Chapter 285 New Year

"Are you the leader of Yuheng Star Hall?"

Yang Zhengshan sat on the main seat and asked calmly.

"That's right!"

Yang Zhengshan didn't let him sit down, and he didn't dare to sit down.

"Then what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to apologize to the general!"

"Apologise!" Yang Zhengshan stroked his beard and looked at Luo Jinsong.

"That's right, Huang Yifu is our swordsman from Yuhengxingtang. He shouldn't have collided with the general. Although the general has already dealt with him, I am deeply frightened and came here to apologize to the general!"

"This is my sincere thought. I hope I can apologize to the general!"

Luo Jinsong handed a gift list to Yang Zhengshan.

Yang Zhengshan took the gift list and glanced at it casually.

Apologize!

This was beyond his expectation.

But if you think about it carefully, it makes sense for Luo Jinsong to do this.

Jianghu people like them probably don't like to have conflicts with officials.

In particular, Xingyue Sect Qixingtang had been ostracized and suppressed by the imperial court in Da Rong, which forced them to be cautious in doing things.

There were many things on the gift list, and they were quite valuable. They should be worth several thousand taels of silver, but Yang Zhengshan just glanced at them casually.

"This general can feel your apology, but please tell me your true purpose!"

Yang Zhengshan put down the gift list and looked up at Luo Jinsong again.

If Luo Jinsong didn't ask for anything, there would be no need to apologize.

Yang Zhengshan is just the commander of the Tenglong Guard. Although Qixingtang is afraid of the imperial court, it is not afraid of him as the commander of the Tenglong Guard. He cannot represent the imperial court.

Seeing Yang Zhengshan's calm attitude, Luo Jinsong couldn't help but feel uneasy.

"General, I have a favor to ask of you!"

"What's the matter?"

"About Qingfu Mountain!" Luo Jinsong carefully considered his words.

Yang Zhengshan immediately understood what he meant, but he picked up the tea and took a sip.

It seems that Yuheng Xingtang is reluctant to give up the financial path of Qingfu Mountain.

Naturally, he doesn't care about Qingfu Mountain. As for whether it is legal or compliant for Yuhengxingtang to collect tolls in Qingfu Mountain, that has nothing to do with him. He is not the prefect of Jing'an Prefecture, so he has no control over this.

What he was thinking about was whether Yuheng Xingtang was of any use to him.

Although Yuheng Xingtang is hidden deep in the Evergreen Mountains, their tentacles spread throughout the vast distance, from Jing'an Prefecture in the north to Jizhou in the south, and they have swordsmen.

In Liaoyuan, Yuhengxingtang should be the most powerful force with the widest coverage.

If such a Jianghu force can be used by oneself, it should have many uses!

However, Qixingtang belongs to the Xingyue Sect. It is not easy to dig into the corner of the Xingyue Sect, let alone the entrance of the hall.

"You can continue to arrange manpower in Qingfu Mountain, but you owe this general a favor for this matter!"

Yang Zhengshan feels that it is a bit difficult to dig Yuhengxingtang now, so he first earns a favor first.

"This!" Luo Jinsong hesitated.

Yang Zhengshan smiled and said, "What? Not willing?"

His smile was very kind, but Luo Jinsong's heart tightened, and there was a chill in his heart.

"No, no, it's my honor for the general to think highly of me!" Luo Jinsong quickly lowered his head and responded.

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly, "That's very good! I will accept this apology as an apology. As for Qingfu Mountain, that is your business and has nothing to do with me!"

"Thank you, General!" Luo Jinsong cupped his fists again.

Yang Zhengshan served tea to see the guests off, and Luo Jinsong wisely said goodbye.

But when he was about to exit the main hall, Yang Zhengshan said quietly: "General, please remember that your Yuhengxingtang is stationed on Daqing Mountain!"

Daqing Mountain is part of the Changqing Mountains, located at the junction of Jing'an Prefecture and Ningyuan Prefecture, and the residence of Yuheng Xingtang is on the top of Daqing Mountain.

Luo Jinsong trembled all over and replied: "Yes!"

"Um!"

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly and said no more.

"Excuse me!" Luo Jinsong said goodbye again before leaving.

Yang Zhengshan pointed out that Daqingshan was not just a casual comment, but told Luo Jinsong that he knew the location of Yuhengxingtang. If Luo Jinsong was unwilling to return the favor in the future, he would not mind taking a trip to Daqingshan.

…

On the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month, the Yang family received a new year's gift from the Marquis of Changping.

However, what Yang Zhengshan cares about is not the annual gift at Changping Hou Mansion, but whether Yang Yunxue is living well in Changping Hou Mansion.

"Master, this is Miss's letter, this is Wu Zheng's letter!"

In the study, Wu Hai handed two letters to Yang Zhengshan.

Yang Zhengshan opened the letter silently. He first read Yang Yunxue's letter. Yang Yunxue was a strong child. Naturally, he would not complain or complain in the letter. He only said that he was living a good life in Changping Hou Mansion.

After reading her letter, Yang Zhengshan opened Wu Zheng's letter.

When Yang Yunxue returned to Beijing with the Changping Marquis Mansion, Yang Zhengshan asked Wu Zheng to pay more attention to the situation at the Changping Marquis Mansion in Kyoto, and also asked him to get in touch with Granny Lin.

Wu Zheng's letter is much more detailed and more authentic.

Yang Yunxue's life in Kyoto was not as comfortable as she imagined.

There wasn't much turmoil inside the Hou Mansion. Both Mr. Hou and Mrs. Hou looked at Yang Yunxue very much, but outside the Hou Mansion, in the circle of nobles, Yang Yunxue was still despised and ostracized.

