Chapter 1333: Peace of Mind

The songs ended and the dances stopped, and the generals took the girls to bathe and sleep. Yang Guang kept Wang Yan and Yuwen Huaji to talk.

Yuwen Huaji had learned to be obedient now. His stinky mouth couldn't beat Wang Yan's, so he just ignored him; otherwise, he would be the only one to suffer. After all, he couldn't beat him in fighting or cursing. If he played tricks on Wang Yan's business, with Wang Yan's character of daring to directly challenge Yuwen Shu, he might just directly target the Yuwen family's industries and start killing.

Wang Yan didn't have much anyway; his family foundation was thin, and he was afraid of nothing. The Yuwen family had a whole family to support; they couldn't afford to toss around.

So Yuwen Huaji retreated and regretted why he had been so mouthy before.

And Yuwen Huaji didn't look for trouble, so Wang Yan was too lazy to curse him, just drinking the fresh soup prepared by the Prince's manor chef and eating things. This was to prevent people from only drinking wine during the banquet and not eating a few bites of food, so it was specially prepared to fill the stomach and sleep well.

Watching Wang Yan eat and drink heartlessly, Yang Guang also drank a large mouthful of delicious fresh soup.

He asked, "Ziyan, were you angry today?"

"It's not exactly anger, it's just that I'm not very comfortable." Wang Yan looked indignant. "Who does Yang Su think he is? Learning from Yuwen Huaji to point fingers at me? If it weren't for the Prince, otherwise..."

"Otherwise what? You're going to slap him? Curse him as an old dog?" Yang Guang glared.

Wang Yan stubbornly stiffened his neck and babbled, "Slapping him wouldn't go that far, otherwise where would the dignity of my Great Sui be? But I would definitely curse him until he was bloody-headed; this is also an old dog. Prince, don't glare at me. I cursed Yuwen Shu; how can I not curse Yang Su? Is that fair to Huaji?"

Yuwen Huaji took a deep breath, gritted his teeth and glared at Wang Yan, wishing he could glare him to death...

Yang Guang glanced at Yuwen Huaji, then lectured Wang Yan a few times, and turned to say, "Yang Su still needs to be won over. Contact him more in the future. I saw that you and Shi Your Majesty talked very happily?"

"Destined." Wang Yan nodded with a smile. "We cursed Yang Su for half the night."

Yang Guang couldn't help but laugh. He just watched Wang Yan and Shi Your Majesty whispering and giggling cheaply.

He asked, "How is it? Can you win him over?"

"Need to contact him more. Right now, the friendship is shallow, so it's not easy to speak deeply. I'll climb up the friendship with him in the future. This person is not bad; he didn't look down on people from the start, much better than that old dog Yang Su."

Wang Yan gave Shi Your Majesty a very high evaluation.

Yang Guang knew Wang Yan's problem: he was hostile to noble scions, especially arrogant ones who looked down on people. Not to mention the garrison troops stationed in Jiangdu, there were quite a few officers who were noble scions from southern powerful families. In a few months, only two or three remained in the army. The rest couldn't stand Wang Yan's conditioning and refused to work.

Because if they continued to work, they might die. They had a very strong premonition...

"Good, you maintain it more. Shi Your Majesty is greedy for money; don't be stingy with money." Yang Guang instructed.

Wang Yan nodded, and then Yang Guang let him leave.

In the matter of competing for the succession, Yang Guang didn't need Wang Yan to worry. Every day, he was finding ways to cause trouble for Yang Yong. Various smears, making up nursery rhymes among the people, and constantly putting eye drops on Yang Yong in front of Yang Jian and Dugu Qieluo.

"Public opinion melts gold"—it was truly effective. Yang Yong was scolded every few days, and the progress was very smooth.

Yang Guang was widely connecting with court officials, and now he had the support of the southern powerful families, which could be considered some strength.

At this time, the noble clans were mainly divided into three major forces.

One was the Guanzhong Group. Yang Jian's ascension mainly relied on the Guanzhong Group. Including the later Li family, they were also supported by the Guanzhong Group.

The second was the noble clans of Shandong and Hebei, which were the so-called northern families. These people had greater power than the Guanzhong Group, their family heritage was longer, and their foundation was deeper. Yang Jian played balance by using the Guanzhong Group and the military merit group that followed him to suppress these people.

The third was the southern powerful families, all of whom were large families of the Chen state. Some surrendered early, some surrendered after the war, some rose after the war, and some had strength. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to engage in a vigorous rebellion.

However, the southern strength was not that powerful, and as soon as they emerged, Yang Jian crushed their hearts. The noble families of Shandong and Hebei were more difficult to deal with. Yang Jian, Yang Guang, including the later Li Shimin and Li Zhi, all focused on dealing with these people...

In the late Sui Dynasty, the rebel forces in the north were powerful, while the south was much worse.

But then again, if you want to talk about dealing with noble families, Huang Chao had the most experience; it was all empirical knowledge...

After sending off the army returning in triumph, not many days later, the imperial decree arrived at the Jiangning Marquis Manor.

