Chapter 87 The Lu Family with Great Wealth

Zhou Lan was still the same, busy as always. Yang Zhengshan and Mr. Lu waited for half an hour in the teahouse of the General's Mansion before they saw her.

"Why are you here?"

Zhou Lan was very surprised at Yang Zhengshan's arrival.

Because she knew very well what Yang Zhengshan was busy with recently.

Renovating the garrison, training the troops, burning charcoal, these things could not be hidden from her eyes and ears.

Zhou Lan saw Master Lu, but she didn't care.

As the eldest daughter of the Ningguo Mansion and the Lieutenant General of the Jianning Guard, there are only a few people in the entire Chongshan Town whom she cares about particularly.

Yang Zhengshan said with a smile: "General, this is the second master Lu from the Lu family in Anning County!"

"I pay my respects to General Zhou!" Master Lu bowed hurriedly.

He calls himself "old man" in front of Yang Zhengshan and "old decrepit" in front of Zhou Lan. This Mr. Lu is a person who treats people differently according to their social status.

"The Lu family in Anning County!" Zhou Lan thought about it, but couldn't find any related impressions in her memory.

The Lu family is a first-class prestigious family in Anning County and even in Jing'an Prefecture, but in the entire Dayong, the Lu family is not ranked.

And in front of the Ningguo Mansion, the Lu family is not worth mentioning.

However, Zhou Lan still gave face to Master Lu, "It turns out to be Master Lu, Master Lu, please take a seat!"

After Zhou Lan sat down, Master Lu sat down.

Yang Zhengshan said again: "General, the Lu family has food!"

He knew Zhou Lan's personality. Zhou Lan was a person who didn't like to beat around the bush.

When talking to her, it's best to be frank.

When Zhou Lan heard the word "grain", her eyes suddenly lit up. "Master Lu wants to sell grain to this general?"

"Ten thousand dan. As long as General Zhou needs it, it can be transported to Jianning Guard within a month!" Master Lu made no secret of the Lu family's wealth.

"price!"

"Four taels and three cents per load!" said Master Lu.

Zhou Lan smiled, and she smiled happily.

"I want them all!"

Four taels and three cents, this price is naturally discounted, but the discount is not excessive.

The Lu family still had some sense and didn't give it away for free.

Giving it away for free is not a favor, but a way to find something to hold against Zhou Lan.

Four taels and three cents, with both odd and even amounts, not too high or too low. It was a favor, but it wouldn't make Zhou Lan feel that the Lu family had lost face.

What Yang Zhengshan can understand, Zhou Lan can naturally understand as well.

"I will remember the favor you have done for the Lu family this time. In the future, you can come to me for anything that will not put me in a difficult position!" Zhou Landu narrowed his eyes with a smile.

Yang Zhengshan listened to the conversation between the two and suddenly felt like a poor bastard.

Compared with these two, he is just a poor guy.

They were talking about a business worth tens of thousands of taels of silver, but he couldn't even take out a hundred taels.

Thinking about it, Yang Zhengshan felt depressed.

Make money, make money!
He didn't feel short of money before, but now he suddenly found that he was really poor.

But soon he was no longer poor!
As a middleman, Mr. Lu naturally cannot ignore Yang Zhengshan.

When Master Lu left Jianning Guard, he stuffed a stack of banknotes into Yang Zhengshan's hand.

All of them were silver notes worth one hundred taels, twenty in total!

This made Yang Zhengshan feel a little embarrassed.

He just pulled a string, but he actually earned two thousand taels of silver. This money came too easily.

However, Yang Zhengshan still accepted it happily.

This is not corruption or bribery, Yang Zhengshan felt at ease accepting it.

Although this matter seems simple, not everyone can enter Zhou Lan's door.

Without someone to introduce him, it was difficult for Mr. Lu to meet Zhou Lan.

However, the benefits Yang Zhengshan gained were not just two thousand taels of silver.

After seeing off Mr. Lu, Yang Zhengshan went to see Zhou Lan again.

"You did a good job this time!" Zhou Lan praised generously.

The food from the Lu family solved her urgent problem, and Yang Zhengshan also did a good job by introducing Master Lu to her.

Although she owed favors and spent money, she was still very satisfied with Yang Zhengshan.

"General, you praised me immediately. It was just a coincidence!" Yang Zhengshan said with a smile.

It was indeed a coincidence.

It just so happened that the Lu family wanted to befriend Zhou Lan and ask for a favor from her.

He can take the Lu family's money for this matter, but he cannot take credit in front of Zhou Lan.

"When the grain is delivered, I'll give you 500 loads!" Zhou Lan said.

"Then thank you General for your care!" Yang Zhengshan smiled even more happily.

He bought a lot of food from Yangjia Village, but who would complain about having too much food at this time?

"Also, I have a group of people here, you can take them back!" Zhou Lan said again.

Yang Zhengshan was startled, "Who is it?"

"A prisoner sent into exile!" Zhou Land said.

Yang Zhengshan suddenly realized that Chongshan Town was located in the northeast of Darong. It was a poor place and one of the main places of exile for the court.

"Is there anyone who needs special attention?" Yang Zhengshan asked softly.

Zhou Lan glanced at him and said, "The Liu family doesn't need to be taken care of too much, just don't let them get bullied!"

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly. He knew there was something going on, otherwise Zhou Lan wouldn't have told him in person. But he couldn't help but ask out of curiosity, "What's the background of this Liu family?"

