Zhao Hanzhang stepped onto the snow, her exhaled breath steaming white mist that blurred her vision. She gazed into the distance—everything in sight was white. At this moment, only one poem from the past remained in her mind: “Northern scenery, a thousand miles of ice, ten thousand miles of snow.”
She turned to ask Yin Sheng, “All this land has been abandoned?”
Yin Sheng gritted his teeth. “Yes.”
This vast expanse of fields lay just outside the eastern city gate, not far beyond it.
Nanyang Kingdom had flat terrain, and the Luyang area also had mostly plains with few hills. Here along both sides of the road, apart from groves of trees, most land had been cultivated.
Zhao Hanzhang walked into a field and lifted her foot to scrape away the accumulated snow. Beneath it was wheat that had already sprouted, about a finger’s length tall.
Seeing the wheat, a smile naturally appeared on her face. “After two consecutive snowfalls, next year should be a bountiful harvest, shouldn’t it?”
“Yes,” Yin Sheng’s face also couldn’t help but show a smile. “Many people say next year’s season should be quite good.”
Zhao Hanzhang then walked to other fields to look. Scraping away the snow again, beneath it were only weeds.
Moreover, according to Yin Sheng, from here outward, basically all the land had been abandoned. The common people had fled as refugees, and these fields had been abandoned for two or three years.
Even the city outskirts had so much abandoned land—not to mention other places.
Zhao Hanzhang thought of the population estimate Fu Tinghan had produced that morning and couldn’t help but sigh deeply. “Let’s choose this area then. Have the Benevolent Care Hall built here, and put all this abandoned land under the Benevolent Care Hall’s name. The land’s production will support the hall’s expenses.”
“Yes.” Yin Sheng also breathed a long sigh of relief. These past two days he had been responsible for those refugees, and truthfully, he was under great pressure.
Supporting so many people’s food and drink for one or two days was nothing, three or four days could also be endured, but over time, it would definitely hurt his sinews and bones. So as soon as Zhao Hanzhang showed inclination to settle the displaced people, he immediately agreed.
Even though several people had already had their eyes on the land she selected and were about to complete transactions for it.
But… compared to money, only a fool wouldn’t know to choose Zhao Hanzhang.
Once Zhao Hanzhang selected the location, the commandery assistant was about to conscript corvée labor, but Zhao Hanzhang stopped him. “The New Year is approaching, and this year everyone has had a very difficult time. Let’s not conscript corvée labor—just hire people directly.”
The commandery assistant’s heart sank. “Hire… hire people?”
Zhao Hanzhang looked at him with a half-smile before saying, “We can provide work relief at the same time. Nanyang Kingdom can still afford that much money, can’t it?”
They could, they could, but a commandery’s entire fiscal budget couldn’t all be placed here, especially with spring approaching—there were particularly many places that needed money.
But the commandery assistant wouldn’t contradict Zhao Hanzhang’s wishes over such a small matter, so he agreed.
As long as she wasn’t making him pay out of pocket.
As soon as they returned to the governor’s office, Zhao Hanzhang issued an order for work relief, beginning to recruit workers to build houses.
Actually, winter wasn’t suitable for construction. The ground was frozen, making it very difficult to dig foundations.
“Not suitable” just meant increased difficulty—it didn’t mean it couldn’t be done. They had to settle all the refugees before spring began, so that they could start normal lives after spring came.
“The people in the Benevolent Care Hall will mostly be children and women, along with some elderly and disabled people. They should ideally be managed separately, so I’ve decided to designate areas from the very beginning.” Zhao Hanzhang unrolled the blueprints and said to everyone, “This is a draft drawn by Master Fu. Do you have anything to supplement or modify?”
Everyone expressed that the planning was already excellent and they had nothing to supplement or modify.
Zhao Hanzhang swept her gaze over them and pointed at the draft. “Then let’s build according to this.”
She also wanted to see the capabilities of the officials at the Nanyang Kingdom governor’s office. Zhao Hanzhang directly entrusted this task to Yin Sheng and the others, while she and Fan Ying kept their hands off, only occasionally offering suggestions from the sidelines.
