After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times

Because it got dark quickly, Zhao Hanzhang simply invited Xie Shi to stay at Zhao Mansion for the night.

Of course, Zhao Erlang and his three hundred personal soldiers also went back together. Although he said it was alright to camp in the abandoned house, Zhao Hanzhang felt it was fine too, but... She had a house, so why let her soldiers suffer?

So she took them back.

Zeng Yue saw so many people and quietly went down to make arrangements.

The next day, Zhao Hanzhang got up early to practice spear training and saw the courtyard already lined with two military teams, facing each other in drills.

The servants of Zhao Mansion carefully slipped past them and avoided them from a distance.

As Zhao Hanzhang belatedly realized, she seemed to have turned her own home into a military camp.

But the thought quickly passed, and she didn’t care anymore.

Let it be a military camp then, home is just a place to eat and sleep, having so many personal soldiers here is safe.

Seeing that she didn’t seem to mind, Zeng Yue asked, "My lady, are these three hundred personal soldiers that Erlang brought back going to stay at home permanently? Should we re-arrange the home for them?"

Otherwise, it’s a bit cramped.

Zhao Hanzhang casually nodded.

So Zeng Yue ordered people to cut down some flowers and trees at Zhao Mansion, and moved the stones a bit. The courtyard where Zhao Ji and his sons lived was also modified, with all the furniture in the houses moved to the warehouse, and a row of beds laid out.

Zhao Mansion officially became Zhao’s personal guard camp.

In the large mansion, there were over eight hundred soldiers, nine servants, five maids, and the large kitchen was also turned into a military mess hall.

As Zhao Hanzhang came and went, she didn’t notice anything strange. Instead, she felt that Zhao Mansion was becoming more orderly, except for the ugly little burned area. So she said to Zeng Yue, "The personal soldiers at home, aside from practicing, should build up the wall there when they’re free. Tear down what’s needed, build what’s needed. By the way, Ting He said, recently the expenses on vegetables are quite high, let them push over the half-collapsed wall, use half as a training field and half as a vegetable garden."

Zeng Yue loudly agreed and turned around to take people to work.

Meanwhile, Zhao Hu, after much calculation and hesitation, carefully selected five plots of land, including the one with the Wang Family’s mansion.

Zhao Erlang had already received the appointment letter, changed into the County Magistrate’s official robe, and taken office. Zhao Zheng also received the appointment letter and officially joined the officialdom.

The two brothers were now huddled together, looking at the purchase list and prices sent by Zhao Hu’s manager.

Before leaving the house today, Sister reminded him that the Wang Family land couldn’t be sold randomly, so he drew a line through the mansion on the list, then put a checkmark beside the other four mansions to indicate his agreement.

Just as Zhao Zheng finished reading the list to him, he couldn’t stop him in time and silently glanced at the marks on the paper, then said, "Yongtang... County Lord, this list is not meant for you to mark."

Zhao Yong didn’t grasp his meaning and said righteously, "The Wang Family land can’t be sold."

Zhao Zheng said, "I know it can’t be sold, but it’s not for you to mark it. This needs to be submitted to the Ministry of Revenue for their review and marking. Our county office is just a middle transmitter."

Zhao Erlang was taken aback, "Is that so? Then why did Sister remind me not to sell the Wang Family mansion this morning?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Zheng immediately looked around and, seeing only Lv Hu and Zhao Cai in the main hall, breathed a sigh of relief, and whispered, "County Lord, the words that the Great General reminded you of can’t be told to a third person, nor can they be spoken publicly."

This is a secret, a secret.

It’s just a land sale, how is it a secret? It’s not like it’s for war.

"Such a thing is secret too?"

Zhao Zheng nodded seriously, "It is a secret."

Zhao Erlang pursed his mouth and asked, "Since we can’t mark it, couldn’t the Ministry of Revenue submit the list directly themselves, why do they have to let us submit it? Isn’t this redundant?"

"It’s not redundant," Zhao Zheng said, "Luoyang is under the jurisdiction of Luoyang County. After the Ministry of Revenue agrees, our county office still needs to dismiss contracts and process land and house contracts, and the supervision of construction also falls under our county office. So the list needs to pass through the county office for submission so we understand the process."

He added, "Moreover, if the list passes through the county office, it can form a mutual supervision relationship with the Ministry of Revenue to prevent anyone from privately buying and selling."

For example, his grandfather once wanted to seize those mansions without paying or by spending very little money.

Zhao Erlang seemed to understand but still realized that the marking wasn’t his task, looking worriedly at the list, "What should I do with this? I’ve already marked it. If others find out, they’ll definitely write to Sister to scold me again."

Zhao Erlang occasionally faces impeachment.

Zhao Zheng looked at him and smiled, asking Lv Hu to bring a fire basin, throwing the two marked lists into the fire basin to burn them, then told Zhao Cai, "Go tell the manager waiting outside that the County Lord accidentally spilled tea on the list, causing it to be void. Let them rewrite another one and submit it."

Zhao Cai glanced at Zhao Erlang before responding and leaving.

Zhao Erlang was stunned, there was such a process? If it were him, he could only submit the marked list to Chang Ning and plead with Chang Ning not to tell others, or let Zhao Cai find a way to transcribe a new one?

Zhao Zheng seemed to know what he was thinking, saying, "You can’t privately let anyone transcribe a new one. As a public official, doing so is forgery, a serious crime."

"Since the document hasn’t been stamped and issued, you can burn it or tear it and let them resubmit it, but you can’t forge it."

Zhao Erlang seemed to understand but obediently nodded.

Zhao Zheng smiled at him and said, "Don’t worry, soon the County Lord will be dealing with countless documents of various types. Once you do it enough, you’ll know."

Indeed, this period is the busiest for Luoyang County Government, with people settling down, buying land and houses, and those eligible coming to divide land; there are those reclaiming previous land and houses, and those coming to collect debts.

Oh, back when Zhao Hanzhang conquered Luoyang, she had no money or food, so she once gave IOUs to the wealthy in Luoyang.

These once wealthy individuals might have encountered misfortunes over the past two years, with some families falling into poverty, so they can only come to collect debts now.

Various miscellaneous documents gave Zhao Erlang a headache.

That’s right, he was listening, not reading.

His literacy is limited, requiring great effort to recognize those twisted characters, and there are many characters he doesn’t recognize, so his reading speed is really slow. That’s why Lv Hu and Zhao Cai, on his left and right, take turns reading these documents to him, then he gives his decisions, and they note them down.

Zhao Erlang: ...

After listening, he realized that his ability to handle documents was quite limited, so he could only sit by Zhao Zheng’s side and handle them together, which was actually Zhao Zheng teaching him how to handle them.

Oh, the list from Zhao Hu received a swift approval from the Ministry of Revenue, with the same markings as Zhao Erlang’s, where the Wang Family mansion was crossed out, and the other four were checked.

Additionally, four contracts were sent out simultaneously, which Zhao Hu needs to sign to purchase the four plots.