Chapter 86: Unexpected Guest, Master Lu
They didn't go far and came to a grassland ten miles east of Tunbu.

"Dad, what are you doing here?"

Yang Mingcheng looked around and asked in confusion.

This grassland is not small, about a hundred acres, with hills on all sides and a small river flowing in the middle. This small river is the unnamed river at the foot of Linguanbao Mountain.

The grass is fertile, and although it is late autumn, there are still patches of green hidden.

Yang Zhengshan raised his head and looked towards the northern hilltop, where there was a fire road mound where a military household of a small flag lived.

The fields around the pier have been reclaimed, but the grassland here has not been used.

Yang Zhengshan had thought this piece of grassland was very good when he inspected the watchtowers and beacon towers before, and he was even more satisfied when he looked at it again now.

"Build a horse farm! What do you think of this place?" Yang Zhengshan said.

"Horse farm?" Yang Mingcheng was extremely surprised.

Yang Zhengshan nodded, pointed to an open space near the river, and said, "Look over there."

"That piece of vacant land is very suitable for building a stable. When the time comes, we will enclose the entire area and build a dozen more stables."

"Go to the city gate and find a few grooms who are good at raising horses, and then hire some farmhands from the pier over there!"

"In the first year, we will only raise newly grown foals. Once we make enough money, we will breed and raise the foals ourselves!"

He had already made plans. He would first go to Guancheng to buy some ordinary horses and nourish them with spiritual spring water for a period of time. In this way, the bad horses would become good ones, and he would surely be able to make a fortune.

And this period of time does not need to be too long, probably only about half a year will be enough.

After the first batch of horses are sold, we will expand the breeding scale.

Now, half a bucket of spiritual spring water can gush out of the stone pond in the space every day. Although there are many places where the spiritual spring water is needed, it is still no problem to feed more than a dozen horses.

"This is our own business, you should pay more attention to it."

"Whether our family can become rich and powerful in the future depends on you!"

Yang Zhengshan acted as if he was very optimistic about you and patted Yang Mingcheng on the shoulder.

Yang Mingcheng got excited and said, "Don't worry, Dad. I will definitely get it done."

At this moment he even forgot that he didn't know how to raise horses.

It cannot be said that there is absolutely no chance of this happening. After all, he has a war horse, and he has been taking care of his war horse for most of the past six months.

But he is much worse than those professional horsemen.

Yang Zhengshan smiled and said, "Take Minghao with you to Guancheng tomorrow and ask him to introduce Manager Luo and Manager Lu to you."

"Ask them for help if you need anything."

There is no need to say much about Shopkeeper Luo. Ever since Yang Zhengshan helped him last time, Luo Shang has been extremely grateful to him and has often sent people to deliver letters to him during this period.

As for Shopkeeper Lu, Yang Zhengshan always asked Lao Li and Yang Minghao to maintain a close relationship with him, and they often visited Lu's grain shop on weekdays.

Moreover, the Lu family has always intended to get close to Yang Zhengshan. During the Mid-Autumn Festival this year, Mr. Lu personally went to Yangjia Village to deliver a holiday gift.

For this reason, Yang Mingcheng was troubled for a long time before he prepared a return gift.

Although Luo Shang and Shopkeeper Lu are not big shots in Guancheng, small people also have their uses, especially when it comes to business matters, they can help Yang Zhengshan a lot.

"Okay!" Yang Mingcheng responded.

Yang Zhengshan walked around again and then returned to Yinghe Fort.

However, as soon as he returned to Yinghe Fort, he found that Luo Shang had come.

Originally, he wanted Yang Mingcheng to go to Guancheng to meet Luo Shang. Now it happened that Luo Shang came by himself, so Yang Zhengshan could personally introduce Yang Mingcheng to him.

In the study, Yang Mingcheng brought tea.

"This is my eldest son Mingcheng! He will be in charge of my Yang family's business from now on!"

"This is Shopkeeper Luo!"

Yang Zhengshan introduced the two of them.

"My humble servant greets Master Yang!" Luo Shang did not dare to be arrogant in front of Yang Mingcheng.

"Hello, Manager Luo!" Yang Mingcheng was also an honest man and did not look down on Luo Shang as a merchant at all.

