Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 332: Chapter 322: Junior Sister, Your Senior Brother Will Carry You in Your Bridal Procession!

At the start of October, the autumn harvest came to an end, and the basic training of the third batch of soldiers entered the most strenuous phase.

The three batches of trained soldiers included 3000 in the first batch, 4000 in the second batch, and similarly 4000 in the third batch.

This also meant that, after training completion, Tenglong Guard had a total of over 11,000 soldiers who finished basic training, and more than 3000 had passed the selection to become Camp Soldiers.

As military households continued to arrive at Tenglong Guard as reinforcements from the Central Army Commander’s Mansion, the Tenglong Guard’s military households had basically reached full complement, that is, more than 22,000 military households.

Among them, Tenglong Left Guard, Right Guard, and Rear Guard nearly had 16,800 military households, with 16,800-plus soldiers.

Tenglong Advanced Guard had over 5600 military households, with over 5600 soldiers, and those participating in Navy training had already surpassed a thousand.

With the addition of military households, the population of Tenglong Guard also neared 100,000.

A population of 100,000, which in Da Rong had already reached the scale of a county, and even some smaller counties did not have a population of 100,000.

Now under Yang Zhenshan’s command, there were both people and soldiers; the government office was wealthy and supplied with grain, and they even held the lucrative asset of salt fields.

More importantly, this replenishment of military households brought a large number of educated people to the Guardian Department.

Under the severe drought, the people’s lives were hard, and many either died of starvation or disease.

Especially those who were already poor, facing natural disasters with almost no resistance.

In contrast, the wealthier peasants who owned fields had a certain ability to withstand disasters.

As for large landlords, wealthy merchants, and official households, the impact of natural disasters on them was the smallest; they didn’t need to relocate.

Therefore, the refugees who moved to Tenglong Guard were mostly ordinary people. These ordinary people were relatively fortunate, enduring hunger and the hardships of relocation, they arrived at Tenglong Guard.

Among them, there was also a sizable portion who were originally wealthier peasants, who managed to sustain themselves with their previous savings.

And among these wealthier peasants, quite a few were educated—perhaps only a few years in a private school, without any significant scholarly achievements, but capable enough to become civil servants in the government office.

Therefore, after receiving this batch of refugees, Tenglong Guard was able to recruit a number of civil servants to relieve the shortage of civil servants in its various levels of government offices.

At the same time, it laid the foundation for Yang Zhenshan’s next step of planning.

Now, with the exception of the Navy’s ongoing formation, everything in Tenglong Guard was on the right track, and Tenglong Guard’s development was about to enter an unprecedented state of rapid progress.

In mid-October, Song Hao and Wang Yunqiao got married, and the Yang family inside and out was adorned with lanterns and streamers, brimming with jubilation.

Even the entire Guard City was imbued with a celebratory atmosphere.

This festive atmosphere started because of the Yang family, but it wasn’t solely due to Song Hao and Wang Yunqiao’s marriage; it was also because of the joy following a great harvest and the ever-improving state of Tenglong Guard.

From Tenglong Guard’s officials at all levels to the ordinary soldier households, everyone needed celebration to acknowledge the gains of the past year.

Serendipitously, Song Hao and Wang Yunqiao’s marriage became a catalyst, allowing everyone to express their joy.

Approaching noon, the buzz of excitement filled the Yang family, while the streets outside were also abuzz with noise.

In the main hall of the Yang family’s front courtyard, Yang Zhenshan was beaming as he looked upon the couple before him.

”Master, Mom!”

Wang Yunqiao’s eyes were swollen from crying, clearly having cried many times today.

”Alright, alright, it’s a joyous day, no need to cry!” Yu Qingyi offered her a handkerchief to wipe away the tears.

”Yes!” Wang Yunqiao nodded repeatedly, a smile on her face, but tears still uncontrollably rolling down.

At this moment, probably no one could truly empathize with her.

At the age of eight, all of her family, except her younger brother, were killed by bandits.

Then, she arrived at Yang Family Village holding her brother, like a soulless child.

Yang Zhenshan took them in and accepted them as his disciples.

Day by day over eight years, she grew from that misfortunate girl into an adult, and her brother had grown as tall as she was then.

Reflecting on her eight years of life with the Yang family, thinking back to her nervous self following Yang Zhenshan, recalling her parents and relatives whose faces she could hardly remember, and then looking at her Master, Mom, elder brothers, sisters-in-law, and her own younger brother right before her.

It felt like a dream.

”Sister, don’t cry!” Wang Mingzhe came forward, taking her hand.

Wang Yunqiao stroked his head, ”After your sister gets married, you have to take care of Master and Mom for me!”

”Yes!” Wang Mingzhe nodded vigorously.

”Junior sister, let your elder brother carry you to your wedding!” Yang Mingcheng stepped forward, squatting down.

Wang Yunqiao looked to Yang Zhenshan; Yang Zhenshan stroked his beard and kindly said, ”Go on, don’t miss the auspicious time.”

”Disciple thanks the Master!”

Wang Yunqiao knelt on the ground and kowtowed, tears uncontrollably streaming down, staining her bridal makeup.

Yang Zhenshan’s eyes turned slightly red, ah, this girl needs to have a good cry today.

It tugged at his heartstrings like a worried father.

But as Yang Zhenshan was about to help her up, she quickly rose from the ground and leapt onto Yang Mingcheng’s back.

”Elder brother, thank you!”

”Hahaha, my sister is getting married!” Yang Mingcheng laughed heartily, lifting Wang Yunqiao onto his back.

Gazing at the departing figures, and listening to the noise outside, Yang Zhenshan’s emotions were somewhat mixed.

