However, among the retainers who could serve as able-bodied men on the battlefield, there were only about two hundred.

But Zhao Hanzhang was quite satisfied with this. Using the map that Fu Tinghan had drawn, she circled an area on the east side and another on the west side, tapping them as she said, “We’ll establish East and West Camps at these two locations.”

“We’ll arrange all the people we brought with us in these East and West Camps. Perfect timing—the summer harvest is about to begin, so everyone will have something to do.” Zhao Hanzhang continued, “Organize Che Fu and the others into groups of ten and incorporate them into the retainer units. Uncle Qianli, you’ve been managing them before, so there shouldn’t be any problem, right?”

Zhao Ju said, “No problem.”

Che Fu and the others were retainers that Zhao Changyu had given to Zhao Zhongyu. Now that Zhao Dian had left, they belonged to Zhao Hanzhang.

Fu Tinghan handed her a sheet of paper covered with strings of numbers. She looked at him questioningly.

Fu Tinghan said, “These are my calculations for the monthly material consumption of everyone on the estate. This is the minimum figure, and this is a conservative estimate based on the current training volume of the retainers. You need to stockpile grain.”

Upon hearing this, Ji Yuan quickly scanned the page, only to discover he couldn’t recognize a single character on it. He couldn’t help but furrow his brow.

Zhao Hanzhang glanced over it, folded the paper, and tucked it into her sleeve. Looking at Ji Yuan, she said, “Master Ji, while the news of the chaos in Luoyang hasn’t spread everywhere yet and grain prices aren’t too high, buy as much grain as possible.”

Ji Yuan asked, “From grain shops?”

“No,” Zhao Hanzhang said. “Go directly to grain merchants and local gentry families. Whatever excuse you use, you must buy the most grain at the cheapest price.”

Though the likelihood was low, Ji Yuan still agreed.

As long as it was relatively cheap, that would suffice. If they waited any longer, once the news spread and grain prices among the common people skyrocketed, it would become much harder for them to purchase large quantities of grain.

“Besides grain, there are also iron implements,” Zhao Hanzhang said. “They lost quite a few weapons, and since we’ve taken in some refugees, we also need to select suitable people to incorporate into the retainer units. We’re short on weapons.”

She continued, “And horses—basically, buy whatever we can.”

After all, they weren’t short on money right now.

Her dowry—Ji Yuan had brought it all over safely. With so much money available, if they didn’t convert it into supplies to arm themselves now, when would they?

Zhao Hanzhang had already decided. “I want to transform this estate into a fortified compound even more solid than the Zhao family’s walled fortress. We may end up living inside it from now on, so it must be able to guarantee our safety.”

Ji Yuan’s anxious heart relaxed slightly, though deep down he felt somewhat disappointed—he had thought the young lady was planning a rebellion.

Ji Yuan took a group of people and left, planning to look around and incidentally purchase some grain and iron implements to bring back.

Zhao Hanzhang, meanwhile, took Zhao Ju to inspect the camp divisions.

The East and West Camps would perfectly guard the estate between them, forming a triangular defensive position with the estate.

Zhao Hanzhang divided the population in half, roughly half per camp, with the First Squad Leader and Second Squad Leader each taking half of the retainers to be stationed in the East and West Camps.

Zhao Ju would serve as the unit commander to lead them all.

However, the East and West Camp sites were currently just empty fields—they would first need to build their own housing.

Zhao Hanzhang pulled Fu Tinghan along to search for clay suitable for making bricks, surveying the estate as they went. “You’ve also seen the Zhao family’s walled fortress. How do you think I should develop this fortified compound?”

Fu Tinghan asked, “That depends on what your most urgent need is. If it’s to block outside invaders, then you should build walls and use fortress structures to resist external enemies.”

After thinking it over, Zhao Hanzhang shook her head. “If external enemies invaded this quickly, I wouldn’t expend so much effort building a fortified compound at this time. I’d rather enter the county town, or go directly to the Zhao family’s walled fortress—a natural fortress that would save me from spending so much money and energy.”

She said, “My most urgent need right now should be to win people’s hearts, stabilize them, and achieve self-sufficiency. After all, though the money my grandfather gave me is substantial, it’s not inexhaustible. I need to achieve self-sufficiency, and even generate a surplus.”

