Half a month later, the study room of the Governor's Mansion

Ye Mingsheng was busy writing and giving instructions on the water conservancy project in Youyan, when he heard Ye Cheng's knock on the door...

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Ye Mingsheng, who continued to give instructions, said without thinking too much:

"come in!"

Under Ye Mingsheng's order, Ye Cheng came to Ye Mingsheng holding a stack of memorials and said:

"Your Excellency, the investigation results regarding the persons involved in the Zhao Sheng case have been sent over!"

Ye Mingsheng suddenly became interested when he heard this. He took the memorial from Ye Cheng and started to read it. A few seconds later, a faint smile appeared on Ye Mingsheng's face and he said:

"Fifteen years in prison? This Zhang Chengzhong is quite interesting!"

Ye Cheng heard this and echoed:

"The result of Inspector Zhang's treatment of Gu Shoude this time was really unexpected. He was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. This really did not give him any face as a teacher!"

Ye Mingsheng waved his hand and said with a smile:

"Zhang Chengzhong would never have dared to do this without Gu Zhongshi's instruction! This old guy Gu Zhongshi is really ruthless, he would even give up his eldest son, even if he said he didn't want it, he would let him go! It really makes me look at him with admiration.

ah!"

Handing Gu Shoude over to the Prosecutor's Office was a conspiracy set up by Ye Mingsheng, who wanted to test how important family ties were in Gu Zhongshi's eyes!

Now I come to see that Gu Zhongshi is indeed a veteran bureaucrat, but he is really cold-blooded and ruthless!

The answer given by Gu Zhongshi surprised Ye Mingsheng. However, Gu Zhongshi thought that he could protect himself and prevent himself from taking back power. He was too naive. After pondering for a while, Ye Mingsheng explained:

"Promote Zhang Chengzhong to the rank of inspector and ask him to go to Yuyang to further investigate Zhao Sheng's underground illegal property..."

After hearing Ye Mingsheng's instructions, Ye Cheng's eyes flashed with surprise, and he spoke cautiously:

"Sir, this Zhang Chengzhong is a student of Gu Zhongshi, a famous Gu Party member in the government!"

Ye Mingsheng said meaningfully after hearing this:

"I use him as a party-goer!"

Although he didn’t understand the deep meaning of Ye Mingsheng’s move, under Ye Mingsheng’s order, Ye Cheng still nodded and said:

"I understand, sir, I'll do it right away!"

"When will Zhang Juning come?" Ye Mingsheng asked again:

Ye Cheng said directly:

"The appointment with Mr. Zhang was to meet at a later date. Mr. Zhang came half an hour early and is waiting outside now!"

After looking at the official document that he was about to approve, Ye Mingsheng nodded and said:

"Let him in!"

"yes!"

After a cup of tea, the Financial Secretary Zhang Juning, the God of Wealth of the Military Army, came to Ye Mingsheng. After seeing the ceremony, Ye Mingsheng asked directly:

"What is our current financial situation?"

Zhang Juning calmly raised his hands and replied:

"Commander Qi, we currently have 398,630 taels of silver, 100,300 kilograms of salt, 50,000 kilos of cloth, and other miscellaneous materials in our warehouse, which is equivalent to eleven

About 16,000 taels of silver! As for food, because the whole period of disaster relief and General Lin's attack on Jinzhong consumed a lot of food, there are only about 153,000 taels left in the warehouse...

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"But there is still one month left for the autumn harvest. According to the Chief Secretary's estimate, we can probably receive about 300,000 dan of grain. This basically guarantees that our granary can support us even if we encounter any emergencies.

There will not be large-scale food shortages or starvation to death within the territory of Fengwu Army!" At this point, Zhang Juning's fat face could not help but show a proud look.

Youyan is adjacent to Qilu and Hebei and Henan, so the natural disasters encountered in these two places will naturally affect Youyan, causing a considerable negative impact on Youyan's grain output. However, due to the stable situation, the intensity of tax reductions has been increased.

The enthusiasm of farmers, as well as the large-scale promotion of fertilizers, agricultural equipment and livestock, these favorable factors not only offset the negative impact, but also made Youyan's grain output reach a higher level.

Listening to Zhang Juning's answer, Ye Mingsheng felt a lot more at ease. In today's troubled times, Ye Mingsheng is not afraid of anyone, but he is only afraid of not having food. Now that he has food in his hand, he doesn't panic!

