Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1514 New Year’s Dinner!

In the past period of time, Ibugel changed his previous indifference towards Daiqin and began to care about Daiqin very much. This made Luo Bi and even many people in Daqian think that Ibugel had the idea of ​​passing Luo Bi's throne to Daiqin!

Because the succession of the Khanate of Luobi was related to the stability of Luobi, which in turn was related to the success or failure of Ye Mingsheng's grassland strategy, Ye Mingsheng was also quite concerned about this matter. For this reason, in his correspondence with Ibugele for some time before, he intentionally or unintentionally tried to probe Ibugele's views on his two sons.

Ye Mingsheng did not ask directly and rudely, Ibugel, which son do you want to pass the throne to?

Ye Mingsheng believed that he would not get anything out of the question even if he asked like this. Ibugele would most likely be vague and fool him!
So in order to test Ibugele's true inner thoughts, Ye Mingsheng first threw out some ideas in the letter, talking about his own troubles as a father in dealing with his son, and then hoped that Ibugele, as an elder and a person who had experienced it, could give him some advice.
Ibugele quickly wrote back to Ye Mingsheng, telling him about some things that happened between him and his two sons.

In the letter, Ibugele praised Daiqin, saying that he was smart, filial, and kind. He treated everyone around him well, was approachable and had no airs, and that everyone liked him very much!

When describing his eldest son Daryaqi, Ibugele wrote that he was rude, rude, bold, and had only brute force.
Judging from the content of the letter, Ibugele seems to be more inclined towards Daiqin!
Gu Sansi, Li Jian and others all hold this view, but Ye Mingsheng scoffs at it!
Ye Mingsheng thought that Ibugele's little trick could only deceive people who had never dealt with the Robe people. If you have dealt with or had contact with the Robe people, you would know that they believe in power...
What is power?

What the hell is called power?

In short, the bigger the fist, the more powerful the truth!
For the Central Plains dynasty, being smart, filial, kind, and approachable are all very good qualities, but in the eyes of the Luo people, none of these are as good as being brave and good at fighting!
Based on this understanding, Ye Mingsheng was able to get a glimpse of Ibugele’s true inner thoughts!

Although Ibugele said that Daryachi was rude and had only brute force, what he actually wanted to say was that Daryachi was brave in battle, daring to fight and was an excellent Luobei warrior. He was proud to have such a son!
If that is the case, then why did Ibugele belittle Dariyachi and praise Daiqin in his letter to Ye Mingsheng?

This is a very interesting and thought-provoking point!

However, this was not difficult to understand in Ye Mingsheng's eyes. Even though his approach was a little obscure, Ibugele still saw through Ye Mingsheng's temptation, so he played along and wanted to mislead himself into thinking that he was inclined towards Daiqin, but the old guy was a little too aggressive...
So if you understand this point, you will be able to understand the old guy's true inner thoughts. There is no doubt that Ibugel wants to pass his Khanship to his eldest son, Dari Achi, who he is proud of for his bravery in battle!

But unfortunately, Darachi was now too powerful and had posed a threat to Ibugel's throne. Ibugel was still alive and well and was unwilling to give up Luobi's power, so Ibugel had to push forward Daiqin to contain Darachi and let his two sons check and balance each other!

The reason why Ibugele wanted to mislead Ye Mingsheng was to make Ye Mingsheng have wrong ideas!
This involves the issue of identity. Dariaochi's biological mother was a Luobi noble, and among the Luobi nobles, the mainstream view was to oppose submitting to Daqian. Dariaochi was also influenced by this kind of view. Like Urgenbayar just now, Dariaochi never opposed Daqian on the surface, but there were rumors that he said privately that if he became the Luobi Khan, he would kick Daqian away!

Regarding this rumor, Ibugele also explained to Ye Mingsheng. He said that Dariyachi was as loyal to Daqian as he was. Those who said that Dariyachi opposed Daqian were the most shameful lies and unacceptable slander.

Because Daiqin's biological mother, Dong, was from Da Zhou, he gave himself a Da Zhou name, Dong Qin, and has always been committed to making friends with Da Qian, promoting and publicizing Da Qian's culture within Luobi, and promoting cultural exchanges and integration between Da Qian and Luobi.

