These Zhao clan members were all literate.
Although Zhao Changyu was stingy, he never slackened when it came to educating clan members.
The Zhao clan not only had clan fields specifically designated for education expenses, but every year he would allocate additional funds to the clan school.
Children of appropriate age in the clan could attend clan school for five years for free. Books and writing materials used for studying were all provided by the clan school.
For orphaned and impoverished students, the clan school also covered their meals. For those with outstanding grades and talent in studying, the clan would focus on cultivating them.
Take Zhao Shi, for example. His family circumstances were ordinary, and he was an only son. But because he had talent in both studying and martial arts, to support his education and scholarly travels, not only did the clan cover his study and travel expenses, but the clan also helped care for his parents, allowing him to focus single-mindedly.
The more talented and excellent the students were in studying, the more support the clan would provide.
For students without talent, they entered school at seven, studied for five years, and left at twelve, which was enough for them to learn basic characters, numbers, and principles.
Twelve years old—in this era, that was already half an adult. Even without continuing studies, they could help at home or seek other opportunities.
Therefore, every Zhao clan member could read and count. Many also had a trade skill.
Such people wouldn’t starve anywhere. It was just a matter of whether their lives were comfortable or satisfactory.
Like Zhao Wan, quite a few clan members felt dissatisfied. After Chengbo inquired, he discovered six people were hesitating whether to return to Xiping with Zhao Wan.
Zhao Hanzhang looked through their information and found they all had trade skills—tailoring, accounting, gold and silver jewelry carving, and one whose strength was even poetry and prose.
Zhao Hanzhang looked puzzled. “Skilled in poetry and prose? Then this is a scholar. Why didn’t he take the recruitment examination?”
Chengbo bowed and said, “He did. He took it in Xiping and even passed, but not long after, he couldn’t continue. He writes articles well, but that’s all he writes well.”
Zhao Hanzhang understood. Looking at his former employer, she became even more curious. “Seventh Grand-Uncle hired him for?”
“To be able to converse with literary figures and guests,” Chengbo said. “The Seventh Grand Elder hired him as a retainer. Normally he’s just maintained in the residence, occasionally entertaining guests for the Seventh Grand Elder and helping him compose poetry and prose. It’s actually quite lucrative.”
Zhao Hu was quite generous to his retainers.
Zhao Hanzhang was puzzled. “Then why?”
Chengbo lowered his voice. “A while ago, the Seventh Grand Elder wanted to take a concubine. He was already viewing candidates when the woman didn’t fancy the Seventh Grand Elder but took a liking to him instead. Both sides discussed it and simply got married. When the Seventh Grand Elder found out, he was furious and drove the man out. Even the Fifth Grand Elder couldn’t mediate.”
Zhao Hanzhang heard this and praised, “What an extraordinary woman! This girl has good taste. Zhao Xun is quite handsome.”
Chengbo also smiled, bowing and saying, “Yes, Young Master Xun may not be skilled in worldly affairs, but he’s gentle and kind-hearted, and good-looking too.”
Zhao Hanzhang thought for a moment and said, “Have him bring me some articles to read. Schedule a time for these people—I’ll meet them at home the day after tomorrow. If they’re suitable, we’ll keep them all.”
She added, “Pay more attention normally. If there are clan members whose lives are difficult and need help, lend a hand where you can. Follow what Grandfather instructed before.”
She felt Zhao Changyu’s former policies toward clan members were quite good—better to teach someone to fish than to give them fish. Find them jobs so they could support themselves.
Chengbo happily agreed and went to work full of energy.
He had long wanted Zhao Hanzhang to get involved in clan affairs. In his view, neither Zhao Song nor Zhao Ming had abilities in handling clan affairs that came close to the Old Master’s.
But Zhao Hanzhang had always deliberately avoided clan affairs. Also, she was truly busy, so Chengbo didn’t dare disturb her with such matters.
Now seeing her begin to deliberately involve herself in clan affairs, he was so happy he could barely contain himself.
