Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather

In the study room of Tenglongwei Yamen.

Yang Zhengshan looked at the letter sent from Kyoto, and a bright smile bloomed on his face.

"Not bad!"

What is the imperial examination?

The imperial examination is the fastest and easiest way to improve social class.

Scholars, farmers, merchants, and soldiers.

Merchants have always been at the bottom. No matter how rich they are, they can't stand in the court. Maybe they can collude with officials, bully the market, and become rich, but in front of people, they always have to be the first.

Farmers and craftsmen are the most miserable and tired, and they are also the most popular and basic. It is said that "the king is the boat; the common people are the water; the water carries the boat, and the water overturns the boat." However, how many of those scholars and officials care about the common people? The old emperor, who cares about the lives of dozens or hundreds of common people?

As for the military, the strength of one's own military power can bring many things, such as wealth, identity, status, official position, etc., but the warriors fight with their lives.

Whether in the Jianghu or in the officialdom, every warrior needs to fight with his own martial arts.

Compared with this, scholars have it much easier. Ten years of hard study sounds very bitter, but is it really bitter?

Is it harder than farmers facing the loess and back to the sky?

Is it harder than craftsmen who work day and night and sweat every day?

Is it harder than the mountains of corpses and seas of blood on the battlefield?

Ten years of hard study, once you pass the exam, you will be rich and prosperous.

Yang Zhengshan will not evaluate the social system of Darong, nor does he have the ability to change the dregs of feudal society. He will only be happy for Lu Wenyuan, happy for the Lu family, and happy for the Yang family.

From then on, the Lu family is a family of officials, and the Yang family will have an official in-law.

Although the Yang family does not seem to need any in-laws now, the rise and growth of a family depends not only on the growth of its own children, but also on various personal connections.

Yang Zhengshan has always been looking forward to Lu Wenyuan, otherwise he would not take the initiative to let Yang Mingcheng send Lu Wenyuan to Kyoto.

Now that Lu Wenyuan has passed the exam, his efforts have paid off.

"This good news must be sent back to the Lu family as soon as possible!"

After Yang Zhengshan was happy, he immediately arranged for someone to send the news to the Lu family.

After sending the news, Yang Zhengshan thought about it and went to see Lin Zhan again.

Now that Lu Wenyuan has passed the exam, it is a sure thing that he will become a Jinshi. Next, the Yang family will look at Lin Zhan.

Compared to Lu Wenyuan, Lin Zhan has a closer relationship with the Yang family. Once a teacher, always a father. This is not just talk.

What's more, Lin Zhan was raised by the Yang family. Except for the different surnames, it is not an exaggeration to say that Lin Zhan is a member of the Yang family.

"How is Lin Zhan's academic performance? Can he pass the exam this year?" Yang Zhengshan stood in the yard and asked Liu Zhe.

Liu Zhe stroked his beard, looked through the window at Lin Zhan who was reading in the study, and smiled with satisfaction: "This kid is very smart, much smarter than I was when I was young."

"Next year I plan to let him take part in the provincial examination!"

"Take part in the provincial examination! That means he can get the title of scholar this year!" Yang Zhengshan's eyes lit up.

"Of course, don't you see whose student he is!" Liu Zhe said proudly.

Yang Zhengshan gave face, nodded in agreement, and said: "Brother Liu is knowledgeable and it is his blessing to be Brother Liu's student!"

"By the way, there is something I want to discuss with you!" Liu Zhe said in a tone of voice.

"What is it?"

"Can the time for morning exercise be shortened? Morning is a good time for reading. How can it be wasted on martial arts?" Liu Zhe said dissatisfiedly.

Yang Zhengshan frowned slightly, "Don't even think about it!"

"He will take the exam for scholar this year and the exam for juren next year!" Liu Zhe also frowned.

"The way of cultivation is to not make progress or regress. Now you ask him to shorten the time of martial arts practice, wouldn't it mean that all his previous years of hard work will be in vain!" Yang Zhengshan said without giving in.

