Only Zhao Hanzhang’s personally commanded Zhao Family Army, Zhao Erlang’s Nanyang Kingdom army, and Beigong Chun’s Xiliang Army remained in Luoyang.
Zhao Hanzhang saw that Zhao Erlang was having fun here, so she simply had Wang Xie, who remained in Nanyang Kingdom, temporarily assume the magistrate’s duties, then had Zhao Erlang begin selecting his elite troops.
“First select a thousand men. Train these thousand daily. The rest will garrison New An.”
Zhao Erlang asked, “Where is New An?”
“New An is not far from Luoyang. It’s a small county town. I’ve inquired—there’s no county magistrate there. I’ll send a magistrate there. You’ll garrison troops in New An and can mutually support Gucheng and Luoyang.” Zhao Hanzhang beckoned him to look at the map. “Chen Wu’s Qihuo Army is here. Beigong Chun defends Luoyang. If the Xiongnu want to move south, they must pass through Gucheng. If the Xianbei and Nanyang Prince from Chang’an come, they must pass through New An County. You two are Beigong Chun’s vanguard.”
“And Luoyang is the gateway to the Central Plains. If the Xianbei and Xiongnu move south and bypass Luoyang, their supply lines will stretch long. With provisions already scarce, there’s a strong possibility we could cut off their rear from Luoyang and trap them—shutting the door to beat the dog.” The more Zhao Hanzhang spoke, the more she felt having Beigong Chun defend Luoyang was best.
Her eyes sparkled. “Last year Liu Yuan bypassed Luoyang to attack Yuzhou. If Beigong Chun had been defending Luoyang, Liu Yuan would either have been trapped and died in Yuzhou, or he could only have fled east to Yanzhou, then through Jizhou to return.”
Unfortunately, the Prince of Donghai defended the city. He just sat there waiting for Liu Yuan to face Gou Xi, wasting such a good opportunity to expel the Xiongnu.
Zhao Hanzhang sighed with regret, then returned to the topic. “After going to New An, you must not only train troops but also learn to garrison them. Scholar Xie will still accompany you. Ask your teacher when you don’t understand, alright?”
Zhao Erlang nodded. “Sister, I know how to garrison troops. It’s just farming. When I was in Western Ping, I also garrison-farmed with them. I can plant wheat and harvest wheat.”
Zhao Hanzhang looked at him approvingly. “This time, garrison farming isn’t just about planting—you must also repair roads.”
Thinking of the condition of the official road from Gucheng back to Luoyang this time, Zhao Hanzhang’s face filled with disgust. “Pitted and potholed, dust everywhere. Fortunately, besides horses, we only had ox carts. Otherwise, if carts went any faster, they’d overturn.”
Never mind other things first—fix the roads first.
She said, “The official road from New An to Luoyang will be entrusted to your Nanyang Kingdom soldiers to repair.”
Zhao Erlang, unaware of the sinister plan, agreed immediately.
By the time Scholar Xie learned of it, it was too late. He looked at Zhao Erlang wordlessly. “Erlang didn’t ask the governor for anything?”
“Ask for what?”
“Money!” Scholar Xie said, “Doesn’t road repair require money?”
Zhao Erlang said straightforwardly, “My sister has no money. Today at dinner, Ting He even started mixing wheat bran into the flatbread. The baked bread doesn’t taste very good.”
“…” Scholar Xie was exhausted. “Road repair requires money!”
Zhao Erlang waved dismissively. “I have money. Use mine.”
He turned to Zhao Cai. “Go fetch my money box.”
Zhao Cai glanced at Scholar Xie, turned to retrieve it, but didn’t hand it to Scholar Xie. Instead, he held it in his arms and opened it for Scholar Xie to see.
Scholar Xie saw the gold and silver ingots mixed with some silver bars and copper coins inside, knowing this was pocket money he’d saved himself.
Scholar Xie waved his hand, having Zhao Cai put it away. He asked, “Erlang, what about all your war spoils?”
