Chapter 310 Return to Tenglongwei
At noon the next day, Yang Zhengshan returned to Tenglongwei.

Everything was very stable in Tenglongwei and nothing went wrong.

With Xie Yuan, Wu Chongzhe, Yang Mingzhen and others watching over them, Tenglong Guards wouldn't get into any trouble. It was only because Yang Zhengshan withdrew officers and soldiers from the camp that the training in the camp was suspended for more than half a month.

After returning to Tenglongwei, Yang Zhengshan first dealt with matters within the yamen, and only returned home after making sure there were no major problems.

At home, Yang Mingzhi and Yang Minghao had returned two days ago.

Yang Zhengshan first went back to the main courtyard to check on Yu Qingyi and Xiao Mingzhao. He had sent people to deliver letters back these days, so Yu Qingyi was not too worried about him.

But Xiao Mingzhao seemed a little unfamiliar with him.

"This silly boy, we haven't seen each other for just a few days, and he doesn't even recognize his father!" Yang Zhengshan complained in frustration as he looked at little Mingzhao who didn't let him hug him.

Yu Qingyi covered her mouth and chuckled, "Okay, go wash up first. You are covered in dust, so you'd better not hold the child!"

Yang Zhengshan had no choice but to pinch Xiao Mingzhao's face hard. Xiao Mingzhao reached out and slapped him, then glared at him angrily.

This kid seems to have a bad temper!
After washing up, Yang Zhengshan called Yang Mingzhi and Yang Minghao to the study.

"What's the situation in Kyoto?" Yang Zhengshan asked.

"After we sent the memorial to the Imperial City, His Majesty summoned the ministers from the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Court, and the Censorate that same day!"

"Master Liu said that His Majesty was furious and ordered a strict investigation into the case of the Liaodong Salt Transport Bureau!"

"In addition, His Majesty also reprimanded Prince Xin, fined him a year's salary, and confined him to his home for half a year!"

Yang Mingzhi said softly.

After they delivered the memorial to the imperial city, they did not return immediately, but went to Liu Mansion to ask for an audience with Liu Yuanfu.

They waited for most of the day before Liu Yuanfu returned home. It was Liu Yuanfu who told them what happened in the imperial city.

"Just a one-year salary deduction and half-year house arrest?" Yang Zhengshan stroked his beard, thinking.

Deducting salary was not a light punishment for Prince Xin.

The prince's salary was very high, including 50,000 dan of rice, 15,000 strings of cash, 40 pieces of brocade, 300 pieces of silk, 100 pieces of gauze and 100 pieces of silk, 200 yin of salt, 1,000 jin of tea, 50 horses' fodder per month, and so on.

All in all, the annual salary was about 50,000 taels of silver.

A one-year salary deduction is already a lot. After all, the palace is so big, and it must cost a lot of money to support it. Prince Xin must be very uncomfortable if he only takes in money and doesn't spend it for a year.

But compared with the money he made from Luo Fu, this year's salary seemed insignificant.

As for being grounded for half a year!

This punishment is actually more severe than a salary deduction. A prince who wants to compete for the throne will not be able to appear in the court for half a year, and will not be able to maintain relationships with his party members for half a year.

If Prince Xin's power in the court were to weaken a little, the followers he had worked so hard to win over would be completely destroyed.

"Is this punishment light or heavy?" Yang Zhengshan was a little confused.

To put it bluntly, it did not cut off Prince Xin's chance to compete for the throne.

To put it mildly, the blow to Prince Xin was not light, making him even more vulnerable in the fight for the throne.

Yang Zhengshan was somewhat unable to guess what Emperor Chengping was thinking. It was obvious that Emperor Chengping had been preparing for the transition of imperial power, yet he was still unwilling to give the crown prince any reassurance.

Those princes should have been sent to their fiefdoms long ago, but Emperor Chengping has never allowed them to do so. It would be strange if the crown prince could feel at ease.

Yang Zhengshan shook his head slightly. The old emperor was too cunning, so he should worry less about it. Anyway, he couldn't reach the old emperor now.

The affairs in Liao'an Prefecture came to a temporary end. After Yang Zhengshan returned to Tenglongwei, he immediately focused his energy on training the soldiers.

Basic training is the most important training for soldiers, because it is the only chance for ordinary soldiers to drink spiritual spring water.

As the number of soldiers under his command increased, Yang Zhengshan could no longer guarantee that every soldier could drink the spiritual spring water regularly, let alone ensure that every military household under his jurisdiction could drink the spiritual spring water.

All he could do was to ensure that every soldier had the opportunity to drink the spiritual spring water, that is, when training in the camp.

During basic training, Yang Zhengshan would go to the barracks every two or three days, and each time he would pour spiritual spring water into several wells in the barracks.

That's right, dump it into the well.

There was no other way around it. There were two or three thousand people training together, and there were more than a dozen kitchens alone. It was impossible for Yang Zhengshan to add spiritual spring water to each kitchen.

Although there are also six wells, it is definitely much more convenient than going to the kitchen.

Moreover, he now had so much spiritual spring water that he could not use it all, so he didn't care whether it would be wasted.

A large amount of spiritual spring water was poured into the well, which at least ensured that every soldier could drink the spiritual spring water.

Not only in the barracks, Yang Zhengshan also poured a lot of spiritual spring water into the wells at home and in the yamen.

