and their wives and children would have unlimited prospects. With such publicity, although Ye Mingsheng seldom led the troops to battle in person, his popularity in the army was still very high...

Although he had just finished a two-hour financial meeting in the morning and was already very tired, Ye Mingsheng still forced a smile and greeted the soldiers who were 100% loyal to him. Then he patted the shoulder of a soldier who looked to be in his early twenties and had lost his right leg and was on crutches, and asked with a smile:
"Little brother, how old are you this year? What's your name?"

Hearing Marshal Ye calling him "little brother" and asking about his situation, the young soldier blushed with excitement and said:

"My name is Li Erniu, I am 21 years old and I am from Yuyang!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Mingsheng smiled and nodded, praising:
"Yuyang is a good place! How is your family situation?"

Seeing Ye Mingsheng asking this, Li Erniu answered in detail:

"My parents passed away early, and I was raised by my elder brother and his wife. When you, Marshal, took over Youyan, you allocated land to our family. But I was brave since I was young, and I wanted to try my luck out there, so I signed up to join the army without telling my elder brother and his wife!"

"Although I have lost one leg and can no longer serve you, Marshal, I have been given a pension of 15 taels of silver for my military merits, and the county has also given me five acres of tax-free land for military merits!"

“Besides that, the county also found a carpenter for me to teach me the craft. Although I have lost one leg now, I can make a living by carpentry in the future…”

At this point, Li Erniu seemed to have thought of something and his face turned slightly red. However, under Ye Mingsheng's gaze, he still whispered:
"My brother and sister-in-law found me a girl. She doesn't mind that I lost a leg and is willing to marry me. When I go back, I can be the groom and enter the bridal chamber!"

After hearing what Li Erniu said, everyone present burst into laughter. Ye Mingsheng also smiled and nodded and said:

"Then congratulations, Li Erniu, you are going to be the groom!"

As he spoke, Ye Mingsheng felt that as the commander-in-chief, he should present a gift at this time. However, when he felt his pocket, he realized that he had left the mansion in a hurry and did not bring anything with him. Just when he felt a little embarrassed, Ye Cheng handed Ye Mingsheng a gold ingot.

Ye Mingsheng immediately placed the gold ingot in Li Erniu's hand and said:
"I left the mansion in a hurry and didn't bring anything good with me. Take this gold ingot as a gift for your marriage!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the eyes of the other people around them became envious as they looked at the gold ingots in Li Erniu's hand. How could this silly boy have such good luck?

Looking at the golden ingot in his hand, Li Erniu was also shocked and quickly declined:

"This is too precious, Marshal!"

Looking at Li Erniu's honest appearance, Ye Mingsheng patted his shoulder again and said:

"Since I've given it to you, you should keep it well! Live a good life when you go back!"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng's words, Li Erniu's eyes welled up with tears of gratitude, and he was about to kneel down to Ye Mingsheng again, but before he could kneel down, he was supported by Ye Mingsheng. Then Ye Mingsheng instructed Yuan Song on the side:
"Yuan Song has issued an order that from today onwards, any soldier who is unfortunately disabled in the war does not have to kneel when meeting an official!"

After receiving Ye Mingsheng's order, Yuan Song immediately nodded and said:

"Yes! I will pass the order right away!"

After giving this order, Ye Mingsheng turned around and said to Li Erniu with a smile:

"Li Erniu, from now on, you won't have to kneel before anyone in your life! I say that!"

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In the evening, Ye Mingsheng returned to the Ye Mansion after a day's journey. Although his decision to attend the commendation meeting made him physically and mentally exhausted, Ye Mingsheng was very pleased to feel the loyalty of the soldiers to him, and he was also very happy to meet these soldiers.

Compared with those officials who are arguing over the budget, these soldiers are so innocent and lovely!

Although it was only the afternoon, Ye Mingsheng was too tired, so he simply ate some porridge, took a hot bath and prepared to go to bed. However, a secret letter from Jingchu disrupted Ye Mingsheng's plan.

Looking at the contents of the secret letter, Ye Mingsheng shook his head helplessly, then threw the secret letter into the brazier.

Three days ago, Xu Zhaojie invited Wang Dayou to meet at Shimen. Wang Dayou secretly reached an agreement with Song Jie, a general under Xu Zhaojie, and was going to use this opportunity to join forces with Song Jie to kill Xu Zhaojie at Shimen. But who would have thought that all this was Xu Zhaojie's plan. Xu Zhaojie used the same trick against Wang Dayou at Shimen and captured 30,000 soldiers and horses that originally belonged to Wang Dayou after a great battle.

However, what people did not expect was that Xu Zhaojie, who had swallowed up Wang Dayu’s troops, did not continue to attack Hanyang, but sent envoys to negotiate peace with Sun Chenggong. Because both sides were sincere in the peace talks, the peace talks are currently progressing very quickly·······························
(Our company has also temporarily closed down, so I can stay at home and recuperate. I don’t have a fever now, but I still have coughs, headaches, and dizziness. When will this end?)

(End of this chapter)