Chapter 108: Expansion of Yinghe Fort

There is no rush to sell the war horses. Yinghe Fort still has money, so there is no problem with the initial investment in expansion.

On April 23rd of the 25th year of Chengping, it is a good time to break ground, pray for blessings, bury, and offer sacrifices.

Under Yang Zhengshan's order, construction and expansion of Yinghe Fort began.

This time, the expansion of Yinghe Fort was not to expand outward in a circle, but to demolish the north wall and expand directly northward by 150 meters, almost to the river beach of Yinghe River.

While the expansion is going on, the Tunbu will also be replanned.

The beacon tower needs to be rebuilt, the city walls need to be raised and thickened, and most of the newly built areas will be designated as residential areas. The pig pens, sheep pens and chicken coops in front of the government office will all be converted into stables, and part of the original residential area will be converted into chicken coops, pig pens and sheep pens.

At the same time, the water from the Ying River will be diverted into the moat to form a moat two meters wide, with a city gate on each side of the east and west.

According to Yang Zhengshan's plan, although the future Yinghebao cannot be considered a city, it will be larger than most towns and almost a size smaller than Anning County.

Anning County is more than three miles long from east to west and two miles wide from north to south. It takes only more than ten miles to go around the city.

The future Yinghe Fort will be one thousand meters long from north to south, more than six hundred meters wide from east to west, and the circumference of the city will be about six miles.

In the future, Deyinghe Fort will no longer be a simple garrison, but will also be an economic center for the surrounding thirty miles.

Yang Zhengshan specially planned a commercial street at the east gate, with more than twenty shops.

From now on, if the military households in the surrounding garrisons, huoluduns and beacon towers want to buy something, they no longer have to go to Guancheng or Changling County in the south, but can come to Yinghe Fort.

The shop is only rented out and not sold, which can be considered as an additional source of income for the government.

By then, there will be enough shops for the military households in the garrison who are willing to do business. It is definitely impossible to do big business in the garrison, and at most it can only support a family. There is no need for Yang Zhengshan to compete with them.

Of course, the main responsibility of military households is to cultivate land. Even if they do business, they cannot neglect the cultivation of land.

The expansion of the garrison is no trivial matter. Yang Zhengshan needs to report to the Weisi Yamen of Jianning Wei and obtain approval before the expansion can begin.

With Zhou Lan here, there will definitely be no problem with approval.

However, many officials of Jianning Guard were very surprised about Yang Zhengshan's expansion of the garrison, and many officials expressed disdain for it.

In their eyes, Yang Zhengshan was just messing around.

With so much silver, instead of thinking of ways to put it into his own pocket, he actually thought of expanding the garrison.

We are military officers, not civil servants. We don't need to be able to govern the world. As long as we can get by, it's fine. Why bother doing these meaningless things?

That’s right, to their Yang Zhengshan, what Yang Zhengshan did was meaningless.

Although Yang Zhengshan was not in Jianning Guard, some unpleasant words still reached his ears.

"Dad, the most despicable person is Duan Heshun, the defense officer of Changlin Fort. He actually said that you are seeking fame and reputation and are hypocritical!"

In the study, Yang Mingzhi stood in front of Yang Zhengshan and said angrily.

He went to Jianningwei again yesterday, and heard a lot of sour words against his own father. For this reason, he went up to argue with those bastards who were talking nonsense.

"So what?" Yang Zhengshan took a sip of tea and asked in a flat tone.

"Dad, they should be taught a lesson! Others only talk about him behind his back, but Duan Heshun actually said this in front of others and even deliberately spread the word. He is deliberately targeting you!" Yang Mingzhi is not stupid. He has long figured out Duan Heshun's thoughts.

At most, other people would say a few sarcastic words, and even if they disagreed, they would not openly oppose Yang Zhengshan.

But this period of Heshun was different. He was publicizing it widely, as if he was afraid that Yang Zhengshan didn't know about it.

"Then why do you think he is targeting me?" Yang Zhengshan asked, looking up.

Yang Mingzhi was stunned for a moment, then frowned.

Why did Duan Heshun target Yang Zhengshan?
They had never met before and had no conflicts.

