In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 561 Li Mingyuan

"Commander..."

Yang Erlang wanted to persuade him again.

Yang Zheng waved his hand to interrupt, saying, "The matter of sending troops can be discussed after the autumn harvest!"

As he spoke, Yang Zheng couldn't help but sigh. He knew all too well that now was the perfect time to send troops to Qingzhou to expand his territory.

Unfortunately, the path he chose meant that the Yang family army could not grow stronger by exploiting the people like the White Lotus Sect.

Yang Zheng chose to rebel because he couldn't survive. He couldn't just rebel and then use his power to deny other people a way to live, could he?

Yang Zheng couldn't bring himself to do something like the dragon slayer becoming the dragon himself, nor did he want to be criticized by the people of Liangzhou for plundering them!

Soon after, seeing that Yang Erlang and the others, who could not persuade Yang Zheng, left one after another, Yang Zheng stared at the empty hall and fell into deep thought.

…………

…………

Continuing north from Liangzhou Prefecture, not far from the Great Wall, there is a small town market.

The frigid weather that lasted for several years, coupled with a year of war, severely damaged the livelihoods of the people in Liangzhou, as evidenced by the vegetable market at that time.

In people's minds, a farmers' market should be an extremely lively place, with vendors shouting their wares, customers haggling over prices, and various chickens and ducks making noises all around.

Contrary to popular belief, the market was quite deserted, with very few vendors and only a handful of customers.

Seeing that there weren't many customers, the two burly vegetable vendors started chatting.

"Our vegetables are getting harder and harder to sell, and we don't know when this will end."

"That's right! Everyone's poor these days. If we have money, we'll definitely buy food first. Anyway, we won't die if we don't eat vegetables."

"That's right! I wonder when this damn cold disaster will end."

An elderly woman selling vegetables wrapped her coat tighter around herself; in Liangzhou at the end of June, there was already a slight chill in the air.

“The cold disaster is not terrible. What is terrible is those corrupt officials and landlords. If those landlords hadn’t occupied so much land, even if the weather was cold, the people of Liangzhou wouldn’t have gone hungry.”

"Yes! Fortunately, we have Commander Yang. If it weren't for Commander Yang opening the granaries and selling grain to the townspeople at low prices, we don't know how many people in our town would have starved to death this year."

"General Yang is truly a good man, a thousand times, ten thousand times better than those corrupt officials and landlords!"

"Of course! Besides Commander Yang, who else would be willing to sell us grain at a low price?"

"..."

It is clear from their conversation that Yang Zheng had a very good reputation among the people of Liangzhou, thanks to his act of selling grain at low prices.

Every time Yang Zheng conquered a county, the first thing he did was to open the granaries and distribute grain to attract refugees to join and strengthen his rebel army. As for ordinary people who were unwilling to join Yang's army, Yang Zheng would not sit idly by and watch them starve to death. Instead, he would take out some grain to sell at low prices so that more people could have food.

This approach made many people very grateful to Yang Zheng and very supportive of the Yang family army's rebellion.

"Hey, have you heard? Something big has happened in Qingzhou."

Just as the two middle-aged women were chatting enthusiastically, another middle-aged woman came over and said something mysteriously.

"Qingzhou? Is that the Qingzhou to our south?"

"That's right! I heard that someone killed a prince in Qingzhou!"

"what?"

The two vegetable vendors were startled.

"Who is so audacious as to dare kill even a prince? Isn't he afraid the imperial court will behead him?"

Although they were under the rule of the rebel Yang Zheng, the older women still held a sense of awe for the Xia Kingdom's court, after all... it was a government that had ruled this land for three hundred years.

"I heard it was a boy who was not even twenty years old. That boy was ruthless; he slaughtered everyone in the Qingwang Mansion, including the Qingwang himself!"

"Hiss! The entire royal palace has been slaughtered?"

"This is the news I heard!"

"This young man is too ruthless. He killed so many people just like that?"

"..."

The vegetable vendors were utterly shocked, while not far from their stalls, an old man listened intently to their conversation, a strange look flashing in his eyes as well.

These women probably only knew that the Prince of Qing was a prince, but not his specific status, so they just listened to it as gossip.

But for the elders who knew the identity and status of the Azure King, the Azure King's death... was a cause for celebration.

"Uncle Li, you seem quite happy?"

A middle-aged man standing next to the old man asked.

The middle-aged man had an ordinary appearance, slightly dark skin, and wore a linen outfit, just like the most common ordinary farmer in the world. However, if you looked closely, you would find that the middle-aged man stood upright, like a javelin, and had an ordinary wood-chopping knife hanging at his waist, which gleamed with a few points of cold light under the sunlight.

The old man laughed when he heard the middle-aged man's question. His hair was already white, and his face was covered with wrinkles and age spots, but his eyes were very bright, and he looked very kind when he smiled.

"You should know that I have always been very dissatisfied with the Green King?"

"know."

The middle-aged man nodded: "When you were in the capital, you wrote to the emperor many times, hoping to depose the Prince of Qing from his throne."

"Yes!"

The old man's eyes showed a hint of regret. His name was Li Mingyuan, and he had once been the prime minister of the Xia Kingdom, but now... he was just an ordinary old man.

When Li Mingyuan was serving as prime minister in the capital, he had heard many of the evil deeds of the Prince of Qing and loathed him to the extreme.

He repeatedly petitioned the late emperor, hoping that the emperor would punish the Prince of Qing, or even depose him from his throne.

Unfortunately... although the late emperor valued Li Mingyuan highly, he ultimately treated him as an outsider. Out of a protective instinct, the late emperor never punished Prince Qing too severely, only giving him a verbal reprimand.

As for deposing the Green King from his throne, that's even more impossible!

The Qing King only killed some women; such a thing was not a big deal for the royal family.

"King Qing was utterly wicked, having killed countless poor women, yet no one could restrain him. Now that someone has killed him, I naturally have reason to be happy."

Li Mingyuan stroked his beard and said.

As the saying goes, debts must be repaid and murderers must pay with their lives. King Qing has killed so many women, and now he has finally tasted the bitterness of being killed himself. It must be said that this is a very gratifying thing.

As for whether the news of Qing Wang's death could be false... Li Mingyuan felt that it was unlikely. Although there were many rumors among the people, such a big news as the death of Qing Wang was unlikely to be false.