Chapter 48: Chapter 47 Heading to Chongshan Pass Chapter 48: Chapter 47 Heading to Chongshan Pass “The affairs at home will be left in your hands, until we settle down there, then you all can come over!”
Inside the Yang family’s main hall, Yang Zhenshan instructed Yang Mingcheng.
The journey to Chongshan Pass was still uncertain.
Yang Zhenshan couldn’t bring the entire family with him.
Besides Yang Mingzhi and Yang Minghao, the other members of the Yang family would stay in Yang Family Village.
If they could settle down in Chongshan Pass, he would then bring everyone over; if not, Yang Zhenshan wouldn’t stay in Chongshan Pass.
The path to Chongshan Pass was one that had to be forged; the Yang family had no foundation there. The only reliance they could have was Zhou Lan, whom Yang Zhenshan had met only twice, and he wasn’t sure if he could really rely on her support.
If he could, the Yang family might be able to leverage that to grow and strengthen; if not, Yang Zhenshan felt it was better to return.
Though Yang Family Village was small, it was still the root of the Yang family.
Even before heading to Chongshan Town, Yang Zhenshan had already planned a retreat.
“Don’t worry, Dad, I will take good care of the home!” Yang Mingcheng said solemnly.
Yang Zhenshan nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping over everyone in the room.
He didn’t need to worry too much about the others.
However, he had other plans for Lin Zhan.
“Lin Zhan!”
“Disciple is here!”
“Once the clan school is built, you should go study there!”
Lin Zhan’s eyes brightened as he asked, “Master, I—”
Yang Zhenshan knew what he was going to ask and waved his hand, saying, “While studying, you must not neglect your martial arts, and don’t worry about the rest!”
Lin Zhan had lived with the Yang family for half a year, and although they treated him as one of their own, he still felt unease and insecurity.
Being overly intelligent wasn’t always a good thing because smart people tend to be extra sensitive.
Lin Zhan was very smart, so he was very grateful for the protection and nurturing from the Yang family, but it was this gratitude that prevented him from seeing the Yang family as his own home, from truly integrating into the Yang family, fearing that he might do something wrong and cause Yang Zhenshan and the Yang family to dislike him.
Thus, during this period, he was extremely cautious, masking his sharp edges, and trying not to draw attention to himself.
In contrast, Wang Yunqiao was much simpler; she was thankful to the Yang family, so she woke up earlier than Yunxue, slept later than Yunxue, doing what she could, and taking meticulous care of the children in the home.
She might seem somewhat humble, but she always tried hard to integrate into the family.
Because of this, the Yang family liked and loved Wang Yunqiao even more.
“Once a teacher, a lifetime a father! Remember this saying!” Yang Zhenshan looked at Lin Zhan with a deep gaze.
Lin Zhan shuddered, tears suddenly welling up in his eyes, he bowed and said, “Disciple thanks the master for his grace!”
“Get up!”
Yang Zhenshan helped him up and then said to Yang Mingcheng, “From now on, you will teach Lin Zhan martial arts, and must not slack off.”
After that, he gave some more instructions.
Chattering like an old father.
Which made the mood of the family somewhat heavy.
Yang Zhenshan felt helpless, he was now, after all, an old father.
Old father, ah!
Yang Zhenshan sighed deeply toward the sky.
It wasn’t just age, but his heart seemed old as well.
The night passed without words.
The next morning.
At the entrance of Yang Family Village, Yang Zhenshan with twelve others bid a lingering farewell to the villagers.
Heading to Chongshan which was three hundred miles away, it was unknown when they would return.
Yang Zhengxiang, along with the family, escorted them all the way to the imperial road.
“Gentlemen, please return!”
Yang Zhenshan bowed to the family members behind him, jumped onto the carriage, and signaled Yang Mingzhi to drive the horses forward.
Clip-clop, clip-clop~~
Three horses pulled the carriage, slowly moving along the imperial road.
People followed, occasionally turning their heads to look back.
Yang Zhenshan sat in the carriage, gazing at the increasingly distant Yang Family Village, and those familiar figures.
…
Anning County station, ten miles north of the town.
A caravan of over thirty horse-drawn wagons was waiting on the official road, with a middle-aged man with a large beard at the back constantly scouting the road behind.
About a quarter of an hour later, he saw a small convoy slowly approaching.
“Master Yang!”
Upon seeing the newcomers, the middle-aged man hurried forward to greet them.
Yang Zhenshan jumped down from the horse carriage, “Sorry, we are late!”
