Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 322: Chapter 312 Your Biggest Mistake Is Having Ambition!

Penalty of one year’s stipend!

This was the punishment meted out by the Central Army Commander’s Mansion to Yang Zhenshan for leading troops out of the country without authorization.

However, Yang Zhenshan felt certain it was the old Emperor’s will.

Regarding such a verdict, Yang Zhenshan felt both a sigh of relief and a tinge of resentment in his heart.

Relieved because the punishment wasn’t heavy—only a year’s stipend, which truly didn’t mean much to him. The Yang family did not rely on his meager stipend to live; a year’s forfeiture wouldn’t affect their daily life.

As for the resentment, wouldn’t a working man harbor grievances if a year’s salary were withheld?

”The old Emperor is truly inhumane!”

”Punishing your own son’s stipend is one thing, but why punish mine?”

”I managed the affair without a hint of selfishness, and you still penalize my stipend—it’s utterly unjust!”

Of course, Yang Zhenshan only muttered these grievances in his heart; he wouldn’t dare speak them out loud.

Helplessly, the old Emperor’s word is law, not something insignificant people like us can challenge.

Soon after, Yang Zhenshan put the punishment and his grievances out of his mind and continued to busy himself with the establishment of the Tenglong Guard.

Several days later, his memorial was once again sent to the Capital City.

In the Imperial Study Room within the Imperial City.

Emperor Chengping was leaning against the golden cushion, Prince Xin was kneeling before him, Chen and several little eunuchs stood to the side, not even daring to breathe heavily.

Prince Xin had already been kneeling for two hours, his body trembling slightly, his forehead covered in large beads of perspiration, unsure if it was from exhaustion or fright.

Emperor Chengping was silent as he examined the memorial in his hand, paying no mind to Prince Xin.

It was only when he came upon Yang Zhenshan’s memorial that a change flickered across his expression—not because of the content of the memorial, which he had not yet examined in detail, but simply seeing Yang Zhenshan’s name reminded him of the incapable son before him.

Emperor Chengping raised his eyelids and asked with a detached tone, ”Do you know why you are made to kneel here?”

Upon hearing this, Prince Xin hurriedly bowed even lower, ”Your son does not know!”

Seeing him like this, Emperor Chengping was filled with indignation, picking up a memorial from the desk and flinging it at him.

”You don’t know, you worthless waste, what do you know?”

Flurries of memorials struck Prince Xin’s head, on his forehead.

Chen, standing at the side, reached out as if to catch them, but then hesitated and stopped.

”Your men failed to kill Luo Fu and instead, he’s become a prisoner at your doorstep!”

”Hah, you truly have some nerve, daring to assign men to kill Luo Fu!”

”If only you had killed Luo Fu, I might have looked at you differently. And what happened?”

”You didn’t kill the man but served your own downfall on a platter!”

”You’re a humiliating waste!”

Emperor Chengping was truly enraged.

As an Emperor, he did not care about good or evil, about kindness or morals. All he cared about was royal authority, was interest.

And as his son, he also wished they were all good obedient children.

Good obedient children can’t sit on the throne, and even if they did, they wouldn’t be able to hold it securely.

It was not significant that Prince Xin wanted to kill Luo Fu.

If he were in Prince Xin’s position, not only would he have killed Luo Fu, but he would have also killed all those in the know, including Zheng Xiao and Yang Zhenshan—anyone involved who could possibly affect his own interests, wiping them all out.

But he certainly would not have acted so recklessly, nor would he have dispatched his own followers for such a task.

Not ruthless enough in actions, not careful enough in execution—this was Emperor Chengping’s assessment of Prince Xin.

”Your son knows his wrong, and begs for the Emperor Father’s punishment!” Prince Xin, with his forehead touching the ground, dared not lift his head nor utter a word in retort.

”You know your wrong, heh~ Your biggest mistake was having ambition at all!”

Emperor Chengping looked coldly at Prince Xin.

Prince Xin was thoroughly panicked, ”Emperor Father!”

Emperor Chengping cut him off, ”Get yourself together and go to your fief. Be a good Prince and never come back to the Capital City ever again!”

Prince Xin’s face turned deathly pale in an instant.

Being sent to a fief!

Far from the Capital City, he would have no more chances.

