Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 309: Chapter 299: Rallying the Troops

Protection!

More like confinement!

What kind of strongman would dare to commit violence within the walls of the mansion city?

Even if there are strongmen, it should be the government office’s job to deal with them, not the Governor’s Office’s responsibility to catch thieves.

Zheng Xiao understood when he heard this — Luo Fu intended to confine him.

But at the same time, he also breathed a sigh of relief. It was merely confinement, for now, he was still safe.

Zheng Xiao’s mind raced, the collusion between Luo Fu and the Governor’s Office had caught him by surprise.

“Make way, I need to go out!” Zheng Xiao wanted to test to what extent the other party would go.

“Sorry, Mr. Zheng, there is a strongman causing trouble in the city, and it’s safer for you to stay inside the mansion!” Xu Huazhen still spoke with a smile.

“I have official duties to attend to!”

“Mr. Zheng, please don’t make it difficult for me!” Xu Huazhen suddenly dropped his smile.

“It is you who are making things difficult for me!” Zheng Xiao glared at him coldly.

Xu Huazhen shook his head slightly. Looking around, he suddenly grabbed a servant boy, not very old, and the long sword at his waist was swiftly drawn.

Zheng Xiao’s pupils shrank sharply, “Stop!”

But Xu Huazhen paid no heed to his command. The blade swept across, and fresh blood was spilled.

The servant boy’s face turned to one of terror, frozen in shock, his lips trembling slightly, his eyes pleadingly looking at Zheng Xiao.

In a single breath, his body went limp and he collapsed to the ground.

Jiang Yuan’s face changed dramatically, drawing his long sword to protect Zheng Xiao.

“Mr. Zheng, you see, a strongman has infiltrated your residence,” Xu Huazhen said, his face regaining its cheerful smile.

Zheng Xiao ground his teeth as he glared at him, his eyes flaring with rage.

But in the end, he did not speak and instead strode into the study.

By now, he understood that the other party was hell-bent on keeping him under house arrest.

Truly audacious and reckless.

More talk was pointless; he had no choice but to stay and comply.

Fortunately, fortunately, he had sent out two people.

This was the only consolation for Zheng Xiao.

…

Tenglong Guard.

The first batch of salt from the salt fields had just been transported away, and Jiang He brought the account books to Yang Zhenshan’s study.

“Dad, here are the account books for the salt fields!”

Yang Zhenshan took the account books and glanced through them casually.

It had cost over eight hundred Silver to build the salt fields, and since the workers had not yet reached the time for their monthly pay, the salt fields’ expenditures were still only over eight hundred Silver.

This first batch of salt was less than ten thousand catties. Yang Zhenshan sold it to the Luo family for twenty-two wen per catty. After deductions for transportation and sales costs, the Luo family’s profit margin was around five wen.

The sale of a batch of salt brought in over two hundred Silver. The quantity might seem small, but in reality, it was an exorbitant profit.

Normally, the profit from salt is shared among the salt fields, the Salt Transport Department, and the salt merchants: two tenths for the salt fields, about three tenths for the Salt Transport Department, and the remaining half for the large salt merchants.

As for the Stove House and others involved in the salt trade, they are just laborers, only earning a hard living.

Currently, the Tenglong Guard is playing the dual roles of the salt fields and the Salt Transport Department, taking up almost seventy percent of the profits, while the Luo family retains less than thirty percent.

Once the output of the salt fields increases, the income of the Tenglong Guard’s office will greatly improve.

Yang Zhenshan estimates that, with only control of Jing’an Prefecture’s salt trade, Tenglong Guard could have an annual income of around ten thousand Silver.

This is assuming the price of salt drops to twelve or thirteen wen.

While ten thousand Silver may not seem like a lot, it represents a stable and continuous income.

Moreover, Yang Zhenshan does not intend to limit himself to just one prefecture’s salt trade; whenever the opportunity arises, he will surely expand the scope of the salt trade.

“Not bad, continue to oversee the subsequent plans. By the way, have Wenhua arrange for someone to help you later. After all, the salt fields belong to the government office, and they need to be managed by the office’s staff in the future!” Yang Zhenshan said.

If it were not for the current staff shortage in the government office, Yang Zhenshan would not have let Jiang He manage the salt fields.

Eventually, when the office is sufficiently staffed, Jiang He will have to leave the salt fields.

“Alright!” Jiang He had no objections, his personality had always been non-confrontational, doing whatever Yang Zhenshan asked of him.

After Jiang He left, Yang Zhenshan looked down at the recent situation of armament forging within the office.

In recent days, An Yuan City had sent another batch of craftsmen. These craftsmen were not from the garrison office, but came from the iron and woodworking shops run by the Luo family, as well as the Embroidery Workshop.

To train craftsmen initially, Yang Zhenshan had specifically asked the Luo family to run iron and woodworking shops and embroidery workshops.

Most craftsmen in the An Yuan City’s garrison office came from the Luo family’s shops. Now, these shops were also training craftsmen for the Tenglong Guard.

Furthermore, iron and woodworking shops within the Guard City had also begun operations. Soon, some adolescents would be selected from the Tenglong Guard as apprentices, and some from the construction teams as well.

With new craftsmen joining, the Guardian Department’s forge’s production speed has increased significantly, especially the forging speed for Iron Armor, able to produce fifteen sets per month.

This was a significant improvement.

Yang Zhenshan was quite satisfied with this.

Nowadays, the Tenglong Guard had many affairs to tend to, each progressing slowly but surely under Yang Zhenshan’s guidance, with improvements visible almost every day. Although each improvement was minor, the accumulated effect over time led to monumental changes.

Today, only the speed of forging Iron Armor increased slightly, tomorrow the output of the salt fields may increase a bit, and in a few more days the repairs on the Guard City’s walls will be completed, etc., all moving forward simultaneously.