Changlin Fort is located in the south of Jianning Wei, more than eighty miles away from Yinghe Fort. No matter what happens to Yinghe Fort, it will not affect Changlin Fort.

Logically speaking, there is no grudge between the two parties, so why would Duan Heshun take the initiative to stir up trouble?
Yang Mingzhi couldn't figure it out, "Dad, why?"

Yang Zhengshan stroked his beard and said calmly: "They are not targeting your father or me, but General Zhou!"

"General Zhou?" Yang Mingzhi was even more confused.

Since you want to target General Zhou, why do you want to deal with Yang Zhengshan?
Yang Zhengshan sighed inwardly, this boy is still too young and too naive, and only looks at the surface of things.

Duan Heshun is just a defense officer, and a defense officer who has nothing to do with Yang Zhengshan. How free does he have to provoke Yang Zhengshan?
As for saying that Duan Heshun was targeting Zhou Lan, this is both right and wrong.

It is right to say that he was testing Zhou Lan by doing this. Yang Zhengshan is Zhou Lan's man, and this is a well-known fact in Jianning Guard.

Targeting Yang Zhengshan is targeting Zhou Lan, the logic is very simple.

Simply put, Yang Zhengshan clung to Zhou Lan's thigh, which meant he was tied to Zhou Lan's boat.

As long as Zhou Lan is fine, he will have nothing to worry about. If Zhou Lan is in trouble, he will also be in trouble.

And if he encounters any problems, Zhou Lan will help him.

Of course, this is definitely not just Duan Heshun, a small defense officer, testing Zhou Lan. There must be other supporters behind the scenes.

The reason why such temptation arises is actually very simple.

Recently, Zhou Lan has been vigorously cleaning out the corrupt officials in Jianning Guard. Since the end of the invasion of the Hu bandits this year, Zhou Lan has turned her butcher knife to the interior of Jianning Guard.

In just one month, she dealt with more than ten defense officers and garrison officers.

Her next step would be to deal with the high-ranking officials in the Weisi Yamen, as well as the garrisons and ethics officers in each city.

If a few garrison officers and defense officers were captured, those people could still endure it, but when the butcher knife was placed on their necks, they could not help but jump out.

However, Zhou Lan had a strong background after all, and they did not dare to confront her head-on, so they set their sights on Zhou Lan's confidants.

Cause some trouble for Zhou Lan so that she has no time to pay attention to other things, or make Zhou Lan give up.

"General Zhou's methods are too fierce. I can't sit still anymore!"

"Now they are just testing the waters, but next they might get serious!"

Yang Zhengshan stroked his beard and said, Zhou Lan always acted decisively and directly, never beating around the bush.

This has to do with her identity and background. Born into the Ningguo Mansion, she has the confidence to face everything and has also made her develop a straightforward character.

When she was in the Zhenbiao Camp before, this kind of personality would not cause too much trouble, but now she is the Lieutenant General of Jianning Guard, and there are many evil spirits hiding under her command. Being so straightforward will only get her into trouble.

"Who are they?" Yang Mingzhi somewhat understood what Yang Zhengshan meant, but he still couldn't see the situation clearly.

Yang Zhengshan's eyes gradually became deep. "There are five garrisons and one guard commanding officer in Jianning Guard! The people who dare to target General Zhou are among these few people."

The Guard Command Headquarters has a Guard Commander, two Associate Commanders, and five garrisons, which means that there are only these eight people who dare to take action.

As for the others, they are not qualified at all.

"Zhong Luan, the commander of Jianning Guard, was born in the Marquis Chengyi's Mansion. He is a nobleman and should not dare to provoke the Ningguo Mansion!"

"Ningzhou City's garrison commander Mu Qiu was just transferred to Ningzhou City three years ago, so his involvement in the construction of Ningzhou Guards should not be too deep."

"Pingzhou City garrison commander Ji He just took office last year and was promoted by the Marquis of Changping. He has no reason to do such self-defeating things."

"Zhang Yan, the garrison commander of Jinghu Fort, is Zhang Shouwang's nephew. He should be on the same page with General Zhou."

"The only ones left are Liu Qiong and Ye Zhaoquan, the commander of Jianning Guard, Qiu Zhen, the garrison commander of Chishan Fort, and Guan Shanhe, the garrison commander of Ruizhou City."