And Emperor Chengping had truly given up on him!

”Emperor Father! Your son knows his wrong!” Prince Xin begged in tears.

”Get out!” Emperor Chengping barked hoarsely.

Upon seeing this, Chen quickly stepped forward, ”Prince Xin, perhaps you should retire for now!”

As he spoke, he signaled with his eyes to the few little eunuchs, who immediately stepped forward to half-drag, half-escort Prince Xin out of the Imperial Study Room.

Once Prince Xin had departed, Chen promptly offered tea to Emperor Chengping, ”Your Majesty, please calm your anger and think of your esteemed dragon’s health first!”

Emperor Chengping took a deep breath, accepted the tea, and sipped lightly, his breath coming more smoothly after some time.

He pointed at the chaotic memorials on the ground, ”Pick those up!”

Chen swiftly gathered the memorials from the floor, lining them up neatly on the desk.

Emperor Chengping then picked out Yang Zhenshan’s memorial from the stack, carefully reading the content.

He had been too angry before and had not read the memorials in detail before throwing them.

”The Navy?”

”Maritime trade?”

After finishing reading the memorial, Emperor Chengping slightly knitted his eyebrows.

Yang Zhenshan did not conceal his thoughts about developing maritime trade; instead, he wrote all his ideas in the memorial to the Emperor. However, he understood that if it was only about maritime trade, the old Emperor would most likely disagree. That’s why he used the establishment of the Navy as a pretext.

As for whether Emperor Chengping would agree to the Tenglong Guard establishing the Navy, Yang Zhenshan was somewhat confident.

This confidence stemmed from Prince Qing having a secret fleet involved in maritime trade.

Just as Yang Zhenshan had thought, when Emperor Chengping saw that Yang Zhenshan wanted to build a Navy, the first thing that came to his mind was Prince Qing’s trading fleet.

”Does Prince Qing have a not so small fleet?” Emperor Chengping asked Chen.

Chen hastily replied: ”Yes, according to the investigation by the Secret Martial Guards, Prince Qing started assembling his fleet eight years ago. Now, this fleet has over eighty ships large and small!”

These years, the Secret Martial Guards had always been monitoring Prince Qing, even intensifying their surveillance on him multiple times. Regrettably, Prince Qing was very cautious, and everything he did was perfectly executed.

Take the fleet, for instance, according to the rules, Princes and Commandery Princes are not allowed to engage in commerce, not to mention maritime trade, even ordinary business activities are out of the question.

However, rules are merely rules, and some have already been tacitly broken. Now, all the Princes in Da Rong are involved in commerce, so Emperor Chengping couldn’t use commercial involvement as a reason to punish Prince Qing.

”Have the Secret Martial Guards not found out where Prince Qing’s fleet goes?” Emperor Chengping continued to ask.

Chen shook his head slightly, ”According to the Secret Martial Guards’ investigation, in recent years, Prince Qing’s fleet has been frequently traveling between the Li Sheng Dynasty and the Desheng Dynasty. Ostensibly, they are trading, but secretly there is much more hidden.”

”The Secret Martial Guards have speculated that Prince Qing might have a base overseas, but they have never been able to infiltrate Prince Qing’s fleet, so this speculation has never been confirmed!”

Emperor Chengping silently put down the memorial in his hand. He couldn’t help but admire Prince Qing’s caution and meticulous planning.

Everything that Prince Qing revealed on the surface was so appropriate that he couldn’t find a suitable reason.

Sometimes, he really wanted to take down Prince Qing regardless of everything else.

Unfortunately, he could never make up his mind.

”What do you think about the Tenglong Guard wanting to establish the Navy?” Emperor Chengping was silent for a moment before turning to ask.

His focus was on the Navy, he never cared about Yang Zhenshan’s desire to engage in maritime trade.

”This old servant does not dare to speculate rashly!” Chen said with his head bowed.

”You old thing, just speak if I tell you to!” Emperor Chengping said, a bit impatiently.

Chen pondered for a moment, revealing a smile and said, ”This old servant thinks it would be feasible for the Tenglong Advanced Guard to build the Navy!”

”Tenglong Advanced Guard!” Emperor Chengping rubbed the memorial on the table, ”Then who shall be the Commander of the Tenglong Advanced Guard?”

