Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 143: Chapter 139: Don’t Want to Be Used as a Tool

Yang Zhenshan stroked his beard in contemplation, occasionally glancing at Liang Rong.

”Can you guarantee safety?”

”Of course!”

”I cannot take you at your word!” Yang Zhenshan appeared very cautious, as if he was genuinely considering the feasibility of the matter, and as if he were truly enticed by those 300 taels of silver.

Liang Rong smiled and said, ”Rest assured, sir. This is not business from the Liang family!”

”Then whose business is it? If you want me involved, you have to give me some details!” Yang Zhenshan said softly.

This made Liang Rong hesitate. How much should he reveal?

”I cannot say anything else at this moment, but I can tell you that the Prefectural Government and the Military Equipment Department are both involved in this matter!”

Yang Zhenshan nodded slightly.

He already knew this; whether Liang Rong mentioned it or not made no difference.

But could Liang Rong possibly know more?

Xu Wanfu didn’t even know about Black Cliff Village; what about Liang Rong?

The Secret Martial Guards’ goal wasn’t Black Cliff Village; they had only one target, and that was Prince Qing Mansion.

If it were just about Black Cliff Village, the Secret Martial Guards would not have gone to such great lengths.

And if Liang Rong wasn’t aware of Prince Qing Mansion’s involvement, capturing him would be pointless and would only stir up unnecessary trouble.

Yang Zhenshan fell silent.

Liang Rong was not in a hurry, calmly waiting.

For a moment, the room fell into a deep silence.

Wei Cen, watching Yang Zhenshan’s back, furrowed his brow, unsure of what Yang Zhenshan was planning, but it wasn’t his place to remind him at this moment.

After a long while, Yang Zhenshan finally spoke, ”I can give you the mandate, but it will be 500 taels per time!”

”Sir, that’s not appropriate!” Liang Rong shook his head.

Yang Zhenshan, with a stern face, said, ”We are family by marriage. Normally, I wouldn’t haggle, but you understand this is a matter of life and death. 300 taels is too little!”

Greed is part of human nature; he needed to appear greedy enough to put them at ease. If he had agreed straight away, they might suspect his motives.

After considering, Liang Rong said, ”Then let it be 400 taels, as we still need to handle the Prefectural Government and the Military Equipment Department.”

Yang Zhenshan thought for a while, then suddenly smiled, ”Then I wish Brother Liang prosperous business!”

The two shared a mutual smile, both very pleased with the arrangement.

Only Wei Cen continued to frown, not understanding why Yang Zhenshan would accept Liang Rong’s silver.

This clearly contradicted their earlier plan.

Their initial strategy had been to use Yang Zhenshan as a pawn, engaging him in conflict with the other party to draw out their backers and forces.

But now, Yang Zhenshan had actually joined them.

This—

Following this, Liang Rong took out four silver notes of 100 taels each and handed them to Yang Zhenshan, who discreetly accepted them and went to the Front Office to issue a mandate.

The entire process was seamless, as if Yang Zhenshan were accustomed to such dealings.

Ah, indeed, he did often engage in such activities. Wasn’t it just applying a stamp?

At the construction site in the past, they had even considered getting a specialized stamping machine.

Now it was just a matter of stamping an official seal, simple and effortless.

However, after sending Liang Rong away, Yang Zhenshan directly handed over the four silver notes to Wei Cen.

”What do you mean by this?” Wei Cen asked, frowning suspiciously at Yang Zhenshan.

That wary look in his eyes seemed to say ’don’t think you can bribe me’.

Yang Zhenshan, somewhat annoyed, said, ”Keep it, and don’t come to settle accounts with me later!”

”Uh!” Wei Cen was startled and then asked with confusion, ”What are you actually planning to do?”

Yang Zhenshan stuffed the silver notes into his pocket, saying, ”You wanted to use me as a shield, but I’m not willing to be one!”

”Rather than fight them, it’s better to join them as an undercover.”

”With my status, they will certainly try their best to win me over, because without my cooperation, their goods cannot pass through customs!”

Wei Cen was still puzzled, ”Even if they trust you, they might not tell you everything.”

His concerns were not unfounded; Cao Han and Xu Wanfu were considered their men, even collaborating for years, yet they were unaware of Black Cliff Village’s existence.

Yang Zhenshan working undercover might end up with similar results.

Returning to the Guest Hall, Yang Zhenshan continued, ”Actually, you have already investigated most of it. You’ve found all the people involved from An Yuan State City, but now you want evidence regarding Prince Qing Mansion.”

”And to obtain evidence regarding Prince Qing Mansion, you need to push them to come forward voluntarily.”

”This cannot be achieved shortly, especially since you startled the enemy by capturing Cao Han.”

”So now, what we need to do is to let them lower their guard, and once they trust me, and think they can continue making money and counting silver like before.”

Wei Cen pondered for a while and then said, ”But in doing so, they will send a large amount of supplies to the Hu Clan. Although Marquis Liang severely damaged the East Sea Hu Clan recently, there’s still a risk they might recover.”

According to their investigations, the supplies sent from An Yuan State City to areas beyond could sustain an army of a hundred thousand.