Therefore, there is no doubt that on the issue of the successor of Luobi Khan, Ye Mingsheng definitely supports Daiqin. If he comes to power, it will be beneficial to Daqian’s control over Luobi and the implementation of Daqian’s grassland strategy. This is why Ibugel wants to mislead Ye Mingsheng...

And it was precisely because of this incident that Ye Mingsheng was very certain that Ibugerle also had ulterior motives. If the time permitted, he would definitely kick Daqian away and establish his own independence!

After understanding Ibugele's idea, although Ye Mingsheng did nothing on the surface, he was more determined to infiltrate Luo Bi in his heart. He wanted to completely tame Luo Bi, and for this purpose he also put more effort into Daiqin.
Because Ibugel was in good health, and the existence of the Cumans was a thorn in his side, making him need Daqian even more. So Ye Mingsheng thought he still had a few years to calmly plan and let Daiqin completely defeat his half-brother Dari Achi in the fight for the throne of Luobi Khan!
But now this sudden change has forced Ye Mingsheng to make arrangements in advance. Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng could not help but instruct Ye Cheng:

"Tell the General Staff to speed up preparations for war and be ready to set off for Robe within a month. Also, notify the Ministry of Rites and the Coordination Office to do their best to find out about Ibugel. If there is any change in Ibugel, we must do our best to ensure that Daiqin becomes the new Robe Khan. In addition, we must also try our best to search for intelligence about the Roman Empire!"

"Yes!"

Just as Ye Cheng was about to turn around and leave to convey the order, Ye Mingsheng waved his hand to signal Ye Cheng not to worry, then he took out a piece of paper from the drawer of the desk and handed it to him, saying:

"These appointments on paper will be drafted into an imperial edict and officially announced tomorrow..."

··················
··················
Night, Royal Palace Dinner

As the designer and executor of this palace New Year event, at this New Year palace dinner, An Miaoyi originally wanted to let the court officials bring their families to participate in a grand palace banquet to celebrate the first anniversary of the establishment of Daqian.

At first, Ye Mingsheng thought it didn't matter whether he did it or not. Since An Miaoyi wanted to hold such a palace dinner, he might as well do it.

But An Miaoyi was a person who cared about her reputation. In order to show off the so-called royal majesty and make the banquet magnificent, she directly increased the budget of the dinner to more than 50,000 taels of silver.

When Ye Mingsheng heard this budget, he was a little numb. A banquet could cost more than 50,000 taels of silver. This was really crazy. You have to know that the entire Daqian’s fiscal surplus for the whole year was only a few hundred thousand taels of silver!

If these 50,000 taels of silver were invested in his own library project, dozens of prefectures and counties could have a library, allowing tens of thousands of young people to have books to read!

So Ye Mingsheng had to intervene. He cancelled An Miaoyi's grand New Year's Eve dinner on the grounds that every family wanted to reunite during the New Year, and inviting people from their homes to hold a banquet in the palace would ruin their family reunion. Of course! Although An Miaoyi's dinner plan was cancelled, the dinner still had to go on. After all, there is only one New Year's Eve in a year, so there must be some sense of ritual. Therefore, the budget was reduced tenfold, and only the concubines from the whole palace attended the banquet together...
At this time, Ye Mingsheng, who was sitting in the main seat, was eating snacks. Originally, Ye Mingsheng wanted to have a good meal at noon, but the news from Luo Bi made Ye Mingsheng lose his appetite at noon, so he did not eat but only ate a few dates. Therefore, now it was evening and Ye Mingsheng, who had not eaten lunch, was a little hungry.

I don't know if it's because of the New Year, or because Ye Mingsheng is a little hungry, Ye Mingsheng feels that today's plum cake and osmanthus cake are particularly delicious. While Ye Mingsheng was concentrating on eating the snacks, An Miaoyi, who was sitting next to him, smiled and said:

"Your Majesty, the time has come! All fifty-one sisters are here!"

