After giving orders to Zhao Ju and confirming he had received the command, Zhao Hanzhang wrote down this military order. She closed the radio and went out.
The personal guard waiting outside immediately stepped forward to lock the door, then handed the key to Zhao Hanzhang.
“Where’s Zeng Yue?”
“The deputy commander went to adjust the guard rotations.”
Zhao Hanzhang nodded and said, “Have him come find me in a bit.”
“Yes.”
Military orders needed to be filed with the Ministry of War. Even though she could command troops at will, they still had to be filed. But she temporarily didn’t want people to know about this order, to prevent those with ulterior motives from guessing Fu Tinghan’s whereabouts.
She handed the military order to Zeng Yue. “Only you know about this matter. File it with the Ministry of War in five days.”
Zeng Yue took it and respectfully acknowledged, then after putting away the military order asked, “Should the guards around the young master be rotated and increased?”
Zhao Hanzhang lowered her eyes to think, then said, “Increase the personal guards from one hundred to five hundred, the guard battalion to five thousand, cavalry to one thousand. In the future when he travels, there will only be more and more.”
Zeng Yue acknowledged and put selecting from the full army on the agenda.
Zhao Ju knew Fu Tinghan’s importance. He immediately had his trusted subordinate Quan Wu lead five thousand troops to provide support.
The army raised the “Zhao” character banner. Bandits and brigands along the route all quietly withdrew, not daring to offend.
Still, they couldn’t help watching. Seeing the Zhao Family Army escorting so many carts, they wondered what it could be. Had Fu Tinghan discovered treasure in Qingzhou?
The news quietly spread, and heroes throughout the realm couldn’t help but feel envious.
Even Shi Lei, who had already submitted to Zhao Hanzhang, couldn’t help but feel sour. He said to Zhang Bin, “I never imagined that in the end, the Mandate of Heaven would rest with a woman.”
It wasn’t that Shi Lei attributed everything to destiny—it was just that Zhao Hanzhang’s luck along the way had been too good. If you wanted family background, she had it; if you wanted treasures, she had them.
Because of aiding Youzhou, Zhao Hanzhang had dispatched quite a few administrators and craftsmen to them. Various workshops slowly opened, and the glass workshop had now found a suitable location.
Shi Lei had visited. Though the craftsmen rarely mentioned it, he still confirmed that this thing was originally created by Fu Tinghan.
Just this one glass workshop alone brought Zhao Hanzhang so much profit. She had relied on this money-making treasure to support her army from the very beginning.
And according to the intelligence he had gathered, Fu Tinghan’s abilities weren’t limited to making money. The thunder bombs and explosive packages she had previously used in siege warfare, plus the radio that could now communicate with her in real-time…
Explosives were one thing—they were only useful in wartime, and once you figured them out, they weren’t impossible to counter. But the radio…
With just this one thing, he could confirm that for Zhao Hanzhang, the Prince of Langya in Jiangnan was nothing but an ant. She could crush him with a wave of her hand. If she wasn’t acting now, it was only out of pity for the suffering people of the realm, wanting peace above all.
Think about it—if she spread radios throughout the entire realm, events happening anywhere in the morning could be known by noon, and military orders could reach thousands of miles away in an instant.
In a war, while the Prince of Langya was still mobilizing troops, she could already direct her army to attack cities. All the realm’s military forces would be in her hands, all the realm’s information would be in her hands. The Prince of Langya might not even have figured out her strategy before she had already seen through the Prince of Langya completely.
Wasn’t this even more terrifying than explosives?
Though Diao Ying and Zhang Jing felt information was important, they didn’t think it was more important than explosives. Only Zhang Bin understood Shi Lei, then smiled and consoled him, saying, “Perhaps Heaven also cannot bear to see the realm’s people suffer such hardship, so it chose the Grand General. She has a benevolent heart.”
Shi Lei said mockingly, “But as a general, too much kindness leads to defeat.”
Zhang Jing smiled and shook his head. “My lord, benevolence is not the same as soft-heartedness. Our Grand General is not soft-hearted or merciful. All along this path, those who should be killed, even those who shouldn’t be killed—she hasn’t killed few.”
Zhang Bin saw more clearly than Shi Lei. “My lord, do you still remember the incident of hunting down the Prince of Donghai?”
Shi Lei nodded.
“In earlier years I thought she lacked the strength, so she only rescued some women and children before stopping. But looking back now, back then she probably deliberately left those officials and aristocratic families for you to kill, my lord, using your knife to kill them for her.”
Shi Lei’s eyes widened in shock.
Zhang Bin stroked his beard. “Look—now the old ministers remaining at court number only a few dozen, and more than half of those are officials she dug out from Yuncheng in earlier years, mainly serving in the Bureau of Agriculture, Ministry of Works, and Ministry of Revenue. These people have ordinary family backgrounds and don’t cling to Emperor Jin. Looking at the gazettes sent these past days, currently the officials who still insist on legitimacy and gather around the young Emperor are only a scattered few, either in the Ministry of Rites or the Censorate.”
“Even Xun Fan at the young Emperor’s side mostly shows her respect. Her decrees at court have never been rejected, from Luoyang to provinces and commanderies, flowing smoothly. Even down to counties, there are many supporters. The reason? Simply because most of the old Jin court ministers died in the warfare. Now, from top to bottom, most officials come from her household or were personally selected and appointed by her.”
Besides students from the schools, most other officials came from recruitment examinations or recommendations to her. She had shown them favor by recognizing their talents. When they took office, they had already actively or passively become part of the Zhao faction, unable to shed Zhao Hanzhang’s mark.
Counting it up, half the old Jin court ministers died at Shi Lei’s hands, and of the remaining half, half were killed by Wang Mi, and another half by Liu Cong and his ilk. So they had all unknowingly helped Zhao Hanzhang.
Because of them, the political cancer left behind since Emperor Wu of Jin was eliminated. Zhao Hanzhang was rebuilding order on ruins. It was very difficult because she had no one to use and could only cultivate her own people.
But it was also very convenient, because her decrees flowed smoothly. As long as she wasn’t incompetent, this wasteland would grow grass, grow trees, bloom flowers, and become vibrant with life according to her vision.
Therefore, Zhang Bin believed she was benevolent but not weak. When she wanted to take someone’s life, she wasn’t soft-hearted or merciful at all.
Zhang Bin said these things also to make Shi Lei understand that Zhao Hanzhang was indeed the most suitable candidate at present. She had both cunning and means, and the Mandate of Heaven was with her, so they should stop causing trouble and instead follow her in building great achievements.
Shi Lei stroked his chin, grasping Zhang Bin’s hint. “In a bit I’ll go to the information office and urge Luoyang to send the blueprints for the publishing house and paper mill as soon as possible.”
Shi Lei secretly gritted his teeth, saying, “Approve the applications sent from Fanyang and other commanderies to establish official schools.”
Shi Lei himself advocated for establishing schools. He had suffered from illiteracy, which was why he was captured as a slave back then and sold around. But he didn’t much like Zhao Hanzhang establishing schools in Youzhou.
Previously, due to her orders, he had allowed several schools to open. Yuzhou had sent quite a few teachers, but he had sat in on a few classes and looked at their textbooks. Honestly, he didn’t like them.