Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather

There is no rush to sell the war horses. Anyway, Yinghebao still has money, so the initial investment for the expansion is completely no problem.

On April 23, the 25th year of Chengping, it is appropriate to start groundbreaking, pray, bury, and offer sacrifices.

Under the order of Yang Zhengshan, Yinghebao began to break ground and expand.

This time, the expansion of Yinghebao is not to expand outward, but to demolish the north wall and directly expand 150 meters to the north, almost to the river beach of Yinghe River.

At the same time as the expansion, the garrison will also be replanned.

The beacon tower will be rebuilt, the city wall will be raised and thickened, and most of the newly built areas will be designated as residential areas. The pig pens, sheep pens and chicken coops in front of the government office will all be converted into stables, and part of the original residential area will be converted into chicken coops, pig pens and sheep pens.

At the same time, the water of Yinghe River will be diverted into the trench to form a two-meter-wide moat, with a city gate on each side of the east and west.

According to Yang Zhengshan's plan, although the future Yinghebao is not a city, it is larger than most towns and is about a circle smaller than Anning County.

Anning County is more than three miles long from east to west and two miles wide from north to south, and it is only more than ten miles around the city.

The future Yinghebao will be one thousand meters long from north to south and more than six hundred meters wide from east to west, with a circumference of about six miles.

In the future, Yinghebao will no longer be a simple garrison, but an economic center of thirty miles around.

Yang Zhengshan specially planned a commercial street at the east gate, with more than twenty shops.

In the future, the military households of the surrounding garrisons, fire road piers and beacon towers will no longer have to go to Guancheng or Changling County in the south to buy anything, but can come to Yinghebao.

The shops are only rented out, not sold, which can also be regarded as an additional income for the government office.

By then, there will be enough shops for the military households willing to do business in the garrison. Doing business in the garrison will definitely not be big, at most it is just to support the family, and Yang Zhengshan has no need to compete with them.

Of course, the main responsibility of the military households is to cultivate the land. Even if they do business, they cannot abandon the land.

The expansion of the garrison is not a trivial matter. Yang Zhengshan needs to report to the Weisi Yamen of Jianning Guard and obtain approval before expansion.

With Zhou Lan, approval is definitely no problem.

However, many officials of Jianning Guard were very surprised about Yang Zhengshan's expansion of the garrison, and many officials expressed disdain for it.

In their eyes, Yang Zhengshan is just messing around.

There is so much silver, but he doesn't want to find a way to get it into his own pocket, but he actually wants to expand the garrison.

We are military officers, not civil officials. We don't need to rule the world. As long as we can get by, why bother to do these meaningless things.

That's right, in their Yang Zhengshan, what Yang Zhengshan did was meaningless.

Although Yang Zhengshan was not in Jianning Guard, some unpleasant words still reached his ears.

"Dad, the most hateful person is Duan Heshun, the defense officer of Changlin Fort. He actually said that you are seeking fame and reputation and are hypocritical!"

In the study, Yang Mingzhi stood in front of Yang Zhengshan and said angrily.

He went to Jianning Guard again yesterday, and heard a lot of sour words against his own father. For this reason, he went up to argue with those bastards who talked nonsense.

"So?" Yang Zhengshan took a sip of tea and asked in a flat tone.

"Dad, they should be taught a lesson! Others only talked behind their backs, but Duan Heshun actually said this in front of people, and even deliberately spread the word. This is deliberately targeting you!" Yang Mingzhi is not stupid, and he has figured out Duan Heshun's thoughts.

Others can only say a few sour words at most, and even if they disagree, they will not openly sing against Yang Zhengshan.

But Duan Heshun was different. He was making a big fuss about it, as if he was afraid that Yang Zhengshan didn't know about it.

"Then why do you think he is targeting me?" Yang Zhengshan raised his eyes and asked.

Yang Mingzhi was slightly stunned, and then frowned.

Why did Duan Heshun target Yang Zhengshan?

They had never met before, and there was no conflict.

Changlin Fort was in the south of Jianningwei, more than 80 miles away from Yinghe Fort. What happened to Yinghe Fort would not affect Changlin Fort.

