Chapter 155 - Worries

Chapter 155: Chapter 149 WorriesZhao Ju watched as the grain sacks were moved into the warehouse. After verifying the numbers with the warehouse guards, he signed and sealed the paperwork before locking up the warehouse.

Seeing the warehouse full of grain, not only the citizens outside but also the members of the army felt uplifted. "Standard Bearer, the Lady is truly remarkable. She managed to acquire all this grain with just a few words."

Zhao Ju replied, "It’s all bought with hard silver and gold. You think it came for free?"

"But that money belonged to those lords. Isn’t that close to getting it for free?" The soldier grinned happily. "With grain in the warehouse, our hearts are at ease. Standard Bearer, our military camp should be completed in two more days, right?"

Zhao Ju asked, "Do the prisoners still listen?"

"They’re behaving alright. A few tried to escape at the beginning, but they didn’t get far before being caught and killed. After seeing that we feed them and don’t mistreat them, they’ve settled down and stopped trying to run. The construction of the military camp has sped up too."

Zhao Ju nodded and said, "Have them speed up. Once the camp is built, we’ll head out for the autumn harvest."

Many people died in Xiping County. Although some crops were damaged, there’s still a lot left.

With a lack of manpower, relying solely on hiring workers with grain is not enough. They’ve decided to use the prisoners.

However, most fields are outside the city. If all 300 or so prisoners are taken out, they might escape, and Zhao Ju doesn’t want to waste a lot of manpower supervising them.

So they needed to tame them in the city before taking them out.

Sure enough, once the city camp was built, the prisoners were pretty much trained.

Zhao Ju divided the prisoners into three teams: one to repair damaged buildings and streets in the city; one sent to Zhao’s Fortress to help with the autumn harvest; and one to harvest crops from fields in Xiping County that had become ownerless.

Zhao Hanzhang had already planned the work for the prisoners for the next half year. Once the autumn harvest is completed, they would be sent to the ranch (oh, rather, the pasture) to open up land, and preparations would begin to plant winter wheat in the reclaimed government fields.

With 300 people, the amount of land that can be cultivated each day is considerable.

Zhao Hanzhang also knew that the most important task at hand was the autumn harvest. So she picked up a sickle and went to the fields to experience the work firsthand and, well, to gain some favor from the city folks.

Fu Tinghan stood in the field wearing a bamboo hat, watching her. He saw her cautiously cut a few stalks and then gradually gain proficiency, slicing swiftly forward. Although she wasn’t as fast as those beside her, she was much quicker than him.

Fu Tinghan looked down at his sickle.

Zhao Hanzhang straightened her back and saw him, quickly asking, "Did the rice leaves cut your hand? Why don’t you wait for me on the field ridge? I’ll come back once I finish this side."

Fu Tinghan shook his head. "I was just thinking, with just this much rice from one stalk, what’s the yield per acre?"

Zhao Hanzhang replied, "We’d need to dry and weigh it to know."

She also looked at the golden rice and said, "Looks pretty good, should be about five to six hundred jin, right?"

As it turned out, non-farming estimates were unreliable. When the harvested rice from one acre was threshed and dried, it weighed only 223 jin.

Zhao Hanzhang was incredulous. She questioned Geng Rong, who came to report the figures, "Did you weigh it wrong? How could it be so little?"

Geng Rong replied, "... My Lady, this yield is already quite good."

Zhao Hanzhang scratched her head and looked at Fu Tinghan, "Do you remember what the yield per acre was like where we were from?"

Geng Rong also looked at Fu Tinghan.

Fu Tinghan glanced at him, then used Zhao Hanzhang’s hand to write a rough number in her palm.

Zhao Hanzhang clicked her tongue, "The disparity is too great."

She pondered for a moment and said, "Besides the seeds, we should be able to increase yields by improving farming methods, right?"

Fu Tinghan nodded, "And there’s wheat. In the Central Plains and the north, it’s mainly used for bread."

Geng Rong couldn’t help interjecting, "My Lady, common people mainly eat bean rice."

Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan exchanged glances, "Bean rice?"

Indeed, for someone from a noble family, even bean rice was unheard of. Geng Rong was just about to explain in detail when Zhao Hanzhang patted her stomach and said, "Talking about it doesn’t compare to experiencing it ourselves. It’s about time for dinner. Let’s go find some food."

Geng Rong remained silent.

Zhao Hanzhang took Fu Tinghan by the hand and went out to find dinner.

She led him directly to two alleys near the city gate.

Most of the people from the slums had been relocated here. Many of the residences here were empty. Zhao Hanzhang reclaimed and redistributed the vacant houses. For families with only orphans left, she temporarily registered them, planning to rent out properties once commerce picks up, with the income offsetting some of the costs of raising the children.

The county government now supports so many orphaned and single children every day, which is quite a significant expense. Geng Rong knew many in the city were watching, waiting to see when Zhao Hanzhang would run out of resources.

Even Geng Rong thought Zhao Hanzhang couldn’t last long. Until now, the city’s work-for-relief programs hadn’t stopped. According to Mr. Fu, they even planned to dig canals later, still using work-for-relief rather than issuing conscription orders.

This surprised Geng Rong and made him more worried. He thought that if this continued, Zhao Hanzhang might not even make it through the winter.

Initially, he didn’t care who ruled Xiping County. After all, Zhao Hanzhang was a woman and might not last long; a change wouldn’t be so bad.

But thinking of the people he saw every day and the work he did, he couldn’t deny that Xiping County felt vibrant and united despite the recent disaster. The situation seemed even better than during his father’s and County Magistrate Fan’s time.

So he hesitated but still said, "My Lady, kindness without restraint might not be a good thing. The county government’s revenues are limited, and work-for-relief can only last temporarily. If it’s too permissive, it might not last long. If policies suddenly change, it could cause a lot of dissatisfaction."

Zhao Hanzhang had already minimized the expenditure on work-for-relief. As it stood, the daily income for a male adult laboring just barely supported two people. In her view, such wages were very low. If it were reduced further, she and Professor Fu wouldn’t be able to pass their moral boundaries.

Moreover, these public facilities would generate future revenue. Not to mention, the construction of waterworks would greatly benefit the county government fields.

It’s a pity, though, that once winter is over, everyone will be busy with their land. Zhao Hanzhang planned to allocate them certain plots. Hiring might become difficult, and government fields would face labor shortages again.

Zhao Hanzhang reassured Geng Rong, "I have it under control. Don’t worry, there won’t be a shortage of money or grain."

The spoils of war haven’t been spent yet. When they are, she still has funds. The initial investment was expected to be huge, and she was prepared for it.

With significant investment comes greater returns. The urgent task is winning over people’s hearts. If she wins over all of Xiping County’s people, they’ll become her future support.