Chapter 443: Chapter 443

Fu Tinghan watched his figure disappear, puzzled, and asked, "Why did you change your mind?"

Previously, she clearly appeared to want to make a public execution to serve as a warning to others.

Zhao Hanzhang said, "I’ve already killed someone before. As I see it today, he was indeed frightened, yet before I arrived, he still defied both heaven and earth without even putting on a facade of obeying overtly while disobeying covertly."

"So killing him wouldn’t be of much use," Zhao Hanzhang’s gaze deepened, "Since we need to kill, let’s choose a bigger target."

Fu Tinghan didn’t ask who she intended to kill, instead he asked, "Do you plan to use him?"

Zhao Hanzhang nodded, "Use him for now. Look at the weather."

Fu Tinghan turned his head to look outside, only to see the sky dark and overcast, heavy clouds pressing down, and the north wind blowing in waves, chilling to the bone.

Zhao Hanzhang said, "It’s going to snow heavily."

Fu Tinghan’s heart sank, snowing heavily at this time...

"Who knows how many refugees are outside, or what the situation of the local people is. It’s easy to execute a County Magistrate; once he’s dead, he’s dead. But who will prepare the relief materials and organize the villagers for self-rescue?" Zhao Hanzhang said, "He can do the work, so let’s keep him for now."

After saying this, she gritted her teeth and said, "Capable but unwilling to act, allowing the situation to worsen day by day, truly detestable!"

Really want to give him a beating.

However, Fu Tinghan’s mood was hardly fluctuating, he said, "In this era, this kind of attitude is normal, isn’t it?"

Zhao Hanzhang lowered her eyes in thought, "So we need to start rectifying the officials’ conduct by addressing their attitudes, at least make them establish the correct mindset."

"Hmph, coincidentally, let’s start with Nanyang Country then."

Zhao Hanzhang directly wrote the orders, sealed them, and had Qiu Wu send them out to various places, with a copy sent back to Chen County for Ji Yuan to issue orders to other counties.

By evening, snowflakes fluttered down as Fan Ying braved the wind and snow to return and report, "County Magistrate Gao has arranged for the refugees to stay in several abandoned houses in the county. He and several wealthy families in the county pawned and rented some thick quilts and clothes, as well as wood and charcoal, barely enough to get through tonight."

Zhao Hanzhang asked, "What about the grain?"

"County Magistrate Gao has used the grain from the county government’s storehouse."

Zhao Hanzhang sneered and said to her, "Tell Gao Cheng that tomorrow I will be inspecting the county government’s accounts, so he should prepare the account books for me."

Fan Ying bowed and replied, "Yes."

Gao Cheng was so busy that he couldn’t feel the ground under his feet, and upon hearing this dreadful news, he felt faint.

His Chief Clerk, who followed him, waited for him to recover slightly before saying, "County Lord, we have just moved some grain from the storehouse today, the accounts haven’t been settled, and even if we report honestly, the previous accounts..."

Gao Cheng angrily said, "Do you think Zhao Hanzhang doesn’t know? Fan Ying’s eyes are like two lanterns; we moved so much grain out of the warehouse today, do you think she wouldn’t know?"

"She specifically said she wanted to check the accounts, but she just wanted me to find a way to raise food for relief without using the storehouse’s resources."

Gao Cheng, although aware, didn’t have the guts to refuse Zhao Hanzhang.

By now, he also understood; his life was like a fish caught on Zhao Hanzhang’s hook, and she was still deciding whether to reel him in. If she did, he would soon become a dead fish; if not, he could live with the hook for a while longer. Perhaps during that time, he could find a way to break free from the hook, or she might benevolently release him.

Gao Cheng wasn’t naive; he knew the latter was nearly impossible, so he could only find a way to break free, but first, he had to stay alive.

Therefore, despite the heartache, Gao Cheng gritted his teeth and said, "Go buy some grain to replenish what the county government’s storehouse is lacking."

The expense, of course, was borne by Gao Cheng.

Moreover, all the grain-owning households in Xie County cooperated; seeing Gao Cheng eagerly buying grain, they kindly sold it to him, just that the grain price had slightly increased due to the disaster.