Logically speaking, there was no grudge between the two sides, so why did Duan Heshun take the initiative to jump out and make trouble?

Yang Mingzhi couldn't figure it out, "Dad, why?"

Yang Zhengshan stroked his beard and said lightly: "They are not targeting your father, but General Zhou!"

"General Zhou?" Yang Mingzhi was even more puzzled.

Since they were targeting General Zhou, why did they deal with Yang Zhengshan?

Yang Zhengshan sighed in his heart, this kid was still too young and too simple, and he only looked at the surface of things.

Duan Heshun is just a defense officer, and a defense officer who has nothing to do with Yang Zhengshan. How free is he to provoke Yang Zhengshan?

As for saying that Duan Heshun is targeting Zhou Lan, this is right and wrong.

It is right because he is testing Zhou Lan by doing this. Yang Zhengshan is Zhou Lan's man, which is a well-known fact in Jianning Guard.

Targeting Yang Zhengshan is targeting Zhou Lan, and the reason is very simple.

In short, Yang Zhengshan has embraced Zhou Lan's thigh, which means he is tied to Zhou Lan's ship.

If Zhou Lan is good, he will have nothing to worry about. If Zhou Lan has trouble, he will also be in trouble.

And if he has problems, Zhou Lan will help him.

Of course, this is definitely not Duan Heshun, a small defense officer, testing Zhou Lan. There must be other supporters behind the scenes.

The reason for such a test is actually very simple.

Recently, Zhou Lan has been vigorously cleaning up the pests in Jianning Guard. Since the end of the invasion of Hu bandits this year, Zhou Lan has put the butcher knife inside Jianning Guard.

In just one month, she has dealt with more than ten defense officers and garrison officers.

And her next step is to deal with the senior officials in the Guards Office, as well as the garrison and ethics officers of each city.

Those people can still endure if they take down a few garrison officers and defense officers, but they can't help but jump out when the butcher knife is on their necks.

However, Zhou Lan has a deep background after all, and they dare not confront Zhou Lan, so they set their sights on Zhou Lan's confidants.

Cause some trouble for Zhou Lan, so that Zhou Lan has no time to pay attention to other things, or let Zhou Lan retreat when he sees difficulties.

"General Zhou's methods are too fierce, and I can't sit still!"

"Now they are just testing, and they may be serious next!"

Yang Zhengshan said, stroking his beard.

Zhou Lan has always been resolute and straightforward in her work, and she never beats around the bush.

This is related to her background. Born in the Ningguo Mansion, she has the confidence to face everything and has developed a straightforward character.

In the past, she was in the Zhenbiao Camp, and this kind of character would not cause too much trouble, but now she is the Lieutenant General of Jianning Guard, and there are many evil spirits hidden under her. This straightforwardness will get herself into trouble.

"Who are they?" Yang Mingzhi somewhat understood what Yang Zhengshan meant, but he still couldn't see the situation clearly.

Yang Zhengshan's eyes gradually became deep, "There are five garrisons and a guard command in the jurisdiction of Jianning Guard! Those who dare to target General Zhou are among these few people."

The guard command has a guard commander, two commanders, and five garrisons, which means that there are only these eight people who dare to take action.

As for the others, they are not qualified at all.

"Jianning Guard Commander Zhong Luan, this person was born in the House of the Earl of Chengyi. He is a nobleman and should not dare to provoke the tiger whiskers of the Ningguo Mansion!"

"Ningzhou City Garrison Mu Qiu was just transferred to Ningzhou City three years ago. He should not be deeply involved in Jianning Guard."

"Pingzhou City Garrison Ji He just took office last year and was promoted by the Marquis of Changping. He has no reason to do these self-indulgent things."

"Jinghu Fort Garrison Zhang Yan, he is Zhang Shouwang's nephew, he should be in the same mind with General Zhou."

"The rest are Jianning Guard Commander Co-Knower Liu Qiong and Ye Zhaoquan, Chishan Fort Garrison Qiu Zhen, Ruizhou City Garrison Guan Shanhe."

