Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 304: Chapter 295: What Talent!

Yang Mingcheng listened to Ning Qingqing’s words, first slightly startled, then his eyes immediately brightened.

He knew of the Hengdao Sect, the largest Jianghu force in Jizhou, and also counted as one of the premier Jianghu forces in Liaodong.

However, he was not clear about the relationship between Ning Qingqing and Yu Qingyi.

Still, since Ning Qingqing said so, Yang Mingcheng still bowed his fist in greeting and said: “Mingcheng has seen Auntie!”

“…”

Ning Qingqing was completely stiffened.

He actually called me Auntie!

This this this~~~

Ning Qingqing, with a stiff and pale face as if frosted, turned towards Ji Hai who was standing beside her.

“Brother, do I really look that old?”

She said she was sisters with Yu Qingyi and, by that account, Yang Mingcheng should call her Auntie, but she didn’t actually want to be any real aunt.

She just wanted to use this to close the gap in their relationship.

What nonsense Auntie, she and Yu Qingyi aren’t blood sisters, so where did this Auntie come from?

But how could she know that Yang Mingcheng was a sincere person? Yang Mingcheng felt that since she had saved him, and was ’sisters’ with his mother, it wouldn’t be wrong to call her Auntie.

The cold and handsome Ji Hai, seeing Ning Qingqing’s incredulous expression, could hardly hold back a laugh.

“Cough cough! Nephew Yang, let us talk inside!”

The honorific ’nephew’ stabbed at Ning Qingqing’s heart like a dagger, wounding her once again.

However, Ji Hai’s address as ’nephew’ was not entirely taking advantage of Yang Mingcheng, considering his age was a bit older than Ning Qingqing and Yu Qingyi, only six or seven years younger than Yang Zhenshan, so calling Yang Mingcheng ’nephew’ was not unreasonable.

“How about this place~~” Yang Mingcheng glanced at the corpses on the street.

“Don’t worry, I’ll arrange for someone to take care of it. There’s also one alive, I will personally find out their origins!” Ji Hai’s eyes flashed a fierce light.

Committing murder in their Hengdao Sect’s inn, did they really think the Hengdao Sect was so easy to provoke?

Yang Mingcheng pondered for a bit and felt it was better to leave the matter to the two elders in front of him. After all, this was his first experience with such matters and he had no experience, and with the two elders helping, it was better than taking care of it himself.

“Then I’ll have to trouble the elders!”

Ji Hai nodded slightly and then led Yang Mingcheng back inside the inn.

“Dear guests, these were just a group of blind little thieves, they have been dealt with, and you all may rest assured!”

The Shopkeeper inside the inn was comforting the lodging guests. The inn had already cleaned up the corpses and bloodstains, leaving only a faint smell of blood lingering in the air.

The guests saw the danger had passed and were at ease, continuing to sleep in their rooms.

Yang Zhenshan returned to his room and found that the tables and chairs that had been damaged during the fight had all been replaced with new ones, and even the shattered windows had been sealed with paper. The only evidence left were some marks on the walls.

“Esteemed guest, our inn has no more spare rooms, I can only ask the guest to make do with this one tonight!” the Shopkeeper said politely.

If it had not been for Ji Hai’s intervention, he would have never been so courteous.

It was Yang Mingcheng who had drawn the trouble, and the whole incident had started because of him, so logically all the losses of the inn should be his responsibility; he should be the one pursued for compensation.

As for those in black, no one wishes to try and get money out of the dead; they had to seek it from the living, which was the rule in the worldly society.

When two sides fought and damaged the property of an establishment, they would generally seek compensation from the victor.

However, Yang Mingcheng knew nothing of this, simply feeling that the Xinfu Inn was very particular and provided excellent service.

“No trouble, thank you, Shopkeeper!”

“Then I shall not disturb the guest any longer!”

The Shopkeeper left, with Yang Mingcheng putting down the blood-stained spear, looking at the position of the door and windows.

He reflected on the previous battle in his mind, summarizing the shortcomings of the fight.

Although he had performed well just now, he had still made many mistakes; after all, this was his first real combat experience.

“Dad once said every battle is worth careful consideration, every fight is the most valuable experience!”

