Zhao Hanzhang had finished work. Upon leaving the palace, she saw this large expanse of abandoned buildings to her right and couldn’t resist—she dismounted and went in to look.
Zhao Erlang was leading people to search through things. The enormous artificial mountain hidden among the vegetation in the garden couldn’t be removed for now, so they circled it off to deal with later.
Some smaller unusual stones required several people to carry out. There were also intact wooden beams and heavy ornaments that hadn’t been taken before—he had people drag these out as well.
His main approach was like locusts passing through—not a blade of grass left behind.
But…
Zhao Erlang crouched on half a wall, watching the chickens that were startled and flapping their wings with clucking alarm. He swallowed and asked, “These really aren’t wild chickens?”
Although Lu Hu desperately wanted to nod, remembering military discipline, he said, “These chickens clearly show signs of being domestic chickens raised by people. Most likely nearby residents, seeing this place uninhabited, secretly raised their chickens here.”
As soon as he finished speaking, they heard the bleating of sheep.
Zhao Erlang immediately stood up, following the broken wall upward to the roof’s edge, looking into the distance. He saw sheep being kept in a courtyard two buildings away, now bleating and stretching their necks as the soldiers searching inside startled them.
Zhao Erlang saw the soldiers half-crouching to grab the sheep and wanted to leap over to catch them too. Just as he was about to move, remembering his sister’s repeated instructions, he could only restrain himself and shouted toward that courtyard, “Stop! Don’t grab them!”
The soldiers who had been rubbing their hands together froze, following the sound to look up and seeing Zhao Erlang on the roof before stopping their movements.
Zhao Erlang declared sternly, “Those who violate the people’s property receive caning!”
The soldiers didn’t dare move anymore.
Standing in the shadow of a wall corner, Zhao Hanzhang was very pleased. She walked out from the shadows and shouted “Good!” loudly, then turned to Ting He. “See? Erlang has even memorized the military regulations. How is he stupid?”
Ting He said, “What the young lady says is right. Our Erlang is very clever.”
The commotion here finally alerted the nearby residents, who hurried over to catch chickens and herd sheep.
Oh, those living in this area were all official families. But even landowners had no surplus grain—Zhao Hanzhang herself was this poor, so naturally they couldn’t be much better off.
After all, Zhao Hanzhang frequently delayed salary payments, so…
They not only raised chickens and sheep here but had also claimed quite a few garden plots, clearing the weeds to plant vegetables.
The deeper they went, the more vegetable plots they saw.
So when the soldiers searched for things, they had to avoid trampling people’s vegetables.
But this also had a benefit—those areas had been thoroughly weeded, making the attractive artificial mountains and stones immediately visible.
The officials’ families who came to catch sheep and gather chickens couldn’t understand—what was worth the effort of digging through these stones?
So someone stood on the perimeter wall and spoke to Zhao Hanzhang, “General, the valuable things from these houses were all looted before. These remaining stones aren’t worth money, are they?”
Zhao Hanzhang sat on the perimeter wall and laughed. “Whether something is valuable depends on whether there’s someone who likes it.”
In history, there were wealthy people who bankrupted themselves transporting a single stone. Although after seeing it herself, she couldn’t understand what was so marvelous about that stone, some people just loved it.
Though she couldn’t understand, she respected their preferences and would use those preferences to earn some money.
This expanse of abandoned buildings had been visited by many people. Some had moved tables and chairs from here, dismantled wood, even taken roof tiles, but no one had moved the artificial mountains.
These things couldn’t be destroyed by fire or damaged by water—they just stood there.
Zhao Hanzhang was also too lazy to walk on the ground. She walked along perimeter walls and rooftops, bouncing along with Zhao Erlang, looking down from above at the stone scenery in various courtyards. Finally, feeling that moving so many and such large stones would be too labor-intensive, she scanned around and pointed to a residence that had been most thoroughly burned, close to the moat. “Erlang, how about I grant you that plot of land?”
Zhao Erlang didn’t even look before shaking his head. “Sister, I won’t divide the household from you. I still want to live in the Zhao Mansion.”
“I’m not saying you can’t live there. It’s just that you’ll eventually marry and establish your career—you’ll always need a small home of your own. Look at that location—it’s very close to the imperial city. Out the main gate, follow the river channel forward five hundred meters and you reach the big bridge. Convenient for attending court. If nothing unexpected happens, your neighbor will be Seventh Uncle-Grandfather’s residence.”
Hearing the neighbor would be Zhao Hu, Zhao Erlang shook his head even more vigorously. “I don’t want it! I don’t want to be neighbors with Seventh Uncle-Grandfather.”
Zhao Hanzhang said with a smile, “In the future, if Fifth Uncle-Grandfather and Uncle Ming come to the capital, they’ll most likely stay at the Zhao Mansion. I’m planning that if Uncle Ming and Cousin Shen achieve great merit in the future, I’ll grant them residences near the Zhao Mansion.”
Zhao Erlang’s face was full of conflict, but he finally dropped his shoulders. “All right, then I’ll settle there.”
Between Seventh Uncle-Grandfather and Uncle Ming, he chose Seventh Uncle-Grandfather.
Although he didn’t particularly like Seventh Uncle-Grandfather either, Seventh Uncle-Grandfather at most would make him drink alcohol and drag him to play things he didn’t enjoy playing. Uncle Ming, however, would force him to read books and then lecture him with principles that made his head spin.
Zhao Erlang felt that seeing Uncle Ming was like seeing Grandfather, which frightened him.
Zhao Hanzhang vigorously rubbed his head and laughed heartily, then pointed at that residence. “All right, then pile the things there.”
Zhao Hanzhang immediately had people completely demolish that residence’s buildings, leaving only the half-collapsed courtyard walls.
Then everything they had scavenged was piled there, with just a few soldiers standing guard.
Of course, such a large area couldn’t be completely scavenged in a short time. Zhao Erlang decided to have them stay in the city. “It’s not cold now. We’ll just find a house here that hasn’t completely collapsed to live in. Sister just needs to provide us with provisions.”
Military campaigns had seen much harsher conditions than this. Neither sibling thought there was any problem.
Zhao Hanzhang even said, “I see these personal guards are all very capable. You stay in the capital and have them help you manage Luoyang.”
Zhao Erlang asked, “Besides searching for stones and wood, I also have to manage Luoyang?”
“Yes,” Zhao Hanzhang smiled. “I’ve appointed you as County Magistrate of Luoyang. The appointment should reach you tomorrow.”
Zhao Erlang’s eyes widened. “Why do I have to be a county magistrate? I’m a general! A general’s rank is higher than a county magistrate! Sister, did I do something wrong, so you’re stripping me of my general’s position?”
“This is a concurrent position. Do you know what a concurrent position means?”
Zhao Erlang felt he vaguely knew but wasn’t quite clear, so he neither shook his head nor nodded, just quietly looked at her.
Zhao Hanzhang explained with a smile, “For example, me. Right now I’m both the General and the Grand Marshal of Military Affairs for the Nine Provinces, as well as Prime Minister and Minister of War. You see these positions are all very high, right?”
Zhao Erlang nodded vigorously like a pecking chicken.