Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Yang Zhenshan was naturally unaware of the situation at Chongshan Pass. At this time, he was still training the young and strong men of Yang Family Village.

After nearly a month of training, the young men of Yang Family Village had acquired a certain level of discipline, perhaps not yet to the point of military precision, but they were now capable of obeying orders and maintaining uniformity.

On the wasteland behind the mountains of Yang Family Village, over a hundred young men stood motionless, holding long spears.

The cold north wind swept over the hills, weaving between the figures, yet the group of young men stood as immovable as boulders.

Seeing this, Yang Zhengxiang's face was filled with satisfaction and joy.

He had been coming here almost every day during this period and had personally witnessed the growth of these young descendants of the Yang family. From the initial shock to excitement, now all that remained in his heart was contentment and happiness.

"Zhenshan, you have been working hard during this time!" Yang Zhengxiang withdrew his gaze and said to Yang Zhenshan beside him.

Yang Zhenshan shook his head slightly, "I wouldn't say it's hard, the ones who are truly enduring hardship are them!"

He was like a drill instructor. At the beginning, it might have been tough, but now that the training was on track, the squad leaders could handle the training themselves, and he didn't need to teach personally.

So it was the youngsters of the Yang family who were enduring the real hardships, not himself.

Yang Zhengxiang clasped his hands behind his back and turned to walk back to the village, "The stronghold in the mountains has been nearly prepared, and the food supplies have also been transported there."

Yang Zhenshan followed behind him and after a moment's thought, said: "I suggest we conduct an evacuation drill for everyone!"

"Evacuation drill?" Yang Zhengxiang asked, puzzled.

Yang Zhenshan explained: "Let everyone familiarize themselves with the path into the mountains in advance and organize everyone into teams. When enemy situations arise, we can evacuate in an orderly manner instead of scrambling in panic."

This matter concerned the life and death of the entire Yang Family Village, and no amount of preparation would be excessive.

Moreover, it was still winter, and people had nothing much to do, so taking some time to conduct drills was beneficial.

"From our village to the stronghold is a twenty-mile mountain path, which is not easy to navigate. Those who are unfamiliar with the route and the mountain environment could easily get lost."

"Additionally, some of the elderly and weak in the village may not be able to travel that distance. When the time comes, we might need to carry them into the mountains, so we need to arrange this in advance!"

"And then there are the children, who must be looked after by adults. Who will take care of which child must be arranged beforehand to avoid anyone being left behind."

"Lastly, there are the neighboring villages such as the Jiang Family Village, Wang Family Village, and Li Family Village. If possible, it would be best to reach out to them and let them also make some preparations!"

Yang Zhenshan slowly laid out his thoughts.

Retreating into the mountains was Yang Family Village's last resort, and this pathway must be kept clear and unobstructed.

During the evacuation, chaos is likely to occur, resulting in many oversights, so all necessary preparations must be made.

As for the neighboring villages, Yang Zhenshan wasn't the type to be excessively altruistic, but there were things he felt obligated to do.

Take for instance the villages surrounding Yang Family Village. Yunyan was in the Jiang Family Village, his eldest daughter-in-law Ms. Wang's maiden family was in the Wang Family Village, and his second daughter-in-law's maiden family was in the Li Family Village. Many villagers of Yang Family Village had kinship ties with these villages.

While those afar might be beyond help, nearby villages, if they could be aided, deserved that extra assistance.

Yang Zhengxiang listened to his suggestions and sighed deeply, "Zhenshan, I think you're more suited to be the Clan Leader than I am!"

He felt that Yang Zhenshan's considerations were extremely thorough, taking all aspects into account.

"Heh heh~" Yang Zhenshan chuckled softly and glanced at the expression on Yang Zhengxiang's face. Seeing that it was just a sigh without any other implications, he continued, "Clan Leader, I'm still young. I want to go out and see the world!"

Yang Zhengxiang was taken aback, then burst into laughter while stroking his beard.

"That's right, you're still young!"

He harbored no jealousy or wariness towards Yang Zhenshan. In fact, he even entertained the idea of handing over the position of Clan Leader to him.

Yang Zhenshan's words were a refusal to take on the role of Clan Leader.

Of course, if Yang Zhengxiang had felt jealous or wary, Yang Zhenshan would also have wanted to dispel these feelings.

Despite nearing his sixties, Yang Zhengxiang was still remarkably spirited, striding along briskly and energetically.

Having received Yang Zhenshan's suggestion, he immediately sprang into action and scheduled the evacuation drill.

After Yang Zhenshan returned home, he saw that everyone in the family was seriously attending classes in the main hall and nodded in satisfaction.

