Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 132: Chapter 128 Worldly Society Sects

They played almost the entire day, and the two little ones fell asleep quickly after returning home.

On the contrary, Wang Mingzhe, that boy, slept for over two hours and came back more energized, running around behind Wang Yunqiao like a little tail.

Seeing Wang Mingzhe obediently following Wang Yunqiao as they left, Yang Zhenshan was somewhat speechless; this kid was truly bizarre.

Looking at the room full of items, Yang Zhenshan felt an urge to chop off his hands.

Shopping was genuinely addictive.

Especially since Yang Zhenshan hadn’t gone out shopping for a long time, so he went a bit overboard today.

Anything he felt the house lacked, could use, looked nice, or he liked, etc., there were many reasons, and he ended up buying even more items.

All these items had cost him 1500 taels of silver, nearly emptying his coffers.

Fortunately, before coming to An Yuan State City, he had dealt with some of the horses from the ranch; otherwise, he would have been cleaned out earlier.

Picking out the dowry he had saved for Yang Yunxue, Yang Zhenshan said to Wu Hai, “Take these to the young madam and let her distribute them among the various households.”

“Yes!” Wu Hai answered.

Soon, he called several people over and had all the things moved out, leaving only a few boxes for jewelry.

The customized Ruby headpiece wasn’t finished yet; the boxes contained jade bracelets, jade hairpins, and other jade ornaments, which could be used as gifts later or kept as a dowry for Yang Yunxue.

Yang Zhenshan stored the jewelry boxes into the Spiritual Spring Space, where he had placed a cabinet specifically to store some valuable items, such as silver notes, precious medicinal materials, antiques, Cultivation Techniques, etc.

Just as he finished, Yang Minghao and Lu Wenhua came to see him.

“Dad, the tasks you arranged are all completed!”

“Oh!” Yang Zhenshan raised his eyebrows and asked, “How did the investigation go?”

During this period, Yang Zhenshan was busy investigating the situation of the government office, while Yang Minghao and Lu Wenhua had also been busy investigating the conditions of the civil servants and constables within the office.

Civil servants and constables were minor characters, but even minor characters can play significant roles as sometimes, major issues arise from these minor figures.

In the garrison office, these civil servants and constables might very well be spies or scouts placed by certain individuals or forces.

To better control the office, Yang Zhenshan had to eliminate any spies among the civil servants and constables before taking action. Otherwise, the garrison office would be like a sieve, unable to keep any secrets from outsiders.

Thus, he had Yang Minghao and Yang Mingcheng work together inside and out to investigate these civil servants and constables, which was actually easy to do.

Just by checking their family backgrounds—it was certain there was a problem with those living in large houses, eating well, and dressing fine. They must be working for money, as the salary for staff in the office was not high; enough to support a family but not for wealth.

Any civil servant or constable whose family was wealthy definitely had issues, either working for someone or for personal gains.

Regardless of the reason, dealing with them directly was certainly no problem.

“This is the list!” Yang Minghao handed over a list to Yang Zhenshan.

Yang Zhenshan glanced at it and said, “Keep it for now, and after I leave the office tomorrow, immediately detain all these people.”

“Tomorrow!” Yang Minghao was a bit surprised.

“Yes, tomorrow. We’ve waited many days; it’s time to act!”

Yang Zhenshan said lightly.

Now he had evidence of Xu Wanfu’s crimes; taking down Xu Wanfu wasn’t difficult. As for Xu Wanfu’s soldiers!

Unless they dared to revolt, they definitely wouldn’t dare to confront Yang Zhenshan.

After all, Yang Zhenshan was the highest military officer in An Yuan State City; any attack by those soldiers on him would be tantamount to rebellion.

“Then I’ll arrange everything right now!” Yang Minghao thought for a moment and said.

“Yes, have your eldest brother come back, tomorrow have him handle this matter with you!” Yang Zhenshan said.

Yang Mingcheng no longer needed to stay outside; they had mostly collected the information they needed, and the information they couldn’t collect was probably hard to obtain.

It wasn’t that Yang Mingcheng and Ding Qiu lacked capability, but because they had no foundations in An Yuan State City.

Collecting intelligence, especially some more hidden information, required a lot of time and effort to plan.

Rellying only on Yang Mingcheng and Ding Qiu’s few people was simply impossible.

…

In a private room on the second floor of Fuyun Building.

The woman who came back with Yang Zhenshan reported to the lady: “Sect Leader, the person just now must be the newly appointed garrison officer, surname Yang.”

“Just a garrison officer?” The lady was surprised.

Before, the woman had said that the man was a battlefield killer, and since he was a killer, he must at least be a Guerrilla General.

A city’s garrison cannot be considered a general.

“Hmm, just a garrison officer, but his strength is very strong!” the woman said.

“Any other discoveries?” The lady pondered.

“No, only when this old servant followed him, he seemed to notice me, but didn’t stop me from following!” the woman said.

They had no idea how many people were following behind Yang Zhenshan.

After Yang Zhenshan left the office, he discovered he was followed by six or seven people. Those people were free to follow if they wished; Yang Zhenshan didn’t bother to care.

As for this woman, Yang Zhenshan had indeed noticed, but didn’t take it to heart.

The lady thought for a while then said, “Keep an eye on him, see if he’s also connected to Black Cliff Village!”

Black Cliff Village was not a den of bandits or thieves, but a Jianghu Sect.

