April 27, Yijing
At one quarter in the morning, a carriage slowly stopped in front of a mansion in the east of the city. As the carriage stopped, Jiang Yuyan, who was wearing a white gauze and dressed conservatively, slowly stepped out of the carriage with the help of the maid Qiaoer... ····················
Seeing Jiang Yuyan's appearance, Zhao Quan, the housekeeper of the White House who had been preparing for a long time, immediately came over with a smile and said:
"Mrs. Wang, our master has been waiting for a long time. Please come to the house!"
Seeing the main door open, Jiang Yuyan nodded with satisfaction, and then entered the Baifu under the guidance of Zhao Quan. When Jiang Yuyan entered the main hall, she saw Bai Wanhao with white hair waiting for her.
Because the two of them had met before due to some business matters, they were not strangers to each other. After a few words of greeting, they sat down separately.
"Mr. Bai, it's really abrupt to come and disturb me this time. I didn't have time to make any preparations. I can only bring a piece of old wild ginseng. Please accept it with a smile!"
While Jiang Yuyan was talking, she gave a signal, and the maid Qiaoer took out a beautifully packaged box and handed it to Zhao Quan, the housekeeper of the White House, who was standing aside.
Although Jiang Yuyan said it simply, Bai Wanhao knew that the age of the wild ginseng in this box would never be less than ten years, so he immediately said with a smile:
"Mrs. Wang, you are too polite. A distinguished guest like you is here. What kind of gift can I bring to Baifu? It's so surprising..." ·”
The two began to chat again. In recent years, relying on his keen political sense, Bai Wanhao took advantage of Fengwu Army's encouragement of the development of private firms, and also made the Bai family firm's business prosperous and prosperous. Very big.
Up to now, the Bai family business has spread all over the six provinces of Liaoyang, Youyan, Yunbin, Hebei, Qilu, and Anqing controlled by the Fengwu Army. It is a large business with thousands of craftsmen and an annual turnover of more than 100,000 taels of silver. trade name.
The business of the Bai family business is so large, and the contacts with the bank are also very frequent, and the Rishengchang bank under Jiang Yuyan's name is currently the largest private bank in Hebei, Henan, and Qilu.
The scale of the ticket account is not even much worse than the official ticket account Dadongsheng. Therefore, the Bai family business also has a lot of cooperation with Rishengchang bank account. In order to facilitate business in Hebei, Henan and Qilu, the Bai family also deposits in Rishengchang. With tens of thousands of taels of silver, he is a big saver of Da Xinchang.
As the actual controllers of the Bai family firm and Daxinchang Bank, some important cooperation intentions were also reached through the mouths of Jiang Yuyan and Bai Wanhao.
After discussing the business matters, Jiang Yuyan pondered for a moment and said to Bai Wanhao:
"Mr. Bai, I have an important cooperation when I come here this time, and I want to discuss it with you!"
Bai Wanhao was not surprised after listening to Jiang Yuyan's words. The cooperation intention they had just reached, although it involved nearly one hundred thousand taels of silver, was not small... ···········
But it wasn't just Jiang Yuyan who came to visit and talk to him in person, so Jiang Yuyan must have something more important to talk to about when she came here this time.
Bai Wanhao smiled and said calmly:
"It's rare that Mrs. Wang takes it seriously, I would like to hear the details!"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yuyan said in a deep voice:
"Mr. Bai, I believe you have heard about the birthday of the old lady of the Ye family in July. The government's budget is not large, only fifteen thousand taels of silver at most!"
Seeing Jiang Yuyan mention this matter, Bai Wanhao was a little surprised, hesitated and said:
"I've heard some rumors about this matter. The Fengwu Army is still at war with the Luo'an court, and the government doesn't have much money right now!"
Jiang Yuyan heard this and said in a deep voice:
"Mr. Bai, I want to join hands with you to use money to celebrate the old lady's birthday!"
Wanhao was also very surprised when he said this. Although when he received Jiang Yuyan's invitation yesterday, he knew that Jiang Yuyan must have something important to come here this time, but he never expected that Jiang Yuyan came to him for this reason. Something!
He knew that Jiang Yuyan was Ye Mingsheng's mistress outside, which was why he gave Jiang Yuyan such courtesy.
And now Jiang Yuyan's proposal also made Bai Wanhao a little confused. He didn't know whether it was Jiang Yuyan's personal idea, or whether it was Ye Mingsheng's idea expressed through Jiang Yuyan's mouth.
