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

Zheng Luoqi was very satisfied with their decisiveness.

“Now that you have taken the poison, you must behave yourselves and not let me know that any of you have any disloyal intentions. You are well aware of my methods,” Zheng Luoqi said coldly to them.

"Yes!" All the girls, led by Zhi Zi, knelt down respectfully.

Zheng Luoqi was very satisfied and said, "Very good. We'll get things done at the theater in the next few days. You'll be the manager, Zhizi."

"Yes, Master," Zhi Zi replied excitedly.

Zheng Luoqi still admired Zhi Zi. On the night of the arrest of the Kong family, he and Zhi Zi did not cooperate from the inside; that night was their first meeting.

It was purely by chance that Zhi Zi set fire to the Confucius Mansion, which was discovered by people Zheng Luoqi had arranged to keep watch outside the mansion. Then a series of events occurred. It was Zhi Zi's own courage that allowed her to escape her fate of being sacrificed.

................

The day after this incident, news of Zheng Luoqi's massacre of the Kong family spread throughout Xuzhou, and people everywhere were discussing why the Kong family had been wiped out.

They also felt that the new prefect was extraordinary, killing those powerful families without hesitation.

"Did you hear that?"

"What? You're talking about the Kong family?"

"Yes, I heard they died a terrible death."

"I've heard about that too. They were all wiped out."

"Not only that, I heard that the Kong family members were all executed by extreme torture. I don't know what they did to deserve such a tragic death."

"That's right. Last time the He family was arrested by the prefect, there wasn't much trouble. They were released quickly this time."

"You know what, when I saw that the prefect released the He family so quickly, I thought he was like those other prefects before, colluding with those powerful families."

"At first, I thought it was a show put on for us common folk by the new prefect. But I didn't expect that the new prefect is not afraid of the powerful families. There will be a show to watch from now on."

In a private room of the teahouse

Zheng Luoqi listened to the people outside talking about him.

Zheng Luoqi was enjoying a rare moment of leisure, so she came out to have some tea. As for Pei Wenyu and the others, Zheng Luoqi sent them to work in the fields. These guys were really useless, and she couldn't just leave them there, so she simply gave them something to do.

It's tough on He Jinyu, though, as he has to help them plow the fields.

At this moment, Boyu suddenly came in and reported, "My lord, Prince Gong has received the message, but has not yet taken any action."

"Keep an eye on them. What about those powerful families?" Zheng Luoqi continued to ask.

“There’s nothing unusual,” Boyu said, shaking his head.

“Send them an invitation, saying that I, the official, invite them for tea,” Zheng Luoqi said leisurely. “It’s time to talk to them about the land.”

"Yes!" Boyu accepted the order and withdrew.

Invitations were prepared immediately and sent to the major families.

The aristocratic families also received invitations from Zheng Luoqi one after another. The invitations only said that she wanted to invite them to tea, without mentioning anything else.

Those powerful families were also terrified, having no idea what Zheng Luoqi was up to or what she was planning.

I knew this might be a trap, but I had no choice but to go.

Soon it was time for Zheng Luoqi to invite them for "tea".

In a private room of the most bustling restaurant in Xuzhou, it had been almost two months since they last sat together like this, when Zheng Luoqi had just arrived in Xuzhou.

Last time there were five powerful families, but now there are only four. The mindset of these family heads is completely different from last time. Last time they looked down on Zheng Luoqi and thought he could be easily dismissed with some money.

Now, he doesn't dare to breathe loudly in front of Zheng Luoqi.

Looking at their reserved demeanor, which was completely different from last time, Zheng Luoqi found the contrast quite amusing.

Zheng Luoqi chuckled, breaking the silence, and said, "Everyone seems much more reserved than last time."

"You jest, sir. May I ask what brings you all together here today?" The one who spoke was the head of the Lü family.

"Oh, since you've asked directly, Master Lü, then I won't keep you in suspense any longer," Zheng Luoqi replied calmly.

"Here's the thing, I've only been in Xuzhou for a short time, and it just so happens to be harvest time, so I thought I'd go and see the joy of the people of our Great Xia Kingdom during the harvest."

"But who would have thought that when I went there, I found that this year's autumn harvest was very poor, with many fertile fields lying fallow, and some farmers even having no land to cultivate. Why is this happening?"

"I thought I'd find out, so I asked those farmers who weren't farming why they didn't rent land and cultivate it!"

"Guess what they said?" Zheng Luoqi asked the family heads who were listening to him, feigning ignorance.

The heads of the families all shook their heads in agreement, indicating that they did not know.

"They said, 'Hey!! The rent is too expensive! The crops we grow all year round aren't even enough to cover the rent. How are we supposed to survive? We're having trouble even eating! Who would want to farm anymore?'" Zheng Luoqi continued vividly.

“As you all know, our Emperor has a heart that loves his people like his own children. If the Emperor knew that his people were starving to death on the streets because the rent was too high and they couldn’t farm, how heartbroken would he be! If this continues, all the people of our Great Xia Kingdom will starve to death, and then there will be no one left in the entire Great Xia Kingdom!” Zheng Luoqi said with great distress.

After listening to so much, these family heads understood Zheng Luoqi's meaning; it was because of the land issue that they had been summoned.

"So, sir, do you mean to..." the Qi family head asked tentatively.

"Ah! As you all know, as a prefect of the Great Xia Kingdom, I should share the Emperor's burdens. I love the people as much as the Emperor does, and I can't bear to see them suffer. Whenever I think of the many people in my Great Xia Kingdom who can't even get enough to eat, I feel extremely guilty!"

"That's why I called you here to solve this problem together. How can we ensure that the people have enough to eat? I've thought about it for a long time and finally come up with a good solution."

“That means lowering the rent,” Zheng Luoqi said.

"Lower the rent?" Several family heads asked in unison, puzzled.

"May I ask, sir, how exactly do you intend to subdue him?" the head of the Qi family asked.

“Normally, buying and selling one mu of land costs two shi and five qian, while renting it costs one shi and two qian per year. Generally speaking, people can buy back the land on their own after cultivating it for a few years.”

"Your land lease starts with five shi (a unit of dry measure), isn't that too much? And you're asking for ten shi to buy your fields, ha! That's almost as much as gold!"

"How are ordinary people supposed to live like this? Don't you think so?" Zheng Luoqi said, sounding extremely distressed.

The astute Mr. Zhu asked obsequiously, "I wonder what price you think would be appropriate, sir?"