Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 832: Chapter 619: The Yang Family Is a Thick and Powerful Backer

But the one recruiting him is not Yang Zhenshan, but Yang Mingzhao.

Whether Yang Mingzhao can represent the Yang family requires a question mark in his mind.

But to him, Yang Mingzhao is still a powerful supporter.

Even if Yang Mingzhao can’t represent the Yang family, he is still a very robust support for him.

The arrival of Li Dagui proves this point.

Although he can’t see through Li Dagui’s cultivation, he understands that Li Dagui’s cultivation far exceeds his own.

Li Baoshan waited until dawn, and then he immediately went up to the city wall with a telescope to observe the camp outside the city.

Li Baoshan is not a rash person; quite the contrary, he is extremely cautious.

He is observing the camp outside the city to gauge Yang Mingzhao’s abilities.

He wants to assess the caliber of Yang Mingzhao’s support.

Yang Mingzhao’s character should be good, after all, he manages Taiping County very well.

So how capable is Yang Mingzhao?

One can’t blindly latch onto a support; this support needs to be not only sturdy but also reliable.

The camp outside the city is orderly, although some soldiers’ equipment is quite poor, it’s evident they are well-trained soldiers.

This sufficiently shows that Yang Mingzhao isn’t reckless, he’s genuinely training the soldiers seriously and remarkably dedicated to his duties.

After observing for a while, Li Baoshan stood on the city wall, contemplating deeply for a long time before turning back into the city.

Upon returning home, he called for the family steward.

“Go and bring all of our land and property deeds!”

The steward asked with confusion: “Master, all the land deeds and property deeds?”

Li Baoshan nodded, “All of them, and all the promissory notes.”

Though the steward didn’t know what Li Baoshan intended to do, he obediently brought over all the land deeds, property deeds, and promissory notes.

Three large boxes filled with documents were placed in the hall, which Li Baoshan reviewed one by one.

In Da Rong, the Li family is just a small clan, but in Baoning Prefecture, the Li family is quite a mighty force.

The Li family’s members aren’t numerous; Li Baoshan’s father has three brothers, and in Li Baoshan’s generation there are four cousins, while the younger generation has more, with four adults, and five sons not yet of age.

As for collateral branches, there are numerous, with Li family’s legacy deep-rooted in Baoning Prefecture, it is difficult to count the number of Li clan people there.

There are those close to the collateral branches, but many have long since separated from the direct line and become self-sufficient.

The so-called Li family actually only refers to Li Baoshan’s father’s generation of three brothers; although Li Baoshan isn’t the highest-ranking within the Li family, he is the Family Head.

Therefore, the land deeds and property deeds in his hands represent the entire Li family’s assets.

Looking at each land and property deed, Li Baoshan frowned slightly.

He sighed as he looked over the promissory notes.

Promissory notes, essentially high-interest loans!

Issuing high-interest loans is the most common method used by landlords to annex lands.

Ordinary people have very low capacity for disaster recovery; whether it be natural calamities or man-made disasters, encountering any slight difficulty may lead to unmanageable conditions.

Many landlords will use high-interest loans to help residents through tough times, supposedly offering help, yet the interest is extremely high, often seen as nine taken, thirteen returned, the most common case.

Before ordinary people could get through the immediate hardship, the high-interest loans in their hands would already be impossible to repay.

Small landlords and self-sufficient farmers would mortgage their lands to pay off debts, converting themselves into tenant farmers; if tenants didn’t have lands to pledge, they would have to sell sons and daughters, sending them to landlords’ homes as servants and maidservants.

Some tenants have generations of debt from the landlord’s high-interest loans, they don’t even know how much they owe with these promissory notes piled up.

Landlords use these promissory notes to control tenant families.

Tenants grow poorer, debts mount unbearably, unable to liberate generations.

These promissory notes are like a mountain pressing down on tenant families.