Chapter 444 We just want Jing'an Hou not to do things too extreme
The time came to June 22nd.

At the foot of Black Cloud Mountain, Black Cloud City, which had been under construction for more than a year, was finally completed.

Yang Zhengshan and Pang Tang came to Heiyun City in person to inspect the construction of Heiyun City.

Black Cloud City, like Chongshan Pass, is divided into South City and North City. North City is relatively small, accounting for about one-third of the entire city, and will serve as the garrison of the Black Cloud Guards, while South City will serve as the residence of merchants and civilians.

The South City has four city gates, and two main streets, east-west and north-south, run through the entire city. The city is further divided into different areas, including residential areas, commercial areas, and market areas.

The circumference of Black Cloud City is eight li and three hundred and twelve steps, and the city can accommodate a population of thirty thousand, not including the garrison in the north city.

Outside the city, more than thirty miles to the west are the military farms of the Black Cloud Guard, with many thousand-household units, hundred-household units and garrisons.

In the east, a large number of villages and towns will be built around the Black Cloud Mountain and the official road that will be built soon.

Some villages and towns will also be established in the south, but many farms or horse farms will be built among them as landowners and merchants purchase land.

The Governor's Office has already sold many farms and horse farms in the south, and now there are many large landowners and merchants reclaiming wasteland there.

Yang Zhengshan and Pang Tang rode their horses around Heiyun City and looked at a village that was still under construction.

"How many villages can we build before winter?" Yang Zhengshan asked.

Pang Tang waved to the clerk behind him, who immediately stepped forward and said, "My Lord, according to the previous plan, we will probably build seven towns and 120 villages around Black Cloud City!"

The north is now a large construction site. The Governor's Office is responsible for the construction around Black Cloud Mountain, and the newly established Black Cloud Guard is responsible for the construction of the thousand-household stations, hundred-household stations and garrisons outside the city.

Fuzhou City in the north was responsible for building the official road leading to Heiyun City and the villages and towns along the way.

The Jianning Guard in the middle route was responsible for building the official road from Chongshan Pass to Heiyun City as well as the villages and towns along the way.

Songzhou Guard in the east was responsible for building the official road from Songzhou City to Fuzhou City and the villages and towns along the way.

Yang Zhengshan calculated silently in his mind.

A town can accommodate 300 households, and a village can accommodate 50 households, which means a total of 8,100 households. If the city is included, the area around Black Cloud Guard can accommodate about 60,000 to 80,000 people.

Compared with the millions of refugees, this number is undoubtedly a drop in the bucket.

But this is reasonable planning.

How many people a village can accommodate does not depend on how many houses there are in the village, but on how many cultivated fields there are around the village.

The fields of farmers in the village cannot be too far away from the village. You cannot let farmers walk more than ten miles to work in the fields.

It doesn't matter if Black Cloud City resettles fewer people, because the three official roads can accommodate a large number of refugees.

In addition, a large number of refugees can be accommodated around Fuzhou City, and even Fuzhou City can accommodate more refugees than Heiyun City.

As long as Yang Zhengshan's plan can be completed, there will be no problem in settling one million refugees in the North.

"Mr. Pang Tang, we may need the help of your governor's office to build villages and towns in the future!" Yang Zhengshan said to Pang Tang.

The construction of Black Cloud City was completed, and the governor's office still had many laborers and craftsmen who were good at building houses. They could be put to full use and build villages and towns along the official road.

"Don't worry, I have already made arrangements. After they finish building the villages and towns around Black Cloud City, they will build villages and towns along the official road." Pang Tang said with a smile.

Yang Zhengshan nodded, and then returned to Chongshan Pass with Pang Tang.

Chongshan Pass is more than 400 miles away from Heiyun City, and the official road between the two cities has not been completed. There is only a trampled road, which is bumpy and a round trip takes at least three or four days.

It was rare for Yang Zhengshan to spare so much time to visit Heiyun City. Along the way, he also inspected the construction of the official road. When he returned to Chongshan Pass, it was already the end of June.

As soon as he returned home, Ding Qiu came to find him.

"My Lord, the matter of Ning Dongsheng has been investigated clearly!" said Ding Qiu.

Yang Zhengshan walked into the study in the front yard and asked, "But is there anything wrong?"

"Yes, we found that Ning Dongsheng was very close to many salt merchants and grain merchants in Pingyuan. Most of these salt merchants and grain merchants were those that the Marquis was dissatisfied with." Ding Qiu said.

