Chapter 194 Two Years
Lin Shoude still had some courage. Although he did not know how to adapt, with Yang Zhengshan's proposal and the fact that the prefectural government now had money and food, Lin Shoude felt that Yang Zhengshan's proposal was highly feasible.

But the most important thing was that he was holding his breath. Yang Zhengshan was right. He was driven to Anyuan City.

He served as a county magistrate in Jiangnan for twelve years, but finally he could no longer stay there. To be more precise, many officials in Jiangnan could not tolerate him.

Those officials joined forces to give him a chance for promotion, allowing him to be promoted from county magistrate to prefecture magistrate, and come to Chongshan Town from Jiangnan.

For most officials, promotion requires money, connections, and favors. However, Lin Shoude is different. His promotion was achieved by others paying money, using connections, and favors.

This may sound funny, but it is true.

The way to remove stumbling blocks is not just to fight and kill, but also to move them away. It is even more convenient and easier to move them away than to fight and kill.

Especially in a place like Jiangnan, where fighting and killing are too unpleasant, promoting people is undoubtedly the most worry-free and trouble-free way.

Lin Shoude was helpless after being driven out of Jiangnan, but he wanted to prove himself, to prove that he was capable, could benefit the people, and could be valued by the court.

He wanted to show his former colleagues that he was a pillar of society.

Therefore, after arriving in Anyuan City, he couldn't wait to achieve something.

Soon, under his leadership, the prefectural government sold the assets of those criminal officials.

Without even Yang Zhengshan's involvement, Luo Zhen had taken over six well-located shops in Anyuan City. At the same time, Yu Qingyi also asked Wu Hai to buy a farm with 300 acres of fertile land.

Among the six shops that Luo Zhen took over, four will be used for embroidery business, which will be divided into three grades: high, medium and low. There will be two low-grade embroidery workshops serving ordinary people, one in East City and one in West City.

The high-end embroidery workshops are located in the south city. The prefectural government, garrison government, and military administration government offices are all located in the south city, so the south city is where officials live.

The mid-range embroidery workshops are in the north city, where most of the residents are merchants. Some officials from outside the city also have houses in the north city, such as those in the garrison. When they buy a house, they usually choose the north city.

Four embroidery workshops are enough to cover the entire city. Although they do not form a monopoly, as long as these four embroidery workshops are opened, the embroidery business in Anyuan City will be controlled by the Luo family.

As for the remaining two shops, they are used for fur business and medicinal materials business.

The fur business in Chongshan Town is very profitable, even more profitable than the embroidery business, but the Luo family is still a novice in the fur business, so this fur shop in Anyuan City is just an experiment.

As for the medicinal materials business, it is actually mainly based on purchasing medicinal materials. There are many wild herbs in the mountains south of Anyuan City, especially in Yuanhe County, where there are many herbalists. The Luo family wants to try purchasing medicinal materials and transporting them to Qizhou City for sale.

Yang Zhengshan had no objection to this. After all, Luo Zhen had already done everything he asked.

The blacksmith shop and the carpenter shop were not the shops bought by the Luo family, but the shops rented by Luo Zhen. These two shops were mainly for training carpenters and blacksmiths. The good or bad business was actually not important, so it was enough to rent two remote shops.

Inside the garrison officer's hall.

After hearing Luo Zhen's report, Yang Zhengshan nodded with satisfaction and said with a smile: "You are becoming more and more stable!"

Luo Zhen said a little uncomfortably: "This is all the teachings of the adults!"

Yang Zhengshan waved his hand, "Don't flatter me, what I said is just the truth, and whether you can understand and truly accept it depends on you!"

Luo Zhen was originally a reckless young man. It was because of his impulsiveness and recklessness that the Luo family was almost destroyed by the Zhang family.

But Luo Zhen has grown a lot in the past two years. Not only has his temperament become much more stable, but in many aspects of doing business, he is no worse than Luo Shang.

Luo Shang can be said to have a successor.

"If it weren't for you, I would have turned into a pile of bones now!" Luo Zhen looked at Yang Zhengshan with gratitude and admiration in his eyes.

Seeing him like this, Yang Zhengshan burst into laughter.

It is a very beautiful thing to be appreciated and respected.

Especially the respect from young people makes Yang Zhengshan feel full of sense of accomplishment.

"How's your dad doing?"

"It should be ready in a while. My father has bought two shops in Jing'an Prefecture. Although the location is a little worse, it can already meet our needs!" Luo Zhen said.

During this period of time, Luo Shang has been in Jing'an Prefecture.

After all, compared to Anyuan City, Jing'an Prefecture City is richer and more prosperous.

"That's good." Yang Zhengshan thought for a moment and said, "Ask your father to help me buy a farm in Jing'an Prefecture."

"How big is the farm?" Luo Zhen asked.

Yang Zhengshan considered it for a moment and said, "Four or five hundred acres will be enough!"

The fields in Jing'an Prefecture are much better than those in Anyuan Prefecture, and it is more cost-effective to buy a farm there, but it is not very convenient to manage.

"Tell me after you buy it, and I'll ask Wu Hai to arrange a manager to go over there!"

"Okay, I will inform my father!" Luo Zhen agreed without thinking.

