In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 707 The Best Choice

Tang Qing was accompanied by Yang Zheng, Yang Erlang, and Qin Le, the head constable of Yongliang County.

Several days earlier, Tang Qing had received a reply from Zhang He, in which Zhang He informed him of the departure time of his caravan.

Upon receiving the letter, Tang Qing immediately relayed the message to Yang Zheng.

Thus, this scene unfolded outside the city gates of Yongliang County: the ruler of Liangzhou personally waited outside the city gates to welcome a merchant caravan.

If it were just Zhang He's caravan, it would obviously not be enough to make Yang Zheng pay such attention. The main reason he came to greet them personally was because of the news that Yang Family Army scouts had sent back some time ago.

Since learning of Chenjia Village's existence, Yang Zheng has sent a large number of spies to the village. These spies disguised themselves as merchants or civilians to infiltrate Chenjia Village and relay all information about the village to the Yang family army.

Undoubtedly, the news brought back by the scouts shocked Yang Zheng and the senior members of the Yang Family Army.

According to the information sent back by the scouts, Chenjia Village was even wealthier than Tang Qing had described in his letter.

In that village, everyone could have a decent job, everyone could live a life of plenty, and everyone could live with dignity.

The area is a thriving commercial hub with prosperous people, resembling a paradise on earth.

The scout's description of Chenjia Village made Yang Zheng and the other high-ranking members of the Yang Family Army feel as if they were reading a storybook. They simply couldn't believe that such a pure land could exist in this depraved world.

However, they had no choice but to believe it.

Because it wasn't just one scout who brought back these messages, but every scout who went to Chenjia Village gave the same answer.

This greatly shocked the high command of the Yang family army, and some even considered immediately sending troops to bring Chenjia Village under the control of the Yang family army.

Fortunately, Yang Zheng stopped these ambitious high-ranking officials from making any moves.

Yang Zheng's reason for stopping the high-ranking officials was simple: he did not want the beautiful Chenjia Village to suffer from war.

Another reason is that Yang Zheng hasn't figured out the strength of Chenjia Village yet.

Yang Zheng wasn't stupid; he knew very well that such a wealthy village as Chenjia Village couldn't possibly go unnoticed by other forces, yet Chenjia Village had managed to exist unscathed...

This shows that Chenjia Village is definitely not as simple as it seems on the surface, and rashly sending troops will only result in losses for our side.

Based on this, Yang Zheng rejected the proposal from the higher-ups to send troops and planned to first contact Chenjia Village. If they could cooperate, that would be even better.

"Mr. Tang."

Yang Zheng pulled himself out of his thoughts and asked Tang Qing beside him, "Many people in the army want to send troops to Chenjia Village. What do you think of this?"

"No."

After a moment's thought, Tang Qing replied, "That Chenjia Village is no ordinary place. Sending troops rashly would be unwise."

Upon hearing this, Yang Zheng nodded in agreement. He also thought so. Wealth is a powerful motivator. The fact that Chenjia Village, despite its wealth, was able to protect its riches from outsiders shows that they must possess the power to safeguard them.

"To be honest, General Yang, I have also heard a lot of news about Chenjia Village these days."

Tang Qing continued, "These days, many people from Yongliang County have returned to their hometowns from Taiping County to visit relatives. Through inquiries with them, I learned that there is an army called the Chen Family Army in Chen Family Village. The army is small, with only about three hundred people, but its strength is extremely powerful. Each of them is a highly skilled martial artist and should not be underestimated."

An army composed entirely of martial artists?

Yang Zheng was startled. As a martial artist himself, he knew the difficulty of training a martial artist. It would take at least tens to hundreds of taels of silver to train a ninth-rank martial artist.

The Chen family army has three hundred men, all of whom are martial artists. Doesn't that mean... this army must cost at least tens of thousands of taels of silver?

It's simply unbelievable that a village could afford to spend tens of thousands of taels of silver to train a pure martial arts army.

"Besides the Chen family army, there are many strange beasts in Chen family village."

Tang Qing said, "According to the people of Yongliang County who returned home, they saw a giant bird in Chenjia Village. The bird was huge, like a mountain, and could not only breathe fire but also fly in the sky. It was terrifying."

"Such a strange beast exists in this world?"

Yang Erlang said with a face full of astonishment, "A giant bird with a body as large as a mountain, capable of breathing fire and flying... Just hearing Tang Qing's description, one can feel how terrifying this giant bird is."

"I have asked many people from Yongliang County who have returned from Taiping County about this matter, and it should be true."

Tang Qing solemnly said, "Therefore, I do not recommend that the Yang family army be hostile to the Chen family village. Befriending them is the best option."

Yang Zheng nodded. Tang Qing's thoughts were much the same as his; he also felt that befriending Chenjia Village was the best option.

Rather than creating an enemy out of thin air, it would be better to befriend Chenjia Village and obtain what the Yang family army needs from them through normal trade.

"Mr. Tang is absolutely right."

Yang Zheng said, "Chenjia Village is neither our enemy nor a landlord or powerful family that oppresses the people. We really have no need to antagonize them."

Tang Qing breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that Yang Zheng had adopted his suggestion. He was genuinely afraid that Yang Zheng would be blinded by greed and choose to send troops to attack Chenjia Village.

As far as he knew, Chenjia Village was very popular in Taiping County and even Taicang Prefecture. If the Yang family army attacked Chenjia Village, regardless of whether it succeeded, it would probably make the people of Taicang Prefecture resentful and eventually lose their support, which would be very disadvantageous for the Yang family army.

Rebels like the White Lotus Sect might not care about something as intangible as popular support, but the Yang Family Army couldn't afford to ignore it.

The White Lotus Sect chose to rely on the support of powerful families to grow stronger, while the Yang Family Army chose the exact opposite approach, relying on the support of the working class.

If the Yang family army loses the support of the people, it will be like a tree without roots, completely losing its base.

"coming!"

But at that moment, Yang Erlang's voice rang out.

Yang Zheng, Tang Qing, and Qin Le all turned to look south, only to see a sizable caravan slowly appearing at the edge of their line of sight—it was Zhang He's caravan.

"finally come."

Yang Zheng smiled and quickly went to meet them along with Yang Erlang, Tang Qing, and Qin Le.

Before long, the two sides met.

Zhang He looked at Tang Qing, who had come to greet him, and asked in surprise, "Lord Tang, what brings you here...?"

Zhang He knew that Tang Qing attached great importance to this transaction, but he did not expect Tang Qing to attach such importance to it. A county magistrate would actually brave the heavy snow to personally come out of the city to welcome him, a merchant. This made Zhang He feel flattered.

"Ha ha!"

Tang Qing burst into laughter: "Brother Zhang, I've missed you terribly!"