Please call me Your Majesty!

Chapter 198 Everything is under control
After having a successful deduction plan.

Chu Shizhao did not delay at all and immediately arranged for his men to take action according to the deduced plan.

During this period, he was on the front line of flood control and disaster relief almost every day, personally directing and dispatching the entire process.

As all the work continued to progress in an orderly manner, Chu Shizhao originally thought that this matter would be resolved soon.

Unfortunately, within a few days, reality slapped him hard in the face.

Just as they were digging to the most critical section of the river according to the plan.

Some local gentry stood up at this time.

Most of these wealthy people were descendants of prominent families in the Great Zhou Dynasty with deep backgrounds.

Therefore, they have long been accustomed to running rampant in the local area on weekdays.

In the minds of these people, let alone a prince who was not very favored by Emperor Yongjin, even Emperor Yongjin himself had to be wary of the forces behind these big families.

Now, Chu Shizhao has to sacrifice their personal interests in order to fight floods and disaster relief.

Naturally, these guys were unwilling to cooperate.

However, no matter what, the other party is still the prince of the current dynasty. If you openly oppose him, it will definitely attract criticism.

Therefore, after some discussion, the patriarchs of several local families immediately decided to incite those ignorant people who did not know the truth to cause trouble.

Soon, under their secret instructions, a large group of ordinary people who did not know the truth surrounded the camp where Chu Shizhao was temporarily living with hoes and sticks.

"We want to see His Majesty the Fourth Prince!"

"Your Highness, come out!"

"Why are you occupying our land? This is the basis for us farmers to make a living!"

A sturdy man shouted, waving his arms.

"You must give us an explanation today!"

"Otherwise we won't leave!"

"That's right, what flood relief? In my opinion, this is just an excuse for these officials!"

"It's clear that they want to occupy the land we depend on for survival!"

“That’s it…that’s it!”

Someone in the crowd echoed.

Inside the tent.

Hearing the noisy noise outside, Chu Shizhao, who had a clear conscience, walked out immediately.

"Fellow villagers, please be quiet for a moment! Listen to me!"

"This flood control is for the benefit of all of you. If the flood is not controlled, everyone's homes will be lost, and how can we talk about food?"

"Occupying a little land now is to have a stable life in the future!"

However, now these people have been incited.

They simply couldn't listen to Chu Shizhao's explanation.

Seeing these people arguing more and more fiercely.

If it were someone else, they would have sent troops to suppress it long ago.

But Chu Shizhao knew very well that the people had suffered enough from losing their homes, and if he sent troops to suppress them, bloodshed and sacrifice would be inevitable.

In this way, wouldn't it be a waste of his original good intentions?

What's more, it was not difficult for Chu Shizhao to judge from the few words of these people.

There must be someone behind this deliberately causing trouble!

As for the person who caused the trouble, he knew them all without having to guess.

It must be the local gentry.

After all, apart from these guys, there is no one else who can entangle so many ordinary people in such a short time.

After figuring this out, Chu Shizhao immediately arranged for his men to distribute food and water to the surrounding people.

As for him, he immediately turned around and returned to the camp to mobilize troops.

Soon, the gentry who led the riot were captured one by one by Chu Shizhao.

Although he had no power to deal with these guys with strong backgrounds, it did not prevent him from taking them to the capital.

As for the fate of these guys, it will be left to Emperor Yongjin to deal with.

All he has to do now is to stabilize the people's hearts and resettle these disaster victims as soon as possible.

Sure enough, under Chu Shizhao's tough measures, those wealthy gentry who had been hiding in the dark and ready to make some moves but had not yet shown up immediately calmed down.

After all, the Great Zhou Dynasty belongs to the Chu family. Although they control the economic lifeline of the Great Zhou, it is not easy for them to openly oppose the court.

Seeing that these guys no longer showed up, Chu Shizhao naturally felt free and at ease.

After he and his men worked hard, the flood finally passed.

The next thing to do is to resettle the victims whose homes were destroyed and who have nowhere to live in this flood.

However, as reconstruction work in the disaster-stricken areas progressed, new problems soon emerged.

The first thing to be addressed is the allocation of post-disaster supplies.

After some investigation, Chu Shizhao discovered that the local officials in charge of material distribution were actually making a fortune from the national disaster during the reconstruction of the disaster-stricken areas.

