Chapter 885 Don’t use people you don’t trust!

After finishing the meal brought by Bai Yuanyuan, Ye Mingsheng saw that it was still early and planned to find a bed to take a nap, but he didn't expect Ye Cheng to come over and say:
"Sir, Director Huo came to report that there is a result on Madam Pei's matter..."

Upon hearing the news, Ye Mingsheng narrowed his eyes and nodded slightly. Seeing this, Ye Cheng immediately brought Huo San to Ye Mingsheng.

"I, Huo San, greet you, sir!" When Huo San arrived in front of Ye Mingsheng, he immediately bowed to greet him.

Ye Mingsheng waved his hand and asked:
"What did you find out?"

Facing Ye Mingsheng's question, Huo San bowed and said:
"On March 9th, Gu An went to Changshan Medical Clinic to ask Madam Pei to plead for the Gu family!"

Hearing Gu Anshi's name, Ye Mingsheng frowned slightly and asked in confusion:

"Who is this Gu Anshi?"

Huo San patiently explained:
"Your Excellency, this person is the legal wife of General Gu Shouting of the Fifth Division, and the eldest lady's cousin, An Huihui!"

Upon hearing about Gu An's identity, Ye Mingsheng remained expressionless, but a doubt arose in his mind.

Could this matter have anything to do with An Miaoyi?
Because of the warning some time ago, An Miaoyi has been very honest and abided by her duties as a wife during this period, and has not done anything out of the ordinary...
Are you unwilling to be lonely again and want to do something secretly?

Although he had such thoughts, Ye Mingsheng remained expressionless on the surface and motioned Huo San to continue the introduction.

Huo San continued:

"This Gu An was also very scheming. In order to gain Madam Pei's sympathy, she did not go to see Madam Pei alone, but brought her and Gu Shouting's two children with her. The three of them cried bitterly in front of Madam Pei, and said that if Madam Pei did not save them, their whole family would have no way out!"

"Seeing how happy they were, Madam Pei's maid Xiaohuan chased them out. Afterwards, the head of the personal guard battalion stationed at Changshan Medical Clinic wanted to report the incident, but was stopped by Madam Pei!"

"According to Madam Pei's maid Xiaohuan, Madam Pei had just found out she was pregnant, and then she encountered this incident. Madam Pei seemed to be quite traumatized and thought it was God's will!"

After listening to Huo San's story, Ye Mingsheng said in a deep voice:
"I ordered the Imperial Guard to seal off the entire Gu Mansion. How did this Gu An escape?"

Huo San continued to explain:
“Gu Anshi and the child changed into coarse linen clothes and lied that they and the child were unimportant servants of the Gu Mansion. They spent thirty taels of silver to bribe a member of the Royal Guard Battalion and were sneaking out…”

"After leaving Changshan Medical Clinic, Gu Anshi and her two children never returned to the Gu Mansion. Our Coordination Office has currently found out that Gu Anshi and her two children have left Yijing and headed south. Our Coordination Office is continuing its investigation!"

Ye Mingsheng was obviously not very satisfied with this answer, but he also knew that the Coordination Office had tried its best, so he did not say anything more and continued to ask:
"How is Gu Shouting doing at Sanshan Cottage?"

Huo San said without hesitation:
"At first, Gu Shouting cried out for injustice in Sanshan Cottage. Later, when he found out that his crime was discovered, he just threw in the towel and accused you of not trusting him and banishing him to Ji and Yu, leaving him with a talent that was not appreciated and unable to realize his ambitions!"

"But after we gave him the evidence of his contact with the Luoan court, he no longer dared to quibble. His only request now is that you, sir, grant him death and do not implicate his family!"

Listening to Huo San's explanation, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but reveal a bit of contempt in his eyes. This Gu Shouting really won't cry until he sees the coffin!
He knew very well that Gu Shouting was a rare military talent and very capable!
However, after the Fengwu Army entered Youyan, the General Coordination Office had investigated clearly. Zhao Fuqu did not say that Gu Shouting had connections with the Luoan court for no reason and arrested him and tortured him severely...

This guy was indeed flirting with the Luoan court, and even once planned to overthrow Zhao Fuqu's regime in Youyan.

Later, after Zhao Fuqu was forced to release Gu Shouting due to the situation, he still kept in touch with the Supervisory Office and did not give up on the Luoan court and always wanted to welcome the royal teacher.

