The Cruel Tyrant

27

Suddenly the carriage stopped without warning, Su Mu poked out his head and asked, "What happened?"

Shi Nuo's whole body was on complete guard and said: "Answering Your Highness, several corpses have appeared in the front of the road, seeming to have starved to death."

Although he had ordered the distribution of food and disaster relief, but with the pitiful savings in the treasury of Qing kingdom, it was only a drop in the bucket. Traveling the whole way and being witness to the situation of the people, Su Mu felt both chilled and horrified.

No matter how much skills he had, he had just been a young man living in a peaceful world. He had never seen so many deaths in front of him, and these people were his citizens.

Su Mu took a deep breath and said, "Cremate them."

Towards corpses found on the road, Su Mu passed the order for corpses that were left unhandled to be cremated.

Su Mu didn't want the people to face a plague as well when they were already tormented by hunger.

After a while, Shi Yan appeared in front of Su Mu, with a serious expression: "Your Highness, there is a large number of refugees' bodies in the woods. There are probably thousands of them, and there are also many corpses piled up in several places deep in the woods."

Su Mu's face darkened and he said, "Go and find out what's going on."

It was definitely not just because of hunger that so many corpses were all concentrated here. Su Mu ordered to continue onwards and to meet in the next village.

The golden sun was high up in the sky, shining down on the old leafless trees in front of the village. A few naughty children could be seen throwing mud under the trees.

A child covered in mud suddenly stopped and pointed at the village entrance: "What is that?"

Hearing this, the other children followed where he pointed.

A chubby child exclaimed: "It's a carriage!"

The small village was right next to the official road and often there would be travelers staying the night. The children were not afraid of strangers and several pairs of bright eyes stared at the carriage curiously.

Su Mu's refined and flawless face appeared in the eyes of this group of mud children. But in the eyes of a group of children, Su Mu was only slightly different from other people. They were more concerned about the amount of mud on their companions.

"Children, are your parents here?" Su Mu asked with a genial smile.

A sturdy, dark-skinned child replied loudly: "Yes, I will call the village head."

After finishing talking, he disappeared in front of Su Mu like a gust of wind, and the other children also ran into the village.

Su Mu watched the group of children rushing away, and couldn't help but think of his childhood. He was once just as innocent. It's just that people cannot avoid experiencing misfortunes along with the blessings. He wondered if anyone was still going to sweep the graves of his parents.

Yun Feiyu, Liu Xi, and Qin Ye also got out of the carriage one after another. When they saw Su Mu's pleasant behavior to a group of children their reactions were all different.

Lan Lan pulled at her eldest son and signalled at him. Liu Xi felt rather awkward but then remembered what Lan Lan had said before departing so he walked towards Su Mu.

Lan Lan looked at her son's slender and straight back and smiled bitterly. How could she not want her son to start a family, marry a wife and have children. But in their situation, having completely offended the powerful figures of Shi kingdom and Wu kingdom, who else could they rely on but the Crown Prince?

However, the most important thing was that the Crown Prince's martial prowess was formidably strong and his methods cruel and vicious. It was likely that Liu Xi would not be able to escape the Crown Prince's "devilish claws" in this life, so Lan Lan could only make such a decision.

The bright smiling face was like a coquettish flower. Liu Xi looked at the beautiful scenery of the village and said, "Is Your Highness thirsty? Would you like to drink some water?"

Su Mu shook his head and said: "No need."

Qin Ye stood by Yun Feiyu and looked at Liu Xi trying to please Su Mu and let out a disdainful snort, immediately looking away.

Yun Feiyu didn't have any other expressions from beginning to end. He still had that calm smile, as if nothing could shake his heart.

After a while, a group of children led an old man over fifty to Su Mu.

Although the old man was small and thin, he was full of vigor, and his dim eyes occasionally hinted at shrewdness.

"This old man Zhang Datong pays his respects to Gongzi."

Su Mu smiled and said: "Laorenjia, please, rise. I am Su Mu and want to spend the night after passing by this area. I ask laorenjia for the convenience." (TN: laorenjia=polite term for an old woman or man)

The surnames of the people in this village were all Zhang and belonged to the same clan. The old man was the head of the clan and after he invited the newcomers into his home, the old man took out all his provisions to entertain the guests.

In the simple wooden house, Su Mu sat at the main seat and made polite talk with the old patriarch. Thinking of the corpses not too far away from here on the way, he asked: "Laorenjia, when we passed by a mountain forest earlier, we saw many people who died in tragic circumstances. What is going on?"

The old man's complexion changed and he frowned: "This old man doesn't know exactly what's going on, but it's rumored to be the work of bandits."

Su Mu frowned and said: "Bandits?" Bandits generally ransacked villages and towns. Why did they deliberately throw those bodies into the woods?

Late at night, Shi Yan, covered in dust, returned to Su Mu.

Su Mu, who just woke up, put on an outer robe at random and asked: "Did you find out?"

"Yes, Your Highness." Even the usual non-expressive Shi Yan showed a look of anger: "Those people were killed by Prince Su Nian of Jinyang. For this year's drought, Your Highness gave orders to open a warehouse for disaster relief, but the Prince of Jinyang did not comply to Your Highness's will. Jinyang City did not produce a grain of rice to help the disaster, but killed the disaster victims who tried to rob the food instead."

Tens of thousands of disaster victims, thousands of unjust deaths, Prince of Jinyang, you are quite capable!

Su Mu sat on the edge of the bed with a dark expression and clenched his fists.

"Shi Yan, go convey Ben Gong's will, order the Prince of Jinyang to open a warehouse for disaster relief, otherwise Ben Gong will kill him!"

"Yes, Your Highness!" Shi Yan's figure disappeared from the cabin in a blink of an eye.

Su Nian was the son of Taishang Huang, Su Mochi's grandfather. So he was the uncle of Su Mochi and was granted lands and the title Prince of Jinyang before Su Mochi was born. This was actually Su Mu's own diligent supplementing of his knowledge, as for the idiot Su Mochi, he didn't even know that Su Nian existed. (TN: Tsishang Huang=father of the reigning emperor)

When Shi Yan brought Su Mu's will to Su Nian, the Prince who had always done whatever he pleased in his own lands threw away Su Mu's decree on the spot, glaring and angrily saying: "It's just a bunch of lowlifes, as inconsequential as grass, what's the big deal if they are dead. This Prince is the Prince of Jinyang personally proclaimed by Taishang Huang, and a younger generation dares to be disrespectful to this Prince......"

Shi Yan calmly looked at the furious Prince of Jinyang: "My Prince, the will of His Highness has been delivered, please consider carefully......"

"What do you think you are, this Prince will have you executed now!" When Su Nian drew his sword, Shi Yan had already disappeared without a trace.