I support the army through farming and business.

Chapter 340 Master Yang
Steward Yang entered and reported, "Master, the three heads of the family, Jiang, Jin, and Zou, have come to see you."

"Please," Yang Fan waved away the old man who was standing still, "Go do what you're supposed to do."

Master Yang said respectfully, "Your son is here to serve your father and elders."

Yang Fan said calmly, "Our conversation is none of your business."

Master Yang's face stiffened. He bowed and left the main courtyard. Using the artificial hill in the garden as a cover, he watched with a sinister look as Master Yang the Second led the heads of the three families into the main courtyard. He did not come out again.

The atmosphere in the reception room was somber.

The head of the Jiang family spoke first, "Whether it's a do-or-die battle or admitting defeat and handing over our ancestral business, we need to come up with a plan."

The Jin family head sighed, "I would like to fight with my back against the river, but unfortunately my Jin family is weak and powerless in the army. I am afraid that I am willing but unable to do so."

The Jiang family head sneered, "Jin Laosan, there's no point in you talking like that. Your three grandsons are all serving in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang naval forces, the lowest rank being captain. Your eldest grandson is also Feng Jie's confidant. If they are so weak, then my Jiang family is no match for you."

"Brother Jiang doesn't know yet, but my second and third sons have been expelled from the navy by Feng Jie, and my eldest son has been placed on probation and can no longer go to the military camp."

Looking at the astonished faces of the other three, the Jin family head, feeling a sense of shared suffering, said mercifully, "Not only the Jin family, but also the descendants and relatives of the Jiang, Yang, and Zou families have been expelled from the navy."

Patriarch Zou was furious, "How dare you, you traitor Feng!"

Yang Fan frowned. "On what grounds?"

“Forming cliques in private, buying and selling official positions, bribing superiors, and buying off subordinates,” the Jin family head seemed to have made up for all the sighs he hadn’t uttered in the first half of his life after receiving the news this morning. “Feng Jie said that if it weren’t for his meritorious service in guarding the coast, it would not have been as simple as just being expelled from the camp.”

"Good, so they're taking advantage of the fact that the four great families are being targeted by the court!" Patriarch Zou sneered. "Don't they realize that Feng Jie is some kind of upright and honest official? Just the amount of money he accepted as bribes is enough to warrant the execution of his entire family!"

"What's the use of saying all this? With 50,000 naval troops at our disposal, even the imperial court has to give Feng Jie some face, let alone us?" The Jin family head smiled bitterly. "The feeling of being at the mercy of others is the best we can imagine."

The head of the Zou family shouted, "Are we just going to swallow this bitter pill like this?"

"Otherwise what? Don't forget, Feng Jie still has private soldiers he captured alive!" A hint of resentment flashed in the eyes of the Jin family head. "Believe it or not, the moment we expose Feng Jie's acceptance of bribes, he will send troops to wipe out the private soldiers we've been raising. His merits and demerits will cancel each other out, while we will die without a burial place!"

Ultimately, it's all Yang Fan's fault!
If he hadn't insisted on sending his private soldiers to assassinate Tang Zhao, how could Feng Jie have seized on this and put them in such a passive position?

The Zou family, wary of the Yang family's power, only dared to mutter under their breath. The Jiang family, however, was evenly matched with the Yang family in power, and the Jiang family head directly shouted, "Elder Yang, this matter is entirely your family's responsibility. You must come up with a plan that satisfies everyone, otherwise..."

"Otherwise what?" Yang Fan said calmly.

Under that menacing gaze, the Jiang family head felt a chill run down his spine and dared not utter a word.

The Jin family tried to smooth things over, saying, "Eldest brother, don't be angry. Second brother was just in a hurry. Too many things have happened in the past few years. The four families have suffered business losses one after another, and our financial situation is no longer what it used to be."

"We lost over a million taels of silver just a few days ago by returning the official salt, and we are truly at our wits' end."

Upon hearing this, the expressions of the Jiang and Zou family heads darkened. Yang Fan closed his eyes, "Second brother, what do you think?"

“Father, uncles, in my humble opinion, the fact that Marshal Feng was still willing to secretly pass messages to us shows that he still cherishes the old friendship he once had. However, due to the court’s targeting and suppression, he has no choice but to cut off contact with us in order to protect himself.”

"As long as we can get through this crisis and restore our former glory, Marshal Feng will definitely continue to associate with us, and the sons of the four major families can also rejoin the Jiangsu and Zhejiang naval forces."

Yang Fan nodded.

Patriarch Jiang said urgently, "Who doesn't know all this? The problem is how to get through the current crisis?"

Master Yang lowered his head and said, "It's better to lose money than to suffer a disaster."

The head of the Jiang family slammed his hand on the table.

Why did they rush to the Yang family's house? Wasn't it just because they didn't want to lose money? After discussing it for so long, it was like they hadn't discussed it at all. What was the point of them making this trip?
"Tang Zhao's purpose in going to the south this time was to reorganize the salt administration, but she didn't kill a single official in the Salt Transport Commission," Master Yang said eloquently. "Shouldn't those people have been killed? Shouldn't they have been killed? Not at all. It's just that she knew that if she killed this batch, countless officials would follow in their footsteps to fill the vacancies. Killing them or not would be useless."

"Only by putting the salt administration in the hands of the imperial court can it be considered a true reform. So she first researched seawater salt production, turning the salt mines in the hands of the four major families into waste mines and blocking their trade routes for salt. Then she used a scheme to make the four families return all the salt to the government. In fact, at this point, the salt administration reform was basically over."

If it weren't for his father's insistence on seeking revenge by sending assassins to kill Tang Zhao, perhaps after Tang Zhao finished his inspection of Zhejiang and returned to Luoyang, the court and the four great families would have lived in peace for a while, until the court's next reform targeting Jiangnan.

Yang Fan and his three companions understood this principle perfectly well. However, having been local tyrants in Jiangnan for so long, how could they tolerate a mere young woman bullying them and acting arrogantly?
The head of the Zou family asked, "Nephew, in your opinion, what should be done next?"

"I don't know," Master Yang said with a wry smile. Princess Zhaoshan's behavior was too unexpected, and he really couldn't see through her. "But in my humble opinion, Tang Zhao will definitely take this opportunity to bite us hard, and the most valuable thing in the hands of the four great families is land."

field?

The head of the Jiang family clutched his chest. "You mean, that vile woman wants to seize the clan lands of the four major families?"

Yang Fan agreed, "Eight or nine out of ten."

"How dare you, you brat!" The head of the Zou family slammed his teacup down. "If she dares to seize my Zou family's farmland, even if we take it all the way to the imperial court, I will fight her to the death!"

The head of the Jiang family said coolly, "The Golden Palace? Have you forgotten? It was the one sitting in the Golden Palace who sent that vile woman to regulate the salt administration in Jiangnan."

It is no longer the time when Emperor Sheng'an and Emperor Pingyuan were on the throne.

The Zou family head's heart sank instantly.

"Let's go back and prepare in advance, and try to shut Tang Zhao up before she opens her mouth, so that we can minimize our losses."

Yang Fan stood up, bowed to the other three, and said, "This time I misunderstood and implicated my three younger brothers. I apologize to you all."

The three stood up and stepped aside, saying, "Brother, you flatter us. The four great families are all of one mind; how can we stand alone?"

“That may be true, but I will naturally take responsibility for my mistakes,” Yang Fan said. “This time, the Yang family will contribute half of the land, and the remaining half can be divided among the three families.”