Zhao Hanzhang pulled County Magistrate Chai aside and sighed, “County Magistrate, when they came to enlist, I already asked them—their families have no grain left. Even if you take them back, they won’t be able to hand over any grain. Since I’ve already registered and recorded them, why not just let me take them?”
County Magistrate Chai looked at her in shock, wondering where she got such audacity to make such a request.
“Rest assured, those already registered don’t count. If any more people from Shangcai County come later, I absolutely won’t accept them.”
County Magistrate Chai’s words stuck in his throat. After a long pause, he finally found his voice to ask, “How can Sanniang distinguish whether they’re from Shangcai County or not? What if they also claim to be from Yingchuan or Quyang?”
“By their accent. As long as they have a Shangcai accent, I won’t accept them. How about that?”
County Magistrate Chai grew agitated and pointed backward at those people. “Then what about them…”
“Aiya, I’m not good at distinguishing Shangcai accents, and Mister Ji doesn’t understand either. In a moment, I’ll find some Shangcai stewards to stand guard, and I definitely won’t let anyone else slip through.”
County Magistrate Chai pondered for a moment and said, “You can’t keep your recruitment stand here anymore. It’s too close to the city gate, and all the villages and towns in the county that received word are heading this way.”
“Then where do you suggest I set up?”
County Magistrate Chai gritted his teeth. “Move back sixty li, farther away.”
That was far too distant—it would take half a day just to get back to the estate. How inconvenient!
Zhao Hanzhang thought for a moment and said, “How about twenty li? County Magistrate, after I recruit people, I still need to bring them back to the estate for temporary housing. I can’t very well make them sleep in the open, can I? If they see me so lacking in strength, how would they be willing to serve me?”
She continued, “The Provincial Governor is still waiting for me to lead troops to the rescue. If recruiting is delayed, who will be responsible?”
County Magistrate Chai pressed his lips together and could only retreat a step. “Fine, move back twenty li.”
Zhao Hanzhang was satisfied. Only then did she pull County Magistrate Chai to discuss county affairs. “County Magistrate, didn’t the Provincial Governor order you to send troops?”
County Magistrate Chai said helplessly, “I don’t have any troops under my command. Why would he order me to send troops?”
“I don’t have troops either, but we can recruit them now.”
County Magistrate Chai shook his head and glanced at Zhao Hanzhang before saying quietly, “If Xiping didn’t have the Zhao family, the Provincial Governor probably wouldn’t have given military orders. Sanniang, when the Provincial Governor ordered you to lead troops to the rescue, he didn’t mean for you to lead these three thousand temporarily recruited troops.”
He wanted the Zhao family to send their own troops for the rescue. The authorization to recruit three thousand troops was, frankly, compensation for the Zhao family.
Zhao Hanzhang raised her eyebrows and gave County Magistrate Chai a thumbs up. “County Magistrate, you’re impressive. I hadn’t even thought of that.”
While praising County Magistrate Chai, her gaze passed over him and landed on Changning.
Changning had been standing quietly the whole time. Seeing her look over, he gave her a slight nod.
When Zhao Hanzhang received the recruitment order, she hadn’t thought of this layer of meaning. It was only after returning to Shangcai and meeting Ji Yuan that he analyzed it for her.
However, this was the Provincial Governor’s plan—they didn’t need to follow his intentions. In Ji Yuan’s words, “You and the Zhao family have cultivated your retainers with great difficulty, and they’ve all experienced major battles, making them excellent fighting forces. It would be a waste to lose them at Quyang.”
He also said, “You’re young and couldn’t think of this, but Zhao Ming certainly could. Yet he said nothing, clearly unwilling to use the family’s retainers in the relief of Quyang. Using new recruits to go to Quyang is best.”
“However, even when you get to Quyang, you don’t need to exert yourself too much. This time the Provincial Governor certainly didn’t only summon Xiping County—he must have called other commanderies and counties as well. Compared to other commanderies and counties, Xiping County is only special because it has the Zhao family.”
Ji Yuan continued, “Quyang has iron mines—let them take the vanguard.”
Though Zhao Hanzhang also coveted the iron mines, she knew that in the short term, they wouldn’t fall into her hands, so she agreed.
Therefore, her recruitment efforts were unhurried, showing none of the urgency one would expect from someone who had received an emergency military order.
