Unfortunately, the opportunity had already passed. Fu Zhi then suggested that the Emperor take control of the capital’s city gates and keep them tightly closed, refusing to let Prince Donghai enter.
The Emperor hesitated. Although he now had twenty thousand troops under his command, there were even more people Prince Donghai had left behind in the capital. He didn’t believe his forces could defeat them, and when that time came…
Thinking this through, the Emperor became timid. Thus he did nothing, letting Prince Donghai return to the capital. Naturally, the newly drafted edict was intercepted by Prince Donghai once again.
What a joke—if the Emperor appointed Zhao Hanzhang as Governor of Yuzhou, what would that make him, having just fought a battle with Zhao Hanzhang?
Thus, Zhao Hanzhang’s formal appointment fell through again. In the eyes of civil and military officials, her position as Governor of Yuzhou lacked proper legitimacy, and anyone could attack her under the pretext of suppressing rebels.
Not to mention people from other provinces—even within Yuzhou itself, many were restless with ambition.
However, most only had treacherous intentions without the courage to act, after all, Zhao Hanzhang was someone who could defeat the Xiongnu.
But the drawbacks of lacking formal appointment still showed themselves. Apart from Liang Kingdom where Chen County was located, Runan Commandery controlled by the Zhao family, Ruyin Commandery which had lost its governor, and Yingchuan Commandery which she had previously given special attention to, the other commanderies and kingdoms barely heeded her orders.
When Zhao Hanzhang sent down commands, they received them but didn’t comply. Some commanderies and kingdoms even directly returned her official documents, brazenly expressing their refusal to submit.
When Zhao Hanzhang received the returned documents, she wasn’t anxious at all. She tossed them aside and focused on domestic affairs in the four commanderies and kingdoms she had completely mastered. Oh, and she conveniently brought the relatively obedient Nanyang Kingdom, sandwiched in between, under her control as well.
The five commanderies and kingdoms that former Governor He had controlled were Liang Kingdom, Runan Commandery, Ruyin Commandery, Yingchuan Commandery, and Nanyang Kingdom. The remaining five commanderies and kingdoms had all been pulled over by other forces, especially Gou Xi.
Although nominally part of Yuzhou, they actually answered to Yanzhou’s commands.
After taking over Yuzhou, Zhao Hanzhang had been testing the attitudes of each commandery and kingdom. Now the results were clear.
The commanderies and kingdoms that Governor He hadn’t controlled, she couldn’t hope to control in the short term. As for those Governor He had already controlled, she still needed to work on winning them over further.
Among them, Nanyang Kingdom, which had been keeping to itself peacefully, caught Zhao Hanzhang’s eye.
This commandery-kingdom was interesting. When Governor He ordered all commanderies and kingdoms to support Chen County, it also sent troops, but only a small force that stayed in the rear providing minimal support, led by a minor general.
Oh right, Nanyang Kingdom was the fief of the Prince of Nanyang.
Only now did Zhao Hanzhang recall this matter. No wonder it had always been so aloof.
However, the Prince of Nanyang wasn’t currently in his fief—that prince was now in Chang’an. So Zhao Hanzhang wrote to the Governor of Nanyang Kingdom, asking him to, like other commanderies and kingdoms, comfort the people, provide relief to refugees, and inform her of any difficulties.
Of course, whether she would agree, and to what extent, was another matter.
Sent down along with Zhao Hanzhang’s orders was also grain and monetary support for each commandery and kingdom. Zhao Hanzhang was particularly generous—so generous that she distributed all the money she had on hand.
Ji Yuan and Fu Tinghan, who had vaguely guessed something, remained silent, waiting for her to make her move.
The corruption in Jin Kingdom ran from top to bottom. There were those who served the people, but more numerous were officials serving their own private interests.
With Zhao Hanzhang’s large quantity of resources distributed, it directly helped her identify a batch of unusable people.
She said nothing, seemingly unaware that some below were privately hoarding the relief supplies she had sent down, and continued to remain in Xin Song County.
As the first snow fell, the houses in Xin Song County were also halfway built. Even five or six-year-old children ran to the construction site every day to carry bricks.
Though they were small, as long as they were willing to come, the county office employed them. They were registered, and as long as they completed a certain amount of work, they could receive food. They didn’t get copper coins, but as the weather grew colder, children under ten years old were all given a set of clothes and shoes with socks.
When the clothes and shoes with socks were distributed, the children were stunned. After repeatedly confirming these were for them and wouldn’t be taken back, they immediately stripped off their tattered clothes and, braving the cold wind, first put on the new clothes, then pulled their tattered clothes back over them…
After dressing, they kicked off the straw sandals on their feet, first putting on the socks, then the shoes. A group of children grinned foolishly at each other.
Having distributed the clothes, the soldiers immediately waved them away. “Go on, go on, don’t block the way here. Everyone look this way—today Treasure Pavilion has ready-made clothes, shoes, and socks for sale. Anyone who has taken on work-for-relief jobs can come buy with their vouchers. Preferential prices, limited quantities, first come first served!”
“Children, all of you move aside, don’t block the road.”
The children scattered but didn’t go far, just standing to the side looking this way.
They watched as soldiers brought out large chests, taking out sets of gray or blue-green clothes, pulling out many large shoes and socks to display on the side.
Immediately adults clutching copper coins came forward to ask prices.
Zhao Hanzhang seemed intent on opening Treasure Pavilions throughout Yuzhou. In Xin Song County, her place for selling goods was called Treasure Pavilion, specializing in selling grain, cloth, shoes, socks, and such.
It was just a spacious wooden shed. The goods were displayed in front of the shed, only being moved inside the wooden shed at nightfall or when it rained or snowed—particularly crude.
Zhao Kuan and the others couldn’t understand where Zhao Hanzhang got the audacity to name such a place Treasure Pavilion.
But the refugees here easily accepted it, because there was grain here—wasn’t that a treasure pavilion?
This was the liveliest place after work each day. Even if they weren’t buying grain, just seeing bags upon bags of grain in the wooden shed could put their minds at ease.
Seeing that adults were actually coming forward to buy clothes, the children craned their necks and crowded closer to listen.
The soldier said, “This set of hemp cloth clothes is twenty wen per garment, pants are ten wen per pair, shoes are also eight wen per pair, socks are cheap—five wen for three pairs.”
“This set is more expensive but warmer, twenty-five wen per garment…”
Children with good memories quickly memorized the prices and turned to run.
He ran all the way to the brick kiln, shouting to the workers still working overtime there, “Treasure Pavilion has winter clothes for sale! The cheap ones are twenty wen per garment, the expensive ones are twenty-five wen per garment, limited quantities, first come first served!”
The workers firing bricks heard this and immediately ran out to ask, “Are they ready-made clothes?”
“They’re ready-made,” the child shouted loudly. “They were rushed out by female workers in Runan Commandery, with fine stitching and good fabric, very durable. If you want to buy, hurry!”
Some people couldn’t get away and had no one at home. They immediately scanned the group of children, found a child they knew well, reached out to pull the child over, and counted out money from their chest, saying, “Help me buy a set of clothes. Just get the cheap kind. What’s important is shoes and socks—buy me two extra pairs. When you’ve bought them, I’ll give you one wen as payment.”
The child agreed readily, memorized what he wanted to buy, then looked at the others. “Anyone else need anything? I can only buy five sets!”
That was all he could remember. If there were more, he couldn’t remember it all.
The Governor said he would have to study in the future. After studying, he’d know numbers and could remember many more things. So he had to save money to study!
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