Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 102: Chapter 99 Waiting for them to let down their guard

The next morning.

Yang Zhenshan meticulously instructed Yang Mingcheng and Wu Hai.

The garrison must not be in chaos, and the home must not be in chaos.

Today is different from the past; previously, only the Yang family members were inside the Yang family, but now there are many more servants.

A family shares hardships and lives and dies together, that is acceptable no matter what.

But it’s different with those servants, in life and death crises, no one can guarantee they would not betray their master.

After all, they had been with the Yang family for less than a month.

After breakfast, Yang Zhenshan personally led two hundred cavalry and three hundred infantrymen, leaving Yinghe Castle.

Ding Qiu, a guard of the Yang family, was also brought by his side.

One must not harbor intentions to harm others, but must not forget to defend against others either.

In the entire Yinghe Castle, apart from Yang Zhenshan, no one was stronger than Ding Qiu. Although he is now a servant of Yang Zhenshan, Yang Zhenshan could not guarantee that he would brave fire and water for the Yang family, so he could only keep him close.

They traveled east at a brisk pace, and Yang Zhenshan also took the opportunity to visit a horse farm. The horse farm was not attacked by the Northern barbarian cavalry, the closer to the city, the fewer scattered Northern barbarians, and the main forces of the Hu Clan would not roam and plunder everywhere, so the area around the horse farm was actually the most peaceful.

Around noon, they arrived at Linguan Castle, and at this time, the Hu Clan’s army had not yet reached Chongshan Pass City. Although the atmosphere inside Linguan Castle was heavy, there was no turmoil.

Seeing Yang Zhenshan arriving with five hundred soldiers, everyone inside Linguan Castle breathed a sigh of relief.

”My lord!”

Yang Chengze came out to greet him.

Yang Zhenshan slightly nodded and directly rode into the garrison, then scanned the area.

”You go arrange it, have everyone camp in the training field!”

There is no training field outside Linguan Castle, the only training field is the open space in front of the garrison government office.

The training field is not very big, but it should be enough to set up several tents.

If the tents are not enough, people could squeeze into the sewing workshop nearby.

Yang Chengze complied and hurried off.

Yang Zhenshan then ordered Yang Mingwu and Song Dashan to take scouts out to survey the situation.

On the second day after Yang Zhenshan and his party arrived at Linguan Castle, the Hu Clan’s army, belatedly, reached the base of Chongshan Pass City.

The massive army with its thick clouds of dust rolling in suddenly immersed the entire city in a solemn atmosphere.

Several figures clad in large capes looked down from the city walls at the approaching Hu Clan army.

”As the Marquis predicted, they really did come!”

Lu Chongde stroked his snow-white beard, speaking softly with a calm face.

Marquis Changping Liang Chu, with a cold and indifferent smirk, said, ”They have no choice but to come. If they come, there is a gleam of survival; if not, it’s a dead end.”

”I still hoped they wouldn’t come; their arrival means many commoners will suffer from the warfare!” Lu Chongde’s voice sounded somewhat desolate in the chilling wind.

”A womanly kindness!” Liang Chu glanced at him, ”If they don’t come, they might become a major disaster for the Dynasty in the future, and then even more commoners will suffer!”

Lu Chongde fell into silence, Liang Chu was right.

Only the defeated enemy is a good enemy.

But he wished more that the Dynasty could take the initiative to strike, thus sparing the commoners from calamity.

However, they were given too little time.

With only half a year, they still had much unprepared, now they simply couldn’t venture out of the pass to campaign against the Hu Clan.

The lessons from the past were right in front of them, naturally, they couldn’t act recklessly again.

At this moment, a handsome young man dressed in a white fox fur coat ascended the city wall.

His long hair as black as ink, his crown holding his hair neatly, his eyebrows and eyes picturesque, and his eyes shining like brilliant stars of kindness, the white fox fur adorned his appearance, making him look dignified and noble, like an elegant young nobleman.

Behind him followed two attendants, one tall and one short, both with eyes sharp as swords and radiating killing intent, demonstrating extraordinary presence.

