Chapter 47: You're Not in a Hurry, But I Am!

  （0047）

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  Life is seventy years old, it's rare since ancient times. That can only be achieved by people with conditions. For the poor military households, fifty years old is already very good, and many people don't even live to forty years old. Yang Kai De is exactly fifty years old this year, and in Yangjia Village, he is also considered a relatively long-lived person.

  Yang Kaidi didn't want to make a fuss about his fiftieth birthday, but Zhang Zhun insisted on having a small celebration. Zhang Zhun was determined to repay Yang Kaidi's kindness, after all, he had raised him. One must not forget their roots. Of course, the scale of the celebration wouldn't be very large. It would just be his family members and a few nephews from the Huang family. They were all helping Yang Ruijing with work, so they were relatively close relatives.

  The dishes are very rich. Now in Yangjiatun, the financial situation is not as tense as before, especially for the Yang family. Yang Yinghua prepared many private dishes, including minced meat and sea cucumber, crispy chicken, home-cooked fish with pickled mustard greens, mushroom stewed chicken, abalone in its original shell, fried scallops, sautéed conchs, shrimp cooked with Chinese cabbage, yellow croaker stewed tofu, roasted cuttlefish, braised pig's trotters, three fresh potstickers, and Chinese cabbage and meat buns.

  Of course, the five major bowls of seafood braised noodles, pork rib rice, mandarin fish dumplings, seaweed liangpi and chicken soup must not be missing. These are the signature dishes of Fushan Village, which were a must-have on important festivals when people's lives were still relatively good in the past. Only later, when everyone became poor and had no economic ability to make them, did these dishes slowly disappear. After more than 100 years, these dishes finally returned to the table, with two tables full of them.

  Everyone was eating with relish, saying they had never eaten such good food before. The guards' meals were mainly meat and fish, emphasizing that everyone was full and the calories were sufficient, definitely not as delicate as this. Zhang Zhun also ate with gusto. Huang's four nephews were very lively, all of them clinging to Zhang Zhun, wanting to join the guard team. They were all stimulated by those brand new military uniforms and flags. But Yang Rui Feng couldn't let go of them, so Zhang Zhun had to politely decline.

  Since the refined salt business got on track, Yangjia Village's days have been much better. The vast majority of military households now have someone working with Yang Ruijing, including Wei Mingyi. Wei Mingyi's two sons are also helping to collect private salt, working very hard, and a few days ago Yang Ruijing even raised their wages to one or two silver coins per month. Wei Mingyi had long forgotten about Wang Shixin. Whoever gives benefits will be sold out, it's just that simple.

  Yu Nan's mysterious master, who paid the silver on time every day, no matter how much private salt Yang Rui sent, never owed a single cent, making Zhang Zhun very impressed with his business integrity. As for the master behind him, his interest was also getting thicker and thicker. Unfortunately, she went to Shanxi and won't be back in a short while, so it's unlikely they'll meet.

  Now Yang Yinghua's hands have almost two thousand taels of silver left, and those twenty silver ingots haven't been touched. Compared to the life before when there was hardly any money on hand, it's really a world of difference, even Huang Shi looks like she has become younger by several years. Unfortunately, Yang Kaidi's leg is irreparably damaged no matter what. However, Yang Kaidi takes it lightly, as long as the young generation is promising, what does it matter if the older generation is disabled?

  Of course, compared to the wealthy families, this amount of silver may not be enough for a month's expenses. It is said that in the rich areas of Jiangnan, some people pay more than 500 taels of silver as overnight fees for red card girls. However, can one become fat by eating just one mouthful? Yang Ruijing is working hard to increase the production of refined salt, and with the continuous increase in production, profits will also continue to grow.

  During this time, everyone in the Yang family was busy, and they rarely had time to gather together. After drinking two cups of rice wine, everyone's face became rosier. The most obvious were Yang Daren and Yang Lingshuo, even the mouse gained a few ounces of flesh and no longer fought for food, having heard its name many times, the reason being that it was not as hungry as before.

  "Feng Ge, when are you getting married?" Zhang Zhun asked with a smile.

  "It's September." Yang Rui replied somewhat shyly.

  Yang Kaidi has already spoken with Chen Guoxi, and Chen Guoxi's daughter Chen Xiaolei will marry Yang Ruijing. The wedding is scheduled for September this year. This is clearly to make way for Zhang Zhun and Yang Yingwan's marriage. After all, if Yang Ruijing doesn't get married, Yang Yingwan won't be able to get married either. As for this marriage, Zhang Zhun is very supportive of it. Chen Guoxi is an ally of Yang Kaidi, and his four sons, although they haven't joined the guard team, are also core members of Yangjiatun. They are also involved in the confidential process of refining salt.

  "There's still five months!" Zhang Zhun said with a smile.

  "No rush." Yang Rui replied calmly.

  "You're not in a hurry, I am!" Zhang Zhun said with profound meaning.

  Yang Yinghua's face suddenly turned red.

  Everyone is smiling knowingly.

  Zhang Zhun was indeed a bit impatient, nothing else, these days, girls are very particular about chastity, if they don't get married formally, Yang Yinghua wouldn't give it to him, at most just holding hands, even kissing is unlikely. He's after all a vigorous and robust man, needing yin-yang balance. Every day he exhausts himself with exercise so he doesn't have the energy for lewd thoughts, also because of this reason. Exhausted, then there's no heart to think about women.

