Zhao Hanzhang had no psychological burden giving them injections. Only after finishing did she walk out of the medical tent. Fan Ying came excitedly to report, “My Lady, they said that going sixty li east along the official road there’s a mountain stronghold. The people inside are particularly formidable, so many young men from their village ran over there to become bandits rather than stay in the village with them.”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “Aren’t they still bandits?”

“Good birds choose trees to perch in. Perhaps the bandit leader over there is more capable and earns more?”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “Then go investigate clearly. Our next bandit suppression target will be them.”

Fan Ying had followed Zhao Hanzhang for some time and knew that before any military action, scouts first collected information. Using words Zhao Hanzhang taught Zhao Erlang: information is key to the victory or defeat of any military action.

The saying goes, know yourself and know your enemy, and you can fight a hundred battles without danger.

Fan Ying took her orders and dove back into the recently subdued bandits.

The two bandit lairs weren’t very far apart, and those who had turned to banditry were mostly fellow villagers, so much news circulated between them. Seeing Fan Ying’s kindness—and that she was a pretty young lady—they were straightforward. When she asked, they poured out information like beans from a bamboo tube. “My cousin is up on that mountain as a bandit. He eats much better than those outside—two meals every day, and each meal fills him sixty percent.”

Fan Ying asked, “You can’t do that?”

They directly shook their heads. “We only eat one meal a day. Now that the weather’s cold and food is even harder to find, we can get by on just half full for the whole day.”

A young man about Fan Ying’s age said with a red face, “Actually we’re this weak because we can’t eat our fill. We used to be much stronger than this.”

Fan Ying looked up at him. “What, you still wanted to fight our Provincial Governor?”

“We wouldn’t dare, wouldn’t dare.” The middle-aged man beside him gave the young man a slap on the head, pushing it down, and said ingratiatingly to Fan Ying, “Young people just like to talk nonsense. How would we dare fight the Provincial Governor?”

Fan Ying snorted, not as polite as before, and directly asked, “You can’t even eat a full meal—why become bandits?”

The middle-aged man sighed. “If we didn’t become bandits, we wouldn’t even have this one bowl of thin porridge.”

He said, “We weren’t aiming to become bandits. It’s just our home ran out of food. Those Xiongnu soldiers were vicious and robbed everything in the village clean. We had no choice but to go out wandering.”

“My aunt’s family lives here. My son and I came to seek refuge with them, but their whole family was dead. So we buried them, lived in their house, and banded together with the people in this village to survive,” he said. “It’s just that we’re hungry, so we couldn’t help going out to steal food.”

Actually their hearts were unsettled, not knowing what to do.

“Before you came, word got out more than once saying the new Provincial Governor had a cruel heart and wouldn’t allow bandits in her territory, so she killed all bandits on sight.”

Fan Ying got angry. “Who spread such rumors? Our Administrator is very kind! Look—we don’t kill those who surrender, those who actively surrender are pardoned, and we even treat your wounds. Is there any Provincial Governor in the world better than ours?”

“Yes, yes, yes, I also felt that news was unreliable, because later we heard that bandits in other places who were suppressed all turned out fine and continued farming in their original places,” he asked cautiously, “Miss, can people like my son and me stay in this village?”

Fan Ying frowned at him. “Aren’t you from Sanshi Village? It’s not far from here. Why not return to your original village?”

The middle-aged man smiled bitterly. “Our family’s land in Sanshi Village is rather poor and can’t compare to here. Besides, our village is already empty. Even if you send us back, counting everyone it’s only three households.”

Fan Ying looked down at her register and found that indeed there were three households from Sanshi Village here. She closed the register expressionlessly. “I’ll bring this matter to the Administrator. However, the second rumor was quite reliable. Our Administrator treats every person in her territory well and hopes you all will repay the Administrator.”

The middle-aged man repeatedly said “Yes.”

Fan Ying then brought the topic back and said to the young man who had spoken earlier, “Your cousin can eat so well up on that mountain—why didn’t you go?”

The young man had been listening seriously to their conversation, his mind still on being allowed to stay and farm locally. Hearing this, he said “Ah?” before hurrying to say, “I did want to go, but they thought I was too thin and didn’t have enough strength, so they wouldn’t take me.”

Fan Ying carefully examined him. He really was thin, but this era was predominantly thin. Anyone who was plump would be rare—that would mean being truly wealthy.

But seeing he was fairly tall, and even he couldn’t pass recruitment, Fan Ying frowned slightly and asked, “Then do you know where they got so much food? Didn’t you think of learning from them and storing more food? Now that it’s cold, you’ll need more and more food going forward, right?”

“Aiya, we can’t learn from them. They directly rob walled fortresses,” he said. “Most villages are having hard times. Large villages have all built walled fortresses and are hard to rob. We can only play around the edges, unlike them who can charge right into fortresses to steal food.”

He said, “They’ve robbed several fortresses, so they’re not short of food.”

Fan Ying heard this and became thoughtful. “Do they have many people?”

“Definitely many—at least three or four hundred.”

The middle-aged man immediately said, “More than that, right? When they attacked the Chen Family fortress, didn’t we go watch? I saw at least five or six hundred.”

By the time Fan Ying finished questioning everyone, the mountain bandits’ numbers had grown from three or four hundred to three or four thousand.

Fan Ying: …

After reading it, Zhao Kuan couldn’t help but laugh out loud with a “pfft,” saying gleefully, “This has the same wonderful effect as Erlang’s hundred thousand troops.”

Hearing this, Fan Ying immediately shut the register with a “snap” and frowned at him. “Why did the Administrator call you back but leave Sister Sun in Xiping?”

Suspecting he had used connections.

Zhao Kuan: …As if he wanted to come?

Since returning to Zhao Hanzhang’s side, had he slept through a single peaceful night?

Zhao Kuan said with a serious face, “Wherever the Administrator needs me, I will go.”

Hearing this, Fan Ying was satisfied and even actively invited him, “Let’s go report to the Administrator together.”

Zhao Kuan nodded seriously, then showed a helpless expression behind her back after Fan Ying took a step ahead. Who didn’t know that Fan Ying extremely worshiped Zhao Hanzhang? Anyone who dared speak ill of Zhao Hanzhang in front of her would find themselves in trouble afterward.

After going around in circles from Runan Commandery to the Yuzhou Provincial Administration, Fan Ying was still in charge of the household office. Zhao Kuan was now nominally a deputy general, but what he did in the army was actually logistics, which required the most interaction with the household office.

The two went together to report to Zhao Hanzhang.

Zhao Hanzhang flipped through Fan Ying’s register, listening to her describe the various information collected today, and couldn’t help sighing. “The people’s lives are so difficult. Our road ahead is long and arduous.”

Zhao Hanzhang looked at Zhao Kuan. “Do you know why I made you this deputy general?”

Zhao Kuan was slightly stunned.