She spent three days recruiting in Shangcai County. Besides themselves, no one knew exactly how many people they recruited. In the end, she brought two thousand people back to Xiping, leaving the rest at the estate under Ji Yuan’s management.
Even County Magistrate Chai couldn’t help but worry. “Changning, do you really think the Zhao family won’t rebel?”
This time Changning didn’t answer him.
County Magistrate Chai grew even more worried.
When Zhao Hanzhang returned to Xiping, Zhao Ju had also returned from Pingyu, bringing back over two thousand men. Zhao Ming, perhaps guessing they weren’t short of manpower, had barely recruited a thousand people.
Moreover, these thousand weren’t from Xiping County town, but from various villages and towns under Xiping County and refugees who had fled from other areas.
With so many people now, Zhao Hanzhang mixed them all together, selecting three thousand suitable men to serve as soldiers. She handed all the rest over to Fu Tinghan to arrange them for farming and building houses.
After all, Xiping County was quite short of people now. The empty wasteland could all be reclaimed to plant winter wheat, and the paper workshop and other facilities could also be built up.
The envoy, whose freedom had been restricted all this time, finally saw Zhao Hanzhang again and immediately rushed forward to ask, “Lady Zhao, when do we depart for Quyang? Quyang has been besieged for a long time and is waiting for your rescue.”
Zhao Hanzhang said, “We’ll go tomorrow.”
The envoy hadn’t expected Zhao Hanzhang to be so straightforward. He breathed a sigh of relief, a smile appearing on his face. “Then tomorrow we’ll travel together with Sanniang.”
Zhao Hanzhang nodded perfunctorily, and after dismissing them, turned to see Fu Tinghan and Zhao Ming.
These past three days, Zhao Ming had stayed at the county office, making it livelier than usual.
In Fu Tinghan’s words, “Everyone came to see if Uncle Ming would pull you down and successfully take control of Xiping County.”
Zhao Hanzhang said, “Then they must have returned disappointed.”
Fu Tinghan nodded. “Quite disappointed. Uncle Ming directly told them he was temporarily managing county affairs at your request, so they changed tactics and tried to persuade him instead, arguing that Xiping County should properly be led by him—that would be proper and legitimate.”
Fu Tinghan continued, “It seems you’re not very popular with the people.”
Zhao Hanzhang said indifferently, “I’m quite heartbroken. When I return from Quyang, I’ll go talk with them.”
Compared to these trivial irritations, she was more concerned about: “I’ve given you the registry. The vast majority of these people are now under my bondservant status, with only a small portion maintaining free citizen status. Arrange them to cultivate the official fields. Plant more winter wheat this year—we’ll need to feed many people next year.”
“Why suddenly take on so many servants?” Fu Tinghan didn’t understand. “Isn’t free citizen status better?”
Zhao Hanzhang sighed. “Taxes grow heavier year by year, and with natural and man-made disasters, even with land they can barely survive, so they’re unwilling to maintain free citizen status anymore.”
“Then when they cultivate the official fields, how will taxes be calculated in the future?”
Zhao Hanzhang said, “No need to calculate. They’re all mine. Keep a separate registry—treat them as hidden households.”
“…What about the official fields?”
Zhao Hanzhang said, “First priority goes to arranging county residents, with any remainder going to my hidden households.”
Fu Tinghan didn’t quite understand. “Previously you leaned more toward providing a safe environment and letting them develop freely. Now why are you thinking of creating so many hidden households? Are you planning to hold all resources in your own hands and then redistribute them?”
Zhao Hanzhang nodded without hesitation. She hadn’t expected Fu Tinghan to be so perceptive, immediately catching on. “I overlooked environmental factors. In the coming years, the north will face chaos not only from war and other man-made disasters, but also from natural calamities. Troubled times require strict measures. I want to control as many resources as possible in the early stages so I can better stabilize the situation later.”
“But this way, you’ll easily trigger backlash. Once someone opposes you, it could spark a prairie fire.”
Zhao Hanzhang said, “That’s why I mentioned keeping private registries, recording these people as my hidden households. Since they’re my hidden households, they’re also my retainers. As long as my armed forces are large enough, who can do anything to me?”
“Oh, we’d better not provoke major powers like the Jin imperial house. What I mean is limited to the Runan Commandery area.” So toward the court, when respect was required, respect would still be given. Zhao Hanzhang decided that this trip to Quyang would be an excellent opportunity to show proper respect.