Huang An had brought the military families back. Zuo Du’s family was among them. Behind him were also dozens of veterans from Xiliang, with their families among them as well. Upon meeting, both sides couldn’t help but embrace and weep.

Huang An was delighted beyond measure. When Zuo Du wiped away his tears, he slapped his shoulder with his big palm. “I was planning to surprise you all. How did you know we were coming back?”

After receiving all the military families willing to come with him to Luoyang, Huang An’s heart yearned for home. This time he’d not only brought back Xiliang Army’s families, but also Zhang Gui’s written commitment to mutual support with Zhao Hanzhang.

This was a formal alliance document, not just casual talk. Its significance was enormous.

With this document, Zhao Hanzhang could do much more—for instance, she needed to establish unimpeded communication and trade routes between the two territories with Zhang Gui.

Upon returning to Luoyang, Huang An took the families to Xiliang Army’s camp, while Zhao Xin took the document to see Zhao Hanzhang.

Zhao Hanzhang held this document, her eyes seeming to bloom with light like the sun.

She turned to ask Ji Yuan, “Has the grain we purchased returned?”

Ji Yuan looked up at her. “It arrived this morning. The cloth has also returned.”

After all, these were supplies to prepare for the Dragon Boat Festival. With only one more day until the festival, the merchant caravans hadn’t dared delay.

“Good!” Zhao Hanzhang said, “After the Dragon Boat Festival, have Erlang accompany the merchant caravan on a trip and have Yumen Pass kept open for regular passage between our two territories.”

Zhao Xin asked, “Erlang? Won’t he be unsuitable?”

He said, “It’s just a merchant caravan. Erlang currently holds the position of Nanyang Prefecture Governor. Even if he doesn’t mind, what the caravan needs is someone with a nimble mind. Erlang isn’t suitable, is he?”

Zhao Hanzhang and Ji Yuan both looked at him. Zhao Hanzhang said, “Who said I wanted Erlang to manage the caravan?”

“I’m just having him take Zhao’s Army for a stroll outside Chang’an while escorting the caravan.”

Zhao Xin felt embarrassed, realizing his thinking was too shallow.

Ji Yuan asked, “How many troops does the Young Lady plan to give him?”

“Transfer three thousand from Xin’an, and I’ll assign two thousand from my personal guards.”

Zhao Xin realized his thinking wasn’t just shallow—his courage was too small as well.

Five thousand of Zhao’s Army—and elite troops from Zhao Hanzhang’s and Zhao Erlang’s personal forces at that—could probably take Chang’an itself, couldn’t they?

Taking Chang’an was impossible, but they could conveniently occupy cities all the way to Yongzhou while securing the trade route.

Zhao Hanzhang walked to the map and tapped a small section. “This road isn’t easy to travel, is it?”

Having just traveled it, Zhao Xin nodded with deep feeling. “Refugees and bandits everywhere. Never mind ordinary caravans—even larger ones find it difficult. We only managed because we had Xiliang Army protection, with elite troops going both ways, so they didn’t dare provoke us.”

Zhao Xin sighed. “Even thousand-member clans traveling together on this road risk being scattered by refugees and bandits, with the entire clan potentially destroyed.”

His voice was low. “I heard that when Luoyang fell, some Luoyang gentry fled west. An entire clan of over a thousand people—in the end, only about a hundred made it alive to Chang’an.”

“The rest either scattered and became refugees, or died.” It was precisely seeing such a tragic situation that Zhao Xin’s heart turned cold, feeling he’d glimpsed the Zhao clan’s future.

The Zhao clan was larger than that gentry family, but by how much? If they couldn’t hold Yuzhou, one day the Zhao clan would also have to flee, and might scatter along the way.

Zhao Hanzhang showed no sorrow. Looking at this section of road, she pondered, then said after a long while, “Occupy it all!”

Ji Yuan said, “But we no longer have sufficient funds and grain. Moreover, so many cities would require quite a few troops to garrison, and we’re also short on manpower.”

Never mind that there were currently four large armies stationed around Luoyang—actually, there weren’t many. This vast territory, at its most prosperous, had nearly a million people. But now, counting all soldiers, officials, and civilians, there were only one hundred thirty to forty thousand.

Of those, soldiers numbered only about thirty thousand. If they dispersed further, once external enemies invaded, troops from Yongzhou wouldn’t be able to reinforce quickly.

So Ji Yuan didn’t recommend further dispersing their forces.

“Then we won’t follow the previous policy of gathering refugees and recruiting soldiers,” Zhao Hanzhang said with hardened resolve. “Establish military posts along the route with garrisoned troops to drive away refugees and bandits.”

Supporting soldiers cost differently than supporting refugees. The expense of maintaining one soldier could provide relief for ten refugees.

So this time she wouldn’t recruit soldiers or occupy entire cities with garrisons. Instead, she’d directly establish military posts, with each station garrisoned by two to five squads of varying sizes. The posts would support each other—if one point had trouble, neighboring posts could assist.

This would cost much less.

Ji Yuan considered it and felt this method was worth trying. However, “Where will you drive them to?”

Zhao Hanzhang lowered her eyes. “Those willing to migrate to Luoyang, we’ll receive them here. For those unwilling, they can either settle where they are, or go to Chang’an or Shu.”

“A military post with only five squads means just fifty men. These posts won’t be easy to establish,” Ji Yuan said. “They dared attack thousand-member gentry clans. Once they target the posts, even with our soldiers’ training, they won’t be their match.”

Zhao Hanzhang lowered her eyes, her voice flat. “We’ve recruited quite a few new soldiers recently. General Beigong keeps saying that training soldiers can’t rely solely on drills—they need to see blood. If so, let them use this road for training.”

Zhao Xin’s heart turned cold. Using the bandits on this road for training would mean many deaths, wouldn’t it?

Previously, Zhao Hanzhang would choose to capture bandits and incorporate them into the army, rarely killing them.

Zhao Xin wanted to speak but hesitated.

Zhao Hanzhang looked at him with piercing eyes. “Cousin, do you have a better method?”

Zhao Xin asked, “Didn’t the Governor previously absorb them into the army? Why choose to eliminate them this time?”

Zhao Hanzhang sighed. “Supporting soldiers requires funds and grain. I’m currently short on money, so I can only eliminate rather than recruit. However, Cousin, if you have a way to generate revenue, I might be able to establish two more armies.”

Meaning, with money, she’d choose recruitment rather than elimination.

Zhao Xin lowered his eyes without speaking. After a long while, he bowed and withdrew.

Ji Yuan watched in amazement. “Does the Governor think he has a solution?”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “Let’s give it a try. Trying costs nothing anyway.”

In any case, she’d eliminate first. “Summon Xie Shi. This time he’ll go out with Erlang. First eliminate the most heinous bandits along the route—those with many lives on their hands and heavy killing auras. As for the rest, leave them for gradual training.”

Time was long. It remained to be seen whether Zhao Xin could find revenue sources for the army. In any case, she and Professor Fu were temporarily out of options.

They’d done everything they could and were constantly earning money, but they always spent more than they earned.

Ji Yuan savored this, then said, “Put that way, this Xin seems even more compassionate than Kuan.”

“From where did you see Zhao Kuan had any compassion?” Zhao Hanzhang was about to respond when she heard faint wailing from the main street.

Zhao Hanzhang grew annoyed. “I knew he wasn’t compassionate at all. Why are they crying at my door again? Didn’t I tell them to find Zhao Kuan?”

Ji Yuan said expressionlessly, “Clearly, Zhao Kuan kicked them back here. The Governor is right—he has no compassion at all.”

He was really too inconsiderate of Zhao Hanzhang.

—