Seeing Bai Wanhao who was hesitant to speak, Jiang Yuyan, who was also a smart person, understood Bai Wanhao's thoughts at this time and chose to speak:
"Mr. Bai, please don't get me wrong. This is my, Jiang Yuyan's idea alone and has nothing to do with anyone else..."
When Bai Wanhao heard this, he was even more curious about Jiang Yuyan's purpose. After pondering for a moment, he said directly:
"Mrs. Wang, can you tell me why you did this? And why did you drag me along?"
Facing Bai Wanhao's inquiry, Jiang Yuyan was silent for a while, then raised her head to meet Bai Wanhao's eyes and said:
"Master Bai! You should know my affairs, so in your eyes, isn't the reason to please the handsome man enough?"
"Since ancient times, it has been difficult to have both loyalty and filial piety. More than 100,000 soldiers were sent to war, and it can be said that the daily expenses were burning money. The war emptied the government's treasury, and the commander-in-chief had no money to celebrate the old lady's birthday. I Isn’t it a good enough reason to think about sharing the worries for the commander-in-chief?”
"The commander-in-chief will not allow me to misappropriate the money from the Rishengchang bank account. In the commander-in-chief's eyes, it is the people's life-saving money and there cannot be any mistakes, so the only money I can use is the money from Wang Jiayu Chun Tang."
"Although the business of Hongfu Yuchuntang, entrusted by Marshal, is not small now, as the stall gets bigger, there are more places to spend money. I can only take out more than 30,000 taels of silver at most!"
"According to my budget, I will need at least 50,000 taels of silver to organize my birthday, so I need someone to help me complete this matter!"
At this point Jiang Yuyan paused and looked at Bai Wanhao's meaningful sermon:
"As for why I want to involve you, Mr. Bai, the reason is very simple. Mrs. Bai is ten months pregnant and is about to give birth. I heard an expert said that Mrs. Bai will be a boy..." ············”
After hearing Jiang Yuyan's last words, Bai Wanhao's originally calm expression finally showed some ripples.
After another moment of silence, Bai Wanhao said seriously to Jiang Yuyan:
"Mrs. Wang, your reasons are very good, but I think your purpose is not just this. If you don't tell me your true thoughts, I'm afraid I won't be able to help you!"
Seeing Bai Wanhao insisting on getting to the bottom of things, Jiang Yuyan was a little annoyed, but looking at Bai Wanhao with a determined expression, Jiang Yuyan carefully weighed the pros and cons before sighing and saying:
"Now the Fengwu Army will soon invade Guanzhong. I was born in the clan of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Naturally, I can't bear to see my natal family being slaughtered. So I would like to ask the commander-in-chief to lead his troops into Guanzhong and not to kill the clan arbitrarily. The Zhou clan has a way to survive!"
To be honest, Bai Wanhao was surprised by Jiang Yuyan's answer. He originally thought that Jiang Yuyan wanted to please the commander-in-chief so much because he wanted some policies or other benefits.
I didn’t expect that Jiang Yuyan was actually trying to save her natal family, but after thinking about it carefully, it seemed that Jiang Yuyan’s move made sense!
After confessing, Jiang Yuyan asked Bai Wanhao:
"Mr. Bai, I've told you everything now! Is it okay for you to give me an answer now?"
Bai Wanhao said with a serious look:
"Mrs. Wang, I can cooperate with you on this matter, but I have two requirements!"
"First of all, this matter must be approved by the commander-in-chief! Only when the commander-in-chief nods, can the matter be done!"
"The second thing is that in terms of money, you and my family will get half the money!"
After thinking for a moment, Jiang Yuyan agreed:
"Master Bai, I agree to both of your conditions!"
Listening to Jiang Yuyan's affirmative reply, Bai Wanhao also smiled, raised his teacup and said:
"Then Mrs. Wang, I wish us happy cooperation in this matter..."
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The next day, not a moment later
In the highest decision-making place where Fengwu Army discusses important matters, the Zhongyong Hall of Ye Mansion is already full of distinguished guests. All the military and political officials of Fengwu Army in Yijing attended today's meeting without exception.
As the handsome guards arrived, Ye Mingsheng slowly appeared in everyone's sight, and everyone immediately bowed and saluted.
After looking around at everyone in the hall, Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly when he saw that everyone was almost here, and the Zhongyong Hall meeting was officially held.
