Chapter 197: Marriage and Childbirth

Yu Qingyi frowned, "Then what do we need to do to attend the birthday banquet?"

Yang Zhengshan laughed, "Don't worry about these things, just celebrate the birthday of Madam Hou, and find a good husband for Xue'er!"

Yang Yunxue is already fifteen years old this year, and will be sixteen in next year.

She is already a grown-up girl, and it’s time for her to find a good family.

Hearing him say this, Yang Yunxue's cheeks turned red instantly.

"father!"

"Haha, men should get married when they are old enough, and women should get married when they are old enough. There is nothing to be shy about!"

Yang Zhengshan laughed, "You can go with them and take a look. There should be quite a few young men there. Take a good look. If you find someone you like, come back and tell Daddy. Daddy will help you propose marriage!"

My daughter will eventually get married when she grows up.

At this time, the old father Yang Zhengshan was in a very complicated mood.

Although Yang Yunxue was only her adopted daughter, he had raised her for several years.

He was very reluctant to suddenly marry the girl off, but he had no choice but to let her marry.

"Don't worry, my husband. I will help Xue'er choose an ideal husband!" Yu Qingyi also echoed.

Yu Qingyi really cares about Yang Yunxue's marriage.

It's difficult to be a stepmother.

She has been married into the Yang family for more than two years. Although she gets along well with the Yang family's children, they are not biological mother and son or mother and daughter after all, so there is still some gap between them.

Yang Yunxue's marriage was the first major event she had to handle after marrying into the Yang family. If she couldn't handle this matter well, Yang Mingcheng and other brothers and sisters would definitely feel resentful towards her.

Therefore, in order to better integrate into the Yang family and for Yang Yunxue's future, she must find a good marriage for Yang Yunxue.

Yang Yunxue could no longer sit still because of the teasing of Yang Zhengshan and Yu Qingyi. She glared at Yang Zhengshan in a naive manner and ran out of the hall as if escaping.

After all, she is still young and thin-skinned. She can't stand it when it comes to marriage.

Yang Yunyan looked at her leaving figure and sighed, "Ah, in the blink of an eye, my little sister should get married!"

Yang Zhengshan who was standing next to her glanced at her. What she said sounded a bit old-fashioned, and Yang Zhengshan felt disgusted.

"You are so young, why are you sighing?"

Yang Yunyan was not embarrassed by Yang Zhengshan's words. Instead, she covered her mouth and laughed softly, "Dad is right. Dad is not old yet. It's too early for me!"

Everyone in the Yang family knows that Yang Zhengshan is a man who refuses to accept his old age. He gets angry with anyone who dares to say that he is old.

Yang Zhengshan glanced at his eldest daughter, hugged little Jiang Miao and gave her a kiss, "Little Miao is still a good girl. Your mother is getting bolder and bolder. She even dared to laugh at your grandfather!"

Little Jiang Miao felt a little itchy from his long beard and started giggling.

Just then, Yang Mingcheng's voice came from outside the door.

"father!"

"What's the matter?" Yang Zhengshan turned around and looked at Yang Mingcheng, who was sweating profusely.

"My second brother has sent me a letter." Yang Mingcheng wiped the sweat from his forehead and grinned.

Yang Zhengshan handed the ginger seedling to Yang Yunyan, took the letter and opened it.

After reading the letter, he frowned slightly.

"Let's talk in the study!"

Then he led Yang Mingcheng to the study next door.

"Where is the person who delivered the letter?" Yang Zhengshan asked.

"I'm resting in the front yard!" Yang Mingcheng asked doubtfully, "Dad, what happened?"

Yang Zhengshan opened the letter again and read it. After a little thought, he said, "It's nothing serious. Li will also go to Chongshan Pass to celebrate the Marquis' birthday. She will come back with the child. You can ask Wu Hai to make arrangements."

Yang Mingzhi did not receive an invitation from the Changping Marquis's Mansion, but he still asked Li to bring the children to Chongshan Pass to celebrate the birthday. However, his purpose was not to celebrate the birthday of the Marquis's wife, but to ask Li to bring the children back.

In the past two years, Yang Mingzhi and Li seldom went home. One reason was that the distance between the two places was not close, and a round trip would take at least seven or eight days. The other reason was that Li gave birth to a little girl named Yang Wanting the year before last. The child was still too young, and it was not suitable for them to go back and forth.

This time, Yang Mingzhi wanted to take the opportunity to let Li bring her three children back together because he also guessed that there would be a high probability of going to war next year.

When going to war next year, Yang Mingzhi will have to accompany Zhou Lan. By then, there will be no one in Jianning Guard to take care of Li and her mother, so Yang Mingzhi wanted to send them back.

The reason why Yang Zhengshan frowned was because Yang Mingzhi mentioned the dynamics of Jianning Guard during this period.

Obviously Zhou Lan must have received the news or instructions from Liang Chu, and Jianning Guard has begun preparing for the expedition.

This is normal. When Zhang Shouwang led his troops to conquer the Hu tribe in the East China Sea, he was defeated so tragically because he was unprepared and acted too hastily.

Now that Liang Chu is going to conquer the Hu tribe in the East China Sea again, he will certainly make full preparations.

Therefore, it is only natural to inform the generals of each department in advance.

It was just Yang Zhengshan’s guess before, but now it has been basically confirmed that the expedition will definitely take place next year.

"What's the current situation at the horse farm? How many war horses can be marketed this year?" Yang Zhengshan changed the subject and asked.