Now everyone in the family and the government office knew that Yang Zhengshan had a habit of hanging around the well. Well, Yang Zhengshan explained to them that he determined whether there would be a drought this year by observing the water level of the well.

Although this explanation was pale, no one would doubt that Yang Zhengshan was doing anything wrong.

The basic training of the second batch of soldiers quickly got on track, and the actual combat training of the first batch of soldiers also began.

Compared with basic training, actual combat training is more responsible and more difficult. The so-called actual combat training is not a simple combat training, but includes the training of various military skills, such as reading and writing, drawing maps, reconnaissance and tracking, and of course, it also includes the training of combat skills such as riding, archery, swordsmanship, and gunmanship.

Practical training is a long-term training and cannot be completed in a short time.

As the actual combat training progressed, the Weisi Yamen needed to prepare more things.

For example, when it comes to reading and writing, Yang Zhengshan was generous enough to distribute pens, ink, paper and inkstone to each soldier. The soldiers practiced writing with slate and limestone, and the Wei Si Yamen had to prepare slate and limestone strips.

For example, to practice horse riding you need a warhorse, and to practice archery you need a bow and arrow.

These all need to be prepared in advance by the Weisi Yamen.

In the study of the government office.

Yang Zhengshan sat behind the desk, looking at the account books handed over by Zhou Ren and Lu Wenhua.

In just half a year, the Wei Si Yamen spent more than 100,000 taels of silver, which was an extremely large expenditure.

The key point is that these expenditures are only miscellaneous, such as paying monthly wages and food salaries to soldiers and workers, buying cotton cloth and meat for soldiers, etc.

The real big head is still to come.

"How's the contact regarding the purchase of war horses going?" Yang Zhengshan asked.

Lu Wenhua said: "Sir, we have contacted more than a dozen horse merchants and ordered 1,342 war horses and 10,000 dan of horse feed. These war horses and horse feed will be delivered in the next half month!"

When Chongshan Town destroyed the Donghai Hu tribe, it obtained a large number of war horses, and after occupying the north, it also gave rise to a large number of horse farm owners and horse traders.

Merchants pursue profits, and officials will pursue profits in the name of merchants. Many places in the thousands of miles of north are very suitable for raising horses. Therefore, in just one year, horse farms in the north have sprung up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.

The imperial court also supported this. Dayong as a whole was still short of horses. Now that it had obtained a piece of land suitable for horse breeding, it would naturally strongly support horse breeding.

Therefore, it is not difficult to purchase a large number of war horses from Chongshan Town.

What's more, Yang Zhengshan has a lot of connections in Chongshan Town, so it is easy for him to find people to contact some horse merchants.

"Well, the war horses and horse feed delivered must be strictly checked. We don't want poor horses and bad horse feed!" Yang Zhengshan said.

"Don't worry, sir. We have hired more than a dozen horse herders, and they will strictly check the quality of the war horses and horse feed!" Lu Wenhua said with a smile.

Horse herders. The thing the Yang family has the most is horse herders.

Although the Yang family's horse farm is still in Anyuan City, it is still easy to invite some horse herders from the farm.

Horse herders are also technical talents, and raising horses is also a technical job. Yang Zhengshan has always attached importance to technical talents, so Yang's Horse Farm has always been training horse herders.

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly. He was considering whether to build another horse farm in Tenglongwei.

This horse farm was not built for the Yang family, but for the Wei Si Yamen.

Things are different now. When he was in Anyuan City, he only had a few hundred cavalrymen and a few hundred war horses under his command, and he could afford to keep them.

But in Tenglongwei, he wants to build 5,000 cavalry in the future. However, raising 5,000 war horses is not a trivial matter, and he also has to consider the subsequent replenishment of war horses.

He thought about it for a while and decided that it would be better to build a horse farm.

"You two should take some time to go outside the city and see if there is any place suitable for building a horse farm!"

"A horse farm that can at least raise two thousand horses!"

Yang Zhengshan ordered.

"Yes!" The two of them responded.

After the horse farm is built, it can be rented to the Yang family, who will be responsible for raising the horses and then sell them to the Tenglong Guard. If Yang Zhengshan leaves the Tenglong Guard in the future, the horse farm can be left directly to the Tenglong Guard.

In this way, the Yang family can make money from the horse farm, and the Tenglong Guard will also have its own horse farm and can replenish war horses at any time. It can be said to be the best of both worlds.

Well, although there is a suspicion of abusing power for personal gain, Yang Zhengshan is going to invest spiritual spring water in the horse farm, and he can't just not want any benefits.

He has been very selfless. He has given the spiritual spring water to the soldiers for free. Should he give it to the war horses for free as well?

"What's the situation at the salt field?" Yang Zhengshan asked again.

"Very good!" Zhou Ren's eyes lit up and he said, "We are now drying the third batch of salt. The second batch sold for 380 taels!"

The first batch sold for more than two hundred taels, and the second batch sold for three hundred and eighty taels.

Such an improvement is already very significant, but the salt field still has a lot of room for improvement. As the workers in the salt field become more and more skilled in the salt-drying process, the output of the salt field will be further increased, and the efficiency of salt-drying will also be improved.

Moreover, the salt field will continue to expand, and once the expansion is completed, the output of the salt field will double.

Now Zhou Ren is very optimistic about the salt field and often goes there to inspect it.

Yang Zhengshan was not surprised, as these were all things he had expected.

The more you know about Dayong's salt industry, the more you will understand how profitable the salt trade is.

(End of this chapter)