Can't a princess ascend the throne?

Chapter 198 Salt Transport Ships

"Your Majesty cannot show favoritism or bend the law for personal gain!"

"Exactly! Is the life of His Majesty's adopted son more valuable than that of us ordinary people? This matter will not be over until an explanation is given!"

"Yes! It's not over yet!"

Those who raised their arms and shouted had assumed that countless people would blindly follow them simply by speaking up. After all, these people weren't exactly intelligent; a little propaganda would be enough to gather them in front of the Chaowu Gate. But this time, after shouting for a while, they were embarrassed to find that the people behind them were looking at them with suspicion and wariness, not blindly following them as they had imagined.

No, they've all followed me all the way to the Chaowu Gate, yet they've shut up at this crucial moment. That doesn't seem right.
Little did the people know that these ringleaders were the ones who were increasingly viewed with suspicion. Everyone certainly wanted salt, but each person had their own sense of right and wrong. Since his ascension to the throne, His Majesty had spared no effort in improving the lives of the common people, allowing them to recuperate and live a better life. Although natural disasters and man-made calamities had plagued the land in recent years, preventing much improvement, the people still respected Emperor Jingtai. After all, this was the first time in history that an emperor had risen from the common people to establish his empire, and who truly held them in his heart.

They had only gathered together because they wanted enough salt to eat. They didn't really want to cause trouble. If people hadn't thought of that before, hearing these few people shouting now, they couldn't help but start thinking about conspiracy theories.

"Which street are you from? You're dressed similarly to us, yet you look completely unfamiliar. Besides, we never intended for His Majesty to punish Prince Binyang. Prince Binyang is one of the Twin Stars; he killed countless enemies during the war against the barbarians. Even if this time the large quantity of salt couldn't be transported due to an accident, it wasn't intentional. As long as a solution can be found and we have salt to eat, isn't that enough? Why must His Majesty punish his adopted son?"

"Exactly! Do you really think this old man is blind?! Your white clothes don't look like those of ordinary people at all!"

The old man who said this stepped forward, grabbed their collars, and pulled them down hard.

"Look! They're wearing linen clothes on the outside, but silk underneath! Who would dare wear silk undergarments these days? They're very expensive. Are you here to cause trouble on purpose? Or are you trying to use us as pawns? Let me tell you, we are ordinary people living under the walls of the capital. Don't think you can fool us with your schemes. We've come here to ask you officials if you have any salt to eat! If you're going to pull any other tricks, don't drag us into it."

"Exactly! Don't use us as pawns!"

The crowd was incredibly agitated, even the Left Prince, who was watching the commotion from the city wall, was taken aback. Wait, are all the people of Da Jing this clever?

Emperor Jingtai didn't say it, but he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He knew that the people under his rule wouldn't be so easily instigated. However, seeing that their first plan had failed, the troublemakers came up with another.

"Never mind all that. I just want to ask you, has anyone bought a single grain of salt from the Salt Bureau during this time? When you barged in just now, you saw that there wasn't a single grain of salt in those dozens of warehouses. Anyway, my family has no salt to cook with now. In just a few days, I feel like I'm losing my strength. You're all standing here so self-righteously, so tell me, where are you planning to buy salt from? I've heard that those envoys from the Northern Barbarians and Southern Miao are even trying to borrow salt from our Great Jing!"

"We don't even have enough to eat ourselves, yet we have to lend it to them. What kind of logic is that? Tell me, isn't all the salt from those salt bureaus being lent to other countries? It turns out that our own people are worthless now, while the people of the northern barbarians and southern Miao are valuable!"

"You don't know this, do you? We're currently fighting the Northern Barbarians. We've been fighting for days, and not only have we not gained the upper hand, we've even run out of salt. The soldiers are said to be using vinegar cloths. Tell me, how can we have the strength to fight them without salt? Aren't we just making concessions to avoid a full-blown war? Actually, our Emperor is in a difficult position too. If that's really the case, I have nothing to say, after all, it's for the sake of our entire Great Jing."

"You have nothing to say, but I do! Why should we? The Northern Barbarians fight us every year, and we've already let them go, but now we have to be subservient and appease them. And the Southern Barbarians, haven't they not fought us yet?" Another commotion erupted below. The officials on the city wall looked grim, as did the Northern and Southern Barbarians. These people of Dajing were going too far! Calling us barbarians right to their faces. Tsk…

Without external control, the people below were indeed becoming increasingly chaotic. Panic is contagious; even those who verbally expressed disbelief were beginning to waver as the court failed to provide an explanation.

The Left Prince was overjoyed at the sight and gave his men a wink, signaling them to make the atmosphere even more lively. While it was unlikely to throw the capital into chaos, they could certainly create some trouble for the Emperor of the Great Jing Dynasty.

Emperor Jingtai remained silent. He didn't utter a sound, and the surrounding officials also kept their mouths shut, though their anxiety grew stronger. Just as the Second Prince, unable to contain his anxiety any longer, stepped forward to speak, he was shocked to find that his usually calm and serious father had suddenly widened his eyes, his face beaming with joy.

"coming!"

"It's here, what's here?" The Second Prince looked somewhat bewildered, following Emperor Jingtai's gaze into the distance. "Oh, it's that long river." This river runs through the north and south of the Great Jing Dynasty, so it's perfectly normal for it to have cargo ships, but this particular ship is strangely large. And there seem to be words written on it?
Because the distance was still too far, the second prince stared wide-eyed for a long time before he could vaguely make out that there was a large character for 'salt' written on the hull of the ship!

What's going on? Is that a salt transport ship? Wasn't it said that the salt fields in Yancheng were poisoned and destroyed by thieves? For a moment, the Second Prince thought he was seeing things and rubbed his eyes hard. At this moment, the officials who noticed the unusual behavior of His Majesty and the Second Prince all looked into the distance.

Now, more and more people saw clearly, and everyone looked at each other, thinking they were dreaming.

"Was that a salt transport ship?"

"It looks like it."

"Didn't they say... there was a problem over there?"

“How would I know? But I definitely saw the salt-carrying ships.”

"Perhaps it was just an empty ship?"

"Can't you see how heavy the draft is? It looks like it's full of cargo."

Of course, it's also possible that the ship wasn't carrying salt...

(End of this chapter)