Chapter 273 Heavy Snow
"Does the old man have any objection to you coming to Liaodong?" Yang Zhengshan asked.

Liu Zhe waved his hand and said, "He is very busy now and won't take care of me at all. It just so happens that I also plan to travel around in the next two years. I will stay here for a year or so, and after the autumn examination next year, I will take Lin Zhan to travel and study for a while."

"Lin Zhan has great talent, I'm really worried that you'll delay him!"

Yang Zhengshan felt a little embarrassed.

What Liu Zhe said was right. He really couldn't help Lin Zhan with his studies.

However, he didn't expect that Liu Zhe was so optimistic about Lin Zhan.

He just wrote a letter and this guy came running over.

It seems that this old man wants to accept Lin Zhan as his disciple.

Not only does he have to teach Lin Zhan, but he also has to take Lin Zhan on study tours.

"Ahem, Brother Liu, are you mocking my lack of knowledge?" Yang Zhengshan coughed lightly and said somewhat embarrassedly.

However, Liu Zhe didn't give him any face and looked at him with an expression of "is it not?"

Yang Zhengshan couldn't help but complain in his heart.

I am a college student after all, how can I be considered ignorant?

I'm not as good as you in terms of all sorts of jargon, but I guarantee that I can crush you in mathematics, physics and chemistry.

Even though I’m smaller now, I can still crush you.

Although he complained in his heart, Yang Zhengshan was still very happy about Liu Zhe's arrival.

At noon, Yang Zhengshan prepared a large table of delicious wine and food to entertain Liu Zhe.

But the happiest person was Lin Zhan. After seeing Liu Zhe, the boy was so happy that he didn't know what to do.

That day, Liu Zhe took on the role of a teacher and began to guide Lin Zhan in his studies.

Yang Zhengshan was naturally not interested in these things, so he asked Wu Hai to arrange a small courtyard for Liu Zhe and went back to his official duties.

……

“It’s snowing! It’s snowing!”

In the dead of winter, large flakes of snow were floating down from the sky above Tenglongwei. In the Yang family yard, a group of little ones were cheering and playing in the snow.

Yang Zhengshan walked out of the main courtyard and looked at the playful little ones with a kind smile on his face.

He did not go over to disturb the little guys' play, but just looked at them from a distance and walked towards the front yamen.

Although it is called the front yamen, the Yang family is actually quite a distance away from the yamen.

The Lan family's mansion occupied half of the Acropolis. The front yard of the Lan family was converted into the Weisi Yamen, which was about two miles away from the courtyard where the Yang family lived.

However, the Lin family's mansion has changed a lot now. The original towering walls have been demolished, and each courtyard has become an independent mansion. Many idle or unimportant places have also been cleared out. After the spring of next year, some houses and shops will be built.

Yang Zhengshan still preserved the Lan family's former garden, but now the garden has become completely open, with no walls blocking it. There are only a few exquisite pavilions around it, and anyone in the city can come and play.

Unfortunately, there are not many ordinary people in the Acropolis now, and almost no one comes to enjoy the beautiful snow scene.

Yang Zhengshan wanted to enjoy today's snow scene, but there were still many matters waiting for him to deal with in the yamen. He had no choice but to just take a quick look at it and then came to the yamen.

Heavy snow is both a good thing and a bad thing.

Auspicious snow indicates a good harvest, which is a good thing.

But for those military households whose houses are dilapidated, this is a bad thing.

A heavy snowfall might very likely cause their houses to collapse.

Although Yang Zhengshan had already given orders a few days ago, asking all guard posts to take precautions against problems caused by heavy snow.

It is definitely unrealistic to renovate the military households’ houses now. What they can do is to find ways to reinforce those weak houses so that the military households can get through the winter first.

The snow fell heavier and heavier, and when Yang Zhengshan arrived at the yamen, the sky and the earth seemed to be filled with snowflakes.

"grown ups!"

Yang Zhengshan walked into the yamen and ran into Xie Yuan.

"You go and inspect it in person today. I don't want to see anyone being crushed to death by collapsed buildings!" Yang Zhengshan ordered directly.

Xie Yuan smiled and said, "I'm ready, we'll be leaving soon!"

He has worked under Yang Zhengshan for several years and naturally knows Yang Zhengshan's style of doing things.

So Yang Zhengshan didn't need to give any instructions for this matter, he had already made preparations.

Yang Zhengshan nodded, said nothing more, and strode into his study.

In the study, Lu Wenhua was already waiting for him.

"What's the matter?" Yang Zhengshan sat down and asked.

"Sir, we don't have enough cotton cloth!" Lu Wenhua said.

Yang Zhengshan frowned and said, "Didn't we distribute a batch of cotton cloth before?"

Tenglongwei is not short of food now, but it is short of cotton clothes.

Those poor military households didn't even have a decent piece of clothing, let alone cotton-padded clothes. So not long ago, Yang Zhengshan contacted Luo Shang and asked him to mobilize a large amount of cotton cloth from Jing'an Prefecture and send it over.

Nowadays, the Luo family has a lot of business in Jing'an Prefecture, and Jing'an Prefecture is adjacent to Qinghua Prefecture. The distance to transport supplies from Jing'an Prefecture to Tenglongwei is less than two hundred miles.

"The cotton cloth we distributed can only make two sets of cotton clothes. The military households with a small population can still make do with it, but those with a larger population have not enough to wear!" Lu Wenhua said helplessly.

He originally thought that the cotton cloth distributed before was enough, but yesterday he visited several farms and military settlements and found that many military households still lacked cotton clothes.