However, he became disheartened when he saw that the Luoan court focused its strategic focus on attacking the southern tour of Sichuan and Shu, and had no intention of marching east to Youyan to attack Zhao Fuqu. It happened that at that time he realized the possibility of the Fengwu Army entering the pass, so he defected to the Fengwu Army.

After joining the Fengwu Army, Gu Shouting had no contact with the Luoan court anymore and had always been law-abiding. This was why Ye Mingsheng kept him until now. If he still had any connection with the Luoan court, Ye Mingsheng would have chopped off his head long ago.

However, Ye Mingsheng's principle of employing people has always been to trust them and not employ people if you don't trust them. Moreover, the Yunbing Battle was related to the future and fate of the Fengwu Army, so Ye Mingsheng naturally did not dare to be careless. Although Gu Shouting had cut off ties with the Luoan court, it is better to be safe than sorry!
Gu Shouting is the general of the Fifth Division and a senior commander of the Fengwu Army. If he were to defect on the battlefield, it would undoubtedly be a huge blow to the Fengwu Army, and even the entire battle situation might collapse!
Therefore, Ye Mingsheng could not take this risk. Therefore, Ye Mingsheng always ignored Gu Shouting’s application for battle and let Gu Shouting and the Fifth Division stay in Yujing···································
Originally, Ye Mingsheng transferred Gu Shouting back to Yijing and placed him under house arrest this time not only because his family was implicated, but also as a preventive measure by Ye Mingsheng.

Ye Mingsheng was not planning to kill him, but what Ye Mingsheng did not expect was that this guy had woven a huge profit network in Yujing, engaging in illegal activities such as occupying land, reselling contraband, and becoming a protective umbrella for black industries.

If Wang Xuecheng had not presented all the witnesses and evidence to him, Ye Mingsheng would not have dared to believe that Gu Shouting would do such a thing!
This made Ye Mingsheng very disappointed. He was a man who loved talents, and he admired Gu Shouting's talents and abilities very much. Although he was not going to let him deal with the Luoan court, Ye Mingsheng planned to use Gu Shouting and give him ample room to play when he went south to attack the south!

But now it seems that Gu Shouting is not up to the task and has failed to live up to his expectations!

Taking his thoughts away from Gu Shouting, Ye Mingsheng looked deeply at Huo San who was bending in front of him.

Huo San is a little smart. He knows that he has a special identity. His only choice is to be loyal to Ye Mingsheng alone and listen to Ye Mingsheng alone.

But Huo San is a very "far-sighted" person, so he is very willing to listen to An Miaoyi, and he will solve some things that are not in favor of An Miaoyi as appropriate... Although the two of them did not dare to contact each other after his previous warning, if An Miaoyi was really behind Gu An's escape, Huo San should have covered up for An Miaoyi. Now that Huo San has told it all, it means that An Miaoyi is most likely to have nothing to do with this matter.

While Ye Mingsheng was thinking, Huo San seemed to have thought of something. He hesitated for a moment, raised his head and said to Ye Mingsheng:
"Your Excellency, Kobayakawa Takahide of Miyato reports that someone is investigating the Black Dragon Society and seems to be very interested in... Akiyama Morie!"

Upon hearing this news, Ye Mingsheng's expression darkened and he said calmly:

"Did Kobayakawa Takahide tell you where the people investigating the Black Dragon Society came from?"

Although Ye Mingsheng's voice was still very calm, Huo San, who was familiar with Ye Mingsheng's character, answered tremblingly at this moment:
"Kobayakawa Takahide said she hasn't investigated it clearly yet, but I think she meant the inside of our army!"

Looking at Huo San, Ye Mingsheng said calmly:
"Check properly!"

"Yes!"

After waving his hand to let Huo San leave, Ye Mingsheng was silent for a long time. Then he took out a written warrant from the drawer of the desk. After a moment of silence, he put the warrant back into the drawer.

The time is not yet ripe, he cannot act too hastily, he needs to wait patiently for a while!
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Yunbing, Huangfengling outside Pingyang

Dozens of Fengwu Army red cannons were roaring, and shells were smashed into the Imperial Army camp on Huangfeng Ridge one by one. For a moment, dust flew all over Huangfeng Ridge, and the whole earth seemed to be shaking.

