After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times

"He is still too impatient, wanting to use Gou Xi to repel Prince East Sea, yet forgetting that without Prince East Sea, there is now another Gou Xi."

Zhao Hanzhang’s judgment comes not only from historical records but also from her understanding of Gou Xi.

Last time when Gou Chun attempted to assassinate her, Gou Xi’s manner of handling the situation made her realize that he was no longer the fair and strict Gou Xi of the past.

People change, especially after gaining power.

How many in history have lost themselves in their lust for power and ambition? Without mentioning distant times, even in the Wei Jin period, how many heroes and figures of renown ended up wallowing in debauchery and luxury?

Even Gou Xi and Liu Kun, whom she always greatly admired, were not exempt.

While writing a letter to Fu Tinghan, Zhao Hanzhang reminded herself inwardly that she must not be like them in the future, forgetting her original intentions, and that she must remain rooted in serving the people.

Zhao Hanzhang sealed the letter, then picked out some information from the desk and tossed it into the brazier to burn, while some were put into a box and locked.

After everything was settled, she stretched her neck and walked out of the tent, where not far away, someone was digging a foundation.

Zhao Hanzhang strolled over, and people in the pit greeted her with salutes and loud greetings, "Lord Zhao, out for a walk again?"

These days, they have been working here and have become accustomed to Zhao Hanzhang occasionally coming out for a walk. It is said that it’s because she reads too many documents and needs a break, to rest her eyes.

But they felt it was just an excuse from Zhao Hanzhang, thinking she mostly came out to check on them, just too shy to admit it, and everyone kindly didn’t expose her.

Look, she squatted by the pit and asked, "It’s cold today, and frost is likely tonight. Are your sleeping places ready?"

"We’ve already set up straw sheds as you instructed. We’ll huddle together, and it will be warm at night. Forget frost, we wouldn’t fear snow, either."

"Yes, yes, we aren’t afraid."

"Considering the days, it should have snowed here, yet it hasn’t this year, has it?"

"Though there’s been no snow, the weather is still this cold. Last night I fell asleep and later felt chill seeping in, it woke me up. When I looked outside, it was still dark, not a glimmer of light, nor did I know what hour it was."

Zhao Hanzhang listened quietly, contemplating inwardly. She knew that this era was right at the Little Ice Age, with frequent natural disasters, impacting not only the Central Plains but also causing severe losses on the prairie.

The large-scale invasions of the Central Plains by nomadic tribes were partly due to this; as cold waves struck, many cattle and sheep on the prairie perished, and coupled with the nature of nomadic peoples, they moved southward to plunder the Han people.

Zhao Hanzhang sighed inwardly, but showed a smile on her face, joking with them, "In such cold, prepare more thatched grass. Do you know where there’s thatch? I’ll go cut some with you."

She said with a smile, "Besides, I need to add some thatch to my tent as well."

Upon hearing this, everyone was a bit surprised and skeptical, hurriedly asking, "Does Lord Zhao use thatch for warmth too?"

Zhao Hanzhang nodded with a smile, "Thatch works well for bedding."

This immediately made everyone feel closer to Zhao Hanzhang, and they laughed, "Right, right, thatch makes for a soft bed. If you need some, I’ll cut some for you next time."

Zhao Hanzhang did not object, observing the foundation they had dug, and nodded in satisfaction, "It should be finished today."

"Yes, we can start driving stakes tomorrow. It’s just that bricks are still not readily available, but with a bit of waiting, they will be."

Zhao Hanzhang pointed at the area of land and asked, "If the timber and stone can be supplied, how long will it take for you to build this area?"

Several people started discussing, "At least fifty days, right?"

"It shouldn’t take that long, should it? We have so many people?"

"Pretty much, it took us two days just to dig the foundation. The time shouldn’t be too short, and the bricks also need firing and the sunbaked bricks need drying..."

Zhao Hanzhang listened to their discussion, extracting the answer she wanted, and smiled, "If it can be completed within fifty days, then everyone won’t miss the spring plowing."

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Upon hearing about the spring plowing, everyone pricked up their ears and asked eagerly, "Lord Zhao, County Magistrate Chen said you’re going to distribute land and seeds to us, is that true?"

Actually, they weren’t short of land; with people dying everywhere, there was land everywhere. Looking at those lands overgrown with weeds, one knew their owners were gone, and anyone could take them over.

But having land was one thing; seeds were hard to come by.

They couldn’t just plant without seeds.

Zhao Hanzhang smiled and nodded, "Yes, I will provide the grain seeds. What would you like to plant?"

"Wheat, perhaps? It’s a pity winter is over, but spring wheat can still be planted."

"Yes, plant spring wheat. If luck holds next year and there’s no war, after harvesting the spring wheat we can plant beans."

Zhao Hanzhang asked, "Why not continue planting winter wheat? I see that mostly winter wheat is grown around here."

"Naturally, we will plant it, but on another piece of land," an older middle-aged man explained, "The land has limited fertility, and there’s little manure. After one season of wheat, it needs to rest for a season. We can plant beans to nourish the soil, preventing it from becoming barren."

Another young man added, "Anyway, there’s plenty of land now. This one isn’t suitable for wheat, we’ll switch locations, planting both spring and winter wheat."

"Places with abundant water can also be used to grow rice. Lord Zhao, I am good at growing rice, will you be providing rice seeds too?"

Zhao Hanzhang affirmed, "Of course, I will. I love eating white rice too."

"White rice," they said dreamily, "I vaguely remember its taste. Come to think of it, it really is delicious."

Zhao Hanzhang sighed, "It’s a pity my abilities are limited, I can only provide you with mixed grain buns and coarse grain porridge."

Everyone rushed to say, "Lord Zhao is already very good, there aren’t many officials like you in the world."

"Not many? I’ve never seen one like you."

Zhao Hanzhang liked to hear them praise her, and upon hearing this, she smiled warmly, while internally reminding herself not to let such words sway her decisions in the future.

Indeed, everyone has inherent weaknesses.

Even the emperor likes to be flattered; having heard Fu Zhi say that Zhao Hanzhang highly esteems him, not only did she rescue Fu Zhi’s 20,000-strong army, but she also insisted Fu Zhi lead troops back to Luoyang to guard him.

Therefore, when the matter of formally appointing Zhao Hanzhang as the Yu State Governor was raised by Fu Zhi, the emperor agreed with only brief hesitation.

However, this decree was still withheld, as although Prince East Sea was not in the Capital City, his people were.

Now that Zhao Hanzhang was fiercely clashing with Prince East Sea, his people naturally wouldn’t let the decree go out.

When the emperor and Fu Zhi finally managed to barely stabilize the Capital City with those 20,000 troops, replacing quite a few officials, Prince East Sea returned with his army.

Even Fu Zhi couldn’t help but lament that heaven was not on the emperor’s side.

If only Prince East Sea had returned a few days later, they would have successfully cut off his rear support.