After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times

Zhao Hanzhang gave them their injections without any mental burden, and only then did she step out of the medical tent. Fan Ying eagerly came to report, "Lady, they said that sixty miles east along the official road, there is a stronghold in the mountains where the people are particularly fierce. Many young people from their village have gone over there to become bandits rather than stay in the village with them."

Zhao Hanzhang: "Aren’t they still bandits?"

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"A wise bird chooses its tree; perhaps the bandit leader there is more capable and earns more?"

Zhao Hanzhang: "Then go find out clearly. Our next target to wipe out will be their bandit den."

Fan Ying had been by Zhao Hanzhang’s side for a while and knew that before each battle, scouts must first gather information. As Zhao Hanzhang taught Zhao Erlang, information is the key to winning a battle.

Know your enemy and yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without defeat.

Fan Ying accepted the order and plunged back into the newly subjugated bandits.

The two bandit dens weren’t far apart, and many of those who turned to banditry were locals, so information circulated frequently. Seeing Fan Ying’s kind demeanor and that she was a pretty young lady, they were cooperative, spilling everything when asked, "My cousin is up on that mountain being a bandit. He eats much better than outside and can eat two meals a day, filling six-tenths full each meal."

Fan Ying: "You can’t?"

They shook their heads directly, "We only eat once a day. Now that it’s cold, it’s even harder to find food, so going half full is enough to last a day."

A young boy about Fan Ying’s age said with a red face, "Actually, we are weak because we don’t have enough to eat. We were much tougher before."

Fan Ying glanced up at him, "Why, do you still want to take on our Inspector?"

"Wouldn’t dare, wouldn’t dare," said a middle-aged man beside him, giving the boy a slap on the head and placatingly said to Fan Ying, "Young people just like to speak carelessly; how could we dare to attack the Inspector?"

Fan Ying snorted, no longer as polite, and asked directly, "Why become bandits if you can’t even get enough to eat?"

The middle-aged man sighed, "If we were not bandits, we wouldn’t even have this thin porridge."

He continued, "We didn’t intend to become bandits. It’s just that we ran out of food at home, those Xiongnu soldiers are vicious and robbed everything in the village. We had no choice, so we moved out."

"My aunt’s family was here, so my son and I came to rely on them, but their family had all died. We buried them and lived in their house, joining forces with the villagers to survive," he said, "We were just hungry, so we couldn’t help but go out to rob food."

In fact, they felt uneasy and didn’t know what to do.

"Before you came, it was said several times outside that the new Inspector is ruthless and forbids bandits under his jurisdiction, seeing them as enemies."

Fan Ying got angry, "Who is spreading these rumors? Our lord is kind-hearted, can’t you see? Surrender your weapons and you won’t be killed; voluntarily surrender and you are absolved, and even healing is provided. Is there any Inspector better than our lord?"

"Yes, yes, I also think that news is unreliable, because I heard later that after the bandit villages in other places were suppressed, they were still farming in their original places," he cautiously asked, "Lady, can my son and I stay in this village?"

Fan Ying frowned and looked at him, "Isn’t your home Sanshi Village? It’s not far from here, why not return to your original village?"

The middle-aged man smiled bitterly, "The land in Sanshi Village is poorer, far less than here, and our village is already empty. Sending us back, there would only be three households at most if we count fully."

Fan Ying looked down and flipped through the book, finding that, indeed, there were three households from Sanshi Village registered here. She closed the book with a blank expression, "I will bring this matter up with our lord, but the second rumor seems quite reliable. Our lord treats every citizen well and hopes you can repay him."

The middle-aged man repeatedly acknowledged, "Yes."

Fan Ying then changed the subject, speaking to the young man earlier, "Your cousin can eat so well being a bandit up there, why don’t you go?"

The young man was earnestly listening, still mentally focused on staying to farm the land. When he heard this, he hurriedly said, "I wanted to go, but they disliked that I was too skinny and not strong enough, so they didn’t want me."

Fan Ying carefully sized him up. It was true he was skinny, but this era favored thinness; if someone was chubby, that was exceptional—how wealthy must they be?

But he was quite tall, even so, he couldn’t enlist, Fan Ying slightly furrowed her brow and asked, "Then do you know where they get so much food? Didn’t you think of learning from them and storing more food? It’s cold now, and you will need more food later."

"Oh dear, we can’t learn from them; they directly rob the Wu Castle," he said, "Most villages live poorly, the larger ones have built fortresses making it hard to rob. We can only strike at the edges, unlike them, who can storm the Wu Castle to steal food."

He added, "They’ve robbed several Wu Castles already, so they don’t lack food."

Upon hearing this, Fan Ying became thoughtful and asked, "Do they have a lot of people?"

"For sure, at least three to four hundred people."

The middle-aged man immediately said, "More than that, right? When they attacked the Chen Family’s Castle, we went to watch. I saw there must be at least five to six hundred people."

By the time Fan Ying finished asking around, the number of bandits in the mountain had grown from three to four hundred to three to four thousand.

Fan Ying: ...

Zhao Kuan looked at this and couldn’t help but laugh, "This indeed has a uniquely similar brilliance as Erlang’s army of a hundred thousand."

Hearing this, Fan Ying immediately snapped the booklet shut and frowned at him, "Why did the lady call you back yet leave Sister Sun in Xiping?"

Suspecting he pulled some strings.

Zhao Kuan: ... Did he want to come?

Since returning to Zhao Hanzhang’s side, when did he ever have a good night’s rest?

Zhao Kuan said seriously, "The lord can send me wherever necessary."

Fan Ying was satisfied upon hearing this and even invited him, "Let’s go report to the lady together."

Zhao Kuan nodded solemnly, revealing a resigned expression behind her after she took a step forward. Who didn’t know that Fan Ying greatly admired Zhao Hanzhang? Anyone daring to speak ill of her in front of Fan Ying would be in trouble later.

Going back and forth from Ru Nan County to the Yu State Governor Mansion, Fan Ying was still in charge of the Household Department, and Zhao Kuan, though called a subordinate general, was doing logistical work, needing to interact with the Household Department frequently.

The two went together to report to Zhao Hanzhang.

Zhao Hanzhang flipped through Fan Ying’s book and listened to the information collected today, sighing, "The people’s livelihood is difficult, and we have a long way to go."

Zhao Hanzhang looked at Zhao Kuan, "Do you know why I made you a subordinate general?"

Zhao Kuan was slightly startled.