After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times

Zhao Hanzhang took the article to Hu Jin, asking him to stop the engraving of the book and engrave this article first.

Hu Jin took it and looked; he can now recognize many characters, and he recognizes nearly half of the characters in this article.

Unlike those children just beginning their education, he has always been engaged in engraving work, exposed to many characters.

Although he does not know all of them, only knowing how to engrave the raised text from a print, and no one has taught him how to read these characters or their meanings, practice makes perfect in everything, even in engraving.

He can remember many raised texts and naturally also remembers many of the characters used in creating raised texts. Zhao Hanzhang has the top students teach him and the apprentices to recognize characters.

He can learn faster than the apprentices in the school, and his writing is also excellent.

Hu Jin stared blankly at the manuscript in his hand, hesitantly asking, "This seems to be a scolding article."

Zhao Hanzhang nodded, "Yet it scolds with great skill. Such a fine article should be shared with the world; it would be a pity not to. Engrave it, and print more copies."

Zhao Hanzhang thought about it and said, "Print a thousand copies first. Remember to give me the original draft. For the rest of the engraved copies, design a cover; let’s sell it as a booklet."

Hu Jin asked, "What’s the price?"

"Set a low price, three cents per copy. Wang Yan is worth this price." Hu Jin felt this was a harsh scold as well, even though he didn’t know who Wang Yan was, but when are books ever priced at three cents per copy?

Although these are just a few pages of letters, quite a few characters are on them, and to Hu Jin they seem valuable. Anything with characters is valuable.

Zhao Hanzhang gave the instructions and happily left.

Indeed, Zhao Cheng knew that Zhao Hanzhang had taken his letter out for engraving and planned to widely announce it without much reaction.

If it could awaken Wang Yan, it would be a good thing; if not, letting the ambitious men of the world see it could provoke more thought, without regret in forming this enmity.

For now, the matter of enmity is set aside; the urgent issue is the tax problem.

Zhao Ming still called Zhao Hanzhang over and said, "I managed to deal with a batch of tax officials, but whether more will come is uncertain, especially now that apart from Xiping and Shangcai, all are struggling in Ru Nan County."

"The prefecture ambassador doesn’t hide the fact that the increased taxes from other counties are due to insufficient contributions from your Xiping and Shangcai. Surely at this moment, many County Magistrates harbor resentment against you, and even the citizens under their rule deeply resent you; in future, be cautious in your comings and goings."

Zhao Hanzhang frowned, "If you ask me, Ru Nan County without a Prefectural Governor should see the prefecture ambassador take on the Prefectural Governor’s responsibilities. Now all county citizens are suffering, with layers of increased taxes simply killing people. Since Inspector He has no intention to engage in this conflict, why force the people so?"

Zhao Ming said, "That’s not something you and I can discuss or decide."

Zhao Hanzhang pressed her lips together; she did not intend for other counties’ citizens to suffer for her, and frowning, began to think hard for a solution. But before she could come up with one, Yu Yang was in chaos!

In the deep night, Zhao Hanzhang was sleeping soundly when the courtyard door suddenly knocked. She immediately opened her eyes and, hearing the urgent knocking, lifted the bedcovers, got off, reached for the sword hanging on the wall, held it, and went out.

A servant was awakened, already jogging to open the door. Ting He, bewildered, ran over with disheveled hair, "Lady, what’s the matter?"

"It’s nothing," Zhao Hanzhang looked around and said, "Send someone over the wall to check on Mr. Fu."

Ting He said "Oh," and with people jumped the wall to the neighbor’s, while Fu Tinghan stood quietly under the corridor, listening to the movement, watching them climb over the wall.

The maids carrying swords and sticks felt somewhat awkward under Fu Tinghan’s gaze and couldn’t help but look to the leading Ting He.

Ting He also felt a bit flustered, hurriedly explaining, "It’s the lady who sent us over."

Fu Tinghan nodded to them, still standing under the corridor, listening intently for a moment until hearing the sound of the courtyard door opening, with hurried footsteps entering the door. Shortly, someone came over from next door, inviting Fu Tinghan, "Mr. Fu, the lady invites you over for a discussion."

Fu Tinghan then went over.

Ting He started muttering, "Mr. Fu isn’t afraid of our lady being in danger, waits here all the time..."

Fu An walking with her heard and after glancing at her, said, "This is Xiping County Government; not far away is your lady’s military camp. How can danger reach the backyard of the county government?"

"Yet our lady still called us over to protect Mr. Fu."

Fu An looked her up and down disdainfully, "Just you all?"

Ting He was annoyed, raising the stick swiftly, glaring at him coldly, asking, "Say that again, what’s wrong with us? Should we have a match?"

If there’s a fight, so be it; who’s afraid of whom?

Fu An immediately looked at Fu Tinghan, "Mr. Fu..."

Fu Tinghan considered and said, "It’s late today; if you want to compete, pick a time tomorrow. Go to the drill ground; don’t break things at home."

Fu An agreed with Ting He, "Tomorrow noon, drill ground competition."

Ting He said, "Compete then!"

The one knocking was Ji Yuan, along with a small clerk from Yu Yang County. Is it unexpected?

The clerk was holding a cup of hot water, crying while drinking, pleading Zhao Hanzhang to send troops, "Those rebels came suddenly, coupled with someone inside the city responding, thus very quickly. They first broke into the Governor Mansion, killed the prefecture ambassador, and then attacked the county government. The County Magistrate is now barely holding, but the rebels are too many; the government officials are afraid they won’t last long. We plead Lady Zhao to send troops to quell the rebellion."

Zhao Hanzhang asked, "Where did those rebels come from?"

"Really don’t know where they came from."

Zhao Hanzhang frowned, "Did they come from outside the county, or are they locals causing trouble, surely you know?"

Seeing the clerk only wipe his tears without speaking, Zhao Hanzhang said, "Now County Magistrate Sun is trapped in the county government; if we attack, it would be from outside. If it stimulates the rebels within the city, I’m afraid they might harm County Magistrate Sun’s family. If only we know where they came from, we’d better counteract."

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The clerk then said, "Most are locals, a few are refugees from outside the county. But leading among them is a refugee mixed with the vagrants, probably inciting trouble by exploiting the summer tax issue."

Zhao Hanzhang asked, "Who is that, do you know?"

"Don’t know, mixed in with the vagrants, heard called Chen Wan."

Zhao Hanzhang didn’t know either, so after pondering for a moment, said, "I will mobilize troops, and please tell me how many rebels there are? Also, how does your County Magistrate collect the summer tax?"

How else to collect?

The prefecture ambassador was in Yu Yang County, under his heavy pressure, County Magistrate Sun could only forcibly collect. So, recently, the most lively place in Yu Yang County was the human market; men dragged their daughters and sons to sell at the marketplace, selling them couldn’t raise enough tax, so they sold their wives. If still insufficient...

Then the whole family packs up and runs away overnight directly.

Some cannot even escape, with village chiefs having people guard the roads; some, afraid of implicating relatives, are hanging themselves, jumping into the river, eating arsenic – there are some.

Also for this reason, when Chen Wan called out, many citizens, unable to survive, responded in a frenzy, surrounded the county city, and then rushed into Yu Yang County, first jumping into the Governor Mansion and killing the prefecture ambassador, opening the storeroom to split the food, and then surrounding the county government.