Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather.

Chapter 663 Who Are They?
In the fifth year of Jianxing, early February.

Yang Zhengshan and Yu Qingyi traveled light and came to Dayong Kyoto again.

This was the first time they returned to Kyoto after leaving Dayong. Standing outside the city, looking at the tall and majestic city walls, Yang Zhengshan couldn't help but sigh.

The city is still the same city, and the city wall is still the same wall, but the feeling they give them is completely different.

It is still very lively in front of the city gate, but the liveliness is different from before.

The bustle in the past came from prosperity, but the bustle now comes from decline and depression.

In the past, the carriages entering and exiting the city gates were all gorgeous, forming long caravans. There were also ordinary people, but they did not account for a large proportion.

Now, almost all the people entering and leaving the city gate are ordinary people. They all look depressed and worried.

There were also a large number of refugees gathered outside the city wall. They were pale and thin, and looked as thin as sticks.

The prosperity of Dayong is gone, leaving only depression and decay.

When they arrived outside Kyoto, Yang Zhengshan and Yu Qingyi did not enter the city immediately. After all, their identities should not be exposed, so it was better to act stealthily.

So at night, the two of them sneaked into the city quietly and did not go anywhere else. They hid in the Jing'an Marquis Mansion for the whole night.

The Marquis of Jing'an's Mansion is still there of course, but there are only a few old servants looking after this huge mansion. The owner has not lived in the mansion for a long time, so it looks much more dilapidated.

It was late at night and the several old servants had already fallen asleep. Yang Zhengshan and Yu Qingyi wandered around the Marquis of Jing'an's mansion as if no one was around.

Yang Zhengshan stood under the ginkgo tree in the front yard, looking at the full moon shining through the mottled branches and leaves, and couldn't help sighing.

This ginkgo tree is the treasure of this mansion. In the past, children loved to practice martial arts under this tree.

"The backyard hasn't been cleaned for a long time, and moss has grown in the room!" Yu Qingyi walked over and said.

Yang Zhengshan smiled and said, "Even these few old servants can't take care of such a huge mansion!"

"Well, do you want to take these old servants away as well?" Yu Qingyi asked.

The Yang family had many servants, but most of them had already gone to Shenmu Island. Only a few were still with Yang Chengye or the married women of the Yang family.

These old servants in the mansion were actually hired in recent years and were not the Yang family’s former slaves.

"Let's take a look. If it doesn't work, send it to Yunxue!" Yang Zhengshan said.

A few old servants are not important, but since they are members of the Yang family, the Yang family naturally needs to take care of them.

Kyoto is relatively stable at the moment, but it may not be long before rebels arrive at the city gates.

Once the city is breached, Kyoto will inevitably be hit by a war.

While the two were talking, Yang Zhengshan's expression moved slightly and he looked towards Yu Qingyi. Yu Qingyi also looked at him. The two looked at each other and stopped talking.

They all heard a slight sound. The source of the sound was the mountain behind the mansion. Although it was far away from them, it still could not escape their ears.

The two looked at each other, then quietly headed towards the back mountain.

Under the bright moonlight, the two figures flashed through the shadows like ghosts. In the blink of an eye, they floated under the eaves at the back of the mountain.

Soon, they found the person who was speaking.

Two figures, completely covered in black robes, were talking in a pavilion at the edge of the back mountain.

Yang Zhengshan was most familiar with that pavilion. In the past, he often took Wang Mingzhe to refine elixirs in the pavilion.

The two figures could not be seen, but every word they said was heard by Yang Zhengshan and Yu Qingyi.

"My master has already agreed. As long as you can march to the outskirts of Kyoto, he can help you open the gates of Kyoto!"

"But the conditions need to be changed. In addition to the previous conditions, my master also needs a fiefdom, a real fiefdom!"

"Okay, now you can agree to your master's condition. We can accept it!"

"Hmm! Didn't you agree too quickly?"

"Haha, the fiefdom can be given to your master, but it must be located in the border area. What do you think of Chongshan Town?"

"Chongshan Town! No, we want Nanjiang Town!"

The two paused for a moment, but soon continued, "That's fine, but you should also understand that if we can't take Chongshan Town, it will be meaningless even if we take Nanjiang Town!"

"Don't worry, since my master has made his choice, he will naturally help you!"

"Okay, it's a deal!"

The two quickly reached an agreement, and Yang Zhengshan and Yu Qingyi stood under the eaves and listened quietly.

In fact, Yang Zhengshan and Yu Qingyi did not hide their figures too much, but the two men did not notice their presence at all.

One reason was that Yang Zhengshan and Yu Qingyi were standing in the shadow under the eaves, and the other reason was that both of them had practiced the art of concealing their breath, and it was Ji Zhen who taught Yang Zhengshan the art.

