Chapter 890 Murong Family Letter!

In the evening in Luoan, accompanied by lightning and thunder, a rainstorm was pouring down from the sky·······················
At this time in the study of Murong Mansion, Murong Lun, the Minister of Personnel of the Great Zhou Dynasty, was looking at the heavy rain outside the window without saying a word.

Murong Lun's mood is as bad as the weather. Just now at the court meeting, Minister of Works Zheng Rong publicly proposed the idea that external forces would be needed to defeat the Fengwu Army!

Unlike the last time when he only dared to privately propose the idea that external forces were needed to defeat the Fengwu Army in a small circle, this time Zheng Rong openly proposed this idea in the court, which was undoubtedly bolder and more blatant!
Although Zheng Rong's idea was opposed by a number of ministers who understood his subtext, what surprised Murong Lun was that there were still quite a number of people in the court who remained silent and did not express their opinions. Among them was Shangguan Changgong, the actual controller of the Luoan court!
For Shangguan Changgong, remaining silent on this issue and not expressing clear opposition can already be regarded as an ambiguous attitude!

The reason why Shangguan Changgong, who was willing to clearly reject external intervention more than a month ago, is now so ambiguous about external intervention is because of this.

During the past period of time, although the Fengwu Army has not yet captured Pingyang, they have been advancing forward. Several strategic locations outside Pingyang have been captured, and the imperial army has suffered tens of thousands of casualties. Some of the dignitaries in Luoan have begun to prepare for a rainy day and quietly transferred their family members and money to Sichuan, casting a dark cloud over the prospects of the entire Luoan court...
Honestly speaking, in the current situation, although Murong Lun can understand the pressure Shangguan Changgong is facing, he still can't help feeling sad. In his opinion, using external forces might be able to temporarily defeat the Fengwu Army and allow the Luoan court to catch its breath.

But in the long run, this is tantamount to drinking poison to quench thirst and bringing about one's own destruction!

On the military level, although the Imperial Guards have always wanted to learn how to use firearms more from the Fengwu Army, they are far behind the Fengwu Army in terms of production capacity and technology. This also leads to the Imperial Guards being suppressed by the firepower of the Fengwu Army and always finding it difficult to win.

Although from the current perspective, the Luoan court is the weaker party in terms of military and is suppressed by the Fengwu Army, but in Murong Lun's eyes, as long as the court can be united, the Fengwu Army is not invincible, and the Imperial Guards have a chance to defeat the Fengwu Army!

However, if external forces were used, it would inevitably lead to the collapse of the banner of orthodoxy and righteousness held high by the Luoan court in political opinion. The loss of the reputation of orthodoxy and righteousness would inevitably further intensify the division within the Luoan court.

The Luoan imperial court, which is already at a disadvantage militarily, will only be able to survive if it becomes even more internally divided, and it won't be long before it will be wiped out by the Fengwu Army, even if it can temporarily resist the Fengwu Army!

Murong Lun couldn't help but sighed when he thought of this. Although he was very resistant to Zheng Rong's idea of ​​external intervention, as a civil official he didn't have any good solution for the current situation in the court...
The petitions from the imperial guards in Pingyang requesting food, wages, and ammunition had already piled up on the cabinet's desk. Although these cabinet elders tried their best to find food, money, and other things needed for the front line, unfortunately, the needs of the front line could not be met, and the gap between demand and supply was even getting bigger.

At the same time, Sichuan, which had been exploited by the Luoan court, was almost at its limit. Some peasant uprisings had already occurred in Sichuan. Although they were quickly suppressed by local officials and soldiers, Murong Lun knew that as long as they continued to suppress Sichuan, the peasant uprisings would become more and more numerous and more and more troublesome until they could no longer suppress them!
The current Luoan court has fallen into a vicious circle. If it introduces the external force of the Cumans for the sake of the current war and continues to exploit the resources of Sichuan and Shu, it would be chronic suicide. But if it does not continue to support the war, it would be tantamount to giving up treatment. Wei and Guan cannot stop the Fengwu Army, and the only thing waiting for the court is destruction.

Whenever Murong Lun thought of this, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart, is the Luoan court really going to end?

Is the Great Zhou Dynasty really going to fall into the hands of Ye Mingsheng?

