Chapter 818: Insist on decision-making and balance of power!
Although he was very disgusted by Shangguan Hongyuan's methods, Cui Desheng was, after all, a senior general of the Fengwu Army. He could be ranked among the top ten in the entire Fengwu Army. Moreover, his surname was Cui, and he was the nephew of the old lady and Cui Shao, so his status was not ordinary...

When they thought Cui Desheng had died in battle, Old Lady Cui Shao and others were very sad. Later, when they learned that Cui Desheng was still alive, the old lady specifically mentioned to Ye Mingsheng that Cui Desheng was a filial and good child. She would visit him every time she returned to Yijing, so she hoped that Ye Mingsheng would try his best to rescue him.

In addition to his status and position, Cui Desheng did not surrender voluntarily. Instead, he was captured after fighting hard to exhaustion while covering the main force's retreat during the first Battle of Yunbing. After being captured, he behaved loyally and did not lose face as a general of the Fengwu Army in order to survive.

So after comprehensively considering all these circumstances, Ye Mingsheng also issued instructions to the Department of Foreign Affairs, requesting that Cui Desheng be saved as much as possible.

After receiving Ye Mingsheng's approval, the Department of Foreign Affairs also actively contacted the Luoan court to discuss various matters regarding the prisoner exchange.

However, at that time, after the first Yunbing Battle, although the Fengwu Army had achieved strategic success, it still lost four counties tactically. Therefore, the Luoan court still had a tough attitude and offered a very high price, requiring the Fengwu Army to pay 10,000 taels of silver and 100,000 shi of grain.

Although Ye Mingsheng wanted to exchange Cui Desheng back, as the commander-in-chief of the Fengwu Army, he would naturally not agree to the outrageous price offered by the Luoan court.

After Ye Mingsheng rejected the conditions, matters surrounding Cui Desheng's prisoner exchange came to a standstill. However, the outbreak of the second Yunbing War soon brought a turn for the better...
Compared with the first Yun-Bing War, the Fengwu Army was successful in strategy but failed in tactics. In the second Yun-Bing War, the Fengwu Army was successful in both tactics and strategy. It not only recaptured the five lost counties, but also captured tens of thousands of Yun-Bing Army prisoners of war.
The two battles of Yunbing resulted in a large number of prisoners for both the Fengwu Army and the Luoan court. Both sides were willing to exchange prisoners, but there were still major differences on the specific terms. The Fengwu Army proposed a one-for-one exchange, where senior generals like Cui Desheng could be exchanged for more ordinary soldiers at the discretion of the court.

However, the Luoan court made an outrageous request, saying that all prisoners from both sides should be exchanged regardless of the number of prisoners. The Fengwu Army naturally rejected such an unreasonable request. After all, according to the Fengwu Army's calculations, the Luoan court only had a maximum of 7,000 Fengwu Army prisoners of war.

The Fengwu Army had 33,000 Yunbing Army prisoners in their hands. If they followed the Luoan court's plan, it would be 7,000 people in exchange for 33,000. One Fengwu Army prisoner was equivalent to five Yunbing Army prisoners. Obviously, the Luoan court had also made the calculation, so they came up with such a plan.

Faced with the unreasonable demands of the Luoan court, the officials in charge of the negotiations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also argued their case and tried their best to make the deal.

Because of the huge difference in the number of prisoners in the hands of both sides, Luoan rejected the one-for-one exchange proposed by the Fengwu Army. In order to make their position clear to the Fengwu Army, they also directly stated that if the Fengwu Army insisted on a one-to-one exchange, they would rather cancel the prisoner exchange than agree to it...
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not dare to make a decision on the request of the Luoan court, and reported it to Ye Mingsheng. In order to allow the brave Fengwu Army soldiers to return home as soon as possible, Ye Mingsheng agreed to the request of the Luoan court and allowed one Fengwu Army soldier to be exchanged for two Yunbing Army soldiers, but as a condition, Cui Desheng had to be sent back.

Finally, after a fierce game of bargaining, the Luoan court and the Fengwu Army reached an agreement. Seven thousand Fengwu Army soldiers plus Cui Desheng were exchanged for fifteen thousand Yunbing Army soldiers. At this point, Cui Desheng was able to return to his hometown.

After quietly taking a look at Ye Mingsheng's face, Ye Cheng hesitated for a moment and decided to report:

"My Lord, the old lady has ordered that Cui Desheng come to the mansion to meet the emperor after he returns to Yijing!"