It was a decree of marriage.

Wang Yan was praised, and Princess Qionghua was promised to him. Two years later, in the autumn of 593, they would marry. At the same time, Yang Jian also bestowed a large house near the imperial city to be the Marquis Manor; the original house was too small and wronged his daughter.

After sending off the people who announced the decree, Wang Yan looked at the happy Xiao Mei: "At ease?"

"At ease. If this matter didn't succeed, I would always be unable to stop thinking about it," Xiao Mei said. "We rely on the Prince of Jin, and now we have a princess, completely attaching ourselves to the royal family and raising our status. It will be much more convenient to do things in the future."

"That doesn't stop people from looking down on us. Background..." Wang Yan shook his head amusedly.

Regarding the issue of status, this was actually the first time Wang Yan had experienced it.

In the late Ming Dynasty, he was a border army leader, nurturing bandits to bolster himself, listening to orders but not to announcements.

In the Great Song, it had already been plowed by Huang Chao once; the economy was developed, and thinking was open. Although there was calculation, it wasn't too serious.

In the Three Kingdoms period, he was simply a leader of the Yellow Turban rebels, sweeping all the way to Liaodong to set up his own mountain. People who looked down on him couldn't even reach his front.

Only here, the noble families were prosperous, their foundations were deep, and they were intertwined, truly sharing the world with the Emperor. Family background was particularly emphasized, so much so that he, Wang Mou, had been mixing for so long, and wherever he went, he was looked down upon. Everyone wanted to show off their background and put on airs in front of him.

Truly a novel experience...

"Husband, don't worry. 'The movement of heaven is full of power; the superior man makes himself strong and untiring.' Husband, your ambitions are far-reaching, not comparable to those who claim to be of noble birth." Xiao Mei cheered Wang Yan up.

Wang Yan laughed. "I'm not worried. One day I will step on the bones of the officials and let them see who is more noble than whom."

"Husband has good ambitions." Xiao Mei continued to provide emotional value; she was always so considerate.

"How is business recently?"

"Not bad. The powerful families are very supportive of Jixiangju's business," Xiao Mei said. "Knowing that Husband is the Prince of Jin's trusted aide, they are all trying to be on good terms with us."

"Our things are indeed good. Apart from us, who else can make them?"

Wang Yan waved his hand and turned to say, "Wife, think about it. In the future, during the New Year, send some of our family's things to Shi Your Majesty's house. I am quite destined with him, and we will have many dealings in the future."

"Win him over?"

"Of course, that is a proper great general. With his support, it will add even more strength."

Wang Yan looked into the distance with his hands behind his back at the little one walking crookedly in the courtyard led by Lüliu. "Destiny is also true. Even if I can't win him over, I can still be on good terms. This person is a martial man, his mind is simple, and he doesn't boast about his family background. He can be a friend."

"Then I will prepare some things and have someone send them over."

"That's not necessary. That would be like us fawning over him. Just send it actively during the New Year; having some contact is enough."

"The garrison troops are all back. Husband, you will be busy, right?"

"Not too busy. It's just suppressing mountain bandits and water bandits. Right now, the large army is passing through, so they have to be peaceful for a period of time, and it will be two or three months before they can act. I'm just handling the post-war military merit matters for the Yangzhou garrison; there's not much to do, just the same as before."

Wang Yan waved his hand. "Wife, you be busy. I have to go to the military camp to take a look."

Having said this, Wang Yan took a few retainers, rode out of the house, and went to the military camp.

Although there was no war, he was the highest military officer in Yangzhou, and the post-war aftermath had to be arranged and handled by him. Promotions, pensions, filling vacancies, etc., all had to be implemented by him.

It was filled with a large amount of paperwork, as well as the identification of some people. Who was one of his own, who didn't listen, who didn't understand, who needed to be dealt with. Who to promote, who not to promote, and how to take care of the emotions of those who weren't promoted—all sorts of things.

However, this was a small matter for Wang Yan. He comforted everyone in the wounded camp, even personally diagnosed and prescribed medicine, and taught the people in the army emergency handling methods.

He also talked to everyone who should have been promoted according to reason, determined their tendencies, and decided whether they should be promoted.

What made Wang Yan relatively gratified was that the soldiers didn't care about that much; whoever treated them well, they followed. The low- and middle-level officers, although they had some relationships, didn't have such strong backgrounds, and in the past, they had been bullied by local powerful families, so they unified their understanding.

Thus, Wang Yan didn't play the villain, arranged the promotion list fairly and justly, and reported the pension figures.

The team returned, and the military control of Jiangdu was dissolved. Only then did Wang Yan truly begin to fulfill his duties, reorganize the team, arrange training matters, etc.

It was just that it was also the busy farming season, so plans were made first. Except for a small number of standing troops, the vast majority went home to farm.

Wang Yan didn't engage in production, and other matters progressed steadily. With nothing to do, he went out to visit various places in Yangzhou. He went to various towns and villages where people lived, chatted with the garrison troops, and solved some of their life problems.