The three of them sat down, and Luo Shang then explained the purpose of his visit.

"Master Yang, I heard that our garrison can make charcoal. I wonder what rules Master Yang has for the charcoal business?" Luo Shang asked softly.

"All the charcoal is yours to sell, and you can take 20% of the profit!"

Yang Zhengshan had thought about it long ago. There is almost no material cost in making charcoal, and the cost is all in labor. Therefore, he divided the income from the charcoal into three parts, with 50% going to the workers responsible for making the charcoal, 30% going to the government, and 20% going to Luo Shang.

The 30% of the government profits did not belong to Yang Zhengshan. He had no intention of making money from charcoal. The profits from the government profits would be used to support the officials.

Yang Zhengshan did not allow his officials to engage in corruption, but he would give them some extra income, and this bonus was their extra income.

"Thank you very much for your care, sir!" Luo Shang said with a smile.

Although the 20% profit was low, he was already very satisfied.

This charcoal is not something that ordinary people can burn. First of all, the method of burning charcoal is not easy to find, and secondly, the wood is not something that ordinary people can mine.

Ordinary people could go up the mountain to collect firewood or go into the city to sell it, but they would never dare to cut down trees on a large scale.

No one would worry about collecting firewood, but if trees were cut down on a large scale, countless troubles would come to demand benefits, and small businesses would not be able to withstand it.

Yang Zhengshan also had the advantage of geographical location, and he had a large group of military households at his disposal, so he was able to accomplish such a thing.

As for why other garrisons did not do this, it was very simple. The officials would not be so kind as to find jobs for the military households, and the profit from charcoal was not very high. Even if the officials wanted to make money, they would not do such a laborious business.

If they have that kind of energy, they might as well occupy more good farmland and think more about the issue of collecting empty salaries.

But for Luo Shang, this is a good business, and the 20% profit is enough to make him interested.

Besides, Yang Zhengshan had done him a favor, so he was willing to help even if there was no profit to be made.

"It can't be considered as taking care of me, but I can't let you work for nothing!"

Yang Zhengshan took a sip of tea and said nonchalantly.

Favors are something you can't keep using. If you use them too much, they will be gone, and people will even complain about you.

Therefore, it is not advisable to seek repayment for a favor.

Besides, Luo Shang had already given a thank-you gift, and Yang Zhengshan had long forgotten about any favors.

He felt that Luo Shang had good character, so he was willing to have more contact and cooperation with him.

Afterwards, Yang Zhengshan talked to Luo Shang about the situation in Guancheng.

Guancheng has been very busy recently, with new officials making a lot of big moves since taking office. Governor Lu Chongde and Marquis of Changping Liang Chu have done a lot of things since taking office.

Reorganize the five battalions of the town flag, inspect the large outposts, distribute war horses and armor, buy and sell food and fodder, etc.

Big moves come one after another.

In just two months, these two people brought new vitality to Chongshan Pass, which had been in decline for more than a decade.

Yang Zhengshan thought this was very good. They had many actions, but they did not do any harm to Yang Zhengshan, and even brought many benefits.

For example, the war horses and armor sent by Zhao Yuan were distributed to Jianning Guard in the name of the governor's office.

Yang Zhengshan had a hunch that with these two great men around, Chongshan Pass and Chongshan Town would regain the prosperity they had twenty years ago.

And he was sure that Chongshan Town would continue to attack the Hu tribe in the East China Sea.

Everything Lu Chongde and Liang Chu did was to prepare for the next expedition.

……

At noon, Yang Zhengshan invited Luo Shang to have a meal, and in the afternoon Luo Shang left with two carts of charcoal.

Also leaving with him were the brothers Yang Mingcheng and Yang Minghao. They went to Guancheng to make Yang Mingcheng familiar with the situation in Guancheng and to buy foals for the Yang family horse farm.

The two brothers stayed in Guancheng for four days and brought back ten horses that did not look very good.

This was Yang Zhengshan's specific instruction, not to pick good horses, only bad horses.

All ten horses were very thin and looked as if they were malnourished.

Of course, this is not due to malnutrition, but due to congenital deficiencies or illnesses.