Neither Zhao Song nor Zhao Hu noticed. One was getting old with limited energy—he had delegated clan affairs to Zhao Ming, who was far away in Yuzhou and couldn’t manage matters in the capital.
The other was busy with his own business ventures, and his banquet was about to begin—he was very busy and wouldn’t pay attention to such things.
On the fifth day, Zhao Hu’s banquet began. Zhao Hanzhang also went to join the festivities, ate lunch, and incidentally collected money—borrowed money.
After getting the money, Zhao Hanzhang generously accompanied Zhao Hu on a tour of the garden, putting on a show of harmonious relations between grandaunt and grand-uncle, then found an excuse to leave.
As soon as she left, Zhao Hanzhang called Ting He over. “Go inquire which of the attendees has grain on hand. Try to drive down the price and spend all the money.”
Ting He, who had just finished counting the money, was startled and asked, “Spend all one million coins on grain?”
Zhao Hanzhang: “Not just this one million coins. Use as much as we have at home. Buy it all. Also go to the storerooms and find things we can liquidate. Convert everything to cash and exchange it all for grain. If there isn’t enough grain in Luoyang, go buy it in Yuzhou, Jizhou, and Qingzhou. No need to transport it back—store the grain locally. This matter must be kept secret.”
She said, “I’ll have Yuan Li and Zeng Yue assign people to assist you. When buying, you can use the Grand General’s authority, but you must maintain proper discretion. News of our large-scale grain stockpiling mustn’t leak out, lest it affect grain prices.”
This requirement was somewhat difficult, but Ting He still agreed, already quickly planning in her mind.
What remained in Zhao Hanzhang’s storerooms were items difficult to liquidate, but now many aristocratic families were returning, and there were southern aristocratic families in Luoyang. As long as she claimed things came from the former palace or the Wang family, quite a few would be interested.
Ting He selected a few items and had people quietly take them out to convert to cash.
After gathering a sum of money, she selected people to begin choosing grain merchants and landowners in Luoyang, Yuzhou, Jizhou, and other places.
With Yuan Li’s intelligence network, selecting people wasn’t difficult. Especially this round in Luoyang—basically, anyone with any ability had come to attend the Seventh Grand Elder’s banquet. Just by waiting at the main gate and checking, she could quickly find suitable trading partners.
Some people had even specially rushed from other places to attend the banquet. Ting He noted them all down and somehow managed to obtain their contact information. She even sent several stewards to help at Zhao Hu’s house, incidentally striking up conversations with people.
As soon as the banquet ended, Ting He had people go separately to find these individuals to discuss business.
For a few, she went personally.
As Zhao Hanzhang’s head maid, her name and appearance weren’t secrets. She guided the conversation a bit, and the other party thought she wanted to do grain business herself to earn some money.
Although they felt this maid was bold beyond measure, daring to use hundreds of thousands of coins for grain trading, thinking of her identity put them at ease.
When one person achieves the Dao, even their chickens and dogs ascend to heaven. Now that Zhao Hanzhang supervised all court affairs, people around her, even a maid, were comparable to fifth or sixth-rank officials. Even a prime minister’s gatekeeper was said to have seventh-rank status.
Most of the major grain merchants and large landowners approached were willing to give Ting He face and sold her grain at prices slightly lower than market rates.
Some even quietly reminded Ting He, “There’s not much profit left in grain trading at this time. Young lady, if you want to do this, you must sell all the grain before April. Otherwise, come April when summer harvest begins, grain prices will drop.”
Generally, grain merchants chose to purchase grain from May to October. Besides selling grain regularly, a larger portion of profits came from the three months between January and April. This was the time of spring scarcity when grain prices rose.
Now it was early January, and grain prices had already started rising. In the grain merchants’ view, Ting He starting this business now was already late.
But she was a young girl with limited experience. Looking at her status, everyone gave her a bit of face, selling her grain a few coins cheaper per measure, treating it as making a good connection.
Ting He used this method to exchange 1,850,000 coins worth of grain. Following Zhao Hanzhang’s instructions, she stored it locally, with Zeng Yue assigning soldiers to guard it.