Chapter 859 The meeting is in progress!
After discussing the issue of artillery manufacturing, Ye Mingsheng nodded to the new Chief of General Staff Zhao Han, indicating that Zhao Han should continue to preside over the General Staff meeting...
After receiving Ye Mingsheng's signal, Zhao Han continued to preside over the meeting and said:
"From the situation in this battle report, after this battle, the enemy has basically lost the ability to leave the city and engage in direct combat with our army. All they can do is hide in Jinyang City and passively wait for our army to attack the city!"

"It is expected that Lord Yuan's troops will be able to gather up the remaining pieces in the next three to five days. After this step is completed, they will gradually begin to attack Jinyang!"

"Although this battle wiped out a lot of Yun Bing's troops, there are still more than 30,000 Yun Bing soldiers in Jinyang City. In addition, Jinyang is a large city with a population of over 300,000. In times of crisis, Yun Bing's troops can still recruit tens of thousands of young and strong men!"

"Therefore, it is not realistic to capture Jinyang in a short period of time. It is estimated that the troops that Lord Yuan can use for the siege will be between 60,000 and 70,000. Based on our experience in conquering Yujing, it will take our army at least 15 days to a month to complete the capture of Jinyang!"

At this point Zhao Han paused before continuing:
"The current situation within the Luoan court is not stable, so once Jinyang is lost, it will be a huge blow to the Luoan court. Therefore, the General Staff believes that once our army besieges Jinyang, the Luoan Imperial Guard will definitely come to support us!"

After the words fell, Zhao Han looked at Huo San, the executive deputy director of the Coordination Office, who was standing at the end of the queue...
After Ye Mingsheng demoted Huo San from director to deputy director because of the corruption case, he never reinstated him. However, because Ji Xian was also transferred to the Coordination Office as deputy director, in order to distinguish the two of them, it was also to give Huo San some psychological comfort.

Ye Mingsheng added the word "executive" before the title of deputy director of Huo San, making him half a level higher than Ji Xian.

Seeing Zhao Han looking at him, Huo San understood that he wanted him to introduce the intelligence from the Luoan court. Huo San did not stand up immediately, but looked at Ye Mingsheng who was sitting in the main seat.

Feeling Huo San's inquiring gaze, Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly. After getting Ye Mingsheng's permission, Huo San stepped forward and introduced:

"According to the latest intelligence from our Coordination Office, Shangguan Hongyuan is now staying at home due to illness, and most of the power of the Luoan court has been transferred to the Minister of War Shangguan Changgong!"

"Although there is no evidence yet, based on some clues, our Coordination Office has determined that Shangguan Hongyuan is very likely to have passed away. Shangguan Changgong chose to keep the death a secret in order to maintain the political stability of the Luoan court!"

“Some people in the Luoan court may have noticed something, but because Shangguan Hongyuan had used this trick before to lure Shi Huairen into a trap, so with Shi Huairen as a precedent, many people are worried that Shangguan Hongyuan will use the same trick again, so they are still waiting and watching…”

"Because many people are waiting and watching, the Luoan court has basically remained stable under the control of Shangguan Changgong!"

"In terms of military affairs, Shangguan Changgong relied heavily on Yang Chongqing, the former commander of the Shenwu Army. He even specially appointed Yang Chongqing as the Grand Marshal of the Army!"

"Although Yang Chongqing was given the title of Grand Marshal of the Army, which allowed him to nominally control all the troops of the Luoan court, the actual power of the Luoan Imperial Guard is a three-way balance of power!"

"Yang Chongqing can only command 50,000 Shenwu troops. The remaining Xuanwu and Hujie armies will be commanded by Ma Chongyang and Tang Peng!"

"If the General Staff's judgment is correct and the Luoan Imperial Guards will rush to Jinyang, Yang Chongqing will be in charge, with Ma Chongyang or Tang Peng as deputy commanders, and the total force will be at least 50,000!"

"In the first Yunbing War, although the Luoan Imperial Army suffered heavy losses from our army's full-scale attack, the overall backbone is still intact. After nearly a year of recuperation, the enemy has basically recovered 70% of its strength in the first Yunbing War, with a strength of about 100,000!"