“I shouldn’t have jumped out of the room just now. While the room limited my performance, it also limited the enemy’s attack. On the street, I found myself in a situation of being encircled.”

“Also, when facing that strong man earlier, I should have been more proactive. There were several opportunities to kill him, but I failed to capitalize on them!”

…

Yang Mingcheng was summarizing the gains and losses of the battle, one by one. This was, after all, his first real combat experience. While he often sparred with others before, sparring was very different from real combat.

Sparring is about trading moves, while real combat is a matter of life and death.

He was accustomed to sparring, but not to the cruelty of a life-and-death fight.

If it were not for his strong abilities, he might have been killed by that robust black-clothed man earlier.

Early the next morning, Ji Hai came to Yang Mingcheng’s room.

“Those men last night were tough nuts to crack; we didn’t get their origins out of them!” Ji Hai was looking a bit grim.

The black-clad men from yesterday, apart from the one who fled, left only one captive, who, after interrogation, did not say a single word.

Such resilience could only mean two possibilities, one is that the person is mute, the other is that they’re a cultivated death soldier by some force.

Clearly, he was not a mute.

“Is that so!” Yang Mingcheng did not know what to say; up to now, he was still completely confused, not understanding why they were after him.

“However, judging from their accent, they should be from Shuntian Prefecture!” Ji Hai revealed the only piece of useful information he had acquired.

“Shuntian Prefecture! Then they came from the Capital City?” Yang Mingcheng asked.

Shuntian Prefecture was not big; other than the Capital City, there were also Wanping and Dasheng counties.

“Yes!” Ji Hai nodded slightly.

Yang Mingcheng furrowed his brows in thought; he still couldn’t fathom who would want him dead.

Ji Hai contemplated more deeply; the attackers’ target was clear – it was Yang Mingcheng, and the reason they attacked him was most likely connected to some enemy of the Yang family.

His knowledge about the Yang family was limited, but he understood that their enemies were certainly people within the court.

Once the court was implicated, a Jianghu faction like the Hengdao Sect should not get involved.

After a brief conversation, Yang Mingcheng once again expressed his thanks to Ji Hai, promising ample reward in the future, and then embarked on his journey to leave Xinping Town.

Since someone was after him, he naturally couldn’t dawdle; it was best to hurry back to the Tenglong Guard.

…

Tenglong Guard.

Yang Zhenshan was entertaining guests in the teahouse; aside from him, Liu Zhe was also present, and their visitor was Zheng Xiao from the Salt Transport Department.

Zheng Xiao’s arrival was quite sudden; just a couple of days ago, Yang Zhenshan had sent him a letter inquiring about getting the Luo family to become salt merchants, and unexpectedly, Zheng Xiao arrived at the Tenglong Guard today.

Although Tenglong Guard was not far from Liao’an Prefecture, Zheng Xiao was not someone who would easily leave the Salt Transport Department.

After exchanging pleasantries, Yang Zhenshan couldn’t help but ask, “Mr. Zheng, what brings you here all of a sudden?”

He was very curious about Zheng Xiao’s reason for coming.

In theory, there was no need for Zheng Xiao to make the trip, because what Yang Zhenshan requested was not a difficult matter for him.

Yang Zhenshan had two requests; the first was to sell salt under the name of the Salt Transport Department’s salt fields on behalf of Tenglong Guard’s salt fields. Now that he had Emperor Chengping’s approval, the Salt Transport Department, despite their reluctance, dared not defy the imperial will, so this matter required only a bit of cooperation from Zheng Xiao.

The second matter was to have the Luo family become salt merchants, which would be difficult for others, but quite easy for Zheng Xiao as the Liaodong Imperial Salt Inspector.

Imperial Salt Inspector, although a seventh-grade official, was a sword hanging over the head of the Salt Transport Department; if they did not ingratiate themselves with him, the entire Liaodong Salt Transportation Department would not know peace.

Therefore, when the Imperial Salt Inspector made minor requests, the officials of the Salt Transport Department were quite willing to cooperate.

If it were just for these two matters, there was no need for Zheng Xiao to make this trip, and considering the regard he held for Liu Yuanfu, he should indeed help Yang Zhenshan with this favor.

