After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times

Chapter 1114 - 1096: Writing Letters

If it were before, Zhao Erlang would have just grabbed it by force, but after becoming the Luoyang County Magistrate and dealing with more civil matters, he knew it couldn’t be done.

Even though he really wanted to move the things away right now, he held back and urged the old soldier to write a letter.

He wanted to personally watch him write the letter, "I’ll send someone specially to deliver it, faster than going through the post station."

The old soldier, irritated by the urging, had to take him to find other old soldiers, and a group of soldiers gathered together to write the letter.

Zhao Erlang also squeezed in, writing, and the old soldier asked Zhao Erlang, "How do you write ’copper’?"

Zhao Erlang widened his eyes, scratched his head, and said, "No need to write ’copper,’ just write ’ball’.

"But how do you write ’ball’?"

Well, he didn’t know that either.

Zhao Erlang tried hard to recall the character for ’copper’ he’d seen before, took the brush and drew it, taking a long time to complete it. The more he looked, the more confident he felt, so he told them, "This is it."

The old soldiers all heard of this Little General, knowing he didn’t like reading, but after all, he was a noble young man, so they were confident in his literacy level, thinking it must be better than theirs, right?

Thus, more than ten people collaborated to write a letter.

When handing the letter to Zhao Erlang, the old soldier said, "As long as the General agrees, we will definitely give the item to the Little General."

Zhao Erlang asked, "Is there any token as proof? What if your General doesn’t believe the letter was written by you?"

After all, it wasn’t sent through the post station; someone personally delivered it.

The old soldiers confidently and proudly replied, "Rest assured, the General will know it’s from us as soon as he sees the letter."

"Yes, the General will recognize the handwriting, he’s said he won’t mistake our handwriting."

Zhao Erlang was reassured, took the letter and left, reminding them as he was sent out, "You must keep an eye on the item, don’t let anyone steal it."

"Don’t worry, Little General, who’d dare steal from the General Mansion?"

Zhao Erlang left with peace of mind, but returned home still somewhat uneasy, thus he called Lv Hu, "We must also write a letter to General Beigong, Huang An is stingy, if he persuades General Beigong not to agree, what then?"

So he needed to write a letter too.

Zhao Erlang’s letter was basically written by Lv Hu’s little aides, then he checked it over.

He could now recognize many characters, but seeing them he could identify them, recalling them without seeing them was difficult, let alone writing.

Furthermore, he could recognize some characters together, but separately he couldn’t recognize them one by one.

Occasionally, he wondered why he couldn’t recognize the characters when separated within a sentence.

Zhao Erlang shook his head, calling Lv Hu to write.

Once Lv Hu eloquently finished writing the letter, Zhao Erlang looked over it and sealed it together, handing it to him, "Let the orderly send it to Bingzhou and remember to hand it to General Beigong."

Lv Hu understood.

Zhao Erlang was delighted, lay on the couch, swinging a leg, and when Lv Hu returned he said, "Let’s not tell Sister and Brother-in-law about this. Once I get that big copper ball, I’ll gift it to them as a New Year’s gift."

Lv Hu said, "Second Son, in two days it’s New Year’s, I’m afraid the letter hasn’t reached Jinyang yet."

Zhao Erlang replied, "What’s the problem? Before the fifteenth, it’s all New Year, as long as we get a reply before the fifteenth, it’s fine."

He sighed, "New Year’s gifts are hard to choose, those things Sister and Brother-in-law don’t like."

Lv Hu laughed, "Is it because you don’t have money to buy expensive gifts?"

Zhao Erlang hummed without answering, asking, "Where’s Sister and them?"

"The lady and Mr. Fu left, they should be at the opposite Fu Mansion now."

Zhao Hanzhang was at the opposite Fu Mansion drinking tea with Princess Hongnong, meanwhile speaking about the palace banquet.

Princess Hongnong gladly agreed to go.

During the Princess Hongnong’s break to change clothes, Fu Xuan came over to Zhao Hanzhang, "Third Lady, I’ve been feeling unwell in recent years, becoming more and more prone to confusion, so I wish to formally resign from the role of Imperial Censor. I heard that you agreed to many resignation letters, would you agree to mine..."

Zhao Hanzhang laughed, "Father, those people resigned because they were scattered everywhere and couldn’t return to Luoyang, and I couldn’t force them, but now that Father is back in Luoyang, why not serve the country?"

Fu Xuan sighed, "I have the desire but no strength. Look at me; do I look like someone who can go out to inspect and fulfill the duties of Imperial Censor?"

"Father, it’s clear you don’t want to go out. That’s simple, the Imperial College lacks a Doctor, and I heard from Ting Han that you love reading. Why not teach at the Imperial College?" Zhao Hanzhang encouraged, "In the Imperial College, there’s no shortage of books and learners, Father can read, and find like-minded people to explore the meanings within books, isn’t it wonderful?"

Fu Xuan opened his mouth, but he could read at home too.

He didn’t want to go out.

He instantly found a reason, about to refuse when he saw Princess Hongnong standing coldly at the door looking at him.

Fu Xuan immediately agreed, "Fine, I’ll go to the Imperial College."

If he didn’t go to the Imperial College, Princess Hongnong might not allow him to resign, and would even force him to go to the Imperial Censorate, possibly making him do more, like securing rights for the young prince in court.

Fu Xuan hurriedly agreed, fearing Princess Hongnong would interrupt, causing Zhao Hanzhang to change her mind.

Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan exchanged looks with him and Princess Hongnong, then cleverly shifted the topic, "These days the snow scene in Luoyang is nice. Father and Mother, do you want to go snow viewing? I heard outside the city there’s a plum forest, planted by Shi Chong and others, the trees are many years old. When Liu Cong attacked Luoyang, he set fire to it, but unexpectedly, the old trees survived, and the next year, the spring breeze brought new leaves to life, I heard the plum blossoms are beautiful."

Princess Hongnong said lightly, "I heard the flowers in that plum forest were mostly picked by students from various schools and the Imperial College in Luoyang, even scattered on you during your wedding the other day."

"Ah?" So those plum blossoms were plucked from there, no wonder there were so many.

Fu Tinghan was somewhat embarrassed, Zhao Hanzhang remained calm, slightly surprised, then smoothly shifted reasons, "Now viewing plum blossoms with fallen flowers and snow as a backdrop is more poetic. After the New Year’s Eve, I’ll hunt a deer for Mother, you can bring deer meat, roast it while viewing snow, isn’t it wonderful?"

Princess Hongnong:... Snow viewing is snow viewing, why roast meat?

Zhao Hanzhang thought, if snow viewing, how could there be no roasting meat?

If roasting meat, how could it be without deer meat and hunting?

She already planned and on horseback back home with Fu Tinghan, said, "On the third, we go hunting, on the fourth, go snow viewing, didn’t Guo Pu say from the first to the fifth there’ll be sporadic light snow, snow hanging on branches, it must look good."

Fu Tinghan nodded, then they returned home, greeted with two baskets of official documents and letters.

The two baskets were generally the same size, one nearly spilling over without a cover, the other with a cover opened had ten or so official documents.

Fu Tinghan quietly breathed a sigh of relief, picked up the relaxed basket and said, "I’ll handle the official matters."

Zhao Hanzhang silently picked up her compact basket, because it was too heavy, her shoulder couldn’t help but droop slightly.