Chapter 86 Unexpected Guest, Mr. Lu

They did not go far, and came to a grassland ten miles east of the garrison.

"Dad, what are you doing here?"

Yang Mingcheng looked around and asked in confusion.

This grassland is not small, about a hundred acres, with hills on all sides and a small river flowing in the middle. This small river is the unnamed river under the mountain of Linguanbao.

The grassland is fertile, and although it is late autumn, it still hides patches of green.

Yang Zhengshan looked up at the hill in the north, where there was a fire road pier, where a small flag military household lived.

The fields around the pier have been reclaimed, but the grassland here has not been used.

Before, Yang Zhengshan inspected the piers and beacons and felt that this grassland was very good, and now he is even more satisfied.

"Build a horse farm! What do you think of this place?" Yang Zhengshan said.

"Horse farm?" Yang Mingcheng was amazed.

Yang Zhengshan nodded, pointed to an open space near the river, and said, "Look over there."

"That open space is very suitable for building a stable. When the time comes, we will enclose this area and build more than a dozen stables."

"Go to Guancheng to find a few horse herders who are good at raising horses, and then hire some long-term workers from the pier over there!"

"In the first year, we will only raise foals that have just grown up. When we make money, we will breed and raise foals ourselves!"

He has already planned to go to Guancheng to buy some ordinary horses and use spiritual spring water to nourish them for a period of time. In this way, the inferior horses will become good horses, and he will definitely make a fortune.

And this period of time does not need to be too long, about half a year is enough.

After the first batch of horses are sold, the breeding scale will be expanded.

Now the stone pond in the space can gush out a small half bucket of spiritual spring water every day. Although there are many places to use spiritual spring water, it is still no problem to nourish more than a dozen horses.

"This is our own property, you should pay more attention to it."

"Whether our family can become rich and powerful in the future depends on you!"

Yang Zhengshan put on an appearance of "I am very optimistic about you" and patted Yang Mingcheng on the shoulder.

Yang Mingcheng's head was hot and he said, "Don't worry, Dad, I will definitely get things done."

At this time, he forgot that he didn't know how to raise horses.

It can't be said that he didn't know how to raise horses at all. After all, he had a war horse, and he had been taking care of his war horse for most of the past six months.

It's just that he is much worse than those professional horsemen.

Yang Zhengshan smiled and said, "Tomorrow you take Minghao to Guancheng and let him introduce Manager Luo and Manager Lu to you."

"If you have anything, you can ask them for help."

Manager Luo didn't need to say much. Since Yang Zhengshan helped him last time, Luo Shang was very grateful to him and often sent him letters during this period.

As for Manager Lu, Yang Zhengshan also kept Lao Li and Yang Minghao close to him, and they often went to Lu's grain shop on weekdays.

Moreover, the Lu family has always intended to get close to Yang Zhengshan. This year, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, Mr. Lu went to Yangjia Village in person to give a festival gift.

For this reason, Yang Mingcheng was troubled for a long time before preparing a return gift.

Although Luo Shang and Shopkeeper Lu were not big figures in Guancheng, small figures also have their uses, especially in some business matters, they can help Yang Zhengshan a lot.

"Okay!" Yang Mingcheng responded.

Yang Zhengshan strolled around again, and then returned to Yinghebao.

However, as soon as he returned to Yinghebao, he found that Luo Shang had come.

Originally, he wanted Yang Mingcheng to go to Guancheng to meet Luo Shang. Now it happened that Luo Shang came by himself, and Yang Zhengshan could personally introduce Yang Mingcheng to him.

In the study, Yang Mingcheng brought tea.

"This is my eldest son Mingcheng! He will be responsible for the industry of my Yang family in the future!"

"This is Shopkeeper Luo!"

Yang Zhengshan introduced the two.

"I'm here to meet Mr. Yang!" Luo Shang didn't dare to be arrogant in front of Yang Mingcheng.

"I'm here to meet Mr. Luo!" Yang Mingcheng was also an honest man, and he didn't look down on Luo Shang as a merchant.

The three of them sat down, and Luo Shang explained his purpose.