How poor can a family be?
The poorest people are not those who have patched clothes. The poorest are those who have no clothes to wear at all.

It's okay in the summer, just find a piece of rag to cover it, but in the winter~~
"Not only cotton-padded clothes, but also cotton-padded quilts!" Lu Wenhua's face was full of depression. The poverty of the Tenglongwei military households was far beyond his imagination.

Yang Zhengshan rubbed his eyebrows with a headache.

He also understood the poverty of the military households. Before, a thousand households were all wearing clothes full of patches, not to mention other ordinary military households.

The Lan family exploited the military households of Tenglongwei so harshly that they could hardly survive.

If he hadn't come, it would probably be a matter of a few years before the Tenglong Guard would only have the Lan Family and the Tenglong Vanguard left, and all the other thousand-household units would have been reduced to ruins.

"I will contact the Luo family and ask them to send another batch of cotton cloth!" Yang Zhengshan had no other choice but to ask Luo Shang to send more cotton cloth.

However, the cotton cloth sent by the Luo family was bought by the government with money. It is impossible for the Luo family to give things to the government for free, and Yang Zhengshan would not do the same.

But if this happens, the Weisi Yamen will have to spend a large sum of money.

Before, he was happy that he could keep the money and grain confiscated from the Lan family, but as time went on, he found that the money and grain confiscated from the Lan family could not be spent at all.

There are too many places where Tamron needs to spend money.

The problem of insufficient cotton cloth was imminent. After Lu Wenhua left, Yang Zhengshan immediately called Wu Zhan over.

Ding Qiu did not return to the Yang family now, but went to Qinghua City. Now the Yang family’s guards are managed by Wu Zhan.

"Take your men to Jing'an Prefecture and ask Luo Shang to deliver another batch of cotton cloth!"

Yang Zhengshan ordered.

"A batch? Master, how much is this batch?" Wu Zhan asked.

"Send as many as you can over here!" Yang Zhengshan took a deep breath.

The winter in Liaodong is freezing cold, so the more cotton cloth the better.

Yang Zhengshan is not worried about the large amount of cotton cloth being shipped in, but he is worried that the Luo family has run out of cotton cloth in Jing'an Prefecture.

Although the Luo family's business has grown a lot in recent years, the Luo family's business is mainly concentrated in Chongshan Town. There are only a few stores in Jing'an Prefecture, and the goods stored are probably not too much.

"By the way, let Luo Shang find time to come over!" Yang Zhengshan said again.

If Tenglongwei wants to develop, commercial development is inevitable. Next, Yang Zhengshan will need the cooperation of the Luo family, so he wants Luo Shang to come over and discuss what kind of business Tenglongwei can do.

Wu Zhan responded and went to prepare.

……

A day later, Wu Zhan came to Jing'an Prefecture with four Yang family guards.

Jing'an Prefecture is the only way from Liaodong area to Chongshan Pass, and all caravans heading to Chongshan Pass must pass through Jing'an Prefecture.

At the same time, the official road of Jing'an Prefecture City also connects to several prefecture cities in the Liaobei region, such as Qinghua Prefecture. Generally speaking, a large-scale convoy heading to Qinghua Prefecture must first pass through Jing'an Prefecture City.

Of course, if there are only three or two people riding horses, there is no need to take the long detour via the official road. You can directly enter the territory of Qinghua Prefecture from the eastern area of ​​Jing'an Prefecture.

Simply put, Jing'an Prefecture City is an important transportation hub leading to Chongshan Town and several prefecture cities in the Liaobei region, so the business in Jing'an Prefecture City is very prosperous.

In recent years, the Luo family has bought many shops in Jing'an Prefecture, and their business is mainly focused on silk fabrics and embroidered jewelry.

In addition to the cloth shop and brocade shop, Luo Shang also opened a jewelry workshop, selling various gold and silver jewelry.

However, the Luo family's business in Jing'an Prefecture can only be considered small-scale, and they cannot be considered big businessmen.

Luo Shang usually does not stay in Jing'an Prefecture. He has been very busy in recent years. The business of Chongshan Pass is handed over to his wife Luo Zhang, and the business of Anyuan City is handed over to Luo Zhen. He travels back and forth, often to the south and north of the Yangtze River to contact sources of goods and manage relationships.

By now, the Luo family is considered a wealthy business family, at least one of the richest business families in Chongshan Town.

Wu Zhan arrived at Jing'an Prefecture and found Luo An, the owner of Luo's Cloth Shop, with ease.

Luo An is a member of Luo Shang's clan, that is, the Jizhou Luo family.

As Luo Shang's business grew bigger and bigger, he naturally needed more help, so in the past few years Luo Shang found many fellow clansmen from the Luo family in Jizhou to come and help.

Luo An is probably in his early forties, with a pointed face and monkey-like appearance, giving people a very cunning feeling.

Of course, facing Wu Zhan, he didn't dare to be the slightest bit cunning.

But when he heard Wu Zhan coming to ask for cotton cloth again, Luo An said bitterly: "Master Wu, it's not that I don't want to transport the cotton cloth to Tenglongwei, it's just that I don't have any cotton cloth in my hands!"

"The piece of cotton cloth that was shipped to Tamronwei last time is all the stock for our stores!"

Wu Zhan frowned and asked, "Is there any way to get cotton cloth from somewhere else?"

This was Yang Zhengshan's instruction, and he certainly couldn't return empty-handed.

(End of this chapter)