”Greetings to the Marquis, greetings to Mr. Lu!”

”Greetings to Mr. Lv!”

After the three exchanged pleasantries, Liang Chu furrowed his brows, ”Mr. Lv, why aren’t you staying properly in the city instead of running here?”

Lv Hua responded calmly, ”With the enemy at the gates, as the supervising officer, I naturally had to come and see!”

”Supervising officer!” Liang Chu’s expression turned slightly unpleasant.

No one liked having a meddling supervising officer by their side, especially one of those eunuchs without balls.

Regardless of Lv Hua hailing from the Secret Martial Guards, others might fear the Secret Martial Guards, but he, Marquis Changping, did not.

What of the Secret Martial Guards?

His Changping Marquis Mansion was ennobled by the founding Emperor as they battled across the land, Da Rong’s lineage lasted three hundred years, and the Changping Marquis Mansion was the only noble estate that still bore the three hundred years of honor.

What about Duke Ning, Duke Chang? They are just nobles of a hundred years. Only the Changping Marquis Mansion was Da Rong’s three hundred-year-old noble estate.

Although Liang Chu did not respect Lv Hua, he would not disrespect him in person.

After all, Lv Hua represented the Emperor.

At most, he dared to ignore Lv Hua, but he could not truly humiliate him.

”If you want to watch, just watch, but don’t hinder this Marquis from commanding the battle!” Liang Chu sneered, no longer wanting to deal with this eunuch.

The reputation of the Secret Martial Guards in the Capital City was not good; whether it was civil officials, military generals, or noble families, all of them deeply abhorred and tried to avoid any interaction with them.

Lv Hua did not care about Liang Chu’s attitude; he wasn’t unfamiliar with this Marquis.

As for Lu Chongde, he disliked dealing with the Secret Martial Guards even more and didn’t like to be involved with eunuchs, so since Lv Hua appeared, he silently watched the Hu Clan army in the distance.

The three stood on top of the city wall, and after a lengthy silence, Lu Chongde couldn’t help but break it.

”When does the Marquis plan to make a move?”

Liang Chu replied, ”Let’s wait a bit longer, wait for them to lower their guard!”

”Then, I wish the Marquis great victory!”

After saying this, Lu Chongde turned and left.

Once he was gone, Lv Hua spoke, ”I have already found out, someone in Jing’an Prefecture is colluding with the enemy and committing treason!”

”Who?” Liang Chu’s eyes narrowed slightly.

”The Liang family of Jing’an, in the past ten years, they have been transporting a large amount of salt, iron, and food outside the pass!” Lv Hua’s tone was as biting as the cold wind.

”The Liang family of Jing’an, are they gentry or nobles?” Liang Chu had never heard of this Liang family.

”Merchants!” Lv Hua said indifferently.

Liang Chu sneered disdainfully, ”A merchant!”

”Just a merchant?” you’ve investigated?

Lv Hua detected the sarcasm in his words.

Treason!

How could an ordinary merchant have the audacity to commit such acts?

There must be other forces backing him.

He speculated in his mind, but they found no evidence.

The Secret Martial Guards could execute first and report later, but that did not mean they could act recklessly.

Especially when it involved deeply entrenched forces, they must find evidence first before they could execute and then report.

Without evidence, if you kill someone, how would you explain it to the Emperor, to the court afterward?

Moreover, there’s a high probability this matter involves the royal family!

”This involves Zhang Yude and Sun Xincheng,” Lv Hua added.

”And then?” Liang Chu asked.

It was impossible for just a merchant to transport salt, iron, and food outside the region.

Not to mention, just moving the goods out, even if not through the city gates, must pass through the garrisons of various places.

Without the support of high-ranking officials from Chongshan Town, it is simply not possible.

Zhang Yude was the former garrison eunuch of Chongshan Town, and Sun Xincheng was the former governor. They definitely had a big suspicion.

