Chapter 289: Huai Jiangbo Passes Away

In the blink of an eye, more than ten days passed, and Lu Wenyuan's spring examination ended smoothly.

Perhaps it was because Yang Mingcheng was well prepared, or perhaps it was because Lu Wenyuan was in good health, but in any case, the more than ten days of exams did not drag down Lu Wenyuan.

When Lu Wenyuan came out after taking his last exam, he was still full of energy and didn't show any sign of fatigue at all.

"How was it? How did you do on the test?"

As soon as Lu Wenyuan came out, Yang Mingcheng couldn't wait to ask.

He did not dare to ask the first two times. After bringing Lu Wenyuan home, he just asked the servants to serve him carefully. He even spoke in a low voice in front of Lu Wenyuan, for fear that he would accidentally affect Lu Wenyuan's mentality.

Now that the exams were finally over, Yang Mingcheng could no longer hold it in and finally asked what he had been holding in his heart for the past few days.

Seeing Yang Mingcheng's expectant look, Lu Wenyuan smiled and said, "Brother, I have done my best, but whether I can pass the exam depends on God's will!"

Although Lu Wenyuan was very confident in his knowledge, he was not absolutely sure about this kind of thing.

"Haha, that's good, that's good! My father said that although some things are planned by man but disposed by God, everything is man-made. As long as you do your job well, God will definitely choose you." Yang Mingcheng laughed.

Lu Wenyuan's eyes lit up when he heard this, "Uncle, that's a good idea!"

"Of course, your uncle is now General Dingguo!"

When talking about his biological father, Yang Mingcheng's face was filled with unconcealable pride.

Lu Wenyuan smiled. He was also proud of Yang Zhengshan, but he was a reserved person and would not show it.

The Spring Examination is over, but the results will not be announced until April. After that, there will be the Palace Examination. I don’t know whether Lu Wenyuan can enter the Palace Examination.

……

In the study of the Central Military Governor's Mansion, Ningguo Duke Zhou Mao was looking at the official documents sent by Yang Zhengshan.

"saltworks!"

Zhou Mao frowned slightly. Building a salt field is no trivial matter.

Since this involves the interests of the Salt Transport Bureau, why has the Five Military Governor's Office never added salt fields? Is it because they don't know that salt fields can make money?
No, it’s because they can’t afford to offend the civil servants in the Salt Transport Bureau.

Although the Salt Transport Bureau is not of high rank, civil servants have always liked to stick together, with teachers and students, disciples, fellow townsmen, and classmates, and the relationships are complicated.

In particular, there is a Salt Inspector in charge of the Salt Transport Bureau, and the Salt Inspector is involved with the Censorate. Once someone wants to interfere in the salt industry, it will cause a lot of trouble.

The Five Military Governor's Office was also afraid that these civil servants would cause trouble, so it never added any salt fields.

Zhou Mao was very familiar with the interest groups in the salt industry, and he didn't want to cause a quarrel, so he thought for a while and finally decided to reject Yang Zhengshan's proposal.

He personally wrote a letter to Yang Zhengshan, describing the troubles of the Salt Transport Bureau in great detail, which could be regarded as an explanation to Yang Zhengshan.

If it were someone else, he certainly wouldn't be so friendly and would just send the document back without any explanation.

But Yang Zhengshan is different, not because Yang Zhengshan is now General Dingguo and commander of the Tenglong Guard, but because Yang Zhengshan is considered one of them.

Zhou Mao would naturally be much more friendly towards his own people.

……

A few days later, Yang Zhengshan received Zhou Mao's letter and sighed, "I knew this wouldn't be easy!"

He stood at the study window with his hands behind his back, looking at the courtyard outside.

It is the end of March now, and the temperature in Liaodong region has returned to above zero degrees. It is the time when all things begin to revive. The sycamore trees in the courtyard have begun to sprout, and the tender green buds are curled up, as if it is not yet the mild spring.

Yang Zhengshan stroked his long beard and looked at the tender buds, but his mind had already drifted far away.

The water in the court is deep and muddy.

Although there was no party strife in the Darong court, it was filled with various factions.

For example, among the military generals, there are nobles who relied on the influence of their ancestors, and there are also generals who climbed to the top through military exploits.

The nobles are also divided into different factions. There are the old factions, such as the Changping Marquis Mansion which is a typical representative of the old faction, there are also new nobles, and royal relatives.

In addition, there are those who have worked together, such as military generals from a border town. They have fought together and have a comradeship. Perhaps they have also had intertwined interests and formed a small group.

For example, Yang Zhengshan and Wang Bin are a small group.

Yang Zhengshan and Zhou Lan were relatives and friends, so Yang Zhengshan always had the mark of the Ningguo Mansion on him.

But Yang Zhengshan climbed to the top through his own military exploits.

As Yang Zhengshan's status and official position became higher and higher, his network of contacts became wider and wider. Once something happened to him, many people might be involved.

You have to know that it has been less than ten years since Yang Zhengshan went to Chongshan Town, and he has accumulated so many connections in such a short time.

How many connections do those officials who have been in the officialdom for twenty or thirty years have? How many connections do those official families who have been in the officialdom for generations have?

The Salt Transport Bureau is just a government office, but it represents the interests of many people, and these people will form a special group because of their interests.

Many officials of the Salt Transport Bureau, big salt merchants, and even some officials of the Ministry of Revenue and the Censorate made money from the salt industry.

Anyone who wants to interfere with their interests will be rejected by them.

Zhou Mao was not afraid of them, but he felt that there was no need to get entangled with these people over a salt field.

Simply put, it's too troublesome.

Yang Zhengshan understood this, and Liu Zhe also understood this, so Liu Zhe suggested that Yang Zhengshan go to Zheng Xiao to use his connections in the Salt Transport Bureau.

