Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather.

Chapter 545: Wedding, Nanjiang Town
Standing at the foot of the north slope and looking at the dangerous pass ahead, Yang Zhengshan finally understood what it meant to have one man blocking the way for ten thousand.

The angle of climbing the mountain is close to seventy degrees. The pass stands on a mountain hundreds of meters high. Not to mention riding a horse or a car, even if a person climbs up, he will be exhausted halfway.

Of course, this refers to ordinary people, but even if a warrior comes, he can only climb up obediently, unless he is a congenital warrior.

This is the official road. In addition to the official road, there is also a small path that can bypass Jianxia Pass. However, that small path requires walking across cliffs. It is okay for people to walk, but definitely not for vehicles or horses.

Fortunately, the guards and servants of the Yang family were all warriors. Although it took some effort to push the carriage up the hill, they did not collapse from exhaustion.

When we arrived at the city gate, we saw several soldiers in tattered clothes on duty, and a few who seemed to be officials collecting city taxes. Many people were queuing up to wait to enter the city.

Yang Zhengshan frowned slightly as he watched this scene.

Along the way, he truly saw how poor Darong was.

He had seen poor people in Liaodong before, but the poverty in Liaodong was different from that in Yungui. Liaodong was vast and sparsely populated, and most of the people had their own land. Although the life of a small number of tenants was hard, they were not unable to survive. Of course, this was in the absence of natural disasters or man-made disasters.

Yungui is mountainous and the land is barren, so people live a harder life.

Moreover, the officials in Yungui were even more extortionate and levying heavy taxes. Even though Yang Zhengshan did not specifically inquire about it, he had heard of a lot of exorbitant taxes along the way.

Just like the Jianxia Pass in front of us, it actually collects city taxes.

"Dad, they are so pitiful!" Ming Zhao rode his horse to Yang Zhengshan and said with pity to a group of laborers carrying heavy objects coming out of the city.

No one knew what these laborers were carrying. Each of them had a large sack on his back, and judging by the way they walked, it seemed like it was quite heavy.

They were escorted by officials in front and behind. All of them looked ferocious and drove the laborers like animals.

The mountain roads are difficult to travel on, and it is difficult to transport goods by carriage and horse. Goods can only be transported by mules and horses or by people carrying them on their backs.

For ordinary people, forced labor was a life-threatening existence, and they could lose their lives during one trip.

It was obvious at first glance that Yang Zhengshan and his group were not people to be trifled with. They had numerous carriages and horses, and hundreds of guards and followers, all of whom were dressed in gorgeous clothes and had a wealthy temperament.

So when the servants came over, the escorting officers immediately started scolding them.

"Move aside, move aside, don't block the noble man's way!"

The leading official scolded the servants while giving Yang Zhengshan and others a flattering smile.

Yang Zhengshan looked at the servants, and there were actually a few teenagers among them.

"What do you do?" Yang Zhengshan asked.

The official stepped forward, bowed and said, "In reply to your Excellency's words, I am an official from the Tea and Horse Department of Jianxia Prefecture. This is the goods delivered to the Tea and Horse Department!"

The Tea and Horse Bureau is a government office unique to the southwest of Dayong. Initially, it was responsible for exchanging tea for horses, but now it also specializes in salt, iron, tea, sugar, and various daily necessities needed by the people.

Dayong's original intention in expanding the Tea and Horse Agency's monopoly was to promote the development of commerce in the southwest region and provide various daily necessities for the people in the mountains.

However, as time went on, the Tea and Horse Bureau became a government office that exploited the people. They arbitrarily conscripted laborers, colluded with wealthy businessmen to buy and sell all kinds of goods, and set up private barriers everywhere to collect tolls.

As a result, the people in the southwest region not only could not buy cheap tea and salt, but also had to undertake heavy labor.

Yang Zhengshan was not quite sure what the Tea and Horse Bureau had done, but he could imagine its harsh treatment of the people.

As for reorganizing the Tea and Horse Bureau, don't joke, it is almost impossible.

Not to mention Yang Zhengshan, even if Emperor Yanping wanted to reorganize the Tea and Horse Bureau, it would probably take more than ten years to see results.

This cannot be achieved by simply dealing with a group of corrupt officials, but requires the overall overthrow and reconstruction of the Tea and Horse Bureau, as well as severe crackdowns on collusion between officials and businessmen.

Local officials must also be severely disciplined.