Faced with the artillery attack of the Fengwu Army, the imperial guards on Huangfeng Ridge also wanted to retaliate with artillery fire, but unfortunately the Fengwu Army had more artillery pieces than them, and they were more accurate and had a longer range.

Therefore, after the Imperial Guards on Huangfeng Ridge and the Fengwu Army exchanged fire for a while, they found that their artillery fire was decreasing, so they turned off their fire and dared not to exchange fire with the Fengwu Army anymore. They allowed the Fengwu Army to bombard them with artillery fire without showing their heads to fight back.
After firing 300 artillery shells and smashing the imperial army camp on Huangfeng Ridge to pieces, Yuan Song, who was observing the situation with a telescope on the watchtower, allowed the soldiers to launch a charge.

Following Yuan Song's order, the two battalions of the Eighth Division, totaling 7,000 soldiers, shouted slogans and launched a charge towards the enemy camp on Huangfeng Ridge.

Faced with the charge of the Fengwu Army, the originally silent imperial guards on Huangfeng Ridge also took action at this moment. They used bows and arrows, crossbows, muskets, tiger squat cannons, artillery and a series of other weapons to stop the charge of the Fengwu Army.

However, the well-trained soldiers of the Eighth Division still fought to the edge of the camp and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy despite the enemy’s attack. For a moment, the entire Huangfeng Ridge turned into a Shura hell, with blood, corpses, broken arms and limbs everywhere, and shouts and wailing were endless...

In the observation tower behind, Yuan Song put down the telescope in his hand and asked Xun Ke beside him:
"Commander Xun, how long do you think the enemy troops on Huangfeng Ridge can hold out?"

Listening to Yuan Song's words, Xun Ke looked at the battle on Huangfeng Ridge, his expression a little dazed, recalling the scene a month ago when he led the cavalry of the Third Army to attack Huangfeng Ridge hard, trying to open a road to rescue Pingyang City.

However, Xun Ke's thoughts quickly returned to the present, and he said to Yuan Song, "
"The imperial guards on Huangfeng Ridge are only about 5,000 people. With the current strength of our army's attack, they can only hold out for two days at most!"

Yuan Song didn't say anything after hearing this, but turned his gaze back to the battlefield and asked again:
"Commander Xun, do you think our army should maintain the current intensity of the attack?"

Facing Yuan Song's question, Xun Ke thought for a moment and said:
"According to the current situation, the enemy troops in Lanjiapo and Helong Town are still not making any moves. It seems that Yang Chongqing is going to give up Huangfengling and is not going to send any soldiers over!"

Yuan Song nodded slightly when he heard this, and said with some emotion:

"After we capture Huangfeng Ridge, we can attack Eryang Mountain. I thought Yang Chongqing would not give up Huangfeng Ridge so easily. At least he would let the imperial guards from Lanjiapo and Helong Town to contain our army from the flank and disperse our forces so that we cannot attack Huangfeng Ridge with all our strength. But Yang Chongqing's idea is still so unexpected!"

At this point Yuan Song shook his head, then called the messenger and ordered:

“Let the Second Division join the battle. We must capture Huangfeng Ridge before dark today…”

Listening to Yuan Song's order, Xun Ke, the deputy commander-in-chief, seemed to realize something and asked:
"Master Yuan, are you planning to attack Lanjiapo and Helong Town next?"

Upon hearing this, Yuan Song nodded and said seriously:
"Eryang Mountain is close at hand, but it is a vital place for guarding Pingyang, and Yang Chongqing is personally stationed at Eryang Mountain!"

"It will be very difficult to capture Eryang Mountain, so instead of attacking Eryang Mountain directly, it is better to wipe out a few enemy strongholds outside Pingyang City first!"

At this point, Yuan Song looked at Xun Ke seriously, hesitated for a moment but still said:

"Commander Xun, I have a mission for your Third Division!"

Xun Ke was immediately shocked when he heard Yuan Song's words. He looked at Yuan Song expectantly. Under his gaze, Yuan Song pointed at the sand table and said;

“After we capture Huangfeng Ridge, our army’s road to Pingyang City and Eryang Mountain will be completely opened. I would like to ask the brothers of the Third Division to go deep into the enemy’s hinterland and make a feint at the foot of Pingyang City. This will not only contain the enemy, but also test the enemy’s movements…”

(End of this chapter)