Ten days of grain for ten people was equivalent to Old Li giving out one day’s grain for one hundred people all at once. This was truly a tremendous burden for him.

He lowered his eyes. Asking for the sky and bargaining on the ground—the first two items could be negotiated, so naturally this third item could be as well.

But Zhao Hanzhang’s expression wasn’t very good at the moment. Old Li truly didn’t want to have a falling out with her. There was still a long stretch of road from here to Yuzhou.

Looking at this group of refugees, there were at least thirty thousand people. No one knew what they would encounter on the rest of the journey.

In one group, everyone saw each other constantly. Old Li didn’t want to deepen the enmity between the two sides.

So he gritted his teeth and said, “Miss Zhao, you should know that our Li family is far inferior to the Wu family among the village elders of Guangzong County and cannot make decisions for everyone. So what I give you comes from the Li family’s own resources. Your demands are truly too high.”

If this were an ordinary young lady, seeing Old Li in such difficulty, she would certainly believe him. But Zhao Hanzhang was a fox and naturally knew how much water there was in Old Li’s words.

She looked at him with a half-smile and said, “The Wu family produced the domineering Wu Yongfu. Under such circumstances, the Li family can still occupy a position among the refugees coming out of Guangzong County. If Wu Yongfu didn’t exist, wouldn’t the Li family be the undisputed leader?”

What did this mean?

It meant that the Li family was already first in power and prestige in their group. And power and prestige were always tied to interests.

Under Zhao Hanzhang’s all-seeing gaze, the number on the tip of Old Li’s tongue couldn’t help but increase a bit. He gritted his teeth and said, “I can give you six people’s grain for ten days.”

Zhao Hanzhang stared at him for a while before asking, “During your migration, how much dry food does one adult get per day?”

Old Li said, “Two dry cakes, or two liang of flour, or three liang of millet.”

Zhao Hanzhang pondered for a moment before saying, “I want it divided into three portions—one portion of dry cakes, one portion of flour, one portion of millet. I also need a pot.”

Old Li immediately became suspicious, not understanding why she would need a separate pot when traveling with the Gu family. But when Zhao Hanzhang’s cold gaze swept over, Old Li immediately collected his thoughts. After contemplating for a moment, he agreed.

They could still squeeze out one pot.

Zhao Hanzhang said to Shi Hongtu and the other two, “You three go with Old Li to collect the items.”

Shi Hongtu and the others stood up, facing Old Li with faces full of bruises.

Old Li also stood up and bowed slightly to Zhao Hanzhang.

Zhao Hanzhang merely leaned forward slightly while seated.

After handing over everything Zhao Hanzhang had requested to Shi Hongtu and the others and watching them leave, only then did Li Sanlang finally express the anger on his face. “Father, she was too rude. You are an elder, yet she sat there and accepted your courtesy.”

Old Li waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about these minor details. When traveling, one should be patient when possible. That Zhao Hezhen clearly has a ruthless heart. I was already worried when they were just a few people, and now she’s allied with the Gu family. Who knows, she might gather many people just like Wu Yongfu. For people like that, we’d rather suffer some losses than offend them.”

During the migration, the refugees lacked everything except people.

Those with grain and money could rally supporters with a shout. Those without grain or money could still gather followers if they had sufficient means. In this chaotic world, law and morality were completely absent. As long as one had people and military force, there would be grain, money, and land…

Old Li believed that Zhao Hezhen belonged to that type who had sufficient means to gather followers, so he didn’t want to offend her.

But he didn’t know that Zhao Hanzhang had no intention of staying here long.

As soon as she received the grain, she immediately divided it into several portions and had Fu’an start hanging the pot to cook some flour paste for Shi Lei to eat, while she herself took a dry cake to chew on.

Everyone was starving, so they sat facing each other eating.

Zhao Hanzhang said, “We’ll leave first thing tomorrow morning. Without horses and carrying a wounded person, it will probably take us a full day to get back to Wu’an County.”

Shi Hongtu didn’t quite understand. “Miss, we only need one day’s time. Why do we need so much grain?”

Clearly three days’ worth of rations would be enough.

Zhao Hanzhang said, “This is prepared for unexpected situations.”

Her gaze fell on the unconscious Shi Lei. Although she had at one point wanted to abandon him and strangle him before doing so, thinking about the Shi army currently in Shunyang Commandery and the Shi forces scattered in various battle locations—adding up to at least one hundred thousand men in total.

To subdue these troops, she would need to deploy at least an equivalent military force, not to mention the grain and supplies needed for the campaign.

So she could only suppress her malice and do her best to preserve his life.

As long as Shi Lei remained alive in her hands and became her subordinate general, not only would those hundred thousand-plus men currently opposing them be hers, but also the territories they occupied would belong to her.

This wasn’t a matter of one plus one equaling two, but far greater than that.

Zhao Hanzhang supported herself on Fu Tinghan’s hand and rose with difficulty, walked to Shi Lei’s side and sat down, felt his forehead, and sighed. “I stabbed too viciously with that blade. Do you have any other medicine?”

Fu Tinghan frowned and shook his head.

Then they could only make him drink Chinese medicine.

The physician was difficult to summon. It wasn’t until the middle of the night that the Li family brought a physician.

The physician only took his pulse briefly, then glanced at Shi Lei’s two wounds and said, “Leave it to fate.”

He didn’t even plan to write a prescription.

Zhao Hanzhang firmly demanded that he write one. Only then did the physician reluctantly give her one. Seeing her start picking through several packages of medicine, he couldn’t help but say, “Miss, this man’s breath is weak, injured in vital areas, with excessive blood loss. He cannot be saved. Why waste medicine? Better to keep it for yourself.”

Zhao Hanzhang’s brow twitched. “Me?”

The physician nodded. “Yes, aren’t you injured too?”

Before Zhao Hanzhang could speak, Fu Tinghan had already nodded. “Yes, please examine her as well.”

Zhao Hanzhang paused, but still asked the physician to examine her wound. Although this might make the Li family suspicious, life was still more important. She needed to take care of her health.

After examining her, the physician prescribed the same medicine for Zhao Hanzhang, just with different dosages.

Seeing how much Zhao Hanzhang seemed to care about Shi Lei, he even advised, “At times like these, saving one person is all you can do. Miss’s injuries are lighter—better to survive yourself first. As for this person, why not reduce his medicine a bit?”

Because he felt that even without reducing the medicine, he wouldn’t survive anyway.

Zhao Hanzhang didn’t explain much. She smiled and agreed, then glanced at the Li family members standing not far away before asking the physician, “Would you be willing to come with me, physician? I’m willing to hire you.”

The physician’s spirits lifted. “I have a wife, children, and elderly parents at home.”

Zhao Hanzhang indicated she would take them all.

The physician became even more interested and asked about her final destination, how many people they had in total, and how much grain he would receive per visit, or per day.

That’s right—the physician didn’t charge money for consultations, only grain.

Zhao Hanzhang’s terms were all quite good. She even said that once they reached their destination, she would arrange housing for his family and introduce him to medical clinics or apothecaries to work as a physician. If his medical skills were exceptional, she could even open a medical clinic for him…

The physician’s eyes gleamed with interest, and he had already introduced himself by name. But then Zhao Hanzhang said she was going to Wu’an County.

The physician’s smile immediately fell.