Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather

August 6.

Yang Mingzhao went out to sea again.

He didn't bring much stuff, only four big boxes in total, but the stuff he brought was worth a lot.

Not to mention the wine and tea, the silver notes he carried alone were worth 68,000 taels, and there were many other valuable things.

A long sword made of ground fire steel was worth 70,000 to 80,000 taels of silver, and there were other miscellaneous things, which could be sold for more than 100,000 taels of silver.

There were ten people who left Xingyue Island with him. In addition to Wu Zheng and the guards around him, he also abducted seven young people on the island.

Most of the young people on the island had jobs, either joining the government, the navy, or the business. Only a small number of young people did not find jobs for some reasons.

The fact that they had no jobs did not mean that they had no strength. The island had long completed the popularization of education. They started enlightenment at the age of eight, started practicing martial arts at the age of ten, became warriors at the age of fifteen or sixteen, and became acquired warriors in their early twenties.

Now, almost all the young people in their twenties on the island are post-natal warriors. The key is that they have all undergone military training, which is very useful for Yang Mingzhao.

So he kidnapped these seven young people.

If he was not afraid of making too much noise, he would have wanted to kidnap more people.

They left Xingyue Island on the merchant ship of the Yang family business, sailed for four days to Songhe Prefecture in Jiangnan, and then exchanged all the silver bills for silver in Songhe Prefecture.

There is no money house of the Yang family business in Bashu, and the silver bills of the Yang family business are not circulated there, so Yang Mingzhao can only exchange the silver bills for silver in Songhe Prefecture now.

Then they purchased some cloth, weapons, pens, ink, paper and other supplies in Songhe Prefecture, hired a bodyguard, rented two inland cargo ships, and then went west along the Songhe River.

Just when Yang Mingzhao was heading to Kuizhou Prefecture, a major event happened in the court of Darong.

Emperor Yanping fainted in the imperial study.

Emperor Yanping was 37 years old when he ascended the throne, and this year marks the 20th year of Yanping, which means that Emperor Yanping is now 57 years old.

57 years old is not old, but not young either.

But in recent years, Emperor Yanping's health has become increasingly weak.

Two years ago, Emperor Yanping had a serious illness and had to stay in bed for two months before he recovered. Since last winter, Emperor Yanping has been suffering from asthma and coughing, and even coughed up blood this spring.

In the summer, Emperor Yanping's spirit recovered a little, but after the weather turned cooler, Emperor Yanping's asthma relapsed again.

After Emperor Yanping fainted in the imperial study, he lay in bed for a whole day and night before waking up.

In the bedroom, Zhang Mingzhong carefully served Emperor Yanping to drink the soup.

Crown Prince Chen Zhaojun and Dai Wang Chen Zhaoxuan stood beside the bed, looking at Emperor Yanping with worry on their faces.

At this time, Emperor Yanping's face was sallow, his hair was withered, and his eyes were cloudy and lifeless. He didn't look like he was less than 60 years old, but rather an old man in his 70s or 80s.

"Father!" Chen Zhaojun called softly.

Emperor Yanping looked at the prince, then looked at Zhang Mingzhong, and said weakly: "You go out first, only the prince stay!"

Zhang Mingzhong bowed and responded, then left with the eunuchs in the room.

Chen Zhaoxuan hesitated for a moment and followed him out of the room.

When only Emperor Yanping and Chen Zhaojun were left in the room, Emperor Yanping said: "From today on, you will be the regent!"

"Father, your son~~"

Emperor Yanping gently raised his hand to interrupt him and said: "Let Xuan'er go to Daizhou to be a vassal. It is not appropriate for him to stay in Kyoto!"

"Your son understands!" Chen Zhaojun said.

"What do you think of the civil and military officials in the court?" Emperor Yanping asked.

Chen Zhaojun hesitated for a moment and said, "I will promote some young officials."

"Those young officials?"

"Li Yangbo, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Yang Jingxuan, the doctor of the Ministry of Revenue, Luo Zhenguo, the doctor of the Ministry of War, Zhang He, the junior minister of the Dali Temple, Wang Zhongke, the deputy chief censor of the Censorate..." Chen Zhaojun said more than a dozen names.

After listening, Emperor Yanping nodded gently, "Very good, these people are both talented and virtuous, but Li Yangbo and Luo Zhenguo cannot be promoted at the same time. They are both from the Longyuan clan. If you need, you can promote Li Yangbo to the cabinet first. If Li Yangbo makes a mistake, then promote Luo Zhenguo to the cabinet!"

Emperor Yanping still has not changed his old habit. He always wants to balance the court, but in the past ten years, the court has become more and more chaotic under his balance.