"Except for them~~"

Yang Zhengshan tapped the table with his fingers and said thoughtfully: "There may be Liaodong Bingbei behind this. Thank you Yunchuan."

He knew quite a bit about Jianning Guard, but he didn't know much about the Military Preparations Office and the Censorate.

In fact, he doesn't need to say these words out loud, he just needs to ponder them in his heart.

He told this to Yang Mingzhi in order to cultivate his way of thinking.

Yang Mingzhi was smart and sharp, far surpassing Yang Mingcheng in planning, but his humble background and limited experience limited his thinking.

Many times, he can only see the surface and cannot discover the deep-seated contradictions and problems.

Yang Zhengshan has always trained the three brothers of the Yang family in different directions. Yang Mingcheng has an honest character, so he was put in charge of the family business. Although he could not plan too much for the Yang family, he was obedient and would do whatever Yang Zhengshan asked him to do.

Yang Mingzhi was smart and sharp, and had some planning skills, so Yang Zhengshan took him into the officialdom to seek a future for himself.

Yang Minghao has a lively personality and does things without thinking, but he has one advantage, which is his young age. Yang Zhengshan can train him to become a strong martial artist.

Three years old look old.

The natures of the three brothers have already been formed. Yang Zhengshan cannot change their natures and can only guide them to develop in the direction they are good at.

In fact, Yang Zhengshan’s main training target is the third generation of the Yang family, namely Yang Chengye, Yang Chengmao and others.

They are still young, and Yang Zhengshan has plenty of time to train them.

After listening to Yang Zhengshan's words, Yang Mingzhi also had some thoughts in his mind.

"Dad, I think Xie Yunchuan and Guan Shanhe are more likely!"

"Why?" Yang Zhengshan asked.

"I heard that Xie Yunchuan and Guan Shanhe are relatives, and Guan Shanhe's youngest daughter married Xie Yunchuan's second son."

"And I also heard that Xie Yunchuan has some relationship with Prince Qing's Palace!"

Yang Mingzhi lowered his voice and spoke carefully.

Yang Zhengshan narrowed his eyes slightly.

Only Yang Mingzhi could find out these rumors.

He didn't spend half a year in Jianning Guard last year for nothing. He knew more about some secret information than Yang Zhengshan.

"Xie Yunchuan has a connection with Prince Qing's Palace? Are you serious?"

"This~" Yang Mingzhi said uncertainly: "It should be true. It is said that Xie Yunchuan would send gifts to Prince Qing's Mansion during festivals, and each time he sent quite a lot."

He also heard it from others, but he believed what he heard.

"Prince Qing's Mansion!"

Yang Zhengshan lowered his head and fell silent.

The royal family of the Darong Dynasty enjoyed a high status, but most of them only had a nominal title and no real power.

Prince Qing is a prince, and his noble status needs no explanation. However, Darong’s system for royal princes is to grant them fiefs but not land, to give them titles but not rule over the people, and to receive salaries but not govern affairs.

Since they don't manage affairs, they don't have much interaction with officials, and officials won't come to them for help. Therefore, most officials keep their distance from the royal family.

Logically speaking, there is no need for Xie Yunchuan to be involved with Prince Qing. He is the Liaodong Military Commissioner and the Deputy Envoy of the Liaodong Censorate, both third-rank officials. With his status, being involved with Prince Qing would do more harm than good.

Yang Zhengshan felt that there was something inside that he didn't understand, but due to lack of information, he couldn't see it clearly for the time being.

"You~"

Yang Zhengshan opened his mouth and wanted to ask Yang Mingzhi to go to Jianning Guard again to find out about the relationship between Xie Yunchuan and Prince Qing, but he stopped when the words came to his lips.

Although Prince Qing has no power, he is a prince after all. In fact, as a defense officer, he can investigate at will.

This matter still needs to be resolved by Zhou Lan.

He thought about it, walked to the desk, picked up a pen and wrote a letter.

"Send this letter to General Zhou tomorrow!"

It would be fine if this matter did not involve Prince Qing. If it did, it would be a big trouble.

He certainly can't handle it himself, and even Zhou Lan would probably find it difficult to handle it.

The specific details depend on what Zhou Lan thinks.

(End of this chapter)