Zhao Hanzhang kept Zhang Shi in the court as an official and had him bring his son to Luoyang to study.

Then Zhang Mao not only sent his wife and children, but also sent his daughter, entrusting her to his elder brother so the siblings could study together in the capital.

Using this as a bridge, Zhang Shi and Zhang Mao reconciled as brothers.

The Western Regions mission brought back various seeds of great national significance, especially cotton seeds. Not only Zhao Xin, but Zhang Shi, Shan Feng, and other mission members all received rewards and promotions. Those who couldn’t return also received pensions and rewards.

The court ministers discussed for a long time. After competition among regional administrators, the court’s cotton seeds were redistributed.

They were distributed directly to the Bureau of Agriculture in each province, for them to cultivate each province’s first season of cotton.

Among them, Xiliang, Youzhou, Bingzhou, and Jizhou received the most seeds because these four regions were the coldest.

Although Xiliang had a batch of seeds, they had sent many to Luoyang last year to celebrate Mingming’s birth. Even after cultivating for another year, what they had was far from enough to distribute to the Xiliang people.

Courtesy demands reciprocity—you throw a peach to me, I give you a plum in return. This time, Zhao Hanzhang included Xiliang on the list.

Moreover, regarding cotton cultivation, Xiliang’s technology still couldn’t compare with Luoyang’s. This time, she not only distributed seeds there but also dispatched an official from the Bureau of Agriculture to take up a position, having him oversee the technological transformation of Xiliang’s animal husbandry and agriculture.

Among the four provinces, Youzhou and Bingzhou received the most cotton seeds—equally!

The frail and delicate Wei Jie had long been using cotton. He was among the first batch to use it, so he knew how warm this thing was.

As soon as the news came out, he and Shi Lei both submitted memorials. To compete for more cotton seeds, he personally returned to Luoyang, coughing while pleading with Zhao Hanzhang for seeds.

For the sake of Wei Jie dragging his sick body, Zhao Hanzhang gave Youzhou quite a few seeds.

Beigong Chun was different—he wasn’t good at speaking. Taking advantage of being in the capital to celebrate the Eldest Prince’s first birthday, he appeared before Zhao Hanzhang three times a day, just smiling at her, then inviting her to practice spear fighting and horseback riding at the martial arts field.

He even told Zhao Hanzhang, “When the Eldest Prince grows a bit older, this subject is willing to teach her the Beigong family’s spear techniques.”

When Zhao Hanzhang distributed seeds, she gave him a bit extra.

Zu Ti: …

Without saying a word, when he returned to the capital to handle War Ministry affairs, he ran into Zhao Hu on the street several times. Each time he asked him, “Haven’t the merchant caravans that Seventh Great-Uncle sent to the Western Regions returned yet?”

Zhao Hu: …

His heart ached terribly.

Three years had passed. He no longer hoped to get the reward money from Zhao Hanzhang, only hoping the merchant caravan could return safely. If they could bring back cotton seeds, that would be even better. Even without the reward money, they could earn quite a bit planting cotton themselves.

Zhao Hu had plenty of dry land in his possession.

After bumping into each other several times, Zu Ti and Zhao Hu developed some friendship. Only then did Zu Ti obtain a promise from Zhao Hu that if his merchant caravan could bring back cotton seeds, he would definitely share some with Zu Ti.

Zhao Hu was still quite polite to Zu Ti. He was the Jizhou Administrator and also the War Minister. Being able to maintain good relations, there was no need to haggle over small gains. Zhao Hu believed Zu Ti was also a generous person who wouldn’t let him suffer losses.

What Zhao Hu was more curious about was, “They haven’t returned in three years, and the mission also went through countless hardships to return. Why does Minister Zu believe they can return safely?”

Zu Ti smiled, “Officials have official paths, merchants have merchant paths. Seventh Great-Uncle is an expert in this—you should know better than I do. Merchants and common laborers have their own survival wisdom and connections. Perhaps what they bring back will be more, not less, than the mission, and those who return safely will also be more, not less.”

Zhao Hu raised his eyebrows without denying this. He also had such confidence in his merchant caravan, even though they’d had no news for three years.

They didn’t bear the heavy responsibilities of the mission. In critical moments, they could even abandon goods and money, as long as they preserved their lives.

Unlike Zhao Xin and the others, they were the Hua Kingdom mission. Even if they died, they had to first maintain the country’s and emperor’s dignity, with many concerns, making them less resilient than his merchant caravan.

However… this also meant they might choose to stay and not risk returning to the capital to preserve themselves and maximize their interests.

Zhao Hu said sorrowfully, “I wonder if they can return while I’m still alive…”

Zu Ti said meaningfully, “Seventh Great-Uncle is blessed. You will surely see it.”

A few days later, Zhao Hanzhang ordered Zhao Erlang to return to Chang’an to muster troops and cooperate with Xiliang, advancing into the Western Regions on two routes.

The Western Regions were all small states along the way, or some tribes gathered together—they couldn’t even be called states.

Yongzhou and Xiliang’s sudden military deployment caught them completely off guard.

Zhao Erlang hadn’t fought a battle in a long time. This time with Beigong Tuanyuan accompanying him, he wanted to fight well, so he led his troops charging forward madly. In five days, they galloped two thousand li, subduing three tribes along the way and capturing countless strongholds.

Zhang Mao had only advanced north less than five hundred li and fought two battles with the Northern Xiongnu when he heard that Zhao Erlang had completely opened the road from Xiliang to Chang’an, with his main force reaching Zhangye.

Zhang Mao couldn’t help but look sideways, “Truly a talented youth. From Zhangye to Chang’an is two thousand li, with many mountain bandits and horse bandits along the way. Over the years, no matter how we tried to clear them, we couldn’t finish because they had strongholds and tribal support behind them. I thought this time he would bypass these strongholds and head west, but unexpectedly he attacked them all.”

Not only that—Zhao Erlang directly led his troops into Western Qiang territory. He felt going to the Western Regions from Xiliang was too far, so he simply tore off all of Golmud in Western Qiang and northward. He told Zhao Hanzhang, “Elder sister, when the time comes, expand my Yongzhou here. I guarantee that when missions go to the Western Regions again, they take this route, and they definitely won’t encounter horse bandits again.”

Zhao Hanzhang looked at Zhao Erlang’s battle report speechlessly for a long while. The piece he’d captured was equivalent to the northern half of later Qinghai province—such a large area, how could it possibly be incorporated into Yongzhou?

However…

“What’s going on with Western Qiang? No resistance at all?”

Yuan Li immediately had people investigate.

But Western Qiang news was very difficult to gather. The mountains there were high, the land vast, and the population sparse. Large areas belonged to plateau regions. People from the plains would have difficulty breathing and moving when they went there. Although Yuan Li also sent scouts in that direction, the information they could collect was very limited.

After a long time, Yuan Li finally received news, “Yao Yizhong has great prestige. In recent years, several Western Qiang tribes have pledged allegiance to him, with signs of acknowledging him as their leader. The Dengzhi Qiang originally were willing too, but for some unknown reason this year, they suddenly started competing with the Yao family. When the Qin Prince attacked Xihai Jun, they were in internal strife and had no time to support Xihai Jun.”

Also, Zhao Erlang’s speed was too fast. The Qiang territory was vast and sparsely populated—sometimes you could run for a whole day without seeing a single village. Under his lightning warfare, the news hadn’t even spread before he’d already broken through northern Western Qiang.

Zhao Hanzhang naturally didn’t think this was just luck. She greatly praised him, “Erlang is truly a talented general!”

Such military fortune was also a capability!