Sansheng thought what he said made sense and immediately finished the porridge in his bowl as well, following him to carry people.

One after another, people turned back to the various small villages to carry people, bringing over everyone who still had a breath of life but couldn’t walk.

After Youzhou changed hands, the government office had distributed relief grain, giving these people who couldn’t leave their homeland to flee a chance at survival. But that had been over a month ago, and that bit of grain simply wasn’t enough to eat. Now, everyone was starving terribly.

The grain sent from Yuzhou was quickly distributed by Shi Le to the various commanderies, then from commanderies to counties, from counties to districts—the speed was even faster than he had anticipated.

The people still surviving in Youzhou’s villages all staggered out to receive relief grain, and the silent earth regained a bit of vitality.

Even Shi Le couldn’t help but say: “Only now do I understand why Zhao Hanzhang insists on placing at least one person who came out of the school in each county. Their disaster relief is orderly and proper, very experienced.”

Notifying the districts and village towns, organizing manpower to transport grain, distributing grain, even considering matters like cooking porridge on site and not providing excessive relief—all of this had been thought through.

What surprised Shi Le the most was that when cooking porridge in each county, they either added chaff, or added soybeans, or directly cooked half rice and half millet, while others made pure wheat porridge or millet porridge—both with husks still on. Not to mention, the food that came out wasn’t tasty, but… it was very effective, directly making those who still had surplus energy give up encroaching on the poor people’s survival space.

These students’ unusual operations, when seen by some upright officials and scholars, inevitably seemed to have hints of greed and cruelty. Immediately someone secretly reported to Shi Le, suspecting that various counties were withholding relief grain and lining their own pockets, requesting that Shi Le dispatch officials to inspect and strictly investigate the accounts of all localities.

“The Great General went through such hardships to send this relief grain. Please, Governor, treat this matter seriously and carefully. Don’t let the people of Youzhou be heartbroken.”

Shi Le felt what they said was very reasonable and was about to agree immediately, but in the end, he still wanted to consult with Zhang Bin, so he suppressed his thoughts and dismissed them first.

He ran to tell Zhang Bin, “I know how to replace those people of Zhao Hanzhang’s now. This disaster relief is an opportunity. Send these accusers to investigate, and they’ll definitely find faults with them.”

But Zhang Bin asked: “Nitpicking over minor details—what benefit does this bring to my lord?”

Shi Le frowned.

Zhang Bin said: “The people left behind by Great General Zhao are currently the most suitable. If you remove them, my lord, do you have replacement candidates? If the replacements can’t do better than these students, won’t my lord and the people of Youzhou ultimately be the ones to suffer?”

He said: “You are now the Governor of Youzhou, and all the people of Youzhou are your subjects. You should think of them.”

Shi Le furrowed his brow and said: “I truly haven’t found people who can completely replace them, but Zhao Hanzhang left people in every county, and they’re all so capable. Having them stationed in Youzhou, I really find it hard to feel at ease.”

Zhang Bin smiled and consoled him: “This is because my lord spent the first half of your life wandering and being harmed by others, so you’ve gotten used to it. But I observe that Zhao Hanzhang values emotion and righteousness—she is not someone who easily breaks promises. Moreover, she greatly appreciates and is tolerant of my lord. She treats you with the status of a sovereign and has intentions of relying on you. Why don’t you respond to her as a good minister?”

Shi Le’s heart stirred. The heartstrings that Zhang Bin and Wei Jie often plucked vibrated heavily. His breathing became somewhat rapid. “You mean, to become a minister of Jin who will be remembered in history?”

Zhang Bin knew of Shi Le’s inner conflict and smiled slightly: “Zhao Hanzhang’s martial achievements are already established. Looking at today, her civil governance won’t be lacking either. How could the small state of Jin possibly contain her talents?”

Shi Le’s eyes brightened. He didn’t mind acknowledging a woman like Zhao Hanzhang as his lord. He was a slave who had ambitions to dominate a region—how much more so Zhao Hanzhang?