Such horses cannot be used as war horses, but only as pack horses, so they are cheaper.

One horse cost about twenty taels of silver, and ten horses almost used up all of Yang Zhengshan’s savings.

The horses have been bought, but the stable has not been built yet, so the ten horses are temporarily kept in the garrison. Yang Zhengshan also used his power for personal gain and asked Lao Li to take care of the ten horses.

Of course, he would secretly give these ten horses some special treatment.

After buying the horses, Yang Mingcheng started to build a horse farm.

Yang Zhengshan had no money, but Yang Mingcheng brought a lot of food when he came.

Therefore, Yang Mingcheng paid his employees with grain.

Military households now prefer food to silver.

Early October.

Lu Wenchun and Lu Wenhua came to Yinghe Fort.

They also came with the Lu family's convoy.

Not only them came, but also Mr. Lu.

Yang Zhengshan was both surprised and puzzled by the unexpected guest, Mr. Lu.

"Master Lu, hahahaha, a distinguished guest has arrived, please come in quickly!"

Although he was very surprised, Yang Zhengshan still warmly entertained Master Lu.

"Sir Yang, I am sorry for coming here uninvited!" Master Lu said with a warm smile.

After the two entered the government office, Yang Mingcheng took Lu Wenchun and Lu Wenhua to the backyard.

In the study, tea was served, and Yang Zhengshan couldn't help asking, "Second Master Lu, what is the matter with you?"

bother you for something.

Although the Lu family and the Yang family remained close during this period, the two sides had only met once.

Mr. Lu was not a man who would waste time. When Yang Zhengshan asked, he told him the purpose of his visit.

"Lord Yang should also know that our Lu family has many farms!"

Yang Zhengshan nodded.

"The grain production in Chongshan Town has decreased this year. We want to transport all the grain in our home to Chongshan Pass." Master Lu said calmly.

Yang Zhengshan's eyes flickered slightly.

The Lu family is a big landlord in Anning County. If you ask Yang Zhengshan how much fertile land the Lu family has, Yang Zhengshan has no accurate idea.

It may be a bit of an exaggeration to say that there are tens of thousands of acres of fertile land, but there are definitely more than a thousand acres of fertile land.

Because the Lu family not only has a large amount of land in Anning County, but also in other places.

The Lu family has so many fields and so much food!

Yang Zhengshan couldn't help but take a breath.

Meow!

The Lu family is going to get rich!

Unfortunately, the Yang family only has more than 100 acres of land, and the annual harvest is only a few dozen loads.

Compared with the Lu family, Yang Zhengshan couldn't help but feel envious and jealous.

But he quickly dispelled this envy and asked, "Second Master Lu, what do you want?"

"I would like to ask Lord Yang to help introduce General Zhou to me!" Master Lu looked at Yang Zhengshan.

Yang Zhengshan suddenly realized.

It turned out to be for Zhou Lan!
Right.

Zhou Lan has the support of the Ningguo Mansion, while someone from the Lu family is an official in Beijing.

This grain certainly cannot be given away for free, but it can be sold to Zhou Lan at a lower price.

The Lu family didn't want to make money with the grain; they wanted Zhou Lan's favor.

The entire Chongshan Town is short of food now, and Zhou Lan must be short of food as well. This is naturally a good opportunity to do favors.

This is a really good idea.

The key is not to be disliked.

"This is not difficult. If Mr. Lu is in a hurry, we can go to Jianning Guard now!" Yang Zhengshan thought about it for a while and agreed.

He knew that Zhou Lan was worried about food recently.

This is a timely help from the Lu family.

It's a win-win situation, so Yang Zhengshan naturally doesn't mind being a middleman.

Moreover, the Lu family had helped him a lot before, although they were all small things, but Yang Zhengshan could not help but be grateful to the Lu family.

"Then I'll trouble you, Lord Yang!" Master Lu smiled even more kindly.

"Let's go then!"

Yang Zhengshan did not delay and immediately asked people to prepare carriages and horses to head to Jianning Wei.

Although Mr. Lu is not young, he is skilled in martial arts and is in good health, so he has no problem riding a horse.

The two men, along with more than thirty soldiers and followers, rushed towards Jianning Guard.

(End of this chapter)