  Yang Rui said hesitantly: "Then... shall we do it together?"

  Zhang Zhun smiled and shook his head.

  It's better to let Yang Kaidi take charge of this matter.

  Yang Kaidao was not in a hurry and said with a smile: "Don't mention this matter, don't mention this matter."

  So everyone stopped mentioning it and talked about other topics instead.

  Looking back on the earth-shaking changes of these few months, everyone has a lot to say, and in such a joyful atmosphere, there's no shortage of topics. Amidst the chatter and laughter, everyone had almost finished eating. The mouse was stuffed, repeatedly saying "no more, no more", causing everyone to burst out laughing.

  Yang Rui and Zhang Zhun drank a toast, and Haozi also came over to join in the fun. The three people's capacity for alcohol was actually not good, but they managed to finish off the remaining baijiu. Zhang Zhun's face was bright red, and Yang Ying hurriedly got him a bowl of ku ding tea to sober him up. This ku ding tea was all picked by herself, genuine and authentic, bitter beyond measure, and its effect on sobering up was naturally extremely good.

  After dinner, Yang Yinghua went to wash the dishes and tidy up. Zhang Zhun and Yang Ruijing were chatting, with Haoke occasionally interjecting a word or two. The topic of their discussion was still related to Fushan City. Now that Fushan City is under martial law, ordinary people can't enter, so Zhang Zhun could only try to gather information about Fushan City from others.

  Although the military households in Fushan City are very poor, Fushan City itself is not bad. It has three sides of the sea and one side of the mountain, with only a narrow land to the north connected to the outside world, making it an ideal place for defense but difficult to attack. If others want to attack Fushan City, they can only start from Jimo County. Similarly, if the military households rise up in rebellion, the government troops can only reinforce from the direction of Jimo County.

  Zhang Zhun's gaze had already seen the strategic deployment after taking down Fushan City.

  The current battle of the guards is not yet a real rebellion, and Ao Shan Wei and Lai Zhou Fu will not intervene too much, there is no need for that. However, if the guards capture Fushan City and kill Wang Shixin and others, it would be a real rebellion, and Ao Shan Wei and Lai Zhou Fu will definitely react. The commander of Ao Shan Wei is Zhao Yin Ying, the governor of Lai Zhou Fu is Sun Zhi Xiang, and the defender of Lai Zhou is Li Cheng Dong. Zhang Zhun does not know much about these three people yet. Among them, the first to react must be Zhao Yin Ying, the commander of Ao Shan Wei.

  Zhang Zhun casually asked: "Zhao Yin'ying of Aoshanwei, who has information?"

  Yang Rui said: "As far as I know, Zhao Yin comes back to Aoshanwei only once a year. During Kong Youde's rebellion, he moved his family to the relatively safe Qingzhou Prefecture. He now spends most of his time in Qingzhou Prefecture. Unless Wang Shixin asks for help in advance, it will take at least ten days or more for him to receive the information and gather troops to come and reinforce."

  Hao Zi also said: "That's right, it is like this."

  He further introduced that Zhao Yin would return every October. The main purpose of his return was to collect rent. Under Wang Shixin's name, there were three or four thousand mu of land, making him the largest landlord in Fushan. As the commander-in-chief of the Wei army, Zhao Yin had even more land under his name, at least over ten thousand mu. Due to Zhao Yin's long-term absence from Aoshanwei, the soldiers of the Aoshanwei garrison had no combat effectiveness and were not a concern. However, Zhao Yin had a relatively troublesome problem, which was that he had a good relationship with the Hengwangfu.

  The imperial court in Shandong, apart from the Lu King who settled in Yanzhou Prefecture, also had a Heng King in Qingzhou Prefecture. Of course, the reputation and power of the Heng King could not be compared to those of the Lu King, and the resources he controlled were not as many as those of the Lu King. However, no matter what, the Heng King was after all a vassal king, belonging to the imperial family's ranks. If they had offended the Heng King, it is believed that the imperial court's reaction would be more intense. Of course, this was just a precaution. The Ming dynasty's vassal kings were not allowed to interfere with local government affairs and were not allowed to hold military power. Even if there was a big disturbance on the side of Fushan City, the Heng King might not have had the ability to intervene and turn the situation around.

  As they spoke, Yang Yinghua had already finished her work.

  Because they had dinner relatively early today and the sky was still not completely dark, Zhang Zhun proposed to Yang Yinghua and others to take a walk on the Silver Beach.

  Yang Rui and Haozi tacitly understood each other and found an excuse to leave.

  Zhang Zhun and Yang Yinghe walked slowly along the beach.

  Actually, the two of them are a bit strange, just like they're in their first love, looking very pure. Until now, they've only held hands and haven't even kissed. Every time Zhang Zhen sees Yang Yinghua's shy appearance, he feels embarrassed to be too forward. It doesn't matter if you behave well or not in front of others, but in front of her, it seems like you always have to appear a bit more gentle.

  The two of them casually found some topics and slowly chatted as they walked, soon arriving at Yintan.

  Yin Beach is east of Red Stone Beach, with strange rocks and uneven terrain, but the sand is extremely white, like snow. The landform here is more complex than Red Stone Beach, with ups and downs of stones. However, from the perspective of the sea view, it is more flavorful than Red Stone Beach. In the past, some foreign tourists would come to watch the sea, but now there are none.

  Today continues to update 21,000 words, tonight extra updates ~~ Please everyone continue to support, collect more, recommend more ~~~~