"How's the autumn tax going?" Ye Mingsheng asked again:

According to the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, taxes should be paid to the national treasury in units of years. However, because Ye Mingsheng frequently launches wars with foreign countries, if the unit of time continues to be based on years, there will not be enough money to support foreign wars in a short period of time, so Ye Mingsheng

So the rules were changed to allow all places within the Fengwu Army to transport silver to Yijing on a quarterly basis.

Under Ye Mingsheng's gaze, Zhang Juning said calmly:

"Let me tell you, Commander-in-Chief, in about ten days the autumn tax money from various places will be sent to Yijing one after another. According to the Chief Secretary's estimate, we can receive about 350,000 taels of silver this time."

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After getting the answer, Ye Mingsheng fell into thinking. The number given by Zhang Juning was about 10% more than his own prediction. In less than a year, it was very gratifying to achieve such results. It was enough to show that

All colleagues in the Fengwu Army work together as one.

But this also made Ye Mingsheng’s mind become active!

After thinking for a while, Ye Mingsheng first encouraged Zhang Juning's work achievements and asked him to strictly control the financial affairs of the Fengwu Army, continue to optimize the financial structure, and reduce non-essential expenditures. He mainly asked him to cooperate with the Chief Secretary to ensure good food, salt and

When it comes to stabilizing the prices of basic daily necessities, there must be no sharp rises or drops.

As an old man who has followed Ye Mingsheng for many years, Zhang Juning blinked his eyes and seemed to realize something when he heard Ye Mingsheng's request and asked Ye Mingsheng tentatively:

"Sir, are our troops going to war again?"

In response to Zhang Juning's inquiry, Ye Mingsheng didn't say anything but looked at him calmly. Although Ye Mingsheng's eyes made his heart skip a beat, Zhang Juning still mustered up the courage to say:

"Sir, although we have accumulated some wealth during this period, our wealth is still too thin. Winter is coming soon. If there is a big natural disaster, it will be easily consumed!"

"If we send troops rashly at this time, if we can't win the battle quickly and have no money and food, our army will easily fall into trouble. By then, there will be some natural disasters in the rear. I'm afraid... if

If you can wait, it won’t take more than half a year. I guarantee that I can double our army’s food and money!”

Feeling Zhang Juning's worry, Ye Mingsheng calmly ordered:

"I will consider your ideas carefully and do your job well!"

Zhang Juning wanted to say something else, but under Ye Mingsheng's gaze, he could only close his mouth and bow and leave.

Looking at Zhang Juning's leaving figure, Ye Mingsheng slowly closed his eyes, leaned on the back of his chair and kept studying in his mind. What Zhang Juning just said was his previous thought, to accumulate food and slowly become king and make a living for the people, and rest for more than a year.

time, completely complete the reform of Youyan, and then swallow up the Central Plains in one go.

However, the current external environment not only makes Ye Mingsheng feel a sense of urgency, but also allows Ye Mingsheng to see opportunities!

Although the Coordination Office's sphere of influence has not yet expanded to the southern provinces and has obtained core information within the Southern Inspection Court, Ye Mingsheng was able to clearly realize through the actions of the Murong family and other noble families who betrayed the Southern Inspection Court.

The imperial court is already in danger. In a matter of months or a year, Shangguan Hongyuan will take over Rongcheng and completely control the little emperor and Sichuan.

Don't look at the Luo'an court now led by Shangguan Hongyuan. They are extremely restrained and have strong strategic determination. Even if they sent troops to capture Jinzhong, they did not even give a shit and always maintained their position.

He tried his best to be patient, but Ye Mingsheng knew very well that this was just a temporary move by Shangguan Hongyuan to avoid a war between the two fronts...

As long as Shangguan Hongyuan, who is determined to unify the north in Rongcheng, is captured, the Fengwu Army will be regarded as a thorn in his side. It is only a matter of time before he invades on a large scale!

So from a time point of view, the Fengwu Army has no advantage. Ye Mingsheng was originally from the Forbidden Army. He knew very well how powerful the Zhou Forbidden Army under Shangguan Hongyuan was. Even though the Fengwu Army now had the advantage in firearms, he wanted to be in front of them.

Defeating the Imperial Guard on the battlefield is a very difficult task.

Ten thousand steps back, even if they win, the Fengwu Army will surely suffer huge losses, and the war will most likely develop into a tug-of-war, a war of attrition!

Even if Liaoyang and Youyan have completed their reforms by then, and these two border provinces are used against Shangguan Hongyuan's Guanzhong, Yunbin, Sichuan and Shu, Ye Mingsheng does not think that the advantage will be here.