A sneer appeared on Yang Zhengshan's face.

dissatisfied?

Sure enough, it was pretty much what he guessed.

Ning Dongsheng is not a fool. Although Yang Zhengshan had lost his face in Tenglongwei, that was six or seven years ago. It is impossible for Ning Dongsheng to think of revenge on Yang Zhengshan now.

As for Ning Dongsheng to take such a risk to impeach Yang Zhengshan, there must be some unknown interests behind it.

It is normal that the salt merchants are dissatisfied with Yang Zhengshan.

Because the price of salt in Liaoyuan Province has now dropped to twelve cents per catty, Yang Zhengshan had put in a lot of effort to lower the price of salt.

While putting pressure on the Salt Transport Commissioner's Office, they also suppressed salt merchants from far away. With the cooperation of the Luo family and many merchants who had business dealings with Tenglongwei, they finally reduced the price of salt from thirty cents per catty to twelve cents per catty.

Not only did he lower the selling price of salt, he also raised the price for salt sellers, causing a significant reduction in the profits of salt merchants.

In the past, the salt industry was undoubtedly the most profitable business in Liaodong, but now the salt industry in Liaoyuan is almost the same as ordinary business, mainly focusing on small profits but quick turnover.

Although Yang Zhengshan's pricing for salt trading only applied to Liaoyuan Province, in fact the salt industry in Pingyuan Province was also greatly affected.

Especially in the northern part of Pingyuan, most of the salt came from Liaoyuan Province, which forced the salt merchants in Pingyuan to lower their prices and reduce their salt profits.

As the saying goes, cutting off someone's financial resources is like killing their parents. Yang Zhengshan did not cut off their financial resources, but he severely damaged their financial resources.

Originally, one could earn hundreds of thousands or even millions of taels of silver a year, but now one can only earn tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of taels of silver a year through hard work.

It would be strange if those salt merchants did not resent Yang Zhengshan.

As for the grain merchants being dissatisfied with Yang Zhengshan, it is also normal. Although the General's Office did not purchase grain in Pingyuan, it purchased grain on a large scale in Jiangnan, which is equivalent to robbing their source of goods.

In previous years, Pingyuan’s grain merchants might not have cared, but now that the drought in Pingyuan has become apparent, anyone with a discerning eye knows that grain prices in Liaodong will soar in the coming year.

According to Yang Zhengshan's estimation, the grain price in Liaodong will be the highest during the lean period from this winter to next spring. It is not a problem for the grain price to increase by six or seven times.

Moreover, during this period, Pingyuan grain merchants will not have much grain in their hands. After all, grain production in most areas of Pingyuan will be reduced or even eliminated due to drought, and it is impossible for grain merchants to receive enough grain in Pingyuan.

If they wanted to purchase grain, they could only go to the south of the Yangtze River or the southeast.

But now Tenglongwei has occupied most of the maritime merchants in Liaodong, and Chongshan Town has been purchasing large amounts of grain from Jiangnan, which is almost equivalent to cutting off their supply and transportation channels.

Without supply and transportation channels, they face soaring food prices just like looking at a big piece of fat meat in front of them, but they can only smell it.

In order to receive grain from Jiangnan and other places, and for their future plans to make a fortune, they must stop Chongshan Town from continuing to collect grain.

Therefore, causing some trouble for Yang Zhengshan became the most important thing they needed to do.

It is not impossible for a group of grain and salt merchants to unite and use their huge wealth to influence the officialdom in Darong.

Ning Dongsheng was nothing more than a cannon fodder pushed forward by these grain and salt merchants, and the impeachment was just a test.

Yang Zhengshan knew that these unscrupulous businessmen must have a backup plan.

"Have you found out which unscrupulous businessmen are involved?" Yang Zhengshan asked.

Ding Qiu whispered, "It can be confirmed that the merchants who colluded with Ning Dongsheng are the Lu family, Yu family, and Zhen family in Guang'an Prefecture, the Ning family and Zhen family in Dongyang Prefecture, the Yi family in Fuzhou, the Ma family in Shunzhou, and the Luo family in Jizhou!"

Yang Zhengshan narrowed his eyes slightly, "The Zhen family of Guang'an Prefecture and the Zhen family of Dongyang Prefecture! Are you sure?"

