Zhao Hanzhang’s emotions surged, barely suppressing her fury as she looked at Zheng Xiao. “And what about you?”
Zheng Xiao began shedding tears before speaking, kowtowing once before saying, “I am from Gaoyuan County in Le’an Jun. My family has lived in Gaoyuan for generations. Due to rampant bandits, years ago my family joined with two neighboring villages to build the Zheng Family Village fortress. For over a decade, as the commandery, state, and county seats attacked each other, we rescued any displaced common people nearby and allowed county residents to enter and seek refuge.”
“Therefore we’ve always maintained harmonious relations with the county magistrate, never having conflicts over this,” Zheng Xiao said. “A year ago, Young General Gou was appointed Governor of Qingzhou. Though he didn’t take up the post, he sent people to procure beautiful women as tribute to the Great General.”
“I have a daughter, sixteen years old, with some beauty. I don’t know who informed the official sent to procure beauties about this, but they came to my home wanting to buy her,” Zheng Xiao said. “I have four sons but only this one daughter, raised in the palm of my hand since childhood. Naturally I refused, so I declined.”
“I feared they would forcibly conscript her afterward, so as soon as they left I went to petition the county magistrate. I arranged a marriage contract between my daughter and the magistrate’s son Zhou Tong, agreeing to marry quickly,” Zheng Xiao said through tears. “Who knew that just before their wedding, the governor suddenly took up his post and began extensively procuring beauties throughout Qingzhou’s territory.”
“I was truly terrified, so I consulted with the county magistrate to move the wedding date forward and marry as soon as possible. But on the wedding day itself, the governor sent troops to surround Zheng Family Village fortress, claiming we were bandits. He also had the magistrate arrested, saying he colluded with bandits. My daughter had no choice but to remove her wedding garments and sell herself to the governor.”
“My daughter was sent to Yuncheng to serve the Great General, and the marriage to the magistrate’s family was broken off. I thought we could rest easy from then on, but after the governor visited once, somehow he became convinced our fortress held treasure, and from time to time sent soldiers over.”
“They don’t do much—just barge into villagers’ homes as guests, demanding food and drink, occasionally riding through and trampling crops,” Zheng Xiao said. “We could only pay money to buy peace. Each time they came, we sent money.”
“These days had no end. Even if our Zheng Family fortress had mountains of gold and silver, we couldn’t sustain this extortion. With no choice, I sent two of my sons along with Zhou Tong to Yuncheng to file a complaint. The petition was submitted, His Majesty personally told the Great General to restrain the governor and stop disturbing the people. The Great General also agreed, but before my two sons and Zhou Tong could return home, they encountered mountain bandits on Gaoyuan’s official road. All three, along with their five guards and three bailiffs—all dead.”
Zheng Xiao prostrated himself and wept bitterly. “The governor personally interrogated the county magistrate, saying he couldn’t manage Gaoyuan properly, stripped him of his office. Your Excellency, though Gaoyuan cannot be called peaceful, my Zheng family has some prestige in the county and can speak with some authority. Even if there were bandits in the county, they wouldn’t dare kill my sons, let alone when the magistrate’s son was among them.”
“After that, news came from Yuncheng that my daughter had committed an offense in the Great General’s mansion and was punished to become a slave, only allowed to wash clothes in the laundry bureau,” he said. “When the governor conscripted grain and provisions in Le’an Jun to resist Youzhou’s official army, Zheng Family Village fortress was conscripted as a military camp, and our family was also conscripted and followed the governor to Yuncheng.”
In truth, he had some hidden circumstances he didn’t mention. When Youzhou’s official army attacked, he had wanted to lead Zheng Family Village fortress in stabbing Gou Chun in the back. At that time, he and Magistrate Zhou had secretly sent messages to Wang Jun’s subordinate generals and even provided them with some provisions.
Both sides had even agreed to coordinate from inside and outside when attacking Gaoyuan. Who knew that before Wang Jun even attacked Gaoyuan, the three parties negotiated peace and divided territory to govern separately.
Without external aid, if Zheng Xiao raised troops he would be seeking death. He could only be forced to bring the entire clan to Yuncheng.
“Today’s visit is to beg the Great General’s mercy and let me see my daughter once…” Then find a way to support her rise. If she could regain favor, their whole family might fare better. If not, at least they could meet once and perhaps redeem her.
Zhao Hanzhang asked, “Then what are you seeking from me?”
Zheng Xiao gritted his teeth and kowtowed, saying, “I, I also wish to move my entire clan to Yuzhou. Though my family doesn’t have commercial routes, caravans, or horse-breeding like the Tan clan, we still have some savings. Most of our clan’s disciples are literate. We are willing to become the Governor’s household slaves, our lives and deaths entirely under the Governor’s control from now on.”
Zhao Hanzhang asked, “What about your daughter then?”
Zheng Xiao choked up, “I can no longer save her. If she resents me, when I descend to hell I’ll beg her forgiveness there.”
He couldn’t ignore the life and death of the entire clan just because of his daughter.
Zhao Hanzhang clenched her fists and nodded, “You may go first. I’ll have someone find you.”
Zheng Xiao and Tan Shen heard this with great joy, knowing Zhao Hanzhang had accepted them.
The two kowtowed repeatedly before rising and backing out with bowed waists.
After they left, Zhao Hanzhang angrily slammed her palm on the low table. The cups and dishes rolled off, but fortunately the mat cushioned them and nothing broke.
Ming Yu bent down to pick them up. “The Governor is already poor—how can you not cherish your things?”
He said, “You are a governor and also a general. You should especially keep your emotions from showing. Getting this angry, Gou Chun suffers no harm while you only hurt yourself. It’s really not worth it.”
Zhao Hanzhang’s expression was very unpleasant. “That the world has become like this today—all officials of upper rank cannot escape responsibility.”
Zhao Hanzhang just vented this angry statement before suppressing the fury in her chest and began thinking about methods to take people away. “We can’t all leave together. With the Heaven Worship Ceremony imminent and no one paying attention to them, we should have them quietly leave now. As long as they exit Yanzhou, Gou Xi and Gou Chun will have no recourse.”
Ming Yu also nodded. “General Gou Dao doesn’t even manage court affairs now, let alone such small matters. Gou Chun has always been arrogant and won’t notice these things either. So as long as we arrange things with people below and prevent anyone from reporting, they can leave.”
So how could they prevent anyone from reporting?
Zhao Hanzhang looked at Ming Yu.
Ming Yu nodded, “I still know several people. Though we now serve different masters, I still have some face. However, it will require money.”
Zhao Hanzhang immediately said, “I’ll find a way to get the money.”
Zhao Hanzhang’s method was to ask Zhao Zhongyu.
Zhao Zhongyu didn’t ask what she needed it for, telling Zhao Dian to raise money for her.
However, when Zhao Zhongyu first came to Yuncheng, he hadn’t brought much treasure. These two years’ income not only had to support himself and his son but also his staff, guards, servants and others. Calculating, there surprisingly wasn’t much money in the accounts.
When had Zhao Zhongyu ever worried about money?
He was born into wealth. When he grew a bit older, his brother had already shown talent for making money. Though his brother was stingy, he never shorted family members on food and clothing. He was also very concerned with face outside, and when money was needed, as long as it was for proper uses, Zhao Changyu would also give it.
His brother supported the household, so the money he himself earned could all be saved for private use. Thus Zhao Zhongyu had never worried about money.
Now when Zhao Dian told him there wasn’t that much money in the accounts, Zhao Zhongyu was stunned. “How can I have no money? Where did all that money go?”