Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1766 Conspiracy!

This dissatisfaction at work led Ma Runchuan to consider replacing Zhao Yingjie.

Compared to Zhao Yingjie, who disobeyed him and outwardly defied his orders, Ma Runchuan preferred to replace him with a more obedient prefect of Taogang.

Although Ma Runchuan had such thoughts, he also knew that Zhao Yingjie was selected by the Ministry of Personnel and jointly appointed by the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue. Moreover, Zhao Yingjie had a powerful backer who was a Grand Secretary and Minister of Justice. Most importantly, Zhao Yingjie did not make any major mistakes in the construction of Taogang and his achievements were quite good.

This left Ma Runchuan without a leverage point to take action against Zhao Yingjie, so Ma Runchuan kept his move in reserve, hoping to lull Zhao Yingjie into a false sense of security.

In this incident, although Zhao Yingjie was punished by Ye Mingsheng for lacking empathy and failing to fulfill his responsibilities as a prefect to govern and care for the people, Zhao Yingjie did not actually commit any fundamental error in this matter. This is why Ye Mingsheng only ordered him to eat dockwork meals with the workers for a month as punishment, instead of removing him from office.

Although Ye Mingsheng did not directly capture Zhao Yingjie, in the eyes of Ma Runchuan, who had been eyeing Zhao Yingjie covetously, this was a golden opportunity to take down Zhao Yingjie!
Regardless of the circumstances, Zhao Yingjie was at fault this time, and because his mistake involved His Majesty, even if Liu Ning, Zhao Yingjie's patron, wanted to say a few words in his defense, he would find it difficult to say anything...

Ma Runchuan wanted to use this to promote and amplify the issue, attempting to force Zhao Yingjie to resign and leave Taogang, thus giving him the important position of Taogang Prefect.

However, he did not expect Zhao Yingjie to be so stubborn and out of touch with reality, actually wanting to stick to his principles to the very end.

Although he was furious at Zhao Yingjie's lack of pragmatism, Ma Runchuan still clearly realized that if he wanted to take down Zhao Yingjie, he had to use His Majesty's name as a banner. As long as he could make good use of this, he would be invincible!

Having decided on this idea, Ma Runchuan also had a specific strategy. He immediately had someone summon his advisor, Zhao Dekai, and said:
"How has His Majesty been treating that Sun Ning'er lately?"

Zhao Dekai hesitated for a moment upon hearing this before saying:
"Reporting to Master, Sun Ning'er may be pregnant!"

Upon hearing this, Ma Runchuan was immediately startled and asked in return:
You said she's pregnant?

"Yes!"

After answering Ma Runchuan's question, Zhao Dekai was about to say something more when he was unexpectedly rebuked loudly by Ma Runchuan:
"Why didn't you tell me about something so important beforehand? Why didn't you report it to me?"

Zhao Dekai said with some helplessness:

"Sir, it's not that I didn't want to tell you beforehand. I only just found out about this myself, and I haven't yet verified its authenticity, which is why I didn't have time to tell you. I intended to confirm its veracity before informing you..."

Upon hearing Zhao Dekai's words, Ma Runchuan snorted but said nothing, thus accepting Zhao Dekai's answer.

However, in his heart, this Shandong Provincial Governor was secretly making plans. He instructed Zhao Dekai and Wang Yaozu to prepare women for His Majesty, simply because he felt that His Majesty had worked so hard on his inspection tour, enduring wind and rain along the way, and needed someone to take care of him.

Although His Majesty also desires a woman by his side for comfort, he is hesitant to issue a direct order since he has already made his boastful statement. By taking the initiative to arrange it himself, he can gauge the Emperor's intentions and gain His Majesty's approval.

At the time, Ma Runchuan felt that with so many beauties around His Majesty, even if Sun Ning'er was a Jiangnan beauty carefully selected by him, Ma Runchuan did not think that this granddaughter could gain much imperial favor. In his opinion, Ye Mingsheng would at most play with Sun Ning'er before returning to the palace, and after Ye Mingsheng returned to the palace, Sun Ning'er would most likely be abandoned.

In this way, he could please His Majesty without offending the Empress, which was equivalent to using the concubines in the palace—a win-win situation.

