Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 286: Chapter 277 Development Plan

Wu Zhan and Yu Lu’s matter was quickly settled. Yu Lu knew Wu Zhan and did not refuse to marry him.

Although she was not familiar with Wu Zhan, she knew he was a good person.

A good person was enough; there were no ”good guy cards” here.

For Yu Lu, having a place to belong was already a stroke of great luck.

Coming to the Yang family was her fortune, meeting Qingyi was her fortune, and being able to marry Wu Zhan was also her fortune.

What she desired most was not wealth or dramatic triumphs, but a peaceful home.

”Servant thanks the madam!”

Inside the main courtyard, Yu Lu knelt on the ground, expressing her gratitude.

Before meeting Yang Zhenshan, she was in despair, foreseeing a tragic future as a plaything for some important figure.

Meeting Yang Zhenshan deepened her despair, as she felt her miserable fate was about to begin.

However, after arriving at the Yang family, the despair in her heart gradually dissipated. Yang Zhenshan’s indifference was her hope.

Later on, Qingyi married Yang Zhenshan, and Yang Zhenshan left her in Qingyi’s care, marking a new Chapter in her life.

Her heart no longer harbored despair, only seeking tranquility.

These past few years, she had lived quietly in the Yang family.

And now, she was about to marry.

Her heart harbored even more longing.

A longing for a home of her own.

”Get up!” Qingyi helped her up, gently saying, ”Since you are willing, then I will help you both matchmake!”

”Wu Zhan is my junior brother; he may seem irresponsible and carefree usually, but rest assured, he is definitely a family man!”

Qingyi said, and simultaneously produced Yu Lu’s servitude contract, ”From now on, you are free, and you enter the household as the principal wife!”

”Thank you, madam!” Yu Lu shed tears of joy; she was delighted.

The two of them agreed, and what remained was simple.

As a senior sister and head of the family, Qingyi naturally took charge of their marriage arrangements.

But before their wedding, Qingyi also had to handle another wedding—between Song Hao and Wang Yunqiao.

Song Hao and Wang Yunqiao were engaged for a while, and this year Wang Yunqiao also turned sixteen, so the wedding date needed to be scheduled.

However, these matters did not need Yang Zhenshan’s attention; Qingyi was in charge at home, while his focus remained on official duties.

Three days after the first batch of cotton fabric arrived, the second batch also reached Tenglong Guard.

The two batches greatly alleviated Tenglong Guard’s demand for cotton fabric, which was quickly distributed to military households.

Seeing the new cotton fabric, the military households gained a greater sense of approval towards Yang Zhenshan, the new Commander.

Although Yang Zhenshan had been in office for only two months, since his arrival, the lives of the military households had shown many improvements.

For the first time, they received grain distributed by the government office, cotton fabric, and experienced attention and care from the government office.

Grain, cotton fabric, reinforcement of houses, construction of ice houses—one by one, these actions made all the military households feel a different kind of care.

They also gained more respect and affection for Yang Zhenshan.

The military households of Tenglong Guard could be divided into three parts; the first part was the former Tenglong Advanced Guard military households, who had the best old days, at least not lacking food and clothing, but they could not expect much generosity from the Lan family; to them, these households were no different from servants.

The second part consisted of the Lan family’s servants, now most grateful to Yang Zhenshan as he had abolished their servitude; this act alone was enough to make them profoundly grateful.

The third part was military households from other Guards, who previously had the hardest lives; although they were military households, their lives were even worse than those of the servants.

No matter which part, Yang Zhenshan treated everyone the same; the grain and cotton fabric were distributed equally.

As a result, all three groups were extremely grateful to Yang Zhenshan, the new Commander.

Yet, some were dissatisfied with Yang Zhenshan, those officers whom he had dismissed.

But they were powerless against Yang Zhenshan and filled with awe, so their grievances remained hidden, never showing even the slightest sign.

Yang Zhenshan also ignored them; as time passed, these officials had completely lost their usefulness, now merely ordinary citizens of the Guard City.

As for being transferred away from Tenglong Guard, that was even less likely; Yang Zhenshan would not bother with them, and neither would the Central Army Commander’s Mansion.

In the study, Yang Zhenshan was planning out the next year’s agenda.

Now that the framework of Tenglong Guard was established, and the military households of each Guard and thousand households were well-organized, all that remained was some time for them to familiarize with each other, and the Guardian Department and the thousand households’ offices could operate normally.

Although there were still one and a half months until the New Year, Yang Zhenshan was not planning to undertake anything else before the festival; mainly because the military households of Tenglong Guard had been impoverished for long and could not withstand any disturbances; they needed time to recuperate.

After the New Year, Yang Zhenshan planned to radically transform Tenglong Guard.

The first step was to provide money and grain. Money and grain were fundamental; with grain in hand, the heart is not panicked. Only by ensuring the military households had sufficient resources could he truly expect them to change.

Of course, Yang Zhenshan is not going to give out money and grain for free.

