Chapter 435: Chapter 435

Zhao Hanzhang was surprised, "So many?"

Fu Tinghan said, "Some children firmly claim they have no parents or guardians. Even if I knew, it would be difficult to expose them. Since you’re planning to take them to the Nanyang Country first, arrange for them properly, with relief food and farmland; they can survive, and naturally won’t want to be separated from their family."

If it comes to that point and no one claims them, wouldn’t it be best for us to take these children with us?

Zhao Hanzhang thought for a moment and nodded, "That’s good."

Without the care and compassion of adults, it’s hard for these children to survive; even if they do, life would be very difficult. It would be better to send them to Yushan Hall.

So many children, within a few years, they can become her labor force, and if one or two talents are nurtured among them, she will greatly benefit.

Zhao Hanzhang agreed to Fu Tinghan’s proposal.

With the grain d by Zhu Chuan, Zhao Hanzhang could do much more. She directly ordered Fan Ying to take over the materials d by Zhu Chuan.

Zhu Chuan couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow when he saw that she didn’t distribute the grain to the people directly but instead took full control of it first.

Zhao Hanzhang was indeed cautious and domineering, and her actions were very methodical.

Fan Ying acted quickly. Even without Fu Tinghan, counting wasn’t difficult for her. She quickly tallied the supplies and came to Zhao Hanzhang with a notebook: "Apart from the three carts of valuable goods and the goods from the accompanying small merchants, Mr. Zhu d a total of twenty carts of grain and ten carts of cloth, mostly fine hemp and cotton."

Zhao Hanzhang nodded, indicating her understanding. His intention was business, so naturally, he brought high-value fine hemp and cotton; he wouldn’t bring coarse hemp.

Zhao Hanzhang glanced around at the refugees, inadequately clothed and shivering, and told Fan Ying, "Get people to count those who can cut and sew clothes and shoes, keep all the fine cotton, and distribute all the fine hemp for them to make clothes and shoes."

Fan Ying acknowledged and turned to leave.

Zhao Hanzhang walked to the honest refugees squatting and heard the faint sound of children calling out for food. She clapped her hands, drawing everyone’s attention, and said, "Now, sit with those you know, ten people form a centurion, ten centurions make a team, including children, women, and the elderly."

The people looked bewildered, but they knew those they were familiar with, and soon moved around, gathering together in no time. They couldn’t handle large numbers, but some could count to ten.

The soldiers also stepped in to help, pulling aside the excess people, forming another centurion, then selecting older or more trustworthy-looking people as centurions, and ten centurions formed a team.

In no time, the four team leaders and their centurions squeezed in front of Zhao Hanzhang.

Zhao Hanzhang glanced around, finding it interesting; besides some centurions obviously being family units, people from the same clan, village, or hometown squeezed together; the remaining combinations were quite intriguing.

Little children and older children were together, women and women, women with children, women and elders with children formed groups.

Seeing this, Zhao Hanzhang had a good sense of what was happening. She gestured to a representative big child from each centurion and said, "Gather your people and collect firewood from the nearby forest; we’ll need to start a fire to cook."

Children’s eyes lit up.

She then beckoned a few children, "You few centurions will stay and start the fire."

The children happily agreed, ran back to call their teammates, and stood aside.

Zhao Hanzhang assigned tasks one by one: breaking dry branches from trees, collecting leaves, moving stones or soil to build stoves—these were tasks for adult men.

Women and elders were then tasked with taking containers to fetch water from the source.

Only the caravans had wooden buckets; most people fetched water using bowls, urns, and pots they had with them. Chapters fırst released on 𝚗𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚕·𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚎·𝚗𝚎𝚝

Fu Tinghan calculated the number of people and determined the amount of grain needed for this meal.

Zhao Hanzhang instructed Fan Ying to bring soldiers to weigh out the grain.

The small merchants, sheltered by the caravan, hesitated upon seeing this, huddling to discuss in whispers, "Shouldn’t we something too?"

Immediately someone with a bitter face said, "Several of my cloth batches got trampled; if I , I’ll really return empty-handed this time."

"But this is the inspector, such a high official, if we don’t show even a bit of gesture, my heart is uneasy. Didn’t Mr. Zhu most of his wealth?"

"Otherwise, I think the three remaining carts from Mr. Zhu are the most valuable."

"But he also used thirty carts of supplies to ensure safety. We can’t simply offer nothing, right?"

Although this Governor Zhao doesn’t seem the type, there’s still fear she might treat them as bandits and suppress them.

These words caused hesitance among all, leading them to quietly discuss and eventually elect representatives to approach Zhao Hanzhang, expressing their willingness to a batch of resources.

Zhao Hanzhang turned to them, surprised, then peered over to their luggage and asked with a smile, "Are your households very affluent?"

A few swallowed hard, not daring to say they weren’t wealthy, nor saying they were, thus replied, "Still, still okay..."

"So it’s average," Zhao Hanzhang sighed and said, "While everyone has a responsibility for the nation’s rise and fall, now Hanzhang still has resources, given your average wealth, how could I ask you to until it hurts?"

She said, "Take everything back with you; for now, take care of your little household. If you can bring grain, cloth, cattle, and sheep to the Northern Land of Yu State in the future, that would be a great contribution to Yu State."

A few people opened their mouths wide, not expecting Zhao Hanzhang to refuse, and she didn’t seem to be lying.

Zhao Hanzhang already nodded to them, heading towards Zhu Chuan with a smile, asking, "Mr. Zhu, I plan to set off for Nanyang Country tomorrow. Would Mr. Zhu like to accompany me?"

Zhu Chuan didn’t want to enter Nanyang Country; he had just come from there, where things were still chaotic. Seeing Zhao Hanzhang’s aggressive attitude, he clearly felt she was on a mission.

He wanted to gain favor with Zhao Hanzhang, the new inspector of Yu State, but didn’t want to get too involved.

His foundation was still in Shu Province; causing trouble in Yu State was risky, so he’d rather head to the currently stable, wealthy, and gold-rich Xiping.

Thus, Zhu Chuan said with a look of regret, "I also wish to experience the grandeur of Nanyang Country, but my men suffer casualties, especially a lot of injuries requiring immediate medical attention, so I have decided to head towards Ru Nan County."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Hanzhang didn’t insist, simply pointing to the nearby small merchants and saying, "These people were startled for no reason, ultimately due to Hanzhang’s fault. Please take good care of them, Mr. Zhu."

Zhu Chuan replied, "They joined my caravan by paying a road fee, Governor Zhao, rest assured, I will safely get them to Xiping."

Zhao Hanzhang nodded with a cheerful smile, go ahead, go ahead, once they see the prosperity of Xiping, gain confidence in making money, they will come more often in the future.