Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 323: Chapter 313: The Zhang Family’s Fleet

After the corruption case in the Salt Transport Department concluded, Yang Zhenshan thought that the matter would no longer involve him. However, the very next day after he received the news, the Zhang family from Liao’an Prefecture came knocking at his door.

Inside the main hall of the Yang family’s front court, Yang Zhenshan, looking at the trembling Zhang Maosheng, asked with a faint smile, ”I wonder what brings the Family Head of the Zhang family here?”

This time, the Zhang family had truly bled a fortune, as not only had the deposits of all officials, big and small, at their Datong Bank been seized, but they also paid a fine of a million taels of silver.

Such fines, also known as dirty silver, represent illicit gains, simply understood to be the court feeling that salt merchants had earned too much, and hence taking some of it from the pockets of the salt merchants.

This might seem unreasonable, but in fact, these salt merchants were indeed involved in bribery.

Compared to those salt merchants whose homes were directly confiscated, the remaining ones were considered lucky.

”I have come to thank General Yang!” said Zhang Maosheng with an extremely humble demeanor, bowing solemnly to Yang Zhenshan.

Following him, the brothers Zhang Qingsong and Zhang Qingyun also bowed in gratitude.

”I haven’t helped you!” Yang Zhenshan said indifferently.

”General, by not imprisoning us at the time, you were already helping us!” said Zhang Maosheng.

His words were indeed true. At the time, Yang Zhenshan only sealed off the Zhang family’s properties but did not imprison its members, which allowed the Zhang family to seek connections and maneuver.

If Yang Zhenshan had treated the Zhang family like he did the Salt Transport Department, it’s very likely that the Zhang family would have been among those whose properties were confiscated.

Yang Zhenshan smiled without saying a word.

Originally, he had felt that the Zhang family’s recognition of their error was sincere, which is why he did not imprison them; he had not expected to gain any benefits from the Zhang family.

”This old man has prepared a gift of gratitude. I hope the General will kindly accept it!” said Zhang Maosheng as he took out a gift list and handed it to Yang Zhenshan.

Yang Zhenshan considered it and accepted the gift list.

If it’s merely a gift of gratitude, accepting it would not be a problem.

However, he underestimated the generosity of the Zhang family’s gift—it was indeed so lavish that it was frightening.

Among other things, it included a large mansion, eight shops, three farms, and three thousand mu of good farmland!

Looking at this gift, Yang Zhenshan suddenly felt that the court’s fine of a million taels of silver was too light, and it should be doubled.

Damn, the Zhang family’s foundation was truly solid.

”Your gratitude, I have received it. However, this gift is too generous!” said Yang Zhenshan as he gave Wu Hai a sign with his eyes, and Wu Hai promptly understood and fetched ink and brush.

Yang Zhenshan crossed off the mansion, shops, farms, and good farmland from the gift list, leaving only some jewelry, silver, fabrics, and other miscellaneous items.

”These will suffice!” said Yang Zhenshan as he handed the list back to Zhang Maosheng.

Zhang Maosheng took the list, glanced at it, and his thoughts sank slightly, ”The General is incorruptible!”

Hearing the word ’incorruptible,’ Yang Zhenshan couldn’t help but laugh.

Incorruptible!

That was an outright lie.

How many officials in this world were truly incorruptible?

Yang Zhenshan did not consider himself corrupt, but he could hardly be described by the term incorruptible.

He always disdained to engage in corrupt practices like embezzlement and bribery, but he had done quite a few favors using his power, such as the Luo family’s situation and the Yang family’s horse farm, which could be considered using his influence for personal gain. However, what Yang Zhenshan did was mutually beneficial with the government office, and not entirely for his own interests.

Thinking of mutual benefit, Yang Zhenshan suddenly spoke up, ”I recall that the Zhang family has a few sea ships, don’t they?”

Zhang Maosheng was momentarily stunned, then quickly understood and said, ”Indeed, we have a few. There are two eight-hundred-material blessing ships and six four-hundred-material fast ships.”

Although the Zhang family’s business was not primarily maritime trade, they had significant assets and were involved in the sea trade, albeit not a priority.

Yang Zhenshan had noticed that the Zhang family owned a fleet when he was investigating their assets.

”May I know if the Zhang family would be willing to sell this fleet?”

”If the General is in need, this old man is willing to gift them to the General!” said Zhang Maosheng.

”The gifting is not necessary. The Guardian Department will buy the Zhang family’s fleet at market price, including the ships and the ship workers!” Yang Zhenshan said with a smile.

He was not trying to take advantage of the Zhang family, okay, to be honest, it did seem like taking advantage, but his main purpose was to save time.

The Tenglong Guard lacked ship workers and a Navy, and even ships, to begin with; to develop a Navy or engage in maritime trade, they would be starting from scratch.

Yang Zhenshan had intended to send Luo Shang to the south to find talents skilled in navigation. If the Zhang family had not offered themselves today, he would not have thought of buying the Zhang family’s fleet.

”There’s no issue with the ships, it’s just that those ship workers are bound servants of our Zhang family, and I’m not sure if they would agree!” Zhang Maosheng didn’t make too full of a guarantee.

He didn’t feel annoyed because Yang Zhenshan wanted to buy the fleet; let alone buying, even if Yang Zhenshan wanted it for free, he would give it.

Because for the current state of the Zhang family, Yang Zhenshan was an existence they absolutely could not afford to provoke.

The most important thing was that he wanted to use the opportunity to establish a relationship with Yang Zhenshan.

