I support the army through farming and business.

Chapter 21 Recruiting Servants
Tang Zhao smiled kindly.

"Since you have sincerely asked for help, this county lady will show her mercy and tell you."

"There are two paths before you now. The first is that whoever holds your indenture will be responsible for your life and death. The second is that if you have chosen me as your wife, you must return your indenture to me, and I will have my own place for you."

Tang Zhao took a sip of tea to moisten his mouth, "You guys can choose."

Steward An looked around and said, "Please, Madam County Lady, give us some time to think about this."

Tang Zhao was very easy to talk to. He asked the guards to lead everyone to the back yard, set up a charcoal fire and provide hot water. He also provided hot rice and dishes as a courtesy, and let everyone discuss the matter slowly inside.

"Manager An, what do you think we should do?" The middle-aged man, who had eaten and drunk his fill, regained a bit of energy.

"They said they would give us two options, but there's not a single way to survive!"

"Why?" He thought the second way was good.

They can pretend to join the county lord, but in fact continue to work for the lady.

If the county lord is young and easy to control, they can even use this opportunity to control Prince Xuan’s Palace…

Steward An interrupted his daydream with a cold voice, "Madam, why are you so suspicious? If our indentures aren't in your hands, how can you trust us? Besides, if we hand over our indentures to Tang, to the county lady, our lives will all depend on her words!"

Manager An squinted his eyes at the pale-faced man and asked, "Do you think the county lady will let you go after serving the lady for so many years?"

"How can I be loyal to a slave of two surnames?"

The middle-aged man sat down on the ground with a pale face.

Zhao Sheng, no, Song Sheng looked at the middle-aged man with disdain. He was still trying to hold on under the step-wife for a few years, but this old dog licked the step-wife like a puppy as soon as she became his legitimate wife. In order to please the step-wife, he kept torturing the people of the Song family. Not to mention the county lady, even he looked down on her!

What are you dreaming about!
"What should we do then?" The others asked. They had done a lot of bad things over the years relying on their stepmother. If they fell into the hands of the county lady, then...

"Let's go back to Duke Wei's Mansion."

Even being a lowly slave is better than dying.

Manager An lowered his head. He hadn't expected Tang Zhao to be so cunning despite his young age. He immediately grasped the key point and said, "Go back."

But within the time it took to eat a meal, those who had originally refused to leave and insisted on asking her for help changed their minds and left one after another.

Tang Zhao smiled and asked someone to send them out.

Gradually, only three families were left in the yard.

One family, the Song family, had long since betrayed the An family and joined Tang Zhao, and the other two families had just dared to look her in the eye.

"I am Song Kai, the old servant, and I am honored to meet the County Lady." The white-haired man knelt in front, and seven people behind him kowtowed.

Tang Zhao looked at Nanny Song.

Nanny Song's eyesight wasn't very good due to her age, and she hadn't seen them for over ten years, so she didn't recognize them at first. But when she heard the name, she excitedly asked, "Song Kai? Are you Song Kai?"

She ran closer, holding up the hem of her skirt, and after carefully identifying him for a long time, she said with red eyes, "Song Kai, it's really you! How come you've aged so much!"

Song Kai was a son born in the General's Mansion. He was extremely intelligent and good at farming. Old Lady Song specially appointed him and his family to accompany the eldest daughter in her marriage and to be in charge of the farm.

Seeing that Nanny Song still remembered him, Song Kai's eyes also turned red, "Mammy, you have a good memory. I, I feel ashamed of the eldest lady."

Seeing the eight members of the family shivering in the cold wind, with one of the young children even blushing, Tang Zhao immediately interrupted their reminiscence and arranged for them to go downstairs to rest.

The Song Kai family left with gratitude.

Tang Zhao turned his gaze to the other side. The middle-aged woman, who had been anxiously waiting for a long time, knelt over to her husband and said calmly, "Your servant Yunniang pays respects to the County Lady. May the County Lady be blessed with good health."

He was a man who knew the rules, "You are not a member of the Song family."

"I was born into the Duke of Wei's family. After my late wife married into the family, I had the honor of serving her for two years. After that, my late wife gave me to be a servant in the outer courtyard. Later, my new wife released me to be the head of a farm."

Tang Zhao looked at the skinny man next to her who was almost crouching behind her and asked curiously, "How did he become the village head?"

"My servant's name is Qian Wu. He's a coward but very good at cultivating the land. The land on the farm is barren, but it's thanks to Qian Wu's use of fertilizer that we're able to harvest every year."

"So, you are quite talented," Tang Zhao said with some interest. "Why did you choose to stay?"

Yunniang pondered, "I was born to be a servant, but I also want to choose a good master to serve so that my life can be easier. I was fortunate enough to serve the late Madam, and only then did I realize that there are masters as kind as the late Madam in this world. The County Lady was born to the late Madam, so naturally she looks like her."

"I don't want to listen to this nonsense," Tang Zhao stopped smiling.

"I dare not! Although I live on the farm, I've heard of the stepmother's style of doing things. Even when she was useful, she would scold and beat her, let alone now?" Yunniang said honestly, "Ever since the county lady donated the shop, the Duke of Wei's mansion has been in a state of decline. The master always maintains a respectable appearance, but the servants have a hard time. I heard that they haven't even been given winter clothes this winter!"

"Even the servants in the mansion are like this, let alone the servants outside! I just want to find a good master, work hard, and have enough food and clothes to eat."

"What can you do?" Tang Zhao asked.

"I can do the math!" Yunniang's eyes lit up. "My father used to be a steward, and he taught me how to do the math since I was little."

"Give her the abacus."

Chunfeng lent her the abacus he carried with him.

"I'll tell you to calculate," Tang Zhao closed his eyes. "What's 15369 plus 36852 plus 365289 plus 123456?"

Almost as soon as she finished speaking, Yunniang said, "540966."

"35×653."

"22855."

"Okay, stay here," Tang Zhao ordered to take the person away.

Yunniang and her family left with many thanks.

It is really easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. In her previous life, she worked overtime every day until one or two o'clock in the morning and never had such a sore back. In this life, she only sat on a hard bench for two hours and felt sore in her waist and legs.

Tang Zhao lay on the chaise longue, "Qiuyu!"

"Hey!" Qiuyu ran up happily.

"Take the three people in the west corner back to the Duke's Mansion, withdraw them, and then get the indentures of Song Sheng, Song Kai, and Yun Niang."

Qiuyu rolled her eyes, "What if the stepmother doesn't give it to me?"

"She didn't dare."

What An has in his belly is not only a trump card, but also a shackle.

As long as she wanted the child in her unborn child to become the prince of Wei, she couldn't afford to lose face.

Tang Zhao likes to deal with people who care about their reputation.

Qiuyu took the order in a hurry and rushed into the side courtyard in the west corner with seven or eight guards of the palace. They tied up Nanny An, Shanhu Feicui, gagged them and stuffed them into the carriage, and then went to the Duke of Wei's Mansion in a grand manner.

(End of this chapter)