"Which is more important, martial arts practice or study? Lin Zhan has the talent of the top scholar in the future!" Liu Zhe argued.

"Humph, he still has innate talent in the future!"

"No, study is more important."

"I said, study can't affect martial arts practice!"

"I'm his teacher!"

"I'm still his master!"

As they talked, the two of them started to quarrel.

Yang Zhengshan felt a little bit like inviting a wolf into the house. Before, he thought it was good for Liu Zhe to be Lin Zhan's teacher, but now he felt that Liu Zhe wanted to kidnap his apprentice.

"Humph, I don't care what you do, anyway, Lin Zhan can't delay his practice. If he delays, I will expel him from the sect!"

Yang Zhengshan said a cruel word and left with a wave of his sleeves.

Liu Zhe's face turned pale, and he finally complained helplessly: "Shameless old thief!"

Yang Zhengshan was not threatening Lin Zhan at all, but threatening Liu Zhe.

If Liu Zhe forced Lin Zhan to give up martial arts, it would harm Lin Zhan.

Being expelled from the master's school is not a trivial matter, especially for scholars who respect teachers. If Lin Zhan is really expelled from the master's school, it means that he has a bad moral character. In the future, let alone the top scholar, he will not even be able to participate in the provincial and imperial examinations.

On the other hand, after Yang Zhengshan left the yard, he showed a victorious smile on his face.

Little guy, fight with me!

As Lin Zhan's master, he naturally would not let Lin Zhan give up cultivation because of studying, but Liu Zhe was also doing it for Lin Zhan's good.

Studying and practicing martial arts are two things, each of which is worth spending a lifetime of energy.

Now if Lin Zhan wants to make both simple, he has to work harder than others.

Lin Zhan is very smart and hardworking. It is precisely because of his hard work that Yang Zhengshan strongly asked him not to give up martial arts.

If Lin Zhan only wanted to study, Yang Zhengshan would not force him.

But if Lin Zhan wanted to have both, he would support him.

He had long seen that Liu Zhe had such a tendency, so he had long decided that he would never give in.

You are just his teacher, but I am the master who raised him, hehe.

…

It was April, and the spring plowing was coming to an end smoothly.

With the end of the spring plowing, the big construction plan started again, and each thousand households and garrisons began to prepare for the construction of houses.

At the same time, military training was also put on the agenda.

"Sir, this is the first batch of soldiers to receive training!"

In the study, Song Dashan handed a list to Yang Zhengshan.

Yang Zhengshan glanced at the list casually and said, "Do you have any opinions on the next training?"

"No! Whether it is officials or soldiers, they are very willing to accept training!" Song Dashan said truthfully.

"Well, how is the camp outside the city?" Yang Zhengshan continued to ask.

"It's almost built, and it is expected to be completed in another five or six days!" Song Dashan said.

"What about the weapons and armor?"

Song Dashan scratched his head, "You have to ask Lord Zhou about this!"

If it is his business, he will do his best to do it, and if it is not his business, he rarely pays attention to it.

Yang Zhengshan knows Song Dashan's character, and he did not blame him, but called Zhou Ren over.

"Sir, we have built a thousand spears, a thousand long swords, three hundred sets of cotton armor, a hundred sets of leather armor, uh, only ten sets of iron armor!"

At the end of his speech, Zhou Ren's voice became much lower.

Although Yang Zhengshan transferred many blacksmiths from Anyuan City, Tenglong Guard is still short of blacksmiths.

You must know that the Anyuan City Garrison Office only governs a garrison camp and three thousand households, while Tenglong Guard now has a full 12,000 people, equivalent to twelve thousand households.

Let alone transferring only some of the craftsmen from the Anyuan Garrison Office, even if all of them were transferred, they would not be able to meet the needs of the Tenglong Guard.

"Only ten sets of armor?" Yang Zhengshan frowned, "Didn't we start forging armor half a month ago?"

"Sir, time is too tight, we can only forge swords and guns first!" Zhou Ren said helplessly.

