Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Wei Cen hesitated a bit but nodded, ”Since taking office, Sha Pingchuan has extensively occupied the garrison farms, and by now he owns several hundred acres of them. Besides, he has bought many shops and estates, not only in Jia City, but also in Chongshan Pass, Jing’an Prefecture, Qi State City, and other places, the Sha family owns considerable assets!”

Yang Zhenshan’s eyes narrowed slightly, asking, ”Is the Sha family a powerful clan?”

”Can’t be considered a powerful clan, only one family member previously served as a Commander, and before Sha Pingchuan, the Sha family was not very wealthy!”

”Then the question arises, how did Sha Pingchuan amass so much property!” asked Yang Zhenshan.

Occupying garrison farms is not uncommon in Chongshan Town.

Many Military Officers would claim the garrison’s farms for their private use, although most wouldn’t do it excessively since the farms are the means for the military households to make a living; if too much is appropriated by officials, these households would lose their livelihood.

Sha Pingchuan could occupy so much farmland because he was the Commander of Songzhou Guard, which allowed him to intervene in all the garrisons under Songzhou Guard.

Hundreds of acres of land indeed brought considerable income to Sha Pingchuan, but it definitely wasn’t enough to accumulate such vast family assets.

Wei Cen frowning, thought for a moment, then said, ”He has been operating in Songzhou Guard for more than ten years!”

”If I remember correctly, he was promoted to the role of Commander of Songzhou Guard in the nineteenth year of Chengping!” Yang Zhenshan stated.

It is now the twenty-fifth year of Chengping, which means Sha Pingchuan has been the Songzhou Guard’s Commander for six years.

Before becoming the Commander of Songzhou Guard, he wouldn’t have been able to possess so much farmland.

In just six years, not only had he occupied hundreds of acres of farmland, but he also purchased a large number of shops and estates.

This obviously didn’t make sense.

”Are you suggesting he might be involved with smuggling?” Wei Cen also thought of this possibility.

Yang Zhenshan stroked his beard, ”Possibly, apart from that, I can’t think of where else he might have gotten so much money.”

At this point, he had figured out what was off about Sha Pingchuan.

Extravagance, extreme extravagance.

From Sha Pingchuan’s food and other expenses, it was evident—honestly, even Zhou Lan couldn’t match his level of lavishness.

Lamb, fine wine, delectable dishes.

A single meal would likely cost several hundred Silver.

And he also kept so many dancers; even without that Miss Yu Lu, maintaining so many dancers was a significant expense.

Just in terms of Sha Pingchuan’s lifestyle, let alone him being just a Commander of the Guard, even those wealthy princes couldn’t afford such luxury.

”Look into this further, I feel there might be something amiss!”

Wei Cen nodded, ”I will report this matter to the admiral.”