For example, if someone didn't have money at home and couldn't marry a wife, Wang Yan gave them low-interest loans, paying back a very small part every year for ten or twenty years.

Ancient people didn't necessarily keep their word, but they certainly didn't dare not pay back the General's money...

In fact, when it came down to it, it was still a matter of money. Of course, the more ultimate one was the issue of land output. Little land and little output naturally meant living poorly.

So Wang Yan once again distributed seedlings of chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs to them, and organized some breeding techniques, how to raise them, how to avoid epidemics, etc. This was the experience summarized by the breeders under him over the past two years.

Handing them over to the garrison families to raise, he would then purchase them when the time came. Of course, it would also cover the costs, let them have some surplus, and always have some extra income.

As for the families where they died, he wouldn't collect money; the Marquis Manor would bear it all.

If you calculate the total account, he still earned in the end, it's just that he didn't earn as much as he imagined. But in this process, the garrison families had more sources of wealth, more various eggs, could supplement nutrition, and could also sell for money. At the same time, the Marquis Manor harvested meat. No one lost money; everyone earned.

As long as there wasn't a large-scale epidemic, there would be no loss. Even when an epidemic occurred, people had already earned a lot of money. After dealing with it, the Marquis Manor gave some living water, and it operated again.

However, Wang Yan was still trying to avoid such problems. He emphasized public health. When going deep into towns and villages, he proposed to clean up, keep clean, and avoid getting sick. It didn't matter if livestock died, but once people got an infectious disease, that wouldn't be very good.

Although at this time, because people didn't communicate much and didn't live densely, there wouldn't be large-scale infection. But it was always bad, so it was better to avoid it if possible.

At the same time, Wang Yan also got a batch of cattle from the grasslands. He had been working on cattle breeding, letting cattle multiply. After all, cattle had always been an important productive force in ancient times. Having cattle and not having cattle were different.

The skinny old man pulling the plow in front, walking with difficulty. The strong cattle, with a ring on its nose, slowly, easily...

In short, Wang Yan walked around Yangzhou, harvested the hearts of the garrison troops, harvested the hearts of many people, and had a very virtuous name. People all said the General was a good General, and following the General meant living well.

Wang Yan always waved his hand, saying it was all the care of the Prince of Jin, and he was also working for the Prince of Jin, so everyone should remember the Prince of Jin's goodness and the royal family's goodness.

In this way, it wasn't privately receiving the hearts of the people, and no one could say anything. But in fact, these garrison troops and people had never seen the Prince of Jin, nor did they know any royal family; they just knew the General was good.

More in fact, no one cared about the hearts of the people; after all, this wasn't the hearts of the people. The hearts of the noble families—that was the hearts of the people.

But Yang Guang was also very satisfied with Wang Yan. He knew Wang Yan's actions and also sent people to understand. He was a suspicious person. He also knew that Wang Yan always spoke well of him behind his back, and he was very gratified.

Although Wang Yan had a fiery temper, especially disliked the style of noble families, and exploded at a touch. But Wang Yan was loyal to him, the most loyal person under his command, none other.

In fact, he had always been very at ease with Wang Yan. Emotionally, he promoted Wang Yan; in terms of interests, he gave Wang Yan many benefits; politically, Wang Yan could only go all the way to the dark with him.

He was just habitually wanting to control his subordinates more clearly; he had a perverted desire for control...

Not mentioning the daily performance of loyalty to Yang Guang, after visiting Yangzhou, the busy farming season was almost over. The mountain bandits and water bandits within Yangzhou also emerged and became active again, even daring to rob Wang Mou's head.

Thus, General Wang launched a tough bandit-sweeping war within Yangzhou, leveling all the named mountain tops, using warships to sweep the Yangtze River, and chasing and killing water bandits.

He trained troops, swept bandits, and gave red envelopes to the brothers for the New Year. At the same time, Wang Yan had achievements, and Yang Guang also had achievements; everyone looked good on their faces.

Only the local powerful families were unhappy because Wang Yan extorted a lot of their money and grain...

The situation here was not much better than in Bingzhou. They were all strong men gathering in the mountains and forests, and then being taken in as dogs by the powerful families. Otherwise, how did the previous rebellion start? These various bandits were also deeply involved.

It was just that they were beaten away before, and now that the limelight had passed, they emerged again.

Wang Yan caught them and beat them, and they couldn't beat the regular army in armor and sharp weapons, so Wang Yan caught the evidence, then loyally reported it to Yang Guang, and with Yang Guang's acquiescence, extorted the local powerful families, letting the Yangzhou garrison brothers have a fat New Year.

At the same time, he also stood on the opposite side of the powerful families here...

This was what Yang Guang wanted to see. If even Wang Yan was won over, how could he sleep?

After all, Wang Yan was brave and invincible, and good at leading troops in battle. If it really came to some extreme situation, Wang Yan's killing was truly refreshing...

So Wang Yan must be his subordinate, someone standing opposite the noble families, so he could feel at ease... ===== CHAPTER 1334 =====