Not only did he embezzle supplies and food distributed by the court, he even secretly colluded with local grain merchants to arbitrarily raise prices.

Chu Shizhao would naturally not tolerate these guys.

In order to prevent this situation, Chu Shizhao directly ordered people to tie up the officials involved and behead them in public where the victims gathered.

This ensures that every piece of relief supplies can be delivered to the victims accurately.

……

However, at this moment Chu Shizhao was busy helping the victims rebuild their homes.

However, he did not realize that Crown Prince Chu Shixu was imprisoned by Emperor Yongjin.

But the remaining members of his army who had escaped the net did not intend to admit defeat.

After learning that Chu Shizhao was carrying out disaster relief work in the Jinyang disaster area, these guys quickly launched their revenge.

Under their secret manipulation.

Soon, all kinds of unfavorable rumors about Chu Shizhao spread in the local area.

"Have you heard that the Fourth Prince's visit to the disaster area to provide relief was actually just a show. His real purpose was to compete for the vacant position of Crown Prince!"

"Besides, I heard that..."

These rumors, as if they had wings, spread to every corner of the disaster area overnight.

Soon, even the capital city received the news.

Not only that. In order to avenge Chu Shizhao, these guys even disregarded the safety of the local people and secretly destroyed the newly built dams and excavated rivers under the cover of night.

Overnight, many gaps appeared in the embankments that had already been built.

Even the river channel that had been cleared with great difficulty was blocked again.

"hateful!"

"Who on earth would do such a thing without caring about the safety of the people?"

After learning about the situation, Chu Shizhao slammed his fist on the table.

However, although he was very annoyed at the moment, he was also clear in his mind.

The reason these guys are secretly sabotaging is simply to frame themselves for failing to perform their duties.

But compared with this, the most urgent task is to repair the damaged dams and rivers as soon as possible.

So he immediately arranged people to go to the damaged area to complete the repair work.

After finishing these things, he reopened the system panel.

"Start the deduction!"

[Chu Shizhao sent a large number of his trusted aides to secretly investigate among the disaster victims. After several days and nights of efforts, they finally locked onto several suspicious people. These people were brought before Chu Shizhao, and at first they denied everything.]

Chu Shizhao sneered: "Do you think you can hide it from the world? From the moment you joined the group of disaster victims, you have been targeted. Tell me, who ordered you to do this!"

[One of them collapsed to the ground in fear and gave away the remnant of the prince's forces behind the scenes. After Chu Shizhao learned the hiding place of the mastermind behind the scenes, he immediately led a team of elite troops to capture him.]

[When they arrived, they found that it was a trap. The enemy had been prepared and ambushed them everywhere. Chu Shizhao's troops were caught in a tough battle and casualties gradually increased.]

[Chu Shizhao was anxious, but he remained calm. He ordered his men to fight and retreat, looking for an opportunity to break out. However, the enemy's firepower was fierce, and the situation became increasingly critical.]

Looking at the deduction results in front of him, Chu Shizhao frowned.

Obviously, this result was unacceptable to him.

[Chu Shizhao sent a large number of his trusted aides to secretly investigate among the disaster victims, and finally locked onto several suspicious people.]

[Chu Shizhao arranged for his confidants to closely monitor those suspicious persons in secret, and at the same time deliberately released some false information, saying that he was powerless to do anything about the sabotage and was ready to abandon part of the disaster relief plan.]

[After the remnant of the Crown Prince's forces learned of this, they relaxed their vigilance and began to move frequently, trying to further expand the destruction. Chu Shizhao's confidants took the opportunity to find out all their deployments and contact methods.]

[Chu Shizhao selected a group of reliable men, and according to the plan, they attacked simultaneously and quickly took control of the various strongholds of the remaining forces of the crown prince.]

[In the fierce battle, Chu Shizhao captured several key figures alive. He personally interrogated these people and learned more information about the remaining forces of the princelings from them.]

[However, in the process of cleaning up these remnant forces, some forces that were more deeply hidden sensed the danger and began to secretly transfer assets and personnel, preparing to wait for an opportunity to counterattack.]

Although the results of this deduction disrupted the plans of these guys.

However, with Chu Shizhao's personality, he would never allow these guys to hide in the dark and sabotage or trip him up.