"Except for them~~"

Yang Zhengshan tapped his fingers on the table and said thoughtfully: "There may be Liaodong Military Preparations behind this. Xie Yunchuan."

He knew Jianning Guard well, but he didn't know much about the Military Preparation Office and the Censorate.

In fact, he didn't need to say these words, he just had to think about them in his heart.

He told Yang Mingzhi to cultivate Yang Mingzhi's way of thinking.

Yang Mingzhi was smart and sharp, far superior to Yang Mingcheng in scheming, but his low birth and shallow knowledge limited his thinking.

In many cases, he could only see the surface and could not find deep-seated contradictions and problems.

Yang Zhengshan has always cultivated the three brothers of the Yang family in different directions. Yang Mingcheng is honest, so he was made responsible for the family's industry. Although he could not plan too much for the Yang family, he was obedient. He did whatever Yang Zhengshan asked him to do.

Yang Mingzhi was smart and sharp, and had some scheming, so Yang Zhengshan took him into the officialdom to seek a future.

Yang Minghao was lively and did things without thinking, but he had an advantage, that is, he was young, and Yang Zhengshan could train him to become a strong man in martial arts.

You can tell a person's future from his age.

The nature of the three brothers has been formed, and Yang Zhengshan cannot change their nature, but can only guide them to develop in the direction they are good at.

In fact, Yang Zhengshan's key training targets are the third generation of the Yang family, that is, Yang Chengye and Yang Chengmao.

They are still young, and Yang Zhengshan has plenty of time to train them.

After listening to Yang Zhengshan's words, Yang Mingzhi also had some calculations in his mind.

"Dad, I think Xie Yunchuan and Guan Shanhe are more likely!"

"Why?" Yang Zhengshan asked.

"I heard that Xie Yunchuan and Guan Shanhe are relatives, and Guan Shanhe's youngest daughter married Xie Yunchuan's second son."

"And I also heard that Xie Yunchuan has some relationship with the Qing Palace!"

Yang Mingzhi lowered his voice and said carefully.

Yang Zhengshan narrowed his eyes slightly.

These gossips are only Yang Mingzhi who can find out.

He didn't spend half a year in Jianningwei last year for nothing. He knew more about some secret news than Yang Zhengshan.

"Xie Yunchuan has a relationship with the Prince Qing's Mansion? Are you serious?"

"This~" Yang Mingzhi said uncertainly: "It should be true. It is said that Xie Yunchuan would give gifts to the Prince Qing's Mansion during festivals, and he gave quite a lot each time."

He also heard it from others, but he believed what he heard.

"Prince Qing's Mansion!"

Yang Zhengshan lowered his head and fell into silence.

The royal family of the Darong Dynasty was respected, but most of the royal family only had a false name and no real power.

The Prince of Qing was a prince, and his status was noble, but Darong's system for the royal princes was to grant fiefs but not grant land, to give titles but not rule the people, and to eat salaries but not manage affairs.

Since they did not manage affairs, they would not have much interaction with officials, and officials would not ask them for help, so most officials kept a distance from the royal family.

It stands to reason that Xie Yunchuan has no need to be involved with Prince Qing. He is the Liaodong Military Preparations Commissioner and the Deputy Envoy of the Liaodong Censorate, a third-rank official. It would be more harmful than beneficial for him to be involved with Prince Qing.

Yang Zhengshan felt that there was something he didn't know about this, but he couldn't see it clearly for a while because he lacked information.

"You~"

Yang Zhengshan opened his mouth and wanted Yang Mingzhi to go to Jianning Guard to find out the relationship between Xie Yunchuan and Prince Qing, but he stopped talking when he got to his lips.

Although Prince Qing has no power, he is a prince after all. In fact, he, a defense officer, can investigate at will.

Zhou Lan has to solve this matter.

He thought about it, walked to the desk, and wrote a letter.

"You send this letter to General Zhou tomorrow!"

It's okay if this matter doesn't involve Prince Qing. If it does, it will be a big trouble.

He certainly can't handle it himself, and it's estimated that even Zhou Lan will find it difficult to handle it.

The specific situation depends on what Zhou Lan thinks.