Disguised as a man, she became the biggest villain in the book.

Xue Huaiyu flipped through the memorials in his hand and began to convict Wu Hansong, secretly pleased: "Grand Commandant Wen has indeed made his move."

“Your Majesty, this old minister believes that it is not too late to send someone to investigate this matter before making a conclusion,” Zheng Yuxiang said at this moment.

"Ha! Your Excellency is mistaken. How do you know I haven't investigated beforehand? Without solid evidence, I wouldn't dare to speak so presumptuously," Grand Commandant Wen mocked from the side.

"I urge Your Majesty to immediately order Wu Hansong to be imprisoned," said Grand Commandant Wen.

Zheng Yuxiang knew that there was no point in saying anything more at this point. Wen Taiwei had already made the first move, and judging from the emperor's reaction, it was clear that he knew about this matter. It seemed that the two had reached an agreement, and the Xuzhou prefect's family was doomed to be confiscated.

The best course of action at present is to place one of our own people in the position of Prefect of Xuzhou as soon as possible.

The fact that Grand Commandant Wen suddenly attacked the Prime Minister's residence at this time was probably influenced by the rumor that Wen Nanwan's incident was related to Qi'er. This rumor was very likely spread by the Emperor. The Emperor was present at the banquet at the time, and the Empress Dowager could not have framed the Wen family. That left only the Emperor, Zheng Yuxiang thought to himself.

Given this, Zheng Yuxiang thought for a moment and immediately made a decision. He gestured to Zheng Luoqi with his eyes, and Zheng Luoqi immediately understood and stepped forward to speak.

“Since the Prefect of Xuzhou is to be detained, the position of Prefect of Xuzhou will be vacant. Someone will have to manage the pile of affairs. I request to go to Xuzhou to temporarily assume the position of Prefect of Xuzhou and share the burden for Your Majesty,” Zheng Luoqi said.

The court fell silent. Xue Huaiyu's happy expression froze instantly, and even Grand Commandant Wen was surprised by Zheng Luoqi's thick skin.

Grand Commandant Wen immediately stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, this is absolutely forbidden!"

“Why not? Your Excellency, our Lord Zheng is a young man who is already a third-rank official with outstanding abilities. Why can’t he temporarily serve as the prefect of Xuzhou?” Zheng Yuxiang suddenly spoke up at this moment.

"Prime Minister, everyone knows Zheng Luoqi is your son. Of course you're helping your own son. Don't you know what kind of person your son is?" Grand Commandant Wen was truly shocked by the shamelessness of the Prime Minister and his son. They even boasted about their son's outstanding abilities in front of all the civil and military officials. Didn't Zheng Luoqi know how he got his official position?

“I know my son very well; he is undoubtedly a man of exceptional talent, skilled in both literature and martial arts!” Zheng Yuxiang retorted.

"Your Excellency, you are mistaken. In my opinion, Lord Zheng handled the matter of the rebel army very well last time. He certainly has the ability, so there is nothing to argue about Lord Zheng temporarily serving as the prefect of Xuzhou." Seeing that the Prime Minister had spoken, other officials from the Prime Minister's faction also came out to speak in his defense.

"Isn't this righteous army's achievement the work of Prefect Cao? How did it become Zheng Yuzhong's achievement?" At this moment, an official from the Grand Commandant's faction came out to refute.

In the end, the officials from the Prime Minister's faction and the Grand Commandant's faction argued fiercely, and the Prime Minister's faction, with its numerical advantage, helped Zheng Luoqi secure the position of acting prefect of Xuzhou.

Xue Huaiyu's face was almost contorted with rage, but he had to hold back and not dare to actually lose his temper.

"Then let's do as the Prime Minister says and let Lord Zheng Luoqi temporarily take over as the Prefect of Xuzhou. We'll set off on a chosen date," Xue Huaiyu said.

Afterwards, Xue Huaiyu issued an imperial edict to imprison the entire family of the Xuzhou prefect and sent Zheng Luoqi to Xuzhou to temporarily assume the position of prefect, pending the outcome of the Xuzhou prefect's case.

After the morning court session

On their way back together, Zheng Luoqi and Zheng Yuxiang were in the carriage.

“Father, the Grand Commandant’s sudden attack on us might be because of that rumor from a few days ago,” Zheng Luoqi said.

“I know that’s why the Grand Commandant took action against the Prefect of Xuzhou. The Prefect of Xuzhou is one of our men. He knows that this old man is trying to cut off our source of income right away. How can we let him succeed so easily? Go to Xuzhou this time and do what you can to protect him. After all, the Prefect of Xuzhou has been working for me for several years.”

“Grand Commandant Wen has already made full preparations, and the Emperor has no intention of letting Wu Hansong go, so this is a dead end. Wu Hansong has no choice but to give up and save his descendants, which can also be considered as fulfilling the friendship between him and me over the past few years,” Zheng Yuxiang sighed.

"Oh, by the way, you should also expand your shops in Xuzhou this time, just in case. The shops in the capital have suffered a lot of losses recently because they are competing with the Emperor's newly opened shops. You won't be able to interfere in the capital while you're in Xuzhou, so don't worry," Zheng Yuxiang added.

“Understood, Father,” Zheng Luoqi replied.

"You can take advantage of this time to thoroughly investigate the organization with the special symbol on their face. They were sent to monitor the actions of the concubines in other officials' residences. There's news that they did indeed act similarly to the concubine in your backyard."

"We've caught the people, and those concubines have confessed. They're the same group, and this time I caught them alive—those people with patterns on their faces," Zheng Yuxiang said casually, as if he were talking about something unimportant.

"Father, how did you do that?" Zheng Luoqi asked in surprise.

"Ha! Next time you replace the message token, smear it with castor oil (a poison that will suddenly paralyze the whole body upon contact). After the two people who come to pick up the item are paralyzed, the guards should immediately step forward and dislocate their jaws to prevent them from recovering and committing suicide by poison." Zheng Yuxiang finished speaking.

Zheng Luoqi thought to herself, "Old ginger is spicier! Why didn't I think of that back then?"

"Then Father, where are those two people now?" Zheng Luoqi asked in confusion.

"Dungeon."

The carriage had arrived at the entrance of the Prime Minister's residence, and Zheng Yuxiang and Zheng Luoqi went straight to the dungeon after getting off the carriage.

In the dimly lit dungeon, the two men with distinctive patterns on their faces were bound to two execution racks, their eyes lifeless.

The guards in the dungeon immediately bowed and stepped aside when they saw Zheng Yuxiang and Zheng Luoqi arrive.

"How is it? Has he spoken?" Zheng Yuxiang asked the guard beside him.

The guard respectfully reported, "My lord, no. These two are very strange. They seem to be immune to pain. No matter what kind of torture they are subjected to, they do not utter a sound. Moreover, I have discovered that they have many old wounds on their bodies."

"Oh, is that so?" Zheng Yuxiang became interested and stepped forward to take a look. The two men didn't look very old, at most eighteen or nineteen.

Zheng Yuxiang picked up the whip and lashed it at them. Their eyes remained lifeless, giving off an empty and numb feeling, as if the whip had never touched them.

Zheng Yuxiang refused to believe it and ordered someone to bring steel needles and insert them one by one under their fingernails.

At this moment, the two showed some reaction in their expressions, but not much, as if they were trying their best to suppress something.

Zheng Yuxiang now understood that these people weren't unaware of what was happening; rather, they were incredibly tolerant.