Chapter 197: Marriage and Childbirth

Yu Qingyi frowned, "Then what should we do when we go to the birthday banquet?"

Yang Zhengshan laughed, "Don't worry about these things, just celebrate the birthday of the Marquis' wife, and find a good husband for Xue'er!"

Yang Yunxue is already fifteen years old this year, and she will be sixteen in a new year.

This is already a big girl, it's time to find a good family.

Hearing him say this, Yang Yunxue's cheeks turned red instantly.

"Dad!"

"Haha, men should get married when they are old enough, and women should get married when they are old enough. What's there to be shy about!"

Yang Zhengshan laughed, "You go with me and take a look. There should be many young men from other families going there. Take a good look at them. If you like someone, come back and tell Daddy, and Daddy will help you find a husband!"

After all, the daughter will get married when she grows up.

At this time, the old father Yang Zhengshan still has a complicated mood.

Although Yang Yunxue is just her cheap daughter, he has also raised her for several years.

He was still very reluctant to marry the little girl off suddenly, but he had to marry her.

"Don't worry, my husband, I will help Xue'er choose a good husband!" Yu Qingyi also agreed.

Yu Qingyi was really concerned about Yang Yunxue's marriage.

It's hard for a stepmother.

She has been married to the Yang family for more than two years. Although she gets along well with the children of the Yang family, they are not biological mother and son or mother and daughter after all, so there is still some estrangement between them.

And Yang Yunxue's marriage is the first major event she has to handle after marrying into the Yang family. If she can't handle this matter well, then Yang Mingcheng and other brothers and sisters will definitely have a grudge against her.

So in order to better integrate into the Yang family and for Yang Yunxue's future, she must find a good marriage for Yang Yunxue.

Yang Yunxue couldn't sit still because of Yang Zhengshan and Yu Qingyi's teasing. She glared at Yang Zhengshan and ran out of the hall like escaping.

After all, she is still young and thin-skinned. She can't stand it when it comes to marriage.

Yang Yunyan looked at her back as she left and sighed, "Ah, in the blink of an eye, my little sister should get married!"

Yang Zhengshan next to her glanced at her. What she said sounded a bit old-fashioned, and Yang Zhengshan felt disgusted.

"You are so young, why are you sighing!"

Yang Yunyan was not embarrassed by Yang Zhengshan's words, but covered her mouth and laughed, "Dad is right, Dad is not old yet, it's too early for me!"

Now everyone in the Yang family doesn't know that Yang Zhengshan is a master who refuses to accept old age. He will get angry with anyone who dares to say he is old.

Yang Zhengshan glanced at his eldest daughter, hugged Xiao Jiangmiao and kissed her, "Xiao Miao is still good, your mother is getting bolder and bolder, and she even dares to laugh at your grandfather!"

Xiao Jiangmiao was tickled by his long beard and giggled.

At this moment, Yang Mingcheng's voice came from outside the door.

"Dad!"

"What's the matter?" Yang Zhengshan turned around and looked at Yang Mingcheng, who was sweating profusely.

"My second brother has sent a letter." Yang Mingcheng wiped the sweat from his forehead and grinned.

Yang Zhengshan handed Xiao Jiang Miao to Yang Yunyan, took the letter and opened it.

After reading the letter, he frowned slightly.

"Let's talk in the study!"

Then, he led Yang Mingcheng to the study next door.

"Where is the messenger?" Yang Zhengshan asked.

"He is resting in the front yard!" Yang Mingcheng asked in confusion: "Dad, what happened?"

Yang Zhengshan opened the letter again and read it. After a little thought, he said: "It's nothing serious. This time, Li will also go to Chongshanguan to celebrate the birthday of the Marquis. When the time comes, she will bring the child back. You ask Wu Hai to arrange it."

Yang Mingzhi did not receive the invitation from the Changping Marquis's Mansion, but he still asked Li to bring the child to Chongshanguan to celebrate the birthday. However, his purpose was not to celebrate the birthday of the Marquis, but to let Li bring the child back.

In the past two years, Yang Mingzhi and Li rarely went home. First, because the distance between the two sides was not close, it would take at least seven or eight days to go back and forth. Second, because Li gave birth to a little girl named Yang Wanting the year before last. The child was still too young and it was not suitable for her to go back and forth.

This time, Yang Mingzhi wanted to take the opportunity to let Li bring the three children back together because he also guessed that he would probably go to war next year.

Next year, Yang Mingzhi must go with Zhou Lan. At that time, there would be no one in Jianning Guard to take care of Li and her mother, so Yang Mingzhi wanted to send them back.

The reason why Yang Zhengshan frowned was because Yang Mingzhi mentioned the dynamics of Jianning Guard during this period.

Obviously, Zhou Lan should have received the news, or had received instructions from Liang Chu, and Jianning Guard had begun to prepare for the expedition.

This is normal. When Zhang Shouwang led his troops to conquer the Hu tribe in Donghai, he was defeated so tragically because of insufficient preparation and too hasty.

Now Liang Chu will conquer the Hu tribe in Donghai again, and he will definitely be fully prepared.

Therefore, it is reasonable to inform the commanders of various departments in advance.

It was just Yang Zhengshan's guess before, but now it is basically certain that they will definitely go to war next year.

"What is the current situation of the horse farm? How many war horses can be sold this year?" Yang Zhengshan asked.