At first, there were only two factions fighting in the court, the Long Party and the Jiangnan Party, and the scope of the fighting was still within the controllable range. However, as time went on, as the contradictions between civil and military officials increased, there were more and more factions in the court, and the fighting between them became more and more serious.

Now, in the cabinet, six ministries, six departments, the Censorate, the Dali Temple and other government offices, a group of officials only know how to fight each other, but there are few people who do their work with peace of mind, because the more they do, the more mistakes they make.

If you don't do anything, there will be people staring at you and picking bones in eggs, and once you do something, there will be countless people dragging you down, and even many people will want to catch your mistakes and omissions and pull you down.

As a result, the court has formed a trend of not being able to do things and not daring to do things.

From the cabinet to the prefectures and counties in various places, it is generally the same.

As the prince, Chen Zhaojun has been observing politics in the court for more than ten years. Everything he has learned was taught by Emperor Yanping, and the rest is needless to say.

He learned all the things of Emperor Yanping.

"There are two more people that my father has kept for you, Pingyuan Governor Lu Wenyuan and Ningyuan Prefecture Governor Lin Zhan. If the situation in the court is out of control one day, you can recall them to the court!"

"As long as the two of them can return to the court, they will be able to stabilize the situation in the court!"

Emperor Yanping said weakly.

This is his backup plan. Once the court is out of control, he will transfer Lu Wenyuan and Lin Zhan back to Kyoto.

But he did not use this backup plan, so he left it to his son.

As for why he thinks Lu Wenyuan and Lin Zhan can stabilize the court, the reason is very simple. Lu Wenyuan and Lin Zhan represent Yang Zhengshan, or more accurately, the Liaodong faction.

Yang Zhengshan has been away from Darong for more than ten years, but the influence left by Yang Zhengshan is still there.

Chongshan Town is still the foundation of the Yang family, and Tenglongwei is still firmly in the hands of Yu Tonghai and the six families of Wu, Han, Zhang, Xie, and Xue.

In addition, the Yang family has also produced some civil officials in recent years. Although there are not many outstanding ones, there are still a few.

However, most of the officials and scholars in Chongshan Town and Liaoyuan Province have inextricable ties with the Yang family and Tenglong Guard.

Therefore, the Liaodong faction can be regarded as a faction in the court.

However, Liaodong does not have much say in the court. It just gathers Lu Wenyuan's men and lives in Liaodong.

In recent years, the most stable place for Darong is Liaodong. Although there are many problems in the officialdom of Liaodong, compared with other places, the situation in Liaodong is already very good.

"If you are short of money, you can start with those imperial merchants. They are getting more and more excessive!" Emperor Yanping continued.

"I understand!" Chen Zhaojun said.

In the eyes of this father and son, those imperial merchants are fat pigs. When they are short of meat, they will slaughter them.

Emperor Yanping's breath weakened a little, but he still insisted: "If you encounter a problem that cannot be solved, you can send someone to Xingyue Island to ask your master to come back!"

It is no secret that Yang Zhengshan is on Xingyue Island, and Emperor Yanping is also very clear about the situation on Xingyue Island.

The strength of Xingyue Island makes him feel daunted, but also makes him feel that he can rely on it.

This is also the reason why he has not taken action against Chongshan Town and Tenglong Guard in the past ten years.

Yang Zhengshan lives far away overseas, which makes him feel much more at ease, and also makes him feel that Yang Zhengshan is more trustworthy. After all, Yang Zhengshan gave up the glory and wealth of Darong, and did not covet Darong's power.

Yang Mingzhi and Yang Minghao resigned from their posts one after another, which made him feel that Yang Zhengshan is reliable.

In his heart, Yang Zhengshan is a smart man who knows how to advance and retreat, so until now, Yang Zhengshan is still a reliable minister in his heart.

"Son, I understand!" Chen Zhaojun said in a low mood.

He and Yang Zhengshan still have a master-disciple relationship, but this master-disciple relationship is very shallow. To be honest, he has long forgotten Yang Zhengshan, his master.

For so many years, he has not contacted Yang Zhengshan.

"It's good that you know! Call Zhang Mingzhong over!" Emperor Yanping said.

No mistakes, one sentence, one post, one content, one 6, one 9, one book, one bar, take a look!

A moment later, Zhang Mingzhong and other eunuchs came in.

Emperor Yanping ordered Chen Zhaojun to supervise the country and let Chen Zhaoxuan go to the vassal.

After the two edicts were passed out, the civil and military officials in the court understood that Emperor Yanping was dying.

Soon, the news spread throughout Darong.

Let's not talk about the disturbances in the court. Emperor Yanping is seriously ill. When the old emperor and the new emperor take over, it will definitely cause the situation in the world.

When the news came out, many people and forces hiding in the dark in Darong could not resist the impulse in their hearts and were ready to jump out.

