The urgent documents numbered two. One urged Zhao Hanzhang to gather the military provisions she had promised to give Inspector He, and the other concerned the taxes assigned to Runan Commandery this year.
The taxes for Runan Commandery had a deadline set by Yuzhou for full payment—the twelfth day of next month.
Zhao Hanzhang’s brow furrowed. When she saw the final tax requirements for each county, her expression darkened even more.
At the end of the document was a sheet of paper—a letter Ji Yuan had written to Zhao Hanzhang.
The warfare at Luoyang had been in stalemate all along. Now that autumn harvest had begun, whether it was Dajin or the Xiongnu, both wanted to end the fighting before the weather turned cold.
So Gou Xi, who had been going through the motions on the battlefield all this time, finally got serious and began trying to force the Xiongnu to withdraw.
Even Gou Xi, who had deep-seated enmity with the Prince of Donghai, had taken action. Yuzhou, which was right on the edge of Luoyang, naturally couldn’t continue sitting on the fence. Whether for his own reputation and prospects or for the sake of the nation, Inspector He had to send troops.
When troops move, provisions go first. If they wanted to end the fighting before winter, they needed to collect sufficient provisions before autumn harvest ended.
So the taxes demanded this time were very heavy, but the time given was extremely short. This was practically forcing the common people to their deaths.
However, if they didn’t send troops and Luoyang fell, not only Yuzhou but the entire Central Plains would be exposed to the Xiongnu cavalry. If Dajin fell, could the common people who fell into Xiongnu hands have it any better?
This was almost a vicious cycle. Zhao Hanzhang felt for the first time the pressure of being in a position of authority.
She sat on the field ridge holding the document and letter, deep in thought.
Fu Tinghan, who had been holding a sickle with his pants legs rolled up and had come with Zhao Hanzhang to experience life, stood quietly behind her. He reached out to take the document from her hand, scanning it rapidly before saying, “The grain taxes they’re demanding could support two hundred thousand troops for one month’s consumption, and this is just Runan Commandery’s grain tax.”
Zhao Hanzhang came back to herself, her brow furrowing as she gripped the letter in her hand tightly.
She turned her head to look at the people who were harvesting rice in the fields. She said she’d come to experience life, but actually it was to understand Biyang County’s autumn harvest situation this year, as well as the common people’s current state of mind and their views of the county office.
Because the Vice Administrator had personally come to help them with the autumn harvest, their faces still bore joyful smiles. The bachelor subordinate soldiers who had come with Zhao Hanzhang seemed not to be in autumn but spring—several men holding sickles followed a young woman from afar, cutting all the rice around her and leaving only a small patch for her.
A nearby elder saw this and teased them, telling the young woman’s parents to choose one from among the subordinate soldiers to be their son-in-law. That way, they wouldn’t have to worry about having no one to help during spring planting and autumn harvest in the future.
The young woman blushed with embarrassment. Her parents seriously considered it and went over to look the subordinate soldiers up and down very openly.
Several young men puffed out their chests for them to examine, their ear tips also somewhat red…
Zhao Hanzhang withdrew her gaze, lowered her eyes, and thought for a moment before saying, “Send this document down to all the counties. This year’s taxes will be collected at half the amount.”
Ting He immediately went to the carriage to retrieve the ink box, took out the writing materials, and after opening it, placed the box on the ground as a surface for Zhao Hanzhang.
Because she was always working on the move, Ting He was accustomed to carrying paper, ink, brush, and inkstone with her. Fu Tinghan had seen this and specially had craftsmen make a simple portable writing box for Zhao Hanzhang. Inside, besides the paper, ink, brush, and inkstone, it could also hold quite a few official documents and papers. When closed, it could be placed in front of her and used as a desk.
It was an essential item for outdoor work.
Zhao Hanzhang wrote her response on the document, stamped it with her seal, and handed it to the messenger. “This is an urgent document—deliver it to all counties immediately.”
The messenger acknowledged the order. Only then did Zhao Hanzhang begin going through the other documents.