The middle-aged man before him was a manager of the Lu family named Song An. The Lu family had many businesses at Chongshan Pass and frequently arranged for caravans to travel back and forth between Anning County and Chongshan Pass.
This time, as Yang Zhenshan was heading to Chongshan Pass, Mr. Lu specially invited them to travel with the caravan.
“Not late, not late!” Song An, although rugged in appearance, was a perceptive man. He was able to lead the caravan precisely because he was meticulous in his dealings.
“Just in time, we should get going now!”
Yang Zhenshan looked up at the sky and smiled, “Then let’s set off!”
Song An first waved to the front of the caravan, signaling for them to set out. Then he turned to Yang Zhenshan and said, “Master Yang, we have carriages over there, how about we ride in one?”
Yang Zhenshan looked ahead and indeed saw three horse-drawn carriages.
There were thirteen of them, with three horses. However, none of the horses could be ridden, they were meant to pull carts.
After all, they were heading to Chongshan Pass and needed to carry quite a few things, so Yang Zhenshan had specifically arranged for three carts, pulled by the three horses named Red Cloud.
“Never mind, I’m a mere rough man, a cart will do!” Yang Zhenshan declined.
He seemed to notice some females by the carriages, and as a man himself, there was no need to vie with women for a ride.
“Well…” Song An hesitated.
Yang Zhenshan hopped onto the cart and nonchalantly said, “Manager Song, it’s getting late, let’s hurry on our way!”
“That’s fine then!” Seeing Yang’s firm attitude, Song An did not persist further.
The caravan, like a long dragon, proceeded along the official road, with Yang Zhenshan sitting on a cart chit-chatting with Song An.
“Is the road safe?”
He had heard that roads in the Northern lands were not safe, with many bandits and rogue soldiers around, but he wasn’t entirely sure about the details.
“It’s not exactly safe, but we have many people, so few dare to provoke us!” Song An was also a talkative person. Furthermore, since Yang Zhenshan knew Mr. Lu, he was responsive to all his questions.
“Then you guys must earn quite a bit from a single trip!” Yang Zhenshan casually asked while watching the caravan ahead.
Song An replied, “Ah, not much, there are too many annoyances along the way, we just make some hard-earned money!”
“Annoyances?” Yang Zhenshan was surprised.
“Yes, we have to pass through three counties along the way. We need to deal with the Inspection Bureau in each county. Once we enter Chongshan Town, there are even more annoyances, with many rogue soldiers who specifically come to beg!”
It’s easy to deal with King Yan, but the devils are troublesome.
Their merchant groups all had significant backing, and generally, military leaders of border towns wouldn’t target them, only occasionally taking some bribes under the principle of making money together.
But some disreputable soldiers didn’t have such scruples. Since the merchant relations didn’t extend to them, and they had no other means to gather wealth, they would deliberately seek out caravans to make trouble.
This kind of harassment had become a norm over time.
Near the official roads, some forts had turned into something akin to toll stations. All passing caravans were supposed to give them some bribes in return for safe passage.
Without the bribes, they would cause trouble.
Murder and robbery they dared not commit, but finding an excuse to search the caravans was feasible.
No matter how deep your connections are, you can’t reason with these soldiers, because they don’t listen to your nonsense.
I’m just a low-rank soldier, could you actually get rid of me?
Even better, I’d go back to farming.
As for low-ranking military officers like the General Flag and Hundred Households, they wouldn’t show up; they just needed to turn a blind eye to reap the benefits.
“This route isn’t easy!” Yang Zhenshan, seeing the caravan of over three hundred people, knew there was some exaggeration in Song An’s words.
There were many devils along the road, and quite a few Kings Yan needed to be appeased, but the caravan was still profitable, otherwise they wouldn’t have bothered to travel so tirelessly back and forth.
In Yang Zhenshan’s eyes, Chongshan Town was a stable market predominantly driven by military consumption. The border army soldiers and civilians had a great demand for goods, which kept numerous caravans continually traveling between the border towns and the inland.
Even when they had just faced the threat of the Northern barbarians, they had not given up, showing the immense interests involved.
Besides, there was smuggling.
There was no official market exchange at the northeastern border; all trade with foreign tribes was considered smuggling.
Yang Zhenshan did not think that there was no smuggling in Chongshan Pass; perhaps the Lu family was involved.
His eyes deepened as he watched the endless line of carriages, then he shook his head with a smile.
Whether there was smuggling or not, what did it matter to him?
He was just a garrison commander who had not yet assumed office, and even if he had, probably no one would take him seriously.