Just when Murong Lun was feeling increasingly depressed, there was a knock on the door of the study room...
"Who?" Murong Lun asked impatiently:
In response to Murong Lun's question, a respectful voice came from outside the door.

"My name is Ah Fu. The descendant of my fifth uncle's family just sent me a letter. Do you want to take a look?"

Listening to the words of the housekeeper Murong Fu, Murong Lun's eyes flashed with a gleam of light, and then he ordered in a deep voice:
"Bring the letter in!"

As soon as Murong Lun finished speaking, the butler Murong Fu pushed the door open, handed a letter to Murong Lun, and then left the study, leaving Murong Lun with a quiet and private environment to read the letter.

Murong Lun did not open the letter immediately after receiving it, but examined it carefully.

Under the pressure of Shangguan Hongyuan, Murong Lun expelled his second brother Murong Yuliang and his family, who had defected to the Fengwu Army, as well as his own son Murong Hui and others from the family. From then on, the family broke off all ties and became enemies, and no longer had any contact with each other!

And this was just a superficial act. The two brothers Murong Lun and Murong Yuliang had been in secret contact all the time. Recently, the inspection by the Supervisory Office had become more and more strict, and spies from the Supervisory Office had been planted in the Murong Mansion. So in order to contact his second brother Murong Yuliang more covertly, Murong Lun called the letter from his second brother Murong Yuliang a letter from the descendants of his fifth uncle's family...

After checking some marks on the envelope and confirming that the letter was indeed from his second brother Murong Yuliang and had not been opened by anyone, Murong Lun opened the envelope with satisfaction, took out the letter inside and began to read.

After a cup of tea, Murong Lun put the letter on the desk, looked at the heavy rain outside the window again, and began to think secretly in his heart.

In the first part of the letter, Murong Yuliang introduced him to some of his family's situations, saying that their family and Murong Hui were all doing well and that they were highly valued in the Fengwu Army. He asked his elder brother Murong Lun not to worry too much about them and to take care of his health.

In the second part of the letter, Murong Yuliang also told Murong Lun that the situation within the Fengwu Army was also very difficult. The Dadongsheng Company had already owed a total of 4 million taels of silver. However, Ye Mingsheng was determined to fight this war. The Fengwu Army, this huge war machine, was already operating at full capacity under Ye Mingsheng's will.

In addition, Murong Yuliang also revealed a piece of news that concerned Murong Lun. Gu Zhongshi, Gu Shouting and 137 other prisoners from the Gu family have been convicted by Ye Mingsheng and will be executed on April 15th. The rest of the Gu family members will be exiled to Liaoyang.

At the end of the letter, Murong Yuliang believed that the Great Zhou was doomed to perish, and Ye Mingsheng would be the new ruler of the country, so he advised his elder brother not to actively resist in the Luoan court, so as not to anger Ye Mingsheng and suffer misfortune after the war. If he did not do anything in Jiyu now, he might have the opportunity to succeed Cui Shao and become the central envoy of the Fengwu Army in the future...
Murong Lun was still deeply touched by the letter from his second brother. Although he disliked Ye Mingsheng very much, he had to admit that Ye Mingsheng was a hero and had great control over the Fengwu Army. Some things that took them a long time to argue about could be solved with just a word from Ye Mingsheng.

What is most commendable is that despite having the advantage on the battlefield at this time, Ye Mingsheng was not blinded by victory and still maintained his rationality.

The Gu family's affairs had long been spread to Luoan. Because everyone belonged to the same aristocratic family, many people in Luoan were paying attention to how Ye Mingsheng would deal with the Gu family. In their opinion, the Gu family's affairs were neither big nor small. To put it in a big way, the Gu family took advantage of the loopholes in Ye Mingsheng's policies.

While sacrificing the interests of the common people, he tried to form cliques and win over his followers in official circles for the sake of his own economic benefits and capital. This can be classified as forming a clique for personal gain. According to the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, it would not be excessive to sentence one Yi to three clans.

However, if we put it simply, the Gu family's incident was just a case of embezzlement of some money, and the demotion of Gu Zhongshi, the head of the Gu family, was enough to get away with it.

