CHAPTER 235: CHAPTER 230: SPRING PUNISHMENT

Zhuzi and a group of people were sent to a wilderness.

They were led here with ropes, looking at the boundless wild land with bewildered expressions.

Not far away, there was a group of people working enthusiastically.

Seeing them, someone immediately came over to lead them and, seeing the ropes on their hands, asked, "Are they offenders?"

"Yes, they are all offenders."

"What did they do?"

"This one, this one, and these two were lazy and sly, these three stole, and those three were troublemakers who initiated fights, all sentenced to ten months of labor reform." This was a new rule set by Zhao Hanzhang’s county government.

All offenders, as long as it wasn’t a matter of life and death, were to be switched from surveillance to labor reform, judged according to severity.

Severe cases still needed monitoring, while minor ones did not.

Zhuzi’s offense fell into the category not needing supervision.

The leader took them down for placement, dividing them into two thatched huts to live in, then lectured, "You can see that our houses are not ready yet, so you have to live in thatched huts."

"Since you are offenders, you won’t be paid for your work here," he said, "the work is heavy, but we’ll ensure you have enough to eat. Work hard, and you can reduce your sentence, getting home sooner."

"But if anyone still disobeys, lazes around, or directly escapes, our troops here aren’t just for show." He gestured around the nearby area and said, "See? They’re all our County Lord’s people."

"Besides, for those sent here, none of you are entirely alone. You might escape as a monk, but your temple remains here, huh!"

No one dared to escape.

Zhuzi was filled with regret, crying terribly.

His offense wasn’t severe, so he was assigned to work in the mill, unlike others who weren’t as fortunate, reportedly going to dig mountains, which was quite arduous.

For Zhao Hanzhang, iron mining was extremely important, and with blast furnace iron smelting and steel making needing refinement, she and Fu Tinghan had come here.

Zhuzi and the others lived on the outermost area, unaware that three miles away, there was an iron mine with several buildings and a completed iron smelting workshop.

The place was heavily guarded, with strict checks on people entering and leaving.

Under Fu Tinghan’s guidance, craftsmen had smelted another batch of molten iron, and while waiting for it to cool, Fu Tinghan nodded and turned away.

Zhao Hanzhang was watching people forge farming tools from the smelted iron. Seeing Fu Tinghan, she casually picked up a bamboo tube, opened it, and handed it to him.

Fu Tinghan took it and drank up the water inside, asking, "They’ve become accustomed to the blast furnace here. When do we go back?"

Zhao Hanzhang: "Tomorrow."

She glanced outside and smiled, "Let’s go out for a walk today."

Fu Tinghan didn’t really want to go. It was winter, cold, and desolate outside, and the only bustling activity was from people working. What was there to see?

But since Zhao Hanzhang invited him, Fu Tinghan nodded and agreed.

So the two of them rode out for a stroll.

Zhao Hanzhang directly led him to the riverside, "I’ll take you fishing. You haven’t had much appetite these days, let’s have some fish."

Winter fish... aren’t easy to catch, mainly because the water’s cold, making it difficult to get in, but they are easy to lure.

Perhaps because there are fewer people here, the fish in the river haven’t encountered much human cunning, so they were still quite naive.

Zhao Hanzhang took out a fishing hook someone had made, prepared bait from things taken from the kitchen, and cast it into the water.

She kept holding onto the fishing rod.

Fu Tinghan stood beside her, seeing the float move and was pleasantly surprised, "It took the bait."

Zhao Hanzhang only glanced at it before closing her eyes, listening attentively to the tension of the fishing rod in her hand, waiting for quite a while before lifting the pole.

The fish was large, and with a strong pull backward, Zhao Hanzhang maneuvered the fish, slowly dragging it ashore.

A seven or eight-pound grass carp, Zhao Hanzhang held it in her hand, slightly hesitating, "How should we make the fish?"

Fu Tinghan, not too sure, said, "Boil it or deep-fry it?"

Zhao Hanzhang suddenly craved for pieces of fish deep-fried in flour batter, so she held the fish and said, "Let’s go try it in the kitchen."

They didn’t go back to the camp kitchen but instead went to the outer placement point’s kitchen.

This place served as a settlement for the labor troops working the land and was also the first line of defense for the iron mine.

As the nearest village was quite far, the county government directly built a workshop here.

With the iron mine, more people would inevitably live here in the future, making a mill an unavoidable necessity.

As Zhao Hanzhang passed the mill, she heard faint crying from inside and curiously peeked in with the fish in her hand.

Inside, about ten people were either pounding rice or grinding wheat and beans, and among them, a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy was pushing a millstone while crying softly.

"Why are you crying?"

The people in the mill were startled, and so was the crying boy, who, recognizing Zhao Hanzhang, rushed forward. Fu Tinghan instinctively pulled her behind him, while Qiu Wu quickly drew his long sword.

With shaky knees, the boy fell to the ground, "County, County Lord, I know I was wrong, please let me go."

Qiu Wu breathed a sigh of relief and sheathed his sword.

Zhao Hanzhang found him somewhat familiar but couldn’t quite recognize him.

Fu Tinghan glanced once and said, "He’s from Lower Corner Village, I think he’s called Zhuzi."

Zhuzi nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, Sir’s memory is so good. I’m Zhuzi."

Seeing Zhao Hanzhang standing aside, he quickly amended, "County Lord’s memory is great too, and you’re merciful. Please spare me this time, I won’t dare again."

Zhao Hanzhang curiously asked, "What did you do?"

Zhuzi, wiping his tears, replied, "I just slacked off a bit."

Zhao Hanzhang: "Be honest, would just slacking off get you sent here to push the millstone?"

Seeing Zhao Hanzhang about to leave, Zhuzi hurriedly moved forward on his knees to plead, "I, I was really just slacking off a bit and asked Dahua’s father to help me a little..."

Dahua’s father was foolish, not clever, but he worked earnestly and would do whatever others asked him to do.

And he had a very capable daughter, Dahua. Because his daughter was so competent, everyone forgot his name and called him Dahua’s father instead.

Zhao Hanzhang thought the girl was nice when she was in Lower Corner Village, and hearing this, she squatted in front of him and asked, "So how were you caught?"

"Dahua found out, made a fuss to the village chief, and said if they didn’t catch me, she’d report it higher up, so the village chief caught me and handed me to the officials," Zhuzi cried, "County Lord, I only slacked off once, really just once. I wasn’t feeling well then, so I asked Dahua’s father to help. Please forgive me this once, I won’t dare again."

Zhao Hanzhang smiled slightly, "I believe you, but I can’t undermine the laws I’ve set. Since you did err, correct the mistake first. Rest assured, no one here will bully you. Work well and aim to go home sooner."

Zhuzi cried again, "But pushing the millstone is really exhausting!"

Zhao Hanzhang patted his shoulder, "I’ll catch some fish for you later. Have some fish soup tonight, don’t be too sad."

Though Zhao Hanzhang didn’t pardon him, hearing her concern made Zhuzi feel much better.

Leaving the mill, Zhao Hanzhang instructed Qiu Wu, "Have someone bring Dahua and her father from Lower Corner Village to the county government. I have use for her."

Such a capable girl was wasted just digging canals in Lower Corner Village.