Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather.

Chapter 588: Government Offices, Merchants, and Navy
When he first arrived, Yang Zhengshan was not in a hurry to arrange things on the island, but first familiarized himself with the situation on the island.

Silent all night.

On the second day, Yang Zhengshan, accompanied by Luo Jinsong, rode around the island on horseback.

There are mountains and forests on the east and fields on the west. This is just the general terrain of Xingyue Island. The entire island is more than 30 miles long from east to west and more than 20 miles wide from north to south, and mountains and forests account for more than half of it.

“How much arable land is there on the island?”

Yang Zhengshan asked casually while riding his horse on a path in the field.

"There are a total of 38,600 acres, of which more than 24,000 acres are paddy fields and more than 13,000 acres are dry fields!" said Luo Jinsong.

Paddy fields are suitable for growing rice. It’s not that there is no water in dry fields, but they cannot store water, such as on the hillside in the middle.

There are three small rivers, or rather three streams, on the island, all of which are springs from the mountains.

Fresh water resources are abundant.

"What about the population?" Yang Zhengshan continued to ask.

"There are now 1,800 households and more than 6,800 people over the age of twelve, not including the new arrivals yesterday!" Luo Jinsong replied.

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly. There were more than 7,000 people, half of whom moved here from Darong. They were mainly slaves, tenants and guards of the Yang family. In addition, there were members of the Yang family, the Luo family, the Zhen family and other families.

"Can the islanders cultivate so many fields?"

"It can't be cultivated. The dry land in the east is basically not cultivated now!"

"If everyone is to have land to farm, how many people will be needed?" Yang Zhengshan continued to ask.

"We probably need another thousand households! Each household can cultivate at most 30 acres!" Luo Jinsong said.

There used to be more than 40,000 people on Xingyue Island, but the fields on the island alone could not feed 40,000 people, so Xingyue Island needed to purchase a large amount of food from outside every year.

The fields on the island can support at most 10,000 people.

Feeding more than 10,000 people does not just mean feeding them, but also meeting their other life needs, including food, clothing, housing and transportation.

Yang Zhengshan doesn't want the residents on the island to be a bunch of poor people. At least he wants to ensure that they have enough food and clothing.

"Contact Yu Tonghai in a few days and ask if anyone in Tenglongwei is willing to move here!" Yang Zhengshan said.

Most of the Yang family's slaves had moved here, and as for the tenants, there were not many left.

Before coming to Xingyue Island, Yang Zhengshan had already dealt with most of the Yang family's farms, leaving only two or three farms near Kyoto, and the tenants of those farms were all newly recruited.

Luo Jinsong nodded and took note of the matter.

Yang Zhengshan rode to the foot of the mountain and looked at the medicinal fields and three small rivers at the foot of the mountain.

In fact, the construction of Xingyuemen on the island is also very good. The canals and ponds are very complete, and irrigation of paddy fields is not a problem. The reason why dry fields are dry fields is mainly because the terrain here is relatively high, and it is not very convenient to divert water.

"The medicinal fields here are about 300 acres, and there are 18 kinds of medicinal herbs planted, including four precious medicines, with a total of more than 80 plants!"

"In order to take care of these medicinal fields, I found more than a dozen medicinal farmers!"

Luo Jinsong pointed at the medicine field and said.

This medicinal field is the most precious thing left by the Xingyue Sect.

Three streams on the mountain pass through the medicinal fields, then extend westward for seven or eight miles and converge into one place before flowing into the sea.

Yang Zhengshan looked up at the forest.

The hillside is very flat. There is a large bamboo forest on the southern slope, a tea plantation on the northern slope, and many fruit trees, all of which were planted by the Xingyue Sect.

There are many pavilions and towers in the mountains, with their eaves hidden among the lush trees.

"Is there a pond on the mountain?" Yang Zhengshan asked.

"Yes, there are more than a dozen pools of water on it, and there are pools of water at those pavilions!"

"There is another courtyard on the top of the mountain. The source of the stream in the middle is in that courtyard!"

Luo Jinsong pointed to the pavilion above and said.

The scenery on the mountain is beautiful, but it is actually not suitable for human habitation. It is okay to go up there occasionally for fun, but if you really live there, there will be many inconveniences.

Yang Zhengshan walked around the mountain and looked at the pool of water on the mountain.

Very nice, three streams, each with two or three pools on the mountain.

The scenery here is beautiful, but Yang Zhengshan is not looking at the scenery. What he wants to do is to add spiritual spring water to these pools.

Just add spiritual spring water to these pools and it will benefit most of the islanders.

