Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1768 The Imperial Concubine's Dilemma!
After a brief chat with Murong Xinyun, Murong Qingwu returned to her room to rest.

Sitting in front of the dressing table, Murong Qingwu recalled her sister's expression just now, and her mood plummeted to rock bottom.

She had deliberately brought up the fact that Chen Rou'er wasn't pregnant to her sister, just to see how Murong Xinyun would react.

Although Murong Xinyun's reaction was very subtle, Murong Qingwu, who spent every day with her, still noticed that moment of awkwardness.

To be honest, Murong Qingwu had already had some suspicions six months ago. Ye Mingsheng liked to fight two against one, so the two sisters often worked together to deal with Ye Mingsheng. Murong Qingwu, who spent every day with her younger sister, could clearly calculate when her sister Murong Xinyun was in danger.

In fact, after joining forces to deal with Ye Mingsheng, Murong Qingwu thought her sister would get pregnant soon. However, after several battles, Murong Qingwu found that Murong Xinyun's belly showed no signs of pregnancy. At the time, Murong Qingwu did not think about it, but thought that there might be some problem with Murong Xinyun's health.

Therefore, Murong Qingwu had a doctor examine her younger sister, Murong Xinyun, and the examination results showed that Murong Xinyun's body was perfectly normal and there were no problems. After learning this result, Murong Qingwu already had some doubts.

However, Murong Qingwu couldn't be completely certain. After all, having a child is a matter for two people. Murong Xinyun was fine, but Ye Mingsheng might have had issues. Furthermore, none of the concubines had conceived in the past few months, so Murong Qingwu speculated that Ye Mingsheng might have a health problem…
However, half a month ago, Ying'er secretly reported something to her. Ying'er learned from someone close to Murong Xinyun that Murong Xinyun would secretly take some kind of pill after each battle with Ye Mingsheng.

Upon learning this news, Murong Qingwu already had her answer, and Murong Xinyun had just confirmed it!

Thinking of this, Murong Qingwu couldn't help but sigh. She had mixed feelings about what Murong Xinyun had done.

First of all, there must be some worry in this complex emotion. After all, for the royal family, it is a very important mission for the emperor to produce offspring. Therefore, for a concubine to do such a thing in private is a heinous crime!

Once discovered, Murong Xinyun will definitely be crippled, and the entire Murong family will suffer the consequences. An Miaoyi will definitely not let go of such a good opportunity. She will definitely make a big fuss about it, not only to completely take down Murong Xinyun, but also to inevitably implicate herself!

However, while worried, Murong Qingwu also had some inexplicable feelings!

The reason An Miaoyi initially allowed Murong Xinyun to enter the palace as a concubine was largely because she noticed disagreements between the first, second, and fifth branches of the Murong family regarding the family's development. Murong Xinyun's father, Murong Xiu, was unwilling to let the family be led by his second brother, Murong Yuliang, and therefore attempted to gain power for himself by sending his daughter to the palace to compete for the emperor's favor…

An Miaoyi saw this opportunity, so she allowed Murong Xinyun to enter the palace, attempting to use this incident to amplify the internal conflicts within the Murong family, making the conflicts irreconcilable and ultimately leading to the division of the Murong family.

It was precisely because of this, and also because of Ye Mingsheng's personal sexual preferences, that Murong Qingwu was initially quite resistant to Murong Xinyun entering the palace.

After Murong Xinyun entered the palace, Murong Qingwu was also worried that Murong Xinyun would be like her father Murong Xiu, ambitious, dissatisfied with the status quo, and full of desire for power.

However, it turned out that Murong Qingwu was worrying too much. Murong Xinyun and her father Murong Xiu were completely opposite. Murong Xinyun had no interest in power. On the contrary, this girl longed for love and freedom, which made her seem so out of place in the deep palace full of intrigue and scheming.

After realizing this, Murong Qingwu felt somewhat relieved, but more than anything, she felt regret for her younger sister, Murong Xinyun.

Born into a powerful and influential family like the Murong family, although one is born into a life of luxury and does not have to worry about making a living, this life is also full of constraints. One's marriage is never one's own choice, which is what destined Murong Xinyun's current tragedy!

