Chapter 353: Arsonists will eventually burn themselves in flames
In a flash, Sang Zhixia understood the implied meaning of Xu Yu's words.
The prince is deeply favored by the emperor, but he is immoral, lacks talent and is incompetent. Not only are the ministers in the court extremely dissatisfied with this, but several princes who are suppressed by the prince are also deeply resentful.
Having the opportunity to see the prince in trouble is not only a good opportunity for Xu Yu, but also a rare opportunity for the other princes.
Use the opponent's force to counter attack.
The struggle for the crown prince was enough to cause chaos among the powerful people in Kyoto, where they would start a fight and take the opportunity to drag more people into the conflict.
The waters have been completely muddied, creating a chaotic situation. No matter what the purpose is, no one will be willing to watch the prince get away with it.
Xu Yu picked up the teapot and poured a glass of water for Sang Zhixia. He said lightly, "But there are too many people who are suspicious, and there are also many people who want to fish in troubled waters."
"The stronger the wind, the less likely it is to involve me."
No one would have thought that the Xu family, which had long since faded out of Kyoto, still had some movable power.
No one would have thought that Xu Yu was also hiding behind this storm and adding fuel to the fire.
Those who hold power in the hands of the prince will try to drag him down at all costs.
When the storm passes, what can be done even if someone becomes suspicious about the whereabouts of the missing large sum of silver?
All the dead are dead, and the dead cannot speak.
Sang Zhixia's eyes lit up slightly, and she leaned in closer and whispered, "You mean to blame the money issue on Prince Lu?"
"Isn't Prince Lu a relative of the Xu family?"
The old man had two wives in his life and had three sons and one daughter.
Her daughter was promised to Prince Lu as his principal wife and was spared from exile, remaining the high-ranking Princess of Lu in the capital.
If Prince Lu is involved, will the old man be unhappy?
Xu Yu knew what Sang Zhixia was worried about the moment he heard it. He sneered and said calmly, "Who said I was planted by him?"
"I didn't ask him to send anyone to interfere at this time. It's obvious that he couldn't bear it and couldn't see the situation clearly, so he came to me on his own initiative."
"Don't worry, Grandfather won't care even if he knows."
As early as the day when the deceased old lady insisted on going against the old man's wishes and the mother and daughter worked together to set up a plan to become the Princess of Lu, the old man had clearly said that from now on, the aunt of the Xu family would be dead and there would be no such person anymore.
From then on, the life and death, honor and disgrace of Princess Lu had nothing to do with the Xu family.
As for the fact that Prince Lu carelessly got involved in today's chaos, it can only be said that he was unlucky and no one can be blamed.
Sang Zhixia felt relieved after hearing this, and when he saw the shopkeeper coming to serve the dishes in person, he immediately stopped talking.
After a simple meal, they didn't delay any longer and changed carriages to continue heading west for another 300 miles, until they really entered the territory of Shu.
Shu is located among mountains and rivers. The terrain is concave and the official road is uneven. The speed of the carriage has slowed down a lot, and the sights along the way have gradually increased.
Different from the Shu landscape that Sang Zhixia remembered in her previous life, what she saw now was barren everywhere, with wastelands and densely packed mountains.
Beggars with only half their bodies can be seen everywhere, and there are even people lying on the roadside, not knowing whether they are alive or dead.
There were six more people accompanying the carriage when it entered Shu, and they were arranged in groups of four at the front and back of the carriage.
At first, Sang Zhixia didn't understand why there were suddenly more people. Seeing this situation, the doubts in his heart dissipated and his eyes became more serious.
"Zhizhi."
Xu Yu stretched out his hand to block Sang Zhixia's eyes, pressed down her hand that was holding up the curtain, and whispered, "It's not something good, why bother looking outside?"
Sang Zhixia exhaled silently: "There are no natural disasters, but the people's suffering is a man-made disaster."
"Are all these caused by the salt chaos?"
"yes."
Xu Yu lowered the carriage curtain, took Sang Zhixia's shoulder and let her lean against him, and said slowly, "Zhizhi, do you know how well salt is made?"
Sang Zhixia thought for a moment and said uncertainly, "Dig a salt well, pump out the brine to remove impurities, and boil it to make salt?"
Xu Yu tilted his head and kissed Sang Zhixia between the eyebrows in appreciation: "Smart."
"There's a folk song in Shu: Every iron pot produces silver, and every bucket of water holds gold. This is referring to the well salt here."
Salt wells are limited, but the brine they can produce is inexhaustible.
After the brine is extracted from the salt well, it needs to be boiled and exposed to the sun, which requires countless manpower.
At the instruction of the prince, all officials in Shu, from the governor to the county magistrate, followed the prince's order and violated the court laws to produce salt on a large scale and sell it privately.
Firstly, due to the dominance of power, and secondly, due to the temptation of huge profits, the local people had to abandon their farmland in order to survive. Every household melted down their hoes and sickles to make big iron pots, closed their doors and boiled salt.
Sang Zhixia had never thought that the Crown Prince would disregard the court's laws to such an extent. She was stunned and said, "The farmland is all abandoned. Even if we boil so much salt, we can't survive just by eating salt."
"If they had been able to survive, this salt rebellion would not have occurred in Shu."
Xu Yu closed his eyes as he listened to the begging sounds coming from outside the carriage. He said calmly, "The illegal salt trade in Shu has been rampant for many years, but it has not been exposed because the people were given enough money to buy food in the beginning, so that they could barely fill their stomachs."
"But Chen Nianhe's refusal to comply angered the Crown Prince. In order to replace the commander of the Northwest Camp with his own men, the Crown Prince used a large amount of silver to disguise himself as a merchant caravan and went to the northwest to cause chaos. The more money he spent, the less he could pass on."
This may not have been the prince's original intention, but as the money was deducted layer by layer, the amount that finally reached the people was pitifully small.
The money earned could not buy enough food to eat, and the abandoned farmland could not find a single grain of food to eat.
The people at the bottom of society could no longer survive, and chaos began to emerge.
Xu Yu let out a sneer as he said coldly, "This salt riot is getting out of control. It started when a county magistrate hanged eighty salt workers at once."
The county magistrate may have wanted to use the lives of these rebellious salt workers as a warning to others, but he did not expect that this single stone would cause a thousand ripples, and the already tense situation would burst into flames again, making it difficult to resolve.
To this day, the common people and salt workers are suffering terribly, and officials of all ranks are too busy to take care of themselves.
Shu has become an oil barrel that could explode at any time, and no one can predict when the shocking fire will burst out.
Sang Zhixia was reminded of the famine in the northwest. Listening to the constant pleading, she scoffed, "Isn't this like shooting yourself in the foot?"
If the prince had not been so greedy and wanted to seize the military power from Chen Nianhe, there might not have been such a big chaos in Shu for the time being.
Arsonists will eventually be burned by the flames.
I don’t know what those people who are too clever for their own good feel at this moment.
Xu Yu nudged Sang Zhixia's hair with his chin and said slowly, "Kyoto has sent an imperial envoy to investigate. There are three of them. One is the prince's man, and the other one seems to have not taken sides, but it is very likely that he will be won over."
"What about the other one?"
Sang Zhixia asked sensitively, "Aren't there three people?"
Xu Yu tapped Sang Zhixia's nose and whispered, "There's another one who's a close confidant of the Emperor and won't side with the Crown Prince, but he may not be able to return alive."
"The prince will not give him a chance to return alive."
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