When we arrived at the top of the mountain, the villa on the top of the mountain was not big, but it was a very good viewing spot.

"Leave this villa to me. I can come and play occasionally!"

Yang Zhengshan shamelessly occupied the villa.

Well, it’s not really a preemption.

Everything on the island belongs to him, and the residents of the island are all his people. They can be said to be his subjects, or his slaves.

Such as Luo Jinsong, Luo Shang, Zhen Yangshi and so on, these people will be his retainers in the future.

Although Yang Zhengshan did not intend to establish a small kingdom, this is actually the case.

Yang Zhengshan spent a day touring Xingyue Island. He also chatted with many residents on the island and asked about their situations.

In general, the residents of the island lived a good life and had enough land. The rent set by Yang Zhengshan was not high. Only six dou of rice were required for one acre of paddy field, and only four dou for one acre of dry land, which was almost 20% of the yield per acre.

The farmers on the island were already very happy as they only had to pay rent without any other taxes.

In comparison, the people of Darong really lived a hard life. Not to mention the tenants, even the self-employed farmers and small landlords were tormented by corrupt officials.

Yang Zhengshan had no intention of relying on these people to support the Yang family. The Yang family could not consume that much food, and the main source of financial income for Xingyue Island was not land tax, but maritime trade.

In the following days, Yang Zhengshan made some plans for Xingyue Island, mainly for the docks and the city. He also made plans for the management of Xingyue Island. The original Xingyue Gate's main hall was changed by Yang Zhengshan into the Xingyue Government Office.

Yang Zhengshan planned to manage the Xingyue Island as if it were a county and set up a county government like the one in Dayong.

However, calling it the county government office sounded a bit stingy, so we simply changed it to the government office.

At this time, everyone was seated in the lobby of the government office.

There were more than ten people in the hall, including Luo Jinsong, Wu Zhan, Luo Shang, Zhen Yangshi, Lv Xinghe, Jiang He, Wang Jing, Yang Chengche, Yang Qinwu, Wang Lei, and Li Chang.

"We will settle down here from now on. Today is a good time to make arrangements for the future while everyone is here!"

"We need to build a government office and a business. The government office should follow the regulations of the county office and appoint a chief official as the island owner. Haha, I will be the island owner, and I will have two assistant officials, one civil and one military, namely the councilor and the military officer. Jiang He will be the councilor, responsible for managing the six departments of civil servants, households, criminal justice, engineering, education, and commerce."

Yang Zhengshan looked at Jiang He and said, "There is no need to explain the four offices of Li, Hu, Xing, and Gong. You can set them up as the county government of Darong. The school is actually an academy. Set up ten primary schools on the island, which means one for every four or five villages. Hire two teachers, one for literature and one for martial arts, to teach the children in the village to read and practice martial arts. All children between the ages of eight and twelve must go to school. This is mandatory, and both boys and girls must go to school!"

"In addition to the elementary school, we will build a middle school, select young people with outstanding qualifications to enter the middle school, and train them to become warriors!"

"The business house is mainly responsible for the management of the shops and docks on the island. You can decide the details yourself!"

It's just a makeshift team, so there's no need for Yang Zhengshan to be too serious about it. Jiang He can handle it with his ability. He said all this just to set the rules.

"Cheng Che will be the military officer, Qin Wu will be the deputy military officer. You will form three patrols to maintain law and order on the island, which is similar to the county government's runners. You can discuss the specific matters with Jiang He!" Yang Zhengshan said.

"Yes!" Cheng Che and Qin Wu responded.

These were all small matters and the two of them did not care. It was not important to them whether they had a mission or not. However, since Yang Zhengshan asked them to form three patrols, they just did it.

"Next are the businesses and the navy. For the Yang Family Business, Luo Shang is the chief manager, Zhen Yang is the second manager, and Lu Xinghe is the third manager. Your next task is to open up shipping routes to Liaodong, Jiangnan, Fuhai and Xingyue Island. After these routes are opened, you can expand shipping routes to the southeastern sea area!"

"In addition, choose a suitable place to build a glass workshop and salt field, and sell glass products and refined salt to the southeastern sea and the southern dynasties!"

"You guys should discuss the specific matters yourselves!"

Yang Zhengshan is only responsible for arranging tasks but not taking care of specific matters. He is very experienced in being a hands-off boss.

"The last one is the navy. The navy will escort the merchant ships of the company. Luo Jinsong will be the commander of the navy, and Wu Zhan will be the deputy commander. From now on, 30% of the profit of the company will be given to the navy as military expenses."

"The navy is still too weak. You need to train more!"