Let me put it this way, if we want to change the predicament in the southwest, we must overthrow and rebuild all the government offices in the three provinces of Yungui, Zangyuan, and Nanyun, and we must select truly honest officials when rebuilding.

Yang Zhengshan could rectify the administration of officials in Chongshan Town, but he might not be able to do so in the three southwestern provinces, because Chongshan Town was a military town, everything had to serve the military, and the governor and the general had a lot of autonomy, while in the three southwestern provinces, Yang Zhengshan couldn't even kill a county magistrate.

The predicament in the southwest cannot be changed by one person alone. It requires the concerted efforts of the entire court and ten years of effort to change it.

Yang Zhengshan didn't want to meddle in other people's business. Although these servants were pitiful, he really couldn't help much.

Perhaps he could now order these officials to let these laborers go, but he couldn't stay here. Once he left, these officials might drive these laborers even more violently.

Besides, Yang Zhengshan is not a saint. He is not the kind of person who cannot stand the suffering of the world.

He just asked one question and drove his horse towards the gate of Jianxia Pass.

"Step aside!"

In front, Li Chang was already driving away the officials who collected city taxes.

"Excuse me, who is this gentleman?" The official wanted to ask about their identities and origins.

Li Chang rode his horse and glared at him condescendingly, "Marquis Jing'an is passing by, why don't you get out of the way!"

After saying this, he whipped the official who asked the question with his horsewhip.

With a slap, the official's chest was torn apart.

The Yang family has never been arrogant and domineering, and Li Chang and other close followers also understand Yang Zhengshan's temper. As long as Yang Zhengshan doesn't like to bully the weak.

The reason why he whipped the official was because the official had just beaten a passerby.

He paid the city tax but still beat people, so he deserved the whipping.

The official screamed in pain after being whipped, but did not dare to resist. He quickly pushed aside the roadblock to let the Yang family's convoy pass.

Yang Zhengshan rode over without asking any questions.

The north side of Jianxia Pass is difficult to climb, and the difficult side is equally difficult to climb. Although the slope of the difficult side is slightly gentler, the slope is very long, at least three or four miles.

However, going down the mountain is definitely easier than going up the mountain, and the team's speed has also increased a bit.

What Yang Zhengshan didn't know was that just after they left Jianxia Pass, the laborers carrying the goods were kidnapped outside Jianxia Pass. Hundreds of masked men wearing sackcloth suddenly rushed out from the hillside and killed the escorting officials, forcing them to flee in all directions. In just a moment, the remaining laborers and their goods were swept into the lush forest.

This sudden change shocked the soldiers on duty at Jianxia Pass, but they only closed the city gates and ignored the bandits who suddenly appeared.

When the bandits killed the officers who were escorting the laborers, the bandit leader stood at the foot of the mountain, spitting at Jianxia Pass and cursing, "A bunch of cowardly dogs!"

The bandit leader had his face covered, but from his exposed forehead and eyes one could tell that he was not very old, probably in his twenties at most.

An hour after the bandits retreated, the soldiers in Jianxia Pass opened the city gate and sent people to check.

Yang Zhengshan naturally didn't know this. Although his ears were sharp, they were not sharp enough to hear sounds from miles away.

The convoy continued to move forward, and near dusk they arrived at Jianxia Prefecture.

The city of Jianxia Prefecture is not a prosperous place. The city wall is only about ten feet high, and there are not many people living in the city. There is only one inn in the entire city, and it is a small inn.

Yang Zhengshan and his group of more than a hundred people filled all the guest rooms of the inn.

At night, Yang Mingzhao asked Yang Zhengshan, "Dad, why didn't you help those civilians during the day?"

Yang Mingzhao is twelve years old this year. He is no longer the child who pretends to be an adult all day long. He has grown up now and started to think about things that adults should think about.

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Yang Zhengshan did not answer, but looked at Yang Chengye and asked, "You answer it."

Yang Chengye was silent for a while and then said, "We can save them temporarily but we can't save them forever."

"Why can't we save them in this life? We can give them land and let them cultivate it, so that they can live a stable life!" Yang Mingzhao said.

Although he had many mature ideas, he was only twelve years old after all and had not really experienced the world.

"Uncle, there are not just a few dozen or a few hundred people like them, but millions, or even tens of millions. We don't have that much land to give them!"

"And even if we give them land, they still can't live a stable life!"

Yang Chengye said in a low voice.

He is ten years older than Yang Mingzhao and has seen many sufferings of the people.