But Gao Cheng didn’t bother to haggle over it anymore; as long as he could settle the accounts and not let Zhao Hanzhang catch solid evidence, avoiding her executing him was all that mattered.

Even though she didn’t always need solid evidence to execute him.

Zhao Hanzhang spent the whole night reading through the recent documents from Xie County, also glancing at the household and tax records, getting a preliminary understanding of Xie County’s situation.

Meanwhile, Fu Tinghan was already seated in the midst of a pile of county annals and account books.

Both of them were quite busy, but amidst the busyness, Zhao Hanzhang took the time to personally meet with the influential families in the county, learning more about Xie County and Nanyang Country from them.

Nanyang Country is a very special place.

Its status as a country signifies its geographical importance.

And it is precisely because of its importance that makes the counties within a little hard to control; everyone has their own ideas and is not very willing to listen to the Prefectural Governor of Nanyang Country.

Of course, the Prefectural Governor of Nanyang Country didn’t have much to order this time either; this time, he set the example by levying high commercial taxes on passing merchants and expelling refugees.

From Gao Cheng and the influential families in the county, Zhao Hanzhang learned that the Prefectural Governor of Nanyang Country not only levied high taxes on passing merchants but also on them.

"They say it’s because Prince Nanyang needs to raise soldiers to protect the Great Jin, hence the need to gather provisions," Zhao Hanzhang kicked off her shoes, mimicking people of this era by sitting cross-legged on the mat, with a brazier at her feet, she sighed and said, "I don’t know if Prince Nanyang truly has such control in Nanyang Country or if Pei He is acting under the guise of Prince Nanyang."

Fu Tinghan asked, "What do you plan to do?"

Zhao Hanzhang replied, "Regardless of whether it’s Prince Nanyang’s intention or Pei He’s private action, in Yu State, there can only be one will, and Nanyang Country belongs to Yu State, so it must obey me!"

Zhao Hanzhang had already made up her mind, "Pei He must be replaced."

"But he is a Prefectural Governor, unlike Governor Zhang back then during wartime; you can’t just kill him as you please," Fu Tinghan knew that there are rules in officialdom, and Zhao Hanzhang, seeking to attract talent, must adhere to certain rules,

She can execute a County Magistrate for dereliction of duty, corruption, and bribery, but cannot kill a Prefectural Governor without trial for such reasons.

Governor Zhang was an exception; at that time, it was wartime, a fight for survival, and even killing a couple of Prefectural Governors was permissible, but not now. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡•𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮•𝕟𝕖𝕥

Zhao Hanzhang also understood this point.

She tapped her fingers lightly and suddenly raised her head, saying, "Then I’ll make him voluntarily resign."

"Hmm?" Fu Tinghan raised his head, looking at her in confusion.

Zhao Hanzhang slightly lifted her chin and said, "I will make him voluntarily resign!"

The essence, of course, lies in the word "will." So the question is, how can she make Pei He voluntarily resign?

Zhao Hanzhang went to bed early and announced the next day that she had caught a cold and needed to stay behind closed doors to recuperate.

But in fact, she quietly left Xie County with Qiu Wu, taking only a hundred men as they quickly headed towards Lu Yang.

In the main courtyard behind the county government courtyard, only Fu Tinghan remained.

Zhao Erlang was staying with the soldiers. He ran in like a gust of wind, glanced around, didn’t see his sister, and immediately looked for Fu Tinghan, "Brother-in-law, they say Sister is sick, where is she?"

Fu Tinghan said, "She took some medicine and went to sleep."

Seeing Zhao Erlang wanted to go see her, he then said, "The snow is heavy these days, and we’ve been traveling in the wind for several days. You might feel some cold too, do you want a bowl of medicine to prevent it?"

Zhao Erlang immediately stood up straight, looked around left and right, and said, "Brother-in-law, Sister asked me to keep an eye on Gao Cheng and not let him make any moves. I’m going to check on him; I’ll have my meal with the army at noon and not come back."

Fu Tinghan didn’t stop him, shook his head, and continued to look down at the county annals in his hands.