“In addition, with the full production of the enemy’s arsenal, the Luoan Imperial Guards have replaced a lot of firearms. It is conservatively estimated that the Luoan Imperial Guards are now equipped with at least 100 Zhengdong cannons, more than 300 tiger squat cannons, and there should be 10,000 Shenwu guns...
"The Luoan Imperial Army is very strong in both combat quality and fighting will. Overall, their combat effectiveness should not be underestimated. It is very close to the level of our army. In addition, Yang Chongqing is also worthy of great attention!"

After saying this, Huo San returned to the queue. After hearing what Huo San said, the conference room fell into a brief silence.

Zhao Han hesitated for a moment and asked Ye Mingsheng for instructions;
"Sir, there are more than 70,000 imperial guards around Luoan. I believe that after the news from Jinyang reaches Luoan, the Luoan court will start to support Jinyang. The distance from Luoan to Jinyang is about 800 miles. If Luoan moves quickly enough, they can arrive within half a month!"

"Although Commander Yuan has the Second and Third Armies under his command, if he has to face the Yunbing Army hiding in Jinyang City and the Luoan Imperial Guards who came to support him at the same time, I believe Commander Yuan will still be unable to cope with it!"

"So I suggest that we take action immediately and deploy the Ninth Division under General Ye Dong and the Tenth Division under General Chen Chuanwu to the Yunbing battlefield!"

As Zhao Han finished speaking, General Ye Dong of the Ninth Division and General Chen Chuanwu of the Tenth Division, who were standing at the end of the conference room, looked at Ye Mingsheng with great anticipation. Their two divisions were only established last year and had not participated in too many battles, so they were all looking forward to making achievements on the Yunbing battlefield...
Ye Mingsheng also felt that Zhao Han’s suggestion made a lot of sense.

The intelligence from the General Coordination Office was that the total number of troops of the Luoan Imperial Guard was approximately 100,000, with at least 50,000 able to support Jinyang. Although Yuan Song had nearly 100,000 men under his command, due to the losses in this battle and the troops left behind, it was already very good for him to be able to mobilize 70,000 men to attack Jinyang!
Given the strength of the Fengwu Army under Yuan Song, it was unlikely that they could capture Jinyang before Yang Chongqing led reinforcements to arrive. And the possibility of capturing Jinyang after Yang Chongqing's reinforcements arrived became even smaller.

Therefore, if the Fengwu Army wants to capture Jinyang, the only way is to increase troops. However, increasing troops is very simple to say, and it can be said easily. However, the additional troops need to eat, drink, defecate and urinate, which involves the issue of logistical support.

Currently, under the governance of the Fengwu Army, the Yunbing area has gradually restored some productivity and can currently support the supply of about 30,000 people. This means that among the 100,000 Fengwu Army in Yunbing, 70,000 of them need to rely on the central government for supply.

Cui Shao, Gu Sansi, Zhang Juning and other Fengwu Army civilian officials all believed that supporting these people to fight in Yunbing now put a lot of pressure on the overall operation of the Fengwu Army. It would be difficult to get more money, food and labor to support more troops to fight in Yunbing...
This is why Ye Mingsheng clearly planned to join the 9th and 10th Divisions into the Yunbing battle, but always kept them in the rear as reserve troops.

After repeated consideration, Ye Mingsheng immediately decided:

"Zhao Han, I agree with you. The Ninth and Tenth Divisions should prepare as soon as possible and must enter Yunbing within ten days!"

Upon hearing Ye Mingsheng's order, Ye Dong and Chen Chuanwu, who were standing at the end of the queue, immediately stood up and said in unison: "Yes! We will definitely live up to the Marshal's trust!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded upon hearing this. Then Zhang Kaitai, the Director of the Logistics Department of the General Staff, gave him some instructions, asking him to do a good job of liaison and handover with the local authorities to ensure that the logistics of military supplies could be safely and stably transported to the battlefield in Yunbing.

After doing all this, Ye Mingsheng saw that no one had any other opinions, so he ended the staff meeting.

After the meeting, Ye Mingsheng wanted to return home. He wanted to summon Cui Shao, Gu Sansi, Zhang Juning and others to the mansion as soon as possible to hold another meeting.

