Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather

The first day of the twelfth lunar month.

Yang Zhengshan set up two tables of banquets in the government office to entertain the invited guests.

In fact, there were not many guests, only a dozen people at most.

Ji Hai and Ning Qingqing from the Hengdao Sect of Jizhou, Hua Jinqiu from the Tianqing Sword Sect of Anyuan Prefecture, Zhang Qingsong from the Zhang family of Liaoan Prefecture, Lu Erye and Lu Qi from the Lu family of Anning County, and Yang Zhengxiang and Yang Mingcheng representing the Yang family.

In addition, there were Shang Mingde from the Shang family of Jing'an Prefecture, Wang Zhenze from the wealthy Wang family, and the heads of the Zhang and Lin families.

In fact, Yang Zhengshan also invited the Lu family, but the Lu family only sent someone to deliver a letter. It was not that the Lu family disliked Yang Zhengshan and Tenglongwei, but that the Lu family's foundation was too thin and they did not have much money, so they did not come to get involved.

Since Lu Wenyuan entered the Hanlin Academy, the Lu family has been arranging for Lu Wenyuan. They bought a house and several servants in Kyoto, and bought some land in the counties around Kyoto, almost emptying the family's assets.

Some time ago, the two brothers Lu Zhaoqi and Lu Zhaoran went to Kyoto and have not returned yet. Now the Lu family only has the old man Lu Songhe, and there is no suitable candidate.

Besides, Lu Wenhua is still here, so Lu Wenhua does not need to send someone alone.

On the government side, Yang Zhengshan asked Han Fei, Zhou Ren and Lu Wenhua to accompany him.

Before the banquet, Yang Zhengshan first talked about the future development and planning of Tenglongwei, that is, he told the people in front of him what he had said to Luo Shang before.

"That's basically it. In March after the Chinese New Year, Tenglongwei's merchant ships will go to Jiangnan and open up the route to Jiangnan first. If nothing goes wrong, we will try to open up the route to the Lisheng Dynasty and the Desheng Dynasty in June!"

"Once these three routes are opened, Tenglongwei will be the largest sea trade port within a radius of 200 miles!"

"Whether it is Jing'an Prefecture, Liao'an Prefecture, Qinghua Prefecture, Ningyuan Prefecture, or Chongshan Town, they can all conduct overseas trade through Tenglongwei!"

"In addition, if all three routes are opened, we will also allow you to form your own fleet to go out to sea for trade. The Tenglongwei Navy will ensure the safety of the route. Of course, we will also charge a fee, half of the total value of the goods!"

"Compared to the Maritime Customs, this fee should not be high, and if your fleet is hijacked, we will do our best to help you get the fleet back!"

Yang Zhengshan said slowly.

If you want to conduct maritime trade in Dayong, you must go through the Maritime Customs to collect taxes. If you don't collect taxes, it's smuggling. Although smuggling by merchants in the south and southeast of Dayong is rampant, it is still rare in Liaodong.

Yang Zhengshan will naturally not collect taxes from the Maritime Customs. Tenglongwei is allowed to conduct maritime trade by the emperor, and the Maritime Customs cannot control Tenglongwei.

And pulling these merchants into the partnership is also to expand the scale of Tenglongwei's maritime trade. If Tenglongwei wants to develop maritime trade alone, it may take ten years to reach a scale, but if these forces are pulled in and they are asked to pay money to buy ships and form a fleet, it may only take three years for Tenglongwei's wharf to develop.

"If you have any questions, you can ask them, and I will answer them one by one!" After Yang Zhengshan finished speaking, he looked at the people below.

Everyone had different expressions. For example, the Yang family and the Tianqing Sword Sect absolutely trusted Yang Zhengshan, so they naturally did what Yang Zhengshan arranged.

As for the Lu family, Mr. Lu and Lu Qi would not refuse Yang Zhengshan's proposal. Their goal was to maintain a good relationship with Yang Zhengshan. As for money? Even if they lost some, it didn't matter.

As for other people, they had some concerns in their hearts. They were not close to Yang Zhengshan. It was okay to spend some money to please Yang Zhengshan, but it depended on how much money they spent.

"General Yang, I have a question!"

The first person to speak was Ji Hai. Their Hengdaomen was in Jizhou. Although Jizhou did not have a coastal wharf, it had river transportation and could go directly to the sea, so there were still many sea merchants in Jizhou.

And the Shibosi in Liaodong was in Jizhou.

"Please speak!" Yang Zhengshan smiled.

"Then do we need to pay a commission to the Shibosi for sea trade in Tenglongwei?" Ji Hai asked.

Hengdaomen had many industries, including sea trade, but as a Jianghu sect, Hengdaomen was always cautious, so they usually went through the Shibosi for sea trade.

"Tenglongwei doesn't have the Maritime Customs!" Yang Zhengshan smiled faintly, "The Maritime Customs can't control Tenglongwei!"

"To put it simply, the Maritime Customs will not collect taxes on Tenglongwei's territory, but after leaving Tenglongwei, it depends on your ability!"

Yang Zhengshan did not guarantee that this matter could not be handled by Tenglongwei.

Although the old emperor agreed to Tenglongwei's maritime trade, the old emperor did not agree that other sea merchants could go to sea from Tenglongwei, and of course the old emperor did not prohibit it.

To put it simply, this is a loophole.

