Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 275: Chapter 266 You Are Very Useless

Entering the night, Yan Shun came to the camp to seek an audience with Yang Zhenshan.

Seeing Yang Zhenshan again, his emotions were much more stable, although he was still not certain of Yang Zhenshan’s identity, the behavior of Yang Zhenshan’s soldiers had greatly reassured him.

Everything was so organised and orderly, no one disturbed the military households under his jurisdiction; simply based on this, Yan Shun felt that Yang Zhenshan must be an upright person.

A dim candlelight flickered inside the tent, while Yang Zhenshan sat behind a desk, writing and drawing.

Yan Shun entered, and Yang Zhenshan did not look up, merely saying, ”You sit first, wait for me a moment!”

”Yes!”

Yan Shun sat somewhat stiffly on the stool next to him, while Yang Zhenshan wrote for a good while before putting down the pen and taking a sip from the already cool teacup.

”Ah, it seems like the situation here is not very good,” he sighed lightly.

With a hundred thoughts swirling in his mind, Yan Shun said, ”It is the subordinate who has disappointed you, Master!”

Yang Zhenshan waved his hand, ”No need for such formalities, first tell me about the situation at the thousand households.”

Yan Shun hesitated; the state of the thousand households was apparent at a glance, but talking about the poverty under his own leadership felt like he was slapping his own face.

Alright, it seems he had no face to speak of!

”Speak!” Yang Zhenshan frowned, looking dissatisfied.

Yan Shun shuddered, hastening to say, ”Master, currently in our thousand households there are three hundred and twenty-four military households, and three hundred and eighteen soldiers!”

”How much farming land?”

”Five thousand and thirty-eight acres!”

Yang Zhenshan’s expression was inscrutable as he continued to inquire, ”Why so?”

A thousand households only having a few hundred military households and just over five thousand acres of land, was this still a thousand households?

Yan Shun’s forehead was sweating, his voice trembling slightly, ”The amount of land is too little; the military households have fled!”

”Why are there so few fields?”

Wiping his sweat, Yan Shun said, ”Most of them were bought up by the Lan family!”

”Bought? Can garrison land be bought and sold? Even if it could, where’s the money from the sale?”

The frosty interrogation caused Yan Shun to tremble even more violently, and he suddenly knelt down, saying, ”Master, the subordinate, this situation was like this before I took office, I really don’t know what’s going on!”

He truly didn’t know; although he had served as the households head here for over a decade, the place was already like this before he arrived.

Yang Zhenshan gave him a deep look and slightly shook his head.

”You are very incompetent!”

Indeed!

This Yan Shun was very incompetent; if only he had some courage or some thought, his jurisdiction would not have ended up like this.

It is said that poverty curtails ambition, but the thousand households were not so poor as to have no options at all; Yan Shun still had over two hundred military households and soldiers under him.

This was just like Xie Yuan at Shaling Castle previously, also suppressed to the point of being unable to lift his head, equally poor, yet Xie Yuan managed to keep Shaling Castle in orderly management, and the military households at Shaling Castle lived better than those at other garrisons. This was the capability of Xie Yuan.

Yan Shun’s forehead touched the ground, not daring to breathe heavily.

”Get up!” Yang Zhenshan couldn’t bother to argue with him, this man was almost sixty years old, no longer capable of much.

”Thank you, Master!” Yan Shun trembled as he got up.

Yang Zhenshan continued to ask, ”Tell me about the situation of Tenglong Guard!”

”This—Master, which aspects do you wish to hear?” Yan Shun was trembling with fear, worried about saying the wrong thing.

Yang Zhenshan glanced at him, ”Just talk about the Lan family and the Tenglong Guard!”

Yan Shun’s heart quivered, he wiped the dust on his forehead with his worn sleeve before speaking, ”Tenglong Four Guards, aside from the Tenglong Advanced Guard, the other three are similar to us!”

”And the Tenglong Advanced Guard has been under the control of the Lan family...”

Yan Shun detailed his own situation; what he said was almost identical to Ding Qiu’s investigation.