In order to capture Jinyang and completely secure victory, Ye Mingsheng approved the plan for the 9th and 10th Divisions to enter Yunbing.

However, in order to ensure the logistics of the 9th and 10th Divisions, Ye Mingsheng needs the full cooperation of these civilian officials, so they must do their job well...

Ye Mingsheng planned to see if he could first rob Peter to pay Paul to cope with the situation, cut the funding of various departments to support the front line, and let Yuan Song fight in Yunbing without any worries.

Just when Ye Mingsheng was about to do these tasks, Huo San found Ye Mingsheng and reported to him:

"Sir, we at the Coordination Office have made some progress on the matter you entrusted to us before!"

After hearing what Huo San said, Ye Mingsheng thought for a moment before saying:
"Are you talking about Da Xinchang's matter?"

Huo San nodded and said:

"Yes, sir, after you told us about this matter, we immediately organized a team of capable people to conduct an investigation!"

"After our investigation over this period of time, we found that the overall operation of Daxinchang Bank is still relatively healthy, but they have some problems with the liquidity of the bank. We suspect that Daxinchang has a problem with double-bookkeeping!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Ye Mingsheng's expression became serious, and he immediately looked at Huo San with a scrutinizing gaze.

After returning from his last incognito visit to the Daxinchang Bank, Ye Mingsheng handed the matter over to the Imperial Guards and the General Coordination Office for handling.

Ye Cheng from the Imperial Guards Department also drafted an order, asking the Political Affairs Bureau and the Legal Affairs Bureau to jointly send people to Daxinchang. The joint working group is still investigating, but from their current feedback, Daxinchang Bank does have some minor problems, but these minor problems are not serious·······························
The working group has ordered Daxinchang Bank to effectively guarantee the legal rights of depositors. Daxinchang Bank also stated that all the problems were due to the decision made by the bank's owner, Tian Shusen. Now they have dismissed Tian Shusen and corrected the problems with the bank.

Now, even if the depositors of Daxinchang have made fixed-term deposits, they can withdraw the silver they deposited from the bank before the savings mature.

Originally, Ye Mingsheng thought that this result was good enough, but he didn't expect Huo San to tell him that Da Xinchang might have a problem with the Yin-Yang account books. This problem was much more serious. And most importantly, Ye Mingsheng's intuition told him that Huo San had something else to say!

After taking a deep look at Huo San, Ye Mingsheng said in a deep voice:
"Tell me everything you found out!"

After receiving Ye Mingsheng's order, Huo San hesitated for a moment, but still spoke honestly:

"Your Excellency, we at the Coordination Office currently have no solid evidence to prove that Daxinchang does have a Yin-Yang account book!"

"But from the clues we have found so far, I think it is very likely that Daxinchang Bank has a double-book system!"

“According to the account books that Daxinchang Bank showed to the Government Affairs Bureau and the Legal Affairs Bureau, their savings amount was 390,000 taels of silver. However, after these days of investigation, I think their actual savings amount is at least 500,000 taels of silver. The actual savings amount is likely to be as high as 700,000 taels of silver…”

Although Ye Mingsheng always pays attention to evidence, seeing Huo San, who is always cautious, now looks very sure, Ye Mingsheng has some basic trust in his words. After pondering for a while, he continued to ask:
"Huo Sanyi now believes that Daxinchang Bank has hidden a portion of its deposits, right? If so, what do you think they did with the hidden deposits?"

Huo San nodded heavily upon hearing this and said:
"It is like this. According to the rules you set, the money deposited by depositors in Daxinchang Bank has two uses. The first is to provide low-interest loans to farmers so that they can buy agricultural materials. The second is to purchase bonds issued by Youyan Provincial Government to promote infrastructure construction in Youyan area."

"But now the account books published by Daxinchang Bank show that of the 390,000 taels of silver in their account, 50,000 taels were used to make low-interest loans to farmers, and 310,000 taels were used to buy bonds. Now they only have 30,000 taels of silver in their warehouse!"

"I think the published account book is a fake one. Daxinchang did not enter a considerable portion of the depositors' money into this account book. They have another account book!"

“They secretly transferred hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to other places and used the silver to do other businesses. The most important of these businesses was probably lending money, providing usury to merchants who were short of silver for turnover…”

(End of this chapter)