Chapter Sixteen: Ma Teng's Conspiracy

  Looking at Zhao Jie's tense appearance, the originally smiling and laughing Ye Xuan and Chen Fei also became serious, both of them knowing that Zhao Jie must have extracted some important information during the interrogation.

  Ye Xuan's eyebrows furrowed slightly, and he secretly sighed in his heart. Then he asked, "Speak, what did you find out from the interrogation?"

  Then Zhao Jie hastily told all the results of the interrogation...

  ……

  After hearing Zhao Jie's words, Ye Xuan also roughly understood and his doubts in his heart were completely resolved.

  It's like this:

  Actually, the three people, Jiutou Long Di Yu, Luo Yi Fu and Sha Er Ye, were originally all in one group, under Ma Teng's command. Ma Teng occupied western Hebei but never fully established himself, yet he always wanted to take over southern Hebei, a land without an owner.

  But by the time he found his footing, the south already had its master, the rising star Chen Fei.

  Although Chen Fei had few soldiers in his hands, the warriors were all brave and powerful, which made Ma Teng very jealous. So Ma Teng sent three generals under his command, Jiutou Long Diyu, Luo Yifu and Sha Er Ye, to explore the way, and at the same time hinder Chen Fei's development and expansion. If the opportunity was ripe, they would take care of Chen Fei and occupy his brave subordinates for themselves...

  After hearing this, Chen Fei was so angry that his eyebrows were curled up, and he thoroughly inquired about all the female relatives of Ma Teng's ancestors.

  However, Ye Xuan did not show any expression, but listened carefully to every word Zhao Jie said next...

  Later, the three men discovered that Ye Jiajun had a new leader named Ye Xuan. They thought that since Ye Xuan was newly appointed and his foundation was not stable, he would definitely be unable to command the respect of the troops. Therefore, the three men decided to set a date to attack Tianlong Fortress together...

  Unfortunately, who would have thought that the day they had agreed upon was the day after Ye Xuan's attack on Di Yu's fortified mountain slope. That night, in order to boost morale, Di Yu allowed his subordinates to indulge in the captured women, so the guards were more lax than usual.

  After all, few people dared to provoke them in peacetime. Unexpectedly, Ye Xuan and others took advantage of the emptiness and launched a surprise attack on Huo Mountain Slope, beheading Di Yu.

  Luo Yifeng and Sha Er Ye didn't see Di Yu on the day they agreed to meet, which was normal. At that time, Di Yu had already been killed by Ye Xuan, so how could he have come to the meeting?

  After inquiring, the two of them finally understood that Tianlong Village's master had led his own men to attack their own village. However, instead of rushing back to rescue or escaping to their own territory, they were secretly rejoicing and congratulating themselves. They thought: Who let Di Yu that scoundrel show off in front of them every day? Now that he's dead, the two of them are the only trusted confidants of Ma Teng!

  Moreover, the two of them took it for granted that since Ye Xuan had led his troops to attack Di Yu's Slope, how many people could be left in Tianlong Fortress today?

  So they launched a bold attack on the Heavenly Dragon Fort, but who knew that Ye Xuan had also left a trick up his sleeve and left half of his men to guard the base.

  The two were shocked, but relying on having more than 30 people on their side, they didn't take it too seriously.

  But as they fought on, Luo Yi Fu and Sha Er Ye suddenly realized that something was off - when did the Tian Long Gang's strength become so powerful? Later, another two even more terrifying things happened, there were messages that their old nest had been destroyed by Ye Xuan.

  After hearing the news from those who were intentionally released by Ye Xuan, both of them were shocked and ran back and forth in a fluster. Seeing their leader running around, the morale of the crowd, which had already been negligible after witnessing the strength of the Ye Family's Military Punishment Heavenly Squad, instantly collapsed...

  They all cried and ran back, but as everyone knows, they were all captured by Chen Fei, not a single one escaped...

  At first, Chen Fei curiously asked: "I'm A Jie, isn't this a good thing? Our Ye family army has solved Ma Teng's conspiracy, why are you frowning?"

  Ye Xuan nodded thoughtfully and continued, "If I'm not mistaken, Ma Teng should have some hidden plan, right? Perhaps the current situation is just a smokescreen, and Ma Teng never expected this ragtag group to be able to defeat us!"

  Zhao Jie looked at Ye Xuan in surprise, and continued: "Indeed, General Ye is truly prescient. That scoundrel Ma Teng just wants to use these few people to harass us, the Ye family army, so that we will be exhausted from responding, while he himself recruits and buys soldiers to consolidate his strength. I think it won't be long before they launch a full-scale attack on us."

  ……

  Ye Xuan rubbed his chin again, habitually, and pondered for a moment: "Now the only advantage is that Ma Teng didn't expect his subordinates to be so incompetent and lose so quickly. At the same time, we also know his plan, so third brother and A Jie, you two listen up, we need to take some countermeasures now. I don't want to die before even meeting Zhong Jin..."

  In the Hall of Loyalty, after hearing the news, everyone looked at Ye Xuan with tension. Ye Xuan paused for a moment and then said: "After careful consideration, everyone also knows the crisis that our Ye family army is facing. Next, I would like to raise a few requirements. First, I want to talk about military discipline, especially not allowing women, but from now on, we can allow soldiers to get married. Nowadays, our Ye family army's reputation and fame are still quite good, so we must continue to persist and gain more fame. Everyone should know that the common people are like water, and everyone should understand the principle that water can carry a boat as well as capsize it.

  In addition, no matter how abundant or scarce our supplies are, we cannot seize the people's property. If requisition is necessary, a receipt must be issued to the people and rent paid; forced purchase and sale are prohibited, and violators will be dealt with by military law!

  At the same time, we must vigorously open up wasteland. Now there are many good fields that have been abandoned, which is really a pity. We decree that as long as you join the Ye family army, you can be allocated land, 50 mu per person. However, the ownership of this land still belongs to the Ye family army, and they only own the right to cultivate it. In the first year, all rent and taxes can be exempted, but from the second year onwards, they must give us 20% of their harvest! From the third year onwards, it will increase to 30%! After that, it will be capped at 30% and the land tax will not be increased again.

  The hunters will not be allocated land for the time being. They will hand over 20% of their daily catch to our Ye family army, and the rest will be at their own disposal. Of course, they can also sell the remaining part to us.

  As for the craftsmen, I plan to establish our own workshop. All craftsmen will work in the workshop and it will be responsible for their food and accommodation. There will be no fixed salary, but instead, 3 dou of rice will be distributed at irregular intervals. Additionally, each craftsman must sign their name on their workpieces. If a piece is not completed, there will be corresponding bonus rewards. If a piece fails to meet standards, the cost of materials will be deducted from the craftsman's salary.

  Finally, in the places managed by our Ye family army, all households were registered uniformly. For those refugees, they were helped to arrange work uniformly, and grain and wages were issued according to their workload. If anyone dared to oppose, they would be expelled from the border, and absolutely no tolerance!

  Ye Xuan said all those rules and regulations in one breath, amidst the shocked expressions of everyone. He smiled contentedly, then took a sip of tea and said: "If there are no questions, let's get started!"