In the fields, spring planting had entered its latter half, but that did not mean the troubles were over.
Over the past three years, too many households had fled, and the Exorcising the Dragon Gang's seizure of the two commanderies had come at such a time that there had been no chance to redistribute land. Even with the hundred thousand or more military farmers organized by the Exorcising the Dragon Army, they could only undertake roughly consolidated farming in places such as Changhe, Ban County, Pingchang, and Leling, which had suffered large-scale warfare. Land disputes had also led to many incidents of heavy-handed enforcement... The common people recognized only the land they had farmed for years, but the army needed large, contiguous tracts.
This was also why more and more people admired Madam Dou: she was extremely good at settling such disputes.
At first, her camp, made up mostly of soldiers' dependents, had merely helped manage and arrange the transport and distribution of non-ordnance supplies at Ban County Grand Camp. Then Zhang Xing had put her in charge of the civilian markets that followed the army, and later entrusted her with organizing designated official markets inside the camp as well.
By then, although no one said anything, everyone knew that this organization of Hebei military dependents led by Madam Dou, or Sister-in-Law Cao, was already undertaking real work. And those local Hebei Righteous Army dependents really could achieve results in certain tasks that no one else could. In practice, people had begun calling them the "Gaoji Lake Women's Camp."
After that came the advance following Horse-Face River. As the troops pushed forward, this "camp" began taking responsibility for cleaning up the towns, and then naturally took on the settlement of disputes between the Exorcising the Dragon Army and the local