Zhao Hanzhang tasted each offering one by one. When she emerged from the alley, many households came out carrying bowls to see her off, enthusiastically inviting her to stay for dinner at their homes.

Zhao Hanzhang smiled gratefully as she declined and pulled Fu Tinghan away quickly.

Only after walking a good distance did she release Fu Tinghan and breathe a deep sigh of relief. “Too much enthusiasm is also hard to bear.”

Fu Tinghan had been holding back laughter. “But I saw you eating quite happily.”

“They invited me to eat, I could hardly look pained about it,” Zhao Hanzhang sighed. “Bean rice and wheat rice are truly unpalatable, especially the bean rice.”

Fu Tinghan said, “Although the per capita land allocation is high, the yield per acre here is also very low. If you want everyone to eat only wheat flour, that won’t be achievable in the short term. I think the buns mixed with wheat bran aren’t bad—they could also be made into flatbreads.”

Zhao Hanzhang nodded. “Beans should still be used for livestock feed, making sauce, brewing vinegar, and extracting oil. Making some vegetable dishes is fine too, but making them into bean rice is too harsh on people’s stomachs.”

Fu Tinghan said, “Then you need to ensure that starting next year, the per capita wheat harvest is sufficient for a year’s consumption.”

“Come on, let’s go back and calculate. With current yields per acre and per capita land allocation, how much do people need after paying taxes to meet their annual needs?”

Gengrong followed behind in a daze. After thinking for a while, he decided to ask when he didn’t understand. “Does the young mistress wish to eliminate bean rice consumption among the common people?”

“Those who want to eat it can still eat it. I just want their lives to be a bit better, to reduce bean rice consumption somewhat and replace it with better wheat rice or steamed buns.”

Zhao Hanzhang continued, “Moreover, soybeans have many uses—feeding horses, feeding cattle, brewing vinegar, extracting oil. All of these require large quantities of beans.”

“Using beans to extract oil is too wasteful,” Gengrong recalled the oil used during the siege defense and said, “Tung oil should be sufficient.”

“I’m talking about edible oil. You’ve never eaten soybean oil, have you? Later I’ll have some extracted for you to try—it’s very tasty.”

Gengrong’s eyes widened. “Soybean oil is edible?”

“If bean rice is edible, why wouldn’t soybean oil be edible?”

Gengrong thought about it and realized this made sense. Tung oil couldn’t be eaten because tung fruit wasn’t edible, but beans were edible, so naturally soybean oil would be edible too.

Zhao Hanzhang said, “When horses eat beans, they become plump and strong with glossy coats. Soybean oil has the same effect on people. Plus, the leftover bean dregs can be fed to pigs, cattle, horses, and such. Perfect.”

Fu Tinghan posed a soul-searching question: “Do you know how to extract oil?”

Zhao Hanzhang paused before saying, “No.”

Fu Tinghan said, “Neither do I.” He hadn’t even researched it.

Zhao Hanzhang refused to give up. “But you at least know the basic principle, right?”

Fu Tinghan said, “Compression?”

Zhao Hanzhang was full of confidence. Since they already knew such a thing existed, they’d surely be able to make it. “We’ll try it later.”

Returning to the county office, Zhao Hanzhang kept Gengrong for dinner. “After the autumn harvest concludes and before we begin planting winter wheat, I’ve decided to distribute some fields.”

Gengrong had heard Zhao Hanzhang mention this before, but he thought it was just something she said casually when first entering the county town to stabilize people’s hearts. He didn’t expect her to actually distribute land. He couldn’t help but ask, “Will everyone receive land?”

“Only those with little or no land.”

“Young mistress, right now Xiping County is united as one—this is a rare situation. If you distribute land at this time, I fear it will destroy this harmony.”

Fu Tinghan also said, “The concern is not about scarcity but about inequality.”

“That’s why I’ll post a public announcement. Those who receive distributed land will, in addition to regular taxes, pay an extra ten percent tenant rent to the county office for five consecutive years,” Zhao Hanzhang said. “After five years, as long as the land has been continuously cultivated, it automatically becomes theirs. During these five years, if even one year passes without cultivation, the county office automatically reclaims the land.”

“Those who already have land but feel it’s insufficient for cultivation can also apply to the county office. However, for the land they apply for and their privately owned land, everything must be fully cultivated. The same requirements apply—during the five-year period, they pay ten percent tenant rent annually on the applied land. Within these five years, their registered private land must also be cultivated for the full five years just like the tenant land. If even one plot lies fallow, it’s considered malicious occupation of official land. I won’t just confiscate the tenant land—their private land will also be forfeited as punishment.”

Fu Tinghan was surprised. “Such severe punishment?”

Zhao Hanzhang’s lips curled into a cold smile. “So you see, my official land isn’t so easy to cultivate.”

This measure was primarily aimed at those who already had sufficient land but still coveted official land and wanted to occupy more.

After thinking it over, Fu Tinghan shook his head. “Better to convert the taxes into equivalent tenant rent and directly rent to those with no land or little land. Xiping County is under your control anyway, and you don’t intend to submit taxes to the higher level. After collecting tenant rent, you can simply exempt them from taxes.”

He continued, “By converting it to tenant rent, it’s equivalent to them renting your land. Those who already have sufficient land for cultivation won’t think to come ask you for rental land. You can wait until they’ve paid sufficient years of rent before transferring land ownership to them, then restore taxes and cancel the rent.”

“But this way, those without land are one thing, but for those with little land, because they cultivate different acreages, if we exempt everyone from taxes completely, the tenant rent they need to pay will vary. How do we calculate this?”

Fu Tinghan said, “Right now they’re all using extensive farming methods, so per capita cultivation has reached twenty acres. Since you want to improve yields per acre and also want to absorb a large population, my suggestion is to directly cut it in half—calculate based on ten acres per capita. This way, I’ll compile statistics on the current number of people with little land in the registers and their corresponding acreages. I can subdivide them from family units and calculate the corresponding tenant rent tiers from one to ten acres. When collecting taxes, just follow what’s in the registers.”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “This would greatly increase the county office’s workload.”

Fu Tinghan spread his hands. “This is unavoidable. You have to sacrifice one or the other—it’s up to you to choose what you want.”

After brief consideration, Zhao Hanzhang said, “I’ll follow your advice. We need to cultivate and recruit talent anyway, so Xiping County can serve as their practical assignment.”

Gengrong on the side silently ate his meal. By the end, he could only half-understand what he was hearing and was utterly confused.

Zhao Hanzhang glanced at him and only then remembered. She encouraged him, “Gengrong, you can assist Master Fu in completing this matter.”

Gengrong looked troubled, wanting to say he didn’t understand, but also feeling that leaving such an impression on his superiors wouldn’t be good. He hesitated. Zhao Hanzhang had already withdrawn her gaze and placed a chopstick-full of egg on Fu Tinghan’s plate. “Eat more protein—you’ve been overworking your brain lately.”

Fu Tinghan dismissed this. “It’s just the simplest calculations, not taxing on the brain at all. It’s just that the matter is complex and drains energy.”

“By the way, where’s Fu’an?” Zhao Hanzhang said, “Have him select a few clever people to follow you. From now on when you have tasks, just assign them to these people. That way you can relax a bit.”

Fu Tinghan paused. “Right, where is Fu’an?”

The two looked at each other, unable to recall for a moment. It was Gengrong who said, “It seems he’s following the second young master. I saw them running out of the city today, saying they were going to the fortified village to pay respects. I don’t know if they’ve returned.”

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