Those who understand you best, besides your enemies and friends, are your subordinates.

For example, Liang Hong’s understanding of County Magistrate Hu.

They confiscated large amounts of gold, silver, copper coins, cloth, colored silk, silk thread, and grain from the Hu family, as well as a box of Five Stone Powder.

Some of these things even Madam Hu didn’t know about, but Liang Hong was able to unearth them from the county office’s rear courtyard.

Madam Hu watched in a daze, with crying children clinging to her. She slowly came back to her senses, tears falling drop by drop. Even until now, she felt as if she were in a dream.

Not far away stood a coffin containing County Magistrate Hu’s severed body. The coffin had been kindly provided by Qiu Wu.

Zhao Hanzhang had said she didn’t wish to humiliate County Magistrate Hu after death, so Qiu Wu had gone to a coffin shop and brought back a coffin, stuffing the body inside, which counted as giving him sufficient dignity.

The confiscated items were placed in the center of the courtyard. As sunset approached, Zhao Hanzhang finally walked over.

Madam Hu raised her head to look at Zhao Hanzhang, who was walking toward her against the light, her features blurred. She couldn’t see her face clearly but only felt she was very tall. A kind of fear gripped her heart, and she instinctively hugged the two children clinging to her.

Zhao Hanzhang stopped before a chest and picked up a length of colored silk to examine. After a long moment, she sighed. “Was this made by the common people of Biyang County?”

Liang Hong bowed and replied, “Yes. Two years ago, the county magistrate said orders came from above requiring Biyang County to tribute two lengths of colored silk. The county’s weavers spent an entire year producing two lengths, but then the late emperor passed away. The new emperor ascended but was exiled, so…”

“So this colored silk became County Magistrate Hu’s private property?”

Liang Hong lowered his eyes. “At the time, the county magistrate said the colored silk had already been sent to the Commandery Governor’s office.”

Zhao Hanzhang scoffed and put down the length of colored silk. She examined the other items, and after a while, pointed at the grain. “All grain goes to the granary. Set the gold, silver, and copper coins aside separately—I’ll have use for them later. Make an inventory of everything else and store it all in the county office treasury.”

Liang Hong acknowledged.

Only then did Zhao Hanzhang see Madam Hu kneeling on the ground with disheveled hair, utterly bedraggled.

She frowned slightly, looking at her expressionlessly for a moment before saying to Liang Hong, “Have the yamen runners withdraw from the county office’s rear courtyard. You help the Hu family with the funeral arrangements.”

Liang Hong was stunned before acknowledging.

Zhao Hanzhang turned to leave. Madam Hu was also shocked by her decision and couldn’t help calling out to her.

Seeing her turn back to look at her, Madam Hu became somewhat timid again. She shrank back her neck and asked softly, “Is County Administrator Zhao going to kill us?”

Zhao Hanzhang shook her head. “I don’t wish to implicate County Magistrate Hu’s family members in his crimes. Once the accounts are settled and all the stolen goods are inventoried, you may leave.”

Madam Hu’s face paled slightly as she asked, “What if the confiscated stolen goods aren’t enough?”

Zhao Hanzhang looked at her deeply before saying, “That depends on your choice, Madam.”

Zhao Hanzhang turned to leave. Madam Hu’s expression changed repeatedly before finally saying, “County Administrator, there’s another place where he may have hidden valuables.”

The corners of Zhao Hanzhang’s mouth lifted slightly. When she turned around, she had put away her smile, her face solemn as she looked at her.

Madam Hu could feel her aura softening. She quietly breathed a sigh of relief and, after hugging the children in her arms, said, “At the Ma family’s villa. He often sent things there. That villa was lent to him by the Ma family for entertaining guests. He’s been using it these past few years.”

Zhao Hanzhang looked at Liang Hong, who immediately said, “Yes, County Magistrate Hu did often have people send things to the villa.”

Zhao Hanzhang looked at the sky and said, “It’s still early. I’ll trouble County Administrator Liang to make another trip.”

Liang Hong: …The sky was about to turn dark—where was it still early?

