Ministers Begging Me to Ascend the Throne

Chapter 749: Chapter 366: Tired Heart_2

"Your Highness, this servant feels he is exaggerating on purpose to make you see him. You mustn’t let him have his way."

Zhao Yao could roughly guess what Li Jue wanted to say, "Let’s talk about it in a couple of days." Ever since Li Jue learned that the Li Family and Fang Family had pledged allegiance to Prince Jing, he couldn’t sit still.

"Your Highness, you’re right to keep ignoring him," Tong Xi snorted. "Who does he think he is? It’s not like he can see Your Highness whenever he wants."

Zhao Yao looked at Tong Xi’s indignant face and said with amusement, "Why are you bothered with a prisoner like him?"

"Your Highness, Li Jue wanted to kill you before," Tong Xi’s heart filled with hatred at the thought. "If you hadn’t disagreed, I would have killed him long ago and torn him to pieces."

"Am I not unharmed?"

"That’s because of your cleverness, Your Highness," Tong Xi said, a puzzled expression spreading across his face. "Your Highness, Li Jue has no use anymore; why keep him around?"

"Killing him with one stroke would be too merciful," Zhao Yao’s eyes glinted with coldness. "Keeping him locked up like this, ignoring him, letting his mind run wild is the best form of torture."

"But Your Highness, hasn’t Li Jue remained sane?"

"Has he? Let me ask you, is his hair or clothing disheveled?"

"No, he’s still immaculate in appearance."

"Really? Not even a little disorderly?" Zhao Yao hadn’t visited Li Jue recently and didn’t know what he looked like now. However, he suspected Li Jue wouldn’t be as neat as he was when he first entered the hidden chamber.

Tong Xi, hearing this, recalled carefully and then exclaimed, "Yes, Li Jue’s hair is a bit messy, a few strands have fallen in front of his face."

Zhao Yao smiled meaningfully, "He’s already starting to go mad."

"Ah, is that madness?" Tong Xi asked suspiciously, "I haven’t seen him making a loud fuss."

"Not every madman makes a scene. Someone as self-important as Li Jue wouldn’t act like a hooligan even if he went mad."

Tong Xi listened, half-understanding, "Is that so?"

Zhao Yao said nothing further and lowered his head to review the reports He Lianfang had sent earlier about all the officials in Lingnan.

Lingnan is divided into Upper Ridge, Central Ridge, and Lower Ridge. Each part has four prefectures, totaling twelve prefectures.

These twelve prefectures are extremely poor, yet the officials of each are quite wealthy.

These officials collude with local tribes or mountain bandits to rob and pillage travelers. Moreover, they forcibly levy various taxes on the local populace, the most notorious being protection fees.

The people, to survive, have to pay exorbitant protection fees for safety. However, these fees are like a snowball, getting larger each year. Many cannot afford the protection fees, and their fates are tragic, their families broken, and deaths commonplace.

In desperation, many sell their children to afford the protection fees and survive. Some find living in Lingnan unbearable and risk their lives to escape to countries like Johor, Annan, and Siam.

Those who flee abroad do not have an easy life. Annan and other foreign countries harbor deep-seated resentment against Da Xia people and Great Zhou people. Under the previous dynasty, they were vassal states of Da Xia and had to pay enormous tributes of money and jewels each year. The emperors of Da Xia were insatiably greedy, constantly increasing the tributes from Johor and Annan, pushing these countries to misery. They once resisted but were no match for Da Xia and were quickly suppressed. Afterward, they had to pay even more gold and silver to secure peace.

Great Zhou did not oppress Annan and other countries like Da Xia did, but Johor and other countries still had to pay tribute annually. The tributes they gave to Great Zhou were neither less nor more than those to Da Xia. Great Zhou followed Da Xia’s early requirements in collecting tributes from Siam and other countries, not Da Xia’s later demands. Even so, Annan and other countries did not appreciate Great Zhou; instead, they hated Great Zhou as much as they hated Da Xia.

Nonetheless, the lives of those who fled to Annan and other countries were slightly better than in Lingnan. It’s not that they were better off, but less miserable. Whether in Lingnan or Annan, life was distressing, just marginally better in Johor and other countries than in Lingnan. Ultimately, it was a matter of the worst versus the less worst.