"Mr. Yang, I heard that we can make charcoal in our garrison. I wonder what rules Mr. Yang has for the charcoal business?" Luo Shang asked softly.

"All the charcoal is for you to sell, and you can take 20% of the sales price!"

Yang Zhengshan had already thought about it. There was almost no material cost for making charcoal, and the cost was all in labor. Therefore, he divided the income from charcoal into three parts, of which the workers responsible for making charcoal accounted for 50%, the government office accounted for 30%, and Luo Shang accounted for 20%.

The 30% from the government office was not Yang Zhengshan's own, so he didn't plan to make money from charcoal. The income from the government office would be used for the officials.

Yang Zhengshan did not allow his officials to embezzle, but he would subsidize them with some extra income, and this bonus was their extra income.

"Thank you for your care!" Luo Shang said with a smile.

Although the profit of 20% is low, he is very satisfied.

This charcoal is not something that ordinary people can burn. First of all, it is not easy to find a way to burn charcoal, and secondly, wood is not something that ordinary people can mine.

Ordinary people can go up the mountain to collect firewood, or go to the city to sell firewood, but they dare not cut down trees on a large scale.

Collecting firewood is not a big deal, but if it is a large-scale cutting of trees, there will be countless troubles coming to the door to ask for benefits, and ordinary small merchants can't stand it at all.

Yang Zhengshan also took advantage of the location, and he had a large group of military households under his command, so he could do such a thing.

As for why other garrisons don't do this, it's very simple. The officials won't be so kind as to find jobs for the military households, and the profit of charcoal is not very high. Even if the officials want to make money, they won't do such a laborious business.

With that energy, they might as well occupy more fertile land and think more about the issue of eating empty salaries.

But for Luo Shang, this is a good business, and the 20% profit is enough for him to pay attention.

Besides, Yang Zhengshan has done him a favor, even if there is no profit, he is willing to help.

"It's not considered as taking care of you, I can't let you work for nothing!"

Yang Zhengshan took a sip of tea and said indifferently.

Favors can't be used all the time. If you use them too much, they will be gone, and people will complain about you.

So it's not good to repay a favor.

And Luo Shang has already given a thank-you gift, and Yang Zhengshan has long forgotten about the favors.

He thinks Luo Shang has a good character, so he is willing to have more contact and cooperation with him.

Afterwards, Yang Zhengshan talked to Luo Shang about the situation in Guancheng.

Guancheng has been very lively recently. New officials have made three big moves since they took office. After taking office, Governor Lu Chongde and Changping Hou Liang Chu have done a lot of things.

Reorganize the five battalions of the town flag, inspect the major posts, distribute war horses and armor, buy and sell food and grass, etc.

Big moves are one after another.

In just two months, these two people have given new vitality to Chongshan Pass, which has been decadent for more than ten years.

Yang Zhengshan thinks it is very good.

They have made a lot of moves, but they have no harm to Yang Zhengshan, and there are even many benefits.

For example, the war horses and armor sent by Zhao Yuan were distributed to Jianning Guard in the name of the Governor's Office.

Yang Zhengshan has a hunch that with these two big men, Chongshan Pass and Chongshan Town will regain the prosperity of twenty years ago.

And he is sure that Chongshan Town will also conquer the Hu tribe in Donghai.

Everything Lu Chongde and Liang Chu did was to prepare for the next expedition.

…

At noon, Yang Zhengshan asked Luo Shang to stay for a meal, and in the afternoon Luo Shang left with two carts of charcoal.

He left with the brothers Yang Mingcheng and Yang Minghao. They went to Guancheng to let Yang Mingcheng get familiar with the situation in Guancheng and to buy colts for the Yang family horse farm.

The two brothers stayed in Guancheng for four days and brought back ten horses that were not very good in appearance.

This was Yang Zhengshan's special instruction, not to choose good horses, but only bad horses.

The ten horses were very thin and looked like they were malnourished.

Of course, this was not because of malnutrition, but because of congenital deficiency or infection.

Such horses cannot be used as war horses, but only as pack horses, so the price is cheaper.

