She mistakenly got into the bridal sedan chair and married a sickly but powerful minister, becoming

Chapter 438 Old Friend

Zhao Yi said indifferently, "No need to pay attention to it."

On his way to Yongqing County, he sent Jiang Chao ahead to investigate the situation.

To prevent rioters from entering the city and causing trouble, Feng Zhihuan set up a checkpoint at the city gate, prohibiting ordinary people from entering the city and only allowing people of status and position to enter.

Finally, due to the shortage of supplies, merchants were allowed to enter the city.

Zhao Yi understood that the Northern Qi emperor was wary of him.

Having quelled the rebellion, how could he allow him to return to the capital unscathed and become an obstacle to the wise king?

If he fails to quell the rebellion, he will either lose his life or suffer the same fate as the King of Qi.

Given Feng Zhihuan's numerous crimes, once the Northern Qi emperor understood his attitude towards him, he would certainly not allow him to enter the city. He might even sabotage the process by arranging for people to pose as mobs and attack him.

Finally, using the pretext of the mob plotting to kill the prince, they suppressed the mob with violence. Even though the methods were cruel and bloody, no one dared to object.

While one should not assume the worst about people's hearts, judging from Feng Zhihuan's actions in Yongqing County, one should not think of him as too kind.

Even a powerful dragon cannot suppress a local snake. In order to prevent any potential trouble, Zhao Yi broke away from the group, disguised himself as a merchant, and arrived in Yongqing County ahead of others.

“Your Highness, if you disguised yourself as a merchant and kept a lower profile, they wouldn’t have targeted you.” Jiang Mu said, then added with some puzzlement, “You also moved into Plum Garden. Isn’t that clearly telling Feng Zhihuan that there’s something wrong with your identity?”

Zhao Yi asked, "Is there a problem with my identity?"

Jiang Mu: "Anyone could tell at a glance that he's not simple."

“That’s exactly what we want – something extraordinary,” Zhao Yi said gently. “Yongqing County is short of supplies, and Feng Zhihuan is not a good official. If I were an ordinary merchant, transporting a large quantity of grain, what would they do?”

Jiang Mu suddenly realized: "They'll steal the food?"

Zhao Yi nodded slightly: "Now I am a merchant, but I live in Plum Garden. They must know who the master of Plum Garden is. The more elusive my identity is, the less likely they are to act rashly."

Holding a letter in his hand, he said cryptically, "The most important task now is to sell the grain. Even if they send people to keep watch, they won't notice anything."

Jiang Mu looked surprised: "You really plan to sell grain?"

He originally thought that his master had disguised himself as a grain merchant to conceal his identity.

After all, Yongqing County was short of food, and the soldiers guarding the city gates would let them into the city for the sake of food.

Little did they know that their master had other plans.

Zhao Yi did indeed have other plans. According to the information Jiang Chao had gathered, the people of Yongqing County had abandoned their farmland, with most of their labor force engaged in mining, and the remaining people engaged in mulberry cultivation and silkworm rearing.

The government set annual production targets for the people. If they failed to meet these targets, they had to hand over the money they earned from mulberry cultivation and silkworm raising to make up the shortfall.

The people had been exploited by the government for a long time, and were starving, which fueled their deep resentment.

The government's attempt to mine silver forced the village head to relocate his ancestral graves, which led to a conflict with the people and resulted in the deaths of some of them, thus becoming the catalyst for the conflict.

To quell the riots, the first step is to address the people's livelihood issues, freeing them from exploitation and enabling them to return to farming. However, simply returning to farming won't solve the immediate crisis; a different approach is needed.

"I have other plans," Zhao Yi instructed. "Go and prepare the carriage; I'm going out of the manor."

Having just arrived, he didn't know much about Yongqing County and planned to take a walk around to learn more about the situation in order to prepare for the next step.

"Yes." Jiang Mu immediately went to harness the carriage.

Zhao Yi rode in a carriage and instructed the driver, "Go to the rice market."

The driver agreed and drove the cart toward the rice market.

Zhao Yi lifted the carriage curtain; the street was deserted, with hardly any pedestrians.

As the carriage approached the rice market, more and more people gathered, and many locals lined up to buy rice.

Nearby, there were many elderly people, each holding a broken, rough bowl, begging from rice shops or from people buying rice.

Zhao Yi frowned slightly, just as he was about to lower the curtain and get off the carriage.

Suddenly, he saw a figure emerge from the alley and froze.