“The iron mine is running short again!”

Yang Zhenshan looked at the document Zhou Ren handed over, shook his head helplessly, then signed and stamped the document.

This document needs to be sent to the Central Army Commander’s Mansion, from where the Central Army Commander’s Mansion would allocate iron ore to the Tenglong Guard.

The iron ore used to be transported from Chongshan Town, and it will likely come from other places next.

Just as Yang Zhenshan stamped his official seal, a personal follower came in from outside, “Sir, there is a guard from the Zheng family asking to see you!”

“The Zheng family!” Yang Zhenshan looked up.

“Yes, they’ve come from Liao’an Prefecture,” said the personal follower.

Yang Zhenshan’s eyes narrowed, and he immediately stood up and walked towards the entrance.

Soon he arrived at the anteroom of the Guardian Department’s government office and saw two guards.

“Greetings, General Yang!”

“Hmm, why have you come? Has something happened to Mr. Zheng?” Yang Zhenshan asked.

“Our master pleads for the General to save him!”

“Tell me about Mr. Zheng’s situation!”

The two guards looked at each other and said, “When we left, we found that official soldiers had burst into the residence!”

“What!” Yang Zhenshan’s eyes widened.

Official soldiers bursting into the Imperial Censor Mansion, is this a rebellion?

Does Luo Fu have such audacity?

“Please, General, save our master!” The two guards knelt on the ground, kowtowing.

Yang Zhenshan quickly helped them up, saying, “You two go rest for now, I will make a decision!”

After speaking, he hurriedly returned to the main hall.

With Luo Fu letting official soldiers burst into Zheng Xiao’s Mansion, has it come to a point of desperate measures?

What is the extent of the current situation?

After returning to the main hall, Yang Zhenshan paced back and forth inside.

Should he go rescue Zheng Xiao?

The answer is yes.

Zheng Xiao had just helped Yang Zhenshan, and in the future, Tenglong Guard’s salt fields, the Luo family, and many other places would need the care of Mr. Zheng, the Salt Transport Inspector.

Moreover, Zheng Xiao was also a student of Liu Yuanfu, whom Liu Yuanfu regarded highly.

How could Yang Zhenshan turn a blind eye?

But how to save him?

Directly lead troops there?

As a Commander, he does not have the authority to command troops.

In Chongshan Town, he could mobilize his own soldiers since the duty of the garrison government office was to patrol the borders, and as long as they did not go too far, it was justifiable.

However, in the garrisons within the heartland of the dynasty, the garrisons do not have the authority to command troops.

Even the Governor’s Office can’t arbitrarily mobilize garrison soldiers.

However, some garrison soldiers are responsible for the defense of cities and rotate into the garrison city.

This is why there are soldiers from Liao’an Advanced Guard within Liao’an City.

But Tenglong Guard has no duty to garrison the city defenses and certainly cannot go to Liao’an City to garrison.

Originally, Marquis Jingyuan, Su Qian, sent troops out of the Capital City without authorization, annoyed Emperor Chengping, and ended up being removed from his position.

If he just took his personal followers for a trip, the problem would not be so serious. However, since Luo Fu has already mobilized official soldiers, taking just twenty personal followers might not be enough to control the situation.

He must lead troops there. After thinking it through, Yang Zhenshan took a deep breath, walked into his study, and wrote a memorial.

The content of the memorial was straightforward – it was a simple recount of the facts.

The gist was – Your Majesty, Mr. Zheng is in a critical situation that may endanger his life. I can only lead troops there to assist. If Your Majesty blames me, I am willing to accept the punishment!

“Someone, pass the order to Song Dashan to immediately assemble the troops, ready for battle!”

“Order Yang Mingzhi and Yang Minghao to come to see me immediately!”

Following Yang Zhenshan’s commands, several personal followers outside responded and went to pass the orders.

The first to arrive was Yang Mingzhi; the four deputies of the Guardian Department each were responsible for the affairs of one regiment, the construction of each thousand households and each garrison, the training of the soldiers, as well as the farming and other affairs. They were all very busy on a daily basis.

Soon after, Yang Minghao also hurried over.

With both brothers present, Yang Zhenshan immediately handed them the two memorials, saying, “Now you two must immediately take these two memorials to the Capital City!”

“Remember, ride swiftly without stops!”

The brothers were slightly stunned, and Yang Minghao asked, “Dad, what happened?”

“Zheng Xiao is in trouble, the situation is unclear, and I must go to Liao’an Prefecture!” Yang Zhenshan explained briefly, then said, “Leave right now!”

“Yes!” The brothers had many questions in their hearts, but seeing the urgency of Yang Zhenshan, they dared not ask more. They both responded and quickly headed towards the stables!

Yang Zhenshan wanted them to deliver the memorials for two reasons: one was for fear of being intercepted en route, and the other was because their cultivation was quite good.

According to normal procedures, the memorial should be sent through courier stations, but the courier station’s transmission of memorials was not fast.

A memorial from Liaodong to the Capital City would take at least six or seven days, and even if it was an urgent eight hundred li express, it would take about three days.

But Yang Zhenshan did not have the right to use the eight hundred li express, and it was not supposed to be used unless it was absolutely necessary; Zheng Xiao was obviously not important enough to use the eight hundred li express.

Since he could not use the courier station’s express service, they arranged for one themselves.

Sending an eight hundred li express was not easy; courier stations could continuously change horses and couriers, similar to a relay race to complete the express, but if one arranged it by themselves, they could change horses at the courier station, but the couriers could not be changed.

This meant that Yang Mingzhi and Yang Minghao had to travel long distances at high speed. Not to mention ordinary people, even martial artists might not be able to endure it.