Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 911: Chapter 655: Every Emperor Takes His Turn—Next Year, It’s My Family!

In the past twenty years, Chongshan Town has changed governors ten times. Some did not want to be sidelined and tried to compete with the Yang family, but were driven out of Chongshan Town in disgrace.

Some wanted to curry favor with Yang Chengye, hoping to integrate into the big family of Chongshan Town. Unfortunately, Yang Chengye held a great deal of suspicion and prejudice against the court and was unwilling to accept the allegiance of a high court official.

Some simply played the role of a passive figure, keeping out of affairs unless absolutely necessary, and ironically, these were the ones who stayed the longest in Chongshan Town.

Jiang Nanguo was such a person; he didn’t manage or question anything, spending his days either reading at home, visiting friends, or engaging with the beauty of nature.

In this way, he served as the governor of Chongshan Town for five years, becoming the longest-serving governor since Yang Zhenshan left Da Rong.

As the calendar turned to the last month of the lunar year, everyone in Chongshan Town was busy with the year’s end wrap-up work.

This year, life in Chongshan Town was quite good. The weather was favorable, leading to a record high in grain taxes collected this year.

Compared to twenty years ago, the population of Chongshan Town has now exceeded 4.2 million, almost doubling.

When Yang Zhenshan was serving as General in Chongshan Town, the population was just over a million. Later, nearly a million refugees were settled in Chongshan Town, bringing the population to two million.

Considering the twenty years that have passed since then, it’s not surprising that Chongshan Town’s population has doubled.

Currently, the Northern region is no longer sparsely populated. Especially the area east of Black Cloud Mountain, where several prosperous towns have formed.

The area within Black Cloud Mountain now hosts many garrisons and horse farms, and the reach of the West Road Dinghu Guard is extending almost to Sari Lake.

The Wula Tribe initially hid in the snowfield but later returned. Now they can only huddle on the west and north sides of Sari Lake.

Although there is a lot of fertile land to the east and south of Sari Lake, they do not dare to touch it.

Of course, the Dinghu Guard hasn’t touched it either. An understanding has been reached, using the east and south shores of Sari Lake as the boundary. The Wula Tribe occupies Sari Lake itself, while the boundary of the Dinghu Guard is set thirty li to the east of Sari Lake.

The Dinghu Guard has built more than a dozen garrisons along this boundary, stationing over ten thousand troops.

As for why Chongshan Town is not expanding further west, there are two reasons: first, the Da Rong Court is unstable, making it unwise for Chongshan Town to start a war. Second, the Wula Tribe has now allied with the Chi Ci Tribe, seeking protection from the pressure of Chongshan Town.

It would be easy for Chongshan Town to eliminate the Wula Tribe, but they fear provoking the Chi Ci Tribe and the Tatar Tribe.

Therefore, for now, the relationship between Chongshan Town and the Chi Ci Tribe remains stable.

There are still many fertile grasslands and lands in the northern region of Chongshan Town. Even though the population has reached 4.2 million, some areas still appear sparsely populated.

However, the current state of Chongshan Town might be the best yet. The people and military households have land, taxes and labor duties are relatively light, and commercial development has become much more prosperous. Although many people have only just resolved the issue of having enough food, they are quite content with just having enough to eat.

Nonetheless, for Yang Chengye and Niu Zhuang, this year they are under substantial pressure.

The source of this pressure is Beiyuan Town; Zhou Lan has occupied the five prefectures of Longyuan, urgently needing grain. To help Zhou Lan stabilize the situation, Yang Chengye and Niu Zhuang have sent nearly half of Chongshan Town’s surplus grain to Beiyuan Town.

Currently, Beiyuan Town is truly struggling. Already in a recovery state, it now has to accommodate over a million refugees from Longyuan, leaving it without any surplus grain, entirely dependent on aid from Chongshan Town.