Chapter 21: The Five-Li Brick Road

  "On behalf of Your Highness, …" Su Sheng couldn't help but take a step forward, wanting to advise.

  "Magistrate Su, there's no need to say more. I already know what you want to say. My decision won't change." Yang Yu raised his hand to stop Su Sheng from speaking further.

  Su Sheng's mouth twitched and he let out a sigh, retreating back to his original position, no longer making a sound.

  ……

  "Have you heard?" a middle-aged man said mysteriously.

  "What did you say?!"

  "The prince wants to use bricks to fix the road."

  Today is Mid-Autumn Festival, as long as it's not too busy, everyone is resting. Yang You is building a brick road in the east of the city, and such a big commotion quickly spread throughout Daxing.

  "How is this possible? Isn't this nonsense?"

  "It's true! Now bricks are not cheap, you can't even buy a few with one cent. Two years ago, my family renovated the house, all using brick structure, and the money spent was like flowing water, it made me heartbroken." Another person said with a slightly boastful tone.

  "What you're referring to is the green brick, but you don't know that this time the bricks used by the king's mansion are not green bricks, but red bricks. They are the leftover red bricks from a young kiln master who just started his business." The middle-aged man revealed mysteriously.

  "Oh, I said so! The Crown Prince who was just revered as the Benevolent King would never do something that exhausts the people and wastes money." a supporter of Yang Yong said.

  As soon as the words fell, he stared blankly outside with both eyes, and his companions couldn't help but be curious, following his line of sight to look outside.

  Only saw the horse-drawn carriages outside rushing towards the east of the city.

  Although the coachman whipped the horses hard, they were going at a slow pace, and it was evident that the carriage was very heavy.

  A gust of wind blew by, slightly lifting the black cloth covering the outside of the carriage, revealing a patch of blue bricks.

  This time it was green bricks, and everyone realized it.

  "It seems that red bricks are not enough, so the substitute king will have to use green bricks."

  Everyone is entangled in their hearts. After all, Crown Prince Daiwang had just obtained the title of Ren Wang.

  If it turns out that the brick road is of no use, then the benevolent reputation of His Highness, the Crown Prince, for saving and relieving refugees will be completely exhausted.

  For a moment, several people fell into silence.

  "Hurry up." The guard urged loudly.

  Vehicle after vehicle loaded with green bricks left the city one by one, continuously transporting bricks outside, yet still unable to meet the demand for bricks.

  The unloaded vehicle quickly returned and continued to pull down another one.

  According to Yang You's plan, the bricks transported from Daxing City started to be paved from east to west, starting from behind Yang You and extending to the East City Gate.

  Xu Duan connected various kiln factories' bricks from west to east, extending all the way east.

  Su Sheng gathered all his labor forces, and at this time, there was no way to stop the substitute king, so he had to cooperate with all his might.

  Brick carts came in and out one after another, and whenever they arrived at a place, they would arouse the interest of the common people. Before long, almost all the people of Daxing knew that Prince Wang was building a brick road.

  "Go take a look."

  Watching excitement is human nature, especially on holidays like this leisure day.

  The people of Daxing began to call on their friends and companions, and they all went out of the city together. For a time, the mighty army of gossipers surged towards the East City Gate.

  In this era of entertainment scarcity, such a big thing happened, and no one can help but be excited.

  Historical records show that on this day, Daxing was filled with people celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival.

  Looking at the dense crowd, they rushed wildly towards the East City Gate, and the gate official's face turned pale.

  The prince left from the east city gate. If anything really happens to the prince, he won't be able to get away with it.

  But by then it was too late to seal off the gate, and the substitute king still needed a constant supply of bricks.

  "What shall we do now, sir?" a soldier swallowed hard and said.

  "What else can we do? Hurry up and report it!"

  The city gate official's face turned pale, knowing that he couldn't handle such a thing himself, and could only hand it over to the big shots inside Daxing Palace to worry about.

  "But sir, we can't even move now if we go to report!" The soldier said nervously, looking at the crowds of Daxing citizens rushing out from under the city gate.

  "Go around in a circle and enter from the North City Gate, it's closer that way." The gate official ordered.

  The soldier took orders and left.

  In the Daxing Palace.

  Wei Wensheng is in the office, and Yang You has been busy with the refugees for several days, having no time to attend to the court. He seems to have returned to his former self, dominating the court alone.

  A piece of paper quietly passed onto his desk, looking at the content on the paper, Wei Wensheng slightly furrowed his brow.

  The courtiers immediately received news that the king's substitute was building a brick road in the east of the city.

  Several high-ranking officials gathered together.

  "Paving roads with bricks is an absurdity of the ages. The Emperor's behavior is truly outrageous." said Wang Yong, Minister of Rites, in a fit of anger.

  "Isn't it a waste brick?" Wei Wensheng didn't know why he started speaking for Yang You.

  Wei Wensheng opened his mouth, and other officials who had changed their words also changed their mouths.

  Guo's silence was as usual, and in the end, the imperial court reached an agreement to wait and see.

  "Master, we really let Prince Daiwang behave so recklessly." Pan Wenlin asked after the others had left.

  "Don't worry, others are clear about it in their hearts. Paving the road with bricks is not a big deal. It's just a momentary impulse of the Crown Prince, not something that will provoke heaven and earth. Besides, only when the Crown Prince does something wrong can we ministers show our worth." Wei Wensheng replied.

  "Teacher is wise, but students are short-sighted." Pan Wenlin was stunned.

  In fact, there was another sentence in Wei Wensheng's heart that he didn't say out loud. That is:

  "Truly befitting of Your Majesty!"

  It was at this time that Wei Wensheng could see how similar Yang You and Yang Guang were.

  Just as resolute.

  The same heroic spirit and ambition.

  Even more so with great fanfare.

  The news reached the East Palace.

  Weifei was showing off a handkerchief when she heard the eunuch's report, her body trembled slightly, and then she pretended to be nonchalant.

  "I understand, you may withdraw!"

  Wei Fei's voice was calm, as if she had just heard a trivial matter that had nothing to do with her.

  After Taijian left, Wei Fei looked at her handkerchief and a bright red bloodstain suddenly appeared.

  But Wei Fei didn't mind, instead she changed to a new handkerchief and continued weaving. Since she had chosen to believe in her son, then this path must be followed through to the end, regardless of right or wrong.

  There is strength in numbers, but if there are too many onlookers, it's a tragedy. The few guards Yang You brought out could barely protect themselves in the vast ocean of people.

  Fortunately, the big bosses of Daxing did not ignore Yang You, but instead sent reinforcements to isolate the onlookers from Daxing City on both sides of the road.

  Today's planned road construction is about five miles long. Along both sides of this five-mile stretch, the fields are packed with people.

  Fortunately, the crops had already been harvested at this time, otherwise it would have been unknown how much land would have been destroyed.

  In the end, even the ordinary citizens of Daxing joined in to help pave the road.

  The red road surface rapidly expanded and quickly spread out in all directions.

  By around 4 or 5 o'clock in the afternoon, a brick road stretching five miles from west to east city gate had been completed.