Chapter 105 I Feel Like You Are My Elder

When they returned to Yinghe Fort, Yang Zhengshan didn't expect that Zhou Lan would come.

This was the first time Zhou Lan came to Yinghe Fort since he took office as the Lieutenant General of Jianning Guard.

When I walked into the study, Zhou Lan was already drinking tea leisurely.

"Your subordinate greets the general!"

Yang Zhengshan clasped his fists and saluted.

"Please sit down!" Zhou Lan casually pointed across the tea table and motioned Yang Zhengshan to sit down.

Yang Zhengshan was not shy either. He sat down and poured her tea.

"What is the purpose of your visit, General?"

Zhou Lan smiled faintly and said, "I'll see how the situation is here, and send over the reward and pension silver this time!"

She was extremely satisfied with Yang Zhengshan.

With subordinates like these, she has fewer worries.

Let’s not talk about anything else, just talk about the invasion of the Hu cavalry this time. Among the many garrisons under her command, only Yang Zhengshan’s side not only blocked the invasion of the Hu cavalry, but also made great military achievements.

This person is afraid of comparison.

In comparison, Zhou Lan looked at Yang Zhengshan as if he were a rare treasure, and Yang Zhengshan's old face turned red.

General, if you look at me like that, I'll have wrong thoughts.

Although you are very beautiful, I have no bad intentions towards you.

We want to find a stepmother for our children, but General, you are really not suitable!
It would be a lie to say that Yang Zhengshan had no feelings for Zhou Lan at the beginning. Although Zhou Lan was not a stunning beauty, she was very pretty and a nice person.

However, after more contact, Yang Zhengshan felt that Zhou Lan was not suitable for him. It was not that Zhou Lan was not good, but that Zhou Lan was too competitive.

He wanted to find a stepmother for his children, and also someone who could take care of the family.

She's a woman like the mistress of the house.

He is fighting in the front, while someone is taking care of the family behind him, relieving him of any worries.

This is what he wants.

Obviously, Zhou Lan is not such a person.

Letting Zhou Lan go home to be the mistress is like bringing a tiger home to raise as a cat, isn't it?

Yang Zhengshan couldn't help but shudder when he thought of the tiger.

This woman is much more powerful than a tiger!

"You did a great job!"

Zhou Lan praised.

"It's all thanks to the general's support!" Yang Zhengshan said.

Zhou Lan smiled, reached out and took a wooden box from the side and handed it to Yang Zhengshan.

Yang Zhengshan thought that there were silver bills inside, but he didn't expect that there was actually "Thirty-Six Strategies" inside, and it was printed in woodblock.

"This is?"

"I asked someone to print it, and each official in Jianning Guard was given a copy. I also sent some to Chongshan Pass." Zhou Lan said.

"Huh!" Yang Zhengshan felt a little strange. Was he publishing a book?

"Marquis Changping wrote me a letter a few days ago. Do you want to take a look?" Although Zhou Lan said this, she had already handed the letter to Yang Zhengshan.

Yang Zhengshan hesitated for a moment, then took it and started reading.

After reading it, he was completely stunned.

Liang Chu admired the "Thirty-Six Strategies" in his heart, and said that he had used the above strategies when dealing with the Hu army before.

That’s right, the empty city plan and the strategy of concealing the truth from the world that Liang Chu performed at Chongshan Pass were decisions he made after reading the “Thirty-Six Strategies”.

He had thought Liang Chu was very powerful before, but he never expected that Liang Chu actually used strategies from the Thirty-Six Strategies.

He himself had not used the above strategy yet, but he did not expect Liang Chu to use it first.

However, Zhou Lan did not seem to tell Liang Chu that he was the one who wrote "Thirty-Six Strategies".

"Marquis Changping wants to see you. If you are willing, you can go and see him." Zhou Lan said.

"No impact, right?" Yang Zhengshan asked.

"No, it depends on whether you are willing or not!" Zhou Lan took a sip of tea and said, "Although Liang Chu is a bit domineering, he is very capable, and he values ​​capable people. If you can catch his eye, it will be of great benefit to you!"

Yang Zhengshan thought for a moment, "But the general doesn't seem very happy!"

Zhou Lan was startled, then looked up at him, her eyes filled with complicated emotions.

She didn't explain, but just said: "You can go see him, I don't care!"

This sounds a bit weird.

In fact, Zhou Lan didn’t care whether Liang Chu would value Yang Zhengshan, nor did she care whether Yang Zhengshan would cling to other powerful people.

To her, Yang Zhengshan was not just a subordinate, but more like a friend, so she always acted relaxed and casual in front of Yang Zhengshan.

And the reason she was unhappy was because of herself.

Women, whether in officialdom or on the battlefield, have to bear more pressure and criticism than men.

She was envious of Liang Chu, and this had nothing to do with Yang Zhengshan.

In this battle, Liang Chu was the most prominent figure, but what about her?
He led his troops for more than ten days, fighting in the front, but no one paid attention to him.

It seems that only the label of Ningguo Mansion on her is worthy of attention. As for the rest, no one will care no matter how well she does.

She also longed to win a battle to prove her ability and surprise those who looked down on her.

Yang Zhengshan looked at her expression, stroked his beard, and couldn't help but comfort her: "General, just do your best. Why bother about other people's opinions?"

