Chapter 157: Different People Have Different Opinions

Inside Chongshanguan City, in a magnificently decorated hall.

Lu Hua was wearing a moon-white gown, sitting on a pearwood armchair, holding a purple copper sleeve stove in his hand.

Wei Cen stood in front of him and told him about Yang Zhengshan's speculations and suggestions.

After listening, Lu Hua said calmly: "If this matter has nothing to do with Prince Qing's Mansion, then everything we do is meaningless. Do you understand?"

His voice was emotionless, but had a magnetic, metallic quality.

Wei Cen lowered his head and didn't dare to breathe.

How could he not understand what Lu Hua meant, but he didn't dare to understand.

From the beginning to the end, Lu Hua had only one goal, and that was Prince Qing's Palace.

Corrupt officials and smuggling cases are just small matters within the Secret Guard. The real big cases are treason and rebellion.

Wei Cen didn't know whether the Qing Palace was rebellious or not, but Lu Hua obviously wanted to make the Qing Palace rebellious.

Just because the Prince Qing's Mansion has reasons to rebel, the Secret Guard Zhenbei Division needs a big case.

"Sir, we can't find any evidence!" Wei Cen said softly.

The Secret Guard needs evidence to investigate a case, especially when it involves the royal family, which requires both human and physical evidence.

This is their explanation to the emperor, and also the emperor's explanation to the people of the world.

Lu Hua placed the sleeve stove in his hand on the tea table, stood up and walked to the door of the hall, looking at the somewhat gloomy sky.

"Pity!"

"What a pity?" Wei Cen asked puzzledly.

"It's a pity that we don't have enough time!" A hint of helplessness appeared on Lu Hua's calm face.

They wasted too much time in Anyuan City. Perhaps he was wrong from the beginning. He should not have focused on Anyuan City, but should have focused directly on Qinghua Prefecture.

Or maybe he shouldn't have looked for any evidence in the first place, but should have created it directly.

Fabrication, framing, and false accusations, in short, the Prince Qing’s Mansion should be brought down first.

Unfortunately, he was still not decisive enough, ruthless enough, or bold enough.

He could make up his mind now, but unfortunately time did not allow it.

"Get ready, let's just close the case like this!"

Lu Hua said lightly.

He could no longer stay in Chongshan Pass. Next he had to go to Beiyuan Town, which was also one of the border towns in the northern part of Dayong, just southwest of Chongshan Town.

However, Beiyuan Town faces the Wuliang Hu tribe, and Chongshan Town faces the Donghai Hu tribe. Compared with the two, the Donghai Hu tribe is far inferior to the Wuliang Hu tribe.

"As you command!" Wei Cen heaved a sigh of relief when he heard him say he was going to close the case.

"Yeah!" Lu Hua nodded slightly, then suddenly changed the subject and asked, "What do you think of Yang Zhengshan?"

Wei Cen didn't expect that he would suddenly ask about Yang Zhengshan. He paused for a long time before saying, "Lord Yang is a good man!"

"Good man!" Lu Hua was surprised by his evaluation.

In fact, his understanding of Yang Zhengshan was limited to written records.

He has detailed records of Yang Zhengshan's background, experience, battle record, and everything he did since coming to Chongshan Town.

"Well, Lord Yang is kind-hearted!" Wei Cen said.

This is how he feels about Yang Zhengshan, and he understands Yang Zhengshan better than Lu Hua.

He identified more with everything Yang Zhengshan did because he came from a military family.

Everything that Yang Zhengshan had done in Yinghe Fort and what Yang Zhengshan was doing in Anyuan City made him happy and envious.

I was happy because Yang Zhengshan was sincerely helping the military households.

What he envied was that he did not meet such an official when he was young.

Wei Cen was born in Beiyuan Town. His father was a centurion in the garrison. He still remembered that his father waited outside the defense office for three whole days in order to ask for cotton-padded clothes for the military households in the garrison. During those three days, his father did not get a single cotton-padded coat.

If the defending officer at that time was Yang Zhengshan, he believed that his father would definitely not have to wait for three days.

"Good man!" Lu Hua said again, and then couldn't help feeling a little funny.

Is Yang Zhengshan a good person?
This seems to be somewhat controversial.

At least Lu Hua doesn't think Yang Zhengshan is a good person.

Showing favors is not necessarily out of kindness; it may just be to achieve some purpose.

Take Yang Zhengshan for example, he did do a lot of things that seemed good in Yinghe Fort, but he also caused the soldiers of Yinghe Fort to pay hundreds of their lives for him.

Did Yang Zhengshan do all that out of kindness, or because he wanted to win the hearts of the soldiers and the people and make them fight for him?
The benevolent see the benevolent and the wise see the wisdom.

On the contrary, Lu Hua felt that Yang Zhengshan was a thoughtful person.

But he doesn't dislike such people.

For him, there are only three kinds of people in this world. One kind is the emperor, who is his master and not someone he can evaluate. The second kind is useful people, people who are useful to him. The third kind is useless people, people who are insignificant.

Yang Zhengshan belongs to the second type.

Lu Hua walked into the inner room and took out a sandalwood box.

"Give this to Yang Zhengshan."

……

Sand Ridge Horse Farm.

Yang Zhengshan was in a good mood as he looked at the horse farm under construction.

Yang Mingcheng became more and more efficient in his work. In just a few days, the construction of the horse farm started.