Naturally, such matters as recruiting workers couldn’t be done by someone of the commandery assistant’s rank—they were delegated layer by layer down to the clerks.
Don’t underestimate their low status—they also recognized Zhao Hanzhang. She had been so conspicuous when entering the city, and these past two days whenever she went out, the commandery assistant and others would follow. As long as the bailiffs and clerks wanted to know, they only had to stand on the street for a while to see her.
Zhao Hanzhang was so distinctive that anyone who saw her once would not forget.
So Zhao Hanzhang, whose eyes ached from reviewing documents, wanted to travel incognito to observe the recruitment. But as soon as she approached, she was discovered, and the clerks handling recruitment all fell to their knees in a rush.
Zhao Hanzhang could only wave her hand to have them rise, then briefly understand the recruitment progress before leaving. There was no help for it—their speech was all stuttering. If she stayed, the recruitment station wouldn’t get any work done today.
The incognito visit plan died in the cradle, leaving Zhao Hanzhang somewhat depressed.
Ting He appeared from somewhere and said to Zhao Hanzhang, “Miss, they’re saying privately that you traveled incognito before—the soldiers guarding the city gate saw you.”
She was referring to when Zhao Hanzhang had posed as a daughter of the fifth branch.
Zhao Hanzhang clicked her tongue. “Good memory they have.”
She sighed. “I wanted to observe their ability to organize matters at close range, but I didn’t expect to be defeated by being too famous.”
Fu Tinghan passed by her side and, hearing this, stopped and tilted his head. “If you really want to go, just disguise yourself.”
Zhao Hanzhang looked disdainful. “I just wanted to use spare time to observe a bit, both to relax my eyes and brain and to collect some information. Do I really need to apply makeup specially?”
Observe for half an hour, apply makeup for an hour?
That would be completely putting the cart before the horse.
Fu Tinghan said, “You’re overestimating the facial recognition ability of ordinary clerks in this era.”
“Hmm?”
Fu Tinghan took her to change clothes. The two changed into a set of coarse hemp clothing patched upon patched. When the cold wind blew in, even someone as healthy as Zhao Hanzhang couldn’t help but scrunch up her neck.
Not to mention Fu Tinghan. He clutched his clothes tightly, scrunching his neck as he said in a tiny voice, “Let’s go.”
Zhao Hanzhang followed in a daze. When the two of them were both scrunching their necks standing in line, she was still somewhat unable to comprehend. She poked Fu Tinghan’s lower back. “I can understand me coming, but what are you here for?”
She was the Provincial Governor—traveling incognito could help her understand public sentiment and official conditions. What business did he have joining in?
Fu Tinghan was trying to use sleep to defeat the cold. He opened his drowsy eyes and said, “Didn’t you reject my budget? Someone mocked me for being impractical, so I came to be practical.”
Zhao Hanzhang asked, “Who is so detestable as to dare mock you?”
Fu Tinghan glanced at her but didn’t say who. Instead he said, “Since we want to make Nanyang Kingdom a model, we should strive for perfection, solving as many problems as possible, so that other commanderies and counties will have reference value.”
Zhao Hanzhang nodded. “All right, then let’s travel incognito for a few days.”
They could process government affairs when they returned in the evening.
The two scrunched their necks as they waited in line, but while Fu Tinghan honestly queued, Zhao Hanzhang refused to be honest, constantly turning her head to look around.
Just as she was looking about randomly, she noticed someone approaching. Turning her head, she found a youth now standing beside her and Fu Tinghan. She was just puzzled when the line moved forward. Fu Tinghan slowly lifted his foot to follow the person in front, and then in the instant Fu Tinghan lifted his foot, the youth beside them also lifted his foot. She was a moment slower, and in just that moment, when he lifted his foot he inserted himself between her and Fu Tinghan, without any sense of discord, as if he had always been queuing in the middle.
A master indeed!
Zhao Hanzhang watched with fascination and amazement. She wasn’t angry either, lifting her foot to follow, then extending her finger to poke the other person’s shoulder. “Hey, brother, you cut in line.”
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