But Gou Xi took it as confirmation, snorting coldly. “Governor Zhao is quite generous. The whole realm knows that the Zhao Family Army’s weapons are the finest of all armies. I’ve asked to purchase weapons from you several times, and you never agreed. Yet Zu Ti bought them immediately. He must be the first outsider to buy weapons from you, right?”

Sorry to disappoint you, but Zu Ti isn’t an outsider. How could she possibly sell weapons that Fu Tinghan and many craftsmen researched together to outsiders?

Actually, it wasn’t impossible, but this outsider definitely couldn’t be Gou Xi.

Currently, even three-year-olds in Yuzhou and Yanzhou knew that she and Gou Xi would eventually have a battle. Selling weapons to him—wouldn’t that be killing herself in the future?

Why would she be that foolish?

Her thoughts raced as Zhao Hanzhang smiled at Gou Xi. “That’s because he offered enough money and didn’t buy much, so I sold them.”

“The Grand General also knows that my Zhao Family Army’s weapons are incomparably sharp. The iron ore used must be of the highest quality and must be refined—the cost is enormous. Even in my Zhao Family Army, not many can afford to use weapons forged by our weapons workshop. So Grand General, if you want to buy them, the price you offered before won’t do.”

Zhao Hanzhang decided to quote an exorbitant price shortly and scare him off directly.

She had already prepared the price in her mind, but Gou Xi didn’t ask about the cost at all, leaving her preparation wasted.

Though they discussed many other important matters afterward, testing and negotiating with each other, she kept thinking about this pricing issue the whole time.

Even after taking her leave from the Grand General’s Mansion, Gou Xi still hadn’t brought up the weapons trade again, and Zhao Hanzhang couldn’t let it go.

Returning to Zhao Residence, she couldn’t help complaining to Ming Yu. “Why didn’t he bring it up again?”

Ming Yu poured her a cup of tea to help her sober up. “Isn’t it good that he didn’t? You didn’t want to sell to him anyway.”

“I only said the price was somewhat high. Does the Grand General seem like someone who would retreat in the face of difficulty? He’s not bringing it up now, but he’ll send someone to bring it up later,” Zhao Hanzhang sighed. “I just wanted to finish today’s business today and make him give up the idea right to his face. With this matter unresolved today, I feel uncomfortable.”

Ming Yu smiled. “Don’t worry, Governor. Even if Gou Dajiang wants to buy Zhao Family Army weapons, he won’t be able to bring it up for a while. After you leave Yuncheng, if they bring it up again, that will be for them to discuss with Master Ji. You needn’t worry about it.”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “The Grand General carries great authority. I thought if he wanted to buy weapons, it would be a matter of one sentence, with his subordinates handling the rest.”

Ming Yu shook his head. “That might have been possible before, because he had money. Buying anything was just a matter of his word, with his officials and advisors handling the negotiations. But he has no money now.”

Ming Yu continued, “Yesterday I met with several friends. His spending over the past six months has been enormous. The palace has already begun limiting his expenditures. He can obtain very little money from the palace now. His previous savings have been spent, and there are even signs of misappropriating soldiers’ pay and provisions. At this time, if he wants to buy weapons from you, where will the money come from?”

“After they figure out where to get the money, they’ll also need to decide how to distribute the purchased weapons. Back and forth, plus the resistance from Master Ji’s side—it will be very difficult for him to succeed.”

Zhao Hanzhang sighed. “Truly, even a hero can be stumped by a single coin. The Grand General was such a heroic figure before, yet now he’s constrained hand and foot because of money.”

Was this the same thing?

Ming Yu was about to use Gou Xi as a warning to her when he heard her say, “So Master Ming, we must earn more money and save! Only with sufficient savings will we not have to deliberate so much when we want to accomplish things in the future.”

Ming Yu swallowed his words and nodded. “What you say is correct, Governor, but I’m not very skilled at increasing revenue. That can be left to Master Ji. However, I do have quite a few ideas about reducing expenses.”

Zhao Hanzhang sat up straight and leaned forward attentively. “Please speak.”

“Your spending these past two days has been rather large. I’ve observed that it’s for hosting banquets—there are some high officials in the court you need to cultivate relationships with and maintain connections. But hosting banquets isn’t about spending more being better,” Ming Yu said. “You’re frugal enough with yourself, but too generous with outsiders.”

Zhao Hanzhang asked humbly, “For example, if I wanted to host Xiahou Jun and Cao Fu, how should I invite them?”

Ming Yu replied, “Simple. You love drinking tea, and I recall you have some tea from the estates in Shangcai.”

Zhao Hanzhang nodded. “That’s wild tea picked from the mountains. The estate holders in Shangcai knew I loved drinking tea, so they transplanted some. Every year Chengbo has people roast it and send it to me. Ting He keeps it all for me.”

Drinking plain boiled water left her mouth feeling tasteless. Wine was good, but drinking impaired work. Moreover, wine was brewed from grain, and she had issued orders for three consecutive years tightening the issuance of brewing licenses in Yuzhou, stipulating the annual amount of grain that could be used for brewing.

She had to lead by example, so she avoided drinking when possible.

The Zhao clan already had one alcoholic; as the leader, she couldn’t also love wine.

Plus, she often needed to work overtime and stay up late. Tea could refresh the mind, so she frequently drank it.

Through Zhao Hu’s tireless efforts, Yuzhou now had not only salt-boiled tea, clear tea, milk tea, but also matcha.

Zhao Hanzhang could swear that she and Fu Tinghan really hadn’t mentioned any tea-drinking methods besides clear tea, yet it was just this miraculous—after seeing the clear tea they brewed, Zhao Hu seemed to have suddenly opened his governing and conception vessels. Whenever they met after a period of time, he had figured out a new way to consume tea.

In his words, “Though wine is delicious, when drinking wine you can only work on the accompanying dishes—you can’t change the form. But tea is different. Tea leaves can be dried, roasted, compressed; they can be boiled or steeped, and even ground into powder.”

“Since you can add salt, can’t you also add vinegar, scallions, garlic?”

Zhao Hu had gone down the path of exploring eighteen ways to consume tea and never looked back. Zhao Hanzhang benefited greatly from this. Her estates planted tea on mountain land and dry land unsuitable for crops. Selling to merchants like Zhao Hu could earn money, and she never lacked tea to drink.

Zhao Hanzhang said, “It’s all quite ordinary tea.”

“As long as it’s what you drink, it’s not ordinary tea.” Ming Yu said, “You can take a small jar of tea leaves, then have the kitchen prepare some pastries—nothing too complicated, osmanthus cakes and the like will do.”

“As for tea sets, Magistrate Zhao here should have quite a few of the glazed tea sets you gave him, right?” He continued, “Choose the most ornate set. When the time comes, have someone gather a few peach blossom branches from the wild to arrange in a vase. You can discuss business while drinking tea and eating pastries.”

“Don’t worry, Governor. After they leave, they’ll only praise you, and will genuinely think you hosted them well. If you spend large amounts inviting people to wine houses for banquets, they’ll just consider it ordinary, and may even think you don’t value them much or that your hospitality was inadequate.”

Zhao Hanzhang’s eyes widened. “I ordered so many delicious things for them…”

—