The Maritime Customs cannot enter Tenglongwei, but the Maritime Customs is in Jizhou. If they cause trouble for Hengdaomen, Hengdaomen will need to deal with it themselves, and Yang Zhengshan will not help.

Ji Hai nodded in understanding, and this answer was satisfactory to him.

Since there is no trouble on the territory of Tenglongwei, everything is easy to say, there is a lot of room for operation, and there is no problem bypassing the Maritime Customs.

"General, I have a question." Zhang Man, the head of the Zhang family in Jing'an Prefecture, stood up and said with a fist.

"Excuse me, Mr. Zhang!" Yang Zhengshan said with a smile.

The Zhang family of Jing'an Prefecture has no relationship with the Zhang family of Liao'an Prefecture. The Zhang family of Jing'an mainly operates a cloth shop, and its strength is far inferior to that of the Zhang family of Liao'an Prefecture. Before, when Tenglong Guard purchased cotton cloth, the Zhang family of Jing'an helped Tenglong Guard, so this time Yang Zhengshan also sent him an invitation.

Zhang Man clasped his fists again and said, "Our Zhang family has little financial resources and it is difficult to buy merchant ships. I wonder if we can ask the merchant ships of the Weisi Yamen to help us transport goods?"

With the financial resources of the Zhang family of Jing'an, it is still very difficult to buy a fleet. It probably takes out most of the family's assets.

In this way, the risks they bear will be much greater. Once an accident occurs, the entire family may decline.

It is reasonable that they dare not take such risks.

"Of course!" Yang Zhengshan said with a smile.

Merchant ships running transportation may reduce the profits of the fleet a lot, but it is not impossible. Don't forget that he still has the Tenglong Guard Navy, and the navy's warships can also run transportation.

Then everyone asked a few more questions, all of which were very reasonable. Yang Zhengshan also patiently answered them one by one and tried his best to eliminate their concerns.

Almost half an hour passed before everyone's questions ended. It can be seen that they are still very interested in sea trade, but because they have never been exposed to sea trade before, they have more concerns in their hearts.

However, with the guarantee of Yang Zhengshan and Tenglongwei, they still want to participate in sea trade.

After talking about sea trade, Yang Zhengshan took out the houses and shops in the Weicheng.

For the houses and shops, these people did not have so many concerns. Yang Zhengshan just explained it briefly, and these people responded one after another, and soon all the houses and shops were divided up, and some people even felt unsatisfied.

It's a pity that the Weicheng is so big, and Yang Zhengshan has planned so many houses and shops, and they can't buy or rent more.

After the house and shop matter was over, Yang Zhengshan was in a good mood and toasted with everyone.

…

In the following days, families came to Tenglongwei with silver to buy houses and rent shops.

Houses in the city can be bought, but shops can only be rented.

In fact, Yang Zhengshan's price for houses is not expensive. A large courtyard with three entrances is only 2,000 taels of silver, a small courtyard with three entrances is only 800 taels, and a small courtyard with a single door is only 200 taels. Such prices are cheaper than many county towns.

But even so, the Weisi Yamen made a fortune.

Ten sets of large courtyards with three entrances are 20,000 taels of silver, thirty sets of small courtyards with three entrances are 24,000 taels, and one hundred sets of small courtyards with single doors are also sold for 20,000 taels.

The total income is 64,000 taels.

The cost paid by the Weisi Yamen is only a few months of labor costs for the engineering team. Bricks, stones and wood are all locally sourced, fired or made locally, and the total cost is no more than 10,000 taels.

Yang Zhengshan had to sigh that real estate development is really profitable.

Unfortunately, Tenglongwei can only make money from houses this time.

Compared with the mansion, the income of the shops in Tenglongwei is much less. There are a total of 48 shops, Yang Zhengshan left 10 shops, and the remaining 36 shops have an annual rent of between 100 and 500 taels.

Paying the rent for three years at a time, the total income is only more than 10,000 taels of silver.

However, this is also a considerable income for the government office, and the shops can continue to collect rent and make money in the future, while the mansion can only make money once.

As for the ten shops left by Yang Zhengshan, the government office only needs two, one is a blacksmith shop and the other is a carpenter shop, and the remaining eight are rented to officials in the government office.

Such as Xie Yuan, Song Dashan, Wu Chongzhe, Yu Tonghai, Luo Feiyu, Yang Mingzhen, Xue Ping, each one.

This is considered an internal welfare of the government office, and it is considered to be a care for their own people.

The Yang family will buy industries, and these people will also buy industries.

Like Song Dashan, Luo Feiyu, and Yang Mingzhen, they came from humble backgrounds, their family background is not thick, and they have relatively few industries.

But Xie Yuan and Wu Chongzhe are different. Xie Yuan was originally a defense officer of a thousand households, and he still has some family background, and Wu Chongzhe is even more so. The starting point of the Wu family is much higher than that of the Yang family.

Let’s not talk about how they were in the past, but now they all have high official positions, and it is reasonable for them to buy some industries for their families.

In this regard, Yang Zhengshan has always taken care of them if he can. Corruption and bribery are not allowed, but he can seek some personal benefits by the way, and mutually benefit with the government. Yang Zhengshan has always done so, and naturally allows his subordinates to do so.

The shops in the Weicheng are rented to anyone. Thirty-six shops are enough to attract other forces. Giving the rest to Xie Yuan and Song Dashan will not affect the overall situation.