"Lord Liu is the Right Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate!" Zhou Lan didn't say much, just gave a simple reminder.

Yang Zhengshan stroked his beard, but his heart was beating wildly.

Right Censor-in-Chief?

This is a first-rank official!
He was actually exiled!

What crime is this?

Or is it because of court struggles?
"That old man is stubborn and stubborn, don't bother with him too much!" Zhou Lan couldn't help but point out again.

Yang Zhengshan nodded quickly and said, "I will take good care of the Liu family!"

Zhou Lan looked at him with satisfaction.

……

If Zhou Lan said it was a group of people, then it was a group of people.

There were more than 500 of them, all criminals exiled to the army.

Among them, the Liu family has more than 30 people. Wow, they are worthy of being an official family. Look how prosperous the family is.

Liu Yuanfu, the former Right Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, is probably in his sixties this year. He has six sons, three daughters, eight grandchildren, and together with his female relatives, he really has a large family.

The key point is that this shameless old man actually has a very young concubine.

The next morning, Yang Zhengshan led a large group of people and headed towards Yinghe Fort.

Of course, the soldiers in charge of escorting were not his men. After all, he only brought ten people with him and could not watch over so many people.

Also traveling with him was Zhao Yuan and a hundred of his soldiers.

Looking at the prisoners in shackles, Yang Zhengshan's gaze finally fell on the Liu family.

"Is the Liu family a noble family?" Yang Zhengshan asked Zhao Yuan in a low voice.

Zhao Yuan shook his head. "No, Master Liu was born into a farming family and studied hard. He passed the imperial examination at the age of 22 and was the top scholar in the fifth year of Tianhe."

"In the forty years since I became an official, the Liu family has experienced three ups and downs. Although they had some foundation before, they were far from being considered a noble family!"

Yang Zhengshan looked at the old man sitting in the cage, blinked, and his eyes were full of surprise.

Three ups and downs?

This old man is really capable!

Five years of TRW?

Doesn’t that mean he is a veteran of three dynasties?
It is now the 24th year of Chengping. Before Chengping was Emperor Kangde, and before Kangde was Tianhe.

A true veteran of three dynasties.

The key is three ups and three downs. If it happened only once, it would be luck. But if you get up and then fall down, and get up again after falling down, and this happens three times in a row, it cannot be attributed to luck.

The Liu family's foundation is not deep enough to support the ups and downs of one person. This can only mean that Lord Liu is really capable.

Ok?
He is really capable. He is over 60 years old, but he can still satisfy a cute little beauty. This is not something that ordinary people can do.

"Why has Lord Liu fallen to such a state?" Yang Zhengshan continued to ask in a low voice.

Zhao Yuan looked around and whispered, "Four months ago, Lord Liu made a frank remonstrance in the court and angered His Majesty!"

"What do you want to advise?" Yang Zhengshan continued to ask curiously.

Zhao Yuan hesitated for a moment before speaking in an inaudible voice: "Your Majesty is old and incompetent!"

"..."

Cow!

This is a great guy!

In the court, he said that the emperor was old and incompetent!
The emperor didn't kill him, he really had a good temper.

Yang Zhengshan secretly smacked his lips. He finally understood what Zhou Lan meant by "stinky and hard".

"Is this matter related to our Chongshan Town?"

"Yes, but the most important thing is related to the harem!" Zhao Yuan said.

Yang Zhengshan didn't ask any more questions. Since this involved the harem, it would be better for him not to ask too many questions.

The old emperor is also a great man. He is over 60 years old, but his harem is still flourishing, which shows that he is still strong.

Due to the long journey, these criminals were physically exhausted. It took them four full hours to reach Yinghe Fort until the evening.

Although Yinghe Fort had just been renovated and many new houses had been built, it still could not accommodate so many people.

There was no other way, Yang Zhengshan could only let them squeeze together for the night.

The next day, Yang Zhengshan asked Yang Chengche and Yang Chengxu to arrange these people to Sanshan Fort and Xiangyuan Fort, and only the Liu family stayed in Yinghe Fort.

Yang Zhengshan also has his own ideas about these prisoners.

"Exile" is one of the five punishments, the other four being flogging, caning, imprisonment and death. Exile is second only to the death penalty and was a very severe punishment in ancient China.

Exile is more like a form of labor reform, but it is much more dangerous. In the absence of food and clothing, it is easy to lose your life. If you encounter a war, you will become cannon fodder.

As for whether the prisoner can escape, it can only be said that it is difficult.

First of all, they are prisoners. After arriving at the place of exile, they will be re-registered. Their household registration is different from that of ordinary people, and they have no proof such as travel permits. If they escape from the place of exile, they can only become illegal residents and cannot enter the city. It can be said that they can hardly move outside.

Secondly, feudal society is a clan society, and there is a baojia system between villages. If someone suddenly appears, he can be easily discovered.

So even if they escape, they can only hide in the deep mountains and forests and try to avoid interacting with others as much as possible.

However, if this is the case, it would be better to stay in the place of exile honestly. If you are lucky, you may encounter an amnesty and be able to legally and legitimately evade punishment and return home.

Therefore, ordinary exiled prisoners rarely escape.

In Yang Zhengshan's hands, these prisoners were more like free labor. They were not military households, so they did not need to be allocated land or paid food and wages. They only needed to be provided with food.

Yang Zhengshan was very happy to have such a group of free labor.

It just so happened that he was now going to repair the watchtowers and beacon towers, and with these prisoners, he could save a lot of money.

(End of this chapter)