Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather

More than ten days passed in a blink of an eye, and Lu Wenyuan's spring exam ended smoothly.

Perhaps it was because Yang Mingcheng was well prepared, or perhaps it was because Lu Wenyuan was in good health, in short, the ten-day exam did not drag Lu Wenyuan down.

When Lu Wenyuan came out of the last exam, he was still energetic and did not show any signs of fatigue.

"How was it? How was the exam?"

Yang Mingcheng asked impatiently as soon as Lu Wenyuan came out.

He did not dare to ask the first two times. After taking Lu Wenyuan home, he just asked the servants to serve him carefully. He even spoke softly in front of Lu Wenyuan, fearing that he would accidentally affect Lu Wenyuan's mentality.

Now that the exam is finally over, Yang Mingcheng can no longer hold it in, and finally asked what he had been holding in his stomach for these days.

Lu Wenyuan saw Yang Mingcheng's expectant look and smiled, "Brother, I have done my best, but whether I can pass the exam depends on God's will!"

Although Lu Wenyuan is very confident in his knowledge, he really has no absolute certainty about this kind of thing.

"Haha, that's good, that's good! My father said that although some things are planned by man and unsuccessful by God, as long as you do your job well, God will definitely choose you." Yang Mingcheng laughed.

Lu Wenyuan's eyes lit up when he heard it, "Uncle, you have a good idea!"

"Of course, your uncle is now General Dingguo!"

Speaking of his own father, Yang Mingcheng's face was full of pride that could not be concealed.

Lu Wenyuan smiled with his lips pursed. He was also proud of Yang Zhengshan, but he was more introverted and would not show it.

The Spring Examination was over, but the results would not be announced until April. After the results were announced, there would be a palace examination. I just don't know if Lu Wenyuan could enter the palace examination.

...

In the study of the Central Military Governor's Mansion, Ningguo Duke Zhou Mao was looking at the official documents sent by Yang Zhengshan.

"Salt field!"

Zhou Mao frowned slightly. Building a salt field was not a trivial matter.

Because this involves the interests of the Salt Transport Department, why has the Five Military Governor's Office never added salt fields? Is it because they don't know that salt fields can make money?

No, it's because they can't afford to offend the civil servants of the Salt Transport Department.

Although the Salt Transport Department is not of high rank, the civil servants have always liked to stick together, such as teachers and students, disciples, fellow townsmen, and classmates, and the relationship is complicated.

In particular, there is a salt inspector above the Salt Transport Department, and the salt inspector is involved in the Censorate. Once someone wants to intervene in the salt industry, it will cause a lot of trouble.

The Five Military Governor's Office is also afraid that these civil servants will make trouble, so it has never added salt fields.

Zhou Mao knows the interest groups in the salt industry very well, and he doesn't want to cause a quarrel, so he pondered for a while and finally decided to reject Yang Zhengshan's proposal.

He personally wrote a letter to Yang Zhengshan, writing about the troubles of the Salt Transport Department in great detail, which can be regarded as an explanation to Yang Zhengshan.

If it were someone else, he would not be so kind, and he would just send the document back, without any explanation.

But Yang Zhengshan was different, not because Yang Zhengshan was now the General of Dingguo and the commander of Tenglong Guard, but because Yang Zhengshan was considered one of his own.

Zhou Mao was naturally much kinder to his own people.

…

A few days later, Yang Zhengshan received Zhou Mao's letter and sighed faintly, "I knew this would not be easy!"

He stood in front of the window of the study with his hands behind his back, looking at the courtyard outside the window.

It was the end of March, and the temperature in Liaodong had returned to above zero degrees. It was the time when all things began to revive. The sycamore trees in the courtyard had begun to sprout, and the tender green buds curled up, as if there was no mild spring yet.

Yang Zhengshan stroked his long beard and looked at the tender buds, but his mind had already drifted far away.

The water in the court was deep and muddy.

Although there was no party struggle in the Darong court, it was full of various factions.

For example, among the generals, there are nobles who rely on their ancestors' influence, and there are generals who climbed up by military exploits.

The nobles are also divided into different factions, including the old faction, such as the Changping Marquis Mansion, which is a typical representative of the old faction, and the new nobles, as well as royal relatives.

In addition, there are generals who have worked together, such as generals from a border town. They have fought together and have a comradeship, and perhaps they have had interests intertwined, forming a small group.

For example, Yang Zhengshan and Wang Bin are a small group.

And Yang Zhengshan and Zhou Lan are promoted, so Yang Zhengshan has always had the mark of the Ningguo Mansion.

But Yang Zhengshan climbed up by his own military exploits.

As Yang Zhengshan's status and official position became higher and higher, his own network of contacts became wider and wider. Once he had something wrong, it might involve many people.

You should know that it has been less than ten years since Yang Zhengshan went to Chongshan Town, and he has accumulated so many connections in such a short time.

How many connections do those officials who have been in the officialdom for 20 to 30 years have, and how many connections do those official families who have been in the officialdom for generations have.

The Salt Transport Bureau is just a government office, but it represents the interests of many people, and these people will form a special group because of their interests.

Many officials of the Salt Transport Bureau, big salt merchants, and even some officials of the Ministry of Revenue and the Censorate make money from the salt industry.

Anyone who wants to interfere with their interests will be rejected by them.

Zhou Mao is not afraid of them, but he feels that there is no need to entangle with these people because of a salt field.

In short, it is troublesome.

Yang Zhengshan also understood this, and so did Liu Zhe, so Liu Zhe suggested that Yang Zhengshan go to Zheng Xiao to get in touch with the Salt Transport Bureau.

