...
...
The news eventually spread that the regent had fainted twice due to the emperor's torment.
On almost the same day, public resentment arose. The people didn't care who was in power; in their eyes, whoever could feed them was the true emperor.
Since the regent took over the reins of government, while the country has not been entirely peaceful and prosperous, the people have at least been able to live and work in peace and contentment. After Emperor Yuming's health improved, he increased the taxes that had finally been reduced.
This is terrible. Some things are better left unseen; the real pain comes from losing them after you've already obtained them.
As the saying goes, it's easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality.
The people's previously meager lives were somewhat eased by the regent's orders, at least they could have enough to eat. However, when Emperor Yuming ordered that taxes be returned to their original levels, the people were not happy.
The capital city, located right under the emperor's nose, was far more prosperous than other cities. The people of the capital didn't react much; the real reaction wasn't from there, but from—
The twelve cities of the Northwest.
The Northwest is the most barren place in Yu Kingdom. It borders the desert, is short of water and food, and is filled with yellow sand. Every year, many people starve to death there.
This gave Emperor Yuming a terrible headache.
The imperial court did send imperial envoys to resolve the issue, but for some reason, despite the enormous amount of disaster relief funds being allocated, they couldn't even afford 10,000 taels of muddy water when they reached the Northwest.
This happened several times in a row, and eventually, Emperor Yuming stopped caring. As a result, peasant uprisings frequently broke out in the Northwest in recent years, but he didn't send anyone to quell them. They were just border towns; as long as the central government wasn't affected, let them rebel.
After the Regent's order was issued, the Northwest had become much more stable. But less than a month later, the court has changed its mind?
This was quite a big deal. People who were originally just chanting "May the Regent ascend the throne soon" started to directly threaten that Emperor Yuming should step down.
Do you think they're not afraid?
In truth, everyone here is a flesh-and-blood human being, and they were initially afraid to openly oppose the emperor. However, the situation in the northwest worsened, with prolonged droughts, and even the outlying city of Xicheng had become so barren that crops could not be grown.
Many people starved to death in Xicheng. In the end, the city lord had to personally talk to the city lord of Beicheng next door before the city lord of Beicheng agreed to provide them with some relief.
But this wasn't a solution. The cities were all adjacent, and Beicheng's situation wasn't much better. In less than half a month, Beicheng was overwhelmed.
The two cities had no choice but to seek refuge with the next city, and then the next. Eventually, a rebellion broke out.
...
It was two months later when news of the people's rebellion reached Emperor Yuming's ears; it was Qin Wenxiang who told him.
Emperor Yuming was extremely shocked, and from that day on, he began to handle state affairs on his own.
For some reason, all the reports submitted were good news; not a single bad one was mentioned. He knew that ministers tended to report only good news and not bad, but he never imagined that they would dare to keep such a significant matter from him!
Did you think that Emperor Yuming would arrest these people and beat them up?
No, he didn't.
To everyone's surprise, he punished Qin Wenxiang by confining him and banning him from attending court for three months. In addition, he even had Lu Chuan flogged thirty times.
Why?
Because Qin Wenxiang kept it a secret, he clearly knew about it but only told him after so long.
Lu Chuan was even more rebellious; he had not carried out the task Emperor Yuming had given him a few days earlier. Instead of beheading ordinary people, he had beheaded prisoners who were already scheduled for execution.
This already counts as disobeying the emperor's orders!
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