What's more, Shangguan Hongyuan also has the little emperor as his killer weapon. Although the Zhou Dynasty is declining these days, if Shangguan Hongyuan declares himself and the Fengwu Army as traitors in the name of the little emperor, it will not actually have much impact on his side.

, but it was a big blow to morale and reputation.

Although Ye Mingsheng felt pressured by Shangguan Hongyuan's eager gaze, he also saw opportunities in the Central Plains as he aspired to go south!

Ever since a large-scale peasant uprising broke out in the Central Plains, Ye Mingsheng has been very concerned about the direction of events in the Central Plains. He asked the Coordination Office to collect more information, and then asked the General Staff to combine this information to conduct a deeper analysis of the Henan Army's combat effectiveness.

Analysis and research·················

Although these peasant uprisings did not completely overthrow Gao Zongchang's rule, they were wiped out by the Henan Army in less than three months. They did not bring more surprises to Ye Mingsheng, but they also allowed Ye Mingsheng to detect the Henan Army.

The situation of being strong on the outside but weak on the inside can't help but make Ye Mingsheng feel a little anxious in his heart, and the improvement of the financial situation now gives Ye Mingsheng the confidence to take action.

What makes Ye Mingsheng most interested is that the Coordination Office has detected Zhu Sanshan who is entrenched in the Yingcheng area. He has annihilated tens of thousands of Henan troops through the battle in Dayashan and has successfully attracted Gao Zongchang's attention.

For his own defense, Gao Zongchang did not mobilize the 40,000 Henan troops on the front line in Yecheng, but he had ordered his eldest son Gao Dingshan to lead half of the Henan troops to Daya Mountain to annihilate Zhu Sanshan.

And this has resulted in the fact that Jiyu now has a situation where heavy troops are gathered from the north and the south, and the hinterland is empty. As long as the Fengwu Army can quickly capture Yecheng, they can drive straight in and directly kill Yujing City. According to the command and control office,

According to the report, after most of the soldiers and horses were transferred to Gaoding Mountain to suppress the bandits, there are now only more than 10,000 people in Yujing City. As long as the Fengwu Army moves quickly enough, they may be able to directly destroy Yujing, the political and economic center of Hebei Province, in one go.

Take it down from Beijing.

As a prince, Gao Zongchang, who occupied the Central Plains with the same brutal conquests, was far less stable than Zhao Fuqu. After all, Zhao Fuqu still had a banner to fight against the foreigners.

Under the rule of this Tiger of Northern Xinjiang, the Luobi people did not dare to invade the border easily and protected the security of the Zhou border. This made the people of Youyan, who had suffered from foreign invasion, have some respect for Zhao Fuqu in their hearts.

, even some people are so loyal to Zhao Fuqu that they would not hesitate to sacrifice their lives for it...

The reputation of Gao Zongchang and his Gao family was very poor in Hebei and Henan. When people talked about the fat Gao Zongchang, they wanted to break his bones and spread his ashes, eat his flesh and sleep on his skin, just to vent their hatred.

Therefore, as long as Yujing is captured and Gao Zongchang is killed, the Gao family's basic position in Hebei and Henan will collapse, and there will not be a situation like when Zhao Fuqu occupied the southern part of Youyan and faced off against Ye Mingsheng.

Of course, capturing Yujing in one go is the best situation. Assuming that the development does not go so smoothly, as long as they can capture Yecheng and besiege Yujing before Gaodingshan returns for reinforcements, the Fengwu army can be annihilated under the city of Yujing while waiting for work.

If Gaodingshan's troops are defeated, Yujing will still be unable to defend it.

Realizing this, Ye Mingsheng's heart was filled with excitement, and he had the urge to put these things into practice immediately. However, Ye Mingsheng soon calmed down again, and after thinking about it carefully again, Ye Mingsheng knocked on the table, and next

Ye Cheng, who was outside the second door, walked in and bowed to Ye Mingsheng and asked:

"Sir, what are your orders?"

"Go there in person and ask He Jingyun and Gu Sansi to put down what they are doing and come here!" Ye Mingsheng ordered in a deep voice:

Although he already had his own ideas, Ye Mingsheng still needed the help of his important ministers to brainstorm and come up with a better way.

Although he didn't know what Ye Mingsheng wanted to do, after hearing the meaning of Ye Mingsheng's words, Ye Cheng also realized the importance of the matter, and immediately nodded in his heart and said:
Chapter completed!