Nevertheless, Liang Hong took people to the villa and had everything there confiscated as well. They happened to run into Ma family members who were also about to go in and move things. The two groups collided and nearly came to blows. Finally, Qiu Wu arrived with soldiers.

The soldiers all held torches aloft. In the firelight, Qiu Wu stared intently at those people. “The County Administrator said our Commandery Governor’s office troops are just lacking an excuse!”

At these words, the Ma family’s steward immediately restrained the shouting servants and very sensibly stepped back, allowing Liang Hong and the yamen runners to enter.

The lights in the county office burned for half the night. In just this half night, Biyang County’s fiscal revenue was more than double what it earned in a year.

Zhao Hanzhang sat on a chest, looking at the confiscated items, and sighed. “No wonder they say robbery and confiscation are the fastest ways to get rich. It’s true indeed.”

Fu Tinghan had been looking at ledgers since the afternoon. His head wasn’t dizzy now, but his eyes hurt. He came out and also found a chest to sit on, closing his eyes to rest them. “The most profitable methods are all written in the criminal code. Clearly, this County Magistrate Hu committed plenty of crimes to become so wealthy.”

“It’s just a pity that the laws favor the gentry. Even though he embezzled and took bribes, according to the law, he wouldn’t have been sentenced to death.” Having traveled this far, Zhao Hanzhang most deeply detested such people—not only were they greedy and cruel, but they didn’t do their work, allowing the common people to perish on their own while pouring boiling water into the already deep and burning pit, making the already suffering people suffer even more.

Zhao Hanzhang ground her teeth. “I still killed him too cleanly. I should have held a trial before executing him.”

Fu Tinghan shook his head. “After a trial, you probably wouldn’t have been able to kill him.”

During his leisure time, Fu Tinghan had also read through the legal codes of this era and knew how much the laws favored the nobility and gentry.

For someone like County Magistrate Hu, it really wouldn’t be easy to sentence him to death.

Unless they changed the laws.

At this moment, Zhao Hanzhang lowered her eyes in thought. Fu Tinghan had already opened his eyes to look at her. Their chests faced each other, so at this moment they were sitting face to face. “You can’t do it now. To change the laws, you need absolute control over Runan Commandery.”

Zhao Hanzhang nodded and became thoughtful.

She beckoned Qiu Wu over and instructed in a low voice, “Send someone back to Xiping and have Zhao Ju dispatch two squads of troops for me—elite soldiers.”

One squad was one hundred men, so two squads meant two hundred men. Elite soldiers at that—in Runan Commandery, they could practically sweep through every county.

Qiu Wu didn’t hesitate and acknowledged in a low voice before withdrawing.

Zhao Hanzhang already had a plan forming in her mind. She stood up and said, “Come on, let’s go rest. It’s too late—we’ll continue tomorrow.”

Fu Tinghan glanced at the yard full of valuables and nodded in agreement.

Indeed, the Household Registry Office had so much material that it couldn’t be reviewed so quickly. Anyway, the money had already been confiscated and was now in their hands—there could only be more, not less. That was enough.

Confiscating County Magistrate Hu alone had enriched the Biyang County office. Of course, there might be some wronged parties among this, after all, there were too many things confiscated from the villa. Meanwhile, the Ma family outside kept claiming injustice, saying everything in the villa belonged to their family and not to County Magistrate Hu.

Perhaps. Zhao Hanzhang didn’t completely deny it, but it was also impossible for her to just hand things over like that. Her response to the Ma family was, “Once Master Fu has finished auditing the Household Registry Office ledgers, we’ll know whether the items were embezzled by County Magistrate Hu or not.”

But who knew when Fu Tinghan would finish the audit? In the meantime, the county office couldn’t cease operations, so Zhao Hanzhang set this matter aside and discussed with them the matter of purchasing grain. “Biyang County has been made a complete mess by County Magistrate Hu and others—the people are suffering terribly. To pacify the common people, relief must be provided first. Right now the county office lacks grain. I wonder if the Ma family would be willing to do business with the county office?”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “I’m willing to pay a high price to purchase grain from the Ma family to provide relief to the people.”