Because it grew dark quickly, Zhao Hanzhang simply invited Xie Shi to return to the Zhao Mansion for the night.
Of course, Zhao Erlang and his three hundred personal guards also returned together. Although he said staying in the abandoned buildings would be fine and Zhao Hanzhang thought there was no problem either… she had a house, so why should she let her soldiers suffer such hardship?
So she brought them back.
Seeing so many people, Zeng Yue silently went down to make arrangements.
The next morning when Zhao Hanzhang rose early to practice with her spear, she saw two military units already lined up in the courtyard, facing each other in drills.
The servants of the Zhao Mansion carefully slipped past them from the sides, keeping a wide berth.
Zhao Hanzhang belatedly realized she seemed to have turned her home into a military camp.
But the thought only flashed through her mind briefly before she stopped caring.
A military camp was fine. Home was just a place to eat and sleep anyway. Having so many personal guards here made it even safer.
Seeing she didn’t seem opposed, Zeng Yue asked, “Young lady, will Erlang’s three hundred personal guards be permanently residing at home? Should we rearrange things at home?”
Otherwise it was a bit cramped.
Zhao Hanzhang nodded casually.
So Zeng Yue had people cut down some of the flowers and trees in the Zhao Mansion, and also moved around some stones. The courtyard where Zhao Ji and his sons had lived was also remodeled—all the furnishings from the rooms were moved to the storeroom, replaced with rows of beds.
The Zhao Mansion officially became the Zhao Personal Guard Camp.
In the vast mansion, there were over eight hundred officers and soldiers, nine male servants, five maids. Even the large kitchen was converted into a military mess hall.
As Zhao Hanzhang came and went, she didn’t notice anything amiss at all. Instead, she felt the Zhao Mansion was becoming more orderly. It was just that the burned half was quite ugly, so she told Zeng Yue, “The personal guards at home, when they’re not drilling, should go rebuild the perimeter walls there in their spare time. Tear down what needs tearing down, build what needs building. Oh, and Ting He said the accounts show everyone’s been spending quite a lot on vegetables lately. Have them push down those half-collapsed walls—use half as a training ground and half as vegetable plots.”
Zeng Yue loudly acknowledged and turned to lead people down to do it.
Meanwhile, Zhao Hu, after much back-and-forth calculation and deliberation, carefully selected five plots of land, including the Wang family’s residence.
Zhao Erlang had already received his appointment document. After changing into his county magistrate’s official robes, he took up his post. Zhao Zheng had also received his appointment document, officially entering government service.
The brothers were now huddled together looking at the purchase order and prices that Zhao Hu’s steward had submitted.
Before leaving home this morning, Sister had instructed that the Wang family residence plot couldn’t be sold casually, so he raised his brush and crossed out that residence on the list, then made a checkmark before the other four residences, indicating approval.
Zhao Zheng, who had just finished reading the list to him, couldn’t stop him in time. He silently looked at the marks on the paper before saying, “Yong… County Magistrate, this list isn’t for you to mark.”
Zhao Yong didn’t grasp his meaning, declaring righteously, “The Wang family residence plot cannot be sold.”
Zhao Zheng said, “I know it can’t be sold, but you shouldn’t be the one marking it. This needs to be submitted to the Ministry of Finance for their review and marking. Our county office is just an intermediary.”
Zhao Erlang was stunned. “Is that so? Then why did Sister instruct me this morning that the Wang family residence couldn’t be sold when I left?”
Zhao Zheng heard this and immediately looked up and around. Seeing only Lu Hu and Zhao Cai in the hall, he relaxed and whispered, “County Magistrate, what the General instructs you cannot be told to a third person, much less said publicly.”
This was confidential information!
It was just buying and selling a plot of land—how was that confidential? It wasn’t like going to war.
“Such things are confidential?”
Zhao Zheng nodded seriously. “They are confidential.”
Zhao Erlang pressed his lips together. “Since we can’t mark it, why not just submit the list directly to the Ministry of Finance? Isn’t having us submit it redundant?”
“Not really,” Zhao Zheng said. “All of Luoyang city falls under Luoyang County’s jurisdiction. After the Ministry of Finance approves, our county office also needs to verify it and process the land and property deeds. Afterward, supervising the construction also falls to our county office. Having the list pass through the county office now is to keep us informed of the process.”
He continued, “Moreover, having the list go through the county office allows the county office and the Ministry of Finance to form a mutual supervisory relationship, preventing anyone from buying and selling privately.”
Like his grandfather—hadn’t he once wanted to claim those residences for himself without paying, or by paying very little?
Zhao Erlang seemed to understand but not quite. Still, he now knew that the checking and crossing work wasn’t his responsibility. He looked worriedly at the list. “What do we do about this? I’ve already marked it. If others find out, they’ll definitely submit memorials to Sister scolding me again.”
Zhao Erlang occasionally got impeached too.
Zhao Zheng smiled at him, had Lu Hu bring a fire basin, threw those two lists into the basin to burn them, then told Zhao Cai, “Go tell the steward waiting outside that the County Magistrate accidentally spilled tea on the list. The list is ruined—have them write another one and submit it.”
Zhao Cai glanced at Zhao Erlang before acknowledging and leaving.
Zhao Erlang was dumbstruck. There was such an operation? If it were him, he could only give the marked list to Changning and beg Changning not to tell anyone, or have Zhao Cai find a way to copy a new one.
Zhao Zheng seemed to know what he was thinking. “You cannot have someone privately copy a new one. As a public official, doing so constitutes forging documents—a serious crime.”
“Since this document hasn’t been stamped and issued, you can burn or tear it and have them resubmit a new one, but you cannot forge it.”
Zhao Erlang seemed to understand but nodded obediently anyway.
Zhao Zheng smiled at him. “No rush. From now on, the County Magistrate will encounter countless documents of all kinds. After handling more of them, you’ll understand.”
It was true. The Luoyang County Office at this time was at its busiest. People came to register residency, to buy land and houses, and those who qualified came to receive land allocations. There were those seeking to reclaim their former fields and properties, and those coming to collect debts.
Oh, back when Zhao Hanzhang took Luoyang without money or grain, she had written IOUs to the wealthy people of Luoyang at the time.
Some of those former wealthy families had experienced changes in the past two years. Some families had fallen on hard times and could only come to collect debts.
Hearing about all these various miscellaneous documents made Zhao Erlang’s head throb with pain.
That’s right—he didn’t read them, he listened to them.
He knew limited characters and needed great effort to recognize those twisted writings. Plus there were many characters he didn’t know, making his reading speed truly slow. So it was Lu Hu and Zhao Cai taking turns on his left and right, reading these documents to him, while he stated his handling opinions and they recorded them.
Zhao Erlang: …
After listening, he discovered that he could actually handle very few of these documents. He could only sit beside Zhao Zheng and work with him—in truth, it was Zhao Zheng teaching him how to handle them.
Oh, the Ministry of Finance quickly gave their response to Zhao Hu’s list—the same as what Zhao Erlang had marked. The Wang family residence was crossed out; the other four items were all checked.
At the same time, four documents came down. If Zhao Hu wanted to buy these four plots of land, he still needed to sign these four contracts.