Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 447: Chapter 424: The Pros and Cons of Marrying into a Family with Close Ties to Royalty - Part 2

Chongshan Town definitely needs more than a small amount.

With 150,000 military households, even if only a small part needs to replace farm tools, it’s not a trivial amount.

Moreover, Chongshan Town also needs to manufacture armaments.

Yang Zhenshan does not give the iron mines to the Governor’s Office because Chongshan Town currently needs iron mines everywhere to create armaments.

”Mr. Ning need not worry, even though there are no iron ores, the General Mansion possesses many old weapons, left behind by Prince Qing’s rebellion and Wuliang’s invasion, which caused many damaged armaments. Some of these can be allocated to the Governor’s Office,” Yang Zhenshan said with a smile.

”Marquis, are you mocking me!” Ning Qinghe looked at Yang Zhenshan somewhat displeased.

Damaged armaments are even better than iron ore, as they only need simple hammering to be turned into weapons and farm tools, and their quality is very high.

Yang Zhenshan chuckled, ”How could I? I also have a favor to ask of Mr. Ning!”

Ning Qinghe did not hold a grudge, and asked, ”What is it?”

”I would like to ask Mr. Ning to arrange for a group of blacksmiths for the General Mansion! You should also know that the General Mansion is forging a large amount of armaments right now, but the blacksmiths at the General Mansion are far from enough, and we urgently need more.”

The General Mansion has some blacksmiths, and most of the armaments of Camp are made by its own blacksmiths, but the demand for armaments in Chongshan Town is just too great now.

Camp lacks armaments, and the various Rescue Camps also lack them.

Relying only on the blacksmiths from the General Mansion and the various Assistant General Mansions, it is unknown when these many armaments can be forged.

Besides the General Mansion, each Assistant General Mansion and various city garrison offices in Chongshan Town also have artisan households, and so do many garrisons in other regions.

There are blacksmiths, carpenters, and stone masons in various garrisons.

A garrison might not have many artisans, but when dozens of garrisons come together, a few hundred blacksmiths can still be gathered.

Ning Qinghe hesitated.

Because garrisons also need blacksmiths for forging farm tools and repairing armaments, and these tasks cannot be done without blacksmiths.

Seeing his hesitation, Yang Zhenshan said, ”Mr. Ning, rest assured, the General Mansion is just borrowing them temporarily, only for the period between spring plowing and before autumn harvest, and the General Mansion will also pay these craftsmen a monthly wage and take care of all their living expenses!”

With that said, Ning Qinghe no longer had any reasons to refuse.

”Alright, I will arrange for the blacksmiths to come to Chongshan Pass after spring plowing!”

”Thank you, Mr. Ning!”

Yang Zhenshan cheerfully saw Ning Qinghe out of the General Mansion.

”Marquis, a letter from the lady!”

Right after seeing off Ning Qinghe, his personal follower handed him a letter.

Yang Zhenshan opened the letter, glanced at it, and then frowned.

The Yu family!

Relatives by marriage!

Indeed, forming a marital alliance with them is troublesome.

Once the families are intermarried, it equates to becoming political allies.

If a conflict arises over the succession to the throne in the future, the Yu family would definitely stand firmly with the prince born of the empress.

And the Yang family might have to follow suit.

Yang Zhenshan sat in his study and thought for a while, then finally took up his pen and wrote a reply to Yu Qingyi.

This matter has its pros and cons, but Yang Zhenshan figured it out; the Yang family neither needs to rely on the Yu family for profit nor fear being implicated by the Yu family in the future.

The benefits of marrying into the Yu family need not be mentioned further, at the very least, the future empress would hold a favorable view of the Yang family, which could provide some support within the palace.

But such advantages are not vital for the Yang family; what the Yang family possesses now is all earned through Yang Zhenshan’s military achievements, there’s no need to cozy up to the Crown Princess Consort.

As for whether the family will be affected by the Yu family in the future, that is a matter of decades later; by then, would Yang Zhenshan still need to fear?

Once Yang Zhenshan becomes an Innate Martial Artist, the Yang family’s position in Da Rong will be solid as a rock.

As long as the Yang family does not rebel, the Emperor would absolutely not target the Yang family.

By that time, the Yang family wouldn’t need to pick sides or need a faction.

No matter who becomes the emperor, they would not target a family with an Innate Martial Artist.

The reason is simple, Innate Martial Artists possess the ability to kill with a splash of blood within five steps.

Thus, whether or not to form a marriage alliance with the Yu family doesn’t matter to Yang Zhenshan; what he values is the character of the girl Zijin.

