When Zhao Hanzhang returned to the imperial city, she saw Zhao Shen wobbling about to leave and immediately called out to him, “Perfect timing—I have something to discuss with you.”
Hearing this, Zhao Shen immediately perked up and asked, “Are we going to war?”
Zhao Hanzhang thought for a moment, then nodded. “More or less. Though we won’t use swords and spears, it’s similar to warfare, and it’s a hard battle.”
Zhao Shen, the newly appointed Vice Minister of War—since taking office, he hadn’t fought a single battle. The thing he did most often was argue with Changning from the Ministry of Revenue, forcing him to allocate money for military salaries and compensation payments…
Otherwise, he was tallying the number of people in each army who needed compensation, as well as settling wounded and disabled soldiers…
Because he dealt only with tragic matters, Zhao Shen now felt his whole existence was tragic, so he wobbled back and forth every day going to and from work, his spirit wandering.
He felt at least half his soul had followed those fallen soldiers to the underworld.
So he felt he urgently needed a stirring, passionate battle to reignite his heroic spirit and righteous courage.
Then Zhao Hanzhang led him before Changning and said to both of them, “You two discuss this—organize a matchmaking gathering for the army and people of Luoyang.”
Zhao Shen picked at his ear. “What kind of gathering?”
Zhao Hanzhang reiterated, “A matchmaking gathering!”
Zhao Shen asked in disbelief, “What kind of matching?”
Zhao Hanzhang said with complete seriousness, “Zhao Shen, this is not a joke. You must treat it as a hard battle and solve the problem of unmarried single young men in the army who are older and have deep military merit but no wives. By the way, anyone in my army may only marry one wife and cannot take concubines. I’ll issue an edict about this later.”
“Wait a moment,” Zhao Shen quickly recovered and frowned. “Issuing such an edict isn’t appropriate, is it?”
“Why not?” Zhao Hanzhang said. “Isn’t this flexible? There have always been laws stipulating that only those meeting certain conditions may take concubines. I’m merely setting the conditions higher.”
“But I’m doing this for the benefit of the vast majority of soldiers. Right now there are more men than women, and the army is full of bachelors. If one general takes ten or eight concubines, where will my ordinary soldiers find wives? If he takes fewer concubines, I can have ten soldiers start families.”
“To set an example in this matter, I swear I will never take concubines!”
Changning on the side: …
Zhao Shen thought about it and gave a thumbs up in praise. “The General is still more capable. Alright, I’ll handle this. The army is my responsibility, but as for the civilians…”
His gaze turned to Changning.
Changning said expressionlessly, “Shouldn’t this matter be handed to the Luoyang County Magistrate?”
Zhao Hanzhang smiled at him and said, “We do need to cooperate with Luoyang County, but for the matchmaking gathering and rewarding soldiers when they marry, we need money…”
Zhao Shen immediately turned to stare at Changning. “Right, we need money. Setting other things aside, we absolutely cannot continue owing soldiers their salaries. ‘Marry a man, marry a man—for clothing and food’—if we don’t even pay salaries, what will the soldiers use to support their wives and children?”
While Zhao Shen kept Changning occupied, Zhao Hanzhang slapped her behind and left.
Changning was furious. After dealing with Zhao Shen, she had long since disappeared.
“This money ultimately comes from the state treasury anyway! The state treasury’s money all requires her planning. Having Zhao Shen press me for money—isn’t that just taking from herself? Really nonsensical, brain kicked by a donkey, harming herself. I…” Changning stood in the corridor with hands on hips, scolding for quite a while until his mouth went dry before stopping.
Meanwhile, Zhao Hanzhang had entered the palace to see the emperor, informing him of the state treasury’s emptiness and urgent need for funds, asking, “Does Your Majesty have any good solutions?”
The emperor felt the osmanthus cake he’d just eaten suddenly lost all flavor. After pondering hard for a while, he said, “Raise taxes?”
Zhao Hanzhang sighed and said, “But the people of the Central Plains and the North have had an extremely difficult year and still need court relief. Where would they have money and grain to supply the court?”
