Zhao Hanzhang left the two messengers in the county office to Zhao Ming. Taking Zhao Erlang with her, she returned to Shangcai.
She set up a table directly on the official road entering Shangcai, had people bring out two baskets of money and a cart of grain to place by the roadside, and began recruiting troops with drums and gongs.
Passing refugees stopped to watch one after another.
Those who were alone and unattached stepped forward without hesitation to ask about the recruitment conditions, learning that they only needed to be young, obedient, and willing to work hard.
Of course, having special skills was even better—whether it was physical strength, the ability to ride horses, martial arts skills, great strength, or any talent whatsoever—not only would their military salary be higher, but their status would be higher too.
Ji Yuan sat beside her, helping her recruit troops together.
Because there were many refugees, Zhao Hanzhang not only recruited single men but also those with families in tow, promising to arrange for them to farm and till the land, with grain to eat every month.
That’s right—those who came seeking refuge absolutely refused to become tenant farmers. Even when Zhao Hanzhang offered to give them land, they didn’t want it. They only wanted to be long-term workers, or to sign death contracts directly. They’d do whatever she asked, as long as she guaranteed their families would have food to eat.
Zhao Hanzhang couldn’t understand this. Taking advantage of Ji Yuan handling the recruitment matters, she squatted beside a newly recruited soldier and asked, “Just now I said I’d give you fields—why weren’t you tempted at all?”
Seeing Zhao Hanzhang, the soldier immediately stood to bow. Zhao Hanzhang stopped him. “Sit and talk, sit and talk. No need for courtesy.”
The soldier also squatted down, saying carefully, “This humble one feels that being a slave is quite good. As long as I work hard, I’ll have food to eat and won’t need to worry about making a living anymore.”
Zhao Hanzhang asked, “But with your own land, working hard and harvesting—wouldn’t that yield even more?”
The soldier shook his head. “My family also had land—twenty-eight acres in total—but it was useless.”
Zhao Hanzhang was surprised. “How could it be useless?”
“We couldn’t survive,” he said. “Yingchuan started experiencing drought just as autumn was beginning last year. The autumn harvest yielded less grain. Then in winter we encountered a snowstorm, and many of the winter wheat seedlings we’d planted froze to death.”
“Since spring this year, there’s been almost no rain. We knew then that this year would be difficult. Once the snow melted, less than three-tenths of the wheat in the fields survived. The weather was so dry—the half that barely survived died by another half. We wanted to plow it under and switch to spring wheat or plant rice, but we couldn’t.”
He continued, “There wasn’t a drop of water. Even our drinking water became a problem, let alone farming. The government still demanded summer and autumn taxes. I’ve already sold my wife and one son and one daughter. Now I only have this one left, plus my old father. I can’t sell anymore.”
“I’ve figured it out now—farming on our own doesn’t work. It’s better to work for a big landlord. We just work and take grain. The taxes are still paid by the landlord. As long as we’re obedient, we can survive.” The soldier paused before asking Zhao Hanzhang, “Young mistress, if I die in battle, will you truly care for my father and son as you said?”
Zhao Hanzhang looked at his dark, careworn face. Without him saying so, she couldn’t tell at all that he was only twenty-two years old. He looked to be in his forties, with white already showing at his temples.
She nodded. “Since you’ve already signed a death contract, you’re all my people. Naturally I’ll provide for them.”
Whether or not he believed her, he at least breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. “Young mistress is a great benefactor.”
Zhao Hanzhang smiled back at him, but her mood was somewhat heavy as she stood up.
Many people shared his mindset—preferring to sign death contracts or living contracts to become long-term workers rather than glancing at her autonomous conditions of gifting land or cheaply renting land. They only asked about the monthly wages or grain they could receive.
Zhao Hanzhang sighed deeply, sitting beside Ji Yuan. “The times are truly harsh.”
Ji Yuan glanced at her and said indifferently, “When those above lack virtue, Heaven sends down punishment. There’s nothing to be done about it.”
“Heaven’s punishment?” Zhao Hanzhang murmured, repeating the phrase. “This truly is natural and man-made disasters striking together. Is it because of the Little Ice Age in the Northern Hemisphere?”
Ji Yuan didn’t catch that clearly and turned to ask, “What did the young mistress say?”
“Nothing, just lamenting in my heart. In such difficult times, without a stable situation, the common people will find it very hard to survive such natural disasters.”
Ji Yuan muttered, “The Sima family would need to produce a genius of heaven-sent talent for that to work.”
Zhao Hanzhang said, “How heaven-sent would that genius need to be to suppress so many ambitious schemers in the Sima family? Alas, so having too many clan members and enfeoffing too broadly isn’t good either.”
Ji Yuan deeply agreed and was about to discuss this further with Zhao Hanzhang when he saw horses and carriages approaching at a clip-clop pace. He immediately restrained himself and said quietly, “Young mistress, County Magistrate Chai has arrived.”
Zhao Hanzhang turned her head and only then saw the carriage approaching from the side-rear.
Before the carriage had even stopped properly, County Magistrate Chai anxiously climbed down with Changning’s assistance.
Seeing Zhao Hanzhang and the many people queued before them, with a line extending into the distance—all people who’d come seeking refuge—he hurried forward, lifting his robes into a trot. “Sanniang, what are you doing?”
Zhao Hanzhang smiled as she stood to bow. “County Magistrate, I’m recruiting troops.”
“You, you—how can you privately recruit an army?”
Zhao Hanzhang immediately pulled out the recruitment order to show him. “I’m not recruiting privately—I’m recruiting under orders. Look.”
County Magistrate Chai opened it to read. He hadn’t expected the Provincial Governor to actually give her a recruitment order. After a long silence, he said, “Then, then you shouldn’t recruit troops in my Shangcai County. This clearly states it’s specifically permitting Xiping County to recruit troops—you should recruit in Xiping County.”
“But Xiping County just fought a battle and doesn’t have this many people,” Zhao Hanzhang said. “Don’t worry—I’m not taking your people either. That’s why I set up the table at this road entrance to recruit troops. Everyone here is refugees. Right now Shangcai County can’t absorb this many refugees anyway, can it?”
“Oh my,” County Magistrate Chai stamped his foot. “It’s not just refugees—there are people from our Shangcai County among them too.”
“Impossible,” Zhao Hanzhang said righteously. “They have land and homes here—being good citizens is so much better. Who would come to be a soldier or sell themselves as servants?”
“Isn’t it to evade taxes?” County Magistrate Chai looked around and quickly spotted people. “That one, that one, and those several over there—they’re all troublemakers. When they couldn’t pay their taxes, they fled. I never expected them to run to you, Sanniang.”
He continued, “I won’t stop you from recruiting these refugees, but you can’t recruit people from Shangcai. With you setting up your table here, people in the county have heard the news and quite a few have come running.”
Zhao Hanzhang immediately said, “I had no idea they were from Shangcai. They said they were from Yingchuan, and some said they’d escaped from Quyang. I believed them all—how was I to know they’d lie to me?”
County Magistrate Chai probed tentatively, “Then will Sanniang hand them over to me to take back?”
Handing them over to County Magistrate Chai meant that even if they didn’t die, they’d lose half their lives. According to the law, tax evasion was punished by beheading in severe cases, and imprisonment in lighter cases.
Rather than imprisonment, better to follow her and farm.