Wei and Jin cooks

Zhao Hanzhang handed over the two envoys from the county government to Zhao Ming, took Zhao Erlang and returned to Shangcai.

She directly set up a table on the official road into Shangcai, asked people to carry two baskets of money and a cart of food and placed them on the roadside, and directly beat gongs and drums to recruit troops.

Refugees passing by saw it and stopped to watch.

As a lonely man, he stepped forward without thinking and asked about the conditions for recruiting an army. He was told that all he had to do was be young, obedient, and willing to endure hardship.

Of course, if you have a skill that is better, or if you are strong, can ride a horse, know kung fu, have great strength, no matter what the specialty is, as long as you have it, not only will your military pay be higher, but your status will also be higher.

Ji Yuan sat next to her and followed her to recruit soldiers.

Because there were so many people fleeing, Zhao Hanzhang not only recruited singles, but also people with families and dependents. He promised that he would arrange for them to farm the land and have food to eat every month.

That's right, those who come here will definitely not be tenant farmers, and they won't even want the land that Zhao Hanzhang said they would be given. They will only be long-term workers, or they can directly sign a death contract and let them do anything, as long as their family has food to eat.

Zhao Hanzhang didn't understand this. When Ji Yuan took over the recruitment matter, she squatted next to a newly recruited soldier and asked, "I just said I would give you fields, why are you not interested at all?"

When the soldier saw Zhao Hanzhang, he immediately stood up and wanted to salute, but Zhao Hanzhang stopped him and said, "Sit down and talk, sit down and talk, no need to be polite."

Bingbing also squatted down and said cautiously: "I think it's good to be a slave. As long as you work hard, you will have food to eat, and you don't have to worry about making a living."

Zhao Hanzhang asked, "If you have your own land, wouldn't you gain more from working hard?"

Bing shook his head, "My family also has land, a total of twenty-eight acres, but it's useless."

Zhao Hanzhang was surprised, "How could it be useless?"

"I can't live anymore," he said. "Yingchuan started to suffer from drought just after autumn last year. We harvested less food during the autumn harvest. As a result, we encountered snowstorms in winter, and many of the winter wheat we planted froze to death."

"It hasn't rained much since the beginning of spring this year. We knew at that time that this year would be difficult. As soon as the snow melted, there would be no wheat left in the field. It was very dry, and half of those who barely survived died. We Even if I want to plow it into spring wheat or plant rice, it won’t work.”

He said: "There is no water at all. It is a problem for us to even drink water, let alone farm. The Yamen still has to pay summer taxes and autumn taxes. I have sold my wife, a son and a daughter, and now I only have this One is with daddy, and can no longer be sold.”

"I finally figured it out. If we can't farm by ourselves, we still have to seek refuge with the big landowners. We have to work and get food. The landowners pay the taxes and food. We can survive as long as we obey." Bing paused and asked Zhao Hanzhang, " Girl, if I die in the battle, will you really support my father and son as you said?"

Zhao Hanzhang looked at his dark and sad face. If he didn't say anything, she wouldn't have been able to tell that he was only twenty-two years old. He looked like he was in his forties, and his temples were a little white.

She nodded and said: "Since you have signed the death contract, you are all mine, and I will naturally support you."

He didn't know whether he believed it or not, but he looked relieved and said with a smile: "The girl is a kind person."

Zhao Hanzhang smiled at him and stood up with a heavy heart.

There were many people who thought the same as him. They would rather sign a death contract or a living contract to become a long-term employee. They would not even look at the tempting conditions proposed to her, such as free land, cheap rent, etc. They only asked what she could get every month. The wages or food received.

Zhao Hanzhang sighed quietly, sat next to Ji Yuan and said, "The world is difficult."

Ji Yuan turned to look at her and said nonchalantly: "There is no way, and punishment from heaven is inevitable."

"Punishment from heaven?" Zhao Hanzhang murmured, "This is really a combination of natural and man-made disasters. Is it because of the Little Ice Age in the Northern Hemisphere?"

Ji Yuan didn't hear clearly and turned around and asked, "What did the girl say?"

"Nothing, I just lament in my heart that in such a difficult time, if there is no stable situation, it will be difficult for the people to survive such a natural disaster."

Ji Yuan muttered, "It will take a genius from the Sima family."

Zhao Hanzhang: "How many talented people are there to suppress so many ambitious people in the Sima family? Alas, so there are too many people in the clan and it is not good to enfeoff too widely."

Ji Yuan was convinced. He was about to have an in-depth discussion with Zhao Hanzhang. When he saw the carriage running towards him, he immediately stopped talking and whispered: "Girl, Magistrate Chai is here."

Zhao Hanzhang turned his head and saw the carriage approaching from behind.

As soon as the car stopped, before it stabilized, Magistrate Chai hurriedly helped Chang Ning's hand down.

Seeing that there were many people lined up in front of Zhao Hanzhang and others, all of them were people who came to seek refuge, and there were many people standing around, he hurriedly picked up his robe and ran over, "Sanniang, what are you doing?"

Zhao Hanzhang stood up with a smile and saluted, "County Lord, I am recruiting troops."

"You, how can you recruit an army privately?"

Zhao Hanzhang immediately took out the recruitment order and showed it to him, "I am not a private recruiter, I am recruiting soldiers under orders, you see."

Magistrate Chai County opened it and looked at it. Unexpectedly, the governor actually gave her a recruitment order. He was speechless for a long time, "Well, you can't recruit troops in Shangcai County. It clearly says that Xiping County is authorized to recruit troops. Sanniang should be in Xiping." The county recruits troops."

"Isn't this just a war in Xiping County? There aren't so many people?" Zhao Hanzhang said: "Don't worry, I won't steal your people, so I set up a platform at the intersection to recruit soldiers. All the people here are refugees. Now go up Cai County can’t accept so many refugees, can it?”

"Oh," Magistrate Chai County stamped his feet, "it's not just refugees, there are also people from Shangcai County here."

"Impossible," Zhao Hanzhang said righteously: "They have land and a home here, and they are good citizens. Who would come to serve as soldiers or sell themselves as servants?"

"It's not just to evade taxes." Magistrate Chai looked around and quickly found the person, "That one, that one, and those few are all thorny. They fled without paying taxes. I didn't expect them to run away." Come to Sanniang."

He said: "I won't stop you from recruiting these refugees, but you can't recruit people from Cai County. If you set up a stage here, people in the county will take notice and many people will come here."

Zhao Hanzhang immediately said: "I didn't know they were from Shangcai. They said they were from Yingchuan and escaped from Aoyang, so I believed them. How did I know they would lie to me?"

Magistrate Chai asked tentatively: "Then Sanniang will give them to me to take them back?"

If he is handed over to Magistrate Chai to take him back, he will be spared half of his life. According to the law, if he evades taxes, he will be beheaded in the most serious case, and he will be imprisoned in the least serious case.

Instead of going to jail, it would be better to farm with her.