After returning to the newspaper office, the two chose an empty room, sat opposite each other, and looked at each other in silence.
Li Yuanzhao sat in the chair in a daze.
When Fang Zheng saw him like this, he didn't want to disturb him any further, so he poured two cups of tea and drank them alone.
Outside the door, reporters were discussing loudly, as if they were talking about some news.
This went on until the tea had cooled down and was finished. Fang Zheng drank three cups in a row before Li Yuanzhao spoke in a hoarse voice.
There was sadness in his tone, and he could not hide his disappointment as he said, "How could this happen? I did not ask them to extort the people."
"They are also ordinary people, and they will also do their best to provide disaster relief when heavy rains hit the area."
"They drank and ate meat with me...there was no trouble before...why is it happening now..."
There is inexpressible loss in words.
Fang Zhengyi could only listen quietly. He had also experienced betrayal and understood the feeling of being deceived.
A simple clerk in the workplace suddenly becomes a county magistrate overnight, with burdens that do not belong to him, which he is unable to get rid of.
After struggling with the "burdens", and finally having meat to eat and money to share, some of those who had shared the hardships with them would always become disloyal.
The halo of being a county magistrate cannot intimidate everyone.
Those great people who seem unattainable and untouchable to outsiders, until you walk into their lives, the physical distance between you and them is shortened.
The light of the halo will gradually fade away...and the sense of awe and boundaries will disappear with it. This is human nature.
This is also part of the reason why the health team dared to deceive their superiors and subordinates and abuse their power for personal gain.
The prince often played with his subordinates, which seemed harmonious and beautiful. But there was a hidden worry in it. Fang Zhengyi never said much, but just watched quietly. Some things can only be experienced by oneself to grow, and it is always less meaningful to speak through other people's mouths.
Li Yuanzhao sat in his original position, looking somewhat at a loss.
Fang Zhengyi then said softly: "Your Highness, have you ever thought that this is actually your problem?"
"My problem?! What problem could there be?" Li Yuanzhao felt a tightness in his chest. "I just want to make life better for the people. It's the people below who are deceiving me!"
"Your Highness, who are they? They were just a bunch of dung collectors who couldn't read a single word."
"I have to get up early and work late every day to earn a penny, which is barely enough to support my family."
"Now that they have the opportunity to make money, how can they not do it? Even if it means exploiting others!"
"Even though their lives have improved compared to before, their horizons have also broadened and their desires have grown."
"Now that Your Highness has handed the power to them, will they give up this opportunity?"
"Your Highness, do you realize how important the title of Crown Prince is? You represent the court and the country."
"Now that you stand behind the medical team, it means that the court stands behind them."
"How could they not take advantage of their own strengths? Perhaps they never deceived Your Highness, but simply passed one proposal after another to Your Highness, who agreed to them one by one, and then the health team added layers of pressure on the merchants."
"They raise the standards to a level that is simply impossible to achieve. On the one hand, they are using you to expand your authority, and on the other hand, they are doing this to prevent you from asking about the situation below one day so that you can shift the responsibility to the merchants."
"Anyway, the health team has set standards in mind, but the merchants just don't obey their management, so they can never achieve them."
"They will always gain benefits from it, and merchants will always make mistakes." Fang Zhengyi spoke slowly and steadily.
Li Yuanzhao seemed to be getting more depressed. After Fang Zheng finished speaking, he swallowed his saliva and retorted: "Old Fang, you are going too far."
"Even if they can't read a single word, even if they used to be dung collectors, I still have a lot of good people under my command."
"Do you still remember Captain Wang during the disaster relief? He risked his life to rescue the injured people from the collapsed houses."
"He is now in charge of the largest area in Banshanfang. I don't believe he can do such a thing!"
"Chen Yi!" Fang Zheng shouted loudly as Li Yuanzhao finished speaking.
Shen Yi pushed the door open and walked in.
"Bring me the materials I asked you to prepare!"
Upon hearing this, Shen Yi turned back to his workstation and soon brought back a few pages of materials and placed them in front of Fang Zheng's desk.
"Thank you. I'll leave the door open. Go ahead and do your work." Fang Zhengyi picked up the materials and said, "Your Highness, this is the evidence that the health team is blackmailing the merchants."
"And this is only part of it. On the surface, they are still a medical team, but secretly they have already turned into a group of robbers."
"And the Captain Wang that Your Highness mentioned, he is more greedy than anyone else. As long as the big restaurant pays him 20 taels of silver a month, they can be exempted from all inspections!"
"All in all, he can earn at least a hundred taels of silver a month. As long as he works hard for a few months, he will be able to live a worry-free life for the rest of his life!"
"If Your Highness doesn't believe me, you can call him over to confront him face to face!"
Li Yuanzhao's eyes were blank. He snatched the materials and pointed at the words on them to read them carefully.
He murmured, "Impossible. I've had drinks with him three times. He's a generous man, and his subordinates all love him. There's no reason for him to do such a thing. If it's really like what you said, how could he be the kind of person who would risk his own life to save others?"
He couldn't continue talking. Following where his finger was pointing, there was a detailed record of every event that Captain Wang had done.
Gradually, Li Yuanzhao's eyes turned red.
The reporters who walked the streets and visited everywhere every day were very professional, and their professionalism was comparable to that of detectives. As a result, the above content was written in too much detail, with the specific location, the amount of money traded and even the time clearly written.
Combined with today's on-site visit, there is almost no possibility of falsification.
Li Yuanzhao gave up and leaned back in his chair dejectedly.
He spread his hands and the papers fell to the ground.
Fang Zheng stood up and picked up the materials, and said calmly, "Your Highness, do you need to call Captain Wang over for a confrontation?"
"No... no need..." Li Yuanzhao said frustratedly: "What did I do wrong... Was I not nice to them? Why do you treat me like this?"
"Of course they are not targeting Your Highness." Fang Zhengyi smiled slightly: "But these disasters are caused by Your Highness."
"Power is like fine wine, addictive and corrupting."
"They are not strong enough to bear the power... nor can they control it."
"They use their power to make things difficult for merchants... the lower classes are fighting against each other."
........
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