Chapter 288 Spring
After finishing the small talk, Yang Zhengshan turned the topic to business, "By the way, I have something I want to ask Brother Liu!"

"Brother Yang, please speak!"

"If I want to build a saltworks in Tenglongwei, I wonder if the court will allow it?"

"Build a salt field!" Liu Zhe's expression became serious. "The number of salt fields in the imperial court has not changed for more than 30 years!"

"Hmm!" Yang Zhengshan picked up the tea calmly.

After a moment of contemplation, Liu Zhe said, "It's not impossible, but it requires the approval of the Central Military Governor's Office! And if Brother Yang wants to make money from the salt fields, it's best to go to the Liaodong Salt Transport Bureau to build relationships."

The salt fields of Dayong were all located in local areas, but they were not under the jurisdiction of the local government. Instead, they were under the jurisdiction of the Salt Transport Commissioner's Office of the Ministry of Revenue. Each salt field had a commander and a secretary who was responsible for management.

However, there are exceptions to salt fields, namely, salt fields under military control, or salt fields belonging to the Five Military Governor's Office.

The salt fields of the Five Military Commanderies were mainly built for the imperial guards and some camp soldiers. The army had many soldiers and they were relatively concentrated, and they needed a lot of salt on a daily basis. If conditions allowed, it would naturally be more convenient to build a salt field.

For example, the imperial guards of Kyoto had a salt field in Kaijin Town, east of Kyoto.

Some other garrisons and naval forces near the sea also had salt fields.

However, the salt fields of the Five Military Governorates are relatively small in scale, and the output of the salt fields cannot be sold to salt merchants.

Of course, the imperial court has its own regulations, and the garrisons have their own methods. They cannot sell the salt produced by the salt fields to salt merchants, but they can sell it to other salt fields.

Moreover, this matter has become a tacitly approved thing, both the Five Military Commanderies and the Salt Transport Bureau have tacitly approved of it.

The reason is very simple. The Five Military Commandery certainly does not mind the subordinate garrisons making more money, and the Salt Transport Bureau does not care about who dries and boils the salt, but who transports and sells the salt, that is, salt permits.

Salt permits represent huge profits. The bigwigs in the Salt Transport Bureau can make a lot of money with them, but they will not snatch food from the poor farmers.

But if Yang Zhengshan wanted to sell salt to other salt fields, he would naturally need to go through the relationship with the Liaodong Salt Transport Bureau.

There is no big problem with the Central Military Governor's Office, but Yang Zhengshan has no connection with the Salt Transport Bureau.

"Brother Liu, do you know anyone from the Liaodong Salt Transport Bureau?" Yang Zhengshan's purpose of asking Liu Zhe for advice was to see if Liu Zhe had any connections with the Salt Transport Bureau.

Liu Zhe smiled when he heard this and lowered his head to take a sip of tea.

Yang Zhengshan looked at him helplessly, "Brother Liu, just say what you want to say!"

Liu Zhe is not a fool, how could he not see Yang Zhengshan's purpose.

"It's a pity that I don't know any officials from the Salt Transport Bureau!" Liu Zhe said with a smile.

"Really don't know him?" Yang Zhengshan looked at him.

"I really don't know him!" Liu Zhe said affirmatively.

Yang Zhengshan frowned, "Then we have to think of another way!"

Liu Zhe laughed, "Brother Yang, I don't know the officials of the Salt Transport Bureau, but I know the Salt Inspector of Liaodong!"

Yang Zhengshan was stunned, then he slapped his forehead. He was only thinking about the Salt Transport Bureau, but forgot that there was an Inspector of Salt above the bureau.

Although the rank of the Salt Inspector was not high, his actual status and authority were higher than those of the Salt Transport Bureau.

"Brother Liu, I'm talking to you about serious business, so stop joking with me!" Yang Zhengshan looked at Liu Zhe with some resentment. This guy was obviously teasing him just now.

"You can't blame me for this. You can only blame Brother Yang for paying too little attention to official affairs. Doesn't Brother Yang know that the new Liaodong Salt Inspector is Zheng Xiao?" Liu Zhe said with a smile.

"Zheng Xiao! This name sounds familiar!" Yang Zhengshan stroked his beard and fell into deep thought. Suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind, "He is Mr. Liu's student!"

When Liu Yuanfu came to Beijing, Zheng Xiao happened to go to Chongshan Town to supervise the house confiscation in the case of treason. At that time, Zheng Xiao also visited him on behalf of Liu Yuanfu.

He still had a deep impression of Zheng Xiao, but the two had only met once, and it had been a while, so he didn't think about it for a while.

"Then should I send someone to congratulate them?" Yang Zhengshan smiled again.

Liu Zhe didn't say anything, just sipped his tea casually.

He is just a scholar, and he only needs to give some advice to Yang Zhengshan. As for other things, he is not suitable to come forward.

Yang Zhengshan did not force it. He understood Liu Zhe's temperament and Liu Yuanfu's character.

Liu Yuanfu is a stubborn old man, but he is not insensitive to the ways of the world. His stubbornness mainly lies in his strong principles. However, he is still very sincere to his relatives and friends.

Liu Yuanfu has taken good care of the Yang family over the years, firstly because the two families had formed a deep friendship when they were in Yinghe Fort, and secondly because Liu Yuanfu recognized Yang Zhengshan. In Liu Yuanfu's eyes, Yang Zhengshan was undoubtedly a good official who could help the military households live a good life.

...There are two provincial governments in the northeast of Dayong, namely Liaoyuan Provincial Government and Pingyuan Provincial Government, and the Liaoyuan Provincial Government is also known as the Liaodong region.