Upon hearing the news, Ye Mingsheng frowned slightly. Although Cui Desheng maintained the integrity of a Fengwu Army general when he was captured, in this era, being captured was not a very glorious thing according to traditional concepts. What's more, when he was captured, Shangguan Hongyuan took Cui Desheng to many banquets with the purpose of alienating him. The two of them were always chatting and laughing at the banquets. Cui Desheng even publicly complimented Shangguan Hongyuan as a capable minister and a pillar of the country!
Ye Mingsheng was not satisfied with this. He could understand Cui Desheng’s situation at that time, but he felt that under the circumstances at that time, Cui Desheng could also claim to be sick and not go out. He did not have to attend those banquets to flatter Shangguan Hongyuan...
So even though Cui Desheng was brought back this time, Ye Mingsheng did not intend to reuse Cui Desheng. He just planned to give Cui Desheng an idle job for the sake of his mother and Cui Shao, and let him live a life of idleness and wait for death in Yijing for the rest of his life.

But I didn't expect that my mother really admired her nephew Cui Desheng and even asked him to come to the house to see her. Since the order had been given, there was no way to take it back. Ye Mingsheng pondered for a while and instructed Ye Cheng:
"I'll leave this matter to you, Ye Cheng!"

Although Ye Mingsheng did not directly state his request, Ye Cheng had been with Ye Mingsheng for so long that he had some insight. He could see that Ye Mingsheng did not want to see Cui Desheng in the mansion, so he immediately took the order and prepared to make Cui Desheng give up.

After dealing with this matter, Ye Mingsheng forgot about Cui Desheng and shifted his attention to another important matter.

During this period, surrounding the key position of Deputy Director of the Personnel Bureau, various forces in Yijing have been showing off their abilities!
Normally speaking, Ye Mingsheng would personally oversee and be responsible for such important personnel appointments. However, because Ye Mingsheng intended to test Gu Sansi this time, he delegated power to Gu Sansi and let Gu Sansi decide on the candidate for his deputy...

After some serious thought about Ye Mingsheng's test, Gu Sansi reported his views to Ye Mingsheng.

For the two deputy directors of the Personnel Bureau, Gu Sansi recommended his old subordinate Chu Zhiyi and the former governor of Qilu Province, Shen Changhong.

In the memorial to Ye Mingsheng, Gu Sansi wrote down the reasons why he made such a choice.

First, Chu Zhiyi. Gu Sansi thought that although Chu Zhiyi lacked experience and was relatively young, having just turned 30 this year, he was honest, modest and prudent, and very capable, which was very consistent with the requirements for the deputy director of the Personnel Bureau. The second was Shen Changhong. Gu Sansi thought that Shen Changhong, 41 years old, was in his prime. Although he had never worked in the central government before, he had accumulated a lot of grassroots work experience and a good reputation in his 15 years of official career. When he was the governor of Qilu Provincial Government, he was mainly responsible for personnel issues. This transfer to the deputy director of the Personnel Bureau was a professional match.

Ye Mingsheng was basically satisfied with the two answers given by Gu Sansi. With these two choices, Gu Sansi showed Ye Mingsheng his persistence, determination and ability to balance when various parties were struggling and he was the director of the Personnel Bureau in the vortex of power...
Chu Zhiyi is an old subordinate who was promoted by Gu Sansi. It is no exaggeration to say that he has been working with Gu Sansi since he entered the officialdom. When Gu Sansi was in charge of reform, he was the reform spearhead in Gu Sansi's hand and dealt with many difficult problems.

According to Ye Mingsheng, although the two of them are nominally in a superior-subordinate relationship, they actually have a brotherly relationship!

This time, Gu Sansi is the director of the Personnel Bureau. Logically, he should also promote his younger brother Chu Zhiyi. However, Chu Zhiyi also has problems. First of all, he is young and inexperienced. He is in his early thirties and has only been in the officialdom for seven or eight years. He has always followed Gu Sansi and has not been prominent in the Fengwu Army, and has not accumulated much reputation.

From ancient times to the present, although the promotion and appointment of officials has always emphasized the importance of merit, everyone knows that seniority is also a key indicator. Compared with other competitors, Chu Zhiyi has obvious shortcomings in this regard.

