Chapter 89 - Looking for Mud

Chapter 89: Chapter 83: Looking for MudHowever, the number of young and strong soldiers that could go to the battlefield was only around two hundred.

But Zhao Hanzhang was already quite satisfied. Using the map drawn by Fu Tinghan, she circled a spot on the east and another on the west and pointed, saying, "Build two camps here, one in the east and one in the west."

"All the people we’ve brought should be arranged into these two camps. Just in time, the summer harvest is about to start, and everyone will have things to do," Zhao Hanzhang said. "Arrange Che Fu and others in groups of ten into the troops. Uncle Qianli, you were in charge of them before, so there should be no problem, right?"

Zhao Ju replied, "No problem."

Che Fu and the others were given by Zhao Changyu to Zhao Zhongyu’s troops. Now that Zhao Dian was gone, they belonged to Zhao Hanzhang.

Fu Tinghan handed her a piece of paper with a series of numbers on it, and she looked at him in confusion.

Fu Tinghan said, "I’ve calculated the monthly resource consumption for the entire estate. This is the minimum number, and this is a conservative estimate based on the current training level of the troops. You need to stockpile grain."

Upon hearing this, Ji Yuan quickly glanced at it and found he couldn’t recognize a single word, furrowing his brow.

Zhao Hanzhang glanced at it, folded the paper, and tucked it into her sleeve, then turned to Ji Yuan, "Mr. Ji, while the news of the Luoyang chaos hasn’t spread everywhere and grain prices aren’t too high, try to buy as much grain as possible."

Ji Yuan asked, "From the grain shops?"

"No," Zhao Hanzhang replied. "Directly find the grain merchants and local gentry. No matter what excuse you use, make sure to buy the most grain at the lowest price."

Although the probability wasn’t high, Ji Yuan still agreed.

As long as it’s relatively cheap, if they wait any longer, once the news spreads and the grain prices skyrocket among the people, it would be difficult to buy large quantities of grain.

"Besides grain, there’s also iron," Zhao Hanzhang said. "They lost a lot of weapons, and since we’ve gathered some refugees, we also need to select suitable people to incorporate into the troops, and we’re short on weapons."

She said, "And horses, buy them whenever possible."

After all, they weren’t short on money now.

Her dowry, Ji Yuan had brought it over safely, and with so much money, if they don’t convert it into resources to arm themselves now, when else would they?

Zhao Hanzhang had already decided, "I want to develop this estate into a fortress stronger than Zhao’s Fortress. We might be living here in the future, so it must ensure our safety."

Ji Yuan felt a slight relief, yet deep down, he was a bit disappointed. He thought the lady would rebel.

Ji Yuan took a group of people to leave, planning to browse around and incidentally buy some grain and iron back.

Zhao Hanzhang took Zhao Ju to inspect the camp divisions.

The east and west camps perfectly shielded the estate in the middle, forming a strategic triangle.

Zhao Hanzhang divided the population into two, with roughly half in each camp, with one centurion and the second centurion each leading half of the troops and dividing them between the east and west camps.

Meanwhile, Zhao Ju was the team leader leading them.

However, now the sites for the east and west camps were still empty land. They would first have to build houses themselves.

Zhao Hanzhang took Fu Tinghan to find suitable soil for making bricks, inspecting the estate simultaneously, "You’ve also seen Zhao’s Fortress. How do you think I should build this fortress?"

Fu Tinghan asked, "That would depend on what your most urgent need is. If it’s to block outsiders from invading, then you should build walls and use fortifications to defend against foreign enemies."

Zhao Hanzhang thought for a moment and then shook her head, "If so quickly there are foreign enemies invading, then I wouldn’t spend such a big effort building a fortress at this time. I’d rather enter the county city, or directly enter Zhao’s Fortress, where natural fortifications save me the expenses and energy."

She said, "My most urgent need now is to gather public support, stabilize the populace, and achieve self-sufficiency. After all, the money my grandfather gave, although substantial, is not inexhaustible. I must achieve self-sufficiency, and even surplus."

Fu Tinghan nodded, "Then it’s about basic construction. To stabilize the people’s minds, it seems that just fulfilling their basic survival needs would suffice."

Zhao Hanzhang began counting on her fingers, "That means allocating fields for them to harvest in the summer, distributing fields for sowing, building and distributing houses..."

Fu Tinghan nodded, "Yes."

Zhao Hanzhang looked up and smiled at him before saying, "Let’s first find soil suitable for making bricks."

Generally, near settlements, there would be soil like this, slightly sticky, as most houses in the north currently were made from earth.

Of course, using stone would be better, but it takes more time and effort. Earth is also good.

Now the houses coated with earth were somewhat low and dark, so Zhao Hanzhang decided to improve them by first using mud bricks.

The two of them wandered around and quickly found it.

Fu Tinghan wasn’t too familiar with this, so he saw Zhao Hanzhang squat down, grab a handful of mud, knead it, and then praise, "This is good."

She stood up and looked around. Seeing that this was wasteland, and there seemed to be a lot, she grew eager, "Having found such good clay, simply using it to plaster mud houses seems wasteful."

"You intend to make mud bricks?"

"I initially just wanted to mold mud bricks, but with so many good clay resources, it seems too wasteful. Why don’t we build a kiln factory?"

Fu Tinghan tilted his head to look at her, "To fire mud bricks?"

Zhao Hanzhang nodded.

Fu Tinghan asked, "Do you know how?"

"No," Zhao Hanzhang replied. "But I listened to the entire ’Tiangong Kaiwu’ in the library, and I vaguely remember the general method. I should be able to write it down from memory."

Fu Tinghan: "So...?"

"I’ll need Professor Fu’s help in finding craftsmen who know how to fire and build kilns. If there aren’t any, I’ll have to rely on Professor Fu’s re

Zhao Hanzhang: "...Previously, mother said a girl should be gentle and virtuous, telling me to care more for Mr. Fu."

"That phase has passed, and it’s time to change methods. It shouldn’t always be you caring for him; occasionally, let him care for you too." Mrs. Wang confidently said, "Trust me, I’m not wrong. Your father and I have always been like this, never arguing."