Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 480: Chapter 443 Stranded, Impeached

As time entered the month of May, the drought in Liaodong was gradually becoming apparent.

Originally, it was the season when plants and grasses should be thriving, yet the crops in the fields were listless and drooping.

The people, faced with this situation, had no choice but to draw water laboriously from rivers and wells to irrigate their fields.

But as the weather grew hotter, the water levels in rivers and wells continued to decline.

Days passed, and Emperor Yanping was still consolidating power in the court, while the drought in Liaodong worsened.

And Yang Zhenshan was feeling increasingly agitated.

The drought in Liaodong was getting worse, hints of which also began to show in Chongshan Town; although the drought in Chongshan Town was relatively mild, its impact was significant.

June 8th.

Yang Zhenshan, riding Red Cloud and accompanied by ten personal followers, led by Vice Director Yan Hua of the Engineering Department, arrived at the riverside of Ying River, northeast of Chongshan Pass.

”Marquis! It’s this section here!”

Yan Hua pointed at the riverbed, speaking with a heavy expression.

Yang Zhenshan looked over to see three medium-sized Fu ships stuck in the riverbed, his expression also turning solemn.

Yan Hua, originally a civil servant in the Prefectural Government of Jizhou, was adept at river dredging, having participated several times in controlling the river channels within Jizhou.

Last year, when Chongshan Town needed to dredge the Ying River channel, he was brought over from Jizhou, and he was in charge of that project.

But now, there were three ships stranded in the river, not only stranded but also blocking the channel, preventing other ships from reaching the docks north of Chongshan Pass.

You must know, these ships were carrying grain, something Yang Zhenshan was most concerned about. Now that the grain couldn’t be transported to the docks, he had to come and inspect in person.

”Why has this happened?” Yang Zhenshan said with visible displeasure.

Yan Hua spoke with some bitterness, ”The water level in the river has dropped too quickly, this year’s water level is nearly three feet lower than last year!”

He had been fully involved in last year’s survey of the riverbed.

He was thoroughly familiar with sections of the river that were shallow and those that were deep.

In the shallower areas of the river, they had carried out deepening.

According to the past water levels of the Ying River, there should be absolutely no stranding of vessels here.

But this year, the water level of the Ying River drastically dropped, an occurrence they had not anticipated at all.

Yang Zhenshan furrowed his brows, asking, ”If we urgently dredge now, would the vessels still be able to navigate in Ying River?”

This river channel was only dredged last year, and it had been less than three months in use this year.

Damn it!

Yang Zhenshan really felt like cursing!

Last year, he had spent over a million Silver, mobilized more than 8,000 people, and taken more than half a year to dredge this river channel, but at a critical time, this river channel was failing.

Thinking about this, Yang Zhenshan felt his anger surging.

Fortunately, he knew this wasn’t the fault of Yan Hua and his team, so he didn’t direct his anger at them.

”Dredging is possible, it would take just two months, but we can’t guarantee that the water level won’t continue to drop. If it does, then it’s not just a problem with this stretch of the river, but an issue with the entire Ying River channel!” Yan Hua took a deep breath.

Yang Zhenshan knew that the water level of Ying River would continue to drop because there would be no heavy rain in the central and eastern parts of Chongshan Town for the next two months. Without the replenishment of rainwater, the water source of Ying River would only come from the mountain springs in Chongshan Town and the melting snow in the mountains.

This meant that even if they dredged this section of the river, Ying River still wouldn’t be navigable for ships.

And more troublesome than navigating, was whether Ying River might dry up!

You have to know, thousands of miles of farmland in Chongshan Town relied on the water from Ying River for irrigation.

If Ying River dried up, then those thousands of miles of farmland would likely fail to yield any crops.

”Could Ying River dry up?” Yang Zhenshan asked the question he was most worried about.