In fact, in the Da Rong Dynasty, many Jianghu Sects existed, broadly divided into two types: those mingling with the secular world called Xianzong, and those secluded in mountains dedicated to cultivating Martial Arts called Yin…

Black Cliff Village is a Jianghu Sect from the Liaodong Region, and the woman before us is Yu Qingyi, the Sect Leader of the Sky Blue Sword Sect.

The Sky Blue Sword Sect and Black Cliff Village both belong to prominent clans and they both have numerous businesses in the civilian sector to ensure the daily needs of their sects.

Their locations are not far from the An Yuan State City, thus making it their primary area of operations.

Originally, the two sects coexisted peacefully, but in recent years, Black Cliff Village has grown stronger and their ways have become more aggressive. They have blatantly and secretly suppressed the Sky Blue Sword Sect, causing significant losses to many of their businesses.

Therefore, Yu Qingyi had no choice but to come down from the mountains to An Yuan State City to investigate the situation of Black Cliff Village there and find a way to counteract their oppression.

According to her knowledge, Black Cliff Village has connections with many officials of An Yuan State City.

Her goal was to clarify the connections between Black Cliff Village and those officials, which is why she paid extra attention to the officials of An Yuan State City.

Upon learning that Yang Zhenshan had just taken office as the garrison officer, she began to plot in her heart.

Inside the City Gate Castle at the north gate of An Yuan State City.

Xu Wanfu was listening to the reports from his subordinates.

“The garrison officer first went to Fuyun Building, then visited a bookstore, a jewelry store, a fabric store, and other shops on Fuan Street for nearly two hours.”

“Just strolling?” Xu Wanfu asked in surprise.

“Yes, during that time we didn’t notice the garrison officer having contact with any special individuals, and he was also accompanied by two children.”

Hearing this, Xu Wanfu’s face revealed a cold smile.

“Our garrison officer really is quite interesting!”

“Has he not figured out the situation in the state city, or does he simply not care about his own life, that he still has the leisure to stroll around at such a time!”

Xu Wanfu was naturally dissatisfied with the arrival of Yang Zhenshan.

He had been a thousand commander for ten years and also wished to be promoted to garrison officer.

Even though the people behind him didn’t allow him to be promoted, he still couldn’t suppress his inner urges.

Before Yang Zhenshan took office, he had secretly worked many connections hoping to secure the position of garrison officer of An Yuan State City.

Unfortunately, all his efforts were in vain and he not only gained nothing but also received a harsh scolding from his master.

Thinking about that rebuke, Xu Wanfu’s resentment towards Yang Zhenshan deepened.

He wasn’t afraid of being scolded, but he couldn’t endure being scolded for nothing!

Therefore, he was particularly eager to kill Yang Zhenshan.

However, he could not directly challenge authority, and if he wanted to kill Yang Zhenshan, he had to act covertly.

Yang Zhenshan was always in the garrison office, and he couldn’t find an opportunity to strike.

“We can’t wait any longer, we must find a way to lure him out of the city.”

Xu Wanfu was pondering how to lure Yang Zhenshan out of the city.

Meanwhile, Yang Zhenshan was also thinking about how to deal with Xu Wanfu tomorrow.

The next morning.

Yang Zhenshan, wearing golden lacquered armor and carrying the Gold-plated Flying Fish Spear, strode from the back yard into the Front Office.

The moment he appeared, the civil servants and constables in the garrison office were all surprised.

“Pay respects to the Lord!”

“Pay respects to the Lord!”

Everyone hurriedly paid their respects.

The civil servant Zhou Ren suddenly saw Yang Zhenshan in this attire, and his mind tightened sharply.

“Is the Lord going out?”

Naturally, one does not need to wear armor for office work, and Yang Zhenshan’s attire clearly meant he was going out.

“Yes, I’m going to visit City Gate Castle, and you’ll come along.”

Yang Zhenshan said indifferently.

After speaking, he didn’t wait for others’ reactions and walked straight out of the garrison office.

At that moment, a troop of soldiers rushed from the eastern side of the garrison office.

The people were none other than Song Dashan and Ding Qiu.

Last night, Yang Mingcheng and Ding Qiu had already returned.

And today, as Yang Zhenshan was going to meet Xu Wanfu at City Gate Castle, it was natural to bring Song Dashan and Ding Qiu along.

In addition to them, the twenty soldiers were also brought along by him.

As for the several Yang family descendants, Yang Zhenshan left them to Yang Ming Hao.

A group of over twenty people on horseback stood in front of the garrison office, a somber atmosphere instantly filling the air.

These twenty soldiers were all elites from Yinghe Castle, and most of them possessed the strength of Martial Artists.

They served as Yang Zhenshan’s trusted aides, and he naturally would not mistreat them.

Aside from the Yang family descendants, these were the trusted followers nurtured by Yang Zhenshan.

Zhou Ren watched this group of extremely quiet soldiers and couldn’t help but shrink his neck.

He was naturally familiar with these soldiers; they had been responsible for guarding the backyard during this period, and every time he went to meet Yang Zhenshan, he would be thoroughly inspected by these soldiers before being allowed to pass.

“Let’s go!”

Yang Zhenshan mounted Red Cloud, glanced at Zhou Ren, and drove his horse forward.

Zhou Ren hurriedly climbed onto his already prepared warhorse and followed behind Yang Zhenshan.

Just as Yang Zhenshan left the garrison office, numerous figures hurriedly scattered in all directions around them.

These figures were all spies watching Yang Zhenshan, and today, as Yang Zhenshan suddenly led people out of the garrison office, they naturally had to report back to their masters behind the scenes.