Everyone was waiting, waiting to see if Zhao Hanzhang and Gou Xi would turn against each other and enter the next cycle they were all too familiar with.
Even the Emperor was anxiously waiting.
Of course, some people were unwilling to leave things to fate. So some went to Yuncheng to persuade Gou Xi, while others went to Luoyang to find Zhao Hanzhang.
Zhao Hanzhang hadn’t returned to Luoyang yet. Some chose to wait for her in Luoyang, while others were too anxious and turned around to continue north, wanting to find her near Pingyang City.
Having just left the Luoyang area, they saw banners fluttering ahead. Looking closely, they saw a large character “Zhao” on them.
The person sitting in an ox cart brightened immediately and had his servants drive the cart forward to meet them.
Zhao Hanzhang had just received a batch of official documents. She was sitting in a carriage, swaying left and right while reviewing the documents.
Fu Tinghan sat beside her, lost in thought, his fingers moving slightly, no one knew what he was thinking about.
The wheel clanged as it slipped into a rut. Zhao Hanzhang used her bottom to steady herself, but Fu Tinghan was unprepared and suddenly pitched forward. Zhao Hanzhang reached out and pressed his shoulder, pushing him back into his seat.
Zhao Hanzhang frowned and swiftly pulled back the curtain, about to scold the driver when she saw the road outside was full of potholes, one pit after another. For more than ten meters, there wasn’t a single level spot.
The guards riding horses alongside also slowed their horses’ pace, letting the horses walk carefully through.
She swallowed her words of scolding the driver and instead said to the guards on either side, “Stop the rear column. Have people dig some earth from nearby and fill in all these pits!”
She said, “How did the scouts survey the road? These pits are so obvious—what would we do if we were marching urgently?”
The guards immediately obeyed and went to educate the scouts.
Only then did Zhao Hanzhang pull the curtain down with a swish, furrowing her brow. “The roads are too difficult to travel. Must we build cement roads?”
Fu Tinghan shook his head. “Inside the cities, perhaps, but now that hydraulic presses have made progress and we can use water power to make cement, it can barely supply the cities. Using cement to build official roads is impossible. I still suggest using earth, tamping it, then adding cooked earth and firing. It’s actually not inferior to cement roads.”
“For cities, cement is most labor-saving. If you want something attractive, durable, and long-lasting, use stone and brick,” Fu Tinghan was now Minister of Works. Road construction was one of his important responsibilities, so naturally he had thought about this. He said, “Actually, considering long-term maintenance and service life, bluestone slabs are best. Cement roads have quite a high damage rate.”
“However, using cement to build roads is much more efficient. Right now we don’t have enough manpower, and labor is precious. We can temporarily use cement. When national strength rises in the future, we can consider changing them when they’re damaged.”
Zhao Hanzhang nodded. “Can you make cement now?”
Fu Tinghan smiled. “This isn’t difficult. The formula for cement isn’t a secret. It’s just that we didn’t have enough power before. The cost was too high, not worth it. Now with water power, crushing limestone and iron ore isn’t difficult.”
Moreover, they had iron mines.
Iron ore and waste slag with low usage rates were most suitable for making cement.
“We still need to find limestone mines.” Before leaving Luoyang, he had sent people out to search, but there was no news yet.
Once they found limestone mines and calculated the distance from the iron mines, they could choose the most suitable location between them and the Luo River to build a cement workshop and use water power to manufacture cement.
Zhao Hanzhang asked, “Are there limestone mines in Luoyang?”
Fu Tinghan said with certainty, “There must be. We just can’t find them temporarily.”
Unfortunately, he hadn’t paid much attention to this before, so for the moment he didn’t know where to look.
The carriage suddenly stopped. Zhao Hanzhang also swayed with it. She was no longer angry now. Calmly and composedly, she lifted the curtain and asked placidly, “What’s wrong now?”
The guards were about to ride forward to ask when a soldier had already run over to report, “Commander, there’s an ox cart blocking the road ahead and refusing to move. The owner is sitting on the ground and insists on seeing the Inspector.”
