Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 527: Chapter 472: Pairing the Mandarin Ducks

This time, Yang Zhenshan did not take the land route to the Capital City but chose to travel by sea.

From Chongshan Pass heading south, passing Jing’an Prefecture and then eastward to Tenglong Guard, taking a seagoing ship from Tenglong Guard and sailing southward until reaching Jin Hai Guard, and then from Jin Hai Guard into the Capital City.

If they were to take the land route, such a large entourage would need at least half a month to reach Capital City. If they encountered rainy weather or other delays, it would be common to see an extra ten days to half a month added to the travel time.

However, if they chose to travel southward by ship from Tenglong Guard, it would take only six or seven days to arrive at Capital City.

Nevertheless, Yang Zhenshan was not in a rush to enter Capital City; when he passed through Jing’an Prefecture, he made a trip back to Anning County to visit Yang Zhengxiang and Lu Songhe.

Both Yang Zhengxiang and Lu Songhe had aged, with Yang Zhengxiang having passed the proverbial age of seventy and Lu Songhe being well into his eighties.

Yang Zhengxiang’s health was still good, but Lu Songhe’s body had become frail and worn. He fell seriously ill earlier in the year and was now bedridden.

At the Lu family, Yang Zhenshan sat in front of Lu Songhe’s bed, looking at the emaciated figure of Lu Songhe with a heavy heart.

Birth, aging, illness, and death are the natural course of life.

Even though Yang Zhenshan often sent Lu Songhe Hundred Herbs Brew and Dongling Spring to nourish his body, he couldn’t change the reality of Lu Songhe’s frailty.

Not to mention Lu Songhe, even his two sons, Lu Zhaoqi and Lu Zhaoran, both had heads full of white hair.

Lu Songhe lay on his bed, weakly looking at Yang Zhenshan, his breath exceptionally feeble.

”Wenyuan~~”

He spoke in a barely audible voice.

Yang Zhenshan nodded slightly and said with a smile, ”Dad, rest assured, I’ll take good care of Wenyuan. With me in Capital City, no one will be able to bully him!”

Lu Wenyuan was Lu Songhe’s greatest pride and biggest concern.

The Lu family had finally produced a descendant who embarked on a career as an official, which naturally preoccupied Lu Songhe’s thoughts constantly.

Hearing Yang Zhenshan’s words, a smile appeared on Lu Songhe’s gaunt face.

”Miaotong!”

He spoke again.

Yang Zhenshan was momentarily stunned; this he did not understand.

He looked toward Lu Zhaoqi, who quietly said, ”Miaotong is Wenyuan’s daughter, who just turned three this year!”

Yang Zhenshan realized he was aware that Wenyuan now had three children—the eldest son Lu Miaoshu, the second son Lu Miaowen, and as for the daughter, he truly did not know her name.

There were too many juniors; sometimes he also found it hard to keep track of whose children belonged to which family.

Just like Lu Wenchun and Lu Wenhua, who were both in Chongshan Town, Yang Zhenshan had often seen their children, but sometimes he still mixed them up.

And these were the ones nearby; having never met Wenyuan’s children in Capital City, Yang Zhenshan had no idea why Lu Songhe would bring up Miaotong, the little girl.

”Chengzhen!” Lu Songhe called out another name.

Yang Zhenshan now fully understood his meaning.

He was considering a matchmaker’s proposal!

Yang Chengzhen was Yang Mingcheng’s youngest son, five years old this year, two years older than Lu Miaotong.

The two children were of a similar age, but this matter!

Yang Zhenshan hesitantly looked toward Lu Zhaoqi, but this time Lu Zhaoqi did not speak, as if he didn’t notice Yang Zhenshan’s inquiring gaze.

Left with no choice, Yang Zhenshan turned his gaze back toward Lu Songhe. Seeing Lu Songhe’s expectant look, he softened his heart and said, ”Dad, don’t worry. I’ll decide on the children’s matter. Today we’ll settle it!”

”Good, good, good~~” Lu Songhe said ’good’ three times, but immediately afterward, he began to cough violently.

Yang Zhenshan could see that his body was at the point of burning out, probably not much time left for him.

It was an old man’s only request; Yang Zhenshan truly couldn’t refuse.

He understood Lu Songhe’s thoughts as well.

The bereaved Yang had passed away many years ago, and now with Yu Qingyi running the Yang family’s household, the relationship between the Yang family and Lu family was bound to grow more distant.

