Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather

Zhou Lan was still busy, Yang Zhengshan and Mr. Lu waited for half an hour in the tea hall of the shogunate before seeing her.

"Why are you here?"

Zhou Lan was surprised by Yang Zhengshan's arrival.

Because she knew very well what Yang Zhengshan was busy with recently.

Renovating the forts, training troops, and burning charcoal, all these things could not be hidden from her eyes and ears.

Zhou Lan saw Mr. Lu, but she didn't care.

As the concubine of Duke Ning's palace and the military commander of Jianning, there are really few people in Chongshan Town who she cares about particularly.

Yang Zhengshan smiled and said: "General, this is Mr. Lu of the Lu family in Anning County!"

"I pay my respects to General Zhou!" Mr. Lu said hurriedly.

Calling himself an old man in front of Yang Zhengshan, and calling himself an old man in front of Zhou Lan, Mr. Lu is also a dishonest person.

"The Lu family in Anning County!" Zhou Lan thought for a while, but couldn't find any related impressions from his memory.

The Lu family is a top-notch family in Anning County and even in Jing'an Prefecture, but in the entire Darong, the Lu family is not ranked high.

In front of Duke Ning's mansion, the Lu family was even less worth mentioning.

However, Zhou Lan was still very considerate to Mr. Lu, "It turns out to be Mr. Lu, Mr. Lu, please sit down!"

After Zhou Lan sat down, Mr. Lu sat down.

Yang Zhengshan spoke again: "General, the Lu family has food!"

He understands Zhou Lan's temperament. Zhou Lan is a person who doesn't like to beat around the bush.

When talking to her, it's best to say what you have to say directly.

When she heard about the grain, Zhou Lan's eyes suddenly lit up, "Second Master Lu, do you want to sell grain to me, the general?"

"Ten thousand loads, as long as General Zhou needs it, it can be transported to Jianningwei within a month!" Mr. Lu made no secret of the Lu family's wealth.

"price!"

"Four taels or three cents per load!" said Mr. Lu.

Zhou Lan smiled happily.

"I want them all!"

Four taels and three cents, the price is naturally discounted, but the discount is not excessive.

The Lu family still had some ideas and didn't give it away for free.

Giving away for free is not a favor, but an attempt to take advantage of Zhou Lan.

Four taels or three dollars, some odd and some round, neither high nor low. Even if it was a favor, it would not make Zhou Lan think that the Lu family was too low.

What Yang Zhengshan can understand, Zhou Lan can naturally understand too.

"I will remember you as a favor to the Lu family this time. In the future, you can come to me if you don't want to embarrass me!" Zhou Landu smiled and narrowed his eyes.

Listening to the conversation between the two, Yang Zhengshan suddenly felt like he was a poor man.

Compared to these two, he is a poor man.

They were talking about a business involving tens of thousands of taels of silver, but he couldn't even produce a hundred taels of silver.

Thinking about it, Yang Zhengshan felt heartbroken.

Make money, make money!

He didn't feel that he was short of money before, but now he suddenly found that he was really poor.

But soon he will be rich!

As a middleman, Mr. Lu naturally cannot ignore Yang Zhengshan.

When Mr. Lu left Jianningwei, he gave Yang Zhengshan a stack of banknotes.

All of them are one hundred taels of silver notes, a total of twenty!

This made Yang Zhengshan a little embarrassed.

He just pulled a string and actually made two thousand taels of silver. This money came too easily.

However, Yang Zhengshan happily accepted it.

This is not corruption or bribery, and Yang Zhengshan accepts it with peace of mind.

Although this thing seems simple, not everyone can enter Zhou Lan's door.

Without anyone to recommend him, it would be difficult for Mr. Lu to meet Zhou Lan.

However, the benefits Yang Zhengshan received were not just two thousand taels of silver.

After sending Master Lu away, Yang Zhengshan went to see Zhou Lan again.

"You did a good job this time!" Zhou Lan praised generously.

The food from the Lu family solved her urgent need, and Yang Zhengshan's ability to introduce Mr. Lu to her was considered a meritorious service.

Although she owed favors and spent money, she was still very satisfied with Yang Zhengshan.

"The general liked it immediately, and it was just a coincidence that he was dismissed!" Yang Zhengshan said with a smile.

It was indeed a coincidence.

It happened that the Lu family wanted to befriend Zhou Lan and seek favors from Zhou Lan.

He could take money from the Lu family for this matter, but he couldn't take credit for it in front of Zhou Lan.

"When the food arrives, we will share five hundred loads!" Zhou Lan said.

"Then thank you, General, for taking care of me!" Yang Zhengshan smiled even happier.

He bought a lot of food from Yangjiacun, but who would think there is too much food at this time.

"In addition, I have a group of people here, you can take them back!" Zhou Lan said again.

Yang Zhengshan was startled, "Who is it?"

"Exile the prisoners to the army!" Zhou Land said.

Yang Zhengshan suddenly realized that Chongshan Town is located in the northeast of Darong. It is a poor place and one of the main places of exile for the imperial court.

"Is there anyone who needs special attention?" Yang Zhengshan asked softly.

Zhou Lan glanced at him and said, "The Liu family doesn't need to take too much care of them, as long as they don't let them be bullied!"

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly, he knew there was something going on, otherwise Zhou Lan would not have told him personally.

However, he couldn't help but asked curiously, "What's the origin of this Liu family?"