In the Miaoling Mountains in the west of Liping Prefecture, Yungui Province.

The Miaoling Mountains are part of the Jiujiang Mountains, with a large area of ​​white cloud rock peaks. From a distance, the majestic mountains rise from the ground, and from a close distance, the strange peaks are rugged. The continuous places are the same color as the sky, and the steep places are so steep that no one can open them.

The steepness of the mountains makes many innate warriors sigh in despair.

Yang Zhengshan has been to the Miaoling Mountains. He and Yu Qingyi can travel freely in the misty mountains and in the Wanshan Mountains, but there are many places in the Miaoling Mountains that make them feel troubled.

Because there are many peaks in the Miaoling Mountains that are straight up and down, with cliffs of hundreds of feet. Although Yang Zhengshan and Yu Qingyi can climb up, it will undoubtedly take a lot of effort.

So the two of them wandered around the edge of the Miaoling Mountains for a few days and left.

This shows the steepness of the Miaoling Mountains.

But in this steep Miaoling Mountains, there are tens of thousands of people hidden.

Shenyang Valley, Shenyang Sect.

The Shenyang Sect, which the Secret Guards had been searching for for 20 years but could not find, was hidden in the Shenyang Valley in the central area of ​​the Miaoling Mountains.

In the minds of the world, the depths of the Miaoling Mountains are a place where no one lives, but in fact there is a piece of paradise in the depths of the Miaoling Mountains.

The surrounding peaks and forests are towering into the clouds, and the valley is a fertile land.

However, this piece of paradise fell into the hands of the Shenyang Sect and turned into a hell.

There are thousands of believers and tens of thousands of blood slaves of the Shenyang Sect in the valley.

What are blood slaves?

Simply put, they are blood food cultivated by the Shenyang Sect itself.

Not only do they need to cultivate land and provide food for the Shenyang Sect, but they are also likely to become blood slaves of the Shenyang Sect.

On weekdays, these people live in the Shenyang Valley. The Shenyang Sect not only provides them with all kinds of living supplies, but also provides various cultivation resources.

They have been practicing since childhood. If their aptitude is poor and their cultivation is low, they can only be farmers for their whole lives and cultivate the fields for the Shenyang Sect.

If their aptitude is better and they can become acquired warriors, they will have a chance to choose.

Those who are willing to absorb the blood and qi of others are Shenyang followers, and those who are unwilling to absorb the blood and qi of others are the blood food of Shenyang followers.

The entire valley is divided into two parts. One part is the living area and farming area of ​​those blood slaves. They live a carefree life here and are proud of being Shenyang followers. They only know that many people have successfully cultivated and become Shenyang followers, but they don’t know that most of those who left have actually become the blood food of Shenyang followers.

The other part is hidden in the cave under the mountain, where Shenyang followers live and the blood food of Shenyang followers are imprisoned.

In the dim cave, cells are filled with skinny people. To be precise, they should not be considered as people, but a group of livestock, a group of livestock that can be slaughtered at will.

In addition to the livestock, there are also members of the Shenyang sect who are dressed in black cloth. Their eyes are all blood red, and in the dim cave, they are like a pair of wild beasts.

The cave is very large and long, running through many peaks.

They are like a group of demons who never see the sun.

But some people like blue sky and white clouds, mountains and green fields.

Just outside the exit of a cave, there is a simple fenced courtyard.

In the courtyard, a white-haired old man is holding a hoe and carefully cleaning the weeds in the vegetable field.

The old man looks to be in his seventies or eighties, with white hair and a youthful face, like a hermit in the mountains.

If Yang Zhengshan were here, he might recognize this old man.

His name is Lin Fuan, known as the Lord of the Mountains, and he is also a well-known innate warrior in Darong.

When the Xingyuan fruit tree appeared in the world, he had also appeared in Cuixia Valley. He also participated in the Xiantian Martial Arts Banquet held by the Worship Court. However, this person is very low-key. Even in front of people, it is easy to be ignored.

I don’t know if Yang Zhengshan still remembers this person.

However, Lin Fuan may be his alias. His real identity is the leader of the Shenyang Sect. As for his name, perhaps only he knows it.

"The subordinate greets the leader!" A middle-aged man in black stood outside the fence gate and bowed in a deep voice.

"Well, what's the matter?" Lin Fuan continued to wave the hoe to clear the weeds in the vegetable garden.

"Lord Li sent a message that Emperor Yanping is seriously ill and the prince is the regent. He asked what to do next!" The middle-aged man said.

Lin Fuan raised his head and revealed a pair of deep eyes.

"Is there any movement in the court?"

"Not yet!"

"Then wait a little longer. It's been a hundred years, and it doesn't matter if it's a few years!" Lin Fuan said softly.