Chapter 852: Private visit via incognito!

Yijing, Chenji Tea House

Under the gaze of a crowd of tea drinkers, Zhang Sanwan, known as the best talker in Yijing, stood on the stage and talked eloquently about the Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties.

“It is very easy for a person to be infatuated with love and greed and change his attitude according to the scenery. As for the crown prince, after all, he should not look at, listen to, say or do anything indecent. He has been trained by a master since he was young and will naturally abide by the rules. Unexpectedly, a single evil thought...”

Ye Mingsheng, who was on another incognito visit, sat in his special seat, drinking tea and listening to conversation, feeling so comfortable!

A few days ago, when Ye Mingsheng was somewhat worried about the progress of the Yunbing battlefield, news came from the Yunbing battlefield that the commander of the Third Army, Xun Ke, personally led 10,000 elite troops to attack Wenshan County at night. In addition to conquering the county, he also captured more than 3,000 Yunbing troops!
Although it seemed that they had only captured a small county town and there was nothing worth celebrating, Ye Mingsheng had been paying close attention to the direction of the Yunbing battlefield, so he was very clear about the importance of Wenshan County's location. After capturing this county town, a huge loophole appeared in Wang Muzhi's carefully constructed defense line.

In this way, it is only a matter of time to conquer the remaining Heyi and Xiaode. If nothing unexpected happens, the Fengwu Army will be able to successfully reach the city of Jinyang before March!
Ye Mingsheng was also very happy about this. Judging from the report from the Coordination Office, the Luoan court was still stable. The ministers in the court did not realize that Shangguan Hongyuan was dead, or they had some guesses but continued to wait and see...
In view of this situation, Ye Mingsheng urgently hoped that the Fengwu Army could break through the situation militarily, so the Fengwu Army's move to quickly capture Wenshan County also won his heart!
What made Ye Mingsheng even more satisfied was that it was Xun Ke who captured Wenshan County!
To be honest, Ye Mingsheng was used to planning before taking action. Before promoting Xun Ke to the commander of the Third Army, he also considered the impact of this incident.

At that time, Ye Mingsheng thought that although directly promoting Xun Ke would have a series of impacts, all these impacts were within a controllable range!
Xun Ke is a general who is good at using his brain to fight wars, and Ye Mingsheng admires his abilities very much!
The so-called restoration of the Third Army's organization was simply to expand the Third Division into the Third Army, and Xun Ke was the general of the Third Division at that time.

In addition, there was no good candidate in the Fengwu Army at that time to take over the position of commander of the Third Army, so Ye Mingsheng decided to directly let Xun Ke serve as the commander of the Third Army!

However, the facts proved that Ye Mingsheng had underestimated the impact of this incident. After directly promoting Xun Ke to the commander of the Third Army, it can be said that this act caused a huge stir in the Fengwu Army!

Although no one dared to speak openly because it was Ye Mingsheng's order, many Fengwu Army generals who were queuing up to become commanders also expressed their emotions in private.

Although he realized that the promotion of Xun Ke was only the fuse of the matter, the root of the problem was that the Fengwu Army was limited in organization and now there were only four armies. The position of the commander was one-size-fits-all, resulting in a narrow space for some people to rise. Although they had accumulated military merits, they still had to queue up to become a commander...

But Ye Mingsheng also had to admit that he was indeed negligent on this issue and underestimated the impact it would bring!
As the saying goes, if a minister is not discreet, he will lose his life, and if a monarch is not discreet, he will lose his country. Ye Mingsheng also learned a lot from this incident, and he is determined to handle personnel appointments more properly and carefully in the future.

This time, since the order has already been issued and Xun Ke, the commander of the Third Army, has officially taken office, it would be inappropriate to change the order every day.

So Ye Mingsheng was counting on Xun Ke to give him face, and Xun Ke did not disappoint him this time. He attacked Wenshan County at night and captured thousands of enemy troops. He was the first to break the stalemate on the Yunbing battlefield and allowed the Fengwu Army to gain an advantageous position!
When the battle report was sent back to the General Staff Headquarters, the doubts about Xun Ke had dissipated a lot. Even some people who had previously privately believed that Ye Mingsheng was nepotistic now began to change their tune and say that Ye Mingsheng had a keen eye for talent and was unconventional in recruiting talented people!

