As soon as Zhao Hanzhang opened her mouth, Ting He came over with a worried expression, holding a money box. She opened it to show her the empty interior.

Zhao Hanzhang could hardly believe it. “I’m this poor?”

Ting He said, “When we were in Western Ping, because the Treasure Pavilion was making money, Scholar Ji would allocate a sum to the inner courtyard every month. Since leaving Western Ping, the outer expenses have grown, and Scholar Ji no longer allocates money to the inner courtyard.”

Actually, Zhao Hanzhang’s monthly income wasn’t small. The Treasure Pavilion, papermaking workshop, book bureau, and glass workshop under her name were all making money. But she earned much yet spent even more!

This money only existed in the account books. Since leaving Western Ping, Zhao Hanzhang hadn’t seen the money she earned—she could only look at the accounts.

But looking made her heart ache even more, because in the ledgers, what she spent always exceeded what she earned, so that she constantly needed to supplement from the property Zhao Changyu had left her.

So Zhao Hanzhang developed the habit of not looking at the account books.

As long as she didn’t look, she wasn’t in debt.

She just hadn’t expected that the debt had spread from the outer courtyard to the inner courtyard. “So our current expenses for food and daily use…”

Ting He brought out a very large money pouch, pulling from it two strings of coins and three additional strings. “There’s only this much left. We still have enough rice and flour to last two months. This money is for buying vegetables and meat, which can also sustain us for a while. But…”

Zhao Hanzhang grew nervous. “But what?”

“But the weather will soon turn hot. Miss, the young master, and the second young master all need new clothes made. This money is far from enough.”

Zhao Hanzhang immediately said, “What new clothes? I’m still in mourning. I won’t have new clothes made this year.”

“…” Ting He said, “That’s exactly what I needed to tell you, miss. You and the second young master will soon be out of mourning and need new garments even more.”

“Just take out the old clothes from before to wear. Those clothes were hardly worn before being put away.”

“But miss and the second young master have both grown taller. Even the young master has grown somewhat compared to last year. Those clothes no longer fit…”

In short, new clothes absolutely had to be made.

Zhao Hanzhang stared at her wide-eyed for a long while before coming up with a good solution. “I remember there’s a custom—when making new clothes for people who haven’t finished growing, they deliberately leave an extra section. When they grow taller, they can let it out a bit, so the clothes can continue to be worn.”

Ting He was speechless. “Miss, has our household truly fallen to such straits? When the master was alive, you had a fixed four outfits each season. Besides that, on major festivals and banquets, the master would also give cloth for me and others to make you new clothes. Now that you’ve become the master, surely you can’t be worse off than before?”

“One doesn’t know how expensive rice and oil are until running a household. I think grandfather was too wasteful before. Let’s settle it this way. When making new clothes, remember to leave an extra section—leave quite a bit.” Zhao Hanzhang paused. “By the way, weren’t there cloth bolts among my war spoils?”

“Scholar Ji took them all,” Ting He interrupted. “He said they were needed to buy grain and hemp cloth.”

Zhao Hanzhang: …

Zhao Hanzhang decided to go see her grain storage.

Scholar Ji also generously let her see. She just happened to encounter the logistics teams from the three armies coming to collect grain.

She watched as soldiers loaded sack after sack onto carts, then transported cart after cart away. The previously full granary suddenly became more than half empty.

Scholar Ji attended at her side. “This is their grain for five days.”

Zhao Hanzhang’s heart turned cold. “Five days?”

“Otherwise, where did you think all that money went?” Ji Yuan said, “An army is a gold-devouring beast. Besides the Zhao Family Army, you also have three gold-devouring beasts in Beigong Chun, Xun Xiu, and Mi Ce. Now you’ve added the expense of Gucheng. If it weren’t for Zhao Ju’s troops barely managing to be self-sufficient, you’d be even poorer.”

The troops Zhao Ju led were mostly refugees originally recruited in Western Ping. After recruitment, they were directly allocated land to cultivate, training during the agricultural off-season.

So when they weren’t deployed, they could barely sustain themselves.

Only when mustered for battle would they request provisions from Zhao Hanzhang, so their expenses were minimal.

The large armies now in Luoyang all relied entirely on Zhao Hanzhang for support. With so many people, even if they just ate without training, it would consume considerable grain. Not to mention when there was training and combat.

Zhao Hanzhang felt the pressure and immediately said, “Right now Shi Le and Liu Cong are competing for Shangdang. They won’t invade southward again in the short term. Have Xun Xiu and Mi Ce lead their troops back.”

She said, “Going back now, after resting a while, they can harvest the wheat.”

Leave behind an elite force to maintain training. For the others, combine farming with training. Protecting territory was important, but eating one’s fill was also important!

Ji Yuan had no objections, but… “Generals Mi and Xun have injuries. Can they depart now?”

Zhao Hanzhang felt depressed. Those injuries were inflicted by her own hand.

So she decided to visit the two generals.

Mi Ce and Xun Xiu both occupied mansions, one on the left and one on the right, coincidentally neighboring each other.

It wasn’t that they shared the same hobbies or taste—both mansions had been claimed by Xun Xiu.

However, Xun Xiu knew he wouldn’t stay in Luoyang long. It was impossible to keep everything he’d claimed, so he was quite magnanimous. He gifted one to Mi Ce, who had entered Luoyang late and grabbed nothing. He’d also wanted to give one to Beigong Chun, but Beigong Chun refused and went directly to Zhao Hanzhang to request one.

Zhao Hanzhang visited Xun Xiu first. The soldier guarding the gate ran frantically into the courtyard, while another detained Zhao Hanzhang in conversation. “Governor, about the things we searched in Luoyang—our general said we could keep them ourselves, is that right?”

At that time, nothing much remained in Luoyang. What they’d searched out were small items. Zhao Hanzhang wouldn’t stoop to competing with soldiers over these mosquito legs, even though she was now very poor and didn’t even have mosquito legs.

Zhao Hanzhang nodded, but her gaze followed the soldier who’d run off. She saw him dash to the wall, step on it to leap up, prop himself with his hands, and jump to the other side.

The soldier detaining Zhao Hanzhang wanted to continue conversing, but Zhao Hanzhang had already retreated several steps, tilting her head back slightly to look at the gate next door. “Next door is General Mi’s residence?”

The soldier smiled stiffly. “Yes.”

Zhao Hanzhang nodded and lifted her foot toward next door. “Then I’ll visit General Mi first.”

“No! Governor, isn’t our general’s merit greater than General Mi’s? How can you see General Mi before seeing our general?”

The soldier hurriedly followed next door, wanting to stop Zhao Hanzhang but not daring to.

Zhao Hanzhang’s personal guards saw him boldly following and glared at him, advancing with drawn swords.

The soldier indeed didn’t dare follow further, only watching Zhao Hanzhang walk next door with longing eyes. “Our general’s injuries are very serious…”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “General Mi is older. I’ll see General Mi first, then come to visit General Xun.”

A strange smile appeared on her face. “Or perhaps I can see both generals at once.”

General Xun’s residence was difficult to enter, but General Mi’s residence was easy. The gate guards didn’t dare obstruct Zhao Hanzhang. While someone went inside to report, they invited Zhao Hanzhang in.

Zhao Hanzhang didn’t even go to the front hall, striding directly toward the main quarters.