Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather

After entering late October, the temperature in Liaodong region dropped sharply. In just a few days, the temperature dropped below zero.

However, the cold weather did not affect the development of Tenglongwei.

The training of soldiers is still continuing, whether it is ordinary soldiers, battalion soldiers or navy, they have not stopped training.

Of course, there are also some things that are affected by the temperature, such as the saltworks. The temperature has dropped and the saltworks have entered a closure period. They will not be able to open for salt drying again until March next year.

Although this will prevent the salt farm from drying salt for four to five months, the output of the salt farm has increased in the past two months. In just two months, the salt farm has produced millions of kilograms of salt, which is enough to support the entire Jing'an Prefecture. The people consume it for a year.

In addition to the salt field, the engineering team has also been affected. However, the construction tasks in the city have basically been completed, and there is still some carpentry work left, which is not affected by the temperature.

The task of building roads will be carried out next year, and the Yamen will make the overall road plan for Tenglongwei before that.

According to Yang Zhengshan's requirements, four official roads will be built within the jurisdiction of Tenglongwei, leading to Jing'an Mansion, Qinghua Mansion, Liao'an Mansion and the dock. These four roads will be built in accordance with the requirements of the official roads.

In addition, Yang Zhengshan is also preparing to renovate all the roads leading to Qianhusuo, Baihusuo and Tunpu.

Don’t ask for every road to be wide, but ask for every road to be smooth and not muddy on rainy days.

If you want to be rich, build roads first.

Road building is the most practical construction.

In addition to building roads, Yang Zhengshan is also preparing to promote literacy.

The training of soldiers actually includes reading and literacy, but ordinary soldiers can only simply read and write. Most soldiers can only learn dozens of simple words in more than a month of basic training.

For camp soldiers, they are required to be able to read and write daily words proficiently.

When he was in Anyuan City, Yang Zhengshan also requested this. The soldiers in the garrison were all literate, and many soldiers in the guard station were also literate.

Now in Tenglongwei, Yang Zhengshan will do the same.

He can't guarantee that every soldier can read and write daily words, but he will plant the seeds so that as long as they are willing, the children of military households can also read and write.

There are many new military households who are literate and can play the role of teachers.

Yang Zhengshan required that every hundred households should have a school, and children between the ages of eight and twelve must attend the school.

It is actually not difficult to achieve this. A hundred-household settlement is also a hundred military households, and there are at most a hundred children between the ages of eight and twelve.

Two classrooms and two teachers are enough.

There are only more than 200 households in Tenglong Guard, and it is enough to find more than 500 literate people.

Yang Zhengshan only taught people how to read and write, and did not ask them to take part in the imperial examination. The Weisuo School only taught people how to read and write, and there was no need for powerful teachers.

All the teachers' training is uniformly distributed by the yamen. It only needs to be based on the food and salary standards of the camp soldiers. There is no need to pay too high.

Cultivation and school are next year's tasks, but the yamen must make preparations before that.

In addition to these two things, there are two other things that need to be done next year. The first is sea trade, and the second is Acropolis investment promotion.

In early November, Luo Shang and Luo Zhen came to Tenglong Guard again.

In the yamen tearoom, Yang Zhengshan looked at the increasingly mature Luo Zhen and asked gently: "How is it over there in Anyuan City? Have you encountered any trouble?"

Luo Zhen poured tea for Yang Zhengshan and Luo Shang, and said with a smile: "Several adults take good care of our Luo family, and no one will cause trouble for us!"

Although Yang Zhengshan left Anyuan City, Lin Shoude was still the governor of Anyuan, Xu Jin was still the military commander, and most importantly, Han Cheng was the garrison commander.

These three people are the highest-ranking officials in Anyuan City. With them here, who would dare to cause trouble for the Luo family?

"Where is Chongshanguan?" Yang Zhengshan looked at Luo Shang again.

Luo Shang thought for a while before saying: "Chongshanguan has undergone great changes recently. After Ji Zongbing took office, he attracted many merchants. Although he did not target us, it is difficult for us to continue to expand in Chongshan Town!"

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly, this was expected.

After Liang Chu returned to Beijing, Ji Feiyu was promoted to the commander-in-chief of Chongshan Town. In the first half of this year, Ji Feiyu was probably busy taking over power and restoring the state. In the second half of the year, Ji Feiyu intervened in the affairs of the merchants in Chongshan Town.

The business environment of Chongshan Town is a typical military economy. Almost all commercial activities revolve around the military. Especially in the opening of Fuzhou, the General Military Mansion and the North Road General Shogunate are the main ones.

In fact, Chongshan Town now has many development opportunities, such as horse farms and farming.

Needless to say about the racecourse, Chongshan Town has received a large area of ​​pasture. In the future, Chongshan Town will definitely become the most important horse breeding land in Da Rong.

As for farming, let alone other things, there is a lot of fertile land around Fuzhou City, the former Fushan City.

The Donghai Hu people are not good at farming and can only let grass grow on these fertile lands. But now that Fuzhou is part of Chongshan Town, in addition to the land occupied by the guard station, a lot of fertile farmland can still be cultivated.

Nowadays, whether you go to the Northland to build a horse racing farm or reclaim wasteland, it is a sure-profit business.

But if you want to do this, you must have connections. It doesn't matter if the Luo family is small, but if you want to expand the scale, that won't work.

After all, Yang Zhengshan has left Chongshan Town, and Liang Chu and Zhou Lan have also left.

Although Yang Zhengshan still has many connections in Chongshan Town, he can no longer support the Luo family's continued expansion.

"That's it for the business in Chongshan Town. Next, your Luo family should focus on Tenglongwei." Yang Zhengshan said casually.