Yan Hua slightly shook his head, ”It should not. Based on my survey, the water source upstream of Ying River hasn’t decreased, at least from Gui Ning City westward the flow hasn’t decreased. It’s just that the downstream water level has dropped due to the excessively hot weather!”

”So even if the water level continues to drop, Ying River should not completely dry up!”

”However, if water extraction from the river increases, then the downstream water level might hit bottom!”

Increased water extraction, naturally, was for irrigating the farmlands.

Hot weather leads to rapid evaporation of river water, and the water level of the river will decrease, but the main reason for the decrease in water level is still the increase in water extraction from both banks.

Yang Zhenshan, hearing his explanation, felt slightly relieved.

Not being able to navigate with ships, he could reluctantly accept, but if the river dried up, that would be a true disaster.

”Let it be, get someone to first pull the ships out of the river, and also block the river channel to prevent large ships from entering!”

Yang Zhenshan instructed.

”Yes, I will arrange this immediately!” Yan Hua replied.

Yang Zhenshan then instructed his personal followers behind him, ”Notify the Grain and Commerce Departments as well as the Tenglong Guard that from now on, grain transportation must not use the river route. Tell them to use land routes!”

Grain procurement cannot stop; not only must it not stop, but it also needs to be increased.

Since the river route is not viable, then it’s time to use land routes.

Transporting by land from the Tenglong Guard to Chongshan Pass is only a little more troublesome, and the transportation cost will increase somewhat, but Yang Zhenshan could no longer care about these minor profits.

Liaodong’s drought situation is becoming evident, and in Liaodong and Chongshan Town, many grain merchants are speculating that this year’s drought will be severe. They are aggressively purchasing grain and driving up grain prices.

Natural disasters are merely calamities for the common people, but for officials, nobility, and wealthy merchants, these disasters present great opportunities to make a fortune.

Under the dire circumstances faced by ordinary people, these elites would seize the last of the people’s wealth, such as land and children, and even the people themselves, turning them into their servants.

Upon returning to the General Mansion, Yang Zhenshan hadn’t even sat down when Ding Qiu came looking for him.

”Master! Urgent news from the Capital City!” Ding Qiu handed a letter to Yang Zhenshan.

Yang Zhenshan’s expression shifted slightly as he opened the letter.

The letter was sent by Wu Zheng, who now that the Yang family had a residence in the Capital City, found it easier to gather information from the court. He could almost find out everything that happened at the morning court each day, even managing to learn a thing or two about affairs within the Imperial City.

Although the letter was delivered today, its content was about an event that occurred three days ago.

Three days ago, a memorial was presented before the Emperor by Ning Dongsheng, Deputy Inspector of Ping Yuan Province, accusing the Central Army Commander’s Mansion, General of Chongshan Pass, and Marquis Jing’an, Yang Zhenshan.

The memorial was lengthy, over a thousand words, enumerating the crimes committed by Yang Zhenshan, ranging from the establishment of salt fields in the Tenglong Guard and developing maritime trade, to opening a glass workshop in Chongshan Town, accusing him of using his power for personal gain, greed, and competing with the citizens for profit.

The memorial also mentioned that Yang Zhenshan instructed the General Mansion of Chongshan Town to buy up grain in Liaodong extensively, causing grain prices to soar and civilian discontent to boil.

It further stated that Yang Zhenshan was recruiting troops and buying horses, hinting at a rebellion.

With a thousand words detailing nearly all of Yang Zhenshan’s actions over the years, assigning guilt to his every move, and even implicating closely related individuals like Xie Yuan, Han Cheng, Wu Chongzhe, and Yu Tonghai, it was comprehensive and incisive.

This was undoubtedly aiming to put Yang Zhenshan in a dire situation!

The content in Wu Zheng’s letter wasn’t as complete as that in the memorial, but it summarized it in detail.

When Yang Zhenshan finished reading, his face immediately darkened to the extreme.

He recognized this Ning Dongsheng, who was the Imperial Censor of Liao Yuan when he was promoted as the Commander of the Tenglong Guard, and had a close relationship with the Lan family of the Tenglong Guard.

