If they truly allowed these refugees to continue wandering, the common people who would ultimately be affected would only grow more numerous, and the death toll would only increase.

This wave of effort wasn’t for population or power, but solely to give those wandering refugees a place to settle.

Upon hearing this, Fu Tinghan walked behind her, glanced at the account book, and said, “Then let’s take this sum from the wealth Gao Hui brought back.”

Zhao Hanzhang reluctantly drew a line in the account, her heart aching. “Fine, I’ll allocate a bit more from my side to buy more grain. Besides Zhang Gui, send some to Grandfather Fu as well, and have him gather as many refugees as possible.”

Once the money was spent, Ji Yuan, who knew she had private income, didn’t ask where this sum came from. He also pretended not to notice the pain on her face and directly dispatched people to buy more grain.

After all, if she didn’t contribute the money, the public accounts couldn’t squeeze out funds for her anyway.

Ji Yuan looked up and stole a glance at Zhao Hanzhang, feeling that although her face showed pain, she still had confidence. He deduced she must still have some money left, so he let out a long, drawn-out sigh.

The sound was prolonged and helpless, forcing Zhao Hanzhang to look up at him. “What’s wrong, sir?”

“My Lord may not know, but Luoyang is extremely short of cloth now,” Ji Yuan said. “This spring’s replanting focused mostly on millet and beans. Not much hemp and mulberry were planted, and moreover, this year’s hemp in Luoyang is poor—it’s been infested with insects, so there’s an extreme shortage of hemp cloth.”

“The refugees who’ve been gathered have grain from My Lord’s relief, and with some additional purchases on their own, they can get by. But hemp cloth is scarce. Right now in Luoyang city, one bolt of hemp cloth is selling for eighty wen.”

Zhao Hanzhang frowned slightly. “Hasn’t Zhao Kuan controlled this?”

Ji Yuan glanced at her and said, “Why should it be controlled? Cloth isn’t grain—lacking it won’t kill people.”

He said coldly, “If they can’t afford it, they simply won’t wear it.”

Zhao Hanzhang was startled, then realized, “That’s true. Now that summer has arrived, the weather isn’t cold. Even ragged clothes will do. Only wealthy people concerned with propriety would think about buying cloth to make garments.”

Zhao Hanzhang thought of something and looked at him hesitantly. “Ji Yuan, you don’t have a share in this cloth business, do you?”

Ji Yuan replied, “Yuan stands alone in this world. My life and property all belong to My Lord, so this cloth business isn’t mine—it’s yours.”

Zhao Hanzhang was deeply moved.

“But we can’t let cloth prices remain so high forever,” Ji Yuan said. “Among clothing, food, shelter, and transportation, clothing still comes before food, so I think it’s time to stabilize cloth prices.”

“Among cloths, hemp is most commonly used, so I’d like to purchase a batch of hemp cloth.” Ji Yuan’s expression was gentle as he said, “I’ve noticed that recently the hearts of Luoyang’s people have settled down. With the Dragon Boat Festival approaching, surely these cloth prices cannot remain so elevated.”

“Moreover, the academy, workshops, and government officials—shouldn’t My Lord reward the outstanding performers among them?”

When these words were summarized, their central meaning was—hurry up and produce money!

The gratitude in Zhao Hanzhang’s heart immediately diminished to just a shallow trace, but she still had to produce the money she should. The bit of “private savings” that Professor Fu had just earned back for her was instantly emptied out by Ji Yuan.

The Central Plains region was about to begin the summer harvest. Even the wheat and millet in Shu had begun to ripen and would be ready for harvest after drying for another ten days or so.

Therefore, grain prices, which had been rising since spring, began to decline slightly. Ji Yuan contacted several grain merchants in Yuzhou and reserved a batch of grain. He also sent people to Shu to purchase grain and cloth.

When the people of Luoyang city saw batch after batch of merchant caravans transporting large quantities of supplies into Luo, they couldn’t help but feel happy. Although they might not be able to afford these goods, seeing Luoyang regain its vitality still made them involuntarily joyful.

Especially this year, the rainfall in March and April had been adequate. Though there was some minor drought, it had little overall impact. Now the millet had flowered, and everyone privately counted the blossoms, feeling this year’s harvest would be acceptable.