With Lu Wenyuan likely needing Yang Zhenshan’s support in the future, naturally, Lu Songhe hoped the relationship between the Yang family and the Lu family could become even closer.

By making another marriage alliance, the relationship would naturally advance a step further.

After visiting Lu Songhe, Yang Zhenshan left Anning County and headed for Tenglong Guard.

Now, the Navy at Tenglong Guard was much stronger than it had been three years ago. Yu Tonghai himself had built a shipyard, adding many medium and small-sized warships to the Navy.

The Tenglong Advanced Guard’s soldiers were still at full complement, but Yu Tonghai had also recruited many additional soldiers, bringing the Navy’s troop count up to eight thousand.

This was the benefit of having money; to build a shipyard if one wished, to manufacture warships as desired, to recruit additional soldiers when needed, as long as there was enough silver, none of these were issues.

And the one thing Tenglong Advanced Guard was not lacking was silver.

Seeing Yu Tonghai’s wealthy and impressive stature, even Yang Zhenshan envied him.

In Chongshan Town, Yang Zhenshan was so frugal with silver that he wished he could split it in half to spend, whereas Yu Tonghai directly invested over a hundred thousand taels of silver to build a shipyard.

With this shipyard, Tenglong Advanced Guard would never lack for warships ever again.

Together with the engineering team left behind by Yang Zhenshan, Tenglong Advanced Guard could fully rely on itself to construct various weapons and equipment.

Aside from the Da Fu Ship, the Navy’s every piece of weaponry and equipment could be self-sufficient.

And with control over the Liao Sea waters and Tenglong Guard Pier, Tenglong Advanced Guard would never be short of silver.

The only thing limiting Yu Tonghai was the number of soldiers he could recruit.

A single guard was permitted only five thousand six hundred soldiers, and even if we count the additional recruits, that’s only eleven thousand men in total.

However, the additional recruits couldn’t be summoned at will. It was acceptable for a military household to contribute one regular soldier, but to recruit an additional soldier would affect the work on the farm fields.

Anyway, the Tenglong Four Guards are living comfortably now, and Yang Zhenshan even went to see the training of the soldiers, which was quite good. Although life has been comfortable, the training has not been neglected, and the Tenglong Four Guards remain an elite force among the elites.

Yang Zhenshan stayed at Tenglong Guard for one day before taking a boat and heading south.

With sails hoisted, the children of the Yang family were all very happy.

Yang Mingzhao, accompanied by a group of nephews, looked around the deck, finding everything novel and intriguing.

However, a few of the boys seemed to be a little too excited. Yang Chengyou and Yang Chengzhang, the two brothers, actually wanted to go into the sea to catch fish. Had it not been for the servants to stop them, these two rascals might have already jumped in.

”You two, come here!” Ming Zhao said, sternly looking at the brothers Yang Chengyou and Yang Chengzhang with a straight face.

”Uh, Uncle!” Yang Chengyou said, scratching his head awkwardly while Yang Chengzhang hid behind him, not daring to show his head.

These two boys were the children of Yang Minghao, and it’s unclear why, among so many boys in the Yang family, these two are the most unruly.

Yang Chengyou has been mischievous and noisy since he was little, going into the water to catch fish, climbing trees to catch birds; these were the things this kid often did.

Yang Chengzhang probably was led astray by him, always causing trouble together.

Sometimes even Yang Minghao would be at a loss with these two, having beaten and punished them, yet such discipline would only last for three days at a time.

However, there’s a cure for every ailment. In the entire Yang family, there were only two people that could scare these two rascals: one was Yang Zhenshan, and the other was Yang Mingzhao.

Although the three were of similar ages, who could argue when Ming Zhao held a senior status.

As the saying goes, higher rank suppresses the lesser, and this seniority had a similar effect, firmly controlling the younger ones in the Yang family.

Even Yang Chengye and Yang Chengmao had to respectfully call him ”Uncle” when they saw Ming Zhao, let alone Yang Chengyou and Yang Chengzhang, the two rascals.

”The sea is windy and the waves are fierce, with big ships sailing around. Going into the sea is very dangerous. If you dare to mess around again, you will be punished by copying ’The Thirty-Six Stratagems’ ten times!”

Yang Mingzhao said each word seriously.

