Leaving the prison, Zhao Hanzhang handed both letters to Ji Yuan, saying in front of the county magistrate, “Contact them. Buy as many horses as they have, whether mature horses or colts. Money is not a problem.”
County Magistrate Chai was deeply moved, looking at Zhao Hanzhang with gratitude.
Ji Yuan took them and acknowledged with a “Yes.”
Zhao Hanzhang turned to County Magistrate Chai. “I’ll trouble the County Magistrate to keep the envoys occupied. Buying horses will take some time.”
Thinking of the money and liuli Zhao Hanzhang had given him, County Magistrate Chai immediately agreed, indicating there was no problem.
Zhao Hanzhang immediately left with Ji Yuan. Changning watched her figure disappear and sighed quietly. Out of professional duty as an advisor, he still reminded County Magistrate Chai, “County Magistrate, Zhao Sanniang probably won’t deliver the horses. However, she likely won’t let the envoys just return either. In the coming days, you’d best not invite the envoys out. The fewer people in the county town who see them, the better.”
County Magistrate Chai looked horrified. “You mean…”
Changning nodded calmly.
County Magistrate Chai shuddered and immediately said, “Impossible! Those are the Provincial Governor’s envoys. Would Zhao Sanniang have the guts to kill them?”
Changning thought: The Provincial Governor is currently trapped in Quyang. Whether he can even survive is in question—what’s impossible about it?
Moreover, even if Zhao Hanzhang really did kill the envoys, so what? Does the Provincial Governor have evidence?
Without evidence, would he dare come to Shangcai or Xiping to arrest Zhao Hanzhang?
Changning reminded him, “County Magistrate, the Earl of Shangcai’s fief is in Shangcai. Here, Zhao Sanniang has more than just the people from her estate at her disposal. Never mind the Provincial Governor far away in Quyang—even if you personally led troops, you probably couldn’t take her away.”
County Magistrate Chai’s face turned somewhat pale. Heart pounding, he returned to the county office.
Facing the envoys again, his legs felt a bit weak. Still, he managed to smile and entertain them, producing the money and liuli Zhao Hanzhang had given him.
Seeing such fine goods, the envoys’ expressions finally softened somewhat. However, they still insisted on two hundred horses and wouldn’t budge, no matter what County Magistrate Chai said.
County Magistrate Chai hadn’t expected that even after giving them so many benefits, they wouldn’t relent and reduce the number. He became somewhat angry and simply hinted, “The third lady of the Zhao clan is already negotiating to buy horses from people. It’s just that horses are precious—she may not be able to buy this many. Please show some leniency, sirs. What do you think of one hundred horses?”
County Magistrate Chai said, “Originally, the horses the horse ranch should provide to the Commandery Governor were thirty horses, with the rest distributed among the counties…”
“This is wartime! Who cares about what it ‘originally’ was?” The envoy was quite arrogant, lifting his chin. “The superior said two hundred horses, so it’s two hundred. Since you had the ability to misappropriate horses from this ranch in Shangcai County, you should return them!”
But they only misappropriated ninety-eight horses. The remaining ten were Shangcai County’s portion to begin with!
County Magistrate Chai endured a thorough scolding and still had to maintain his smile. When he finally returned to his study, his smile vanished instantly. He couldn’t help slamming his hand on the desk. “This is going too far!”
Changning said thoughtfully, “County Magistrate, Zhao Sanniang clearly isn’t afraid of the Provincial Governor. Now she’s also taken Xiping, and she’ll have many more disputes with the Provincial Governor in the future. Shangcai’s situation is special. Why not choose a side to stand with at this time?”
“Zhao Sanniang is just a woman. You want me to choose her?” County Magistrate Chai said, breathing heavily. “The Provincial Governor may be trapped now, but trapped or not, he’s still the Provincial Governor. Dismissing me is just a matter of one sentence from him!”
Changning’s newly kindled fighting spirit was extinguished. He returned to his deadpan expression and nodded seriously. “What the County Magistrate says also makes sense.”