However, the jurisdiction of the Liaodong Salt Transport Administration was not limited to the salt industry of the Liaoyuan Provincial Administration, but also included the Pingyuan Provincial Administration and the Shanhe Provincial Administration in the south. It was just that the salt industry of these three provincial administrations was mostly concentrated in the Liaodong area, so the Salt Transport Administration was named Liaodong.

The Salt Transport Administration's office was located in Liao'an Prefecture, which was the seat of the Liaoyuan Provincial Administration.

Liao'an Prefecture is not far from Tenglongwei. Liao'an Prefecture is located to the south of Qinghua Prefecture. Tenglongwei is about three hundred miles away from Liao'an Prefecture City. However, this road is not easy to travel because there is no official road between Tenglongwei and Liao'an Prefecture City.

After talking with Liu Zhe, Yang Zhengshan thought about it for a while and then wrote an official document and had it sent to the Central Military Governor's Office.

If you want to build a salt field, you must first obtain the consent of the Central Military Governor's Office, and then you can go through the Salt Transport Bureau. This is the process. If you go to the Salt Transport Bureau for consent first, it means that you are not taking the Central Military Governor's Office seriously.

As for whether the Central Military Governor's Office would agree, Yang Zhengshan was a little unsure.

Although he had the support of Duke Ningguo in the Central Military Governor's Office, he had never actually met the old duke. The things he had done before were all reasonable and not out of line, but the construction of the salt field this time was somewhat out of line and seemed a bit unprofessional.

He also didn't know whether Duke Ningguo would agree to his request.

However, although he cannot go to the Salt Transport Bureau to handle the salt field matters now, he can go and congratulate Zheng Xiao first.

Build up relationships with them in advance so that you don’t have to rely on them at the last minute when you need their help.

Yang Zhengshan thought about it and wrote another letter to Luo Shang in Chongshan Pass, asking him to deliver a gift to Zheng Xiao on his behalf.

Although the affairs of the salt field and salt industry were led by Yang Zhengshan, it would definitely be Luo Shang who would be in the front stage in the future. It was necessary to let Luo Shang meet Zheng Xiao first, and also let Luo Shang know more about the Salt Transport Bureau.

Just as Yang Zhengshan was planning the salt field and salt business, the three-yearly spring examination in Kyoto also kicked off.

Kyoto is really lively in March, especially on the ninth day of the first lunar month. The streets are full of horse racing tracks, and the traffic becomes more congested the further south you go.

Yang Mingcheng and Lu Wenyuan were considered to have arrived early. They left the house at daybreak, but when they approached the examination room, they were still stuck behind. They had no choice but to get off the carriage and walk over.

The situation was similar on the streets. Many candidates taking part in the Spring Examination had to get off their vehicles and walk.

The temperature in Kyoto in March is not high, especially in the morning, it is still very cold.

Lu Wenyuan was wearing a thick cloak and walking forward in good spirits.

Yang Mingcheng and three guards stood on his left and right, helping him carry the examination basket and protecting him to prevent anyone from bumping into him.

The more it is at this time, the more careful we must be, because if an accident occurs, Lu Wenyuan will have to wait another three years.

"Wenyuan, I have prepared two small pots of herbal wine for you. If you feel cold, you can take a sip. Herbal wine can not only drive away the cold, but also refresh you."

"In addition, I have prepared some ginseng slices for you. If you are sick, just put one in your mouth and take a nap. Maybe your illness will be cured!"

The Spring Examination was held in three sessions, each lasting three days. During these three days, candidates could only stay in the examination room, and could only eat, drink, defecate, urinate and sleep in a one-square-meter examination room.

If one does not eat well and sleep well, after an exam, a candidate with a weak body may fall seriously ill, and a candidate with a good body may also feel mentally exhausted.

"Don't worry, brother. I will take good care of myself!" Lu Wenyuan said with a faint smile.

Lu Wenyuan was full of respect and closeness to Yang Mingcheng. Although Yang Mingcheng sometimes acted naive and even a little fussy, it was undeniable that Yang Mingcheng was really good at heart and had always been sincere to him and the Lu family.

"Well, study hard when you get in. It doesn't matter even if you don't do well. Dad said you are still young. Even if you fail this year, you can still take the exam again in three years!" Yang Mingcheng said with a naive smile.

Anyone else would definitely not say such words, after all, such words are somewhat unlucky.

What does it mean if you don’t pass this year, you can take the exam again in three years!
If these words were heard by other people, they would probably be understood as a curse.

However, Lu Wenyuan didn't care about these at all. He always had an elegant smile on his face and his eyes were always full of confidence. He was not so fragile that he would collapse mentally because of a single word.

Besides, he knew that Yang Mingcheng said this with good intentions and didn't want him to be too nervous.

As they were talking, they had already arrived at the entrance of the examination room. "Brother, I'll go in first. You guys should go back early too!"

"Okay, go in quickly! I'll pick you up after the exam!" Yang Mingcheng looked up at the long line in front of the examination room and said.

One had to queue up and undergo a body search to enter the examination room. Lu Wenyuan waved his hand, took the examination basket and went to queue up.

Yang Mingcheng stared at him until he entered the examination room before he felt relieved and turned back to the house that the Yang family bought in Kyoto.

The Yang family’s house in Kyoto was not big, just a small house with two entrances, similar to the small house that Zhou Lan gave to Yang Zhengshan in Chongshanguan.

However, the price of this house is not cheap. In Chongshanguan, such a house would cost about one thousand taels of silver, but in Kyoto it cost eight thousand taels of silver.

(End of this chapter)