In Yang Zhengshan's eyes, the 500 naval officers trained by Luo Jinsong were just a mob.

But next, Yang Zhengshan will invest a large amount of spiritual spring water in Xingyue Island, and the strength of the navy will definitely increase.

Yang Zhengshan does not plan to build too many naval forces. There are only 500 people now, which is indeed a bit too few, but even if it is to be expanded in the future, it will not exceed 1,000 people at most.

Yang Zhengshan plans to take the elite route and train more powerful warriors. There is no need to train a large number of ordinary soldiers.

The main reason is that he can't afford to support too many people.

"Wang Lei, Li Chang, select a hundred men from among the former guards. These men will serve as the Yang family's guards from now on."

In the future on Xingyue Island, the Yang family will not need to maintain so many guards. It will be enough to keep the original twenty personal followers and select another hundred people to form a guard of one hundred and twenty people.

These guards don’t actually need to do much on a daily basis, they just need to practice. In the future, if anyone from the Yang family goes out, they will follow the guards.

Although there are few people on the island now, Yang Zhengshan actually has a lot of power.

There are two innate warriors on the island, namely Yang Zhengshan and Yu Qingyi, two half-step innate warriors, Wu Zhan and Luo Jinsong, eighteen acquired ninth-level warriors, Wang Lei, Li Chang, Wang Jing and others have all reached the acquired ninth level, there are forty-two acquired eighth-level warriors, and nearly two hundred acquired seventh-level warriors.

Most of these people were Yang Zhengshan’s entourage and the Yang family’s guards.

However, there were much fewer other warriors. There were about 500 post-natal warriors below the seventh level, and about 300 ordinary warriors. These were all former servants of the Yang family. They had all been trained in the Guard Camp, but they had only been trained for three years. Their cultivation was not very strong, and most of them were below the fifth level of the post-natal.

These were originally the power of the Yang family, and now they have all moved to Xingyue Island. Xingyue Island itself does not have any power. The 3,000 islanders recruited by Luo Jinsong are just ordinary people. They used to be miserable and had problems getting enough food, let alone practicing.

The navy formed by Luo Jinsong was similar. Except for the guards left on the island by Yang Zhengshan, the rest were just ordinary young and strong men.

But this is not a problem. Yang Zhengshan believes that with his abilities, a large number of warriors will emerge on the island in a few years.

After everything was arranged, Yang Zhengshan just became a hands-off boss.

Of course, he is not really a hands-off boss who does nothing.

While Jiang He, Yang Chengche and others were busy setting up the government office, Yang Zhengshan also selected a mansion in the city to serve as the library for Xingyue Island.

Martial arts techniques are also one of the foundations of a martial arts force, and Yang Zhengshan definitely has quite a few techniques.

When destroying the Xingyue Sect, Yang Zhengshan took away all of the sect's martial arts techniques.

When he broke through Yemi City, he also collected all the martial arts skills collected by the Wuliang Royal Court into the Lingquan Space.

In addition, the Yang family has also inherited many martial arts techniques over the years, especially the innate techniques and innate cultivation experiences in the Dayong Royal Library, and he also had people copy a lot of them.

It can be said that the current Xingyue Island is not short of martial arts training techniques. From the body-building realm to the acquired realm and then to the innate realm, all kinds of techniques are available.

In the library, after Yang Zhengshan had piled up all kinds of techniques in the room, he called Jiang He and told him, "The techniques for cultivating the body and acquired realms are stored in the front yard, while the techniques for cultivating the innate realms and the innate cultivation experience are stored in the back yard!"

"Choose a few clerks to take care of this place and store these skills in different categories. If you have time, find a few more people to copy these skills as a backup!"

Jiang He looked at the skills in his hand and asked, "Can these skills be shown to others?"

"Yes, but if your cultivation level is not high enough, it's better not to read too much. It's a waste of time. When your cultivation level reaches the level of refining strength, you can look up the acquired skills here. When your cultivation level reaches the eighth level of acquired skills, you can look up the innate skills here." Yang Zhengshan said.

There is no need to hide these skills, they are all relatively common skills, Darong can open them at will, and Xingyue Island can do the same.

"Oh, then I understand!" Jiang He replied.

In the following days, Jiang He became busy.

At this time, Jiang He was probably the busiest person on Xingyue Island. He wanted to set up a government office, so he had no shortage of manpower. Many servants of the Yang family were good at writing and calculating, so they could work as clerks in the government office without any problems.

The main reason is that there are too many things to do. Government offices need to be established, and primary and secondary schools also need to be established.

There is no time to gather young and strong people to demolish the city wall, so we can only make do with it for now.

(End of this chapter)