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

"You flatter us, sir! It is our honor that you have come to our humble abode," Master He said obsequiously.

Then they welcomed Zheng Luoqi inside. Zheng Luoqi casually picked a seat and sat down. Only after seeing Zheng Luoqi sit down did Master He dare to sit down himself.

Once everyone was seated, Zheng Luoqi cut to the chase and said, "Master He, you must know why I've come. What do you think about the soaring prices of rice, oil, and salt? If I remember correctly, your He family owns quite a few grain shops!"

“Your prices… If I remember correctly, I asked you to lower the land rent a couple of days ago, but you raised the grain price right away. Is Master He dissatisfied with my decision?” Zheng Luoqi said with a smile to Master He.

"This...this...Sir..." Master He was still organizing his thoughts, trying to figure out how to explain the matter, when he was interrupted by Madam He.

Madam He slowly spoke up: "Isn't the magistrate's regulation going too far? Reducing the land price to six coins is no different from giving the land away for free."

"Oh, is that so? It seems that Master He is dissatisfied with my decision!" Zheng Luoqi didn't want to waste any more time arguing with them. They had already given her the opportunity, but she didn't cherish it.

Zheng Luoqi remained silent, then pulled a packet of poison from his pocket and poured it into the teacup in front of him. Everyone stared at Zheng Luoqi's actions in bewilderment, wondering what he was going to do.

After Zheng Luoqi finished pouring the poison, she asked Boyu to bring over a silver needle and put it into the tea. The silver needle instantly turned black.

Boyu respectfully said, "My lord, the tea is poisoned!"

Zheng Luoqi's expression suddenly changed: "How dare the He family poison my tea, attempting to assassinate an official of the imperial court! Guards, seize the entire He family!"

Suddenly, a large number of soldiers rushed out of the He family's gate. The He family members turned pale at the sight.

"You, you're blatantly slandering me!" Old Madam He angrily pointed at Zheng Luoqi.

"Do you have any evidence? Do you have any evidence that I am slandering you? But now, you have poisoned me, and I have evidence. This cup of tea is the evidence!" Zheng Luoqi smiled and looked at Madam He.

"Everyone in the He family saw it. You're slandering us," Old Madam He retorted angrily, her face flushed with rage.

"The entire He family is your people. Who knows if they're in cahoots with you and trying to collude? Anyway, my men saw that the tea you handed me was poisoned. We have witnesses and evidence. Arrest the entire He family and take them back to jail!" Zheng Luoqi ordered calmly.

"Dog officer! Dog officer!" Mrs. He cursed.

Zheng Luoqi remained unmoved, merely glancing at Old Madam He with a mocking smile on her lips.

The He family members were tied up by the soldiers, and their faces showed fear.

"My lord, spare us! My lord, spare us!" The He family members begged for mercy.

"Hmph, spare my life? I gave you a chance, but you didn't cherish it. You still want me to spare your lives? Dream on!" Zheng Luoqi sneered.

After saying that, he turned to the soldiers behind him and ordered, "Take them back to the yamen, torture them, and then make them sign their confessions."

After saying that, Zheng Luoqi led a group of soldiers away from the He family.

Chaos erupted in front of the He family's gate, with cries and pleas for mercy from the He family members filling the air, creating a truly pitiful scene.

At this moment, Master He was utterly despondent. He shouldn't have tried to outsmart the other powerful families with such petty tricks; now he had become the one who had stood out.

Master He now hopes that the Emperor's reply will arrive soon.

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

The entire He family was imprisoned and eventually forced to confess and sign a document. Afterward, they all hanged themselves in prison, and the He family was wiped out overnight.

The He family never received Xue Huaiyu's imperial edict before their deaths.

At this point, the other aristocratic families no longer dared to try to outsmart each other. They all lowered their prices back to normal and stopped haggling. Now, every aristocratic family wished they could move away from Xuzhou immediately.

When Xue Huaiyu's imperial edict finally arrived, he wanted to save the He family, but Zheng Luoqi had already killed everyone. He could only reply that the He family felt too guilty and that they had failed the people, so they collectively hanged themselves to beg for the people's forgiveness.

After receiving the reply, Xue Huaiyu was furious, but dared not retaliate, so he could only vent his anger by smashing things.

"Damn it, damn Zheng Luoqi!" Xue Huaiyu cursed as he smashed things.

Zheng Luoqi, who was far away in Xuzhou, could already imagine Xue Huaiyu's furious expression.

...........

In the study

Boyu respectfully reported, "Young Master, those aristocratic families have already changed the prices back to the original levels, but... but I've discovered that they've been selling off their assets recently, it seems like they're planning to leave."

"Ha! If you had listened earlier, I wouldn't have had to go through all this trouble. You only behaved after bloodshed," Zheng Luoqi said disdainfully.

"Young Master, there's something I don't understand. Why isn't the land that was taken over directly returned to the farmers, or are they allowed to lease it out?" Boyu asked, puzzled.

"People are greedy. If you give it back to them all at once, they won't cherish it because they got it without any work. If something happens, they'll just think about selling the land again."

“The famine was a last resort. They sold their land because there was really no food available. Some farmers might have worked hard to cultivate the land, but others would only see the immediate benefits. They thought that since they could sell the land they had acquired for free, they could get a high price for it. Why bother cultivating the land? In the end, there would be ‘good officials’ to help them get their land back.”

"I don't say that everyone has this mentality, but there must be some. Now I'm just letting them continue to exchange their land for their own labor, to let them know that land is not something that can be sold off at will, it is the root of them as farmers."

"Now I have increased the price of one mu of land to six qian. If they are still unwilling to work for even the current price, then they are truly beyond saving and deserve to starve to death."

"Moreover, I am now having money shops lend money to farmers who need it, so that they can afford to rent land to cultivate and not starve to death. I have done enough, I have done everything I can," Zheng Luoqi replied.

“I see, I understand,” Boyu replied.

"Oh, right, how are Pei Wenyu and the others doing?" Zheng Luoqi suddenly remembered that there were still those people in Xuzhou, whom he had sent to farm.

“Young Master Pei and the others are still working the land. They were just complaining at first about why they were only given cornbread, but they have gradually gotten used to it now,” Boyu reported.

"Yes, well done! Keep an eye on them and don't let them spread the news," Zheng Luoqi said, sounding quite pleased.

"Yes!" Boyu accepted the order and withdrew.