Zhao Hanzhang listened, then bent down to exit the carriage. Standing on the shaft, she looked ahead and saw a scholar sitting on the ground not far away.
He saw Zhao Hanzhang standing on the shaft at a glance. His mouth trembled, and he immediately burst into loud crying. Tears gushed from his eyes. “Master Zhao—”
Zhao Hanzhang’s eyes widened.
Though he was crying with tears streaming down his face, his words were very clear. His voice was loud, and even across a hundred people, Zhao Hanzhang could clearly hear what he was crying about. “You cherish yourself, your virtue and talent are like pines, you are a pillar of Jin. Even when gravely ill, you devoted yourself wholeheartedly to planning for the court. Now your granddaughter wants to divide the national territory and do what only treacherous ministers would do—”
Zhao Hanzhang: …
Fu Tinghan emerged from behind her, frowning as he looked and asked, “Who is he?”
Zhao Hanzhang said glumly, “I don’t know.”
Her guards bristled with anger, their hands on their sword hilts. “Inspector, let me go cut him down.”
Zhao Hanzhang glared at him. “Cut what? He just scolded me. This is all a misunderstanding. Once we explain it clearly, it’ll be fine. He hasn’t violated any laws.”
She jumped down from the carriage and went to help him up herself.
Walking up to him, the other party opened his eyes and looked at her for a while, then continued crying. He had already finished crying about Zhao Changyu and now started on her great-grandfather.
Zhao Hanzhang sighed, lifted her robe, and sat cross-legged opposite him, propping her cheek as she watched him. “Sir, please stop crying. I’ve taken everything you said to heart. This is all a misunderstanding.”
The scholar, seeing her unusual reaction—she neither cut him down nor politely helped him up and consoled him—gradually stopped crying. He pulled up his sleeve to wipe away his tears and stared at her, asking, “Inspector Zhao says this is a misunderstanding. Then how do you explain the Qing Province matter?”
Zhao Hanzhang said, “I’m hurrying back from Pingyang precisely to explain. I sent envoys to Ji Province to stop Governor Wang and Inspector Liu from continuing to attack each other. I had no idea why they would suddenly join forces to attack Qing Province.”
The scholar saw that Zhao Hanzhang looked very sincere, with some anger on her face, as if she were truly innocent. But scholars didn’t dare simply believe her.
These officials all had dirty hearts and were good at acting. Who knew if it was true or false?
The scholar stared at her with wide eyes. “Will Inspector Zhao send troops to Yan Province?”
Zhao Hanzhang said decisively, “No!”
“Will Inspector Zhao welcome His Majesty back to Luoyang?”
Zhao Hanzhang said, “As long as His Majesty is willing, and General Gou is also willing to escort His Majesty back!”
The scholar felt she was telling the truth. His tense nerves relaxed slightly, but he still questioned, “How does Inspector Zhao plan to resolve the Qing Province crisis?”
Zhao Hanzhang said, “I want to request His Majesty issue an edict to inquire of Governor Wang and Inspector Liu. We’re all Jin ministers. If there are conflicts, we can sit down and talk first. If we can’t reach an agreement, there’s still His Majesty and the court. We can request His Majesty’s judgment, can’t we?”
How rare—a powerful minister actually saying she’d request His Majesty’s judgment. The scholar examined her carefully, uncertain if she was sincere or pretending, but still nodded. “Indeed, we should request His Majesty’s judgment.”
Zhao Hanzhang saw his attitude soften and finally stood up, extending her hand to help him up from the ground. She even thoughtfully helped pat the dust off his clothes, smiling as she said, “We can discuss the specifics later. I still don’t know how to address you, sir.”
The scholar then said, “I am Chu Kang from Jiangxia.”
“So you’re from Jing Province,” Zhao Hanzhang’s eyes lit up as she grasped his hand warmly. “Sir, please come inside—oh, I’m still on the march. How about we share a carriage? Please don’t mind that my carriage is simple.”
The Chu clan of Jiangxia Commandery was a great family in Jing Province. If she remembered correctly, they had copper mines.
—