Ye Mingsheng was shocked when he heard this, and immediately asked back:

"Miaoyi, what did you say?"

In response to Ye Mingsheng's question, An Miaoyi did not understand Ye Mingsheng's thoughts, and repeated what he had just said:

"Your Majesty, the time has come! All fifty-one sisters are here!"

Hearing An Miaoyi say this, Ye Mingsheng confirmed that he had not heard wrongly, and immediately asked again:

"Fifty-one?"

It was only at this time that An Miaoyi understood what Ye Mingsheng meant. She immediately felt angry and amused, but she also spoke:
"Your Majesty! You heard it right. There are fifty-one concubines and talented ladies in the harem!"

Ye Mingsheng couldn't help rubbing his head when he heard that. In his impression, he had only a dozen wives and concubines around him at the beginning of the founding of the country. After the founding of the country, in order to win people's hearts, Ye Mingsheng selected a wave of shows, and later added a few women sporadically. So in Ye Mingsheng's cognition, he might have more than thirty wives and concubines. He never thought that now there are fifty-one...
The ones he had slept with were only the first dozen or so, and later on, Chen Rouer and a few other women were added. In total, he had only slept with seventeen or eighteen women. That meant that he hadn't even slept with more than thirty women?

There are more than thirty concubines and talented women. If he sleeps with one a day, that would take at least a month!

Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng only felt that he had too many women. How did he accidentally create so many of them?

Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng felt a little bit guilty. After all, there were so many men of marriageable age who did not have wives in the world, and he alone was taking up too many resources!

And the most important thing is that Ye has two kidneys, which is not enough to cover so many people!

While Ye Mingsheng was thinking about it, An Miaoyi, who didn't know what Ye Mingsheng was thinking, immediately spoke up:
"Your Majesty, the time has come!"

Ye Mingsheng was interrupted from thinking, so he temporarily put aside his thoughts and stood up from his seat.

Seeing Ye Mingsheng stand up, the banquet suddenly became silent, and everyone's eyes were focused on Ye Mingsheng.

After looking around at everyone present, Ye Mingsheng began to speak.

Ye Mingsheng didn't like to give long speeches on such a festive occasion. Ye Mingsheng had listened to other people's speeches before. As a listener, Ye Mingsheng felt that such long speeches were empty and as long and smelly as a foot binding cloth, which made people feel sick at first glance.

As the saying goes, do not do to others what you do not want others to do to you. Ye Ming did not prepare the content of his speech in advance, so he just said casually:

“Everyone has worked hard in the past year. Now at the New Year, I wish you all a happy new year. May everyone be healthy and have everything go well in the new year. At tonight’s banquet, everyone should eat, drink and have fun…”

After saying that, Ye Mingsheng drank the wine in the glass, and ended his speech. Everyone was very surprised to hear that Ye Mingsheng had finished his speech so quickly. Some people even looked at each other in disbelief. At this time, Chen Rouer, who was sitting below, took the lead and shouted:
"May your majesty be blessed with great fortune! May the queen mother live forever!"

Seeing Chen Rouer shouting like this, the other concubines and talented ladies also shouted in unison.

Ye Cui, who was sitting nearby, couldn't help but look at Chen Rouer and nodded slightly in approval when she heard everyone's shouts. Feeling the Queen Mother's approving gaze, Chen Rouer also showed a humble expression, which undoubtedly made Ye Cui even more satisfied.

An Miaoyi noticed this scene and her eyes became very cold. Ye Mingsheng did not pay attention to the intrigues between these women. At this moment, he was concentrating on the good wine and food in front of him. He had no special requirements for housing and clothing, but Ye Mingsheng still attached great importance to the desire for food.

An Miaoyi was also very clear about this, so the dishes in front of Ye Mingsheng at this time were all Ye Mingsheng's favorite dishes, such as prawns, beef and so on. Therefore, Ye Mingsheng ate with relish and had no time to pay attention to what these women thought.

At this moment, Qiqige quietly came to An Miaoyi and whispered something in her ear. Upon hearing that, An Miaoyi subconsciously looked at Ye Mingsheng...