The Prodigal Son

Yuyang was once the capital of the Min Kingdom.

Now, however, it is merely the newly established Yuzhou Prefecture in Daning.

However, Yuyang was once the capital, and its transportation and geographical location were unmatched by other places.

Gao Yi's letter reached Yu Jing in just four days.

Looking at the letter in his hand, Yu Jing was so angry that he trembled all over and almost tore it to shreds in front of Gao Yao.

Gao Yi makes it sound so easy!

Open a new salt road!

But he never considered how difficult those four words were.

He finally managed to open up parts of the salt routes in Miaozhou, Wuzhou, and Xuanzhou.

Even so, he still lost out by cheating and shirking his responsibilities.

He opened some more salt fields and expanded and repaired some roads.

However, the main transportation route for salt produced in Miaozhou and Wuzhou still relied on the lower reaches of the Qujiang River.

Now, he's barely caught his breath, and he's already planning to open more salt routes?

Salt is plentiful in Min!

The key question is, how do you transport it?

The canal system couldn't transport goods indefinitely!

The lower reaches of the Qujiang River are not a canal. Although the current is not very rapid, it is much more rapid than the Grand Canal in Daning!

The rapid current and going upstream would inevitably affect the efficiency of the canal transport.

The number of boatmen and docks also affected the efficiency of canal transport.

The overall efficiency of the canal transport was already so low; if more salt routes were opened, land transport would inevitably be the only option.

Of course, as long as you're not afraid of high costs, there's no problem with using land transportation!

But he has to consider the costs!

It's impossible to spread the cost of one pound of salt to ten coins, and then increase the cost by another ten coins when transporting it to other parts of Daning.

The imperial court wanted to open the salt route not because it needed salt, but because it needed the tax revenue that salt would generate!

What's the point of opening more salt routes if there aren't enough profit margins?

Their salt production and transportation costs, if not lower than those of Haizhou and Yuanzhou, should at least not be much higher.

At most, it'll be 10% or 20% higher!

Although there are many salt fields in Mindi, not many are unaffected or minimally affected by sea storms.

Moreover, the roads here are not well-developed, and all these conditions mean that their costs for producing and transporting salt will be higher than those in Haizhou and Yuanzhou.

He had already put in a tremendous amount of effort to open up the existing salt route.

Now we need to open more salt routes and strive to import more than three million shi of salt into the imperial court every year, and increase it year by year.

Why doesn't he do this himself?

Seeing that Yu Jing's complexion was not good, Gao Yao, who was by his side, couldn't help but ask with concern, "Your Highness, what's wrong?"

"Take a look for yourself!"

Yu Jing handed the letter to Gao Yao with a worried expression, wanting to lash out but unable to do so.

He is under a lot of pressure right now.

There has been no news from Zhou Jishan. If nothing unexpected happens, Zhou Jishan should be dead.

It's unclear whether Zhou Jishan actually fell into Qin Yu's hands.

If Zhou Jishan falls into Qin Yu's hands, things will get complicated.

Even if Zhou Jishan took all the blame, Qin Yu and Zhao Luan would definitely suspect that they had sent Zhou Jishan to do it.

He could be purged at any moment!

To save their lives, they still need Gao Yi!

Faced with Gao Yi's rude request, he wanted to refuse but couldn't.

At this moment, Gao Yao also finished reading the letter. "Isn't this great? Why are you still unhappy?"

His father was promoted to Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites. Isn't that a great joy?

"Good news?"

Yu Jing glared at Gao Yao, annoyed. "You only saw your father's promotion to Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, but didn't you see the demands my grandfather made of me?"

"I saw it."

Gao Yao took Yu Jing's hand. "It's simply a matter of conscripting more people to build more salt fields and widening roads to reduce land transportation costs! I believe the Prince can do it!"

Hearing Gao Yao's flippant words, Yu Jing almost couldn't help but curse.

She makes it sound so easy!

He thought that opening more salt fields and widening roads would be so easy.

If roads in some places were so easy to widen, the Min Kingdom would have widened them long ago!

The road widening project must be completed within two months!

This is forcing him to pay with human lives!

That old guy forced himself to be a villain!

If I were to actually do that, many people would die from exhaustion or fall to their deaths!

In that case, the people of Min would hate him to death and wish that this former Crown Prince of Min would die sooner!

At that time, all hearts will be with Daning!

For both public and private reasons, Yu Jing did not want to do this.

As the former Crown Prince of Min, he was still unwilling to risk the lives of the people of Min to do this.

Personally, he wanted to restore his country, so he couldn't lose the hearts of the people of Min!

But Gao Yi practically gave him a death order!

Moreover, Gao Yi also said in his letter that this was the result His Majesty wanted to see!

Although Gao Yi didn't say it explicitly, he knew in his heart that if Zhao Luan didn't see the result she wanted, his situation would be dangerous!

We can't refuse!

Two months!

He only has two months!

Yu Jing grew increasingly agitated and pulled Gao Yao to her feet.

"Your Highness, where are we going?"

Gao Yao looked at Yu Jing, puzzled.

"Go back to your room!"

Yu Jing gave a simple and straightforward answer.

Although Gao Yao was puzzled, she obediently followed Yu Jing back to her room.

Upon arriving at the room, Yu Jing closed the door and roughly pulled Gao Yao onto the bed.

Gao Yao finally realized what Yu Jing was up to, and said shyly, "Your Highness, in broad daylight, you..."

"Sizzle..."

Yu Jing roughly tore open Gao Yao's clothes, revealing a large expanse of snow-white skin.

Gao Yao looked at Yu Jing, who was rushing towards her with her head down, with a puzzled expression in her eyes.

She and Yu Jing had already been sleeping together for a long time.

When they were in bed together, Yu Jing was always quite gentle.

But this time, Yu Jing was surprisingly violent?

"hiss……"

Before Gao Yao could think any further, a tearing pain shot through her chest.

Gao Yao frowned, suppressing the urge to push Yu Jing away, and finally understood.

Yu Jing is unhappy!

With nowhere to vent his anger, he could only take it out on himself.

Understanding this, Gao Yao, with a heavy heart, gently stroked Yu Jing's head and said softly, "If the Prince is angry, then vent it on me!"

The pain in his chest intensified as soon as he finished speaking.

Despite her discomfort, Gao Yao began to respond to Yu Jing.

Sizzle, sizzle...

Yu Jing roughly tore open Gao Yao's clothes, venting all his anger on her.

Gao Yao was in so much pain that her eyes were filled with tears. She tried to stop Yu Jing several times, but she held back.

After a frantic outburst, Yu Jing's frustration finally dissipated somewhat.

Looking at the bruises on Gao Yao's fair skin, and then at her red-rimmed eyes, Yu Jing felt a pang of guilt. He gently pulled Gao Yao into his arms again, "I'm sorry, I..."

Gao Yao pressed her soft hand against Yu Jing's lips, raised her reddened eyes, and said softly, "I understand! As long as it makes the Prince feel a little better, I'm willing to do anything..."

Looking at the gentle and considerate Gao Yao, Yu Jing couldn't help but lower his head and kiss her soft lips.

This time, he was much gentler.

Feeling Yu Jing's gentleness, Gao Yao responded to him warmly.

Soon, their passion was rekindled, and their bodies became entangled once more...