Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather

After the corruption case of the Salt Transport Bureau was over, Yang Zhengshan thought that this matter had nothing to do with him, but he didn't expect that the Zhang family of Liao'an Prefecture came to his door the next day after he received the news.

In the main hall of the front yard of the Yang family, Yang Zhengshan looked at the trembling Zhang Maosheng and smiled faintly: "I wonder what the master of the Zhang family is here for?"

This time, the Zhang family suffered a heavy loss. Not only were all the deposits of the officials of the Salt Transport Bureau in their Zhang family Datong Bank confiscated, but their Zhang family also paid a million taels of fine silver.

The so-called fine silver can also be called dirty silver, which is an improper profit. To put it simply, the court felt that these salt merchants made too much money, so they took some from the salt merchants' pockets.

This may sound a bit unreasonable, but the fact is that these salt merchants did participate in bribery.

Compared with those salt merchants whose homes were directly confiscated, the remaining salt merchants are already lucky.

"I am here to thank General Yang!"

Zhang Maosheng bowed to Yang Zhengshan in a humble manner.

Behind him, the two brothers Zhang Qingsong and Zhang Qingyun also followed to thank him.

"This general did not help you!" Yang Zhengshan said calmly.

"General, you did not imprison us at the beginning, which was already helping us!" Zhang Maosheng said.

This is absolutely true. At that time, Yang Zhengshan only sealed up the Zhang family and did not imprison the Zhang family. In this way, the Zhang family could find people and relationships to deal with it.

If Yang Zhengshan treated the Zhang family like the Salt Transport Office, the Zhang family would most likely become one of the salt merchants whose property was confiscated.

Yang Zhengshan smiled and said nothing.

He just thought that the Zhang family had a good attitude of admitting their mistakes, so he did not imprison them, but he did not want to get any benefits from the Zhang family.

"I have prepared a thank-you gift, please accept it, General!"

Zhang Maosheng took out a gift list and handed it to Yang Zhengshan.

Yang Zhengshan thought about it and took the gift list.

If it was just a thank-you gift, it would be fine to accept it.

However, he still underestimated the Zhang family's thank-you gift, which was really generous and a little scary.

Other things are fine, but there is actually a big house, eight shops, three farms, and three thousand acres of fertile land!

Looking at this thank-you gift, Yang Zhengshan suddenly felt that the court's fine of one million silver was still too light, and it should be doubled.

Damn, the Zhang family is really rich.

"I accept your gratitude, but this thank-you gift is too heavy!"

As Yang Zhengshan said this, he winked at Wu Hai next to him, and Wu Hai immediately understood and took out a pen and ink.

Yang Zhengshan crossed out the house, shop, farm, and fertile land on the gift list, leaving only some gold and silver jewelry, cloth and other miscellaneous things.

"These are enough!"

Yang Zhengshan returned the gift list to Zhang Maosheng.

Zhang Maosheng took the gift list, took a look, and his mind sank slightly, "The general is honest!"

Hearing the word honest, Yang Zhengshan couldn't help laughing out loud.

Honest!

This is simply a lie.

How many officials in this world are honest?

Yang Zhengshan does not think that he is a corrupt official, but he is definitely not honest.

He has always disdained corruption and bribery, but he has done a lot of abuse of power for personal gain.

For example, the Luo family and the Yang family's horse farm can actually be regarded as abuse of power for personal gain, but what Yang Zhengshan did is mutually beneficial with the government, and not entirely for his own personal gain.

Thinking of mutual benefit, Yang Zhengshan suddenly said: "This general remembers that your Zhang family seems to have a few sea ships?"

Zhang Maosheng was stunned for a moment, then reacted and said: "There are indeed a few, two 800-ton Fu ships and six 400-ton express ships."

The Zhang family's industry is not mainly based on maritime trade, but the Zhang family is large and has a lot of business, and it is also involved in maritime trade, but it is not taken seriously.

When Yang Zhengshan learned about the Zhang family's industry, he noticed that the Zhang family had a fleet.

"I don't know if your Zhang family is willing to sell this fleet?"

"If the general needs it, I can give it to him!" Zhang Maosheng said.

"No need to give it to him. The Weisi Yamen will buy the Zhang family's fleet at the market price, including the ships and boatmen!" Yang Zhengshan smiled and said.

He didn't want to take advantage of the Zhang family. Well, it was indeed suspected of taking advantage, but his main purpose was to save time.

Tenglongwei had no boatmen, no navy, and even no ships. If it wanted to develop a navy or conduct maritime trade, it could be said to be starting from scratch.

Yang Zhengshan originally wanted Luo Shang to go to the south to find some talents who were good at sailing. If the Zhang family hadn't come to him today, he wouldn't have thought of buying the Zhang family's fleet.

"There is no problem with the ships, but those boatmen are our Zhang family's long-term workers. I don't know if they are willing!" Zhang Maosheng didn't say too much.

He was not angry because Yang Zhengshan wanted to buy the fleet. Let alone buy it, even if Yang Zhengshan wanted it for free, he would give it.

Because for the current Zhang family, Yang Zhengshan is someone they absolutely cannot afford to offend.

More importantly, he wants to use this incident to establish a relationship with Yang Zhengshan.

