Seeing Du Yu lead the charge, the other nobles refused to be outdone.
The Yao Family Head said, "Your Majesty has no idea what those unruly peasants are like. For a worthless patch of land, they dare open their lion's maws and demand a fortune."
"We enclosed land to raise sheep so we could make sweaters, so more people could survive the bitter winter. What do they understand?"
"If it means fewer people freezing to death, what is wrong with taking less rent and earning less money? How can anyone be so cold-blooded?"
"To sentence us like this without considering the causes is surely twisting reason to force an argument. Those stupid farmers are filthy beyond measure. Your Majesty... Your Majesty..."
The Yao Family Head's face flushed crimson as he poured out one high-sounding justification after another.
Some of what he said was actually true. There were indeed farmers who opened their lion's maws when nobles came to rent their land. Some nobles, displeased with the exorbitant rents, had resorted to tricks or simply seized the land through open robbery and covert theft.
Yet while demanding that the farmers charge less rent, they had never considered lowering the price of wool sweaters by even a fraction, nor surrendering the tiniest scrap of their own profits. Their talk of fewer people freezing to death was merely lip service. In cold-bloodedness, the farmers could not match even a ten-thousandth of theirs.
The Yao Family Head continued, "Every son of our Grass People is virtuous and upright, yet they were dragged off to Yuan Prison. Some were punished, some could not endure the humiliation and took their own lives, and others were forced to leave their homes, abandoning their families and children. How miserable!"
"If Your Majesty would grant us a way to