Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather.

Chapter 469: The Frightened Zhou Lan
Yang Zhengshan collected his thoughts and continued, "The second thing is about the children of the Yang family. Our Yang family's roots are in Yangjia Village. This must not be forgotten no matter what."

"And the children of the Yang family are all our helpers. After your father leaves Chongshan Town, you must take care of each other."

Without Yangjia Village, the Yang family would become rootless, and without the support of Yangjia Village, the Yang clan would decline.

The two complement each other and are the closest allies.

A strange look flashed in Yang Mingzhi's eyes, "Dad, should I spend more time with Mingwu and Mingzhen in the future?"

Yang Zhengshan stared at Yang Mingzhi, "I advise you to give up this idea!"

His voice was a little harsh, which made Yang Mingzhi feel startled.

"You should keep a low profile in Chongshan Town from now on. I have also told Mingwu and Mingzhen to keep a low profile and don't do anything reckless!"

"Oh, Dad, I understand!" Yang Mingzhi shrank his neck and dared not say anything more.

How could Yang Zhengshan not know what he was thinking?
To put it bluntly, now it would be no problem for Yang Zhengshan to say that Chongshanguan's surname is Yang.

There are five battalions of the town flag, five guerrilla generals, Song Dashan, Luo Feiyu, Yang Mingwu, Yang Mingzhen, and Yang Chengze, and five camp officers, Zuo Wan, Yang Chengxu, Yang Minghao, Han Fei, and Yang Chengzhang.

Except for Zuo Wan, who is a special existence, the others are either members of the Yang family or Yang Zhengshan's confidants.

In addition, there are two lieutenant generals, Yang Mingzhi and Xie Yuan.

Saying that Chongshan Guan’s surname is Yang is an understatement.

Yang Mingzhi's thoughts are also very clear, he wants to have his own troops and be powerful!
If Yang Zhengshan agreed, he could completely use Yang Zhengshan's name to unite all the Yang family members and confidants.

By then, even if Zhou Lan came to Chongshan Pass, she would probably be sidelined by him.

But obviously this is not what Yang Zhengshan wants.

What Yang Zhengshan wanted was for the Yang family to rise steadily, rather than taking any risks.

Although the Yang family now has the strength to command its own troops, they definitely do not have the power to fight against the imperial court.

In addition, Yang Zhengshan had no ambition to dominate the world, so he would never think about opposing the court.

Yang Zhengshan would never become a traitor unless he was at his wit's end.

Of course, this is just Yang Zhengshan’s own idea. As for whether the descendants of the Yang family will have other ideas in the future, that is their own business.

As the Yang family grows and flourishes, there will be unlimited possibilities for its future.

"Be more low-key in the future and stop showing off your power as Master Yang all day long!" Yang Zhengshan glared at Yang Mingzhi fiercely.

Among the three brothers of the Yang family, Yang Mingzhi is the most thoughtful and the wildest.

Yang Mingzhi smiled awkwardly, "Dad! I know I was wrong!"

Afterwards, Yang Zhengshan gave some more instructions, and the three of them chatted for more than an hour before they finished.

The second day of the first lunar month.

When Luo Shang arrived at the Marquis' Mansion, Yang Zhengshan chatted with him for a long time in the study.

Yang Zhengshan had held a meeting with the six major agents before, but he did not discuss it in detail with Luo Shang.

Although the six major agents were all supported by Yang Zhengshan, the relationship between the Luo family and the Yang family is still the closest.

The Yang family’s focus will be moved to Kyoto in the future, so what should the Luo family do?

"Do you have any idea?"

In the study, Yang Zhengshan held a bowl of hot tea and asked while drinking.

"I want the Luo family to move to Kyoto with the Marquis!" Luo Shang said seriously.

Yang Zhengshan looked up at him in surprise, "Kyoto is not a good place, especially for wealthy businessmen like you!"

In other places, wealthy businessmen can still be local rich people, bribe an official, and do some bullying and bullying without any problem.

In Kyoto, wealthy businessmen can only be grandsons and slaves. The wealthy businessmen in Kyoto are all white gloves of the powerful.

"Didn't the Marquis say that the court would set up the Imperial Merchants Bureau?" Luo Shang said.

Yang Zhengshan was stunned.

Well, he forgot about it.

He had indeed told Luo Shang about this before.

But now he really doesn't know whether Emperor Yanping has the idea of ​​setting up the Imperial Merchants Bureau.

In theory, the establishment of the Imperial Merchants Bureau would be beneficial to Emperor Yanping, as it would allow him to control a large amount of money without going through the Ministry of Revenue.

