Zhao Hanzhang had long wanted to do this. “I’ve already sent people to search for gold and silver mines. As soon as they’re found, we’ll immediately refine them. I want to mobilize all the common people throughout the realm through currency, to work hard for the livelihood and economy, so the national treasury won’t stagnate from lack of funds.”

Even though Jiangnan and Jiangdong were currently not under their control, she wanted them to become active for this nation too. They could refuse coins bearing the character “Zhao,” but could they really refuse gold and silver?

Zhao Erlang standing nearby looked at one person, then another, and finally turned to Zhao Hanzhang. “Elder Sister, is there a reward for those who find silver and gold mines?”

“Of course,” Zhao Hanzhang casually asked, “Can you find them?”

“I can!”

Zhao Hanzhang’s head whipped around to look at him as she asked, “What kind of mine can you find?”

Zhao Erlang answered with full confidence, “A gold mine!”

Zhao Hanzhang’s eyes lit up brilliantly. She pushed aside Fu Tinghan who stood between them and grabbed Zhao Erlang’s hand, demanding, “Where’s the gold mine?”

Zhao Erlang replied, “In Yiyang!”

Too impatient to ask why he hadn’t reported this discovery earlier, Zhao Hanzhang asked directly, “Are you certain? Who discovered it, and how?”

After a brief pause, Zhao Erlang said, “A group of bandits discovered it. I suppressed them, and they confessed it to me.”

Watching Zhao Erlang, who had been so confident earlier but now seemed somewhat less assured, Zhao Hanzhang released his hand and asked, “Has the gold mine been excavated?”

Zhao Erlang shook his head. “No.”

Her heart sank even further. “Then how can you be certain it’s a gold mine?”

Zhao Erlang said with careful consideration, “I think it looks quite similar…”

Zhao Hanzhang cut him off. “Stop deliberating and just tell me directly—what did Xie Shi say about this?”

Zhao Erlang looked somewhat aggrieved. He had learned this expression from her—didn’t he do it well enough?

“Master Xie wouldn’t let me tell Elder Sister. He said to wait until it was confirmed before reporting it.”

Listen to that—does that sound reasonable?

It wasn’t even confirmed yet, and he was already confidently claiming he’d discovered a gold mine.

However, Zhao Hanzhang didn’t blame him. Instead, she smiled at him and patted his shoulder. “Good. Leave this matter to me—I’ll go verify it.”

Having suffered too many losses at his elder sister’s hands over the past two months, Zhao Erlang didn’t feel happy upon hearing this—only nervous. “What about my reward?”

“As long as it’s a gold mine, I’ll give it to you. Would your elder sister really withhold your reward?” Zhao Hanzhang asked him, “What reward do you want?”

Without hesitation, Zhao Erlang answered, “Money!”

Zhao Hanzhang waved her hand magnanimously. “Granted!”

She declared generously, “Once we’ve refined the gold, I’ll give you a large chunk.”

Zhao Erlang remained silent.

Zhao Hanzhang looked at him with surprise and satisfaction. “Our Erlang is getting smarter and smarter. All right, tell me how much money you want and when you need it.”

Zhao Erlang carefully probed while watching his sister’s expression. “Once you’ve confirmed it’s a gold mine, give me two… three hundred thousand coins.”

Zhao Hanzhang raised her eyebrows and agreed immediately, “Done!”

Zhao Erlang couldn’t help glancing at Fu Tinghan. Had he asked for too little?

Fu Tinghan couldn’t help but smile. “It’s getting late. Go back and rest. I’ll get the money tomorrow.”

Zhao Erlang’s attention was diverted. “I’ll bring people to collect the money after lunch.”

After he left, Fu Tinghan withdrew his gaze. “Do you think this gold mine is real?”

Zhao Hanzhang replied, “Send someone to investigate and we’ll know. But since Xie Shi didn’t report it, he’s clearly uncertain. The likelihood of it being real isn’t high.”

Fu Tinghan asked, “Should I go along?”

Zhao Hanzhang shook her head. “Leave this matter to our subordinates. You just returned—rest well first.”

Times were different now. She had many capable people available, including officials who understood mining. Let them handle it.

What Fu Tinghan needed to do now was properly arrange everything required for the salt administration. After this year passed, they would announce their new salt policies. Before that, they had much to accomplish.

Fu Tinghan and Zhao Hanzhang finished discussing official business quite late, and he immediately took his leave.

His courtyard was nearby, just a three-minute walk. As he emerged, he spotted a figure lingering in the distance.

He paused, then approached. “Erlang, why are you still outside in this cold?”

Seeing him, Zhao Erlang immediately rushed forward. “Brother-in-law, I’ve been waiting for you.”

Fu Tinghan gestured for him to speak.

“Brother-in-law, did I ask for too little money just now?”

Fu Tinghan raised an eyebrow. “Are you asking about the money you’re getting from me, or the reward you asked from your sister?”

“The reward, of course.” Then he added, “Brother-in-law, if I said the money from you was too little as well, could you add a bit more?”

Fu Tinghan laughed heartily and told him, “I’ll have to check the account books tomorrow before I can answer that. If there’s plenty, I can give you more.”

“As for the reward your elder sister promised, I can tell you it’s not little at all.” Fu Tinghan continued, “Ordinary people who report gold mine discoveries don’t receive such generous rewards.”

Hearing this, Zhao Erlang cheered up and finally felt relieved enough to go to sleep.

Before leaving, he reminded Fu Tinghan persistently, “Brother-in-law, remember your promise—if there’s lots of money tomorrow, you must set aside more for me.”

Fu Tinghan nodded, sighing inwardly. Look what they’d driven this good child to become. When had Zhao Erlang ever worried about money?

But this also showed he was doing well as county magistrate. Only when one manages a household does one understand how expensive daily necessities are.

