Magistrate Zhang silently made eye contact with them, calmed himself down, raised his head to smile at the citizens who had acted righteously, reassured them, and solemnly expressed that he would certainly handle the matter impartially before sending them away.

Magistrate Zhang turned back to look at them, his gaze falling on Fu Yong. “Because farming tools and cooking utensils are now mostly made of iron, to prevent iron implements from flowing out or falling into the hands of those with ulterior motives, the court has regulations that purchasing farming tools requires showing household registers. If buying on behalf of villagers, a certificate from the village is also needed.”

Fu Yong asked, “What if a landlord household needs to purchase a large quantity of farming tools?”

“Then they need to show land deeds to the yamen and obtain a permit slip from here before making purchases.” Magistrate Zhang said, “This is a new regulation from last winter. Poor households can get discounts when buying farming tools with their household registers, so the common people are very happy about bringing their household registers to buy farming tools.”

All refugees who had settled after March of last year were classified as poor people. In a county town, more than half the population consisted of people who had only settled here after the Xiongnu were pacified. More than half of the people could enjoy this preferential policy, so naturally they supported it.

Magistrate Zhang continued, “So if you want to buy farming tools, you still need to register as residents.”

Fu Yong had nothing to say.

Dong Shu behind him anxiously asked, “What about salt?”

“Salt?” Magistrate Zhang waved his hand. “Salt – as long as each person doesn’t buy more than five jin at a time, you can buy it. Beyond that, it’s considered resale and you need to get a permit slip from the yamen.”

Fu Yong asked, “With restrictions on iron woks, salt, and such, what about restaurants and taverns?”

“Simple. To buy iron woks and such cooking utensils, just show the business license for the restaurant or tavern and you can purchase.” Magistrate Zhang said, “Rest assured, the Great General has explicitly ordered that local officials must not make things difficult for merchants. As long as they’re doing honest business, we support them.”

After all, with land rent and taxes being reduced everywhere now, the national treasury needed to rely on commercial taxes.

Since pacifying the Xiongnu, although the Great General hadn’t explicitly supported commerce, she hadn’t made things difficult either. For merchants, not making things difficult was actually already support.

Fu Yong now knew – he had to return to the mountains. Without being able to buy farming tools, and having gathered enough information, the next decision would have to be his father’s.

He knew their family of three would definitely come out of the mountains, but before leaving they had to arrange things properly for the people in the mountains.

Zhang Ce naturally couldn’t let them just leave like this. He suggested, “Why don’t I have a few runners accompany you into the mountains? If the people in the mountains want to move out, it would be convenient.”

Fu Yong looked troubled.

Zhang Ce smiled. “I know what you’re worried about. Rest assured – I heard you say your settlement is deep in the mountains and very difficult to enter and exit. Being so difficult, this county won’t be so heartless as to demand taxes from them the moment we meet.”

Fu Yong actually felt somewhat embarrassed.

Zhang Ce solemnly promised, “If they don’t want to come out of the mountains and register, I definitely won’t force them. You lack farming tools – I’ll gift you a batch. It’s just that, Zisong, since you come from Beidi’s Fu clan, you should have far-sighted vision. Hiding in the mountains is not a long-term solution. Now that the realm is at peace, whether for ancestral glory or the future prospects of your children and grandchildren, they cannot and should not remain hidden in the mountains.”

He had already investigated – that mountain hollow was only about four to five hundred mu. It seemed quite large but simply couldn’t support many people.

One or two generations might manage, but after three generations, when the population multiplied to a certain degree, the mountain’s resources wouldn’t be sufficient to sustain them. They would have to establish contact with the outside.

Only this vast world had inexhaustible resources.

Moreover, humans were social by nature. In a situation where the realm was stable, how many people would willingly give up this vast world to live in a small mountain hollow?

Of the fifteen young men who had come out with Fu Yong, not one was willing to go back.

In two days’ time, they had confirmed that fighting had truly stopped outside, and moreover the Xiongnu state had been destroyed. Even Shi Lei with his fierce reputation had submitted to Dajin. The realm was no longer at war.

