Chu Yan’s steps paused, his expression showing a slight change.

It gradually returned to its original calm state, and he resumed his actions.

Although he did not make any promises at this moment, he had made a decision in his heart.

In any case, he must ensure that Marquis Qiao’s affairs were completed!

With this external transaction, the pressure of trading with the county residents would be much less.

The output of five hundred thousand mu of land in Leping County was roughly around one million kilo.

Due to the slight damage caused by the locust plague, there was indeed a slight reduction in yield, but it was not much.

The irrigation with dragon bone turned over could even make up for this loss.

Therefore, exchanging maize for Chinese yams(potatoes), in order to store the county’s grain reserves for a longer period of time, was not something that Leping County could not achieve.

After weighing whether there would be any adverse reactions to the Chinese yams and how much Chinese yams could be stored during the winter, households came to the county government to respond to the exchange.

Thanks to the locust plague experienced earlier, during the process of exchanging maize for grain, the officials led by Cheng Li in Leping County had already formed a complete system of reception, transaction, and registration.

At this time, there would be no chaos.

It just required an additional process of storage.

Seeing that the Chinese yams(Potatoes) were exchanged for grain in a slightly damaged manner and used as more stable food reserves, Qiao Yan couldn’t help but let go of some of her worries.

Unfortunately, this part of the transaction could not be too heavy.

After all, although Chinese yams provided a sense of fullness, they were not as calorific as maize.

They were not as effective as rice and flour in high-intensity labor.

Now, they were just at the right limit.

When this exchange was settled, it would be time to deal with the resettlement of the Black Mountain Army.

During this population registration, it was not difficult to complete the transfer of this population from Changshan to Leping.

Qiao Yan had mentioned this matter in her correspondence with the prefect of Changshan before.

The other party was eager to get rid of these refugees and bandits from his territory, so he would not refuse Qiao Yan’s suggestion.

The only problem was that for the nearly ten thousand Black Mountain Army, only three thousand could be resettled based on their merits this year, which was indeed too few.

With the Leping household registration, they could follow Marquis Qiao’s new regulations: either clear enough land in the mountains to sustain themselves or continue farming the Chinese yam fields, but half of the harvest would belong to them.

Both options were good.

In July of this year, before Qiao Yan broke into the state government office, the temporary exemption from mouth and acre taxes implemented last year was extended by her for another year.

In this situation, Leping’s treatment was better than elsewhere.

Who wouldn’t want to settle here?

It’s just a pity that there were only three thousand spots.

This meant strict adherence to the rules for selection, or the rejected would not be very satisfied.

Xi Zhicai, who was the first to receive the Leping household registration, simply took on the role of judging and registering, and recruited Cai Yan and Yang Xiu to assist.

When Qiao Yan saw Zhang Niujiao carrying the book that recorded his workload, he looked like a primary school student handing in homework.

She couldn’t help but laugh.

The scene was truly indescribably funny.

Zhang Niujiao didn’t notice Qiao Yan’s expression.

For him, getting the household registration was an important step in achieving the career plan Chu Yan had set for him.

He was excited and couldn’t pay attention to anything else.

What’s the next step?

Right, learning to read!

It is said that Marquis Qiao intends to expand the production of paper mulberry paper this winter, in addition to maintaining the production of paper mulberry clothes, obviously to increase the number of literate people.

But reading is a bit difficult for him…

Zhang Niujiao thought rather indifferently.

Learning to read was inevitable.

It’s better to prepare the paper first.

If he had a headache from reading, he might as well go and cut down more paper mulberry trees.

He communicated with the brothers who had also obtained household registration through working in the fields and found that those who got along well with him had the same idea.

Immediately, he gathered a group of people and headed towards the mountains.

“If I hadn’t seen him just now with an expression that was no different from holding a marriage certificate, I would have thought he was planning to turn back to banditry,”

Qiao Yan couldn’t help but comment to the system, “This action could be aptly described in modern terms as ‘stationery for a bad student.'”

[…] The system fell silent.

It seemed like it wanted to ask Qiao Yan if recruiting people conflicted with her role as a strategist, but then it eagerly listened to her saying,

“Luckily, planting Chinese yams is not just about physical labor. Women who are meticulous in management excel in this area.

In the early stages, many preparations and the credit for the bark cloth belong mostly to women.

Among these three thousand people, more than half are women. If they have the opportunity to learn to read, can they do more than just be followers of Black Mountain Army?”

Qiao Yan’s hopeful expression made the system completely forget what it wanted to say earlier.

As a qualified atmosphere organizer, it immediately replied, “Rest assured, Host, they definitely can!”

Qiao Yan was satisfied.

It wasn’t just to deceive the system; it was also her genuine outlook on the future.

However, before that, she still had to solve another problem.

As the autumn harvest and settlement were almost completed, she received an urgent report from her subordinates stationed at Zhiguan Pass that an imperial envoy was entering the territory of Bingzhou.

Qiao Yan immediately set off for Jinyang.

When Cui Lie arrived at the prefectural capital, what he saw was this young county marquis, dressed in black robes and a red cap, exuding an air of a nobleman from troubled times. Although he respectfully called himself “welcoming the envoy,” there was a calm aura about him that exceeded his age.

Even though Cui Lie had already guessed that this bold marquis would not make any gestures like bowing barefoot or begging for forgiveness when receiving the envoy, he was still somewhat surprised by his host’s welcoming demeanor.

When leaving the capital, Liu Hong specifically instructed him to teach Qiao Yan well, or at least to use his identity as a scholar to suppress her arrogance a bit.

But no matter how he looked at it—

He couldn’t suppress her!

Compared to Qiao Yan’s calm demeanor, the performance of Zhang Yi, the current prefect, was somewhat disappointing.

Although he was restricted by Qiao Yan, she did not deprive him of food. She even let him gain some weight.

Now, this fair and plump fellow grabbed Cui Lie’s hand, tears streaming down his face, and complained that he had been treated rudely by Marquis Leping, hoping that Cui, as the imperial envoy, would truthfully report the situation here. It was clear that there was a stark difference between him and Qiao Yan.

“Zitai…” Cui Lie replied with a conflicted look, “When you call me ‘envoy,’ you can call me an imperial envoy or a local official. I really feel sorry for you. I am the latter.”

With Zhang Yi abruptly stopping, Cui Lie continued softly, “I am the newly appointed governor of Bingzhou appointed by His Majesty.”