Fu Tinghan nodded. “Then it’s infrastructure development. To stabilize people’s hearts, from what I can see, you just need to satisfy their most basic survival desires.”

Zhao Hanzhang counted on her fingers. “That would be distributing land, letting them harvest in summer, distributing land for sowing, building and allocating houses…”

Fu Tinghan nodded in agreement. “Correct.”

Zhao Hanzhang looked up at him with a smile, then said, “Then let’s first find clay suitable for making bricks.”

Generally, there would be such clay near any settlement—clay with a bit of stickiness, because currently most houses in the north were made of earth.

Of course, using stone would be better, but it would take much longer and require much more labor. Earth was also quite good.

The current houses made with mud plaster were all somewhat low and dark. Zhao Hanzhang decided to make some improvements, starting with using mud bricks.

The two of them had only wandered around for half a circuit before finding what they needed.

Fu Tinghan wasn’t very familiar with this sort of thing. He watched as Zhao Hanzhang crouched down, dug up a handful of mud, squeezed it, and praised, “This is quite good.”

She stood up and looked around. Seeing that this area was wild land and there seemed to be quite a lot of it, her mind began to stir with possibilities. “Now that we’ve found such good clay, it seems wasteful to just use it directly for mud plaster houses.”

“Weren’t you planning to make mud bricks?”

“Originally I only wanted to press mud blocks, but with so much good clay available, just pressing mud blocks seems too wasteful. Why don’t we establish a kiln factory?”

Fu Tinghan turned his head to look at her. “To fire clay bricks?”

Zhao Hanzhang nodded.

Fu Tinghan asked, “Do you know how?”

“No.” Zhao Hanzhang said, “But when I was at the library, I listened to the entire ‘Tiangong Kaiwu’ (The Exploitation of the Works of Nature). I vaguely remember the general methods. I should be able to write them down from memory.”

Fu Tinghan said, “So…”

“I need Professor Fu to help find craftsmen who know how to build and fire kilns. If there aren’t any, then I’ll have to trouble Professor Fu to research it.”

Fu Tinghan said thoughtfully, “It seems you need to add another category to your talent reserves—find more craftsmen.”

Zhao Hanzhang smiled at him.

Right now, everyone was sleeping outdoors, having simply constructed shelters from wood and thatch, which weren’t sturdy at all. To achieve a proper standard of living, building houses was essential.

Never mind brick houses—at the very least, everyone needed a mud house.

Zhao Hanzhang’s estate currently had over a thousand people, almost as many as the permanent population of a small county town. Naturally, they couldn’t remain so shabby with just a few dozen houses.

But their land was limited, and they couldn’t build randomly, so proper planning was also necessary.

Zhao Hanzhang believed in making the capable work harder, so she kept targeting Fu Tinghan alone to exploit.

When Lady Wang saw that Zhao Hanzhang went to find Fu Tinghan every day, she felt both bitter and gratified—gratified that her daughter had finally become enlightened, bitter about this child’s enthusiasm.

So after some hesitation, Lady Wang decided to teach her daughter a lesson. When Zhao Hanzhang returned from Fu Tinghan’s place yet again, she pulled her aside and said, “Sanniang, Mother knows that Master Fu is excellent in both character and appearance, but you shouldn’t belittle yourself—you’re also very good.”

Zhao Hanzhang was completely confused but nodded. “I know. I’m very good.”

“So you shouldn’t try too hard to please him, understand?”

Zhao Hanzhang looked at her mother in shock.

Lady Wang moved closer and whispered her instruction, “Mother will tell you—with men, you can’t be completely compliant with them in everything. Otherwise, they’ll take it for granted, and over time they’ll look down on you. You’re a young lady—you need to be more reserved.”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “…A while ago, Mother told me that young ladies should be gentle and virtuous, and that I should care more for Master Fu.”

“You’ve already passed that phase—you can change methods now. It can’t always be you caring for him. Occasionally, let him care for you too.” Lady Wang said with great confidence, “Listen to me—I’m not wrong. Your father and I are like this, and look at us—we never quarrel.”