Once the common people had money in their hands, shops that had been tightly closed—unwilling and afraid to open for business—gradually began to open. Among them, some families also started quietly selling grain. The government’s disaster relief pressure was considerably eased.
Just at this time, the second batch of relief grain from Yuzhou arrived.
The students who came from the school not only had first-rate disaster relief capabilities, but their ability to manage public opinion was also excellent. The relief grain had barely entered Youzhou when they immediately publicized it. The Great General had sent the second batch of relief grain. County offices throughout the region would receive grain after a while. Although the grain in county offices wasn’t yet sufficient to allow unlimited consumption, surviving would not be a problem.
The people of Youzhou’s will to survive instantly reached a peak. In order to earn more money to buy grain, everyone worked hard.
Every county had positions specifically for children, the elderly, and the weak, ensuring that everyone could be put to use and earn money to buy grain.
At the same time, county officials also encouraged those with ability to go out and buy grain. “Right now Yuzhou, Xuzhou, and Yangzhou all have large stockpiles of grain. It’s just that military transport is slow, and it has to go from province to commandery, then from commandery to county, so the time is lengthy and grain prices remain high. If you go personally to trade for grain, not only will you have no worries about food and drink, but you can also resell it to others to earn some money.”
They tempted them: “The Governor is vigorously suppressing bandits. I heard that Governor Zu of Jizhou acted even more swiftly—as soon as he took office, he led people everywhere to suppress bandits. Now the bandits in Jizhou don’t dare show themselves, let alone rob people. Since Jizhou is like this, Yuzhou goes without saying. So the journey is quite safe.”
When they heard that grain prices in the south were currently around two hundred cash per dan, they couldn’t help but be moved.
Although the government was already controlling grain prices, given Youzhou’s situation, grain prices were still very high.
So those with the ability to scrape together travel expenses immediately formed groups to head to Yuzhou and Xuzhou.
They never considered Yangzhou—that was the territory of the Prince of Langya.
Although they didn’t know much, they had heard that the Prince of Langya and their Great General weren’t on the same side. So they certainly wouldn’t go to his territory to buy grain. What if the two sides started fighting and they, as northerners, were detained?
Therefore, they went to Yuzhou and Xuzhou.
Youzhou was recovering at a visibly rapid pace. The province controlled by Shi Le was like this, and Bingzhou and Jizhou were recovering even faster.
Beigong Chun had a pure and sincere heart. He wasn’t very skilled in civil administration, so he relied heavily on the officials Zhao Hanzhang had assigned to the various commanderies and counties. He delegated civil administrative matters to Huang Shi and Linghu Sheng, while he mainly focused on training troops and ensuring Bingzhou’s defense.
Unexpectedly, both Huang Shi and Linghu Sheng had some talent in civil administration, especially Huang Shi. In his words: “My memory may not compare to Fu Tinghan’s, but having watched the Zhao clan conduct disaster relief and receive refugees multiple times, I still know what to do and how to do it.”
Moreover, he wasn’t just copying mechanically—he had made summaries. He said: “The Great General once said that everyone has desires. As long as we can satisfy their most urgent desire at the moment, we can grasp people’s hearts. Once we’ve won their hearts, other desires can be used to motivate people to advance.”
“Right now, the desire of the vast majority of people in Bingzhou is to obtain grain for survival and get through this winter. The desire of the aristocratic families is to be employed and to serve under the Great General, with a path for advancement.”
Listening to this left Beigong Chun, who only knew about training troops, fighting battles, and loving the people, stunned. He then asked: “When did the Great General say this?”
Huang Shi replied: “She said it when giving lessons to the military officers.”
Beigong Chun: “…Wasn’t that aimed at the colonels and staff generals? When did you attend the lessons?”
Huang Shi said: “Your subordinate has always been listening. Didn’t you know, General?”
Beigong Chun didn’t know. Had he told him?
Huang Shi had indeed mentioned it, but at that time, Beigong Chun hadn’t completely pledged allegiance to Zhao Hanzhang, and Huang Shi was still thinking about returning to Xiliang. The reason he went to listen to the lessons was because he noticed that Zhao Hanzhang was very good at winning people’s hearts. On one hand, he felt that Zhao Hanzhang’s support of grain and provisions to them was very righteous; on the other hand, he felt that if they became enemies in the future, it could be very troublesome.
In this era, nothing was impossible. Even blood brothers and fathers and sons could turn against each other—how much more so two generals?
So Huang Shi, holding the mindset of “know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated,” snuck in to listen to the lessons. Of course, he would never admit that he initially snuck in to find fault with Fu Tinghan.
At that time, besides Zhao Hanzhang, the one teaching the officers was Fu Tinghan. He would teach everyone how to calculate provisions, balance the army’s expenditures and income, and even teach everyone geographical knowledge.
Who told Beigong Chun that all he thought about was Fu Tinghan? Sometimes when he looked at Fu Tinghan, his eyes would light up, which made Huang Shi quite jealous.
No, no, no—from the beginning, he went there to “gather intelligence and understand a possible future opponent.” After Huang Shi firmed up his thoughts, he changed the subject. “General, the Great General has relocated some of the Xiongnu people. How should we settle these people? Are we putting them back in their original territories?”
Thinking of Zhao Hanzhang’s letter, Beigong Chun shook his head. “No, relocate them north of Jinyang. There are grasslands there that can allow them to graze and raise horses.”
The Xiongnu people yearned for the wealthy and comfortable lives of the Han people on one hand, yet couldn’t help acting according to the customs of pastoral peoples on the other. Thus, they migrated south, encroaching on the territory of agricultural peoples, yet turned agricultural areas into pastoral areas, using good farmland to grow grass for grazing.
In Zhao Hanzhang’s view, this was a terrible waste.
It not only wasted the farmland of agricultural areas but also wasted their own talents.
Therefore, Zhao Hanzhang wrote to Beigong Chun, asking him to try to settle the Xiongnu and Xianbei people who were skilled at raising cattle and horses in pastoral areas. They could then be allocated small amounts of farmland for cultivation, with the remainder supplemented by cattle, horses, and sheep, allowing them to graze in pastoral areas.
For this purpose, she even allocated a special fund to Beigong Chun, specifically for purchasing breeding stock of cattle, horses, and sheep to distribute to herdsmen whose family assets were less than a thousand.
She told Beigong Chun that this was a special assistance project for herdsmen. They would provide calves, young lambs, and foals. By next autumn, when it was time to sell, they needed to give priority to selling cattle, horses, and sheep to the government office. The price the government office offered could not be lower than twenty percent below market price.
Beigong Chun didn’t quite understand this operation of Zhao Hanzhang’s, but he knew that when it came to measures for governing the people, he couldn’t hold a candle to Zhao Hanzhang. So when he didn’t understand, he wouldn’t act rashly—he would just do exactly as Zhao Hanzhang said.
He didn’t understand, but there were other officials in the Governor’s Office who did. They could execute Zhao Hanzhang’s policies very well. Beigong Chun just needed to give them sufficient freedom.
And recovering even faster than Bingzhou was Jizhou.
Zu Ti was a very capable person. He was not only formidable in military affairs but also had his own opinions on civil administration.