The East Sea Hu Clan had risen so quickly over the years because they were provided with various resources.

Yang Zhenshan chuckled lightly, ”Of course, we couldn’t possibly let them supply the Hu Clan with resources!”

”Do you still want to join them?” Wei Cen was somewhat dissatisfied.

Yang Zhenshan glanced at him, then picked up the tea and started drinking, ”We can’t stop them here in An Yuan State City, but what about once they leave the pass?”

”With Mr. Lv’s status, it should be no problem for the Camp soldiers of Chongshan Town to patrol beyond the borders!”

”As soon as they step out of the border, we’ll ambush them!”

”Not just them, but also the Hu Clan who trades with them; kill them all!”

”Once or twice wouldn’t be an issue, but if it happens frequently, they will surely get anxious. At that point, they’ll have no choice but to seek out their true master.”

Currently, there are only two possibilities; one is that Prince Qing Mansion wasn’t involved, thus the Secret Martial Guards found no evidence, and the second is that Prince Qing Mansion has hidden their involvement so well, they’ve almost severed all ties to the matter.

If it’s the latter situation, then there must be a crucial figure involved, but it’s still unclear who this person might be.

The Secret Martial Guards need to confirm this person’s identity before they can discover evidence related to Prince Qing Mansion.

But how can this individual be identified?

Naturally, by forcing them to reveal themselves.

If this source of wealth is cut off, the person behind it would probably be unable to stay put.

Apart from this goal, Yang Zhenzhan primarily does not want to be used as a pawn by others.

Once he becomes the vanguard for the Secret Martial Guards, they will surely eliminate him first, as he does not believe that he is completely infallible.

Moreover, once things become uncontrollable, the other party will stop at nothing, and he and his family will face threats to their lives.

Naturally, Yang Zhenzhan is unwilling to put himself in danger, so he thought of such a method. This way, he can force the other party to come out, and also give an explanation to Lv Hua.

After hearing Yang Zhenzhan’s thoughts, Wei Cen’s eyes were filled with an inexplicable emotion.

”I need to report this matter to the admiral!”

”Mmm, I think Mr. Lv will agree!” Yang Zhenshan said cheerfully.

Wei Cen nodded, said no more, and turned to leave the Guest Hall.

...

Wei Cen acted quickly and brought Lv Hua’s response the next day.

Just as Yang Zhenshan had said, Lv Hua agreed to his proposal.

This is normal; if Yang Zhenzhan were just a garrison commander, Lv Hua wouldn’t care about his opinions, but behind Yang Zhenzhan was Zhou Lan, and he had promised to try and keep Yang Zhenzhan alive.

In addition, Yang Zhenshan’s plan was very good, leaving Lv Hua with no reason to refuse.

With the approval from Lv Hua, the rest of the matters became much simpler.

On Liang Rong’s side, he only needed to sign the order, without needing to do anything else.

And Lv Hua needed to do even less; the task of ambushing beyond the borders would naturally fall to the Camp, and only the Camp could undertake such a task.

Thus, Yang Zhenzhan ended up somewhat on the sidelines.

Of course, he wasn’t completely on the sidelines, as Wei Cen was still by his side, and people like Liang Rong were still in An Yuan State City; the key to this matter was still in An Yuan State City.

Right now it might just be the calm before the storm, but when the storm comes, Yang Zhenzhan would still be at the forefront, still the vanguard.

One good aspect, however, is that there’s still some time before the storm arrives, and this period is Yang Zhenzhan’s preparation time.

His current urgent task is to train the garrison into elite soldiers.

Having soldiers ready makes everything worry-free.

As long as he can control the garrison and train them into elite forces, then whatever happens next, he will be able to face it calmly.

Winter isn’t suitable for training soldiers, but with time pressing, Yang Zhenzhan had no choice but to push his soldiers a bit harder.

He spent two days crafting a training plan.

That night, after dinner, Yang Zhenzhan was in the study of the main court modifying the training plan.

Training troops was something he was already proficient at.

However, there were many more aspects to be mindful of when training in winter, and he needed to give it more thought.

While Yang Zhenzhan was reviewing the training plan, Yu Qingyi stood hesitating outside the door for a long time before finally knocking.

”Come in!”

Yang Zhenzhan said without raising his head.

”Madam pays respect to your excellency!”

”Mmm, what is it?”

Yu Qingyi, with her head bowed, spoke softly, ”Madam wishes to ask for a favor from your excellency.”

In the worldly society, she was admired and cherished by many as the Sect Leader of the Sky Blue Sword Sect, but here she was merely a common woman.

That is the difference between commoners and officials.

Unless her cultivation reached the Innate Realm, in the face of power, she could only reluctantly keep a low profile.

Yang Zhenshan looked up at her, his eyes revealing a trace of amazed admiration.

Different from two days ago, Yu Qingyi’s injuries had mostly healed, her pale face now rosy, making her appearance even more radiant.

A beauty!

And a mature beauty at that.

In his previous life, she would be a typical ”mature lady.”

Yang Zhenshan hadn’t paid much attention to her these past two days, as he had many matters to attend to; who has time to care about Yu Qingyi.

And as for Yu Qingyi, he only had one requirement: that she obediently stay in the courtyard.