The Zhen family is undoubtedly the largest and most prestigious family in Pingyuan Province. It has countless branches in Pingyuan, and there are branches of the Zhen family in almost every prefecture and state.

For example, Zhen Yangshi represents the Yanzhou Zhenshi.

The Guang'an Prefecture Zhen family and the Dongyang Prefecture Zhen family are the two largest branches of the Zhen family.

Its main lineage is the Luozhou Zhen family, but the Luozhou Zhen family has always maintained the tradition of farming and studying. They are not merchants, but a family of officials.

The current Shuntian Prefecture Governor Zhen Shijie is from the Luozhou Zhen family.

The Zhen family is undoubtedly an extremely large clan, but such a clan has long since become a loose sand. Although they are of the same clan and ancestry, their blood ties are weak.

Just like the Yang clan, Yang Zhengshan and the people in Yangjia Village couldn't even find any relatives within the fifth degree of mourning.

"Sure, the Guang'an Zhen family and the Dongyang Zhen family are the largest salt merchants in Pingyuan, and the other salt merchants are mainly based on them!" Ding Qiu said.

"The Jizhou Luo family! Do they dare to get involved in this matter?" Yang Zhengshan's face looked a little ugly.

"The Jizhou Luo family is not only the largest cloth merchant in Jizhou, but also the largest grain merchant in Jizhou!" Ding Qiu said.

Yang Zhengshan rubbed his eyebrows with a headache.

These wealthy businessmen are such trouble!
Although the status of merchants in Dayong is low, these wealthy businessmen control a large amount of wealth and have close ties with the officialdom. If they unite, they will definitely be a considerable force.

The Jizhou Luo family is also related to Yang Zhengshan, because Luo Shang is from the Jizhou Luo family.

Over the years, Yang Zhengshan supported Luo Shang, and Luo Shang also relied on the power of Jizhou Luo family. Jizhou Luo family also gained a lot of benefits from Luo Shang's rise.

But now the Luo family of Jizhou has actually caused trouble for him!

"Go find Luo Shang!" Yang Zhengshan said coldly.

"Here!"

"Send another person to Tenglongwei and ask Zhen Yang to come over." Yang Zhengshan said again.

Although Zhen Yang represents the Yanzhou Zhen family, most of her business is in Tenglongwei and Chongshan Town, so she has been living in Tenglongwei with her son.

Ding Qiu responded and left the study.

At this moment, Luo Shang was extremely panicked.

In the living room of Luo's family, Luo Shang looked at the visitor in front of her, her face turning pale and blue.

"You, you are confused!"

Luo Shang was somewhat frustrated and furious.

The visitor to his house at this time was none other than Luo Changsheng, the head of the Luo family from Jizhou.

In terms of seniority, Luo Shang is one generation older than Luo Changsheng, so Luo Changsheng should call Luo Shang uncle.

However, Luo Changsheng is the direct descendant of the Jizhou Luo family, while Luo Shang is just a branch of a branch of the Jizhou Luo family.

If Luo Shang had not risen to prominence with the support of Yang Zhengshan, the Luo family of Jizhou would not have known that they had a member like Luo Shang.

Today, Luo Shang is considered to be a wealthy man with a large family and wealth, but in the eyes of the Jizhou Luo family, no matter how rich Luo Shang is, he is just a branch of their family, and just a collateral clan member they supported.

That's right, they believed that Luo Shang was supported by them. After all, they did help Luo Shang a lot in the beginning. They provided Luo Shang with sources of goods, let the tribesmen help Luo Shang manage the business, and took care of Luo Shang a lot in business.

It is not an exaggeration to say that they supported Luo Shang, but Luo Shang's foundation was the support of Yang Zhengshan, not the Jizhou Luo family.

Luo Shang is not an ungrateful person. He is very grateful for the help of Jizhou Luo's family. Therefore, he has been very close to Jizhou Luo's family over the years and has taken good care of Jizhou Luo's family's business in all aspects.

But he never expected that the Jizhou Luo family would actually set their sights on Yang Zhengshan.

Damn, this is simply a big lantern in the toilet!

At this moment, he really wanted to kill this nephew in front of him. You, the Luo family of Jizhou, want to die, but don’t implicate our Luo family!

The Luo family and the Yang family have always been close. If Yang Zhengshan is dissatisfied with him and the Luo family because of this incident, Luo Shang will really fight to the death with the Jizhou Luo family!

Luo Shang could still tell who was the big shot.

(End of this chapter)