Chapter 851 Ye Mingsheng, the Wolf King?

The reason why Yang Chongqing pretended to be sick was that Yang Chongqing was also a smart man. He realized that although he had made many contributions, Shangguan Hongyuan was wary of him. He asked Chen Jingyu to arrange a number of spies from the Supervisory Department in his home to keep an eye on his every move all the time...

Therefore, Yang Chongqing had long realized that Shangguan Hongyuan did not trust him that much, so in order to avoid being too successful and endangering the emperor, he pretended to be sick and did not go out.

This is also a knot in Yang Chongqing's heart. The seven names written on the small note that Murong Lun asked Murong Fan to send are the secret agents arranged by the Supervisory Office for Yang Chongqing. Murong Yuliang wants to untie Yang Chongqing's knot. Only in this way can Yang Chongqing's worries be reduced in the future!

However, as the saying goes, a cunning rabbit has three burrows, and the two sides did not completely trust each other, so Murong Lun felt it necessary to keep something in reserve as a means to deal with Yang Chongqing in the future, so he made some reservations on the list!

"Uncle, what are you going to do next?" After thinking for a while, Murong Fan asked tentatively:

Facing Murong Fan's question, Murong Lun did not give an answer, but calmly asked back:

"Fan'er, if you were me now, what would you do?"

Murong Fan didn't say anything when he heard this, but a deep hatred flashed in his eyes. Seeing this, Murong Lun shook his head.

He knew that Murong Fan wanted to overthrow the Shangguan family, and that his nephew was the best among the younger generations of the family, both in terms of knowledge and means!
However, Murong Fan has a fatal flaw, that is, Murong Fan is a bit narrow-minded...

On that day, Shangguan Hongyuan sent troops to surround Murong Mansion. Although it was safe in the end, when Murong Yidou was besieged by the army, in order to prevent his entire family from being wiped out, he arranged for several young talents in the family, such as Murong Fan, to sneak out quietly. In case the family encountered misfortune, these people could continue the family's incense.

But unfortunately, Murong Fan and his companions did not escape as they had wished. When they tried to escape, they were caught by the imperial guards and beaten up. Murong Fan was beaten the most severely because he resisted the most fiercely. He almost lost his life.
Although he finally saved his life with the help of the imperial physician, Murong Fan had to lie in bed for nearly a month, eating, drinking, defecating and urinating in bed before he slowly recovered.

After this incident, Murong Fan hated the Shangguan family completely! He always wanted to seek revenge on them!

Murong Lun shook his head and said:
"After Shi Huairen's rebellion last time, the ministers in the court are now scared and worried that Shangguan Hongyuan will repeat his old tricks. So even if we spread the news that Shangguan Hongyuan is dead, they may not believe it!"

"Secondly, the old fellow, Shang Hongyuan, also made sufficient preparations for Shangguan Changgong before his death. Now the more than 100,000 imperial guards are all under the control of Shangguan Changgong. Without the sword handle, what can we use to fight Shangguan Changgong?"

“Why do we have to fight Shangguan Changgong in the end?”

Hearing the last words of his uncle, Murong Fan's expression changed as if he heard something behind the words. At this moment, Murong Lun patted Murong Fan on the shoulder and said sincerely:
"Fan'er, you almost died in their hands. Although you are well now, you are still suffering from a chronic disease. I know all this. You do have reason to hate them. I am not going to tell you to forget the hatred and make peace with the Shangguan family!"

"But what uncle wants to tell you is that you should always put the interests of the family first and remember not to act on impulse!"

"Although Shangguan Changgong is Shangguan Hongyuan's son, they are completely different in character and in their ways of dealing with people!"

"Shangguan Hongyuan is an arrogant and domineering hero. He is domineering and will do anything to achieve his goals. When facing him, you either submit to him or die in his hands. There is no third way!"

"But compared to Shangguan Hongyuan, Shangguan Changgong is more of a modest gentleman. He can tolerate different opinions and is willing to listen to other people's advice. His methods are also relatively gentle. He is not as vicious and cruel as Shangguan Hongyuan, who would kill your whole family if he disagrees with you!"