Having lost Luo Fu as a reliable backer, the Zhang family urgently needed a new protector, and Yang Zhenshan was one of their top choices.

”I’ll take all the ship workers. You can transfer their contracts to us at market price, and I’ll increase their monthly pay! And I must have the ship captain!” Yang Zhenshan said with an authoritative tone.

What he wanted were not the ships themselves. Although sea vessels were also scarce, they could still be purchased if desired.

What he valued were those skilled ship workers and ship captains; they are the foundation of a fleet.

The ship captain, or ship’s master, deals with many aspects of seafaring—navigational routes, tides, geography, climate, etc. If one wishes to engage in trade, they also need to understand local cultures, politics, customs, and natural resources of various places.

This expertise could only be gained through true exposure, experience, and understanding. For one to master these, a wealth of seafaring experience is essential—it simply cannot be learned from reading books or attending lectures.

Hence, a competent ship captain was the talent that Yang Zhenshan currently needed the most.

”Yes! I understand!” Zhang Maosheng did not beat around the bush and directly agreed.

”Hmm, rest assured, I am not someone who likes to take things by force. I will pay the full amount of silver without any deduction!” Yang Zhenshan reiterated.

”General Yang is magnanimous!” What else could Zhang Maosheng say but to respond in this way?

Yang Zhenshan, seeing that he knew his place, did not say more. He picked up his cup of tea and took a gentle sip, at which point Zhang Maosheng immediately understood and made his leave.

Wu Hai escorted the three members of the Zhang family away, and Yang Zhenshan sat in the hall, finishing his tea.

The Zhang family was undoubtedly a powerful merchant clan, as could be seen from their unhesitating sale of Luo Fu.

And Yang Zhenshan was not blind to the purpose of the Zhang family’s visit.

Gratitude was merely a pretext; the main objective was to establish a relationship with him.

However, Yang Zhenshan did not wish to have too much connection with the Zhang family.

Collusion between government officials and merchants was unavoidable, and Yang Zhenshan was not opposed to such dealings.

Because he needed merchants to take care of many matters.

But he did not like the Zhang family, nor did he want to be too closely connected with them.

The Zhang family could not be trusted completely; they could share wealth but not hardships, and they might even stab you in the back when times get tough.

Luo Fu was one such example.

Furthermore, the Zhang family would not prioritize Yang Zhenshan’s interests. They have their own legacy, foundation, and schemes—they would not wholeheartedly assist Yang Zhenshan.

Instead, Yang Zhenshan felt more reassured and deemed worthy of his care for the Luo family, which he supported from the start.

Yang Zhenshan handed over the purchase of the fleet to Yang Mingcheng.

The transaction went smoothly; in less than five days, Yang Mingcheng had bought the fleet, and Han Fei was sent to deliver the silver to the Zhang family.

Two days later, the fleet was moored at the Tenglong Guard Pier.

Yang Zhenshan personally visited the pier to see the eight ships belonging to the Guardian Department.

The Tenglong Guard Pier was only simply constructed and looked quite rudimentary, but the extending headland was indeed very suitable for mooring vessels.

The mooring of the eight large ships did not appear crowded at all.

With proper development, it would have no problem accommodating twenty or thirty large ships. As for the smaller ones, it would be even easier; a wooden platform would suffice for mooring.

The Zhang family’s ships were of two types: the eight-hundred-measure Fuchuan and the four-hundred-measure Kuaischuan.

The Fuchuan, towering like a building with a narrow bottom and wide top, and with its bow rising high, the eight-hundred-measure Fuchuan was about thirteen meters long and looked extremely imposing.

The Kuaischuan, pointed at the front and square at the back, narrow like a shuttle below and as wide as wings above, the four-hundred-measure Kuaischuan was nine meters long, overall appearing two sizes smaller than the Fuchuan.

These two types of ships were the most common in Da Rong’s seafaring vessels, with the Fuchuan even serving as the main warship for Da Rong’s Navy.

This was the first time Yang Zhenshan had seen the maritime ships of this world, and frankly, he was profoundly impressed.

The thirteen-zhang Fuchuan, with a length of over forty meters, had three short sails at each end and three tall mainsails, extending over three zhang, situated in the middle.

Yang Zhenshan stepped onto the deck and closely inspected the Fuchuan.

When he had finished his tour, Yang Mingcheng spoke up: ”Dad, the ship captain and the ship workers are waiting below!”

”Hmm, then let’s go meet them!”

Yang Zhenshan nodded slightly and leaped directly down from the ship.

The Zhang family’s fleet had two ship captains, one named Sun Cheng, over fifty years old—a commoner with rich sailing experience, which pretty much spanned his entire life at sea.

The other, named Ning Bo, in his thirties, was a Martial Artist at the Postnatal Second Layer. With ancestors who had been ship captains—or possibly pirates—for three generations, regardless of the specifics, his sailing experience was also rich.

The fleet possessed over two hundred and eighty ship workers, some of whom were helmsmen and sailors, while others were guards.

Of these guards, there were about one hundred and eighty, all of whom were Martial Artists.

While there were no experts among them, it was still a considerable force.

Yang Zhenshan stood in front of this group of ship workers, flanked by ten Personal Followers, with over ten Yang Family Guards and a soldier from the General Flag examining the ships’ condition.

The Yang Family Guards had accompanied Yang Mingcheng here, while the soldiers were brought by Yang Zhenshan himself, who were to take over guarding these ships.