The planting of winter wheat was gradually completed. There were fewer fields around the county seat, yet more people, so it was completed first.
Thus among the common people, some gradually had free time.
Changning immediately arranged for people to hire many women and young girls skilled with needle and thread to make quilt covers and winter clothing.
Men were sent out to chop firewood and experiment with making charcoal using the methods Fu Tinghan taught. Of course, not all the firewood would be made into charcoal—most would still be stored as firewood.
Although firewood for heating produced a lot of smoke, it wasn’t inferior to charcoal.
There was so much work to do now, there was no need to make it all into charcoal. Storing some was enough.
The most important work was building thatch houses and preparing for next year’s spring plowing.
Besides this, some particularly loyal and capable people were selected and sent to various directions from the county seat.
These were workshops Zhao Hanzhang and the others had built.
The most valued among them was the papermaking workshop. After Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan returned to the county seat, they made a special trip to check on the progress.
The soaking raw materials had already softened and could be pulled into fibers, but still weren’t sufficient.
After asking about the timeline, Zhao Hanzhang said, “We need to wait about twenty more days. Make several more reaction pools—every day we need to soak some new materials. That way when production starts, we can ensure we have materials to experiment with daily.”
The supervisor agreed, though he felt very apprehensive because he had never made paper before. He had no idea that paper was made from this jumble of wheat stalks, tree bark, wild grass and other miscellaneous things.
Every time he looked down at the reaction pools, he felt somewhat dazed, thinking he must be mad to believe Miss’s words.
But Miss was full of confidence, so he… could only believe.
After seeing off Zhao Hanzhang, he immediately turned back to instruct the laborers, “Dig another reaction pool, and don’t forget to soak today’s materials.”
Everyone agreed.
The papermaking workshop was in the south of the city, right downstream of the moat. Here was a large expanse of farmland and houses, mostly good fields belonging to city residents, plus some official fields belonging to the county office.
This portion of official fields were职田 職田 job-fields belonging to the county magistrate, for growing vegetables and melons.
Because it wasn’t very safe outside the city now, Zhao Hanzhang temporarily placed the papermaking workshop inside the city, using this plot of land to build the workshop.
Don’t underestimate land for the county magistrate to grow melons and vegetables—it was actually quite large, several acres.
Buy some more adjacent land, recover land whose owners had fled to the county office, and they freed up over ten acres of land—more than enough to build a papermaking workshop.
Because Zhao Hanzhang was thinking about papermaking, she let her horse walk back slowly. After an unknown amount of time, the horse stopped.
Zhao Hanzhang came to her senses and looked up ahead, only to see many people blocking the way ahead. The horse, obstructed, had stopped.
Qiu Wu behind immediately had guards go forward to clear people away. Zhao Hanzhang raised her hand to stop them, curiously craning her neck to look.
She saw two county office runners surrounded in the middle. Everyone held clothing and fabric in their hands. Because there were so many people surrounding them, even though she had craned her neck, she still couldn’t see the people inside clearly. But she could hear voices.
She heard a young woman say indignantly, “Using reed down and willow catkins to fill winter clothing and bedding, and you still dare say this isn’t disregarding human life? Miss Zhao would never do this. You must have lined your own pockets.”
“That’s right, that’s right, you must have lined your own pockets.”
Someone else shouted loudly, “We’re already so miserable, yet you still embezzle—this is simply forcing us to death!”
The two runners surrounded in the middle felt both ashamed and angry, calling out, “These are the items issued from above. How have we embezzled?”
“Just having something is already good. Besides, who said these bedding and winter clothes are for you? You’re just hired by us to make clothes and bedding. Haven’t you been paid?”
Zhao Hanzhang heard that young woman call out, “Even if they’re not for us, you can’t embezzle! Are soldiers not people? Are refugees not people?”
“That’s right, that’s right.”
Zhao Hanzhang saw the runners surrounded in the middle so angry their noses were about to smoke, while the surrounding people had been stirred up with righteous indignation. Seeing they were about to roll up their sleeves and strike, she quickly called out loudly, “Well said!”
Everyone heard the voice and looked back. Seeing Zhao Hanzhang mounted on her horse, their eyes immediately brightened. They respectfully stepped back two paces and hurriedly bowed. “Miss!”
Someone turned and shouted to the somewhat noisy crowd behind, “Miss Zhao has arrived!”
Everyone parted, revealing the people in the very center.
The young woman in the middle saw Zhao Hanzhang and her eyes also brightened. Looking at Zhao Hanzhang with excitement and a slightly flushed face, she curtsied gracefully. “Miss!”
Zhao Hanzhang looked her up and down and smiled. “It’s Miss Fan.”
She dismounted and stepped forward several paces to help her up. “No need for formalities.”
She looked at the clothing in her hands.
Fan Ying immediately explained, “I heard the county office needed people to make winter clothing and bedding for the garrison and disaster refugees but lacked hands, so I went and received several bolts of cloth to make them. But after finishing, the county office distributed cotton wadding to fill the bedding and winter clothing—unexpectedly it was all willow catkins and reed down.”
“After asking around, I learned that everyone on this street who received work all got willow catkins and reed down. These willow catkins and reed down aren’t warm. Feeling indignant, I brought people to reason with them, but these two runners guard the county office gate and won’t let us in.”
The two runners also felt very wronged, their eyes reddening. “Miss, this cloth and the filling willow catkins and reed down were all distributed from above. We’re just following orders to distribute them and following orders to collect them back.”
“As for not letting them into the county office, it’s because Chief Clerk Chang is currently receiving honored guests inside. If we let them charge in like this and disturb the honored guests, what then?”
Zhao Hanzhang didn’t ask who the honored guest was, but carefully examined the clothing in her hands. Whether willow catkins or reed down, both were very light. Fan Ying had stuffed quite a lot in, making it look very thick, but actually it wasn’t very heavy.
She turned and stood on two steps of the entrance, allowing the surrounding people to see her. First she said to Fan Ying, “Miss Fan is correct. These willow catkins and reed down indeed aren’t very warm. If the weather is too cold, wearing such clothes could freeze people to death. Miss Fan’s questioning is correct.”
The onlookers felt righteous indignation, all thinking someone in the county office had embezzled, while the runners beside her looked ready to die of shame.
Zhao Hanzhang said, “But I know about this matter.”
She looked apologetically at everyone and bowed deeply. “Filling with reed down and willow catkins was my idea.”
Everyone froze. Fan Ying looked at her in disbelief.
“Everyone should know by now that the Xiongnu army has moved south to attack Luoyang and Yuzhou. Everywhere outside Xiping is in chaos. When the rebel army rushed into the city earlier, it was urgent and chaotic—over half the city’s supplies were lost. I asked many people to go out and buy cotton wadding, but could only buy a little, nowhere near enough to make bedding and winter clothing.”
“Filling with willow catkins and reed down was unavoidable.” She turned to glance at the two runners and sighed deeply. “This is Hanzhang’s helpless measure, but also Hanzhang’s fault. It has nothing to do with the officials in the county office. If you must blame someone, blame me.”