There is a very optimistic voice among the aristocratic families. They believe that the Fengwu Army is fighting fiercely with the Luoan court, so they dare not offend the aristocratic families. Therefore, they will not dare to do anything to the Gu family. In all likelihood, they will give the Gu family a light punishment and a severe warning, and then let the matter go...

Regarding this voice, Murong Lun felt that the other party completely overestimated his own ability and underestimated Ye Mingsheng's determination!
From what Ye Mingsheng did, Murong Lun felt that Ye Mingsheng was determined to restore order in the world, so Ye Mingsheng needed to use the Gu family as a sacrifice to declare his ambition and his will to hundreds of millions of people in the world!

As for the reason why Ye Mingsheng had not given the order for a long time, Murong Lun believed that he was waiting for news from the Yunbing battlefield. Now that the Fengwu Army has captured Jinyang and completely seized the initiative on the battlefield, Ye Mingsheng is about to announce how he will deal with the Gu family!
Although it was not surprising that Ye Mingsheng announced the way to deal with the Gu family at this time, Murong Lun was still a little surprised that Ye Mingsheng only killed 137 criminals from the Gu family and spared most of the Gu family members.

He felt that this might be related to the internal situation of the Fengwu Army, but it showed that Ye Mingsheng was not yet so arrogant as to completely stand in opposition to all the aristocratic families.

Thinking of this, Murong Lun couldn't help but fall into deep thought. He had been a minister of Zhou for most of his life, and it must be said that he still had a lot of feelings and a sense of belonging to the Great Zhou.

If possible, he still wanted to do his best to keep the ship of Da Zhou sailing, but unfortunately given the current situation, he might have to carefully consider the advice of his second brother...

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Golden Horde, Huihecheng
As the most important trade port between the Great Zhou and the Golden Horde, countless merchants from the two countries were negotiating business in Huihe City, and the atmosphere was very lively.

The Kipchak merchants sold sheepskins, carpets, blankets, and some Kipchak-style gold and silver utensils, horses,

The merchants of the Great Zhou sold tea, cloth, silk, ceramics, and some daily groceries.

In the Alpi Trading Company west of Huihe City, a somewhat frail merchant from the Great Zhou Dynasty walked in. Upon seeing this, the young Cuman clerk immediately came up to him and asked in the not-so-fluent Great Zhou dialect:

"Sir, what would you like to buy? We at Alpi have the best leather, carpets, and blankets in Huihe City!"

Liu Wenzhe, a merchant from the Great Zhou Dynasty, looked around the store and saw the samples on display. He nodded slightly and said,

"Your leather is pretty good, but it's a pity that it's all sheepskin!"

After he finished speaking, Liu Wenzhe showed a look of regret. Hearing Liu Wenzhe's words, the young Cuman boy couldn't help but secretly look at Liu Wenzhe's dress.

Seeing that Liu Wenzhe was dressed decently and looked like a wealthy customer, the waiter couldn't help but ask:
"I wonder what kind of leather you would like to buy, sir?"

Liu Wenzhe said without hesitation:
"Fox fur and mink fur. I want the best quality!"

After receiving this answer, the young man couldn't help but feel warm in his heart and continued:
"Sir, this good fox and mink fur is not cheap..."

Hearing this, Liu Wenzhe laughed, took out three gold bars from his arms and placed them on the table, and said generously and confidently:
"We have plenty of silver and gold bars, just give me your best leather!"

The waiter, looking at the gold bars on the counter, immediately realized that a big customer had come today. He smiled even more attentively and greeted him quickly:

"Sir, please wait a moment. I will go and ask our shopkeeper to come out!"

When Liu Wenzhe heard the waiter wanted to ask the shopkeeper to come out, a strange look flashed in the depths of his eyes, but he still smiled and nodded.

A moment later, a middle-aged Kipchak with luxurious clothes and a big beard came out. He was smiling at first, but when he saw Liu Wenzhe's face, the smile on his face froze instantly. At this time, Liu Wenzhe said with a fake smile:

"You are the shopkeeper Alpi, right? I have a big business to discuss with you. Let's go inside and have a good talk..."

(I have laid the groundwork for these few chapters. I will speed up the progress below. What do you think?)

(End of this chapter)