Not mentioning houses and shops—he’d also seized, ah, that is, collected many pearls, gems, gold and silver vessels, and similar items.
Zhao Erlang said, “I gave them all to sister.”
Scholar Xie: “…Fine, I’ll go ask for money.”
Zhao Hanzhang finally sat at her desk, holding an abacus and calculating against the account books.
Fu Tinghan, who was reviewing official documents at the side, heard the clicking of the abacus beads growing quieter and more sporadic. He raised his head to glance at her. “Is the deficit very large?”
Zhao Hanzhang looked at the account book and sighed. “Mainly too many people to support. I don’t know if it’s fortunate or unfortunate—if Fan Ying and the others had brought back two hundred thousand people, I probably couldn’t support them either.”
One hundred thousand people was precisely her limit, and even then she had to be very frugal to maintain it.
Fu Tinghan flipped through some papers and handed them over. “Sent from Chen County. Looking at these might cheer you up a bit.”
Zhao Hanzhang reached out to receive them. They contained military equipment lists sent by Zhao Ming. Yuzhou’s prefectures were operating normally. Both iron mines were producing, at least able to supply military equipment.
“Have the damaged, unusable weapons in the army replaced and given to blacksmiths to melt down into farm tools.” Zhao Hanzhang carefully folded these papers and pasted them into the relevant page of the account ledger, then supported her chin and sighed.
Fu Tinghan looked up at her during a break. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m thinking about money.” She said, “Just now while calculating accounts, I was simultaneously thinking about where to get money. Then I discovered only three places could provide it.”
Fu Tinghan raised an eyebrow.
Zhao Hanzhang said, “First is the Two Rivers region. It’s remained relatively stable and is a land of fish and rice. Last time we bought quite a lot of grain from there. Second is the Jiangnan area. It’s isolated in peace. I’ve coveted their grain and cloth for a long time.”
Fu Tinghan saw her pause and obligingly asked, “What about the third place?”
Zhao Hanzhang moved her eyebrows toward the north. “The Xiongnu and Xianbei. These years, how many good things have Liu Yuan and the others plundered from the Central Plains! If we could buy those things back and resell them to the south, imagine how much grain and cloth we could exchange them for.”
Glass was very profitable, so these past two years Fu Tinghan had mass-produced glass specifically to support Zhao Hanzhang’s army expenses.
It could be said that among Zhao Hanzhang’s enterprises, the glass workshop was the most profitable. Whether merchants, aristocrats, or even common people, they seemed unable to resist the temptation of transparent, exquisite glass products.
Zhao Hanzhang said, “I think the Xiongnu and Xianbei people would also find it hard to resist glass’s allure.”
Fu Tinghan: “Besides money, what you need most should be horses.”
“Exactly!” Zhao Hanzhang lightly slapped the desk. “Horses! Unfortunately, the Xiongnu and Xianbei are very wary of us, almost never selling breeding stallions to Han people.”
Each time they bought horses, what returned were either already gelded or overpriced inferior breeding stock purchased at great expense.
Zhao Hanzhang feared breeding a herd of inferior horses.
Every time she urged the horse farm to produce horses, Horse Manager Wei asked her for breeding stock, worrying her to death.
Fu Tinghan: “Didn’t you have Wulang follow the Bingzhou envoys to Jinyang?”
Zhao Hanzhang said, “Relying on him alone isn’t enough. I want to cultivate a smuggling ring that undermines me.”
Fu Tinghan paused before grasping her meaning. “You mean you want people who, from the opponent’s perspective, haven’t been discovered by you but are actually undermining you, taking your benefits to cooperate with the other side?”
Zhao Hanzhang nodded.
Fu Tinghan’s spine stiffened as their gazes met. “Who?”
Zhao Hanzhang just looked at him.
Fu Tinghan: “…Why me?”
“You don’t need to appear personally. Just let us borrow your name occasionally, make an appearance now and then. Naturally, subordinates will handle these matters.”
Fu Tinghan: “For example?”
“For example, Fu An.” Was there anyone better than Fu An to represent Fu Tinghan’s identity?