The Most Powerful Prince Doesn't Have to Become Emperor

We've seen princes serve as soldiers, generals, and imperial envoys, but never as county magistrates.

Zhao Yi, the Tenth Prince of the Jiulong Kingdom, can't stand the outrageous behavior of the eldest prince, Crown Prince Zhao Ding, and has repeatedly talked back to his father, the emperor.

Fortunately, his fifth brother, Prince Lian Zhao Kang, is always trying to protect him.

To keep Zhao Yi from getting too involved in the unfamiliar struggles at court, Zhao Kang pleads his case and arranges for him to take up a post as a county magistrate in Jiangnan under an assumed identity, figuring it will be good experience.

But, to everyone's surprise, as soon as Zhao Yi takes office, he starts greedily accepting bribes from the local gentry and doing illegal favors for them, even going so far as to murder people to silence them.

In just one month, he takes in more than 200,000 taels.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.