Savage Queen

The sun was shining brilliantly in Ningbo.

Queen Aliyah attended the meeting at the inner court. Sitting behind a veil, facing the ministers. The ministers reported about the situation in Ningbo. During King Yafei's administration, he instructed the ministers to distribute rice to the poor citizens, he also reduced the taxes to reduce their burdens, and the government offers to provide loans to the citizens.

She called for the attendant, "Please read out the new memo to ministers. All of you please take note."

The attendant came forward and the ministers were looking at him. "Queen Aliyah wanted to restructure the system of the country."

"Firstly, Ningbo will not supply any more free rice to the public on a regular basis. We will only distribute rice during the festive season. "

The ministers have no objection toward this, they have always urged King Yafei not to distribute rice regularly. Even though King Yafei is not intelligent, somehow, he has a big heart. He cares for his subjects.

"Second, Ningbo will increase the taxes to 25%, everyone who is earning money will have to pay taxes."

The minister's face turned black. Increasing taxes is fine, but imposing 25% income taxes is just too much.

"Third, Ningbo will stop offering loans to the citizens. Queen Aliyah will set up a few treasuries to offer loans to anyone who is eligible."

"Fourth, citizens who are above 15 years old and above, must have a job. If they are jobless, the magistrate will arrest them to sentence to jail."

"Five, Prisoners must also work. They can't just sit in jail and get a free meal."

"Six, Queen Aliyah will sack anyone protesting against her."

The ministers began to miss King Yafei.

Queen Aliyah released a statement to the public about the restructuring of the country, this will be with immediate effect.

In the grand marshall manor, Ella wondered why her husband was not returning home for several nights. She went to the kitchen to make some osmanthus cake. After satisfied with the taste, she put them into a basket and decorated them. Her lips curved to smile and instructed the servant to prepare a carriage. She entered the luxury carriage and instructed the horseman to bring her to the military camp.

The carriage dropped her at the reception of the military camp. When she got down, the guards bowed at her to greet the wife of the grand marshall.

A lady ran towards her and hid behind her. Her clothes were torn apart, her face got bruises. "Help me! Please help me!"

"Who are you and why are you here?" Ella asked.

Before she could answer, the troops ran after her. The troops bowed at Ella to give respect, and then carried the woman back to the military camp.

The woman was screaming and punching the troop repetitively. "Heaven will punish you!"

Ella wondered who she was. She followed them from behind and saw the troop is carrying the woman to a tent. A sound of a woman screaming in deranged. Curious about why the woman screamed so pitifully, Ella lifted the curtain of the tent slightly to peek.

Her heart sank to her feet when she saw her husband was stripping the woman naked and tying her up. The woman cried out for help, but the men were watching and laughing. "It was absolutely horrendous," Ella whispered to herself and walked to the reception.

Ella asked the guard, "Who are those women in the camp?"

The guard recognized Ella, the wife of the grand marshall. They responded, "They were the consort and princess of King Yafei. Queen Aliyah gave instruction to them to serve the troops."

Her eyes were filled with shock, speechless. The lady she had always admired, Queen Aliyah is that vicious? Queen Aliyah persuaded her to taste love, but why she instructed her husband to rape King Yafei's consort and his daughters?

Jamie was travelling to the market with her servants in her carriage. She wanted to buy more dresses and cosmetics. Many people flocked to the gate. The horseman pulled the rope to stop the horse after he saw many people were running across the street. The sudden stop made Jamie slip to the front of the carriage and knock on her head.

"Why do you stop the carriage all of a sudden?" Jamie yelled.

The horseman responded, "There are too many people trying to cross the road. I have to stop the carriage to prevent an accident."

Jamie looked out the window. She noticed the citizens were running to the gate. None of them is smiling, their faces appear to look troubled, upset, worried, crying. She wondered why everyone was running towards the gate. Curiosity drove Jamie to get down from the carriage. She saw the citizens gathered at the gate. She instructed the horseman to wait for her, and she followed them to the gate. The citizens were crying in grief and praying.

In this gate, the authority will behead the criminals in public. Today, the citizens gathered to bid farewell to the crown prince and five princes of Ningbo. They are King Yafei's sons.

The gate was in turmoil when the princes appeared. The Minister of Justice looked at the princes, his eyes filled with sorrows.

Jamie asked a citizen, "Why is everyone upset?"

The citizen wept and responded, "They are the princes of Ningbo. Queen Aliyah deposed them and gave them a death sentence. The queen claimed that they have been trying to harm her! The eldest son is the crown prince, he is only 15 years old. Would you believe a kind-hearted 15 years old boy will plot to harm the queen?"

Jamie became speechless. To her, Queen Aliyah is just like her sister. She had never expected her to be so cruel.

She gasped when the beheader swung his sword to the neck of the crown prince. His head dropped to the ground, blood flowing out from his headless body. She collapsed in shock. All the citizens knelt and cried loudly.

Jamie turned her back and slowly walked towards the carriage. She does not want to watch the other princes die in front of her. Her eyes brimmed in tears.

Madam Huang visited the poppy plantation, she wanted to learn more about the products. Her carriage stopped at the entrance of the plantation. Madam Huang got down from the carriage and looked at the beautiful scenery.

The servants came out to greet Madam Huang and take her for a tour. She told them she wanted to see how they made the rolled tobacco. The servants took her to the production of the rolled tobacco.

The room is cold and murky. The workers are taking the tobacco out from a box, weigh them, put them into a paper and rolled them. At first, Madam Huang was excited. When she looked at the workers, their nails were black, blisters on their hands, their eyes were darkening at the skin under their eyes.

Madam Huang became afraid if they got any contagious disease. She maintained a distance from them. "Why are you coming here to work if you are sick?" She asked and furrowed her eyebrows.

The workers looked at Madam Huang, "These are effects from working on rolled tobacco in the long term. We wanted to quit, but the tyranny queen drugged our parents and forced us to work here."

She sighed in annoyance, "What crap are you talking about? You came here to work for money!"

The workers showed the blister hands to Madam Huang, "Of course we want money! Looked at my hand! These will harm our health, the money we earned from here, not enough to buy medicine!"

Another worker ranting, "Queen Aliyah had imposed 25% income taxes from everyone in Ningbo. As a result of this, the merchants have increased the price of food, clothes, medicine and all others."

Madam Huang gulped, "Did Queen Aliyah really drug your parents? And why?"

The worker looked depressed, shedding tears. "Our parents were drugged. They will suffer in great pain, and only the queen has the painkiller. The reason we continued to work here because we need the painkiller from the queen."

A luxury carriage is taking Sarah to Ningbo port. Knowing that she missed the food at home in Shilla, her husband helped her to order some merchandise from Shilla. She is travelling to the port to collect the goods.

She steps down from the carriage happily, but her face turned sour when she saw many people crowding the port. Sighed in annoyance, she walked on the bridge to look for the boat. They squashed Sarah in the crowds. They were pushing each other to get into the boat. A stranger pushed her by accident, she fell and sprained her ankle.

A boatman standing in front of her, he put his hand towards her face with his palm facing upward. She grabbed his hand, "Thank you". He uses his strength to lift her up.