The reason is simple. Yang Yunxue came from a low background. Although Yang Zhengshan is now a general, it cannot change the fact that the Yang family used to be a farmer.

In the eyes of those high-ranking nobles, the Yang family is not even worthy of being on the stage.

After reading Wu Zheng's letter, Yang Zhengshan looked a little unhappy!

These nobles in Kyoto are really annoying!

"People fight for a breath, Buddha fight for a stick of incense, sooner or later one day these nobles will be embarrassed!"

Yang Zhengshan thought angrily.

Although it was Yang Yunxue who was despised and excluded, the root cause was the Yang family.

Yang Yunxue married into the Changping Marquis's Mansion, which was considered a high marriage no matter how you look at it. There was no way, because the Yang family had no title.

Now Yang Zhengshan couldn't do anything about those nobles. Fortunately, the Changping Marquis's Mansion was still peaceful, so Yang Yunxue didn't suffer from it.

After putting away the two letters, Yang Zhengshan asked Wu Hai: "How are the boys at home training?"

"Replying to the master, there are more than a dozen guys who can go out to work!" Wu Hai smiled.

The guys he mentioned were the young guards trained by the Yang family.

Now Zhu Shanghe is the chief instructor of the Yang family guards, Ding Qiu is the guard leader, Wu Zheng and Wu Zhan are the deputy leaders.

In addition to the 20 guards trained initially and the 10 disciples of the Tianqing Sword School, the Yang family has also trained a lot of guards in the past few years.

The so-called being able to go out to work means that they have become warriors.

Becoming a warrior is the minimum standard for being a guard.

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly, "You tell them to go to Kyoto to find Wu Zheng after the New Year, and send Wu Zheng 10,000 taels of silver so that he can also win over some people in Kyoto."

Kyoto, the place of imperial power and the core of the court, Yang Zhengshan will go there sooner or later.

Although he has sent Wu Zheng for a long time, the previous investment was not much, and now it is time to invest more.

"I obey your order!" Wu Hai responded.

...

The lively New Year's Day passed quickly, and the new year will also usher in a new atmosphere for the Tenglong Guard.

On the tenth day of the first lunar month, the Weisi Yamen opened, and Yang Zhengshan summoned all the officials in the Yamen to the hall.

"Zhou Ren, pass out the plans you copied!"

Yang Zhengshan sat in the main seat and ordered.

Under the hall, Xie Yuan, Song Dashan and others opened the plans they received.

"Everyone, this year we have three tasks. The first is to let the military households live in new houses, the second is to let the military households have enough food, and the third is to train a 3,000-man elite army!"

"First of all, let's talk about new houses. You should all be familiar with this. We renovated all the Qianhusuo when we were in Anyuan City. Now we have to renovate all the Qianhusuo."

"Not only the Qianhusuo, but also the Weicheng needs to be repaired."

"This project is not small. I need you to mobilize all the military households and complete all the tasks as much as possible without affecting the farming and training."

Yang Zhengshan said slowly.

Let all the military households live in new houses. This is definitely a big project.

You should know that there are 12,000 military households in Tenglong Guard, and most of them live in dilapidated adobe houses, which means they have to build 12,000 houses.

Even if it is just a simple adobe house, it is still a huge project.

What's more, Yang Zhengshan has to renovate the Weicheng and Qianhu Suo.

This sounds like a waste of money and labor, but Yang Zhengshan has reasons to do so.

First of all, to improve the living conditions of the military households. Houses that can't block the cold wind in winter and the rain in summer are really uninhabitable, not to mention that many military households still live in ice houses and snow houses.

Secondly, he wants to give money and food to the military households. The military households of Tenglong Guard are too poor. Even the military households of Tenglong Vanguard can only maintain food and clothing, not to mention the military households of the other three guards.

As for the former tenants and slaves of the Lan family, they are also very poor.

Work-for-relief, taking advantage of the opportunity of large-scale construction to distribute the government's money and grain to the military households, so that the military households have a way to make money in the shortest possible time.

Only in this way can their living conditions be changed in a short time.

And for these, both Yang Zhengshan and Xie Yuan are not unfamiliar, because Yang Zhengshan did this in Anyuan City.

It's just that Tenglongwei is larger in scale and has more military households.

"The second is to have enough food. Tuntian is our foundation, and spring plowing is the top priority. Before spring plowing, you must divide all the fields clearly and compile the fish scale book."

"In addition, we need a large number of oxen. I have contacted the merchants of Chongshanguan before the New Year. It should be not long before they can transport the oxen. At that time, you must distribute them reasonably!"

"As for the others, I have other arrangements. I will talk about this later!"

Eating enough is not just about not being hungry, but also about ensuring that the military households have a stable and sufficient income.

The military farms are only the foundation. The salt industry that Yang Zhengshan is going to get involved in is the way to get rich for the 12,000 military households in Tenglongwei.

However, some preparations need to be made for the salt business. At present, Tenglongwei still needs to ensure the cultivation of military farms.

"The last thing is to train soldiers. After the spring plowing is over, the training of soldiers will be put on the agenda!"

"But before training soldiers, we need to build a barracks outside the city!"

There is no large enough training ground in the city, so we can only build a barracks outside the city for training soldiers.

The soldiers that Yang Zhengshan wants to train are not soldiers of the guard post, but soldiers of the camp who are separated from production.

Although Tenglongwei is a guard post, it does not prevent him from training soldiers in the way of camp soldiers.

Actually, I learned this from Liang Chu. Yunlong Guard is also a guard post, but the Yunlong Guards around Liang Chu are fully full-time soldiers. To put it simply, they are professional soldiers.