Yang Mingcheng didn't expect that Yang Zhengshan would suddenly turn the topic to the horse farm. He paused before saying, "Two months ago, we just sold thirty war horses. By the end of this year, we should be able to sell fifty more!" Yang Zhengshan nodded, leaned back in his chair, stroked his beard and fell into deep thought.

If he goes to war next year, will Wang Bin let him go?

should be.

Although he was not the general of the reinforcement battalion and only had a garrison battalion under his command, he was still a battlefield general after all, and Wang Bin had no reason not to take him with him.

So if the garrison battalion wants to go out to fight, what else does it need to prepare?
The training of the garrison camp has been continuing in the past two years. Although there are no long-term intensive training, the soldiers of the garrison camp will undergo a ten-day exercise training every three months.

In addition to the garrison camp, soldiers stationed in the forts outside the city undergo short-term training every six months.

In two years, a large number of warriors emerged among the soldiers under Yang Zhengshan.

Especially the garrison battalion. Yang Zhengshan dared to say that the proportion of warriors in his garrison battalion was the highest in the entire Chongshan Town.

There are 1,112 people in the garrison camp, 60% of whom are warriors.

As for the remaining 40% of the soldiers, they basically had no martial arts talent, and even the spiritual spring water could not save them.

In fact, Yang Zhengshan was not dissatisfied with this.

If all members of the garrison battalion became warriors, Yang Zhengshan would probably have a headache.

That would be too eye-catching.

Sixty percent of warriors is just right. Although it is eye-catching, it is not beyond common sense.

Even if outsiders knew about it, they would only think that Yang Zhengshan was good at training soldiers and cultivating warriors.

Today's garrison battalion is definitely the elite among the elite.

There is no need to make much preparation in terms of military equipment. The garrison office is now fully equipped with all kinds of military equipment and lacks nothing.

There is no need to prepare much for food and fodder. That is Wang Bin's business. Yang Zhengshan doesn't need to worry about it. He can just ask Wang Bin for food and fodder when the time comes.

What the garrison battalion needs most right now is war horses!
The garrison battalion is responsible for the city's defense, so naturally they don't need any war horses.

In the past two years, although Yang Zhengshan had been asking Wang Bin and Tan Jingtai for war horses, he only got more than a hundred horses.

These war horses have been used to train the soldiers in riding skills, and Yang Zhengshan did not form a separate cavalry.

But if he were to go on an expedition, he felt it would be better to have a cavalry unit by his side.

The number doesn't need to be too large, three hundred cavalry will be enough.

"Can you get a hundred war horses together?" Yang Zhengshan looked at Yang Mingcheng.

Today, the scale of Yang's Horse Farm has grown to a considerable size, with a total of more than 500 horses, including mares and foals.

Last year, the farm sold more than one hundred fine horses, earning the Yang family more than ten thousand taels of silver.

It can be said that the Yang family can now live a worry-free life relying solely on this horse farm.

Now Yang Zhengshan has no intention of further expanding the scale of the horse farm. He feels that the current size of the farm is most appropriate, and it is enough to maintain a scale of selling 100 good horses every year.

Yang Mingcheng thought for a moment and said, "It's definitely not possible by the end of the year, but we should be able to gather a hundred horses by March next year."

"Next March, that's fine too!"

Yang Zhengshan nodded.

He estimated that even if he were to set out next year, he would have to wait until after April. Although March would be a little later, he would still be able to catch up.

"When the time comes, sell these 100 war horses to the garrison office. Tell Ma San about this and tell him not to sell them anymore."

Naturally, the Yang family's horses could not be given to the garrison camp for free. Yang Zhengshan was not so generous as to give away a hundred war horses directly. The most he could do was give the garrison camp a 10% discount. The money owed still had to be paid.

With these one hundred war horses, Yang Zhengshan can ask Wang Bin for another one hundred horses and he will have three hundred cavalrymen.

Afterwards, Yang Zhengshan discussed the matter of the horse farm with Yang Mingcheng and let Yang Mingcheng go back.

The next morning, Yang Zhengshan sent Yu Qingyi and others out of the city.

This time, many people from the Yang family went to Chongshan Pass. In addition to Yu Qingyi, there were Yang Yunyan and Yang Yunxue, more than ten maids and twenty guards.

As for Wang and Liang, Wang was in confinement after giving birth to a baby girl more than half a month ago. Yang Zhengshan named her Wanyi.

Liang has been married for almost three years. She was diagnosed with pregnancy three months ago and is now staying at home to take care of the baby.

Speaking of Liang, she has been very anxious in the past two years. After getting married, she has been hoping to have a son. This wait lasted for more than two years. Now she has finally got her wish. Liang is very careful and has put all her thoughts on her belly.

It's not just Liang who wants a child, Yu Qingyi does too.

After two years of marriage, Yu Qingyi's belly was still still, which made her very upset and often unhappy.

Yang Zhengshan was also troubled by this. He could help with the matter of having a baby, but he couldn't make the decision!
There is nothing wrong with his or Yu Qingyi's health, so whether they can get pregnant depends entirely on God's will.

The key is that he cannot persuade Yu Qingyi. After all, he appears to have many children and grandchildren now, so it doesn't matter even if he no longer has any other children.

If he tried to persuade Yu Qingyi, it would seem like he was just talking without any pain.

So Yu Qingyi has to bear this matter alone.

In fact, he also wanted a child, but since he couldn't get pregnant, he couldn't be impatient and could only take it slow.

(End of this chapter)