A horse costs about twenty taels of silver, and ten horses almost used up all of Yang Zhengshan's savings.

The horses were bought, but the horse farm had not been built yet, so the ten horses were temporarily kept in the garrison. Yang Zhengshan also used public power for personal gain and asked Lao Li to take care of the ten horses.

Of course, he would secretly prepare special meals for these ten horses.

After buying the horses, Yang Mingcheng started to build a horse farm.

Yang Zhengshan had no money, but Yang Mingcheng brought a lot of food when he came.

Therefore, Yang Mingcheng paid people with food.

Compared with silver, military households now prefer food.

In early October.

Lu Wenchun and Lu Wenhua came to Yinghebao.

They also came with the Lu family's convoy.

Not only they came, but also Lu Erye.

Yang Zhengshan was surprised and surprised by Lu Erye's unexpected guest.

"Lu Erye, hahaha, the distinguished guest is here, please come in!"

Although he was surprised, Yang Zhengshan still warmly entertained Lu Erye.

"Sir Yang, I came uninvited, please forgive me!" Lu Erye smiled warmly.

After the two entered the government office, Yang Mingcheng took Lu Wenchun and Lu Wenhua to the backyard.

In the study, tea was served, and Yang Zhengshan couldn't help asking, "What's the matter with Mr. Lu's visit?"

No one comes to see you for no reason.

Although the Lu family and the Yang family have been close for a while, they have only met once.

Mr. Lu is not a person who wastes time. When Yang Zhengshan asked, he told him the purpose of his visit.

"Lord Yang should also know that our Lu family has many farms!"

Yang Zhengshan nodded.

"This year, the grain production in Chongshan Town has decreased. We want to transport all the grain in our family to Chongshan Pass." Mr. Lu said calmly.

Yang Zhengshan's eyes flickered slightly.

The Lu family is a big landlord in Anning County. If you ask how many good fields the Lu family has, Yang Zhengshan has no accurate concept.

It's a bit exaggerated to say that there are tens of thousands of hectares of good fields, but there are definitely more than a thousand hectares of good fields.

Because the Lu family not only has a large number of fields in Anning County, but also many fields in other places.

The Lu family has so many fields, this grain!

Yang Zhengshan couldn't help but take a breath of cold air.

Damn!

The Lu family is going to get rich!

Poor Yang family, they only have more than 100 mu of land, and the annual harvest is only a few dozen dan.

Compared with the Lu family, Yang Zhengshan couldn't help but feel envious.

But he quickly dispelled this envy and asked, "What does Lu Erye want?"

"I want to ask Lord Yang to introduce General Zhou!" Lu Erye looked at Yang Zhengshan.

Yang Zhengshan suddenly understood.

It turned out to be for Zhou Lan!

That's right.

Zhou Lan is backed by the Ningguo Mansion, and someone from the Lu family is an official in Beijing.

This grain must not be given away for free, but it can be sold to Zhou Lan at a lower price.

The Lu family didn't want to make money with these grains. They wanted Zhou Lan's favor.

Now the whole Chongshan Town is short of grain, and Zhou Lan must be short of grain too. This is a good opportunity to sell favors.

This idea is really good.

The key is not to be disliked.

"This is not difficult. If Master Lu is anxious, we can go to Jianning Guard now!" Yang Zhengshan thought about it for a while and agreed.

He knew that Zhou Lan was anxious about the grain recently.

The Lu family was also helping him in time of need.

It was a win-win situation, so Yang Zhengshan naturally didn't mind being a middleman.

Moreover, the Lu family had helped him a lot before, although they were all small things, but Yang Zhengshan couldn't help but accept the Lu family's favor.

"Then I'll trouble you, Lord Yang!" Master Lu smiled more kindly.

"Then let's go!"

Yang Zhengshan didn't hesitate and immediately asked people to prepare carriages and horses to go to Jianning Guard.

Although Master Lu was not young, he also had martial arts skills and was in good health. There was no problem riding a horse.

The two men, along with more than thirty soldiers and followers, rushed towards Jianning Guard.