“So dealing with Shangguan Changgong is much easier than dealing with Shangguan Hongyuan! At least your life safety is relatively guaranteed…”

Hearing this, Murong Fan seemed to have thought of something, and after hesitating for a moment, he asked:
"Uncle, what kind of person is Ye Mingsheng in your eyes?"

Facing Murong Fan's question, Murong Lun also fell into deep thought. After a cup of tea, he slowly said:
"I have never met Ye Mingsheng, so I am not familiar with Ye Mingsheng!"

"But judging from the letter your second uncle wrote to me, the four words eagle-eyed and wolf-guarded are quite appropriate to describe him. If Shangguan Hongyuan is like a ferocious tiger, then Ye Mingsheng is like a hungry wolf! A wolf king who commands a pack of wolves!"

"In terms of personal ability, ten Ye Mingshengs put together are not as good as one Shangguan Hongyuan!"

"But this person also has one good point, that is, he knows himself well and knows how to assign people to the right positions!"

"Ye Mingsheng knew that he was not capable enough, so he never gave blind orders on the battlefield and handed over all the command power to the generals below. This is how the Fengwu Army won victory after victory. In terms of domestic affairs, he also relied heavily on Cui Shao, Gu Sansi and others to support the operation of the government!"

“As for personal style, he is as strong as Shangguan Hongyuan, but not as overbearing and ruthless as Shangguan Hongyuan. Unlike Shangguan Hongyuan, who will kill your whole family if he says so, no matter how many years you have followed him or how many contributions you have made for him, he will not show any mercy…”

"If Shangguan Hongyuan is now the commander of the Fengwu Army and Ye Mingsheng is leading the Luoan court, I believe Shangguan Hongyuan will do something more ruthless and ruthless than Ye Mingsheng!"

"Because his personal abilities are mediocre, Ye Mingsheng is better at the art of balance, which is why he is able to control the Fengwu Army!"

Hearing his uncle's comparison, Murong Fan nodded as if he had understood something. At this time, Murong Lun continued to speak earnestly:

"I have been observing what Ye Mingsheng has done and his so-called reform policies!" "What Shangguan Hongyuan wants to do is simply to change the dynasty and turn the Jiang family's world of the Great Zhou into his Shangguan family's world, but Ye Mingsheng's ambitions are even greater than his!"

"Ye Mingsheng wants to break down class barriers and establish a new order based on the change of dynasty. He seems to want to make those poor peasants equal to our noble families. I really don't understand why he has such an idea. It's simply unreasonable!"

"Don't think that Ye Mingsheng is trying to make peace with our Murong family and agree to all our conditions, but this is entirely based on the fact that he still needs our Murong family to help him conquer the world. If he really gets the world, a shameless and ruthless tyrant like him will never admit it!"

“Even in his new reform policy, our Murong family needs to be transformed, and in this process of transformation, we have to pay a huge sacrifice and price…”

“So unless it’s absolutely necessary, our Murong family will not completely side with Ye Mingsheng!” At the end of his words, a trace of melancholy emerged in Murong Lun’s expression.

After listening to Murong saying this, Murong Fan also understood why his uncle asked him to ask Yang Chongqing such a question.

"If the imperial court fully supports you, how strong are you to resist the Fengwu Army?"

Now it seems that Yang Chongqing's answer also satisfied the uncle. Thinking of this, Murong Fan seemed to realize the problem. After hesitating for a while, he asked Murong Lun:
"Uncle, what if Lord Yang fails?"

Faced with such a realistic problem, Murong Lun fell into silence. Half a cup of tea later, he said in a deep voice:

"Then there's nothing we can do!"

“The Murong family will always stand on the side of the victor, even if it has to pay a price and make sacrifices…”

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Jinyang, Wenshan County
Standing on the city wall of Wenshan County, looking at the vast world outside the city, Xun Ke's heart was surging, and a hint of pride appeared in his eyes.

He recalled the events of that New Year's Eve several times in the past few days. Xun Ke was very glad that he led more than 10,000 soldiers of the Third Army and made the right choice at the crossroads of fate.