Ye Mingsheng was very happy about this, and was even more looking forward to what kind of performance Xun Ke would contribute in the Yunbing battlefield!
As for the structural problems of the Fengwu Army, Ye Mingsheng has naturally begun to address them.

Now as Anqing, Kangyin and other areas have gradually stabilized, Ye Mingsheng also intends to establish the Fifth Army of the Fengwu Army in Huainan. On the one hand, this is to prepare for the upcoming southward operations, and on the other hand, it is also to expand the promotion channels for the generals of the Fengwu Army, allowing them to fully display their talents...
Ye Mingsheng handed this matter over to the General Staff Headquarters for handling. When the Fengwu Army's territory was only Youyan and Liaoyang, Ye Mingsheng was still able to take charge of both military and political affairs.

However, as the Fengwu Army's territory grew larger, Ye Mingsheng felt increasingly overwhelmed, so Ye Mingsheng intentionally delegated power and handed over more things to the Central Council and the General Staff.

Ye Mingsheng felt that the fourth son of Kang Mazi's family was a lesson for him. Although Old Zhu was also diligent in his work, he at least lived to be 71 years old, which was definitely a long life at that time.

The fourth brother lived to be 58 years old. He must have died of exhaustion, so for the sake of his health, Ye Mingsheng not only resumed his habit of boxing in the back garden in the morning, but also stipulated that he would jog in the back garden every night after dinner to exercise.

In addition to exercising, Ye Mingsheng also made another decision, which is to listen more to the voices of the people!
After being in a high position for a long time, Ye Mingsheng discovered that a problem was becoming more and more serious, that is, he was getting further and further away from the people, and it was difficult for him to listen to their voices!

As the saying goes, water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it. Ye Mingsheng always believed that the reason why the Fengwu Army could develop so quickly was that it represented the interests of the vast majority of toiling people.

The series of reform policies implemented by Mr. Ye are actually the redistribution of the world's wealth!

The fundamental reason why people’s livelihood is in decline and chaos is rampant throughout the Great Zhou Dynasty is that a very small number of people own most of the world’s wealth and bear very few obligations.

However, the vast majority of people only own a small portion of wealth, but also bear the vast majority of obligations! This is abnormal and unsustainable!
The Fengwu Army, which he led, was aware of this situation and catered to the needs of the general public, so it gained the support and endorsement of the people, which led to the rapid rise of the Fengwu Army.

Although he is now in a high position, Ye Mingsheng has never forgotten his roots. He wants to continue to deepen the reform, so that the world's wealth and obligations can reach a reasonable level, and let those with more wealth bear more obligations, so as to alleviate the gap between the rich and the poor and recreate a prosperous era with all nations coming to pay tribute.

In the past few months, Ye Mingsheng has been discussing with Gu Sansi and others how to continue to implement reforms. The policies they discussed include the review system for poor people and the policy of tax reduction or even tax exemption for people who are truly in distress.

One way to continuously improve the integrity of government is to collect more taxes on luxury goods and highly profitable industries.

Although he had some good ideas, Ye Mingsheng was still worried about the implementation of these policies at the grassroots level. After all, no matter how good the ideas were, they would be useless if they could not be implemented...
Therefore, Ye Mingsheng was thinking about going out incognito regularly to investigate the sufferings of the people himself, understand what the people need, understand the changes that the reform has brought to people's lives, and understand those things that those with ulterior motives do not want him to know!
Of course, this also included a little bit of Ye Mingsheng's selfishness. Those ministers and generals always kept nagging about how the son of a wealthy family should not sit in the hall, trying to make him stay in the mansion and work obediently.

But to be honest, staying in the mansion to work all the time without going out, that kind of feeling is like being in prison, which makes people feel very depressed, so in order to enjoy life, Ye Mingsheng decided to go on private visits as much as possible to experience the peaceful and prosperous world he created step by step. Seeing the people who were originally poor and could not even get enough food gradually improve their lives under his rule and live a happy and fulfilling life, this is a very fulfilling thing for Ye Mingsheng, making him feel that his trip to this world is not in vain.