In order to completely defeat these guys, he must come up with a more thorough and safe plan!

[Chu Shizhao apparently relaxed the efforts to capture the remaining forces of the crown prince, giving people the illusion that he was satisfied with the existing results. At the same time, he arranged for people to spread the news secretly, saying that he was ready to reconcile with these remaining forces and that as long as they stopped making trouble, he would forgive them.]

[Some of the remaining forces began to waver, and internal disagreements arose. Some people thought this was an opportunity to take a breather and redevelop; while others thought this was a conspiracy by Chu Shizhao and should not be trusted.]

Chu Shizhao saw the right opportunity and sent lobbyists to go deep into the remnant forces to win over those wavering people. He promised to give these people a chance to reform and give them certain benefits.

[Under the temptation of interests, more and more people chose to turn to Chu Shizhao. Chu Shizhao took the opportunity to eliminate those stubborn resistance forces in one fell swoop, and completely disintegrated the core organization of the remaining forces of the prince. ]

[In the process of cleaning up the remaining forces, Chu Shizhao discovered a young man named Su Ran. This man was resourceful and was originally forced to join the prince's party. After talking with him, Chu Shizhao found that he was very talented and decided to recruit him for his own use. ]

[Su Ran was grateful to Chu Shizhao for not killing him and swore allegiance to him. With Su Ran's help, Chu Shizhao successfully recruited some of the best of the remaining prince's forces into his own camp and used them for his own purposes.]

Looking at the deduction plan in front of him, he was satisfied.

Chu Shizhao couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly.

Next, all we have to do is follow the steps to deal with these guys.

However, although the problem of the prince's remnants was solved, he did not know that his outstanding performance in the disaster area had unknowingly attracted the attention of the capital.

The first to be affected were the brothers who also carried the title of prince.

Just as Chu Shizhao was cleaning up the remaining forces of the prince according to the deduced plan.

Other princes of the Great Zhou in the capital also took action.

After learning that Chu Shizhao's actions in the disaster area had begun to show results, they immediately sent their trusted aides to "help".

They say they are helping, but their real purpose is just to get a piece of the pie and take some credit for themselves.

The first to arrive was the third prince Chu Shiyu.

As soon as this guy arrived at Chu Shizhao's tent, he started to try to get close to Chu Shizhao with a smile on his face.

"Fourth brother, I heard that you are working hard in disaster relief here, so I was asked to bring some supplies here as a token of my appreciation."

Don't be fooled by this guy's high-sounding words.

But Chu Shizhao knew very well that in the current Great Zhou, the crown prince was imprisoned, and the most likely candidates to ascend to the throne were the second prince Chu Shiren and the third prince Chu Shiyu.

Now, this guy came to me at this time. The purpose of sending supplies was fake. The real purpose was probably to test the waters.

After all, Chu Shizhao had already known about those guys spreading rumors before.

Since Chu Shiyu has come, I believe that everyone in the capital should have received the news.

I guess my good second brother should be here soon.

Although his heart was as clear as a mirror, Chu Shizhao still pretended to be terrified on the surface.

"Thank you, Third Brother, for remembering me as your younger brother. You may not know that Jinyang was hit by a disaster this time, and I was worried about not having enough supplies. Now, Third Brother, these supplies are really a timely help."

Just as the two of them were talking to each other like snakes.

At this moment, a voice suddenly sounded outside the tent.

"Fourth brother, you are so considerate of the people. This is really helping the people of Jinyang!"

The moment the voice was heard, the two people in the tent subconsciously looked towards the door of the tent.

The person who came was none other than the second prince Chu Shiren.

As expected, this guy did not come empty-handed, but also brought a large amount of relief supplies.

However, compared to the hypocritical and cunning confidants of the Third Prince, his second brother is much more direct.

"Fourth brother, you are so dedicated to disaster relief, I guess you have some great ambitions for the future, right?"

But even if the other party asked so directly.

Chu Shizhao on the opposite side remained calm.

"You must be joking. I am just helping my father and the people. I don't have any grand ambitions to achieve."

"Second brother and third brother, now that the crown prince is imprisoned, I heard that you two are both popular candidates for the crown prince!"

"When you two ascend to the throne, I, as your younger brother, will have to rely on you two elder brothers!"

(End of this chapter)