Yang Zhengshan did not mention the matter of money either.

He and Luo Shang have already reached a tacit understanding on this matter. It is fixed how much the Luo family's annual income will be and how much will be given to Yang Zhengshan.

As for whether this could be considered collusion between officials and businessmen, Yang Zhengshan didn't care at all.

He did not allow the Luo family to seize property by trickery, nor did he help the Luo family persecute innocent people, nor did he do anything against the law. So what if it was collusion between officials and businessmen?
Besides, such things are not surprising at Darong.

Many official families have close relationships with merchants, and some official families even support some merchants specifically for the purpose of making money. Compared with them, Yang Zhengshan at least did not use any despicable means.

After Luo Zhen left, Yang Zhengshan sat in the study and fell into deep thought.

At present, everything is on the right track and everything is proceeding in an orderly manner.

In terms of official business, the training at Chengguanbao has been going on all the time, and the garrison outside the city is also being renovated. Everything is proceeding according to Yang Zhengshan's plan.

In personal matters, the Luo family's development is also stable and continuous, while the Yang family is slowly changing.

From foundation to wealth, the Yang family has been accumulating slowly.

Everything is developing for the better.

However, there are several hidden dangers. The biggest one is the treason case. On the surface, the treason case has been over, but in fact, there is an unknown force hidden behind the scenes, and this force is likely to be the Prince Qing's Mansion.

Regardless of whether it was Prince Qing's Palace or not, Yang Zhengshan was more or less involved in it.

There was no big problem for him to take the gold, silver and supplies, because no matter what, the forces behind the scenes would not look for these things in a high-profile manner. As long as he was careful, no one would notice anything unusual.

His involvement in this matter was actually with the Secret Guards. If the Secret Guards still needed him in the future, he would definitely help. He could not shirk this matter.

Fortunately, there is no movement from the Secret Guards yet, so Yang Zhengshan can spend some relaxing days in peace.

After sorting out what to do next, Yang Zhengshan felt a lot more relaxed.

Apart from the matter of the Secret Guard, there was nothing else worth worrying about right now.

In the following days, Yang Zhengshan lived a leisurely and contented life.

He went to and from the yamen on time every day to handle the few official duties he had. Every one or two days he would go to the city gate fort to see how the soldiers were doing. Every five or six days he would go out of the city to visit the garrison below and also visit the horse farm.

Although it may seem a bit hectic sometimes, for Yang Zhengshan, going out for a walk regularly is also a relaxing thing.

While Yang Zhengshan was strolling around leisurely, the new prefect Lin Shoude was very busy.

After selling the criminal official's assets, Lin Shoude began to go into construction frenzy.

He built roads, city walls, canals, and government offices. He built anything he didn't like.

Although this may seem like a waste of money, the large amount of money spent still benefits the people.

When people go to work, they can earn at least 20 cents a day, and sometimes even 30 cents.

Twenty or thirty cents a day may not seem like a lot, but for a family with four or five able-bodied laborers, with two or three people working, that would be around fifty cents a day, and at least one or two taels of silver a month.

It is very difficult for ordinary people to earn some money. Having such a job opportunity is a great blessing for ordinary people.

When people earn money, they will buy all kinds of daily necessities. Those who used to be reluctant to eat meat will occasionally be generous and can replace their worn-out clothes with new ones.

The circulation of silver and money led to the prosperity of the business environment in the entire Anyuan City.

Walking on the busy streets, Yang Zhengshan looked at the pedestrians coming and going, with a faint smile on his lips.

"Grandpa, look, Jinxiufang!"

A little girl in a green dress stood beside him, pointing at the Jinxiufang next to her and shouted with a smile on her face.

This little loli is Yang Qingwan.

This year is the 28th year of Chengping. Two years have passed and Yang Qingwan is already six years old.

The little girl has grown up and become more lively and active. Every time she sees Yang Zhengshan, she will pester Yang Zhengshan to take her out shopping.

Two years had left almost no trace on Yang Zhengshan. He looked up at the sign of Jinxiufang and said with a smile, "Want to go in and take a look?"

"Yeah!" The little girl nodded vigorously.

"Okay, Grandpa will take you in to have a look!"

As he spoke, Yang Zhengshan led Yang Wanqing into the gate of Jinxiufang.

Jinxiufang in Nancheng is definitely the most gorgeous shop in Anyuan City. The shop signs are all gilded, and the floor tiles in the shop are all fired ceramic tiles, making the entire shop exceptionally bright.

The entire store is divided into two floors. The first floor is the counter for fabrics and embroidery, and the second floor is the VIP area.

As soon as Yang Zhengshan stepped into Jinxiufang, a girl in a scarlet silk dress came up to him.

The girl was stunned when she saw Yang Zhengshan, and then she bowed respectfully, "I pay my respects to the garrison commander!"

Yang Zhengshan glanced at her and asked, "The one from Tunbu?"

"I'm from Dongyandun!" said the girl.

Yang Zhengshan nodded. The waiters in Jinxiufang were all women, because the customers received by Jinxiufang were mainly women.

Most of these female servants came from the garrisons under the jurisdiction of the garrison office.

(End of this chapter)