Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather

Standing at the bottom of the north slope, looking at the dangerous pass ahead, Yang Zhengshan finally understood what it meant to be a man standing guard against ten thousand men.

The angle of climbing the mountain was close to 70 degrees. The pass stood on a mountain ridge 100 meters high. Let alone riding a horse or a car, even if a person climbed up, he would be very tired halfway up.

Of course, this refers to ordinary people, but even if a warrior came, he could only climb up obediently, unless he was a congenital warrior.

This is the official road. In addition to the official road, there is also a small road that can bypass Jianxia Pass, but that small road needs to go through cliffs. It is okay for people to walk, but it is definitely not okay for horses and carriages.

Fortunately, the guards and servants of the Yang family are all warriors. Although it took a lot of effort to push the carriage up the hillside, they were not exhausted after all.

When they arrived at the gate of the city, several soldiers in tattered clothes were on duty, and there were also several officials who seemed to be collecting taxes for passing through the city. Many people lined up to wait to enter the city.

Yang Zhengshan frowned slightly at this scene.

On this journey, he truly saw how poor the poor places in Darong were.

He had seen poor people in Liaodong before, but the poverty in Liaodong was different from that in Yungui. Liaodong was vast and sparsely populated, and most people had their own fields. Although the lives of a small number of tenants were hard, they were not so hard to survive, of course, this was when there were no natural disasters or man-made disasters.

Yungui was mountainous, the land was barren, and the people's lives were even harder.

Moreover, the officials in Yungui were even more tyrannical and levied heavy taxes. Even if Yang Zhengshan did not specifically understand it, he still heard about a lot of heavy taxes along the way.

Just like the Jianxia Pass in front of him, it actually collected city taxes.

"Dad, they are so pitiful!" Ming Zhao rode his horse to Yang Zhengshan's side, looking at a group of servants carrying heavy objects coming out of the city and said with pity.

These servants did not know what they were carrying. Each of them had a large sack on his back. Judging from their walking posture, it seemed that the weight was not light.

There were officials escorting them in front and behind. They were all fierce and drove the servants like animals.

The mountain road was difficult to travel, and it was difficult to transport goods by carriages and horses. Goods could only be transported by mules and horses or carried on the backs of people.

For ordinary people, labor was simply a life-threatening existence. Walking a trip might cost them their lives.

It was obvious that Yang Zhengshan and his group were not easy to mess with. There were many carriages and horses, hundreds of guards and followers, all of whom were dressed gorgeously and had a rich temperament.

So when the servants came over, the escorting officials immediately scolded them.

"Move aside, move aside, don't block the way of the nobles!"

The leading official scolded the servants and gave Yang Zhengshan and others a flattering smile.

Yang Zhengshan looked at the servants, among whom there were actually several teenagers.

"What do you do?" Yang Zhengshan asked.

The official stepped forward, bowed and said: "In reply to your words, I am an official of the Tea and Horse Department of Jianxia Prefecture. This is the goods delivered to the Tea and Horse Department!"

The Tea and Horse Department is a government office unique to Dayong in the southwest. At first, it was only specialized in exchanging tea for horses, but now it also specializes in salt, iron, tea, sugar, and various daily necessities needed by the people.

Darong's original intention to expand the Tea and Horse Department's monopoly was to promote the development of commerce in the southwest and provide various daily necessities for the people in the mountains.

But as time went on, the Tea and Horse Department became a government office that exploited the people. They arbitrarily recruited laborers, colluded with wealthy businessmen to buy and sell various goods, and set up private barriers everywhere to collect tolls.

The people in the southwest not only couldn't buy cheap tea and salt, but also had to bear heavy labor.

Yang Zhengshan didn't know what the Tea and Horse Department did, but he could imagine the harsh treatment of the people by the Tea and Horse Department.

As for rectifying the Tea and Horse Department, don't joke, it's almost impossible.

Let alone Yang Zhengshan, even if Emperor Yanping wanted to rectify the Tea and Horse Department, it would probably take more than ten years to see results.

This is not to say that it can be done by dealing with a group of corrupt officials, but it requires the overall overthrow of the Tea and Horse Department and then rebuilding it, and it is also necessary to crack down on collusion between officials and businessmen.

And those local officials must also be severely rectified.