Bearing the expectations of both Zhao Erlang and Zhao Hanzhang, Fu Tinghan went to visit Zhao Hu bright and early the next morning.

Receiving Fu Tinghan’s calling card first thing in the morning, Zhao Hu was quite pleased. Even though this was someone coming to collect money, he immediately had servants prepare good tea, fine pastries, and excellent food and wine for the reception.

He welcomed Fu Tinghan with an enthusiasm different from how he treated Zhao Hanzhang. “If you hadn’t come, I was going to seek you out. Your money has been sitting here for so long without you mentioning it—I thought you’d forgotten about it.”

Fu Tinghan smiled. He had indeed mostly forgotten, but now that he needed money, he remembered.

Zhao Hu seemed to know what he was thinking and said with raised eyebrows, “Only you would do this. If it were Sanniang, forget such a large sum—she wouldn’t forget even a single coin left with me.”

Fu Tinghan said, “She has a better memory than I do.”

Zhao Hu snorted and reached out to take an account book from a servant’s hand, passing it to him. “Take a look. This is the separate accounting the porcelain kiln has kept for you over the years.”

Fu Tinghan flipped it open and read quickly. Being very sensitive to numbers, he finished soon and said with some surprise, “This much?”

Zhao Hu replied with pride, “Naturally. Ever since the craftsmen fired the new glazes, my porcelain kiln became the foremost in Yuzhou, then later the best in the Central Plains. Though I can’t yet claim to be first under heaven, that day isn’t far off.”

Zhao Hu continued, “The craftsmen now fire different porcelain each year. Not only do people in our northern nine provinces love it, but southerners love it even more—they’re particularly fond of that crackle glaze.”

One could say the porcelain kiln had become one of the most profitable enterprises under Zhao Hu’s name.

Zhao Hu asked, “Will you withdraw all this money, or leave some with me?”

Fu Tinghan asked, “May I invest more in the porcelain kiln?”

Zhao Hu replied, “I’m not short of money, but if you want to increase your stake, that’s fine—bring technology.”

He explained, “At your glass workshop, craftsmen can exchange good techniques for money and shares, right? It’s the same here. If you can improve the kiln as you did before, I’ll give you another half percent.”

After thinking it over, Fu Tinghan shook his head. “There’s nothing more to improve—at least I currently have no good ideas and can’t make any improvements.”

Zhao Hu’s eyes flickered. “Then you could exchange something else. Some craftsmen say it’s possible to make porcelain that’s half ceramic, half glass, but they’ve never understood the method for firing glass, so even with the intention, they can’t produce it. If you…”

Fu Tinghan shook his head in refusal before he could finish.

The glass-making technology had always been firmly controlled by Zhao Hanzhang. He knew that in her eyes, she would rather make this technology public than give it exclusively to the Zhao clan.

The Zhao clan—or rather, Zhao Hu—already controlled enough wealth. Zhao Hanzhang would not add more bricks to his edifice.

Seeing his reaction, Zhao Hu understood immediately. He pursed his lips but wasn’t disappointed—he just didn’t understand what kind of spell Zhao Hanzhang had cast on Fu Tinghan to make him so utterly devoted.

“Then leave the remaining money with me? I’ll give you interest. Otherwise, if you withdraw it, I’m afraid it won’t even warm your hands before Sanniang takes it.” Zhao Hu paused here, his eyes widening. “You’re not collecting this money for Sanniang, are you?”

To prevent Zhao Hu from misunderstanding Zhao Hanzhang, Fu Tinghan quickly said, “Not for Sanniang—for Erlang. He’s short of money right now.”

Zhao Hu was speechless. “Isn’t that still for Sanniang? What’s the difference between Erlang and Sanniang?”

However, if the county office was so short of money that even Erlang had to ask Fu Tinghan for funds, then his grandson…

Zhao Hu grew restless, worried that Zhao Zheng might be suffering at the county office. “You’re withdrawing all this money?”

Fu Tinghan nodded. “All of it.”

The returns exceeded Fu Tinghan’s expectations—a total of eight hundred ninety thousand coins. He had thought getting even the small change would be good enough.

For building houses, Zhao Hu had money transported from Chen County and Xiping. If it were anyone else collecting the debt, he definitely wouldn’t pay now but would delay until he had more funds on hand.

However, since it was Fu Tinghan, Zhao Hu would rather transfer money from elsewhere than shortchange him.

Having servants prepare the money, Fu Tinghan didn’t linger and took his leave directly. “Once the money is counted, should you send it or shall I have someone come collect it?”

Zhao Hu currently had no idle personnel available. He waved his hand. “No need to wait long. Have someone come collect it in an hour.”

Fu Tinghan agreed and assigned the task to Fu’an, having him bring soldiers to collect it at the appointed time.

After Wu Yin finished delivering and returned, he sighed, “We’ll have to balance the accounts in Xiping again. Master, why didn’t you ask Master Fu to wait a bit longer? Next month when our merchant caravan returns, once we sell the goods, we’ll have the eight hundred thousand.”

Zhao Hu glanced at him. “What do you understand? Tinghan is serious and honest. If you delay him once, next time there’s a major opportunity and you invite him to cooperate, he won’t agree.”

Therefore, in business one could offend Zhao Hanzhang, but absolutely must not offend Fu Tinghan.

In the business world, one needn’t fear cunning, flexible people like Zhao Hanzhang—what one should fear are serious, honest people like Fu Tinghan.

Zhao Hu said, “Prepare the carriage and horses. We’re going to the county office.”

He muttered, “Where did Zhao Hanzhang spend all that money she collected before? She’s even making Erlang beg Fu Tinghan for funds. Who knows what hardships our Zhenger is enduring at the county office?”