Ministers Begging Me to Ascend the Throne

Chapter 818: Chapter 3: The Ruthless Prince Han

A prince has come to Lingnan, and he’s the emperor’s own son, not an exiled prince from another family, which greatly surprised the people of Lingnan.

Lingnan has always been a place of exile. Those who come to Lingnan have either committed serious crimes or angered the emperor. No decent person would come to Lingnan. Moreover, no imperial prince, the emperor’s own son, has ever come to Lingnan.

Prince Han is indeed the first imperial prince to come to Lingnan, truly a rarity!

The people of Lingnan all think that although Prince Han is the emperor’s own son, it’s said that he is not favored, which is why the emperor disdainfully sent him to Lingnan.

Prince Han is truly pitiable; as a dignified prince who hasn’t committed any great crimes or mistakes, he was mercilessly exiled to Lingnan by his father, the emperor.

The Emperor of Great Zhou is truly cruel. As the saying goes, "Even a tiger doesn’t eat its own cub." The emperor is harsher than the tigers in the mountains of Lingnan, as he exiled his own son to Lingnan to die.

Even before Zhao Yao’s arrival in Lingnan, various rumors about him were spreading vigorously among all the states of Lingnan. The local people and officials were all very curious about Zhao Yao, the prince supposedly sent to Lingnan to die.

Regarding why Zhao Yao is not favored by the emperor, the people of Lingnan speculated wildly. Some said that Zhao Yao’s mother was not favored, so the emperor disliked this youngest son. Some said Zhao Yao was ugly, which made him very displeasing to the emperor. Others claimed Zhao Yao was born under ill-omened circumstances, causing the emperor’s resentment. There were all kinds of speculations, but no one knew who started the claim that Zhao Yao was a harbinger of disaster, bringing misfortune to those around him. When he comes to Lingnan, he will surely bring great calamity here.

The people of Lingnan already lived hard lives, and if an inauspicious prince were to come and worsen their lives, they absolutely couldn’t allow Prince Han to come to Lingnan.

Many went to the government offices, pleading with local officials to petition the court, asking not to let Prince Han come to Lingnan and doom them.

The local officials were quite pleased with this outcome. However, when they were feeling smug, merchants from other places told the people of Lingnan that Prince Han was not the inauspicious person the rumors painted him to be. On the contrary, Prince Han was a blessing, having done many good deeds and enabling many people to have enough to eat and live better lives.

They told the people of Lingnan that from a young age, Prince Han had created new paper, printing technology, the curved plow, and a new loom, which all benefited the people. Most importantly, the rice they were now cultivating was brought to them by Prince Han from Annan and Siam.

The court had long promoted the curved plow and the new loom developed by Prince Han across various regions without charging the people, and Lingnan was no exception. However, the corrupt local officials withheld these benefits from the people, only allowing their use for exorbitant fees.

The people of Lingnan were naturally unaware of these affairs and harbored doubts concerning the words of foreign merchants. The local officials told them not to believe these outsiders’ tales and even slandered the merchants as Prince Han’s people, coming deliberately to deceive them.

Compared to the words of the foreign merchants, the people of Lingnan naturally believed the officials, despite these officials having mistreated them all along.

The court soon learned of the deception by the Lingnan officials and dispatched an imperial envoy to address the matter.

The imperial envoy first went to Taichuan Prefecture to investigate, discovering that the officials had indeed withheld the court’s free promotion of the curved plow and new loom, renting them out at high prices to the people. The officials in Taichuan Prefecture were thoroughly purged from top to bottom. On top of these affairs, they dared to slander the tenth prince, prompting the emperor to order the envoy to execute those officials on the spot.

Just months before Zhao Yao’s arrival in Lingnan, the execution grounds in Taichuan Prefecture were stained red with blood. This was the first strict enforcement in Lingnan since the founding of the Great Zhou.

The people of Lingnan, upon learning that everything the foreign merchants said was true, were very dissatisfied with the local officials for misleading and oppressing them for so long.

The imperial envoy informed the people of Lingnan that the emperor was sending the tenth prince to Lingnan because he valued him and also wished for him to benefit Lingnan.

The people, initially opposed to Zhao Yao coming to Lingnan due to the rumors, now eagerly awaited his arrival every day after the beheading of the officials in Taichuan Prefecture.

After the purge of Taichuan Prefecture’s officials, words of Zhao Yao’s deeds for the court and people began spreading through Lingnan. Storytellers in teahouses across Lingnan vividly narrated Zhao Yao’s feats, turning the tenth prince into a formidable figure, almost like he had three heads and six arms.