After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times-Chapter 600 - 594: He Made Me Do It

Fu Tinghan: "Hanzhang said she wants to personally cook a dish for everyone."

He looked up and smiled, "Everyone should be very happy and touched to taste a dish she cooked herself, right?"

Zhao Kuan: ...

He wasn’t sure, he was just a bit scared.

Hesitating for a moment, he still asked, "Hanzhang... has she learned how to cook?"

"No," Zhao Hanzhang answered him directly from over there, while cutting off more meat from a lamb spine bone, and glancing back at Zhao Kuan, "Brother Kuan, you can ask me directly, asking him won’t help because he doesn’t know either."

Fu Tinghan smiled at Zhao Hanzhang and said to Zhao Kuan, "Don’t worry, even if she hasn’t formally learned, her cooking skills won’t be bad."

When they were in middle school, her parents were very busy, and like him, she lived with their grandfather in the big compound.

Grandpa Zhao would occasionally come to the compound to play chess, and he often boasted about her, saying she could cook. Many times, when he came home, the meals would already be prepared and were especially delicious. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Even if there was a bit of a grandfather’s filter, it certainly wouldn’t be bad, otherwise how could Grandpa Zhao praise her like that?

Zhao Kuan, seeing how confident Fu Tinghan was, assumed he had tasted it before and felt reassured. He looked around, felt it wasn’t right to stand by doing nothing, so he brought a small stool to sit on and joined Fu Tinghan in picking vegetables.

After all, he wouldn’t be chopping meat bones.

Nor was it his turn, Zhao Erlang loved chopping meat. He thought killing just two sheep was too little, and he persuaded Zhao Hanzhang on the side, "Sister, there are so many people to treat tonight, how can this little meat be enough? Let’s kill another one."

Zhao Hanzhang glanced at him and leisurely said, "I don’t mind, these eight sheep were exchanged with the fabric Mother gave for you and Tinghan. I originally planned to send two over when you return to Xin’an, but if you want to eat them now, we can have them taken out and killed?"

Zhao Erlang rejoiced, only choosing to hear what he liked, "Sister, are you really giving me two sheep?"

Zhao Hanzhang made a sound of acknowledgment. The kid is still growing, couldn’t shortchange him on meat, but having him run back home every now and then wasn’t good either. When she trained in the army, she often heard complaints because Zhao Erlang frequently traveled between Xin’an and Luoyang, with scattered bandits hidden in the countryside, making them harder to find.

If they truly reformed, went to the local village chief to register, turning from scattered bandits to registered civilians, then fine, but instead, they hid and occasionally emerged to rob nearby people.

Local people suffering from scattered bandits was generally a matter for local authorities to handle, but as Luoyang was still recovering, Zhao Kuan had too much to handle and couldn’t attend to this, and his hundred or so government officials were hardly able to do anything.

So Zhao Hanzhang, witnessing the chaos, split Luoyang in two, with half under the Xiliang Army and half under her Zhao Family Army, responsible for clearing out the bandits and rogues in the domain. They would pacify those they could and use force if necessary.

Every three months, based on the number of bandits captured and bandit-related cases like theft and robbery happening within the area, rewards were given to those who performed the best.

The rewards weren’t much, either two sheep, a pig, or some medicinal herbs, all useful for the army.

Because Zhao Erlang was keen on returning home to eat meat, it made it harder for soldiers to capture bandits, and whenever he encountered bandits, he would basically eliminate them on the spot, but the people he defeated would be brought back to Xin’an as military slaves or soldiers, and those achievements would be his, not counted towards the Zhao Family Army or Xiliang Army in Luoyang.

So many soldiers had complaints.

But Zhao Hanzhang couldn’t teach her brother to ignore bandits or turn a blind eye to robberies he encountered.

So she could only teach her subordinates that if they didn’t do their job well, they shouldn’t blame others for cleaning up their mess.

As long as the bandit problem remained unresolved, who knew how many people would be harmed each day.

Instead of focusing on the achievements taken by Zhao Erlang, it was better to look at the people saved.

However, some soldiers still couldn’t help but resent Zhao Erlang. Zhao Hanzhang said to Zhao Erlang, "There are still many bandits in Xin’an, right? I have decided, after the Dragon Boat Festival, to have Zhao Family Army patrol the countryside in groups to thoroughly clear the bandits in Luoyang."

She said, "At that time, five centurions will form a group, divided into twenty groups, spreading outwards from Luoyang, and your Zhao Family Army should also clear out the bandits in Xin’an. These two sheep you take back, don’t eat them alone, involve your Assistant Generals, Colonels, Standard Bearers, Team Leaders, Centurions, and listen to their opinions."

Zhao Erlang nodded, but was more concerned about the bandit issue, "Sister, what if the bandits run out of Xin’an and into He Yin? Can I go to He Yin to catch them?"

Zhao Hanzhang raised an eyebrow when she heard this, and asked, "What’s your relationship with the County Magistrate of He Yin?"

Zhao Erlang pursed his lips and said, "Not good at all. Last month, we went more than half a month without rain, and the proso millet was dry. Song brocade took people to fetch water for irrigation, and also asked me to take soldiers to dig canals for irrigation, but the County Magistrate of He Yin took people to stop us, saying we were stealing their water."

Zhao Erlang said, "They were very fierce, and the people from He Yin County almost smashed Song brocade’s head open. Thankfully, I arrived just in time."

Speaking of this, Zhao Erlang was very proud and boastfully asked Zhao Hanzhang for praise, "I kicked the County Magistrate of He Yin to the ground right away. I told him I was the one who fetched the water; if he wanted to settle scores, he should come to me."

Then they ran away dejectedly.

Zhao Hanzhang: ... No wonder she received a reprimand from Yun City yesterday, saying she lacked discipline over her subordinates, allowing them to offend court officials.

She was thinking about inquiring about who did such a good deed behind her back after the Dragon Boat Festival, and it turned out to be him!

Zhao Hanzhang raised her eyes and looked at him quietly, asking, "So the water you fetched crossed boundaries?"

"No," Zhao Erlang said, "Song brocade specifically instructed not to fetch water from the lands under He Yin territories, so I just dug a canal to let the water flow to our side, then dug a big pond, and Song brocade fetched water from that pond."

Zhao Erlang countered the accusation against the County Magistrate of He Yin, "It was him who came to our Xin’an, huh."

Zhao Hanzhang understood, she pondered and then asked, "Was it all instructed by Song brocade?"

Although he was told not to tell Sister about these things, with her in front of him, Zhao Erlang completely forgot about Song brocade’s instructions and nodded directly, "Yes."

Zhao Hanzhang mused, "Not bad, recommended by Uncle Ming, impressive."

Song brocade is the new County Magistrate of Xin’an County, recommended by Zhao Ming. Last year, he passed the recruitment exam, first served as Chief Clerk, then as a little recorder beside Zhao Ming. This year, as Zhao Hanzhang needed someone to oversee Xin’an and Guy City, Zhao Ming recommended several people to her.

Zhao Hanzhang only used one Song brocade, while the magistrate of Guy City was a recommendation by Ji Yuan, Tan Jize—the same Tan Jize who once wanted to use a honey trap on Zhao Hanzhang, but never got the chance to execute it.