After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times-Chapter 666 - 660: Too Extravagant

After half a year, Zhao Hanzhang returned to Chen County.

Zhao Ming brought the officials from the Inspector Mansion and Governor Mansion to greet her outside the city, giving Zhao Hanzhang, the Inspector, great face.

The two parties met at the city gate, both somewhat excited. On Yu State’s side: "Our lord has finally returned, the territory has expanded, and now the area around Luoyang is ours, most of Henan County is under our lord’s control. Can Si Province be far behind?"

Those Zhao Hanzhang brought back felt the triumph of returning home, except for Zhao Hu.

He lifted the curtain to glance outside, then snorted and directly instructed the driver to bypass those ahead and enter the city.

The driver wanted to comply but didn’t dare, so he was gently persuading him, "Sir, how about waiting a bit? The lady is talking to Mr. Ming."

"Are you my driver or hers? When I say go, you go!"

The driver was distressed, cautiously pulling the horse forward two steps when Zhao Hanzhang turned back with a smile to approach him, "Seventh Ancestor, we’ve arrived, you’ve had a hard journey, let’s go into the city."

Zhao Hu snorted and said to the driver, "Let’s go!"

Zhao Hanzhang nodded to the driver, who then drove the carriage past Zhao Hanzhang and the others into the city first.

The crowd frowned slightly, Zhao Ming also disapproved, casting a subtle glance at Zhao Hanzhang.

Zhao Hanzhang looked up and smiled at him, mounted her horse, and led the group into the city.

Mrs. Wang was pacing around at home. She wanted to go out and meet her daughter, but Zhao Ming sent someone to say it was inappropriate for her to leave the city, so she had to stay at home.

When she heard the sound of hooves, she quickly turned and walked briskly towards the door, meeting her daughter at the entrance. Mrs. Wang’s face broke into a bright smile, "Third Lady!"

Zhao Hanzhang hurriedly approached, holding a whip, "Mother..."

Mrs. Wang grabbed her and looked her over, her eyes filling with tears, "Luoyang isn’t far from Chen County, yet you and Second Son didn’t even come back after the war, do you know how worried I was about you?"

She also complained that Zhao Hanzhang wouldn’t let her go to Luoyang, otherwise she would have gone herself to be at ease.

Zhao Hanzhang smiled and let her examine her thoroughly, only speaking once her mother was satisfied, "I’m perfectly safe, I’ve even written letters. There are still scattered soldiers and bandits on the roads, so not allowing Mother to go to Luoyang was out of concern for your safety. See, I’m back now."

Mrs. Wang glanced behind her, seeing Fu Tinghan, she quickly asked him, "Ting Han, were you hurt?"

Fu Tinghan smiled and shook his head, "No, I was in the rear, very safe."

Mrs. Wang looked relieved, glanced around, and asked, "Where’s Second Son?"

"Second Son is guarding Luoyang," Zhao Hanzhang said with a smile, "It was hard for us to capture Luoyang, how could we all leave?"

Actually, Zhao Erlang stayed there digging mud and repairing canals.

Mrs. Wang also thought it made sense, they couldn’t let Luoyang, captured with difficulty, be taken again, so she hurriedly pulled Zhao Hanzhang along to go into the courtyard, "Come, Mother had the kitchen make something delicious for you. Second Son sent a letter saying you were having a hard time, not even having meat."

Zhao Erlang didn’t know many characters, let alone write them, so his servant Lv Hu and Zhao Cai wrote the letter, where he complained about having no meat to eat.

This made Mrs. Wang heartbroken, so she sent money to Zhao Hanzhang several times, but it didn’t much improve their living conditions, as Zhao Hanzhang kept the money for him.

Zhao Hanzhang patted her hand and said, "I just missed Mother and rushed back to see you first. Right now, Uncle Ming and the others are still waiting for me, I’ll see them first and return later."

Mrs. Wang stopped walking, looking at her with a heartbroken expression.

Zhao Hanzhang couldn’t bear it, and quickly said, "Mother, Ting Han and I have only brought one set of clothes, we don’t have many things."

Mrs. Wang’s spirits lifted, and she immediately said, "I’ll arrange it for you, wait here."

Then she called for Ting He and Fu An, who were following the two, took them and their luggage, and hurriedly left.

Zhao Hanzhang sighed in relief and went to the Governor Mansion on the next street to meet Zhao Ming and the others.

Indeed, the Governor Mansion was this close to her Inspector Mansion.

Currently, only Mrs. Wang was living in the Inspector Mansion, most of the official business was handled at the Governor Mansion.

Zhao Hanzhang strode towards the Governor Mansion, Zhao Ming and all the county representatives were there, Xun Xiu, Mi Ce, and Wang Nai had all come personally, and Ji Ping and Song Zhi were also there. Seeing Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan enter, they immediately got up to salute.

Zhao Hanzhang walked to the head position, raised her hand and said, "No need for formalities, sit down and talk."

Zhao Hanzhang sat down, only then did everyone take their seats, Fu Tinghan’s position was just to her lower left, directly across was Zhao Ming.

Zhao Hanzhang said, "Let’s begin, where should we start first?"

Her gaze swept over, fixing on Zhao Ming, she said, "Governor Zhao, you go first."

The summer harvest had ended, each county’s situation was generally clear, and Zhao Ming was now managing Ru Nan County and Liang State, among which Ru Nan County’s situation was the best, Liang State was poorer, but last year they hurriedly planted a batch of winter wheat, and this year’s millet was sowed according to the farming season. Although there were some small droughts, everything was still within control.

In particular, some areas cleared rivers and canals while providing work relief, resulting in timely irrigation and decent harvests. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

This year they began collecting taxes, just reducing some taxes.

"Taxes from both places have been reduced somewhat, and the people are paying quickly. Currently, no citizens have lost land due to tax payments and left."

Zhao Hanzhang nodded with satisfaction, warning everyone, "We spent a lot of effort to gather the refugees, and make them feel secure in farming, so I absolutely will not allow excessive or miscellaneous taxes in the area, forcing them to give up their land and leave."

Her gaze swept over each county’s representative, sternly saying, "If I find out any are disobeying in secret, during my few days in Chen County will be your last chance to voluntarily inform me. After this deadline, any investigation I conduct will result in severe punishment without mercy."

Everyone promptly bowed in agreement.

After the warning, Zhao Hanzhang smiled again, praising the two counties for their good work and encouraging other counties to learn from Ru Nan County and Liang State.

Then she continued listening to reports from other counties.

After hearing reports from ten county representatives, much time has passed.

Zhao Ming nodded to the servants before saying to Zhao Hanzhang, "Lord Inspector, everyone is hungry, how about we eat as we talk?"

"That would be good."

The servants went to bring up the food.

Each table had two meat dishes, one vegetable dish, and a soup. Considering that most present were military men, Zhao Ming had the kitchen place a basket of steamed buns on each table.

The white flour buns were flawless, just the aroma made them enticing.

Zhao Hanzhang washed her hands then picked one up; it was soft and springy. She felt it was delicious even before eating.

She was moved as she took a bite, chewing and then sighed sadly, "Such extravagance~"

Zhao Ming, who had already reduced the meal as much as possible: ...