New year, new atmosphere. The six inner commanderies of Yuzhou that Zhao Hanzhang held firmly underwent a complete cleansing and welcomed a new era.

Zhao Hanzhang’s orders reached all commanderies and counties during the first month. No one thought she was bluffing—she truly could do something like chopping off people’s heads to plow fields. So Zhao Hanzhang was met with a wave of officials resigning, while those who remained were anxious and didn’t dare disobey her commands.

The roster of those who resigned, those who stayed, and their performance evaluations were delivered to her desk by Master Ji. In addition, there were various messages Ji had collected.

Everything piled up on her desk. Fan Ying organized it and immediately got a headache.

Fu Tinghan and Zhao Hanzhang returned from their “private visit in disguise.” They hadn’t even changed clothes yet when they saw her nearly in tears and picked up items from the desk to flip through.

Zhao Hanzhang saw her problem at a glance. “Later I’ll create a form for you. You can compile this information according to the form.”

Fu Tinghan said, “There’s too much. Let me help her organize it together. Many people have resigned, and you’ll need to promote people from among current officials to fill their positions. That means you’ll need to recruit new people to take over the current positions. These materials alone aren’t enough.”

Zhao Hanzhang tapped the desk and told Fan Ying, “We’ll delegate the authority to appoint and dismiss minor officials. We just need to establish good regulations.”

Zhao Hanzhang’s lips curved slightly as she told Fan Ying, “Have all commanderies and counties report the number and positions of vacant official posts. After we verify them, we’ll determine how many people to recruit this year, notify all the academies, and let interested students try. We also need to post announcements in all counties to inform the world that I, Zhao Hanzhang, select talent regardless of background—I only care about talent and virtue. Those who believe they have talent and virtue and can competently fill these positions may apply to the commanderies and counties.”

This was a huge undertaking. Fan Ying and her subordinates couldn’t complete it alone. She looked pleadingly at Fu Tinghan.

Fu Tinghan nodded. “You organize the materials. After I wash up, I’ll come help.”

Fan Ying happily agreed and bowed before withdrawing.

This wasn’t difficult for Fu Tinghan. Working at night was also routine for him. In modern society, who went to sleep before 10 PM?

So after bathing and eating dinner, Fu Tinghan sat in the study as the last rays of sunset faded, ready to work for another three hours before sleeping.

During the day, his work was mostly physical labor. Having grown accustomed to this level of exertion, it wasn’t very tiring for him. His mind was most active at night, so he organized things particularly quickly.

In the eyes of Fan Ying and the other officials, Fu Tinghan worked too hard and was too devoted—accompanying the Magistrate on private visits during the day and doing so much work for her at night.

They grew increasingly convinced by him.

Zhao Hanzhang was busy too. The Charity Hall outside the city would soon be completed, but there were still many refugees who needed settlement. Everyone was currently busy distributing land.

The infrastructure construction had only just begun.

Not all officials in the Provincial Governor’s office were incompetent. On the fifth day, they finally compiled statistics on wasteland and wild land, along with rough estimates of displaced refugees in each county.

Zhao Hanzhang flipped through it. The next day, instead of going on a private visit with Fu Tinghan, she summoned Yin Sheng and others, saying, “These wastelands—how many years have they been abandoned?”

“Three years.”

Zhao Hanzhang nodded. “Then make an announcement. Inform all counties in Nanyang Commandery to gather refugees. All refugees who register at government offices can receive ten acres of land and corresponding farm tools. Since spring has just begun, they should till their fields. We’ll distribute grain seeds when the time comes.”

“Yes.”

“While it’s not yet the busy farming season, have the refugees build houses to settle down. Each county can make its own arrangements.”

Yin Sheng bowed and answered, “Yes.” He hesitated before adding, “But building houses requires money…”

Zhao Hanzhang smiled at Yin Sheng and beckoned him closer. When he approached, she said, “Do you know Liu Yueshi?”

Yin Sheng was puzzled but nodded. “Of course I know. Liu Kun is a renowned scholar. He’s alone in Bingzhou, surrounded by Xiongnu, yet he’s managed to protect the people of Jinyang City.”

“Good that you know. I heard that when he first arrived in Jinyang, the city was in ruins with barely one in ten residents remaining. The roads were full of Han households fleeing, but in just one year he revitalized Jinyang and brought the people of Bingzhou back to the city.” Zhao Hanzhang stared into Yin Sheng’s eyes. “I don’t expect you to be as capable as Liu Yueshi, but with all the things I’ve given you and my support, you should at least use your brains to help me solve problems, right?”

Zhao Hanzhang asked somewhat angrily, “Must I cook the food, bring it to your mouths with a spoon before you’ll open up and eat?”

Yin Sheng broke into a cold sweat and immediately knelt. “The Magistrate is right to be angry. This subordinate will immediately give orders for county magistrates to devise plans and find ways to settle the refugees themselves.”

Zhao Hanzhang snorted coldly. “Summon Wang Nie.”

Wang Nie and Xie Shi were also busy. Zhao Hanzhang had too many documents and matters to handle. Not only did they need to organize various documents and information for her, they also had to handle some administrative affairs.

So Wang Nie only arrived after a quarter-hour.

As soon as he arrived, Zhao Hanzhang said, “Pack your things. Tomorrow you’ll begin touring the counties of Nanyang Commandery. First, this is a critical time—you need to keep watch to prevent chaos. Second, you and Xie Shi will remain here, so take this opportunity to better understand each county’s situation.”

Wang Nie bowed and accepted, then asked, “Should I bring Erlang along?”

Zhao Hanzhang considered this. Since Zhao Erlang would just be training troops if he stayed here with nothing else to do, she decisively nodded. “Bring him. If you encounter bandits on the road, have him deal with them.”

Wang Nie hadn’t expected to also receive a bandit suppression assignment. Zhao Hanzhang truly made full use of people, leaving them no idle time.

He bowed and accepted the order before withdrawing.

After handling the matters at hand, with nothing else to do, Zhao Hanzhang simply changed clothes and wandered over to the Charity Hall construction site outside the city.

Today Fu Tinghan and his team’s assignment was digging drainage channels—essentially an underground drainage system to ensure the area wouldn’t flood when it rained.

Seeing Zhao Hanzhang, the people on the same team were amazed. “You can fill in for someone who missed half a day’s work?”

Everyone looked at Fu Tinghan, suspecting he was abusing his authority to mark Zhao Hanzhang as having worked a full day and collect wages.

Zhao Hanzhang stood at the edge of the ditch with her arms crossed. “I’m just here to watch the excitement, not to work or collect wages.”

Everyone felt better about this and began chatting with her normally. “Didn’t they say you took sick leave? But you look healthy—doesn’t seem like you’re sick.”

Zhao Hanzhang replied, “It’s not me who’s sick—it’s my grand-uncle. I’m filial, so I’ve been caring for him at home. But there was nothing to do this afternoon, so I came over to take a look.”

“Oh my, when old people get sick, you have to be careful. It’s cold this time of year. If they can’t make it through…” That would be a lifetime matter.

Zhao Hanzhang felt Zhao Zhongyu should be fine.

Indeed, Zhao Zhongyu was sick, and seemed quite seriously ill, to the point where Zhao Ji had to write to the clan asking them to prepare.