Since this was the case, they naturally didn’t want to stay in the mountains anymore. Originally, fleeing deep into the mountains had been to escape the calamity of war.

Zhang Ce kept his word. In the county magistrate’s name, he gifted Fu Yong quite a few farming tools and had two runners accompany them into the mountains.

The runners walked in the mountains for nearly two days before entering the hollow, exclaiming involuntarily, “How did you find this mountain hollow?”

Fu Yong replied, “It was heaven’s blessing. At the time we were being pursued by Xiongnu soldiers. Once we rushed into the forest we just ran wildly, not knowing how long we ran. When we stopped we were nearby.”

The people in the hollow first rejoiced when they saw Fu Yong’s group return, but when they saw two strangers in official clothing, they were alarmed.

Everyone in the village, young and old, came running over and stood quietly, looking at them with reproachful eyes.

Fu Chang hurried over. He glanced at the two runners, then looked at his eldest son.

Fu Yong stepped forward to bow respectfully, then said, “Father, please allow me to report. His Majesty was killed by the Xiongnu. A new emperor ascended last year and formally changed the era name to Jianxing this year.”

“What?” The villagers hadn’t had time to worry about outsiders entering the mountains when they heard such terrible news. Their eyes widened immediately, and several elderly villagers began weeping aloud on the spot.

Fu Yong continued, “Fortunately, the Great General turned the tide and has pacified the Xiongnu chaos. After Liu Yuan died of illness, Liu He took the throne but was then poisoned and usurped by Liu Cong. The Great General killed Liu Cong and also subjugated Shi Lei. Now the northern lands are pacified, the realm is stable, and there is no more warfare.”

Fu Chang’s heart, which had been lifted high, rose and fell. He couldn’t help but laugh heartily, proud of Dajin’s soldiers and people. He loudly exclaimed with joy, “Good, good! General Gou shall not fail his reputation as the God of War!”

“Father, General Gou lost Yanzhou, leading to His Majesty’s capture by the Xiongnu and death at Shi Lei’s hands. The Great General of the realm now is Zhao Hanzhang of Xiping.”

Fu Chang’s smiling face froze on his face. He was stunned, and only after a long while did he recover. “You said, who is it?”

Fu Hong behind him said anxiously, “Aiyo, it’s Elder Brother’s wife’s clan – Zhao Hanzhang of the Xiping Zhao clan. Father, Elder Brother is now the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, and our sister-in-law is the Great General!”

The villagers, hearing such explosive news, all gasped in shock and stood dumbfounded.

Fu Chang was also stunned. After recovering for a long time, he spoke somewhat incoherently, “Good, very good. Back then your grandfather said she had a virtuous reputation. Indeed virtuous, virtuous…”

He had Fu Hong go arrange lodging for the two runners and distribute the things they had brought back, while he supported Fu Yong and returned home first.

He needed to sit down and calm himself properly. This situation was completely outside any of the scenarios he had imagined.

Fu Yong also understood. As soon as they returned to the house, he said, “Actually, the situation is much better than any of the scenarios we predicted.”

He described in detail everything he had witnessed outside, saying, “I learned that Elder Brother has also asked people to search for us. Not only did he order county yamens everywhere, he also asked officials who came to the Fenhe River area to survey the Yellow River to help search. I originally wanted to wait for that Doctor Shen to come together, but he went along the Fenhe River toward the Yellow River and can’t return in the short term, so I came back first.”

“The Yellow River? Is the Yellow River going to flood?” Fu Chang was alarmed.

“No, but last year there was a great drought across three provinces. Youzhou and Jizhou were most severely affected. I heard that before last year, Youzhou had already experienced drought conditions for two consecutive years. Generally after great drought comes great flood. The court is probably afraid something might happen to the Yellow River, so they sent people to survey in advance.” Fu Chang paused, then said in a low voice, “This matter was originally assigned to Elder Brother, but Grandfather passed away from illness, so they temporarily replaced him with a Doctor Shen.”

Hearing news of his father’s death, Fu Chang’s lips trembled.