However, he hadn't expected Sun Ning'er to be so capable; in just over two months, she had become pregnant with the emperor's child. If the concubines in the palace knew, they would probably hate him to death, especially those who weren't pregnant yet, and also the Empress...

Thinking about this, Ma Runchuan suddenly regretted his actions, but since it was too late to change anything, he could only go with the flow and ask:

"Is Wang Yaozu still able to contact this Sun Ning'er?"

Zhao Dekai hesitated for a moment upon hearing this before saying:

"It should be alright. Sun Ning'er is said to be quite grateful to Wang Yaozu, feeling that without Wang Yaozu's arrangements, she wouldn't have had the opportunity to serve His Majesty!"

Upon hearing this, Ma Runchuan was delighted and said:

"In that case, you should talk to Sun Ning'er through Wang Yaozu, and tell her how hard and difficult life is for the ordinary people of Taogang under Zhao Yingjie's rule!"

Although he had long known that his master regarded Zhao Yingjie as a thorn in his side and wished he could get rid of him as soon as possible and then use the resources of Taogang for his own purposes, as a secretary and advisor, Zhao Dekai really did not think that the present moment was a good opportunity to get rid of Zhao Yingjie.

Thinking about this, he hesitated, carefully considering his words, trying to explain his thoughts to Ma Runchuan. However, just as he was about to speak, he saw Ma Runchuan's unquestionable gaze.

Their eyes met for two seconds in the air. Zhao Zekai immediately understood that Ma Runchuan's mind was made up, and no matter what he said, he couldn't change his mind. Thinking of this, Zhao Zekai could only sigh inwardly, then bowed and accepted the order:
"I'll take care of it right away!"

Watching Zhao Dekai's departing figure, Ma Runchuan's gaze also became profound. He increasingly felt that Zhao Dekai was always somewhat hesitant and fearful, and his opinions and ideas often differed from his own!

If I wasn't mistaken, this guy didn't seem to agree with my ideas. However, he still retained some rationality and didn't truly oppose me. Even so, I'd been too lenient with him. In this situation, I needed to give him a good talking-to and make him understand who really makes the decisions…
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While Ma Runchuan was thinking about how to eliminate his political opponents, Ye Mingsheng was looking at a memorial in his hand in another room of the building.

Ye Mingsheng had basically run around Tao Port inside and out these past few days, gaining a thorough understanding of the situation. This made him realize that there were indeed some practical reasons for the high construction cost of Tao Port. However, Ye Mingsheng still believed that there might be some problems with the current construction cost of Tao Port. Therefore, a few days ago, he secretly ordered the Ministry of Revenue and Da Dongsheng Bank to send accountants to Tao Port. He wanted to find out what was going on.

Of course, auditing accounts is not something that can be done overnight, especially when it involves the accounts of a major project like Taogang. It would take at least several months to investigate thoroughly. Ye Mingsheng's time is quite precious. In addition, Ye Mingsheng has basically completed his inspection of Qilu. Therefore, Ye Mingsheng plans to leave Taogang the day after tomorrow, then pass through Licheng, and head straight to Yujing to begin his inspection of Hebei and Henan.

However, to Ye Mingsheng's surprise, before he even arrived in Hebei and Henan, the memorial from Zhao Wanxian, the provincial governor of Hebei and Henan, was delivered to him ahead of time.

To be honest, Ye Mingsheng was very much looking forward to seeing what kind of report card Zhao Wanxian would give him at the beginning of the inspection.

Upon his inspection, Zhang Zhiwen, the Provincial Governor of Youyan, offered the solution of industrial relocation, moving some of the factories phased out in Yijing to various prefectures and counties of Youyan, thereby promoting the economic development of Youyan…
Ma Runchuan, the provincial governor of Shandong, relied on the sea for his livelihood. While promoting industrial development, he focused on the shipbuilding industry, regarding it as a future economic growth point for Shandong.

Therefore, Ye Mingsheng was also somewhat curious about what Zhao Wanxian would consider his achievements and the direction he wanted to take for the development of Hebei and Henan.

Ye Mingsheng had thought that the answer to this question would only be known after he personally arrived in Jiyu, but he did not expect that while he was still there, Zhao Wanxian's memorial had already been delivered.

