Chapter 144 Will I be able to see her one last time?
Li Yuanzhao's tone softened slightly, "Get up."
"Thank you, Your Highness."
Xue Nanzhi kowtowed respectfully again before daring to slowly straighten up and carefully sit back on the cushion.
Seeing this, Chen Yanqing slowly withdrew the dagger that was pressed against her neck and sheathed the short blade.
Xiaochun and the driver were so frightened they dared not breathe.
This was the legendary eldest princess; they dared not act rashly and quickly withdrew their weapons.
The driver quickly returned to the carriage shaft and started driving again, while Xiaochun shrank into a corner, quietly watching over the sleeping children, even her breathing becoming softer.
Just as Xue Nanzhi breathed a sigh of relief, Li Yuanzhao suddenly spoke, his tone somewhat nonchalant.
"However... I want more than just your money."
Xue Nanzhi's heart had just begun to relax when it suddenly jumped again. She looked nervously at Li Yuanzhao: "Your Highness... what do you mean?"
“I also want…you.” Li Yuanzhao raised his eyes, his gaze falling on her face.
These words made Xue Nanzhi panic instantly, and cold sweat broke out on her palms.
Do you want your people?
What's the meaning?
Does His Highness still not intend to let her go?
She suppressed her panic and tentatively asked, "Your Highness... I am foolish and do not know what you want me to do?"
Li Yuanzhao said slowly, "In just a few years, you have been able to open up trade routes between the north and south and monopolize trade in Lingnan. It would be a waste to use such skills to just make money in your own shop."
"The national treasury is empty right now. Hebei needs grain and money for disaster relief, and the border army needs funds. The court is in dire need of people. You are familiar with trade routes and good at business. If you can serve the court and make money for the country, wouldn't that be more useful than if you did business on your own?"
Upon hearing this, Xue Nanzhi was taken aback at first, but then she realized what he meant.
Your Highness is trying to recruit her!
The thought startled her, and she was immediately filled with an indescribable excitement.
Being a "royal merchant" is a completely different concept from being a mere merchant!
The former means being able to be deeply bound to the royal family, to get rid of the lowly status of a merchant, and even to make the Xue family leap from a "local wealthy family" to a "great family deeply favored by the emperor," which is far more significant than the salt and iron management rights she had previously coveted!
She could no longer contain herself, and suddenly stood up, bowing deeply to Li Yuanzhao with an unprecedented firmness in her voice.
"If Your Highness does not despise me, I am willing to serve you, even at the cost of fire and water!"
Li Yuanzhao continued, "After the matter in Weizhou is settled, I will petition His Majesty to establish a Trade Office, with you serving as its director, to coordinate national trade routes, supervise government-run commercial operations, and generate revenue for the court and the people."
Order from the Trade Commissioner!
Upon hearing these words, Xue Nanzhi trembled with excitement.
This is not an ordinary "royal merchant" title, but a legitimate official position.
Holding real power was enough to elevate her, a woman from a merchant family, to the ranks of court officials!
She immediately knelt down and kowtowed again: "Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness! I will certainly live up to your expectations!"
Seeing the light in her eyes, Li Yuanzhao finally smiled with satisfaction.
If she wants to genuinely recruit someone, she doesn't need fake romance.
Power can instill fear, and self-interest can drive people to follow.
These are more real and longer-lasting than ethereal romantic love.
Weizhou City has been besieged by refugees for nearly ten days. The heavy city gates are tightly closed, like a barrier separating the inside from the outside, completely isolating the anxiety inside the city from the anger outside.
Inside the prefectural government office, the atmosphere was so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.
The message couldn't get out, there was no sign of reinforcements, and even the team sent to procure grain seemed to have sunk without a trace. No one knew whether they had been robbed by refugees or were stranded on the way.
At first, they thought that as long as they kept the city gates closed and waited until the refugees outside the city ran out of food, this rabble would disperse on its own.