After speaking for more than half an hour, Zhang Sanwan felt a little dry in the mouth, so he took a break in the middle. During this break, the conversation between the guests at the next table caught Ye Mingsheng’s attention...

A middle-aged man in a cotton gown and with a mustache said to a fat companion beside him:

"Brother Zhang, have you heard? The Liu family's Daxinchang Bank has also started a savings business just like the Jiyu Rishengchang Bank!"

"Of course I heard about what happened to you, Brother Li. This is definitely a good thing for Youyan!" The fat man, who was called Brother Zhang, said happily:
Regarding his joy, Brother Li with a mustache beside him said in confusion:

"Brother Zhang, why are you so happy? Aren't you afraid that the government and the bank are working together to defraud us of our money? They protect each other and the officials and businessmen are colluding. If our money falls into their hands, can they still give it back to us?"

At this point, the man with the mustache seemed to have thought of something and started to preach mysteriously:

"Brother Zhang, I heard from others that all the money in Ji and Yu was used by Marshal Ye to fight in the war. It is said that Marshal Ye is still in the city, rebuilding a palace for future enthronement. In my opinion, this so-called savings business is just a trick to raise money for Marshal Ye to build a palace!"

"By then, the money will definitely go in without any money going out, and you will never be able to get it back!"

Looking at his companions who were making such a solemn promise, Fatty Zhang explained with a smile:
“Brother Li, I had the same concerns as you before. It so happens that I have some business in Ji Yu. I have been staying in Ji Yu for some time, so I know something about this matter…”

"That day, after Shengchang Bank opened its savings business, it did a lot of practical things for the people. After they received the silver, most of them bought bonds from the Hebei and Henan government, and then the government used the money to build water conservancy roads. I saw all this with my own eyes and it can't be faked!"

"In addition to using the money Rishengchang received to build water conservancy roads, it also provided low-interest loans to those old farmers. Otherwise, those old farmers would have to become tenants or borrow usury in order to farm!"

"In my opinion, next year will definitely be a bumper year for Hebei and Henan. By then, the price of grain may fall back to the level of five cents of silver per stone, and chicken, duck, fish and meat should also be much cheaper!"

After hearing what Fatty Zhang said, Brother Li stroked his mustache and said with some doubt:
"According to what you said, Brother Zhang, if the Liu family's Daxinchang Bank can do the same as Rishengchang, it will indeed be a good policy for us in Youyan!"

"My five sons are now at the age of being able to eat. There are more than a dozen people in my family. We need nearly ten kilograms of food a day just for food. The little money I earn is all eaten up by them!"

"If the grain prices in Yijing also go down, I might be able to save some money for my retirement!"

Fatty Zhang patted his shoulder and said with some envy:
“As the old saying goes, raising sons is a preparation for old age. Brother Li, you have five sons, so what are you afraid of? You will have time to enjoy your life in the future...”

Listening to the conversation at the next table, Ye Mingsheng, who was listening quietly, also became interested.

After receiving Jiang Yuyan's report that day, Ye Mingsheng decided to promote the model of Rishengchang Bank under the rule of Fengwu Army.

Therefore, the Liu family's Daxinchang Banknote Exchange and the Yun family's Sihaitong Banknote Exchange were quickly approved by Ye Mingsheng and were able to open savings businesses.

Although he approved their business, Ye Mingsheng never went to take a look. Today, he accidentally heard the conversation next door, which made Ye Mingsheng want to go and take a look. So he asked Ye Kui without thinking:

"Do you know where the Daxinchang Bank is?"

Ye Kui thought for a moment and said:
"It seems to be somewhere on Xingsheng Street!"

After getting the answer, Ye Mingsheng thought for a while and felt that the journey was not far, so he stood up and ordered:
"You go and buy the bill. Let's go to Daxinchang and see how they are doing."

After hearing Ye Mingsheng's instructions, Ye Kui hesitated and said:
"Sir, the Daxinchang Bank has not yet made arrangements, so safety cannot be guaranteed. Please see if you want to go there tomorrow. I will lead the Royal Guard Battalion to make arrangements..."

(Sorry, I'm a little late because of a small matter. Please forgive me!)

(End of this chapter)