A county’s taxes being used for the county itself—what a just and wonderful thing that would be.
But wonderful things exist to be shattered. Their memorials wobbled their way to Chen County, where Inspector He tore them open and scanned through them rapidly, discovering they were still complaints of hardship. These two counties hadn’t even completed a third of the summer tax quota assigned to them.
Inspector He’s brows furrowed tightly as he asked, “Xiping is understandable—they just experienced a city breach last year, and many citizens were killed, so it’s reasonable they can’t collect the summer taxes. But what’s the situation with Shangcai?”
Immediately, an aide said, “I’ve heard the County Magistrate of Shangcai has mediocre abilities. Last year Shangcai suffered cold disasters, and during the period before and after the New Year, they sent official documents requesting funding every few days. With such an incompetent person, why not replace him?”
Inspector He frowned in contemplation. After a long while, he still shook his head. “That’s not appropriate. At this time, it’s better to remain still than to make a move. Send another official document urging them—they must scrape together sufficient summer taxes.”
The Prince of Donghai was pressing him to send troops against Gou Xi, and Gou Xi was also pressuring him to take sides. Although he hadn’t decided whom to help, he needed to prepare early to avoid a shortage of grain and fodder when the situation arose.
Inspector He bore tremendous pressure and could only transmit this pressure to each commandery, which then distributed the pressure to each county.
Runan Commandery was in the most chaotic state because after Inspector He was promoted to Inspector, the position of Runan Commandery’s Governor had remained vacant, with a deputy temporarily acting in the Governor’s role.
The court had been continuously chaotic, and although Inspector He had submitted memorials several times, no one remembered to send a Governor to Runan Commandery.
This was one of the reasons why Inspector He had been leaning toward Gou Xi, hoping for the court to relocate the capital.
If the capital were placed in Yuzhou, who could ignore his memorials like this?
Without a Governor in Runan Commandery, the Commandery Vice-Governor was currently in charge. When Inspector He left, he had taken away Runan Commandery’s military commander along with a large amount of money and grain, so now Runan Commandery had neither troops nor provisions.
This was also why Zhao Hanzhang, who wasn’t particularly far from Quyang, made waves in Xiping and smoothly took over neighboring Shangcai—the Commandery Vice-Governor didn’t make a single sound.
As the official currently managing Runan Commandery’s governmental affairs, did he truly know nothing?
He was merely playing deaf and dumb.
He knew that even if this matter were reported, given the Zhao family’s power in Yuzhou, Inspector He couldn’t do anything to them. They might even negotiate privately and become close allies, with him alone bearing the transferred wrath in the end.
So the Commandery Vice-Governor said nothing. This age had already become so chaotic that even Wang Yan said these worldly matters hindered cultivation—why care too much about them?
Just let things take their natural course.
Therefore, upon receiving Inspector He’s official document, he very naturally had it sent to each county, telling them to figure out ways to gather sufficient taxes themselves. Otherwise, not only would the Inspector’s office hold them accountable, but the Commandery Governor’s office would also hold them accountable.
Zhao Hanzhang, who wasn’t on the court’s official roster at all, glanced at it and tossed it aside, continuing with military training, studying, and going to the villages to encourage agriculture and sericulture, not taking it to heart.
She could disregard the Commandery Governor’s office documents, but other counties couldn’t ignore them. Even County Magistrate Chai couldn’t help becoming anxious.
However, with Zhao Hanzhang and Ji Yuan keeping him in check, he ultimately endured and didn’t increase taxes, nor did he misappropriate the money and grain left in the treasury. He could only clutch his head daily, waiting for the Commandery Governor’s office’s blade to fall.
When Zhao Hanzhang occasionally visited Shangcai to inspect her tenant farmers and fiefdom under her name, seeing County Magistrate Chai had aged five or six years in just over ten days, with wrinkles proliferating and his hair turning somewhat gray, she couldn’t help sighing, “Pressure truly ages people.”
This frightened County Magistrate Chai into pulling out a small mirror from his bosom to look at his face. Only then did he discover his eyes were dark-ringed, his appearance haggard—a haggardness that even face powder couldn’t conceal.
County Magistrate Chai couldn’t help shedding tears. He grasped Zhao Hanzhang’s hand and said, “Hanzhang, why must we oppose the Inspector? Your ancestors were distinguished, and you have the Minister of Personnel supporting you at court, but I’m merely a small county magistrate.”
“But I support you, County Magistrate. What Hanzhang has, the County Magistrate will have too.”
This couldn’t comfort County Magistrate Chai at all. In his view, their alliance was extremely fragile and could break at any time, and he would be the one discarded at any moment.
He tried to persuade Zhao Hanzhang, “When the nation is at war, the hundred counties under its governance should naturally provide assistance. How can we sit and watch without helping, only looking after ourselves?”
“How could I not know this?” Zhao Hanzhang said. “If it were a righteous war against foreign enemies, we would naturally have no regrets even if we died a hundred times. But what is today’s war for?”
“It’s merely the selfish desires of two people. Even for loyalist causes, we can’t find which side to support. If you say we should help Gou Xi fight the Prince of Donghai, the Emperor is in the Prince of Donghai’s hands, and the edict condemning Gou Xi even bears the Emperor’s seal.” Zhao Hanzhang pursed her lips and continued, “If you say we should help the Prince of Donghai punish Gou Xi, judging from His Majesty’s previous statements, he approved of Gou Xi’s strategy to relocate the capital. If we act, wouldn’t we be going against the Emperor’s inner thoughts?”
“Whether left or right, we violate. For people like them, fighting is merely a momentary dispute of pride. When absolutely necessary, they’ll stop and negotiate, and everything returns to the starting point. But what about those involved in the war?”
Zhao Hanzhang said, “Not only the soldiers on the battlefield, but also all the common people affected. Why should the common people of our Runan Commandery take out their families’ survival grain as military provisions for two people’s dispute?”
She said solemnly, “I cannot control other places, but in my Xiping and Shangcai, I absolutely will not allow innocent common people to die for this.”
Only then did County Magistrate Chai fall silent. After returning to the county office, despite pressure from the tax officials demanding grain, he didn’t hand over a single additional grain of rice.
The tax officials also went to Xiping.
But Zhao Hanzhang wasn’t in Xiping at all—she was currently inspecting Shangcai. She and Fu Tinghan had decided to issue a corvée order after this autumn’s harvest, mainly to connect the waterways between Shangcai and Xiping, which would make travel between the two places more convenient.
Besides this, the roads leading to Xiping also needed construction. All of this required planning—they were very busy, alright?
So it was Changning who received the tax official. After Changning couldn’t withstand the pressure, he went to request Zhao Ming.
Zhao Ming didn’t say much, merely sitting on his mat with a dark expression, and the tax official’s voice dropped eight degrees.
But Zhao Ming didn’t let him off. He told him, “Please inform the Commandery Vice-Governor that with no Governor above, he is the father and mother official of Runan Commandery. Parents should love their children, so please have him consider the common people under his governance.”
He also said, “Please also inform the Inspector that although indecision and fence-sitting have their suspicions, Yuzhou at this time can no longer withstand warfare. Please ask him to remain silent and not participate in the disputes between the Prince of Donghai and General Gou.”
The tax official heard him address Gou Xi by his courtesy name rather than calling him directly by name as they did, and vaguely guessed he belonged to Gou Xi’s faction.
The tax official didn’t say much more, nor did he dare say more. After waiting two days without seeing the woman who was supposedly the true master of Xiping, Zhao Hanzhang, he could only leave dejectedly.
—