After restraining their breath, Yang Zhengshan and Yu Qingyi were like dead objects. In addition, they were standing in the shadows, so unless you walked up to them and looked at them with your own eyes, you would not notice them at all.

Yang Zhengshan and Yu Qingyi did not show up until the two men in black robes disappeared, then they looked at each other again.

"Are they treating our mansion as a secret meeting place?" Yu Qingyi said.

Yang Zhengshan stroked his beard and looked at the pavilion over there. "This is normal. Everyone in Kyoto knows that the Marquis of Jing'an's Mansion is just an empty shell! Not to mention martial arts masters, even petty thieves can come in and take a look around."

"Who could they be?" Yu Qingyi asked.

Yang Zhengshan pondered for a moment, "It could be the Daliang King's people, or it could be Chen Hengchang's people!"

Since the other party mentioned that the troops were outside Kyoto, it means that one of them is a rebel.

At present, there are actually only two rebel forces in Dayong, namely King Daliang and Chen Hengchang.

Compared with them, other rebels were just small-scale ones, including the group of rebels in Bashu.

"What about the other one? They actually want a fiefdom!" Yu Qingyi asked again.

Yang Zhengshan's lips curled up slightly, "He should be a noble, and not just an ordinary noble!"

Only nobles would want fiefdoms.

There are not many people who can be so valued by King Daliang and Chen Hengchang, and there should be few such people in Kyoto today.

And it was definitely not a civil servant. It was impossible for a civil servant to ask for a fiefdom, and he did not have the ability to help the rebels capture Kyoto at this time.

Apart from the civil servants, there are only nobles and royal family members left.

It is impossible for the royal family to surrender to King Daliang. At most, they can surrender to Chen Hengchang.

However, the rule of honoring the royal family was set by Emperor Taizu of Darong, and Chen Hengchang was also a descendant of Emperor Taizu of Darong. He certainly could not violate the rules set by his ancestors.

Therefore, he can only be a noble.

Moreover, this noble must possess strong power, otherwise it would be unworthy of such a huge price to win him over.

Figures flashed through Yang Zhengshan’s mind.

In Kyoto, there are not many noble families that have innate warriors, only a few.

Duke Ningguo, Duke Shouguo, Duke Xingguo, Marquis Changping, Marquis Suning, Marquis Haining, Marquis Wuding, Marquis Jianchang and Marquis Nanyang.

The first person who can be ruled out is Duke Xingguo Qu Changkong. The Qu family has been stationed in Nanjiang Town for generations, so naturally they would not ask for any fiefdom.

Wuding Hou Guo Ying can also be ruled out. The Guo family has now occupied Yunling Town. If they want a fiefdom, Yunling Town will naturally be their first choice.

The possibility of Sun Yunbo, the Marquis of Suning, is not high either. The Sun family has its roots in Anxi Town. Perhaps they also have the same idea as the Guo family, wanting to have their own troops. As for the rest!
Yang Zhengshan also ruled out Nanyang Marquis Lu Baishu, because Lu Baishu had just broken through to the innate realm only a few years ago and he could not influence the situation in Kyoto yet.

As for the rest, all are possible.

The Zhou family of Ningguo Mansion and the Liang family of Changping Marquis are the two families that Yang Zhengshan is most familiar with, but Yang Zhengshan cannot be sure whether they have other intentions.

Although Yang Zhengshan felt that these two families would not easily surrender to the rebels, he really couldn't be sure.

Because he was not very familiar with the ancestors of these two families.

Zhou Lan and Liang Chu have their own insistence, but matters involving the survival of the family are not something they can decide.

The ones who can really decide this matter are the innate warriors from their two families.

Zhou Tianci from the Zhou family and Liang Shengze from the Liang family are now both top innate warriors.

Zhou Tianci is Zhou Mao's grandfather, and he is now over 130 years old.

Liang Shengze is Liang Chu's grandfather, and he is now over 120 years old.

After entering the Tao, their age is almost the peak of the innate warriors' strength.

It is not impossible for Zhou Tianci or Liang Shengze to choose to join a certain force in order to continue their family.

However, Yang Zhengshan felt that there was one person who was most likely the most likely.

Duke of Shouguo Wang He!
Wang He is the maternal grandfather of Emperor Chengping and a true royal relative.

However, Duke of Shou was not a hereditary title, but only a third-class hereditary duke. Once Wang He passed away, Duke of Shou would become Marquis of Shouning.

For so many years, Wang He has never given up his title because he doesn't want the Duke's Mansion to become a Marquis' Mansion.

It can be seen that Wang He is a person who values ​​title!
Yang Zhengshan was 80% sure that the man in black robe was Wang He's man.

Of course, Yang Zhengshan would not expose the other party.

The opponent's goal is to capture Kyoto.

What Yang Zhengshan wanted was someone who could capture Kyoto.