Hearing this, Yang Chengyou shook his head repeatedly, ”Uncle, we won’t go into the sea, we will stay here honestly and not mess around!”

While other families use ’Three Character Classic’ and ’Thousand Character Classic’ for early education, the Yang family’s early education books also include ’The Thirty-Six Stratagems’.

This was not requested by Yang Zhenshan, but by Yang Mingzhi and Yang Minghao.

What Yang Chengyou and Yang Chengzhang feared the most was copying books. Forcing them to copy diligently was even more torturous than tying them up and giving them a beating.

”If I catch you messing around again, watch how I’ll deal with you!” Yang Mingzhao huffed and puffed.

Threatened, the two rascals had no choice but to honestly stay on the deck, looking dejectedly at the distant horizon.

Inside the cabin, Yang Zhenshan sat by the window and saw this scene, couldn’t help but smile.

”Dad, doesn’t Ming Zhao look a lot like Chengye used to?” laughed Yang Yunyan beside him.

”Does he?” Yang Zhenshan thought for a moment, and indeed, Ming Zhao really did resemble him.

In the past, Chengye was just like this, often keeping a stern face and disciplining his younger brothers and sisters at home.

”He learned from following Chengye around. He used to follow Chengye everywhere and imitate him whenever Chengye was disciplining someone. Now he has learned the skill!” Yu Qingyi laughed.

”Chengyou and Chengzhang are too rowdy, it’s good to have someone to discipline them!” said Yang Yunyan.

Yang Zhenshan lay back lazily in his chair, watching the children playing below, with a smile always on his lips.

Yu Qingyi, on the other hand, was looking at the dowry list. Before leaving Chongshan Pass, Yang Mingcheng wrote a letter saying that the marriage between Yang Chengmao and Miss Sun from Marquis Haichang’s Mansion could be settled.

So after they arrived in the Capital City, the family would also have to make arrangements for Yang Chengmao’s wedding.

Yang Yunyan glanced at Yang Zhenshan, then at Yu Qingyi, hesitated to speak, and after a while, finally said: ”Dad, Mom, we will not stay in the Marquis Mansion after we get to the Capital City!”

Yang Zhenshan looked up at her, ”Why?”

”Jiang He wants to establish our own branch in the Capital City!” Yang Yunyan said softly.

Over the years, Jiang He’s family had always lived with the Yang family, and everyone got used to it. However, Jiang He is still a Jiang by surname, and Jiang Cheng passed away over a year ago, leading to the division of the Jiang family.

The brothers of Jiang He are in Anning County. Although he is still living with the Yang family and helping manage some of the Yang family’s assets, the Yang family now has many servants and honestly doesn’t need his help.

Since the Jiang family has already split, Jiang He naturally wants to establish his own household.

This trip to the Capital City would also allow the Jiang family to stay there.

Yang Zhenshan pondered for a moment, then looked towards Yu Qingyi, ”We haven’t sold that small residence in East City, have we?”

”We haven’t, it has always been kept!” replied Yu Qingyi.

”Let’s give it to Jiang He then!” said Yang Zhenshan.

”Dad, there’s no need, we’re not short of silver!” said Yang Yunyan hastily in refusal.

She was not lying; their family truly was not in need of silver. They had no worries about food and clothing while living with the Yang family, and they saved a good amount of silver every month, amounting to several thousand taels now.

Buying a small courtyard house in the Capital City for the family to live in was definitely within their means.

”It’s for Jiang He, not for you. Jiang He has been busily helping out in our home for years. What’s wrong with me, as a father-in-law, giving him a house?”

Yang Zhenshan said somewhat irritably.

The gift for Yang Yunyan was a dowry, while for Jiang He, it was a reward—they were different indeed.

Although Jiang He didn’t care for such things, Yang Zhenshan wanted to consider Jiang He’s feelings.

”When we settle down in the Capital City, I’ll find a job for Jiang He! Since you plan to set up your own household, you must be ready to manage it on your own!”

”Right, and Jiang Ning and Jiang Miao will also come to study at the Marquis Mansion in the future. Jiang Ning’s talent for studying is also good, maybe he can also pass the imperial examination!” Yang Zhenshan made plans on his own.

Yang Yunyan was somewhat at a loss, wondering how this was any different from living in the Marquis Mansion.

However, she also knew that Yang Zhenshan was doing all this for their benefit, so she did not object.