"Master Liu is the censor of the right capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate!" Zhou Lan didn't say much, but simply reminded him.

Yang Zhengshan stroked his beard, but his heart was beating wildly.

Right Capital Censor?

This is from a first-grade official!

He was actually sent to the army!

What crime was committed?

Or is it because of the court fight?

"That old man is smelly and tough, don't worry too much about him!" Zhou Lan couldn't help but add another point.

Yang Zhengshan nodded quickly and said, "I will take good care of the Liu family!"

Zhou Lan looked at him with satisfaction.

...

Zhou Lan said it was a group of people, so it was a group of people.

There were more than 500 people, all of whom were criminals exiled to the army.

Among them, there were more than 30 people in the Liu family. Wow, it is worthy of being an official family. Look how prosperous this family is.

Liu Yuanfu, the former Right Censor of the Censorate, is about 60 years old this year. He has six sons, three daughters, eight grandchildren, and female relatives. This is really a big family.

The key is that this old man who is not ashamed of his old age actually has a very young concubine.

The next morning, Yang Zhengshan led this large group of people to Yinghebao.

Of course, the soldiers responsible for escorting were not his people. After all, he brought only ten people this time and could not watch so many people.

There were also Zhao Yuan and the hundred soldiers under Zhao Yuan.

Looking at the prisoners in shackles, Yang Zhengshan's eyes finally fell on the Liu family.

"Is the Liu family a noble family?" Yang Zhengshan whispered to Zhao Yuan.

Zhao Yuan shook his head, "No, Lord Liu is a farmer and scholar. He passed the imperial examination at the age of 22 and was the third place in the fifth year of Tianhe."

"In the forty years of official career, the Liu family has experienced three ups and downs. Although it had some foundation before, it is far from being a noble family!"

Yang Zhengshan looked at the old man sitting in the cage, blinked, and was full of surprise.

Three ups and downs?

This old man is capable!

Five years of Tianhe?

Isn't that a veteran of three dynasties?

Now is the 24th year of Chengping. Before Chengping was Emperor Kangde, and before Kangde was Tianhe.

A true veteran of three dynasties.

The key is three ups and downs. If it was just once, it was luck, but if you get up and fall down, and you can get up again after falling down, three times in a row, this can't be attributed to luck.

The Liu family's foundation is not deep, and it is impossible to support a person's ups and downs. It can only show that this Lord Liu is really capable.

Hmm?

Really capable, he is over 60 years old, and he can still satisfy a delicate little beauty. This is not something that ordinary people can do.

"Why did Lord Liu fall to such a state?" Yang Zhengshan lowered his voice and continued to ask.

Zhao Yuan looked around and whispered: "Four months ago, Lord Liu made a direct remonstration in the court, which angered His Majesty!"

"What did he remonstrate?" Yang Zhengshan continued to ask curiously.

Zhao Yuan hesitated for a moment, and then said in a weak voice: "He said that His Majesty is old and incompetent!"

"..."

Awesome!

This is a great man!

Said that the emperor was old and incompetent in the court!

The emperor didn't chop him off, he was really good-tempered.

Yang Zhengshan secretly smacked his lips. He finally understood what Zhou Lan meant by stinky and hard.

"Is this matter related to our Chongshan Town?"

"Yes, but the most important thing is related to the harem!" Zhao Yuan said.

Yang Zhengshan did not ask any more questions. This involved the harem, so he had better not ask any more questions.

The old emperor was also a great man. He was over 60 years old, but the harem was still full of flowers, which showed that he was still strong and healthy.

Due to the long journey of these criminals, their bodies were seriously damaged. They walked for four hours and arrived at Yinghebao in the evening.

Although Yinghebao had just been renovated and many new houses were built, it still could not accommodate so many people.

There was no way, Yang Zhengshan could only let them squeeze for a night temporarily.

The next day, Yang Zhengshan asked Yang Chengche and Yang Chengxu to arrange these people to Sanshanbao and Xiangyuanbao, and only the Liu family stayed in Yinghebao.

Yang Zhengshan also had his own ideas about these prisoners.

"Exile" is one of the five punishments, and the other four are flogging, caning, imprisonment, and death. The punishment of exile is second only to the death penalty and was a very serious punishment in ancient China.

The exile is more like a kind of labor reform, but this kind of reform is much more dangerous. In the case of lack of food and clothing, it is easy to lose life. If there is a war, it will be cannon fodder.

As for whether the prisoners can escape, it can only be said that it is difficult.

First of all, they are prisoners. After arriving at the exile place, they will be re-registered. The household registration is different from that of ordinary people, and there is no proof such as a road permit. If they escape from the exile place, they can only be black households and cannot enter the city. It can be said that they can hardly move outside.

Secondly, the feudal society is a clan society, and there is a baojia system between villages. If someone suddenly appears, it is easy to be discovered.

So even if you escape, you can only hide in the mountains and forests and try to interact with people as little as possible.

However, if this is the case, it is better to stay in the exile place honestly. If you are lucky, you may encounter a good thing of amnesty and return home legally and reasonably.

Therefore, ordinary exiled prisoners rarely escape.

In Yang Zhengshan's hands, these prisoners were more like free labor. They were not military households, so they did not need to be allocated land or given food and wages. They only needed to be fed.

Yang Zhengshan was very happy to have such a group of free labor.

It just so happened that he was going to repair the tower and beacon tower, and with these prisoners, he could save a lot of money.