He plans to employ military households to construct Guard City and the thousand households, simply put, using labor as a form of relief.

Starting from the end of February to construct houses until the end of March, it wouldn’t delay the spring plowing in April.

It might be impossible to complete all the construction tasks in about a month, but that is not a problem. After the spring plowing, the military households can be employed again to continue the construction.

The second matter is improving the efficiency and yield of the military households’ farming; efficiency can be enhanced by crafting more agricultural tools and allocating more oxen for plowing, while the increase in yield can be achieved through adding more farm manure.

Agricultural tools require blacksmiths and carpenters to make; they need iron ore.

Iron ore is easy to deal with; as the Commander of Tenglong Guard, Yang Zhenshan can purchase or apply for iron ore from the Governor’s Office.

The blacksmiths and carpenters are manageable too; if Tenglong Guard does not have any, the garrison office in An Yuan City does.

During his time in An Yuan City, Yang Zhenshan trained quite a few blacksmiths and carpenters, and the garrison office even has production lines for making armaments.

Although he can’t make An Yuan City’s blacksmiths and carpenters into craftsmen of the Tenglong Guard, he can borrow them for a while, and he believes Han Cheng would not refuse.

As for the plowing oxen, there is no easy solution; he can only buy them with silver. Luo Shang had already dealt with the Yang family’s oxen previously; now, he just needs to buy some more.

Currently, Chongshan Town is not lacking in plowing oxen, and the prices are much lower.

Thus, now is a good time to buy plowing oxen.

As for farm manure, this actually involves fermenting plant materials; it was not Yang Zhenshan’s own idea, but rather suggested by a tenant-servant of the Yang family’s farm.

After this tenant-servant put forward the idea, Yang Zhenshan also added some suggestions.

The method is simple: ferment decaying plant matter mixed with manure.

Because manure is scarce, both military and civilian households are in dire need of farm manure.

However, if weeds and tree leaves can be used for composting, it can undoubtedly greatly increase the quantity of farm manure.

Actually, this method is not uncommon. Some common folks use this method, but no one has summarized it nor promoted it, resulting in this composting method only circulating on a small scale.

Last year, Yang Zhenshan had already promoted it on the Yang family farm and the outcome was very promising, with about a ten percent increase in harvest.

Now that he is in Tenglong Guard, he naturally wants to spread this method further.

The third matter is military training, encompassing armament crafting, horse purchasing, soldier training, and so on.

Armament crafting and horse purchasing can be prepared now, while soldier training has to wait until after the spring plowing is finished.

These three matters can be intertwined or carried out simultaneously, with each plan unfolding rapidly.

Yang Zhenshan thought for a moment, feeling that there were still many tasks to accomplish before the New Year.

First is the procurement of iron ore; whether for crafting agricultural tools or armaments, a large quantity of iron ore is required.

Next is the purchasing of plowing oxen, which can also be done in Chongshan Town first, without waiting until tomorrow close to spring plowing; buying then might delay matters.

As for war horses, there is no rush; purchasing them early would be of no use as they need to be raised, and Tenglong Guard does not have enough stables for horses, so it would be better to wait until the stables are built before purchasing.

Other preparations can be made ahead of time, such as sending someone to talk to Han Cheng, asking him to select a batch of blacksmiths and carpenters, and after the New Year, having these craftsmen come over.

Yang Zhenshan wrote down each task on paper; as many tasks were thought of spontaneously, the writing was quite chaotic.

Of course, he also missed many details, but that did not matter much; thinking it over a few more times would likely bring more issues to mind, and even if he couldn’t recall everything, after he drafted a general plan, his subordinates would also help him think things through.

Just as Yang Zhenshan was pondering over any omissions, Wu Zhan hurried into the study.

”Master, something has happened!” Wu Zhan said with a somewhat anxious voice.

Yang Zhenshan looked up, surprised and asked, ”What happened?”

What could happen?

It seemed like nothing major could happen in Tenglong Guard now.

Wu Zhan’s expression was not very good, ”Our third batch of cotton fabrics has been robbed!”

Yang Zhenshan’s brows furrowed.

The third batch of cotton fabrics; the first batch had been personally brought back by Wu Zhan, and the second batch had arrived three days ago. This third batch should have been delivered in these two days.

He had thought that once the third batch of cotton fabrics arrived, the issues of cotton clothing and blankets for the military households would be resolved.

He did not expect it to actually be robbed!

”Who robbed them?”

”Huang Yifu of Yu Heng Knife Guests!” Wu Zhan said gravely.

Yang Zhenshan looked at him somewhat bewilderingly, not understanding who this Huang Yifu was.

”Master, have you ever heard of Star Moon Sect?” Wu Zhan asked.

”I’ve heard of it. It is said that Star Moon Sect is a very large force in the worldly society.”

Nowadays, Yang Zhenshan was no longer ignorant about worldly society; he had heard of many forces, and Qingyi often told him about matters in the world.