However, Zhou Lan said casually: "I know, hahaha, if we conquer the East China Sea Hu tribe again, my Jianning Guard will definitely be the first to achieve the credit."

She was not a shy person, and although she felt a little uncomfortable, she was not yet to the point of complaining. Yang Zhengshan saw the bright smile on her face and smiled too.

"The general is extremely talented and will surely shine in the future!"

He was not talking nonsense. Zhou Lan's aptitude in martial arts was not bad. Now his cultivation had reached the fourth level of the acquired realm. If he could break through to the sixth or seventh level of the acquired realm in a few years, it would be normal.

By then, Zhou Lan will go one step further and become the deputy general of Chongshan Town, or even the general, with the power of 100,000 soldiers under his command, and he will be a well-known figure in the entire Dayong.

As a daughter, Zhou Lan will surely shine with such achievements.

Zhou Lan looked at him and the smile on her face became even brighter.

“It’s nice to talk to you!”

Yang Zhengshan was stunned, as what he said seemed to be a little inappropriate.

But Zhou Lan's next words were very fitting, but Yang Zhengshan almost lost his mind.

"I feel like you are my elder, hehe~~"

"..."

Yang Zhengshan was completely numb!
elder!

elder!

Woo woo, I want to cry again, what should I do?
He was also 28 years old in his previous life, and now Zhou Lan is exactly 30 years old.

In other words, the two are truly of the same age.

However, she said that she felt the same way about herself as she did about her elders.

Yang Zhengshan gave a very forced smile and quickly changed the subject, saying, "Didn't the general say he brought the reward silver?"

He was really afraid that Zhou Lan would mention the matter of the elders again. What if Zhou Lan became his godchild?

If it's a sister, then it's fine. But if it's a daughter, then...

Yang Zhengshan shuddered and felt that he should keep some distance from Zhou Lan in the future, and it would be better to have fewer heart-to-heart talks like this.

"Well! The reward is here!" Zhou Lan placed the two wooden boxes next to her on the tea table.

"The one above is the reward money, and the one below is the pension!"

Yang Zhengshan opened the wooden box and looked at the thick stack of banknotes inside.

There were seventy-two silver notes in total, all of which were worth one hundred taels.

"so much?"

"Not much. You have surrendered a total of 1,183 heads and captured more than a hundred prisoners. You will be rewarded with 7,180 taels of silver. I have rounded it up for you."

"But~" Zhou Lan changed the subject and continued, "But I'm afraid it won't be possible to give you a promotion this time!"

Yang Zhengshan was not surprised that he could not be promoted.

He was promoted to a thousand households only last year, and it has been less than a year since then.

In fact, he was able to become a thousand-householder last year because Zhou Lan promoted him out of turn.

If he is promoted out of turn again, other people will probably have objections, and the matter may even be brought to the court.

"The reward is enough!"

Yang Zhengshan opened the pension box again, but there were much fewer banknotes inside.

According to Darong's regulations, if an ordinary soldier died in battle, his wife and children would be given three years of salary and exempted from taxes for three years.

How much is the salary of the soldiers in the garrison?

One tael and two cents per month.

That’s fourteen taels and four cents a year.

This is the salary for carrying out the mission. If you are only responsible for farming, there will be no salary at all.

In fact, the amount of salary is not important. What is important is whether it can be paid in full.

Yang Zhengshan counted the banknotes in the box and found that Zhou Lan had not embezzled any of them and had given them in full.

But he still felt the pension was too little.

Soldiers who died on the battlefield were given less than fifty taels of pension.

You have to know that every soldier is the pillar of his family. If they die in battle, their wives and children will lose the most important support.

Of course he wouldn't say this to Zhou Lan.

This is a problem for the entire Dayong, and it cannot be solved by Zhou Lan alone.

After handing the Yinhe pension to Yang Zhengshan, Zhou Lan said goodbye, but before leaving, she saw the three foals that Yang Zhengshan brought back from the stable.

"Where did this foal come from?" Zhou Lan looked at the foal and asked curiously.

She could see that the three foals were all very good horses and would become top-notch war horses in no time.

"I built a horse farm. This is what I brought back from the farm and I plan to give it to my children at home!" Yang Zhengshan did not hide anything and naturally revealed the existence of the horse farm.

In fact, he had no need to hide it. The horse farm was his own business and was listed in the directory, so he was not afraid of being checked by others.

In Dayong, it is normal for officials to purchase some properties in their jurisdiction. The first thing some officials do after taking office is to buy farms, shops, houses and other assets.

For example, didn’t Zhou Lan buy several courtyards in Guancheng?
"Are there any more ponies like this? Can you sell me two? I want to take them back to Kyoto and give them to my nephew!" Zhou Lan didn't want to check Yang Zhengshan's family background, she just thought that this pony was very good.

"In two days, I will give the general two horses!" Yang Zhengshan said generously.

They were just two ponies; he could still afford them.

He had ignored this before. If he had known earlier, he would have prepared a few horses for Zhou Lan.

Zhou Lan didn't say anything polite and just casually accepted the gift from Yang Zhengshan.

The gift she gave to Yang Zhengshan was worth more than a few horses.

(End of this chapter)