But now Emperor Yanping's attitude towards him is somewhat puzzling, and he cannot guarantee that Emperor Yanping will set up the Imperial Merchants Bureau in the future.

Yang Zhengshan thought for a moment and said, "You can move to Kyoto, but your focus should still be on Chongshan Town!"

The matter of the imperial merchant is still uncertain, and the Luo family's roots are in Liaodong and Chongshan Town, so there is no need to focus on Kyoto now.

Once the matter of the Imperial Commercial Bureau is settled, it won’t be too late for the Luo family to move their focus to Kyoto.

"I'll listen to the Marquis!" Luo Shang said in a very straightforward manner.

"You, you!" Yang Zhengshan pointed at him unhappily.

Luo Shang laughed, "I believe the Marquis will not harm me!"

"Come on, have some tea!"

Yang Zhengshan picked up the tea and savored it carefully.

……

Time quickly came to the twenty-fifth day of the first lunar month.

Eight years later, Zhou Lan came to Chongshan Town again.

Looking at the majestic mountains, Zhou Lan felt extremely complicated.

In fact, she prefers Chongshan Town to Kyoto. Kyoto is like a cage, and she is like a beast trapped in a cage in Kyoto.

Entering the city and looking at the bustling streets, Zhou Lan couldn't help but smile.

It seems to be more lively here than before!
When she arrived at the gate leading to the north city, Yang Zhengshan had just received the news and was riding over on horseback.

The two looked at each other, and Yang Zhengshan laughed, "General Zhou, long time no see!"

Zhou Lan dismounted and looked at Yang Zhengshan with a smile.

"Lord Yang is still as elegant as ever!"

"Haha, General Zhou is still so heroic!"

Yang Zhengshan stepped forward and looked at Zhou Lan carefully.

The last time the two met was when Yang Zhengshan was conferred the title of Marquis, almost two years ago.

What surprised Yang Zhengshan was that there were wrinkles at the corners of Zhou Lan's eyes!
But think about it, Zhou Lan is already in her forties, so it is normal for her to have wrinkles on her face.

Compared to her, Yu Qingyi looks much younger. Yu Qingyi is three years younger than Zhou Lan and is 39 years old this year, but she still looks like she is in her 30s, with almost no major changes from before.

The two of them walked towards the general's residence while talking. "You only brought these few people?" Yang Zhengshan looked at the followers behind Zhou Lan, there were only thirty people in total, and more than a dozen of them were maids and servants.

"There's no need to bring too many people here." Zhou Lan said.

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly, "That's right, if you bring too many people here, I will be worried!"

"Hahaha~~" Zhou Lan laughed.

She still laughed heartily, without any of the affectation of a lady from a wealthy family.

Zhou Lan could naturally bring more people with her, but if she did, that would mean she would have to station some people in the general's mansion.

Now the General's Mansion is full of Yang Zhengshan's team. If Zhou Lan arranges her own people, some troubles are inevitable.

The two of them chatted and laughed as they entered the general's residence, and then reminisced about the past in the study.

In the past year, the Ningguo Mansion has been very low-key in Kyoto. Zhou Mao rarely appears in public and does not even go to court.

However, Zhou Xu still spent his days traveling and leading a carefree life.

The glory of Ningguo Mansion has passed, but its foundation remains.

A moment later, Pang Tang came over, and after some polite exchanges, the three of them got down to business.

Yang Zhengshan directly took out a dozen booklets and placed them in front of Zhou Lan.

This is my plan for Chongshan Town!"

"So many?" Zhou Lan widened her eyes and looked at the pile of booklets in front of her in disbelief.

Yang Zhengshan raised his eyebrows, "This has been simplified by me, and more are in the hands of officials in various departments!"

"You should know that there are now nearly 20 military households and 150,000 civilian households in Chongshan Town, with a total population of more than two million!"

"And there are many things you have to do next..."

Yang Zhengshan told Zhou Lan about the plans he had made one by one, and Pang Tang also interjected from the side.

Yang Zhengshan had already discussed these matters with Pang Tang, and in the future Zhou Lan and Pang Tang would need to cooperate to complete these tasks.

There were many things to say and they were complicated, so it would definitely take too long to finish talking about them all. Yang Zhengshan just gave a brief account of them.

However, Zhou Lan couldn't sit still before she finished listening.

"No, I want to go back to Kyoto!"

"Uh, why?" Yang Zhengshan looked at her in surprise.

"You, you, you owe 15 million taels of silver!"

Zhou Lan was really scared. Even though she had a strong character, she was still frightened by the debt of 15 million taels of silver.

In the past, when she was in Jianning Guard, it was already very good to have an annual income and expenditure of more than 100,000 taels of silver, but now Yang Zhengshan asked her to pay back 15 million taels of silver.