The manpower and materials are fully prepared.

Everything is going on in an orderly manner. This represents Yang Mingcheng's growth.

"Have all the shops in Guancheng been sold out?" Yang Zhengshan rode on Hongyun and walked leisurely along the riverside where the waves were surging.

The Yinghe River here is completely different from the Yinghe River in Yinghe Fort.

The river is wider and the current is faster.

"There are still three rooms left to be sold!" Yang Mingcheng replied.

"How much silver did you get?"

"Three thousand taels!"

Yang Zhengshan turned around with some surprise.

"Hehe, the four shops sold for three thousand taels!" Yang Mingcheng laughed.

Yang Zhengshan also showed a faint smile.

At the beginning, he gave Yang Mingcheng 1,500 taels of silver and bought seven shops. Now he has only sold four of them. Not only has he made back his investment, but he has also made a huge profit of 1,500 taels.

"The property prices in Guancheng are now much higher than before. A small courtyard costs seven or eight hundred taels. A courtyard like ours can be sold for two thousand taels!" Yang Mingcheng explained.

"Why is it rising so fast?" Yang Zhengshan was a little surprised and confused.

At first he thought that the property prices in Guancheng would increase, but he thought that it would at most rise to the level before the Hu people entered the country. He did not expect that it would be so much higher than before.

Yang Mingcheng scratched his head and said, "I don't know either. I just feel that the current Guancheng is much more prosperous than before, and there are more caravans coming to Guancheng."

"Dad, you don't know that on the day I went to close the city gate, the convoy outside the city gate was lined up for seven or eight miles."

Yang Zhengshan thought for a while, and soon he thought of some reasons.

The economy of Chongshan Pass is a special military economy, with the main consumers being soldiers in the army and the families of officials in the city.

There shouldn't be much change in the officials' families in the city now. It's just a matter of changing people, and the total number shouldn't change much.

But the situation is different for the soldiers. In the past, Chongshan Pass only had the Zhenbiao Camp, but now there are also 5,000 Yunlong Guards in Chongshan Pass.

In addition, there is the money in the hands of the soldiers. In the past, the practice of withholding military pay was widespread, and ordinary soldiers had very little spare money, so they were naturally reluctant to spend it.

However, since Lu Chongde and Liang Chu took office, the withholding of military pay has become much less common. Soldiers can get sufficient food and wages, so they have more money in their hands, and their spending power naturally increases.

In addition, Lu Chongde and Liang Chu were not idle during this period. They replenished armaments, strengthened city walls, repaired garrisons, reclaimed wasteland, etc. A lot of silver was spent, which naturally attracted a large number of caravans.

In this way, it is not difficult to understand the economic growth of Guancheng.

After thinking about this clearly, Yang Zhengshan felt quite happy.

"When will Luo Shang come over?"

"It should be just these few days!"

"Well, where's Ma San?"

Yang Mingcheng thought for a moment, "He's going to bring his family here, so it might be a little later!"

Ma San was not a slave of the Yang family, he could only be considered a farmhand of the Yang family, so he had a family.

"When he comes, I'll increase his monthly salary!" said Yang Zhengshan.

Ma San is a technical talent, and he is also willing to take apprentices and help the Yang family train stablemen. Yang Zhengshan naturally cannot treat such a person unfairly.

"How much?"

"Double it."

"it is good!"

"Has he got two sons?"

"Well, the eldest son is seventeen years old this year and just got married last year. The youngest son is only ten years old. He also has a daughter who is six years old this year!" Yang Mingcheng has been with Ma San for a long time and knows Ma San's situation very well.

"Then let his youngest son go to the academy with Lin Zhan to study!" Yang Zhengshan said.

Rather than raising the monthly salary, I believe Ma San would rather his son have a bright future.

Not long ago, Yang Zhengshan found an academy for Lin Zhan in Anyuan City, which was just right for sending Ma San's son.

Not only Ma San's son, Yang Zhengshan has always attached great importance to reading. He is willing to send all his subordinates' children and grandchildren of appropriate age to study.

He also sent Song Dashan's son to school.

"Well, I'll arrange it when he comes!" Yang Mingcheng replied.

"By the way, we should hire a few teachers at home, a mentor for Chengye, and a nanny for Yunxue and Yunqiao!" Yang Zhengshan said.

Family education cannot stop.

Boys are easy to deal with. They can go to academy to study, and they just need simple enlightenment at home.

But it is much more troublesome for girls. There is no girls' college here, so there is nowhere for girls to go to school.

Many official families would invite teachers to their homes to teach their girls.

There are many subjects taught, the most basic of which is education, which refers to rules and etiquette.

Although Yang Zhengshan doesn't care about rules and etiquette, he believes in adapting to local customs. But he can't let others look down on his children because of etiquette.

In addition to etiquette, you don't need to be proficient in all of the arts, but you should have a basic understanding of them all.

It is not easy to be a lady of a wealthy family. A fool who knows nothing will be laughed at by others.

"Well, I'll go look for it!" Yang Mingcheng felt a little embarrassed. It was easy to hire a teacher to teach him, just find a scholar, but hiring a nanny was a bit difficult. He didn't know where to find a suitable nanny.

"Well, there's no rush for this matter, just take your time!"

Yang Zhengshan said.

All along, the Yang family has been transforming from a farming family to an official family. This process cannot be completed in two or three years. It requires a long-term investment of a large amount of money.

(End of this chapter)