Tenglong Guard, Tenglong Advanced Guard - an extra word, but with different implications.

In reality, there was no Tenglong Advanced Guard, only the Tenglong Guard; the so-called front, rear, left, and right guards of the Tenglong Guard did not exist as separate units but were internal divisions within the Tenglong Guard.

If an actual Tenglong Advanced Guard were to be established, then some military households would have to be separated from the Tenglong Guard and placed into the Tenglong Advanced Guard, which would also establish its own Commander and Guardian Department.

This would be equivalent to having two government offices, two sets of parallel leadership.

”General Yang could temporarily take on the additional role!” Chen suggested.

Hearing this, Emperor Chengping’s face showed a faint smile.

This idea aligned well with his intentions.

”Let’s do it this way, then!”

With that, he approved the memorial with an endorsing mark.

Chen immediately stepped forward to take the memorial, ”This old servant will immediately convey Your Majesty’s decision to Duke Ning!”

”Hmm!”

Emperor Chengping nodded his head and picked up another memorial to begin reading.

...

At the end of July, the Liaodong Salt Transportation Department’s corruption case was closed.

Liaodong Salt Transport Commissioner Luo Fu, Liao’an Inspector General Tang Bo, Liao’an Advanced Guard Commander Xu Huazhen, and former Liaodong Salt Censor Zhao Mingsheng were arrested and their properties confiscated and executed.

Several government offices, like the Liao Yuan Governor’s Office, Capital Commander’s Department, Inspector General’s Office, Liaodong Salt Transportation Department, and the Liao’an Magistrate’s government office, were implicated, and over thirty officials were dismissed or demoted.

Additionally, eight major salt merchants’ properties were confiscated, and more than ten salt merchants had their illicit silver confiscated.

Following this case, the Liaodong salt administration and salt industry nearly collapsed.

Other government offices were still okay, but the Salt Transport Department’s office was almost completely wiped out.

From the Salt Transport Commissioner to the salt field officials, hardly anyone was spared.

Yang Zhenshan could only describe it as a den of snakes and rats.

However, all this was the affair of the Salt Transport Department. He had no authority over the Salt Transport Department. More than the disposal of Salt Transport Department officials, he was more concerned about the handling of the salt merchants.

Eight salt merchant families were confiscated, which also meant that a large market in the Liaodong Region was vacated, suggesting that new salt merchants would take over these markets and that the Tenglong Guard’s salt fields would be able to sell more salt.

The upheaval in the salt industry was undoubtedly an opportunity.

After understanding the situation in Liao’an Prefecture, Yang Zhenshan immediately wrote a letter to Luo Shang, asking him to go to Liao’an Prefecture to see the situation and to try to seize a larger salt market opportunity.

However, this required Zheng Xiao’s consent. After the collapse of the Salt Transport Department, the salt administration in Liaodong was almost entirely dominated by Zheng Xiao.

If the Luo family wanted to take over a larger market, they would need Zheng Xiao’s support.

But Yang Zhenshan did not write to Zheng Xiao, nor did he speak on behalf of the Luo family.

How should this be explained?

Yang Zhenshan was not a businessman; his involvement in the salt business was to increase income for the Tenglong Guard, not to make a profit.

If the Luo family took over a larger market, the Tenglong Guard’s salt fields would definitely not be able to meet the demand, so the Luo family would buy salt from other salt fields.

Since this would be from other salt fields, it would have nothing to do with the Tenglong Guard.

Moreover, the Tenglong Guard’s salt fields could be expanded, but there was a limit to how much they could grow.

The Tenglong Guard could earn money through its salt fields, but it couldn’t take up too large a share of the salt market in Liaodong.

The reason was simple: there were countless Stove Houses in the Liaodong Region relying on boiling and sun-drying salt for their livelihood. If the Tenglong Guard took up too much market share, many Stove Houses would lose their means of living.

Thus, Yang Zhenshan’s idea was that the Tenglong Guard’s salt fields would at most occupy the salt market of three prefectures, and no more.

But in doing so, as the Luo family took over other markets and bought salt from other salt fields, it became their own business affair, which was why Yang Zhenshan did not intervene, only giving Luo Shang a heads-up.