"Let's go, let's go and rest first and do it tomorrow!" Yang Zhengshan said softly.

Afterwards, the couple entered the space to rest.

……

the next morning.

In the warm room of Yingxue Courtyard in the Marquis Changping's mansion.

Yang Yunxue was wearing a blue round-necked dress embroidered with gold threads, with a gold-threaded hairpin with beads on her head. There was a celadon tea tray at her side, and in a small teapot made in an old kiln, was brewing her most precious Linglu tea.

At this time, she was teaching a little girl to trace big characters. The old and the young were leaning over the desk, writing carefully stroke by stroke.

The little girl was about ten years old. She had two buns on her head, round cheeks with shallow dimples, and a pair of bright eyes under her long eyelashes.

"Grandma, look~~" After the little girl finished writing a pair of big characters, she handed it to Yang Yunxue like presenting a treasure.

Yang Yunxue looked at the neat characters with a loving expression and said with a smile, "Very good, Mingzhu's handwriting is getting more and more neat!"

This little girl is Liang Mingzhu, the eldest daughter of Liang Qingping, and Yang Yunxue's granddaughter. She has been raised by Yang Yunxue since she was a child. It's not that others are unwilling to raise her, but because Yang Yunxue likes her, so she raises her in her own yard.

Liang Mingzhu's handwriting is naturally not good, it can only be considered neat, and every stroke is made with great care, without any intention of fooling around.

After receiving the compliment, the little girl immediately smiled, her eyebrows were curved like crescent moons, and her dimples made her even more cute.

At this moment, Xia Feng came to Yang Yunxue's side slowly.

Yang Yunxue glanced at her, and Xia Feng immediately stepped forward, bent down, and said in a low voice: "Madam, someone is coming from my hometown, and I need you to greet them in person!"

Xia Feng was Yang Yunxue's maid who came with her as a dowry, and was one of the first batch of slaves purchased by the Yang family.

When Yang Yunxue got married, Yang Zhengshan gave her a dowry of ten people, including Nanny Zhang, Xia Feng, four maids and four servants.

Nanny Zhang had passed away long ago, and Xia Feng is now nearly fifty years old. She has been transformed from a maid into a nanny.

Hearing this, Yang Yunxue looked up at her and said, "Welcome!"

Hometown naturally refers to my mother's family, that is, the Yang family.

But the wording was a bit strange. She was the aunt of the Yang family now. Anyone who came to the Yang family had to be greeted personally by her, the aunt.

Xia Feng has a long face. She was not considered pretty before, and she is even less pretty now that she is older. Of course, she is not ugly either. Although she is almost fifty years old, she has maintained herself well, with a rosy face and very few wrinkles.

But her face seemed a little mean, and she had been the housekeeping nanny beside Yang Yunxue for many years, taking care of a lot of things, so the maids in the courtyard thought she was a little mean.

In fact, Xia Feng is a person who appears cold on the outside but is warm-hearted on the inside. She has been with Yang Yunxue for so many years and has been doing her best without making any mistakes.

Otherwise, Yang Yunxue would not have kept her by her side forever.

At this time, Xia Feng's face was no longer cold, and there was a hint of excitement in his narrow eyes.

"It's the old master and the old lady who are here!"

"They came secretly. I have already led them to the backyard room!"

Xia Feng said.

Yang Yunxue was surprised and delighted when she heard this, "Really!"

"Well!" Xia Feng lowered his voice and said, "The old master doesn't want others to notice him, so he told me not to welcome him with great fanfare!"

"Oh oh oh~~" Yang Yunxue stood up excitedly and walked out without thinking.

"Grandma~~" Liang Mingzhu looked at her grandma in confusion.

Yang Yunxue slapped her forehead and said, "Be good, Mingzhu, practice calligraphy here first. Grandma has some things to deal with!"

Liang Mingzhu responded obediently, and then Yang Yunxue quickly walked out of the greenhouse.

It was still a little cold in Kyoto in February. After walking out of the greenhouse, the cold wind blew and Yang Yunxue recovered from her excitement.

"Did Dad and Mother come here quietly?"

"Yeah." Xia Feng followed her and nodded slightly.

Yang Yunxue asked, "No one noticed, right?"

"Madam, rest assured. I have already sent everyone out!"

"That's good!" Yang Yunxue said.

Although she didn't know the purpose of Yang Zhengshan's visit, she had heard some rumors during this period.

Apart from anything else, the fact that Chen Mingxi went to Shenmu Island to invite Yang Zhengshan could not be hidden from those who were interested.

Although Yang Yunxue has not left the house in recent years, she knows a lot about what is happening in Kyoto.

Chen Mingxi did not invite Yang Zhengshan back, but Yang Zhengshan suddenly came again.

She could guess that there was something going on.

(End of this chapter)