Zhao Hanzhang sighed as she left. The emperor felt anxious and uneasy, quickly going to Xun Fan for advice. “I don’t know what the General means. I’m truly too foolish and can’t think of any method besides raising taxes.”
Xun Fan thought for a moment and said, “This matter isn’t Your Majesty’s fault. Our General has many cunning methods. Since quelling the Xiongnu rebellion, she’s thought of enough ways to earn money to support the people. Raising taxes is the most inadvisable method. It’s normal that Your Majesty can’t think of it—even we ministers cannot think of methods beyond what the General currently uses.”
He paused before saying, “Not only us ministers—I fear all the civil and military officials in court cannot think of other methods.”
“Then why does she ask me?”
Xun Fan bit his lip, then still said quietly, “The General only mentioned the Central Plains and the North, but Jiangnan and Jiangdong also belong to our Great Jin territory.”
The emperor paused, then lowered his eyes. “But that’s under Prince Langya’s governance. Even the General cannot command them—what method could I have?”
“There is still a way,” Xun Fan said quietly. “If Your Majesty personally issues an edict ordering Prince Langya to pay taxes, then writes a private letter asking, even for reputation’s sake, Prince Langya will submit a portion.”
A portion of taxes from Jiangdong and Jiangnan might be enough to support the people of one northern province—this was not a small amount.
Xun Fan often went to the front hall to discuss matters with Zhao Hanzhang and knew how impoverished she was now. Not only did state treasury funds need to be split in half for spending, but her own money also had to be saved and saved again.
But the emperor didn’t want to lose face before Prince Langya. He felt this realm would eventually be seized by Zhao Hanzhang anyway, so why should he work so hard for her empire?
Xun Fan looked at the young emperor’s expression and sighed inwardly, patiently explaining, “Your Majesty is still the emperor, the father and sovereign of all under Heaven. Even an outside minister like Zhao Hanzhang works so diligently—why won’t Your Majesty make an effort?”
“She has copper mines, doesn’t she? The copper mines of Yuzhou and Luoyang are all in her hands. Now the Zhao-character coins are circulating in the market and old coins are hard to find. If that’s the case, can’t she mint as many as she wants?”
Hearing the young emperor’s childish words, Xun Fan couldn’t help but smile bitterly. “Your Majesty, minting coins is very complex—it cannot be done at will.”
He said, “Mining copper requires manpower and resources. Each copper mine has a daily output limit. Moreover, ore must be refined into copper blocks before being sent for coin minting.”
“The mint also has daily limits on coin production. As far as I know, current minting only fills gaps.”
What were these gaps?
During wartime, large amounts of coins were transported south or lost, causing wealth to vanish into thin air.
But while liquid assets could disappear, fixed assets were difficult to destroy—they simply couldn’t be converted to money because there was no money circulating in the market.
Because large amounts of coin had been sent to Jiangnan, this created a coin shortage in the Central Plains and North. Wealth couldn’t be materialized and resources couldn’t be utilized, so the coins Zhao Hanzhang was currently minting were actually filling these gaps.
Beyond the coin shortage, the main problem in the Central Plains and North was grain shortage.
Although Zhao Hanzhang had merchant convoys purchasing grain from Jiangnan and Jiangdong to transport north, it wasn’t enough—far from enough. They needed much more grain.
They could offer money to buy grain, but the current problem was that even with money, they couldn’t buy grain.
The current balance was maintained through everyone’s efforts. Everyone’s nerves were stretched tight. If even one thing went wrong, the balance Zhao Hanzhang had worked to maintain would collapse, and the Central Plains and North could very likely plunge into new chaos.
Never underestimate hunger.
It was a threat no less severe than the Xiongnu.
Winter had arrived. Ahead lay a cold, desolate five-month period. Only after five months would they see the wheat ripen. They would experience the lean months of March and April. If grain supplies were cut off and people starved to the extreme, they would certainly storm county offices, provincial offices, even the imperial palace to survive.
It wasn’t as if there were no precedents.
So Xun Fan advised the young emperor, “Your Majesty’s action isn’t for Zhao Hanzhang, but for the people of Great Jin, and also for yourself.”
He said quietly, “Have you forgotten the grain shortage in Luoyang, when the late emperor was caught between a rock and a hard place?”