Yang Mingcheng did not expect Yang Zhengshan to suddenly turn the topic to the horse farm. He paused and said, "Two months ago, we just sold 30 war horses. By the end of this year, we should be able to sell 50 horses!"

Yang Zhengshan nodded, leaned back in his chair, stroked his beard and fell into deep thought.

If he goes to war next year, will Wang Bin let him go?

He should.

Although he is not the general of the reinforcement battalion and he only has a garrison battalion under his command, he is also a general on the battlefield after all, and Wang Bin has no reason not to take him with him.

If the garrison battalion wants to go to war, what else needs to be prepared?

The training of the garrison battalion has been going on for the past two years. Although there is no long-term training, the soldiers of the garrison battalion will undergo a ten-day exercise training every three months.

In addition to the garrison battalion, the soldiers in the garrison outside the city will undergo a short-term training every six months.

In two years, a large number of warriors have emerged among the soldiers under Yang Zhengshan.

Especially the garrison battalion, Yang Zhengshan dares to say that the proportion of warriors in his garrison battalion can be called the first in the entire Chongshan Town.

There are 1,112 people in the garrison battalion, of which the number of warriors has reached 60%.

As for the remaining 40% of the soldiers, they basically have no martial arts qualifications, and even the spiritual spring water cannot save them.

In fact, Yang Zhengshan is not dissatisfied with this.

If all the members of the garrison camp become warriors, Yang Zhengshan will probably have a headache.

That would be too eye-catching.

Sixty percent of warriors is just right. Although it is also eye-catching, it is not beyond common sense.

Even if outsiders know, they will only think that Yang Zhengshan can train soldiers and cultivate warriors.

Today's garrison camp is definitely the best of the best.

There is no need to make more preparations for military equipment. The garrison office now has all kinds of military equipment and lacks nothing.

There is no need to make more preparations for food and grass. That is Wang Bin's business. Yang Zhengshan does not need to worry about it. He can just ask Wang Bin for food and grass when the time comes.

What the garrison camp needs most at present is war horses!

The garrison camp is responsible for city defense, so naturally there is no need for war horses.

In the past two years, although Yang Zhengshan has been asking Wang Bin and Tan Jingtai for war horses, he has only received more than a hundred war horses.

These more than one war horses have been used to train the soldiers' riding skills, and Yang Zhengshan has not formed a separate cavalry.

But if he were to go to war, he thought it would be better to have a cavalry with him.

The number does not need to be too large, three hundred cavalry is enough.

"Can you gather a hundred war horses?" Yang Zhengshan looked at Yang Mingcheng.

The scale of the Yang family's horse farm is already quite large, with a total of more than 500 horses, including mares and foals.

Last year, the horse farm sold more than 100 good horses, earning more than 10,000 taels of silver for the Yang family.

It can be said that the Yang family can now live comfortably with just this horse farm.

Now Yang Zhengshan has no intention of continuing to expand the scale of the horse farm. He thinks that the current scale of the horse farm is the most appropriate, and it is enough to maintain the scale of 100 good horses sold every year.

Yang Mingcheng thought for a while and said, "It will definitely not be possible by the end of the year, but we should be able to gather a hundred horses by March next year."

"March next year, that's fine!"

Yang Zhengshan nodded.

He estimated that even if he went to war next year, he would have to wait until after April. Although March is a little later, he can still catch up.

"When the time comes, sell these 100 war horses to the garrison. Tell Ma San about this and don't let him sell them again."

The Yang family's horses naturally couldn't be given to the garrison camp for nothing. Yang Zhengshan wasn't generous enough to give out 100 war horses directly. He could only give the garrison camp a 10% discount at most, and the money he should give was still paid.

With these 100 war horses, Yang Zhengshan could ask Wang Bin for another 100 horses, and he would be able to gather 300 cavalrymen.

Afterwards, Yang Zhengshan discussed the matter of the horse farm with Yang Mingcheng, and then let Yang Mingcheng go back.

The next morning, Yang Zhengshan sent Yu Qingyi and others out of the city.

This time, many people from the Yang family went to Chongshan Pass. In addition to Yu Qingyi, there were Yang Yunyan and Yang Yunxue, more than ten maids and twenty guards.

As for Wang and Liang, Wang was in confinement. More than half a month ago, Wang had just given birth to a baby girl, and Yang Zhengshan named her Wanyi.

Liang, who has been married for almost three years, was diagnosed with pregnancy three months ago and is now staying at home to take care of the baby.

Speaking of Liang, she has been very anxious for the past two years. After getting married, she has been looking forward to having a son. As a result, this expectation has lasted for more than two years. Now that she has finally got her wish, Liang is very careful and her mind is all on her belly.

It is not just Liang who wants a child, Yu Qingyi is the same.

After two years of marriage, Yu Qingyi's belly has not moved, which makes her very upset and often unhappy.

Yang Zhengshan is also very troubled by this. He can help with the matter of having a child, but he can't make the decision!

He and Yu Qingyi have no physical problems, and whether they can get pregnant depends on God's will.

The key is that he can't persuade Yu Qingyi. After all, he now has a large family on the surface, so it doesn't matter if he doesn't have other children.

If he persuades Yu Qingyi, it seems that he is talking without any pain.

So Yu Qingyi can only bear this matter by herself.

In fact, he also wants a child, but since he can't get pregnant, he can't be impatient and can only take it slow.