But who knew that every day, grain carts of unknown origin would quietly approach the refugee camp, distributing porridge and food. Although the amount was small, it was enough to save the refugees from starvation.
When the starving people from the surrounding counties heard that "rebellion would mean plenty of food," they flocked to Weizhou.
The ranks outside the city grew larger day by day, and they surrounded the city gate day and night, shouting, "The Cui family must pay with their lives, and the Second Prince must apologize!"
The situation within the city was equally dire. The common people were starving, the gentry were panicking, and public resentment was already boiling over.
Many people even privately discussed that the Second Prince should go out of the city to apologize, otherwise everyone would die if the mob really stormed into the city.
Huang Wei knew before he set off that this disaster relief would not be easy, but he did not expect that in just one month, it would become such a desperate situation of "disaster victims besieging the city".
They are now like fish in a barrel, forced to watch helplessly as the situation deteriorates.
He had considered using harsher measures, and several times attempted to forcibly requisition the grain hoarded by wealthy households in the city to alleviate the immediate crisis.
But he knew in his heart that there were only about a hundred soldiers in the city who were of good use at the moment, while those wealthy families had been entrenched in Weizhou for many years and each family had servants to guard their homes.
There could be anywhere from dozens to hundreds of them. If they act rashly, they might not gain any advantage. Instead, they could provoke a united resistance from the powerful families. If that happens, with internal and external troubles piling up, they will be doomed.
What made things even more difficult for him was that the wealthy families had already taken the initiative and firmly pinned the blame for the civil unrest on the Second Prince.
They secretly spread rumors that the second prince was "ineffective in disaster relief and exploited the people," and that he "drank and made merry all day long, treating the lives of disaster victims like dirt," thus shifting all the blame onto this prince.
They even threatened to join local officials in writing a petition to the court to impeach the second prince for "disrupting local order and causing chaos in local government affairs," clearly intending to push him out as a scapegoat.
During this period, the pampered prince was clearly unable to withstand such a blow.
For days, Li Yuanyou has been hiding in the inner courtyard of the prefectural government, drinking to drown his sorrows. He has long lost his former pride and is completely immersed in the blow, unable to cheer up.
Huang Wei couldn't bear to watch any longer, so he reported the situation outside the city every day, trying to awaken his fighting spirit.
"Your Highness, the number of people outside the city has increased significantly, and I have noticed that many of them are even carrying weapons. It seems they are already organizing their forces and are preparing to attack the city. If this continues, the gates of Weizhou will fall sooner or later!"
Li Yuanyou slumped on the soft couch, still holding a half-empty cup of wine in his hand. Hearing this, he merely raised his eyes blankly and asked, "Then what should we do?"
Huang Wei frowned. "Your Highness, this matter is definitely not simple. Ordinary refugees gathered together should have been in chaos long ago, but these people outside the city are moving in and out in an orderly manner, and they also have a stable supply of food. I feel as if... someone is pushing things from behind."
Li Yuanyou was stunned for a moment, then suddenly remembered what his mother had said before he left: "She would love for you to die sooner rather than later."
Could it really be my elder sister?
Is she trying to die here?
That way, no one will be competing with her for the throne...
In her heart, was she really so untrustworthy?
Thinking of this, Li Yuanyou's eyes instantly reddened. He suddenly picked up the wine jar on the table, tilted his head back, and took a big gulp.
The pungent liquor made him cough violently, but tears rolled down his cheeks.
Seeing his dejected state, Huang Wei hurriedly said, "Your Highness, if you don't pull yourself together, you'll really be waiting to die."
Upon hearing this, Li Yuanyou chuckled self-deprecatingly.
If it was his elder sister who wanted to kill him, she must have already arranged everything.
She's so powerful, no matter how much I try, I can't escape her grasp.
It's better to just wait to die.
I just don't know if I'll be able to see her one last time before I die.
Ask her if she really doesn't want him as her younger brother anymore...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com