After pondering for a while and glancing at Liu Zhe beside him, Zheng Xiao sighed deeply, “I have come to ask General Yang for help!”

“Assistance? With what?” Yang Zhenshan inquired.

“I would like to request a team of soldiers from General Yang for my protection!” said Zheng Xiao.

Yang Zhenshan’s eyes narrowed slightly, his expression suddenly turning serious.

Liu Zhe, who was pouring tea, stopped in his tracks, stunned, and looked up at Zheng Xiao.

“Is Mr. Zheng in danger?” Yang Zhenshan asked solemnly.

If Zheng Xiao was truly in danger, it signified a major issue lurking in the background.

An Imperial Censor carrying out duties on behalf of the Emperor was not to be trifled with; to harm such an official was tantamount to rebellion.

Zheng Xiao nodded, gravely saying, “I plan to investigate the bribery of the Liaodong Salt Transport Commissioner Luo Fu and the former Imperial Salt Inspector Zhao Mingsheng, who have been preselling salt leads privately!”

Yang Zhenshan and Liu Zhe exchanged looks of surprise.

It was an unwritten rule for officials of the Salt Transport Department to take bribes, which they did simply by taking kickbacks.

Salt merchants needed salt leads to purchase salt, which were distributed by the Salt Transport Department. The officials allocated salt leads based on the amount of kickback from the salt merchants,

The officials received Silver for salt leads, allowing big salt merchants with money and connections to control the monopoly of the salt trade.

This formed a straightforward chain of interests.

While these were all common knowledge, and neither Yang Zhenshan nor Liu Zhe were surprised, the private presale of salt leads was puzzling.

Yang Zhenshan voiced his confusion.

Zheng Xiao revealed a bitter smile and explained.

The so-called private presale of salt leads was quite simple: it meant selling next year’s salt leads this year.

This way, not only could the Salt Transport Department officials get a kickback a year in advance, but they could also use the Silver from the sale of salt leads ahead of time.

Take the Liaodong Salt Transportation Department for instance; each year, they earned millions of taels of Silver from selling salt leads. By preselling next year’s salt leads, it meant that the Salt Transport Department could wield millions of taels of Silver a year in advance.

The Silver from this year’s salt lead sales went to the court, and if next year’s salt leads were sold this year, that sum of Silver would remain within the Salt Transport Department for a year, leaving them free to use the funds, like making loans in money houses for interest, yielding a considerable sum over the year.

“Luo Fu and Zhao Mingsheng have already sold all of next year’s salt leads! And now, there’s not a single coin in the Salt Transport Department’s treasury!” Zheng Xiao spoke with a sense of gravity.

Yang Zhenshan stroked his beard, lost in thought.

What a talent!

Truly a talent!

Preselling salt leads, isn’t that just futures trading?

Then using the Silver from preselling salt leads to make more money.

Taking kickbacks has risks and can be criticized for bribery, but preselling salt leads can hardly be counted as corruption or accepting bribes, it could only be considered unauthorized use of treasury funds.

And when it came time to submit Silver to the Ministry of Revenue, there was no need to recall the previous Silver, because they could just sell the salt leads for the following year and give that to the Ministry of Revenue.

This was equivalent to the Salt Transport Department always having over a million taels of Silver invested outside.

And borrowing money through money houses and pawnshops usually meant substantial interest rates.

If they lent out all one million plus taels of Silver, they could potentially double it in a year.

Using borrowed money to make money, tsch tsch, Yang Zhenshan couldn’t help but admire the cleverness of Luo Fu and Zhao Mingsheng.

Looking at how they conducted their business, damn it, why does it feel even more profitable than being salt merchants?

Yang Zhenshan couldn’t help but ponder whether he should also lend out the funds from the Guardian Department.

To hell with building salt fields!

Of course, this was just a fleeting thought; unauthorized use of treasury funds was a serious crime, and he didn’t want to be prosecuted for it.

The clever aspect of Luo Fu and Zhao Mingsheng’s scheme was this: if accused of misappropriating treasury funds, they could argue that this sum initially didn’t belong to the Salt Transport Department since it was supposed to be next year’s funds and not this year’s.

Hence, Zheng Xiao only mentioned their private presale of salt leads, without accusing them of misappropriating treasury funds.