Before, when he was in Zhaowuwei, he had witnessed the poverty of the military households in Zhaowuwei. Although Yang Zhengshan had already checked the military farms in Zhaowuwei and redistributed the land to the military households, how long could they own those lands, three years, five years, or ten years?
Yang Mingzhao asked many questions and Yang Chengye answered many of them for him.

Yang Zhengshan sat nearby and flipped through a travel book casually. There were some things he naturally knew. Not only did he know them, but all the civil and military officials in the court also knew them, and Emperor Yanping also knew them. But why didn't they change it?
Because it’s too difficult to change.

Could it be that Emperor Yanping and the court would rather deceive themselves?

As for Yang Zhengshan, he never considered himself a savior, nor did he ever think of becoming one.

He was willing to help the people of Liaodong back then because Chongshan Town lacked population. He helped resettle the refugees and at the same time enriched the population of Chongshan Town.

One should not meddle in matters that are not within one's jurisdiction. Now Yang Zhengshan is just an idle marquis, so he doesn't want to get involved in those matters.

Call him cold-blooded or say he has no ambition, but he has made up his mind to turn a deaf ear.

After a night's rest, the Yang family continued their journey early the next morning.

They did not travel very fast, but they still entered the territory of Nanjiang Town on the tenth day of April.

There was only one official road from Jianxia Prefecture to Nanjiang Town, so when they entered the territory of Nanjiang Town, they immediately encountered soldiers who came to greet them.

"Southern Xinjiang Central Commander Ai Benhou respectfully welcomes Marquis Jing'an!"

Ai Benhou is a close confidant of Duke Xingguo Qu Changkong. He is not only the lieutenant general of the Nanjiang Central Guard of Nanjiang Town, but also the commander-in-chief of the Nanjiang Town Dusi Yamen.

Yang Zhengshan came in person to escort his granddaughter to her wedding. Qu Changkong was unable to come to greet him, so he arranged for Ai Benhou to come to greet him.

After some pleasantries, Ai Benhou brought Yang Zhengshan to the Acropolis of Zhongwei in southern Xinjiang.

Nanjiang Town is much smaller than the previous Chongshan Town, so it only has four lieutenant generals, but Nanjiang Town has eight town standard camps, including four town standard camps under the command of Duke Xingguo, two town standard camps under the command of the governor of Nanjiang Town, and two town standard camps under the command of the eunuch guarding Nanjiang Town.

The reason why there was a power sharing situation between the governor and the eunuchs in charge of the garrison was because the court deliberately did so.

The Mansion of the Duke of Xingguo has been guarding Nanjiang Town for generations. In order to prevent the Mansion of Xingguo from becoming powerful, the court used the governor and the eunuchs guarding the town to contain the Mansion of Xingguo.

For hundreds of years, this situation has become a routine in Nanjiang Town.

The Acropolis of Zhongwei in southern Xinjiang is pretty good. There are many shops and people in the city, and it looks quite lively.

"The Acropolis is small, and there aren't many houses to live in. Lord Yang is wronged to stay here for one night!"

Ai Benhou brought Yang Zhengshan to the gate of a house and said with a smile.

It’s said to be a grievance, but in fact it’s not a grievance at all.

Although the house in front of him is not big, it is also a three-courtyard house. It is larger than the house that Zhou Lan gave to Yang Zhengshan in Chongshan Town.

Yang Zhengshan said with a smile: "General Ai, why are you so polite? I was also an officer in a border town. When I first entered Chongshan Town, I couldn't even afford a decent yard!"

After entering the house, Wang arranged for the servants to clean up the house. In fact, there was nothing to clean up, as all the furniture in the house was complete and very clean.

There were also many servants in the house, and even the water was boiled. It was obvious that Ai Benhou had made preparations in advance.

Yang Zhengshan and Ai Benhou drank a pot of tea in the tea room and chatted for a while, and then Ai Benhou said goodbye.

They will rest here for a day and then set off for Nanhua City the next day.

It's been a tiring journey. Although the servants and guards of the Yang family are all warriors, it has not been easy along the way. It's time to take a good rest.

Ai Benhou also knew that everyone in the Yang family would feel tired, so he did not hold any banquet for Yang Zhengshan, and even deliberately did not come to disturb them.

Of course, not disturbing you does not mean we are not fulfilling our duty as hosts.

Ai Benhou deliberately left a team of soldiers to guard outside the door, ready to be dispatched by the Yang family at any time.

(End of this chapter)