Just thinking about it made Zhou Lan feel her scalp tingling.

Pang Tang sat next to him and looked at Yang Zhengshan with a smile, "What do you think? I said it would scare General Zhou!"

He looked completely gloating.

Yang Zhengshan waved his hand, "Silver is a small matter. The income of the glass workshop this year should be more than eight million taels. You don't have to rush to pay back the money bank. There is still a lot of silver in the bank."

"As for the bonds, you can ask the bank to start collecting them in the second half of the year. It shouldn't be difficult to pay them off next year!"

"Look, this is the repayment plan I made!"

Yang Zhengshan opened a booklet and placed it in front of Zhou Lan.

He had already made a repayment plan. With the income from the glass workshop, the General's Mansion would pay off all the debts in the next three years. As long as nothing unexpected happened, it would be easy for the General's Mansion to repay the debts.

As for other expenses, the General's Office and the Governor's Office have taxes, and the court will also allocate some funds. In addition, there is still a lot of land to sell in the north, so the General's Office and the Governor's Office will not be short of money in the short term.

Zhou Lan took the booklet with some doubt and looked at it. Seeing that there was indeed a detailed plan on it, she felt a little relieved.

In the following days, Yang Zhengshan helped Zhou Lan to familiarize herself with the affairs of Chongshan Town and explained all his ideas to Zhou Lan in detail.

Zhou Lan has been filled with nothing but surprise these days.

She knew that Yang Zhengshan was capable of doing things, but she never expected that Yang Zhengshan could be so capable of doing things.

Look at what Yang Zhengshan has done.

Dredging rivers, repairing official roads, building cities, and relocating refugees, each of these things are not something that ordinary people can do.

Yang Zhengshan also planned to add two lieutenant generals' offices and build military settlements in the western part of the north to squeeze the living space of the Wulianghu people.

Yang Zhengshan even planned to wipe out the Wulianghu tribe!
After learning all this, Zhou Lan felt as if her understanding of the world had been shattered.

If these things were left to the court, they would probably be dragged out and unable to be completed.

It is really hard to imagine that Yang Zhengshan actually wants to accomplish all this by relying on the power of Chongshan Town.

The key is that Yang Zhengshan’s plan is very meticulous and has already begun to be implemented.

While finding it hard to believe, Zhou Lan couldn't help but admire Yang Zhengshan, and at the same time, she felt a surge of excitement in her heart.

If Yang Zhengshan's plan can be completed, Chongshan Town will definitely be the most powerful and prosperous border town in Dayong in the future.

It was very tempting for Zhou Lan to be in charge of such a powerful and prosperous border town.

Just as Pang Tang wanted to accomplish great things, Zhou Lan also wanted to establish something.

When Chongshan Town becomes truly powerful, can she destroy the Wulianghu tribe?
When she thought of this, Zhou Lan couldn't help but feel excited.

Therefore, in the next few days, Zhou Lan became extremely active. Together with Yang Zhengshan, she familiarized herself with the affairs of the general's mansion, learned about the situation of the five battalions of the town's flag, and met with various lieutenant generals and officials from various government offices.

Of course, she did not forget the six major agents. After all, she still had to rely on the glass workshop to repay the money, and the glass workshop needed the six major agents to make money.

It took Yang Zhengshan more than half a month to allow Zhou Lan to take over the affairs of Chongshan Town smoothly.

By mid-February, Yang Zhengshan had to leave Chongshan Town.

Although the court did not restrict the time he could enter the capital, he could not delay too long. If he did, Emperor Yanping would inevitably feel dissatisfied.

However, before leaving Chongshan Town, Yang Zhengshan had one more thing to do, which was to meet Wang Zhongzhi and Lu Hua.

In the forest east of Chongshan Pass City, Yang Zhengshan, wearing a green robe, stood on a huge rock, looking at the rolling hills in the east.

The cold winter has not yet retreated and the early spring has not yet arrived, but Chongshan Town is still desolate. At a glance, everything is withered and yellow, without a trace of green.

"My lord, they are coming!" Ding Qiu stood behind Yang Zhengshan and reminded.

Yang Zhengshan turned his head and looked towards the north, only to see three figures walking towards him in the distance.

Soon, the three of them came closer.

Seeing the looks of the three of them, Yang Zhengshan couldn't help but smile.

A true refugee!
The cotton-padded jacket he was wearing was bulging, old and torn, his face was covered in frost and dust, and even his body looked very thin. Wei Cen was almost as strong as him.

Who would have believed that the former commander of the Secret Guards and the admiral of the Zhenbei Division would be like this now.

(End of this chapter)