Having lost Luo Fu as their backer, the Zhang family now urgently needs a new backer, and Yang Zhengshan is one of their best choices.

"I want all the boatmen, their long-term contracts can be transferred to us at the market price, and I will also increase their monthly wages! By the way, the captain must be given to me!" Yang Zhengshan said in an unquestionable tone.

He didn't want a boat, although seagoing boats were also relatively scarce, but if he wanted to buy one, he could still buy it.

What he values ​​are those skilled boatmen and captains, who are the foundation of the fleet.

The captain is the captain. Navigation involves many things, such as routes, tides, geography, climate, etc. If you want to trade, you must also understand the humanities, politics, customs, and products of various places.

These are things that can only be mastered if you have truly seen, experienced, and understood them. If a person wants to master these, he must have a lot of sailing experience. It is not something that can be learned by reading books or listening to classes.

Therefore, a qualified captain is the talent that Yang Zhengshan needs most at present.

"Yes! I understand!" Zhang Maosheng did not shirk responsibility and agreed directly.

"Well, don't worry, this general is not a person who likes to rob. How much silver should be paid, this general will not be less!"

Yang Zhengshan reiterated again.

"General is kind and righteous!" What else can Zhang Maosheng say? He can only say this.

Seeing that he was sensible, Yang Zhengshan did not say more. He took a sip of tea. Zhang Maosheng immediately understood and said goodbye.

Wu Hai sent the Zhang family away, and Yang Zhengshan sat in the hall and finished his tea.

The Zhang family is undoubtedly a powerful and wealthy business, which can be seen from the fact that they sold Luo Fu without hesitation.

And Yang Zhengshan is not unable to guess the purpose of the Zhang family's visit.

Thanks are just an excuse, and the main purpose is to establish a relationship with him.

Unfortunately, Yang Zhengshan does not want to have too much relationship with the Zhang family.

Collusion between officials and businessmen is inevitable, and Yang Zhengshan does not dislike such things.

Because he has a lot of things that need businessmen to do.

But he doesn't like the Zhang family, and doesn't want to have too close contact with the Zhang family.

The Zhang family can't be tamed. They can share prosperity, but not adversity. Even in times of adversity, they will stab you.

Luo Fu is an example.

In addition, the Zhang family will not focus on Yang Zhengshan. The Zhang family has its own heritage, its own background, and its own plans. They will not help Yang Zhengshan wholeheartedly.

In comparison, the Luo family, which Yang Zhengshan had supported, made him feel more at ease and more worthy of his care.

Yang Zhengshan entrusted the purchase of the fleet from the Zhang family to Yang Mingcheng.

This went very smoothly. In less than five days, Yang Mingcheng bought the fleet and asked Han Fei to send the silver to the Zhang family.

Two days later, the fleet stopped at the dock of Tenglongwei.

Yang Zhengshan came to the dock in person and looked at the eight large ships belonging to the Weisi Yamen.

The Tenglongwei dock was only simply built and looked very simple, but the small hill extending from it was indeed very suitable for docking ships.

Eight large ships docked, and it didn't seem crowded at all.

If it was well built, it would be no problem to dock 20 to 30 large ships. As for small ships, it would be even easier. They could dock by building a wooden platform.

There are two types of ships of the Zhang family, namely the 800-ton Fu ship and the 400-ton express ship.

Fuchuan, as tall as a building, has a pointed bottom, a wide top, and a raised mouth. The 800-ton Fuchuan is about 13 zhang long and looks extremely majestic.

The speedboat is pointed at the front and narrow at the back, narrow at the bottom like a shuttle, and wide at the top like a wing. The 400-ton speedboat is 9 zhang long and looks two sizes smaller than the Fuchuan.

These two types of ships are the most common ships in Dayong's sea ships, and Fuchuan is even the main warship of Dayong's navy.

This is the first time Yang Zhengshan has seen a sea ship in this world. To be honest, he is very shocked.

The 13-zhang Fuchuan is about 40 meters long, with three short sails at the front and back ends, and three main sails more than 3 zhang high in the middle.

Yang Zhengshan stepped onto the deck and took a careful tour of the Fuchuan.

When he had almost finished browsing, Yang Mingcheng said, "Dad, the captain and the boatmen are waiting below!"

"Well, let's go and see them!"

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly and jumped off the boat directly.

The Zhang family's fleet has two captains. One is called Sun Cheng, who is in his fifties. Although he is just an ordinary person, he has rich sailing experience. It can be said that he has spent almost his entire life at sea.

The other is called Ningbo, who is in his thirties and is a second-level martial artist. Ningbo's ancestors have been captains for three generations, or they may be pirates. Anyway, no matter what, he has rich sailing experience.

The fleet has more than 280 boatmen, some of whom are helmsmen, sailors and other ship operators, and some are guards.

Among them, there are about 180 guards, all of whom are martial artists.

Although there are no masters, it is also a considerable force.

Yang Zhengshan stood in front of this group of boatmen, with ten followers standing behind him, and more than a dozen Yang family guards and a general flag soldier around to check the situation on the ship.

The Yang family guards came with Yang Mingcheng, and those soldiers were brought by Yang Zhengshan. Next, they will be responsible for guarding these ships.