After Lü Zhi dealt with the King of Changsha with thunderous force, she exchanged a glance with Luo Xin, seated below her. They nodded slightly, amusement in their eyes.
In fact, the King of Changsha's actions were something both had anticipated long ago. Lü Zhi's edict had plainly been intended to sound out the strength of each kingdom.
Though they did not know what Lü Zhi wanted to do, understating their strength and keeping some of it hidden could hardly be wrong.
Lü Zhi and Luo Xin had anticipated their anticipation, so they picked a soft persimmon like the King of Changsha to squeeze. Sure enough, he took the bait-and to an utterly outrageous extent.
Lü Zhi had thought the King of Changsha would claim fifty thousand households. After all, the Kingdom of Changsha should now have had roughly sixty or seventy thousand households, and concealing ten or twenty thousand would already have been an enormous amount.
Who would have thought he would actually report fewer than when he received his fief?
Lü Zhi was not angry at all. On the contrary, she was so delighted that she wanted to laugh outright. She had been worrying about having no excuse to deal with him, yet he had handed her the knife himself.
To everyone's surprise, Lü Zhi did not continue questioning the Liu Clan's Lords King directly. Instead, she asked Luo Xin, "Marquis of Dong'e, how many households are there in your fief now?"
Luo Xin replied, "Reporting to Your Majesty the Empress Dowager, over these years, people from our homeland have been returning to the fief in a steady trickle. There are now approximately twenty-seven thousand households."
Gasps!
At these words, everyone could not help drawing several sharp breaths. Over the years, as unregistered households were gradually allotted land