But the prerequisite for finding Zheng Xiao is to get the Central Military Governor's Office to agree to Tenglongwei building a salt field.

Zhou Mao disagrees, what can Yang Zhengshan do?

Talk to him about the necessity of Tenglongwei building a salt field?

Yang Zhengshan thinks it is useless.

The key to Zhou Mao's disagreement is not these, but fear of trouble.

If he wants to get Zhou Mao's approval, he must first solve the problem of the Salt Transport Bureau.

This solution does not mean getting the Salt Transport Bureau to agree to his building a salt field, but to prevent the Salt Transport Bureau from finding trouble with him and the Central Military Governor's Office because of the problem of the salt field.

"So find a reason that the Salt Transport Bureau cannot refute!"

After Yang Zhengshan sorted out his thoughts, he came to such a conclusion.

He stroked his beard, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

Reasons that cannot be refuted!

It's not that there are none.

Don't forget why he came to Tenglongwei?

Turning back to the desk, Yang Zhengshan began to write.

It is difficult to influence the interests of the Salt Transport Bureau by himself.

But he can borrow strength.

Don't forget that he still has a big flag to pull.

That is the old emperor!

It was the old emperor who asked him to come to Tenglongwei.

Yang Zhengshan wrote a long memorial in a fluent manner, detailing what he had done in the past few months since he came to Tenglongwei, and then talked about the difficulties he faced and the solutions he thought of, and finally mentioned the matter of the salt field.

There are also skills to report work to the boss. You must explain your own merits and your own problems. Of course, it is not enough to just talk about the problems, but also talk about the solutions you think of.

In this way, the boss knows that you have done things before, are working hard now, and there are still many things to do in the future.

After writing the memorial, Yang Zhengshan invited Liu Zhe to modify the memorial.

"Brother Yang, you should read more on weekdays!" Liu Zhe said with disdain while revising.

Yang Zhengshan's mouth twitched slightly.

Haha, it's not certain who reads more between us!

Uh, that's not right.

But in terms of the amount of reading, he is not as good as Liu Zhe. Liu Zhe really likes reading. Although he has gone through nine years of compulsory education, three years of high school, and four years of college, he is really no match for Liu Zhe.

"Ahem, I'm already this old, let's just forget it!" Yang Zhengshan could only say so.

"Learn until you die!"

"Every profession has its own specialty!" Yang Zhengshan felt that he was not unlearned. He often read military books and some travel notes to increase his understanding of the world.

"Learn extensively, question carefully, think carefully, distinguish clearly, and practice diligently."

"..."

Yang Zhengshan felt that he was out of his mind and actually wanted to argue with Liu Zhe.

He stopped talking and sipped the tea carefully.

Liu Zhe didn't seem to really want to argue with him. He was just persuading people to study.

Well, this guy has a bit of the attribute of being a teacher.

After Liu Zhe finished revising it, Yang Zhengshan copied it again before sending it out.

As soon as he sent the memorial out, Wu Hai hurried to the yamen, "Master, a letter from Kyoto, very urgent!"

"Very urgent!"

Yang Zhengshan's face became serious, and he quickly took the letter to read it.

The letter was sent by Wu Zheng, and the content of the letter was only one sentence "Huai Jiang Bo died of illness!"

Yang Zhengshan looked at this sentence and didn't react for a while.

What does Wu Zheng mean by sending someone back a letter in a hurry, just for such a thing?

"Huai Jiang Bo, who is Huai Jiang Bo?"

Yang Zhengshan murmured in a low voice.

"What happened to Huai Jiang Bo?" Liu Zhe, who had not left yet, suddenly asked.

"Huai Jiang Bo died of illness, Brother Liu, who is this Huai Jiang Bo?" Yang Zhengshan looked at Liu Zhe.

Liu Zhe looked at him with a strange look and said, "You don't know!"

"Know what?" Yang Zhengshan was even more confused.

"General Zhou and Huaijiang Bo's marriage!" Liu Zhe said.

Yang Zhengshan was startled, and then looked at the letter in his hand, his face suddenly became gloomy.

Huaijiang Bo Sui Yi'an!

Isn't this the person Zhou Lan was going to marry?

But now Huaijiang Bo has passed away!

What does this mean?

It means that Zhou Lan can't get married again, and it means that Zhou Lan's reputation as a husband killer will be even better. Maybe Zhou Lan will never get married in this life!

Although Yang Zhengshan doesn't care about many feudal customs here, he still hopes that Zhou Lan will have a happy marriage.

But now~~

"Did he really die of illness?" Yang Zhengshan couldn't help thinking in the direction of conspiracy theory.

This is too coincidental!

Zhou Lan's first two fiancés also died before getting married, and this third one is also.

Once is a coincidence, twice can also be said to be a coincidence.

But this is the third time!

There are not so many coincidences in the world!

Yang Zhengshan paced back and forth in the study room with his hands behind his back. He wanted to help Zhou Lan, but after thinking for a long time, he found that he really couldn't help with this matter.

The person was already dead, and he was not a god, so he certainly couldn't bring the dead back to life.

Moreover, he was far away in Liaodong, thousands of miles away from Kyoto.

He couldn't even say a word of peace.

"Ah~~" Yang Zhengshan sighed helplessly.

Liu Zhe next to him also shook his head with a look of regret, "General Zhou is also a heroine, but this marriage is, but..."

Even he, who was knowledgeable, couldn't think of any words to describe it for a while.

Yang Zhengshan thought about it and wrote another letter to Wu Zheng, asking him to pay more attention to Zhou Lan.

It seemed that this was all he could do now.