Looking at Huo San standing in the row of military attachés on the right, Ye Mingsheng said:
"Huo San, come and introduce to everyone the current situation of the Luo'an court!"
After receiving Ye Mingsheng's order, Huo San immediately stood up and introduced:
"yes!"
"After the defeat of Pingyang, the main force of the imperial army of Luo'an court was severely damaged by our army. The Luo'an court has become frightened. Many dignitaries have begun to run away to Sichuan and Sichuan with gold and silver. Under internal and external pressure, Shangguan Chang Gong has asked our army for peace!"
"Although currently in communication with our army, Shangguan Changgong said that as long as our army can guarantee that they will not liquidate their Shangguan family and protect the safety of their Shangguan family's life and property, he is willing to hand over power and allow our army to enter Guanzhong peacefully... ····························"
"But according to the investigation of our Coordination Office, this is just a trick of Shangguan Changgong. Shangguan Changgong is currently doing two things. The first thing is to withdraw the troops and horses from Sichuan and Shu as much as possible to Guanzhong, and then Reintegrate the Forbidden Army troops and horses to strengthen Weiguan's frontline defense!"
"According to our investigation, in the past month, Shangguan Changgong mobilized 12,000 troops and horses from Sichuan and Sichuan. He strengthened all these 12,000 troops and horses to the Wei Pass line. Currently, the enemy troops are in Wei The front-line troops in Guanzhong are about 50,000, which already accounts for 70% of the Luoan imperial court's total troops in Guanzhong!"
"In addition to deploying troops to strengthen the defense of Wei Pass, Shangguan Changgong is also actively negotiating with the Kipchak Khanate and is willing to win reinforcements from the Kipchak Khanate at the cost of ceding Yongliang!"
"Judging from these two incidents, Shangguan Changgong has no sincerity in surrendering to our army. He just wants to use negotiations to delay time with our army!"
After introducing the situation, Huo San saluted Ye Mingsheng and then returned to the queue.
Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng gave Ye Cheng another look. Ye Cheng immediately understood and took out a letter and said loudly:
"My lords, this is a letter sent back from the front line by Lord Yuan Song. Now I will tell you what Lord Yuan Song thinks about the direction of the war... ·············”
Everyone in the Zhongyong Hall was attentive when they heard that it was Yuan Song's opinion. Over the years, Yuan Song had fought in the north and south under the command of Ye Mingsheng, and he had also established a great reputation within the Fengwu Army, and was recognized as the leader of the Fengwu Army. He is the number one general in the armed forces, so everyone attaches great importance to Yuan Song's views on the war situation!
Under the gaze of everyone, Ye Cheng directly picked the most important point and said:
"Although our army achieved a great victory in the Battle of Pingyang, our army suffered close to 20,000 casualties. At the same time, after more than a month of fierce fighting, all the troops and horses were very tired, and the material consumption was also very huge. However, at the moment, the public sentiment within the enemy's army Panic is a rare opportunity, so if there is a large-scale reinforcement from the rear, the frontline soldiers will definitely fight hard for the commander-in-chief and the Fengwu Army."
After Ye Cheng finished speaking, everyone in the Zhongyong Hall looked a little excited. All of them knew what it meant to break through Wei Pass!
Compared with the excited expressions of everyone, the expressions of Cui Shao, Gu Sansi, and Zhang Juning were still calm, especially Cui Shao's face, which was still serious and unsmiling... ·············
Ye Mingsheng, who was sitting in the main seat, also noticed the change in Cui Shao's expression. After thinking for a while, he also asked:
"Headmaster, I wonder if you have any ideas?"
Following Ye Mingsheng's inquiry, other people in the Zhongyong Hall immediately looked at Cui Shao!
Although Yuan Song's status in the army is high, there is He Jingyun who can rival him. As the central envoy, Cui Shao is truly unique in the civil service system of Fengwu Army, and no one can compare with him.
Everyone in the world knows that the Fengwu Army is powerful, but few people know that behind the Fengwu Army's powerful combat power is the civil service system led by Cui Shao, an old bureaucrat, who continuously supplies fuel to the war machine of the Fengwu Army. Keep the machine running.
Yuan Song's meaning in the letter just now was very clear. Only with a large amount of assistance can we continue to fight. If there is a large amount of assistance now, we need Cui Shao, who is in the Fengwu Army. One person is worth ten thousand people. The central messenger above all people has the final say...