So some people have been persuading Gu Sansi to let Chu Zhiyi wait before taking the position. After all, Chu Zhiyi is only in his early thirties and can definitely wait. The competition for the position of deputy director is so fierce, it is better to let someone else take the position first, and vacate the position after a few years for Chu Zhiyi to take the position...

Ye Mingsheng has also been paying attention to Gu Sansi's choice of Chu Zhiyi. Although Ye Mingsheng is against nepotism, as a superior he is very clear about one thing: as a leader, if you want to implement your own policy ideas, you need trusted subordinates to help you do the work.

No matter how good an idea is, if it is not implemented, it is just empty talk!
Ye Mingsheng also knew the young man Chu Zhiyi. He felt that he was a good talent. Chu Zhiyi was also unwavering in his political advocacy of reform. In the past, when faced with the tough challenges that reforms faced when entering deep waters, Chu Zhiyi always rose to the challenge and achieved many results!
From this point of view, Ye Mingsheng believed that Chu Zhiyi was capable of becoming the deputy director of the Personnel Bureau and assisting Director Gu Sansi in his work.

Therefore, Ye Mingsheng has always had more expectations for Gu Sansi. He hopes that when Gu Sansi faces the political pressure and influence imposed by all parties, he can be more decisive like Cui Shao!

In that position where you are second to none and above everyone else, if you choose to compromise when others put a little pressure on you, then you will be a mere decoration and be able to accomplish nothing!
In the end, Gu Sansi did not disappoint Ye Mingsheng. He withstood the political pressure from all sides and recommended Chu Zhiyi to him.

If in Chu Zhiyi, Ye Mingsheng examined Gu Sansi's persistence and decisiveness when facing pressure from all sides, then in Shen Changhong, Ye Mingsheng mainly examined Gu Sansi's ability to balance when facing pressure from all sides.

After serving as an official for so many years, Ye Mingsheng’s deepest understanding of politics can be summed up in two words - balance!
Political balance is very important. Under a balanced political structure, the power of all parties is restricted. They will abide by the rules and will not do things out of line. However, once the balance of the political structure is broken, power will no longer be restricted, and some people will become unscrupulous. At that time, danger will follow closely.

Because the Fengwu Army originated in Liaoyang, as the Fengwu Army has grown, a large number of people from Liaoyang have also risen with the tide and are in high positions. As the Fengwu Army has more and more territory, various forces have joined the Fengwu Army. They also want to get a piece of the power pie, so conflicts between them and people from Liaoyang are inevitable.

In a sense, the open and secret struggles between Cui Shao and Murong Yuliang are a manifestation of this contradiction!
Ye Mingsheng was well aware of the contradictions under his rule, and he had always wanted to ease them. However, unfortunately, there were only so many positions, and some people had to move up while others had to step down. It was a headache for Ye Mingsheng to make the decision...
The reorganization of the power structure of the Fengwu Army led by Ye Mingsheng this time is, in a way, also an attempt by Ye Mingsheng to ease the conflict. Ye Mingsheng intends to take advantage of the opportunity of establishing new departments such as the Personnel Bureau, the Political Affairs Bureau, and the Legal Affairs Bureau to rebuild the balance of power in the Fengwu Army.

Therefore, among the deputy directors of the bureaus established this time, Ye Mingsheng consciously appointed a deputy director from Liaoyang and a deputy director from another province.

In this competition for the deputy director of the Personnel Bureau, people like Chu Zhiyi, Bai Changjiu, Ye Santian and others are all from Liaoyang, so after choosing Chu Zhiyi as the deputy director, Ye Mingsheng also hopes that Gu Sansi will choose a deputy director from another province.

Compared with the Political Affairs Bureau, the Legal Affairs Bureau and other departments, this political balance is more important for the Personnel Bureau. After all, the Personnel Bureau is responsible for personnel work. If a director and two deputy directors are from Liaoyang, then some people in the local area will gossip and say strange things, which will be detrimental to the future work of the Personnel Bureau in the local area.

Although these gossips and weird remarks have limited impact on the Fengwu Army’s cause, we still need to pay attention to the impact when doing our work!

Therefore, Ye Mingsheng was very pleased that Gu Sansi chose Shen Changhong, an old official who formerly worked in the Qilu Provincial Government.

Although he was not familiar with Shen Changhong, he had conducted a background check on him through the Coordination Office. According to the investigation of the Coordination Office, this person was also an honest official and had extensive experience in personnel issues. If he became the deputy director, he would be able to better help Gu Sansi complete his work...

(End of this chapter)