As long as the fields produced a harvest, the people’s hearts wouldn’t panic.

They weren’t panicking, but Zhao Hanzhang was.

Because everyone’s days were difficult, this year she hadn’t planned to levy taxes. But she was supporting so many troops—she couldn’t keep supporting them with her own resources forever. The spoils of war in her possession had been spent down to next to nothing.

Just thinking about those spoils of war made her heart ache. Having no money made her somewhat anxious, so she left the city overnight to tour the military camp—specifically the fields outside it.

This spring, both Zhao’s Army and the Xiliang Army had planted quite a bit of millet and beans near their garrison locations. What they planted would belong to them when harvested.

Although these fields couldn’t yet support so many of them, at least they could greatly ease Zhao Hanzhang’s burden.

Before reaching the camp, she reined in her horse, dismounted, and walked to the field ridge to look at her millet.

Zeng Yue and the others quickly dismounted and followed.

Seeing Zhao Hanzhang walking inward along the field ridge, Ting He quickly snatched the torch from Zeng Yue’s hand and chased after her, stepping forward to illuminate the path for Zhao Hanzhang.

Zhao Hanzhang made a hushing sound and said quietly, “Look, it’s flowering.”

Ting He focused her gaze. In the millet field, yellow flowers stood tall among the green leaves, quietly blooming. Under the moonlight’s glow, more and more yellow blossoms opened, more and more. She looked into the distance and saw that under the night sky, as far as the eye could see, yellow flowers were blooming everywhere.

This was the first time Ting He had seen such a sight. For a moment, she was too amazed to speak.

Zhao Hanzhang also didn’t speak, just quietly watched. Then the restlessness and anxiety in her heart slowly dissipated.

A smile appeared on her face as she exhaled a long breath. Could the days ahead really be harder than before?

Wasn’t everything gradually improving?

“Who goes there? What are you doing here?”

Patrolling soldiers discovered them and stopped in the distance to question them, their hands already on their bows and arrows.

Zeng Yue quickly said, “This is the Governor!”

The patrolling soldiers didn’t rashly approach. Instead, they asked detailed questions and verified this month’s password before coming forward.

Zhao Hanzhang and Ting He also returned to the road.

Seeing it was truly Zhao Hanzhang, the soldiers quickly clasped their fists in salute. “Governor.”

Zhao Hanzhang smiled and nodded at them, then asked, “Young Master Fu is in the camp, isn’t he?”

“Yes. When he left the workshop, it was already dark. With Luoyang’s city gates closed, he stayed at the military camp.”

Zhao Hanzhang had left the city just before Luoyang’s gates closed. At that time, Fu Tinghan hadn’t yet returned to the city, so she figured he must have stayed at the outer military camp.

Zhao Hanzhang nodded and went with them to the military camp.

It was already night. The soldiers who had trained all day had just finished their meal. Except for those on patrol and night watch, everyone else had entered their tents to sleep soundly.

Fu Tinghan had a separate tent here. He occasionally stayed overnight here. While ordinary soldiers could sleep, he still couldn’t.

He was currently soaking his feet while holding official documents in one hand, reading.

Fu’an came running in. “Young Master, the Young Lady has arrived.”

Fu Tinghan looked at him strangely. “If she’s come, she’s come. Why are you panicking?”

Fu’an said, “…You’re still soaking your feet. Isn’t it improper to see the Young Lady like this?”

Fu Tinghan then lifted his foot. “Give me the cloth.”

Fu’an quickly brought the cloth to dry his feet. Fu Tinghan was still somewhat unaccustomed to this and took it to dry himself, telling him to pour out the foot-washing water.

He had just finished drying his feet and hadn’t yet put on his socks when Zhao Hanzhang arrived. She stood outside the tent and politely asked, “May I come in?”

Fu Tinghan put on his socks and, still wearing wooden clogs, smiled and said, “Come in.”

Zhao Hanzhang lifted the curtain and entered.

“Why did you leave the city tonight?”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “I’m out of money, so I came out to clear my head.”

She smiled and said, “I just saw the millet flowering. Do you want to go see? It’s quite beautiful.”

—