To be honest, Murong Qingwu's initial wariness gradually changed. She always hoped her younger sister, Murong Xinyun, could accept reality. While Ye Mingsheng might not have been a good husband or father, he was at least not a bad one. Being with him and having his children wasn't such an unbearable thing, especially in the deep palace. For a concubine, without children, there was no future to rely on…
Just as Murong Qingwu was pondering this, there was a knock at the door. Hearing the familiar knock, Murong Qingwu knew it was Ying'er and immediately gave her instructions:

"Enter!"

With Murong Qingwu's permission, Ying'er entered the room with a serious and worried expression.

Seeing Ying'er's expression, Murong Qingwu immediately had a bad feeling and asked:
"What happened to Ying'er?"

Yinger nodded without hesitation:

"Your Majesty, we have just discovered that before Zhang Mang left Yijing, Zhao Yuan, the head of the Ministry of Justice, secretly met with him. The two of them talked for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn in the evening!"

Upon hearing the name Zhao Yuan, Murong Qingwu immediately felt a sense of familiarity, as if she had heard it somewhere before, but after thinking about it carefully, she couldn't quite place it. She couldn't help but ask:

"Who is this Zhao Yuan?"

"Your Majesty, according to our previous investigation, this Zhao Yuan is An Miaoyi's henchman. Many of An Miaoyi's shady dealings were handled by Zhao Yuan. It can be said that Zhao Yuan, the head of the Ministry of Justice, is specifically in charge of dealing with An Miaoyi's affairs!"

Hearing Ying'er's words, and recalling what she had just said about Zhao Yuan's secret meeting with Zhang Mang for the duration of an incense stick before Zhang Mang left Yijing, Murong Qingwu's eyes deepened as she looked at Ying'er and said, "What exactly are you trying to say...?"

"Your Majesty, what I'm trying to say is that you can know a person's face but not their heart; you can never be too careful!"

Murong Qingwu pondered upon hearing this. Ying'er hadn't said it directly, but her meaning was clear: Zhang Mang might betray her and side with An Miaoyi!
Murong Qingwu didn't really believe this situation was happening. It wasn't that she thought Zhang Mang was particularly loyal to her, but rather that she thought Zhang Mang was a smart man who knew what he had!
Murong Qingwu was already prepared, after all, the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice was already considered a high-ranking official in the court, and there were too many temptations to be faced in this position. At present, Murong Qingwu, and even the entire Murong family, could not give Zhang Mang much of what he wanted.

Murong Qingwu had already anticipated this problem when Zhang Mang was promoted to Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice by Ye Mingsheng.

In fact, although Murong Qingwu was optimistic about Zhang Mang's future, Ye Mingsheng's direct appointment of him as acting Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice was also unexpected for Murong Qingwu. She did not expect that Zhang Mang would rise to power so quickly.

It was around that time that Murong Qingwu began to secretly collect dirt on Zhang Mang. Before that, Zhang Mang was just a junior official in the Ministry of Justice. Murong Qingwu felt that there was no need to take such measures against Zhang Mang at that time, so she did not collect dirt on Zhang Mang at that time.

Although she only began collecting dirt on Zhang Mang after he became the Vice Minister of Justice, Murong Qingwu, through her close relationship with him, managed to obtain some damaging information that posed a significant threat to Zhang Mang. This information is now a crucial tool Murong Qingwu uses to control Zhang Mang…

Although she intended to use these negative stories to control Zhang Mang, Murong Qingwu also understood that this was a last resort. Therefore, she never used these negative stories to threaten Zhang Mang in normal times, and always treated him with courtesy, showing sincerity and respect as much as possible.

Although she didn't present these damaging details to Zhang Mang, Murong Qingwu felt that Zhang Mang should know that she had such dirt on him.

That's why she felt Zhang Mang wouldn't easily betray her!
Zhang Mang came from a poor family and climbed his way up step by step from the bottom to his current position as Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice. He has endured countless hardships and difficulties along the way, so he cherishes his current power and status very much.