Let's put it this way, if you want to change the predicament in the southwest, you must overthrow all the government offices in the three provinces of Yungui, Zangyuan, and Nanyun, and select truly honest officials when rebuilding.

Yang Zhengshan can rectify the administration of officials in Chongshan Town, but he may not be able to rectify the administration of officials in the three southwestern provinces, because Chongshan Town is a military town, everything must serve the military, and the governor and the general have a lot of autonomy, while in the three southwestern provinces, Yang Zhengshan can't even kill a county magistrate.

The predicament in the southwest cannot be changed by one person. It requires the concerted efforts of the entire court and it will take ten years to change it.

Yang Zhengshan doesn't want to meddle in other people's business. Although these servants are pitiful, he really can't help much.

Perhaps he could order the officials to let the servants go, but he couldn't stay here. When he left, the officials might drive the servants even more violently.

And Yang Zhengshan was not a saint. He was not the kind of person who could not stand the suffering of the world.

He just asked a question and drove his horse towards the gate of Jianxia Pass.

"Get out of the way!"

Li Chang was already driving away the officials who had collected the city taxes.

"May I ask who this gentleman is?" The official wanted to ask about their identity and origin.

Li Chang rode his horse and glared at him condescendingly, "Marquis Jing'an is passing by, why don't you get out of the way!"

After that, he whipped the official who asked the question with his whip.

With a snap, the official's chest was torn open.

The Yang family has never been arrogant, and Li Chang and other followers also understand Yang Zhengshan's temper. As long as Yang Zhengshan doesn't like to bully the weak.

The reason why he whipped the official was because the official had just beaten the passers-by.

He paid the city tax and beat people, so he deserved this whip.

The official screamed after being whipped, but did not dare to resist, and hurriedly pushed away the roadblock to let the Yang family's convoy pass.

Yang Zhengshan rode over without asking much.

The north side of Jianxia Pass is difficult to climb, and the difficult side is also difficult to climb. Although the slope of the difficult side is slightly gentler, the slope is very long, as long as three or four miles.

However, going down the mountain is definitely easier than going up the mountain, and the speed of the convoy has also increased a bit.

But Yang Zhengshan didn't know that just after they left Jianxia Pass, the group of servants carrying goods were robbed outside Jianxia Pass.

Hundreds of masked men wearing sackcloth suddenly rushed out from the hillside, killing the escorting officers and forcing them to flee. In just a moment, the remaining servants were dragged into the lush forests with their goods.

This sudden change shocked the soldiers on duty at Jianxia Pass, but they only closed the gates of the pass and did not care about the bandits who suddenly appeared.

When the bandits killed the escorting officers, the bandit leader stood at the foot of the mountain and spit at Jianxia Pass, cursing: "A bunch of cowardly dogs!"

The bandit leader was masked, but from his exposed forehead and eyes, it can be seen that he should not be very old, at most in his twenties.

After the bandits retreated for an hour, the soldiers in Jianxia Pass opened the gates and sent people to check.

Yang Zhengshan naturally didn't know this. Although his ears were sharp, they were not sharp enough to hear sounds several miles away.

The convoy continued to move forward, and near dusk, they arrived at Jianxia Prefecture City.

This Jianxia Prefecture City is not a prosperous place. The city is only a few feet high, and there are not many people living in the city. There is only one inn in the whole city, and it is a small inn.

Yang Zhengshan and his group of more than a hundred people filled all the guest rooms of the inn.

At night, Yang Mingzhao asked Yang Zhengshan: "Dad, why don't you help those civilians during the day?"

Yang Mingzhao is twelve years old this year. He is no longer the child who pretends to be a little adult all day long. He has grown up now and started to think about some things that adults should think about.

Yang Zhengshan did not answer, but looked at Yang Chengye and asked: "You answer."

Yang Chengye was silent for a while and said: "We can save them for a while but we can't save them for a lifetime."

"Why can't we save them for a lifetime? We can give them fields and let them cultivate them, so that they can live a stable life!" Yang Mingzhao said.

Although he has many mature ideas, he is only twelve years old after all, and has not really experienced the world.

"Uncle, there are not just a few dozen or a few hundred people like them, but millions, or even tens of millions of families. We don't have that much land to give them!"

"And even if we give them land, they still can't live a stable life!"

Yang Chengye whispered.

He is ten years older than Yang Mingzhao, and he has seen a lot of suffering among the people.