Right now he was hoping Zhao Hanzhang would kill Emperor Jin and ascend the throne herself. Otherwise, as long as Emperor Jin lived for one day, he would feel uneasy for one day. Shi Le and the Jin state had a great enmity!

Zhang Bin saw he had listened and continued to persuade: “My lord, why not manage Youzhou well? Once the great undertaking is accomplished, you can still go to Bingzhou, Jizhou, or even Sizhou. Perhaps when the new dynasty arrives, you could be ranked among the Three Excellencies, with meritorious achievements sealed as a lord.”

Just imagining this made Shi Le laugh heartily, then he said viciously: “At that time, I’ll make the Jin imperial family and nobility kneel at my feet and make them bow to me, this Jie slave!”

Zhang Bin lowered his eyes and bowed silently in response.

Shi Le treated him with great courtesy and quickly helped him up, saying: “Thank you, Sir, for the reminder. Now is indeed not the time to provoke Zhao Hanzhang. Very well, I’ll wait and see whether she truly has the ability to pacify the realm.”

If she truly had this capability, what was wrong with him pledging loyalty to her?

Zhang Bin quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Shi Le was someone who was good at listening to advice but also liked to overthink and reconsider. When Zhao Hanzhang left, he was still wholeheartedly focused on doing well in Youzhou and establishing a firm foothold there. It had only been a little over a month—how had he already started thinking about seizing power from Zhao Hanzhang?

Zhang Bin left and returned to his own office, then called his personal attendant and instructed in a low voice: “Go investigate who came to see the Governor yesterday and today.”

The attendant acknowledged and quietly withdrew.

The attendant had just left when a clerk came in and said: “Chief Administrator, Commandery Governor Wei has arrived.”

Zhang Bin’s mouth twitched slightly, but he still had him invite Wei Jie in.

Among the commandery governors who would come to the Governor’s Office to find him, there was only Wei Jie from the neighboring Commandery Governor’s Office.

Zhang Bin let out a long sigh. Before his sighing breath was completely exhaled, Wei Jie appeared in the doorway.

Seeing Zhang Bin, Wei Jie smiled warmly.

Zhang Bin felt as if the room suddenly brightened. Even the light filtering through the latticed windows, which had seemed somewhat dim, became bright and illuminating. The sigh Zhang Bin had exhaled halfway disappeared.

Although helpless, who could bear to refuse a beauty’s invitation?

Zhang Bin… was still very willing to share a room with Wei Jie.

He smiled and invited Wei Jie to sit down.

Wei Jie also sat down across from him and said with a smile: “I’ve come to report to the Chief Administrator on the progress of disaster relief in Fanyang Commandery.”

He said: “The people’s hunger has slightly diminished, but at this point, merely distributing relief grain is actually not good for management. So I think we should implement work-for-relief. The people of Youzhou should be put to use.”

Zhang Bin smiled and nodded. “The Governor will issue an order soon, commanding all commanderies and counties to implement work-for-relief. The remaining relief grain will be sold for money. This time, besides grain, the Great General also sent large amounts of relief funds.”

All of it was new coins minted by the Zhao clan. Honestly, although the court claimed it was collected poll tax money, Zhang Bin suspected it was money Zhao Hanzhang minted herself.

The national treasury was so short of money—could she really resist minting just a little extra?

Besides the relief funds sent from Yuzhou, there was also the poll tax money they had collected themselves. Youzhou was currently impoverished, but there were still quite a few wealthy people.

Wang Jun had been defeated too quickly. Many aristocratic families hadn’t had time to flee, and among them were aristocratic families who had fled from Jizhou to here because of the warfare. The poll tax money collected from them was considerable.

This money would be disbursed under the names of financial expenditures and relief funds to the various commanderies and counties. They would then organize disaster victims to work in exchange for wages, which they could then use to buy grain from the government offices.

The remaining relief grain was all placed in the government offices.