Once those scandals are exposed, Zhang Mang will not only lose his current status and position, but he may also be beheaded.

Therefore, Murong Qingwu believed that as long as Zhang Mang did not want to perish together with her, he would never easily betray her, which was the source of her confidence.

Seeing her mistress's confident demeanor, Ying'er said with some concern:
"Your Majesty, I don't think this is good news. What do you think? Should we write a letter to Jiangnan, telling the old master to be wary of Zhang Mang and not to trust him completely, but to keep a close eye on him?"

Murong Qingwu nodded slightly upon hearing this and said:
"Ying'er, you're right. Since there's no time to lose, I'll write the letter now and send someone to deliver it tonight..."

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Qilu Licheng
Ye Mingsheng, who had returned from Taogang, checked back into Fuxing Inn as planned, intending to rest in Licheng for a day before continuing his journey to Jixiang the next day.

Because someone had already been sent to Yijing, Ye Mingsheng was resting alone at the Fuxing Grand Inn. Seeing this, Ma Runchuan, the governor of Qilu, wanted to use the same trick again, to send women to Ye Mingsheng through Wang Yaozu, the owner of the Fuxing Grand Inn, so that Ye Mingsheng could have a fulfilling night in Qilu.

However, perhaps because Sun Ning'er had exploited Ye Mingsheng too much in order to get pregnant, Ye Mingsheng wanted to spend a quiet night after Sun Ning'er went to Yijing, so he had someone refuse Wang Yaozu's offer.

Although Ye Mingsheng wanted to spend a quiet night, it was a pity that the memorial from Yijing once again disturbed his life.

Fortunately, Ye Mingsheng was already used to this kind of life. While eating Qilu steamed buns, he opened the memorial from Yijing.

The memorial mainly concerns two things.

The first matter is that, given the severe floods and droughts that have struck Hebei, Henan, Shandong, and other regions this year, resulting in a grain harvest of less than 30% of previous years, in order to prevent grain prices from rising, Cui Shao of the Ministry of Revenue believes that, on the one hand, granaries should be opened to provide relief to disaster victims, and on the other hand, taxes on alcohol should be increased, and the private brewing of alcohol should be prohibited, in order to save grain…
Ye Mingsheng was quite supportive of Cui Shao's suggestion. He had traveled all over Shandong during this period, met many disaster victims, and knew that this year's grain harvest was severely poor. He also knew that the Shandong Provincial Administration had made many efforts to prevent a large-scale tragedy of starvation.

However, such large-scale disaster relief puts considerable pressure on the imperial granaries. Fortunately, the granaries in Shandong, Hebei and Henan provinces had some grain reserves due to favorable weather in the previous years, which is enough to sustain them. But now, the grain reserves are below the red line.

Ye Mingsheng hadn't seen the situation in Hebei and Henan yet and didn't know much about it, but Ma Runchuan had told him about the situation in Shandong a few days ago. At most, it would be before the New Year. If the imperial court couldn't transport grain into Shandong from other places before the New Year, many people in Shandong might have to eat dirt.

Therefore, given the extreme shortage of food, imposing certain restrictions on the brewing industry is something that needs to be done at this time.

Brewing wine consumes a lot of grain. If it were during a bumper harvest, it wouldn't matter to use grain to brew wine. But things are different now. Many people are starving. Allowing the brewing industry to continue brewing large quantities of wine at this time would be too extravagant!

Therefore, Ye Mingsheng believes that imposing certain restrictions on the brewing industry to ensure the supply of food for the people and to ensure that most people have food to eat is the right decision!

Cui Shao's initial plan is to increase taxes and fees on the brewing industry by 50% and reduce the consumption of at least 50,000 shi of grain in brewing.

This approach will inevitably lead to soaring alcohol prices, making it unaffordable for many ordinary people. In the short term, there will certainly be some complaints. However, Ye Mingsheng believes that not drinking won't kill you, but not eating will. Therefore, compared to the alcohol needs of a few, Ye Mingsheng will do everything in his power to ensure the livelihoods of the majority…