Before in Zhaowuwei, he had seen the poverty of the military households in Zhaowuwei. Although Yang Zhengshan had checked the military farms in Zhaowuwei and redistributed the land to the military households, how long could they own those fields, three years, five years, or ten years?

Yang Mingzhao asked a lot of questions, and Yang Chengye answered a lot of questions for him.

Yang Zhengshan sat next to him and flipped through a travel book casually. He naturally knew some things. I don't know if he knew, the whole court knew, and Emperor Yanping also knew, but why didn't he change?

Because it's too difficult to change.

It's so hard that Emperor Yanping and the court would rather deceive themselves.

As for Yang Zhengshan, he never thought of himself as a savior, nor did he ever think of becoming one.

He was willing to help the people of Liaodong because Chongshan Town lacked population. He helped to settle refugees and at the same time enriched the population of Chongshan Town.

He should not interfere in politics if he is not in a position to do so. Now Yang Zhengshan is just an idle marquis, so he does not want to care about those things.

He is cold-blooded or has no ambitions, but he is determined to ignore them.

After a night's rest, the Yang family continued their journey the next morning.

They were not traveling very fast, but they entered the territory of Nanjiang Town on the tenth day of April.

There is only one official road from Jianxia Prefecture to Nanjiang Town, so when they entered the territory of Nanjiang Town, they immediately met the soldiers who came to greet them.

"Nanjiang Town Central Route Lieutenant General Ai Benhou respectfully welcomes Marquis Jing'an!"

Ai Benhou is a close confidant of Qu Changkong, Duke of Xingguo. He is not only the Lieutenant General of Nanjiang Town Central Route, but also the Commander-in-Chief of Nanjiang Town Dusi Yamen.

Yang Zhengshan came in person to escort his granddaughter to the bride. Qu Changkong was unable to come to greet him, so he arranged for Ai Benhou to come to greet him.

After the two of them exchanged some pleasantries, Ai Benhou brought Yang Zhengshan to the Weicheng of Nanjiang Central Guard.

Nanjiang Town is much smaller than the former Chongshan Town, so it only has four Lieutenants Generals, but Nanjiang Town has eight Zhenbiao Camps, of which four are under the command of Duke Xingguo, two are under the command of the Nanjiang Town Governor, and two are under the command of the Nanjiang Town Guarding Eunuch.

The reason why the Governor and the Guarding Eunuch are divided into two powers is because the court deliberately did so.

The Duke of Xingguo's Mansion has guarded Nanjiang Town for generations. In order to prevent the Duke of Xingguo's Mansion from having its own troops, the court used the governor and the eunuchs who guarded the Mansion to contain the Duke of Xingguo's Mansion.

For hundreds of years, this situation has become a routine in Nanjiang Town.

The Weicheng of Nanjiang Zhongwei is not bad. There are many shops and people in the city, and it looks quite lively.

"The Weicheng is small, and there are not many houses to live in. It's wronged that Lord Yang lives here for one night!"

Ai Benhou brought Yang Zhengshan to the door of a house and smiled.

It's wronged, but it's not wronged at all.

Although the house in front of him is not big, it is also a three-story house, which is larger than the house that Zhou Lan gave to Yang Zhengshan in Chongshan Town.

Yang Zhengshan said with a smile: "General Ai, why should you be so polite? I have also been an officer in a border town. When I first entered Chongshan Town, I couldn't even afford a decent yard!"

After entering the house, Wang arranged for the servants to clean up the house. In fact, there was nothing to clean up. The furniture in the house was complete and clean.

There were many servants in the house, and even the water was boiled. It was obvious that Ai Benhou had prepared it in advance.

Yang Zhengshan and Ai Benhou drank a pot of tea in the tea room and chatted for a while. Ai Benhou said goodbye.

They will rest here for a day and set off for Nanhua City the next day.

It was a tiring journey. Although the servants and guards of the Yang family were all warriors, it was not easy to walk all the way. It was time to rest.

Ai Benhou also knew that everyone in the Yang family would feel tired, so he did not hold any banquets for Yang Zhengshan, and even deliberately did not disturb him.

Of course, not disturbing him does not mean that he is not a good host.

Ai Benhou deliberately left a team of soldiers to guard outside the door, ready to be dispatched by the Yang family at any time.