Chongshan Town has many opportunities, but Tenglongwei has more opportunities.

Salt fields and sea trade can make more money than horse farms and land reclamation.

Now the Luo family not only owns a share of the Tenglongwei salt field, but also got the salt permits of Ningyuan Prefecture and Qinghua Prefecture from Zheng Xiao.

Having mastered the salt trade in the three prefectures, Luo Shang now looks down on horse farms and land reclamation.

"What does the lord need us to do?" Luo Shang asked.

Yang Zhengshan waved to the attendant next to him, and the attendant immediately moved a layout map of the Acropolis over.

"This is the current situation in the city. The city can be divided into four areas, namely the government office area, the market area, the residential area and the commercial area!"

"The government office area needs no further explanation. It is mainly used as an office and residence for government offices and officials!"

"The market area is for the military households around the Acropolis. Next year, we will encourage them to come to the city to set up stalls and buy things, whether it is fruits and vegetables, dry goods and herbs, or handicrafts, etc. As long as someone buys, they can come and buy. There are 300 stalls in the market area, and only one penny is required per day."

The reason for charging is to prevent someone from occupying the place without using it.

"Residential area, your Luo family can buy a house here. I think that big house is good, you can buy that one!" Yang Zhengshan said bluntly.

The Luo family is his subordinate, so naturally they must be the first to support his work.

Let the Luo family set an example first, so that other businessmen can come and buy houses.

"As for the commercial area, there are a total of 48 shops, 12 of which will be reserved for the government office, and the remaining 36 will be rented out!"

"These shops are more suitable for inns. Would your Luo family like to rent one?"

Yang Zhengshan looked at Luo Shang with a smile.

Luo Shang's eyes flickered, "Sir, can these three inns be given to our Luo family?"

He is a shrewd businessman. If Tenglongwei really develops as Yang Zhengshan expected, then the inn will be one of the most stable and profitable businesses.

There is almost no business in the entire Tenglongwei at present. Military households buy things almost all by peddlers walking around the streets. In fact, these peddlers are also military households. They will buy some things from the surrounding counties and send them to the garrison and the garrison to sell.

As for inns and restaurants, there is not a single one in the entire Tenglongwei.

In the future, these three inns in the city may be the only three inns in the entire Tenglongwei.

Luo Shang's idea was good, but Yang Zhengshan shook his head, "That won't work. I want to attract more wealthy businessmen with these three inns!"

"Then~~" Luo Shang thought for a while and said, "Then our Luo family needs an inn, a cloth shop, a gold and silver shop, a teahouse, and a brocade shop!"

"For the house, one large courtyard with three entrances, five small courtyards with three entrances, and ten small courtyards with independent doors."

"Thirty low-rent houses!"

"..." Yang Zhengshan looked at him speechlessly.

What is this old guy doing? Is he buying goods?

Don't you want to do second-hand house trading?

"Why do you need so many courtyards?" Yang Zhengshan asked.

"For the shopkeeper and the master chef to live in!" Luo Shang said as a matter of course.

"Five shops and five shopkeepers, each with a small courtyard with three entrances, the inn needs a chef, the gold and silver shop needs a goldsmith, and the brocade shop needs a showgirl."

"Ordinary shop assistants can live in low-rent housing, but the shopkeeper and the master chef must live in a private courtyard!"

Yang Zhengshan was speechless for a while. Well, Luo Shang, the boss, is still very generous.

"If there were not too few courtyards, I would have wanted a few more!" Luo Shang said with some reluctance.

"No, that's all. I'll give it to you. If other merchants come, they will have no place to live!" Yang Zhengshan hurriedly stopped this dog rich man.

Now the Luo family is really rich, and they buy courtyards in dozens of sets.

"You can choose them later, and don't forget to pay the government!"

Yang Zhengshan was too lazy to argue with Luo Shang, and continued: "Next March, I plan to let the merchant ship go to sea. What business do you think is better to do first!"

"Where do you plan to let the merchant ship go first?" Luo Shang asked.

"Jiangnan!" Yang Zhengshan said without hesitation.

"Silk, silk, tea, porcelain." Luo Shang also said without hesitation.

"What goods should we bring?" Yang Zhengshan continued to ask.

"Medicinal materials, dry goods, fur, serpentine jade."

"Fur? Is there a market for fur in Jiangnan?" Yang Zhengshan asked in surprise.

"Of course, but ordinary fur is not good. Pure fox fur is more popular!" Luo Shang replied.

Scarcity makes things valuable. Although the winter in Jiangnan is short and warm, it cannot withstand the wealth of Jiangnan. There will always be some people who like to hunt for novelties.

The ornamental value of fur in Jiangnan is far greater than its practicality.

Yang Zhengshan nodded in understanding, "What about serpentine jade?"

Serpentine jade should be a specialty of Liao'an Prefecture. It has a tough texture, delicate and warm, bright luster, and rich colors. It is a very good jade carving material.

It also has many disadvantages. Rich colors mean that the colors are more mixed. It is difficult to find pure jade, let alone jadeite.

So serpentine jade is most suitable for carving large ornaments.

"The jade carving industry in Jiangnan is very prosperous, and large jade carving materials like serpentine jade are very popular, but large jade is difficult to transport, so in Jiangnan, the larger the serpentine jade, the more expensive it is!" Luo Shang said.

Yang Zhengshan didn't think of this.

Transportation is indeed a problem.

If you want to transport a large stone from Liaoan Prefecture to Jiangnan by land, it is unknown how much manpower and material resources will be consumed.

But if it is transported by sea, it will be much easier.