Even without the cover of artillery and the assistance of heavy equipment, they climbed up the city wall of Wenshan County with simple wooden ladders and opened the horizontal gate while the enemy was in chaos. The overall situation was decided!
As the saying goes, the greater the risk, the greater the reward!
With Xun Ke's risky move, the Third Army captured Wenshan County. The originally stalemate situation in the Yunbing area suddenly became clear. The situation became more and more favorable for the Fengwu Army, but for the Yunbing Army, which had been struggling, the situation became more and more difficult for them!
This was also a great benefit to Xun Ke personally. After the news that he personally led the army to capture Wenshan County was passed back, the controversy within the Fengwu Army over his promotion to commander-in-chief also decreased a lot!

If Xun Ke had not taken the risk and instead led his soldiers back for the sake of safety, then although there would have been no losses, he would have been questioned more for returning empty-handed, and the voices of dissatisfaction with his promotion to commander would have become even more rampant...

Just when Xun Ke was feeling somewhat complacent, Lieutenant General Cao Hu came up to him, took out a letter and bowed to report:

"Master Xun, Commander Yuan has replied to your letter!"

Xun Ke calmed down after hearing this, opened the envelope and began to read Yuan Song's letter. After taking over Wenshan County, he immediately contacted Yuan Song, reported the situation here to him, and waited for Yuan Song's next instructions. However, Yuan Song's military order came faster than he expected.

Yuan Song's letter was not long, but Xun Ke read it very carefully. It took him half a cup of tea to read the more than a hundred words before he put it down.

After reading the letter, Xun Ke looked at the mountains and rivers outside the city, frowned and fell into silence.

After capturing Wenshan County, in the letter he wrote to Yuan Song, in addition to introducing the situation, Xun Ke also told Yuan Song his ideas for the next battle.

Xun Ke believed that the Fengwu Army should take advantage of the fact that their morale was at its highest after they had just captured Wenshan County, and take down the two counties of Xiaode and Heyi in one fell swoop, thus removing the last two obstacles to the attack on Jinyang!
However, Yuan Song had different ideas about this. He believed that as the Fengwu Army captured Wenshan County, it could use Wenshan County as a base, give full play to the cavalry advantage of the Fengwu Army, and cut off the connection between Jinyang and the remaining two counties.

Therefore, the two counties of Heyi and Xiaode are almost two pieces of meat on the chopping board of the Fengwu Army. At this point, Yuan Song believes that they can think carefully about eating these two pieces of meat!
Therefore, Yuan Song came up with the idea of ​​sieging the enemy and attacking the reinforcements, thinking of using these two counties as bait to lure out some of the enemies in Jinyang...

Although he disagreed with Yuan Song, Xun Ke could understand Yuan Song's idea. Jinyang now had a Yunbing army of nearly 50,000 people, and unlike these small counties, Jinyang, as the provincial capital of Yunbing, was one of the most fortified cities in the world!

Although the Fengwu Army had the advantage in artillery, it would still be very difficult to capture Jinyang, which was defended by 50,000 people!
It is based on such considerations that Yuan Song would try to find a way to annihilate more of the enemy's manpower and reduce the enemy's garrison. In this way, in the future attack on Jinyang, there will be fewer difficulties and fewer casualties!
Although he could understand Yuan Song's idea, Xun Ke also had his own concerns about this. Military morale is not static. Now that Wenshan County has been captured so quickly, the morale of the entire army is high and this is the time when the army can be used. If an offensive is launched at this time, it will surely achieve twice the result with half the effort.

If we give up this opportunity now, it will mean returning to the previous stage of strategic stalemate, which will be very detrimental to military morale.

After thinking for a while, Xun Ke sighed slightly. Although Yuan Song meant to discuss things in the letter, he was the commander-in-chief of the Yunbing battlefield and the top leader of the Fengwu Army in the Yunbing battlefield, and he was only the deputy commander-in-chief.

As the saying goes, a higher-ranking official can crush a person, so he can only follow orders. Thinking of this, Xun Ke immediately instructed Cao Hu beside him:

“Suspend the plan to attack Xiaode County, and let the brothers rest in Wenshan County…”

"Yes!"

(End of this chapter)