As for the former General, Duke Dingyuan, Sun Shouwang, if he were involved, they wouldn’t have let him return to the Capital City so safely.

”Next, I need the Marquis to replace the garrison commander of An Yuan State City!” said Lv Hua.

”An Yuan State City!”

Liang Chu seemed contemplative.

An Yuan State City lies to the east of Chongshan Pass, over three hundred li away and is one of the most important cities in the eastern region of Chongshan Town.

”You mean they were transporting materials from An Yuan State City outward?”

”That’s right!” Lv Hua nodded.

”The garrison commander of An Yuan State City is Cao Han, he’s involved too?” asked Liang Chu.

”Yes!”

”What about Wang Bin?” Liang Chu frowned.

Wang Bin was the commander of East Road Songzhou Guard in Chongshan Town, which meant he was Cao Han’s direct superior.

”We haven’t found anything on him yet!” said Lv Hua.

Liang Chu slightly nodded, if nothing was found on Wang Bin, that probably means Wang Bin wasn’t involved.

”Replace with whom?”

Lv Hua coldly said, ”Replace with someone who has no involvement!”

Liang Chu stroked his beard, replacing with someone without any involvement, that’s really not easy.

To say he had no involvement himself, there were many he could find within Chongshan Town.

But if it was about being uninvolved in treason, he really wasn’t sure who could be.

Even the former governor Sun Xincheng and the former garrison eunuch Zhang Yude were involved, so their subordinates and underlings probably also had involvement.

And from the looks of it with Lv Hua, the replacement couldn’t be too simple.

Lv Hua’s intention he could guess, the replacement was either to startle the snake by hitting the grass or to muddy the waters.

He needed to carefully consider this person. The officer couldn’t lack abilities or strength, and crucially must not have too many ties with the previous high-level officials of Chongshan Town and should have a reasonable reason to be transferred to An Yuan City.

”When will the switch happen?” Liang Chu pondered and asked.

”No rush, I also need some preparation!” said Lv Hua.

Liang Chu nodded, if there was no rush, then that made things much easier, he could gradually find the right candidate.

And the top priority was to repel the approaching Hu Clan’s army, he didn’t have the energy to attend to these matters right now.

As for cooperating with Lv Hua, even though he disliked the Secret Martial Guards, he couldn’t obstruct them from carrying out their duties.

It was a principle, a bottom line.

Seeing that the important matters were settled, Lv Hua glanced at the Hu Clan’s army below the city, his indifferent gaze not wavering at all.

”I also wish the Marquis a great victory!”

With that, he turned and left.

”Don’t interfere, this Marquis will definitely win!” Liang Chu said.

Lv Hua paused slightly, ”I’m not Zhang Yude, I never act recklessly in military affairs, the Marquis can rest assured!”

Liang Chu watched his retreating figure, disdainfully curling his lip.

You are indeed not Zhang Yude, but you are more detestable than Zhang Yude.

...

The twenty-fifth year of peace, February 15th, on the mountain peak west of Linguan Castle.

The piercing cold wind howled, the gloomy sky pressing down on the mountain top like a block of lead.

Yang Zhenshan, enveloped in a thick cloak, gazed at the Hu Clan’s large camp in the north.

The Hu Clan’s army had been encamped below Chongshan Pass for several days, if nothing unexpected, they would act within the next few days.

Yang Mingwu stood beside him, looking up at the gloomy sky.

”Sir, it’s going to snow!”

Snow meant the Hu Clan would halt all actions, whether attacking or plundering, they would have to pause for some days.

This definitely was good news for them.

However, Yang Zhenshan looked at the sky and shook his head, ”It’s not going to snow!”

His senses towards the weather were becoming sharper, almost able to accurately predict the weather changes within three days, and even had a vague idea for the coming year’s weather.

If he were in his previous life, his senses would be more accurate than the weather forecast on TV.

”It won’t snow?” Yang Mingwu was skeptical.

Such a gloomy day, it should snow, right?

Yang Zhenshan did not explain, instead, he turned and headed down the mountain.

”Let’s go!”