Although the training of the young men had occupied much of Yang Zhenshan's time, the classes in the Yang Family's little schoolhouse hadn't ceased.

It was just that Yang Zhenshan was no longer acting as the teacher for the little schoolhouse, with the role now assumed by Lin Zhan.

Yang Mingcheng, Yang Mingzhi, and Yang Minghao were all participating in the training, leaving Ms. Wang, the Li family, Yang Yunxue, and others in the early stages of literacy education, for whom Lin Zhan was fully qualified to teach.

Seeing Yang Zhenshan return, Ms. Wang and the others did not stop their lesson, as per Yang Zhenshan's requirement, class discipline was still very strict.

Yang Zhenshan also did not disturb them and went into the kitchen on his own to fetch water and start a fire.

After boiling two buckets of water, Yang Zhenshan took out two bowls of Spiritual Spring Water and poured them in.

The diluted Spiritual Spring Water, although much less effective, still possessed the qualities to strengthen and nurture one's foundation.

In the freezing cold, it was inevitable for the strong and able in training to catch colds, so Yang Zhenshan prepared some diluted Spiritual Spring Water for them to drink every day.

Otherwise, who knows how many would have caught colds by now.

Having carried the boiled water up to the back mountain, and after everyone had drunk a bowl, Yang Zhenshan also gave some pointers on practicing the Yang Family Spear Technique.

In the evening, Yang Zhenshan arranged for people to stand guard at night.

Even though he was still unaware of the border conflict situation, he had already arranged for people to guard Yang Family Village at night and set up several sentry points around the village just in case they were caught off-guard.

By the time Yang Zhenshan had finished arranging everything and returned home, the Yang family members were already waiting for him at the dining table in the main hall.

"Dad!"

As soon as Yang Zhenshan entered the house, Yang Mingcheng brought him a bowl of hot water to ward off the cold.

The winters in Anning County were not only long, but also cold, and now it was February, but Yang Zhenshan estimated that the temperature should still be around minus seven or eight degrees Celsius.

Having drunk a bowl of hot water, Yang Zhenshan felt much warmer.

"Let's eat!"

Everyone started their meal.

During this period, the Yang family's meals had become more and more abundant.

To the point where the Yang family members were now not very interested in meat, preferring to eat dried vegetables, mushrooms, and black fungus instead.

And the changes in the Yang family members during this time were also quite significant.

Each one of them was red-cheeked and had grown much sturdier.

Especially the eldest daughter-in-law, Ms. Wang, who seemed to be developing a bit horizontally.

Watching Ms. Wang eating heartily, Yang Zhenshan's mouth twitched slightly.

"Yunxue, starting tomorrow, bring your two sisters-in-law along to learn martial arts!"

The dinner table suddenly fell into a stillness, especially Ms. Wang and the Li family, who looked at Yang Zhenshan with incredulous, statue-like expressions.

"Dad, do we also have to learn martial arts?"

Ms. Wang shivered slightly, asking with some trepidation.

Ms. Wang was full of awe for her father-in-law.

Previously, she had been reserved and icy and dared not speak much with him, but now Yang Zhenshan had become much kinder, though with many changes in status, becoming not just a Martial Artist but also one of the foremost figures in Yang Family Village.

Faced with such a father-in-law, Ms. Wang dared not show any disrespect.

Yang Zhenshan nonchalantly pushed around the food in his bowl, nodding subtly.

If you don't start exercising, you'll soon become a rice bucket.

He wanted Ms. Wang and the Li family to practice martial arts, not to make them Martial Artists, but rather hoping they would maintain healthy bodies, and of course, if they could also have some self-defense abilities, all the better.

"Dad, we have lots of things to do!" Ms. Wang said carefully.

"Let Yunxue and Yun Qiao help you with them," Yang Zhenshan said without looking up.

In fact, Yunxue and Yun Qiao often helped Ms. Wang and the Li family with housework, it was just that because they were still young, Ms. Wang and the Li family did not let them do too much.

Ms. Wang glanced at Yunxue and was about to say something, but Yunxue preemptively spoke, "Dad, I will teach my two sisters-in-law seriously."

Yang Zhenshan nodded slightly.

Although Yang Yunxue had been pampered since childhood, she hadn't developed any spoiled or lazy tendencies, after all, the Yang family used to be just farmers, and no matter how pampered, it was impossible for them to raise a delicate young lady.

Ms. Wang and the Li family exchanged glances, both filled with frustration and helplessness in their eyes.

Training in martial arts is hard!

Whimper, why has Dad asked us to practice martial arts?