Compared to Zhang Zhiwen, Ma Runchuan focused on industry, which was still a relatively new concept in this era. Zhao Wanxian's ideas were more traditional. He regarded governing Deshui as his priority as the Governor of Hebei and Henan. Ye Mingsheng was somewhat surprised by this, since Zhao Wanxian had previously been quite enthusiastic about developing industry under his influence.

However, after carefully reading and considering Zhao Wanxian's memorial, Ye Mingsheng also felt that it was entirely appropriate for Zhao Wanxian to focus his main efforts on governing the Deshui River!

The De River flows through Yongliang, Guanzhong, Yunbing, Jiyu, and Qilu, and is the mother river of the Great Qian Dynasty. The region most affected by the De River is undoubtedly Jiyu. Historically, many of the floods caused by the De River occurred within the territory of Jiyu.

Although the De River brought many disasters to Hebei and Henan, it also played a crucial role in the development of these regions.

First, it provides the people with abundant water for production and daily life. A sufficient water source is always a crucial foundation for developing agriculture and ensuring grain production...
Secondly, the Deshui River basin has flat terrain and convenient transportation. The flat terrain is conducive to the construction and layout of towns and cities, facilitates road construction, and also promotes large-scale agricultural development. At the same time, the Deshui River is also an important inland waterway. Towns are built along the river, and by taking advantage of the Deshui River's water transport, these towns can easily communicate with each other.

The third point, which Zhao Wanxian considers the most important, is that the large amount of silt carried by the De River has been deposited in the Hebei and Henan regions, forming fertile soil, which is of great benefit to agricultural development.

Zhao Wenxian believes that for a place to seek development, it is inevitably inseparable from money and people. The two complement each other and depend on each other. Neither can be missing. However, if he had to choose the most important factor between the two, Zhao Wenxian still believes that population is more important than money.

Agriculture is the foundation of population, and land and water are the necessary conditions for agricultural development. The fertile soil and abundant water resources of the Deshui River basin have nurtured countless people in Hebei and Henan. Developed agriculture has provided cities with abundant agricultural products, supporting the population growth and economic prosperity of towns and rural areas.

Based on these considerations, Zhao Wanxian believed that managing the Deshui River was of paramount importance in governing Hebei and Henan. To this end, Zhao Wanxian also made a self-criticism in his memorial to the throne. He believed that although the drought and floods that Hebei and Henan had suffered in the past year were due to the weather, as the provincial governor, he had become somewhat complacent and negligent in managing the Deshui River because the weather had been favorable and the harvests had been plentiful in the past few years.

Therefore, Zhao Wanxian believed he was largely to blame for the losses suffered by Hebei and Henan provinces due to drought and floods over the past year, and for this reason, he requested Ye Mingsheng to punish him...
After admitting his guilt in his memorial, Zhao Wanjie began to explain how to manage the De River. One of the key terms he mentioned was "constraining the water to attack the sand."

He then explained a series of technical solutions around this term, such as where to build strong dikes and tighten river channels. To be honest, Ye Mingsheng recognized each Chinese character, but putting them together was beyond his comprehension. So Ye Mingsheng simply glanced at it without looking closely and prepared to submit the plan to the Ministry of Works for review to see what their opinions were.

Just as Ye Mingsheng finished reading Zhao Wanxian's memorial and was pondering it more deeply, footsteps sounded outside the door, followed by a knock.

"Enter!"

At Ye Mingsheng's command, Zhang Hu entered the room and reported to Ye Mingsheng:
"Your Majesty, Miss Sun seems to have had a nightmare. She keeps asking to see you!"

Hearing Zhang Hu say this, Ye Mingsheng frowned. He knew that pregnancy would cause a woman's hormone levels to rise, which would decrease her emotional stability.

However, Sun Ning'er's changes were also unexpected to him. After confirming her pregnancy, Sun Ning'er changed from her previous well-mannered and understanding nature to become particularly clingy, wanting to stay by his side at all times. At first, Ye Mingsheng was able to tolerate and forgive her, but as time went on, Ye Mingsheng also found it hard to stand.

After all, Ye Mingsheng is the emperor, and he has many important tasks to do. These tasks involve the production and lives of hundreds of thousands or even millions of people, so Ye Mingsheng certainly cannot neglect his personal interests for the sake of public duty.

Secondly, Ye Mingsheng didn't have much affection for Sun Ning'er; compared to emotions, his feelings for her were more of a physical desire.