Without armor, we can still train, but without weapons, what's the point of training.

Are we really only letting the soldiers exercise their physical fitness?

Yang Zhengshan frowned, he also understood Zhou Ren's difficulties, but this would delay training.

Infantry, light cavalry, heavy cavalry, Yang Zhengshan wants all three.

Yang Zhengshan wants to equip 3,000 soldiers within a year, so at least 500 sets of armor are needed. At the current speed, this goal will definitely not be achieved.

Craftsmen are technical talents, and it is definitely too late to train them now, so they can only be dispatched from other places.

"Forget it, let the craftsmen forge swords and guns first!"

"Yes!"

Seeing that Yang Zhengshan had no intention of punishing him, Zhou Ren breathed a sigh of relief.

Then Yang Zhengshan said to Song Dashan: "Since everything is almost ready, let's pick a time to start training!"

"Yes!" Song Dashan took the list and responded.

After they left, Yang Zhengshan thought about it and wrote another official document to the Central Army Governor's Office.

This time he wanted people, not just craftsmen, he wanted everyone now. Tenglong Guard lacked military households, craftsmen, and clerks, but not officials.

A few days later, Yang Zhengshan received the memorial approved by Emperor Chengping, and Tenglong Guard could build a salt field.

The salt field was related to the financial path of Tenglong Guard, so Yang Zhengshan would not delay it. As soon as he received the memorial, Yang Zhengshan brought Jiang He to the seaside again.

Although the salt field belonged to Tenglong Guard, Yang Zhengshan planned to let Jiang He be in charge.

It's not because he wants Jiang He to be an official in the government office, but because there is no manpower available in the government office now.

In fact, Jiang He is not unable to be an official now. He can not only read and write, but also be a warrior. Moreover, he has been managing the Yang family's industry for many years, and his ability has been exercised.

However, Yang Zhengshan still wants him to stay at home to help Yang Mingcheng. It is not necessary for everyone in the Yang family to be an official now. Yang Mingzhi and Yang Minghao are enough.

Moreover, Jiang He's temperament is not suitable for being an official. Although he is not as simple as Yang Mingcheng, he is also an honest person.

He does not fight or fight, and likes stability. Such a person is really not suitable for mixing in the officialdom.

If he is allowed to enter the officialdom, it may harm him.

The two came to the seaside and selected a vacant land next to the previously selected pier.

"Let's build the salt field here. In the next few days, you should go to Liao'an Prefecture to invite a few stove owners, and then go to the guard post to hire a group of people to build the salt field first!"

Yang Zhengshan said, standing on the seaside.

Drying salt is also a technical job. Yang Zhengshan himself only knows the general idea and does not know how to dry salt. However, there are many salt fields in Darong that dry salt, and there is a lack of salt-drying households. It is easy to invite a few people to come.

As for manpower, Tenglongwei is not short of manpower now. Although each thousand households are building houses now, the construction of houses will be completed soon.

Next, Yang Zhengshan also plans to build roads, city walls, and Weicheng, but at that time, there is no need to get all the able-bodied men of Tenglongwei to move bricks at the construction site. He prefers to form a professional construction team. A thousand people are enough, and the rest will definitely do other things.

Building a salt field or entering the salt field to dry salt can also be regarded as increasing employment for Tenglongwei.

"Dad, I know!" Jiang He did not find it difficult to do so, because he had been preparing to build a salt field since he came to the seaside last time, so he had been studying the relevant matters of drying salt during this period.

After determining the location of the salt field, Yang Zhengshan handed the matter over to Jiang He, and he devoted his energy to the training of the soldiers.

As time passed, Tenglongwei became more and more lively, and everyone was busy, as if the entire Tenglongwei had entered a state of full swing.

And with the busyness, the changes in Tenglongwei became more and more obvious.

Houses were built one by one, and the garrisons of the thousand households became neat and clean. Every military household received the monthly salary, and the faces that were originally gloomy became energetic and full of smiles.