If she shows potential to be a virtuous wife and good mother, Yang Zhenshan would naturally help Yang Chengye to bring her into the family. If not, it wouldn’t matter even if it offended the Crown Princess Consort.

Yang Zhenshan put his thoughts into a letter and then had someone send it to the Capital City.

In the evening, Yang Zhenshan returned to the Marquis Mansion. In the main courtyard, Ming Zhao stood at the entrance of the hall, eagerly watching Yang Zhenshan’s return.

”Dad!” Ming Zhao called out.

Yang Zhenshan lifted him up, smiling, ”What’s the matter? You seem a bit unhappy.”

”Dad, I miss mom!” Ming Zhao pouted.

It was the first time Ming Zhao had been separated from Yu Qingyi for such a long period, so it was only natural that he missed her.

Yang Zhenshan thought for a bit and said, ”Your mom should be back in a month!”

It was already the end of March, and by the latter half of April when the spring exams ended, Yu Qingyi should be returning.

Regardless of whether Yang Chengye’s marriage was settled, Yu Qingyi would return.

”A month!” Ming Zhao tilted his head, thought for a bit, ”Doesn’t that mean we still have to wait for thirty days!”

”Yes!” Yang Zhenshan chuckled and pinched his nose, saying, ”A man should not cry!”

”I’m not crying!” Ming Zhao shook his head, looking displeased.

”Hahaha~~” Yang Zhenshan laughed heartily, ”Alright, it’s just thirty days, they will pass quickly. Plus, in a few days you will start school. Perhaps by then, you wouldn’t miss your mom as much!”

Ming Zhao thought about it and could only helplessly nod his head.

Although Lin Zhan had tutored Ming Zhao previously, since Lin Zhan had now gone to the Capital City, Ming Zhao naturally had to attend school.

In the evening, Yang Yunyan, Jiang He, and their three kids, Jiang Ning, Jiang Miao, and Jiang Feng came to the main courtyard to join Yang Zhenshan for dinner.

Yang Mingcheng had gone to the Capital City, Yang Mingzhi was in Fuzhou City, and Yang Minghao was busy all day at the Camp, often not returning at night. Yang Zhenshan couldn’t ask Mrs. Li and Mrs. Liang to accompany him for meals, so he invited Yang Yunyan and Jiang He’s family to dine together in the main courtyard.

”Grandpa, Miao’er also wants a horse of her own, just like brother!”

After dinner, Jiang Miao pouted and came to Yang Zhenshan, her face full of longing.

Yang Zhenshan looked at Jiang He in surprise, ”If Miao’er wants a horse, just get her a little pony!”

The horse farm in An Yuan City was still owned by the Yang family, and Jiang He was in charge of managing the farm and the domestic use of horses.

”Dad, she wants that ’Ta Xue’!” Jiang He said somewhat helplessly.

If it were just any ordinary pony, he could decide on his own.

But that ’Ta Xue’ was raised by Yang Zhenshan.

’Ta Xue’ refers to a horse that is completely black except for snow-white fur on its four hooves, which is why it is called ’Ta Xue’.

Ta Xue was also a descendant of Red Cloud and was a young pony that was born just last year.

Yang Zhenshan had a few young ponies in his stables, all selected and intended to be carefully raised.

Horses like those used by Yang Mingcheng, Yang Mingzhi, and Yang Minghao were all carefully nurtured by Yang Zhenshan.

And like Wan Jun for Yang Chengye, Lei Ting for Chengmao, and Red Flag for Jiang Ning, were all gifts from Yang Zhenshan.

As for the girls like Qing Wan, Yang Zhenshan did not specifically raise horses for them. It’s not that Yang Zhenshan favored boys over girls, but because girls had fewer opportunities to ride horses, typically traveling by carriage; training a good horse was not easy, and it was not necessary to waste it on them.

And if they wanted horses, they could also choose from other places.

”You want that ’Ta Xue’!” Yang Zhenshan looked at Jiang Miao and asked.

Jiang Miao nodded her little head repeatedly, her cute little face full of ’I want it’.

Yang Zhenshan was amused by her expression.

”Alright, then grandpa will give ’Ta Xue’ to you. But ’Ta Xue’ is still young, you can visit grandpa’s stables to see her, and you can ride her when she turns three!” Yang Zhenshan said.

”Miao’er thanks grandpa! Miao’er knew grandpa would definitely give ’Ta Xue’ to Miao’er,” Jiang Miao cheered.

Seeing the little girl happy, Yang Zhenshan stroked his beard and laughed heartily.

Then, Jiang He and Yang Yunyan took the children back to their own courtyard, and Ming Zhao also went to sleep with Nanny Song.