Zhao Hanzhang and Ji Yuan were in no hurry to meet the horse merchants. Since they were buying horses, they naturally needed to prepare some good things.
“Yuzhou is located in the Central Plains. Now that warhorses are precious, there are very few available for sale here in large quantities. We’ve been troubled by lack of connections. This time we’ve finally made progress,” Zhao Hanzhang said to Ji Yuan. “Master, don’t be stingy with resources. We must quickly determine their background. As long as they can buy horses for us, we can afford to give a bit more.”
Ji Yuan also excitedly agreed. “What about the colts we buy?”
“Keep them for now. Once the horse manager gets out, I’ll find a way to get them all to the estate to raise horses,” Zhao Hanzhang said. “It’s better to raise them ourselves. Otherwise, we’ll always be at others’ mercy.”
Ji Yuan sighed. “It’s a pity the Lord’s connections all went to the Second Master. Otherwise, if we contacted northern generals through them, buying horses through their channels wouldn’t be bad either.”
Zhao Hanzhang asked, “For example?”
Ji Yuan thought for a moment. “For example, Liu Yueshi.”
Zhao Hanzhang rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “Liu Yueshi, hmm…”
Zhao Hanzhang decided to return and have an in-depth talk with Zhao Ming. “I’ll handle this matter. I’ll leave the horse-buying here to you, Master.”
Master Ji indicated there was no problem, then asked, “How do we handle the envoys at the county office?”
He certainly didn’t believe Zhao Hanzhang would actually give the horses to the envoys.
Zhao Hanzhang said, “The day after tomorrow, when I return to Xiping, I’ll take them all with me.”
Zhao Hanzhang was still quite polite. She didn’t want to kill people without reason, even though both Ji Yuan and Changning had suggested that killing them would be safest.
But…
Everyone was living for the first time. For her, it was special—her second time as a human—so she should cherish the difficulty of life even more, and thus she was willing to cherish others’ lives as well.
As long as it wasn’t on the battlefield, she was willing to show more compassion toward others. So she personally went to the county office and invited the three envoys to go to Xiping together to collect the horses.
The three envoys were meeting Zhao Hanzhang for the first time. Shortly after arriving in Shangcai, they had heard of Zhao Hanzhang’s great name.
They knew she was the third daughter of the Zhao clan, Zhao Changyu’s granddaughter. When Xiping County and the Zhao family fortified village were besieged, she had borrowed troops from the county office to go rescue them, and had borrowed all the horses from the horse ranch as well.
However, they hadn’t thought of looking for Zhao Hanzhang. After all, they were only responsible for collecting horses, so they just needed to pressure the horse manager and County Magistrate Chai. How they completed the task was their business.
Being sought out by Zhao Hanzhang, all three envoys were somewhat surprised. After thinking, they asked, “Why not send the horses to Shangcai?”
Zhao Hanzhang said, “The number of horses you sirs have requested is large, and I can’t gather them all at once. I’ve borrowed some from my uncles and elder brothers. But they think I’m young and fear I’m being deceived, so they insist on meeting the envoys before they’ll hand them over. Therefore, I can only trouble you sirs to make the trip with me.”
Hearing this, the envoys, who had been tempted to go, immediately decided against it. “This is your affair. We’re only concerned with collecting horses. Now there are only a few days left before the deadline. If you still can’t produce them, don’t blame us for being merciless.”
They wouldn’t go to the Zhao family fortified village.
The Zhao clan was one of the great households counted in Runan Commandery. Even the Provincial Governor had to give them some deference. If they went and were detained, they’d have no place to argue their case.
Seeing they were so alert, Zhao Hanzhang couldn’t help but sigh. Staring at them, she asked, “Are you really not going?”
The three looked at each other, all feeling an ominous premonition.
Zhao Hanzhang took a step back and pointed two fingers forward. Qiuwu immediately led the retainers forward to attack…