After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times-Chapter 877 - 863: IOU

Next, Zhao Hanzhang and Shi Le engaged in a pursuit and evasion drama, where she chased him from the outskirts of Cheng County in Puyang Kingdom all the way to the outskirts of Wu’an County in Guangping County.

During this process, they faced off multiple times, and Zhao Hanzhang consistently gained small victories over her opponent.

Even though Shi Le was confident that he would not be defeated by Zhao Hanzhang and was continually regrouping with Shi Army reinforcements, the consecutive defeats still made him uneasy and caused him to question fate.

If he was like this, it was even more so for the soldiers under his command.

It was one thing for Zhao Hanzhang to be popular in Yu State and Yan State, but unexpectedly, even when she entered Si Province, a place ruled for several years by Liu Yuan and Shi Le, the local people welcomed her.

Often, as soon as Shi Le’s army left, someone would seek out Zhao Hanzhang’s troops, voluntarily informing her of the army’s movements, and there were even those with exceptional arithmetic skills who estimated their numbers and supplies before defecting to Zhao Hanzhang.

This made it so that despite Shi Le deliberately creating false trails multiple times, he still couldn’t shake off Zhao Hanzhang.

In this situation, there was only one solution, which was to avoid any populated cities and make his way back to Anping Country through the wilderness.

But his provisions were insufficient, and he needed to replenish supplies while on the run.

How could he replenish them?

Slowly collecting supplies was certainly impossible, so plundering was the best option.

This was almost a vicious cycle; he plundered local people’s possessions, and they turned to Zhao Hanzhang. From the upper-class gentry to the lower-class servants and civilians, they all became Zhao Hanzhang’s informants.

Yet he could not give up, otherwise the soldiers under his command would immediately abandon him. While pillaging for supplies, he also needed to execute prisoners to intimidate his men, to frighten them into not deserting the army.

This was akin to a slow poison.

Shi Le saw it clearly; Zhao Hanzhang grasped it even faster. So even though the battlefront was extended and Zhao Hanzhang’s logistics couldn’t keep up, and they too started to run short on provisions, she still restrained her troops, forbidding them from plundering the people.

She gathered the captains of the various units together and said, "The people are like water, and we are like boats. Even though Si Province is part of Jin State’s territory, after this battle, we will reclaim and govern it anew. If we harm the people now, it would bring endless troubles in the future. Water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it. From Shi Le’s current predicament, we can see how important public support is."

The captains naturally understood, but, "Lord, there are priorities and urgencies. We can’t let the soldiers fight with empty stomachs."

With solemnity, Zhao Hanzhang said, "I will find a way. Your task is to restrain your men, forbidding them from offending the people. This is an absolute order. Any violation, regardless of rank, will be dealt with by military law."

Everyone shivered and bowed their heads in agreement.

Zhao Hanzhang’s solution was to take her seal and borrow provisions everywhere.

Borrowing from the local county government, borrowing from the local gentry and wealthy families.

Initially, many were unwilling, even though she only brought a maid and a trusted aide with her, yet under Zhao Hanzhang’s stern gaze, they still felt threatened.

Who could truly refuse to lend even a grain of rice to the current foremost authority of Jin State?

Reluctantly, they offered supplies and received an IOU stamped with Zhao Hanzhang’s personal seal.

Even though she said one could take this IOU to the Zhao Family Army or the government offices in Xiping, Chen County, and Luoyang to seek repayment, very few dared to actually go.

But there were always a few who took it seriously.

A gentleman from Gong County who was borrowed from indeed took the IOU to the Zhao Family Army Camp.

Zhao Ming, upon receiving the IOU, gritted his teeth and instructed that money be taken out from the already meager military treasury to repay him.

After receiving the money, the gentleman went home with his guards. This became a well-known story, spreading faster than Zhao Hanzhang’s intermittent battles and resting troops.

Moreover, Zhao Ming and Ji Yuan had intentionally facilitated its spread.

Consequently, the news traveled north faster than Zhao Hanzhang’s intermittent battles, even surpassing Shi Le, reaching the places he planned to traverse.

Thus, the people of Si Province and the occupied territories of Bingzhou grew more homesick, even the Xiongnu and Jie people carried some anticipation upon hearing Zhao Hanzhang’s approach.

Although the emperor ruling over them now was a Xiongnu, only the Xiongnu nobility benefited from it. Ordinary Xiongnu, while having a status higher than the Han people and Jie people, still had to bear heavy taxes and military service; their lives weren’t better compared to when Jin ruled them. Instead, influenced by the broader environment, their days became harder.

Especially with this year’s drought.

The northern part of Si Province and Bingzhou suffered from drought far more severely than the Yan State and Yu State areas. At this point, it was already August, and the rice in the fields, along with the wheat, beans, and other crops sown in spring, were gradually ready for harvest.

But the land was splitting open with cracks from dryness, and the sparse crops growing were all wilting, as if they might perish any moment.

Some areas close to water barely had a little harvest, but fields far from any rivers were essentially barren, and even people and livestock had started fighting over water.

In such circumstances, they missed the days under Jin State all the more, having heard that Zhao Hanzhang was kind to the people. Under her rule, regardless of ethnicity, only rank was considered; if one was good, they were good; if one was a slave, they remained a slave. Slaves could also accumulate military merit to become good, and their caste wouldn’t cause a reversal of roles.

Honestly, among the lower-class citizens, few paid attention to who the emperor was. If it was a member of their own ethnicity, then naturally it was good; if not, as long as the days weren’t exceptionally hard, they wouldn’t be very opposed.

As the Shi Army passed through, the citizens of the towns, whether Han, Jie, Xiongnu, or other barbarians, were all in a panic, hiding away. When their doors were broken into for plundering food, most dared not resist.

Those who resisted were killed by the Shi Army with a single strike.

Once they left, some people followed the direction from which the Shi Army came, and soon discovered another formidable army.

Upon confirming the high-flying banner with the character "Zhao," they came forward to report the information.

As soon as Zhao Hanzhang entered the town, the County Magistrate and local gentry came to meet her, first explaining their difficulties: the drought this year, poor yield, and the town having been plundered once already by the Shi Army, so they couldn’t provide much in terms of provisions.

Then they offered the supplies.

Zhao Hanzhang had Fu Tinghan assess the provisions while she took out her pen to write them an IOU.

Upon receiving the IOU stamped by Zhao Hanzhang, the County Magistrate and gentry beamed with smiles. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Knowing that this IOU was not an empty promise, anyone who wasn’t truly starving wanted to exchange provisions for an IOU—even if Zhao Hanzhang couldn’t repay the money and supplies in the future, holding this IOU meant they could obtain other promises.

There were even some with far-reaching vision who liked to take risks; even if they were nearing starvation themselves, they would try to gather some provisions to lend to Zhao Hanzhang, exchanging for an IOU.

Zhao Hanzhang gathered provisions faster than Shi Le, and then the army split into two parts: one part was responsible for escorting the provisions, while the other took on three days’ worth of supplies each and rushed to pursue Shi Le.

The reason for the urgency was that she had already made preparations days ago, deploying Zu Ti to maneuver around Guangping County, deciding to encircle Shi Le from the north and south of Wu’an County.

For this purpose, Zhao Hanzhang directed Zhao Ju, Xie Shi, Ji Ping, and Wei You to divide their forces, approaching Shi Le in a fan-shaped formation, forcing him to turn towards Wu’an County.