At that time, Yang Zhenshan had taken down the Lan family in front of Ning Dongsheng, leaving him no face.

Now that Ning Dongsheng had been promoted to Deputy Inspector of Ping Yuan Province, it was unexpected that he would file an accusation against Yang Zhenshan.

In fact, over the years, Yang Zhenshan had faced numerous impeachments. His actions in Tenglong Guard were no secret and had offended many interests, resulting in several officials impeaching him.

However, back then, Emperor Chengping had his back, so he naturally feared nothing.

This was the first impeachment since Emperor Yanping ascended the throne.

It was uncertain what attitude Emperor Yanping held towards him!

Yang Zhenshan lowered his eyes, pondered for a moment, and said, ”Immediately take people to Ping Yuan to investigate any hidden involvement behind Deputy Inspector Ning Dongsheng!”

”Yes!” Ding Qiu replied.

Yang Zhenshan then reminded, ”Be careful, it’s probably not going to be peaceful in Ping Yuan right now!”

Ding Qiu nodded, then bowed and took his leave.

After he left, Yang Zhenshan re-read the letter and then burned it.

Gaining access to messages from the Emperor’s court was definitely not something to be spread about.

If Emperor Yanping found out, he certainly wouldn’t face anything good.

As for how Wu Zheng got this information, it wasn’t as hard as one might think.

Eunuchs in the palace also liked silver, and Wu Zheng had been in the Capital City for seven or eight years; buying off some eunuchs was quite easy.

Regarding the impeachment!

This matter could be big or small, mainly depending on Emperor Yanping’s attitude towards Yang Zhenshan.

If Emperor Yanping disliked Yang Zhenshan, no matter what Yang Zhenshan did, Emperor Yanping would eventually take him down.

But if Emperor Yanping trusted Yang Zhenshan like Emperor Chengping did, then these impeachments would just be a pile of waste paper.

Yang Zhenshan couldn’t quite grasp Emperor Yanping’s stance.

To say that Emperor Yanping trusted him heavily was clearly impossible, considering he had only met the Emperor once.

However, considering the marriage between the Yang family and the Yu family, Emperor Yanping must be aware and since he didn’t stop it, he probably didn’t have a bad opinion of Yang Zhenshan.

After all, the Yu family was related by marriage to the royalty; if they caused any trouble, it wouldn’t reflect well on the Empress.

And if the Empress faced an uncomfortable situation, Emperor Yanping probably wouldn’t fare well either.

Regarding the crimes mentioned by Ning Dongsheng, they weren’t really an issue, except the extensive grain purchasing matter was indeed troublesome.

The surge in grain prices in Liaodong was mainly caused by the drought and grain merchants secretly driving up prices.

Because the grain purchased by the General Mansion was hardly from Liaodong; most of it came from Jiangnan, the Li Sheng Dynasty, and the Desheng Dynasty.

Years ago, Cui Hongtao from the Li Sheng Dynasty came to the Tenglong Guard, requesting to exchange gold and silver ores for grain, which was five or six years ago; now, the Li Sheng Dynasty no longer lacked grain but rather exchanged various items for grain from the Li Sheng Dynasty.

As for the Desheng Dynasty, being isolated by the sea, they lacked various resources, but many products from Da Rong were very popular in the Desheng Dynasty.

Exchanging porcelain, silk, tea leaves, etc., for grain from the Desheng Dynasty was naturally welcomed by them.

The matter of aggressively purchasing grain was something Yang Zhenshan couldn’t explain clearly to Emperor Yanping, so it became the most troublesome issue.

Yang Zhenshan thought it over and decided to wait and see the reaction from the court first.

Now was not the time to panic; Emperor Yanping’s attitude was still unclear, and acting rashly might only attract more trouble.

However, he needed to keep a closer eye on the changing dynamics at the court.