She handled them very quickly. Mainly, at Ji Yuan’s insistence, the documents submitted by each county were all concise, directly stating the reason with less room for everyone to display their literary talents, making them very succinct.
Zhao Hanzhang scanned them at a glance and knew what the problem was, so she could immediately write her response with her brush.
After finishing this batch of documents, Zhao Hanzhang pulled out a blank sheet of paper and, after pondering for a moment, began writing a letter to Ji Yuan.
“The people’s livelihood faces many hardships. Though external enemies are formidable and require our united efforts, we must also discern from within whether what is needed above is truly all devoted to the national war, or whether some are taking advantage to amass wealth.”
Zhao Hanzhang wrote sadly, “Previously we had Quyang as a cautionary example, and now there are signs of unrest in Biyang. I fear the situations in other counties are not much better. I truly do not wish to see external enemies not yet cleared while internal chaos erupts first.”
“The resilience of our Central Plains people is such that unless pushed to the extreme, they would never resort to rebellion and riots. Therefore, sir, I do not wish to see Runan’s people and land devastated. Please help watch over things. I too will visit each county and negotiate with those above to fight for this thread of survival for the common people…”
Zhao Hanzhang set the letter aside to let the ink dry, sat in thought, and Fu Tinghan had somehow also sat down on the field ridge. Seeing her looking blank, he said, “If you really don’t know how to write to Uncle Ming, why not copy the two documents and send them to him?”
Zhao Hanzhang looked at Fu Tinghan approvingly, then summarized the general meaning of the two documents in writing, entrusting Zhao Ming to look after Xiping County and help Ji Yuan by the way.
After finishing the letter to Zhao Ming, writing a reply to Inspector He became much simpler. It was basically official platitudes, expressing that she would do her best to gather provisions. However, this year the people’s livelihood was difficult—during the summer taxes, Runan Commandery had already been severely damaged. Even now, there was unrest in various counties within the commandery, with quite a few common people scattering and leaving Runan Commandery. It would be difficult to gather the full amount of taxes.
Zhao Hanzhang wrote page after page of evasive words, finally sighing and saying, “I hope next year there will be fewer military conflicts and more favorable weather.”
Fu Tinghan pressed his lips together and said nothing. If things were really as she’d said before—that this era was right at the time when natural disasters frequently occurred—then hoping for favorable weather would be too difficult.
Zhao Hanzhang understood this in her heart as well, which was why she was so anxious to have each county build water conservancy projects, not hesitating to pay out of her own pocket for work-relief programs.
She just hoped these water conservancy projects would be somewhat useful in the future. Even if only a little, it could at least somewhat mitigate the trend.
However, natural disasters aside for now—they should first settle the man-made calamities.
Zhao Hanzhang felt a sense of urgency. She no longer lingered in Biyang County and directly appointed Liang Hong as the new county magistrate. For this, she specially invited the transferred Squad Leader Li Tianhe, along with Old Master Guo and Old Master Ma, to share a meal together. The main guest was Liang Hong.
At the banquet, Zhao Hanzhang personally poured wine for Old Master Guo and Old Master Ma, smiling as she said, “From now on, Biyang County will trouble Old Master Guo and Old Master Ma to assist County Magistrate Liang. Let’s all work together to make Biyang County better and better.”
Old Master Guo and Old Master Ma were well-informed. Mainly because Zhao Hanzhang was right there in Biyang County, so as soon as she’d written her response, the county office posted the announcement.
The county office’s tax demand was directly half of what was announced in the document, so they knew this was Zhao Hanzhang’s intention.
Regardless of any previous grievances they had with Zhao Hanzhang, just for this one matter, they truly admired Zhao Hanzhang from the heart. Not everyone had the courage to refuse taxes assigned by the court and the Inspector’s office.
Even though County Magistrate Hu had been their good friend, at this moment, they also felt that the change of county magistrate in Biyang County had been for the best.
The two men sighed quietly in their hearts, glanced at Li Tianhe sitting beside Liang Hong, and knew he was the confidence Zhao Hanzhang had left for Liang Hong. So they put on smiles, raised their cups, and said to Zhao Hanzhang, “We are honored.”