Joy, heartache, and a bit of irritation.

A day as a teacher means a lifetime as a father; Yunxue and Yunqiao were pretty much the same in his heart, both raised by him.

Having a daughter married off, it was inevitable for his heart to feel a bit sour.

”The time is almost right, my lord should go and host the guests!” Yu Qingyi reminded.

”Mm!” Yang Zhenshan nodded slightly.

This time, he took advantage of the wedding between Song Hao and Wang Yunqiao to hold a grand banquet, inviting all the officials from the Tenglong Guard. Song Dashan even hosted a hundred-table banquet stream for all the old brothers who came together from An Yuan City, and additionally set up countless flowing banquets in the streets, inside and outside the city, open for anyone to join and drink.

Yang Zhenshan looked down at Wang Mingzhe standing beside him and smiled, ”Come, Master will take you to the feast!”

Wang Mingzhe looked up, holding Yang Zhenshan’s hand tightly, with a smile of clever sweetness on his face.

”Thank you, Master!”

Yang Zhenshan laughed heartily, taking the little one out of the main hall to greet the friends and relatives who had come to the banquet.

In fact, all those who came to the banquet were officials of the Tenglong Guard.

Like Xie Yuan, Wu Chongzhe, Yu Tonghai, Xue Ping, and so on.

A disciple, after all, is not as good as a daughter, not that there is a difference in Yang Zhenshan’s heart, but rather in terms of formal status.

When Yang Yunxue got married, not only did all the officials from An Yuan City come to the Yang family to offer their congratulations, many even sent their gifts in advance.

In comparison, there were far fewer who came to congratulate Yun Qiao.

Yet this was already very lively for the Tenglong Guard.

”Haha, I won’t say much, today we leave official business aside, we just eat and drink!”

”Look, the top-notch Hundred Herbs Brew, my colleagues, don’t say I’m stingy, there’s plenty for today!”

Yang Zhenshan naturally wouldn’t go from table to table toasting. Instead, he shouted loudly,

”Such generosity from our lord!” Yang Mingzhen sat below, shouting with uncontrollable joy.

Hundred Herbs Brew!

This was a treasure of the Yang family. While they occasionally got to drink it following Yang Zhenshan, to drink as much as they wanted like today was a first.

”Come, come, let’s drink!”

”Mr. Yu, today we must drink until we’re completely drunk!”

Yang Zhenshan sat at the main table, clinking cups with Yu Tonghai.

”Haha, thanks to the lord’s kindness, today I certainly won’t leave until I’m drunk!” Yu Tonghai said with a big laugh.

At this moment, he was completely different from when he first arrived at the Tenglong Guard.

When he first arrived, his heart was filled with worry and apprehension, but after getting to know the Tenglong Guard, his worries and apprehension had vanished entirely. He even felt fortunate to have come.

To say how good the Tenglong Guard was, well, not exactly, but the one thing comfortable for him was the lack of fierce power struggles, dirty dealings, and corruption.

At the Tenglong Guard, he could focus on his work without considering other things, and that was what he found most comfortable.

”Mr. Xue, you must also drink until you’re completely drunk!” Yang Zhenshan toasted with Xue Ping as well.

”Don’t worry, lord, as long as there is still wine from your home, I won’t leave!” Xue Ping joked.

Everyone who heard this burst into hearty laughter.

”Exactly, exactly, it’s rare for our lord to be so generous, we must drink all the wine from the lord’s home dry!” Wu Chongzhe also chimed in.

Yang Zhenshan suddenly had a bad premonition.

He felt that his previous words seemed to have dug himself a hole.

Although he had brewed a lot of Hundred Herbs Brew, these men before him were all big drinkers.

If he really allowed them to drink to their hearts’ content, the wine he had stored might not be enough.

Nonetheless, he couldn’t take back what he had already said. He could only grit his teeth and declare, ”Drink as much as you like!”

Yang Zhenshan was right; today he really spared no expense.

The most frequent activity he had undertaken these past two years in the Spiritual Spring Space was brewing wine.

Not only did he store dozens of jars of Hundred Herbs Brew in the cellar within the space, but he also dug several cellars at the Yang family’s home specifically for storing Hundred Herbs Brew.

Just in the cellars of the Yang family’s home, there were hundreds of jars, some a hundred pounds, fifty pounds, and even ten pound jars in considerable quantity.

Yet just in one day, the cellars of the Yang family were emptied.

When Yang Zhenshan saw the empty cellars the next day, his face went from green to white.

That was over five thousand pounds of liquor, all drunk up.

”How can it all be gone?” Yang Zhenshan was almost in tears.

”The master said there would be enough liquor, everyone from our home, the Song family, outsiders, they all came to take wine, this old servant dared not stop them!” Wu Hai said somewhat nervously.

”Why did the Song family also come to take wine?” Yang Zhenshan asked.

Wu Hai said, ”Wasn’t it the master who had it sent over? Later Mr. Song said it wasn’t enough, and he came personally to take more, and the master agreed.”

”...”

Yang Zhenshan was speechless, it seemed he really had agreed to it, and he even said ’take as much as you want.’

Damnit, in his excitement he forgot that Song Dashan was a bit of a blockhead.

If it were someone else, they definitely wouldn’t take all the wine, but with Song Dashan, when Yang Zhenshan said take as much as you want, Song Dashan really took everything!

Yang Zhenshan looked up silently; it was bad enough digging his own hole, this simpleton actually helped dig it deeper.

Well, that’s that—

He really couldn’t do anything about this simpleton.

At least there was some wine left in the space, otherwise the family’s supply would truly be cut off.