"That’s because they’re orphans, and after finishing their studies, they have to serve the Great General. Our children aren’t orphans."

"I even wish they were orphans. In the past, I thought about dropping my child at the school gate, pretending they were orphans so they could study and learn skills." One person said, "That’s the school personally opened by the Great General. In the future, once they’ve learned well, they can serve the General. Isn’t that better than us toiling in the soil, wandering and displaced?"

Following Zhao Hanzhang, even if a war breaks out again, the chances of survival are better than sticking with them. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

So when the regulations came out, he was among those who immediately sent their children to school.

But more people wanted their children to work at home, so they restrained them from going to school.

Don’t be fooled by the children’s small size; they can actually do a lot. There are countless three-year-olds who can barely speak but can be taken to the fields to pull weeds. At five, they can plant rice, scatter wheat seeds, plant vegetables, and catch insects...

When they’re a bit older, they can wield a hoe.

Farming is tedious, yet it requires a lot of manpower.

They have been allocated land, and there are taxes to be paid every year; they must work hard.

In Luoyang City, six out of ten households are headed by widows, orphans, and the elderly with children, lacking the young and strong. This means they need to spend more time in the fields.

Zhao Hanzhang is also aware of this, and she’s quite troubled by it. Currently, there’s no better solution.

As for the manpower issue, she can’t just create machinery to share the labor with them.

Zhao Hanzhang sighed repeatedly as she left the watermill, slowing her horse down and leisurely heading towards the Capital City.

By this time, the sun had already set. At the city gates, large bonfires were being lit, and people continued lining up to be inspected before entering the city.

Because they were divided into six groups, the speed was fast, but unfortunately, they carried too many goods that needed to be checked and accounted for, so there were still many people and caravans clogged outside.

Knowing that the city gates wouldn’t close that night, some clever citizens made pancakes, steamed buns, and dumplings at home, and after confirming with the gatekeeping soldiers that they could go out and come back in, they immediately took their wares out and started selling along the queue.

Now, only the stewards, clerks, and guards were left, while their masters had already entered the city.

But even the stewards, clerks, and guards have appetites. When there’s nothing else, they’ll naturally gnaw on dry rations. Now, the peddler lifted a corner of a cloth, and the steam from the bamboo baskets billowed out, ascending in wisps in the dusk light, and the aroma spread with the smoke, rushing into their noses.

The clerks’ stomachs couldn’t help but rumble, and the steward, filling out the entry documents by the last bit of light, also couldn’t help but follow the scent with his gaze.

He glanced at the queue ahead, estimated that it would take half an hour to reach their turn, then rolled up the documents, put them away, and walked over with his hands behind his back, asking, "How much for these dumplings?"

The peddler bent down and said, "The plain ones are three cents for two, and the stuffed ones are two cents each."

"What’s in the stuffing?"

"Pickled mustard and pork, and cabbage and pork stuffing."

The steward raised his eyebrows upon hearing this, "Is there a lot of meat?"

The peddler smiled, "Not much, but they’re juicy. The meat in our dumplings is all fatty, with just a tiny bit of lean meat. Once you chop it up, you definitely won’t taste a bit of lean meat."

The steward, hearing this, immediately said, "Give us twenty-eight plain dumplings, and thirty stuffed ones."

Including him, there were twenty-eight of them staying here.

The steward turned to the clerks and guards, "Divide them up, two dumplings per person. Take them and quickly return to your posts to watch over things. Once the boss makes a move, our good days will come."

The clerks and guards happily agreed and lined up in groups to get their share.

The peddler happily lifted the cloth curtain to give them the dumplings. Since there was no container, each person was handed a plain dumpling and a stuffed one. When there was one plain one and three stuffed ones left, the steward took them himself.

The peddler wrapped them up for him in a leaf and discreetly added an extra meat dumpling.

The steward was very pleased with this, counted out two cents for him, and then handed over a string of coins, "Check if the count is correct."

The peddler chuckled. He couldn’t possibly do the math, so he called out to the distance, and a teenage boy came running over shortly.

The peddler said, "Xiao Liu, this steward bought twenty-eight plain dumplings and thirty stuffed ones."

The boy instantly answered, "One hundred and two coins."

The peddler presented the string of coins for him to see.

The boy’s fingers skimmed quickly over the copper coins, and he quickly returned them to the peddler, "It’s correct."

The peddler beamed, repeatedly thanking the steward, "It’s all correct, it’s all correct, thank you for your business, sir."

The steward nodded, curiously eyeing the boy, "Is he your son?"

"Huh? No, no," the peddler quickly shook his hand with a smile, "He’s the neighbor’s kid, quite the scholar, especially good at arithmetic."

In the distance, someone else called out "Xiao Liu," and the boy, after saluting the steward and the peddler, turned and ran off to tally accounts for another person.

The steward couldn’t help but marvel, "This is truly amazing, isn’t it? In the past, who could have imagined a scholar running errands for a peddler to do their accounting?"

The steward from the neighboring caravan strolled over, waving a pancake, "In the past? Have you ever seen the capital’s gates stay open all night for us merchants and travelers?"

His hand made a sweeping gesture, "Look, only folks like us are left outside the city, so what if the gates were to close? Yet the Great General keeps the city gates open for us all night and the officials in the county government, and students from the Imperial College inspect for us all through the night."

"In the past, let alone it happening, even having such a thought would be a crime." Therefore, under the Great General’s governance, no matter what happens, he’s never doubtful.

The departing peddler quickly returned with his pole across his shoulders, his stride brisk. He had sold out his goods, and when passing by them, he smiled at the steward, then jogged into the city.

Ordinary folks like him could quickly pass in and out of the city gates, without special inspection. On entry, they just needed the gatekeeping soldier to glance at the empty bamboo baskets.

Once inside the city, the peddler moved even faster, almost running all the way home.

His home bustled with activity, his mother and wife, along with two widowed sisters-in-law, were leading a group of children in making dumplings, his mother covering the kneaded dough with a cloth and placing it on the stove.

With the high temperature there, the dough rose quickly in about half an hour.

Seeing him come back with empty baskets, she was startled, "Couldn’t sell them?"

The old lady’s heart skipped a beat, fearing disaster as they had kneaded a lot of dough.

Grinning widely, the peddler said, "Sold them all. Mom, there are many more people wanting to buy outside. Are there any freshly made ones? I’ll take a load out again."

Everyone in the kitchen perked up and said hurriedly, "Yes, yes, there are two pots just out; let me pack them for you."

The peddler then handed over the money he earned that night to his mother, "You keep it, so I won’t drop it if I carry it around. Many people are taking food out to sell, so I reckon I can make two more trips. Four more loads should be about right."

Upon hearing this, the old lady became worried again, "We don’t have that much wheat flour at home."

The dumplings were made with a blend of wheat flour and bean flour. They had plenty of bean flour, but not much wheat flour.

Who would mill so much wheat flour at home?

The peddler thought for a moment and said, "Make as much as you can; I’ll sell what you make first."

"Be careful on the road."

"Don’t worry. The gatekeeping soldiers are easy to talk to tonight, and the Zhao Family Army is patrolling outside, so nobody will dare bully us."

If it were any other soldiers, they’d truly be afraid, not just of bandits on the road robbing their dumplings but also of those soldiers robbing. However, the Zhao Family Army wouldn’t do that.

The old lady relaxed, prompting the fifth daughter-in-law to escort the Fifth Son.