But the prerequisite for finding Zheng Xiao is to first get the Central Military Governor's Office to agree to Tenglongwei's construction of a salt field.

What can Yang Zhengshan do if Zhou Mao disagrees?

Tell him about the necessity of building a salt field in Tenglongwei?
Yang Zhengshan felt it was useless.

The key reason why Zhou Mao disagreed was not these, but his fear of trouble.

If he wanted to gain Zhou Mao's approval, he had to solve the problems at the Salt Transport Bureau first.

The solution was not to get the Salt Transport Bureau to agree to let him build a salt field, but to prevent the Salt Transport Bureau from causing trouble for him and the Central Military Governor's Office because of the salt field issue.

"So we have to find a reason that even the Salt Transport Bureau can't refute!"

After Yang Zhengshan sorted out his thoughts, he came to this conclusion. He stroked his beard and raised the corners of his mouth slightly.

An irrefutable reason!
It's not without it.

Don't forget why he came to Tenglongwei?
Turning back and sitting at the desk, Yang Zhengshan began to write.

It is difficult to affect the interests of the Salt Transport Bureau on your own.

But he can leverage.

Don't forget that he still has a big banner to wave.

That's the old emperor!

It was the emperor who asked him to come to Tenglongwei.

Yang Zhengshan wrote a long memorial in a very eloquent manner, detailing what he had done in the past few months since he came to Tenglongwei, and talked about the difficulties he faced and the solutions he thought of. Finally, he mentioned the matter of the salt field.

There are some skills in reporting work to your boss. You need to explain your contributions as well as your problems. Of course, it is not enough to just talk about the problems. You also need to talk about the solutions you have thought of.

This way your boss will know that you have done things before, are working hard now, and will have a lot of things to do in the future.

After writing the memorial, Yang Zhengshan invited Liu Zhe to revise it.

"Brother Yang, you should read more books every day!" Liu Zhe said with disdain while revising his work.

The corner of Yang Zhengshan's mouth twitched slightly.

Haha, it’s not certain who of us reads more!

Uh, no.

But in terms of the amount of reading he has done, he is really not as good as Liu Zhe. Liu Zhe really likes reading. Although he has gone through nine years of compulsory education, three years of high school, and four years of college, he is really no match for Liu Zhe.

"Hehe, I'm already this old, so let's just forget it!" This was all Yang Zhengshan could say.

"Live and learn!"

“Every profession has its specialties!” Yang Zhengshan felt that he was not unlearned. He often read military books and travel notes to increase his understanding of the world.

“Learn extensively, inquire carefully, think carefully, discern clearly, and practice diligently.”

"..."

Yang Zhengshan felt like he was out of his mind as he actually wanted to argue with Liu Zhe.

He stopped talking and sipped the tea carefully.

Liu Zhe didn't seem to want to argue with him, he was just encouraging him to study.

Well, this guy has a bit of a know-it-all quality.

After Liu Zhe finished revising it, Yang Zhengshan copied it again before sending it out.

As soon as he sent the memorial, Wu Hai came to the government office in a hurry, "Master, there is an urgent letter from Kyoto!"

"It's urgent!"

Yang Zhengshan's expression became serious and he quickly took the letter and read it.

The letter was sent by Wu Zheng, and the content of the letter only contained one sentence: "Huai Jiangbo has passed away!"

Yang Zhengshan looked at this sentence and didn't react for a moment.

What did Wu Zheng mean by this? He hurriedly sent someone to send a letter back just for this matter?

"Uncle Huaijiang, who is Uncle Huaijiang?"

Yang Zhengshan murmured in a low voice.

"What happened to Uncle Huaijiang?" Liu Zhe, who had not left yet, suddenly asked.

"Uncle Huaijiang passed away due to illness. Brother Liu, who is this Uncle Huaijiang?" Yang Zhengshan looked at Liu Zhe.

Liu Zhe looked at him with strange eyes and said, "You don't know!"

"Know what?" Yang Zhengshan was even more confused.

"The marriage between General Zhou and Earl Huaijiang!" Liu Zhe said.

Yang Zhengshan was stunned, then looked at the letter in his hand, his face instantly turned gloomy.

Miss Jiang Bo Sui Yian!
Isn’t this the person Zhou Lan is going to marry?
But now Huai Jiangbo has passed away!

What does this mean?
This means that Zhou Lan will never be able to get married again, and that Zhou Lan’s reputation as a bad husband will become even worse. Maybe Zhou Lan will never be able to get married in this lifetime!
Although Yang Zhengshan doesn't care about many of the feudal customs here, he still hopes that Zhou Lan will have a happy marriage.

But now~~
"Did he really die of illness?" Yang Zhengshan couldn't help but think in the direction of conspiracy theories.

This is too much of a coincidence!
Zhou Lan’s first two fiancés also died before they got married, and the same is true for this third one.

Once is a coincidence, twice can also be considered a coincidence.

But this is the third time!
There are not so many coincidences in the world!
Yang Zhengshan paced back and forth in the study with his hands behind his back. He wanted to help Zhou Lan, but after thinking for a long time, he realized that he really couldn't help with this matter.

The person is already dead, and he is not a god, so he certainly cannot bring the dead back to life.

Moreover, he was far away in Liaodong, thousands of miles away from the capital.

He even seemed unable to utter a peaceful word.

"Oh~~" Yang Zhengshan let out a helpless sigh.

Liu Zhe beside him also shook his head with a look of regret, "General Zhou is also a heroine, but this marriage is, is..."

Even he, who was knowledgeable, couldn't think of any words to describe it.

Yang Zhengshan thought about it and wrote another letter to Wu Zheng, asking him to pay more attention to Zhou Lan.

It seems that this is all he can do now.

(End of this chapter)