A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

Then Wei Sheng and Wei Zhong looked at the eunuch who had reported the matter, their purpose was simple.

Now that things have come to this point, Emperor Wu of Han, it's up to you to make the arrangements.

How you handle this disaster is crucial to whether you can ascend to become the Heavenly Emperor!

Do you still dare not give it your all?!

Even without their reminders, Emperor Wu of Han was very concerned about his becoming an immortal.

When it comes to disaster victims, who could care more about them than the Wei family?

Emperor Wu of Han directly appointed Wei Zhong as envoy and the cruel official Zhang Tang as deputy envoy, and approved a large amount of grain and cloth from the national treasury for them to go and provide disaster relief.

Furthermore, they dispatched embroidered messengers to follow them throughout the entire process, and some people were found to be drinking the blood of disaster victims and greedily taking relief grain.

They were allowed to act first and report later, including receiving 2000 shi (a unit of dry measure).

This drought affected nearly one-third of the land in the Great Han.

Most of them were core areas that the Han Dynasty originally possessed.

Its scope is so vast that it leaves people speechless.

Fortunately, the Wei family had already transferred their clan's influence to local areas, which is why there are no cases of bones being exposed in the wild.

In order to provide disaster relief, the Wei family once again deployed a large number of its core forces to various places for disaster relief.

This resulted in a weakened power base in the capital.

Wei Zhen was the only core member of the Wei family left.

This gave that group of people the opportunity to launch their plan.

Meanwhile, Emperor Wu of Han had already begun instructing officials to prepare for the sacrificial ceremony.

He worshipped the ancestors of the human race, worshipped heaven and earth, and swore an oath to heaven and earth that he would become the human emperor, not the emperor.

Many Confucian scholars seized the opportunity to submit memorials, saying that Emperor Wu of Han had offended Heaven, which was why this locust plague had occurred.

Emperor Wu of Han was urged to quickly apologize to Heaven and Earth.

Dong Zhongshu's theory of the interaction between Heaven and Man was partly intended to use to restrict the emperor's power.

By doing this, Emperor Wu of Han elevated them to the same level as the Heavenly Emperor.

How can the emperor's power be restricted then?!

The Confucian school worked on this for so many years, even knowing that it would anger Emperor Wu of Han, but they didn't care.

In a fit of anger, Emperor Wu of Han dismissed all these people from their posts.

He openly expressed his disgust for Confucianism and kicked out many Confucian officials from the court.

The influence of Confucianism was greatly diminished in a short period of time.

Just then, someone approached the Confucian school, hoping to cooperate with them.

In order to make up for the losses and to have an emperor who trusted Confucianism, Confucianists also joined the anti-Crown Prince faction.

After all, the current crown prince, under the influence of the Wei family, is not as fond of Confucianism as he was in the original history.

After joining the Confucian faction, the anti-princeling party became even stronger.

Thus, their plan officially began.

While in prison, Zhu Anshi submitted a memorial exposing the affair between Gongsun Jingsheng and Princess Yangshi.

He also instructed shamans to curse Emperor Wu of Han during the sacrificial ceremony and ordered people to bury effigies on the road to Ganquan Palace.

He cursed Emperor Wu of Han with vicious language.

This incident reflects the strength of the anti-princeling faction.

Zhu Anshi managed to deliver his memorial to Emperor Wu of Han right under Gongsun He's nose, despite layers of protection.

This is just one example.

Emperor Wu of Han was indeed furious upon hearing this.

But she quickly calmed down.

Because he is now the Emperor, he still remembers what Wei Sheng said some time ago.

Wherever the Emperor resides, gods, ghosts, demons, and evil spirits flee in terror.

Moreover, that little bit of witchcraft is simply not worth mentioning.

Even so, although it couldn't harm him, such an act of disloyalty and disrespect still deserved to die.

Emperor Wu of Han's most trusted advisor, Zhang Tang, was not in Chang'an. Compared to Zhang Tang, Emperor Wu felt that his own achievements were more important, so he did not recall Zhang Tang.

Instead, they chose Du Zhou, Zhang Tang's deputy.

This was an even more ruthless official than Zhang Tang.

Zhang Tang was at least reasonable; he was an upright and capable Legalist minister.

However, Du Zhou was an unscrupulous henchman of the emperor, who used the emperor's will as his standard and was extremely skilled at framing people.

Emperor Wu of Han dispatched Du Zhou to thoroughly investigate the matter.

Du Zhou was adept at discerning the emperor's intentions, and he sensed Emperor Wu of Han's dissatisfaction with Gongsun He and his son.

So they investigated the crimes they had committed.

If there are no such cases in the future, they plan to create some witchcraft puppets to solidify the charges.

But I didn't expect to find it with a simple search.

It made him feel very unfulfilled.

However, the fact that Gongsun He, who had once served as prime minister, fell into his hands somewhat made up for this regret.

Du Zhou continued his investigation and reported all the clues and details he discovered to Emperor Wu of Han.

Everything points to Gongsun He's son, Gongsun Jingsheng, who harbors deep resentment towards the Wei family and Emperor Wu of Han because of what happened back then.

So, under the sway of the sorcerer, they used witchcraft to curse Emperor Wu of Han and the Wei family.

Dissatisfaction flashed in Emperor Wu of Han's eyes.

The decision was made to execute him.

That was to prevent others from saying he was mean and ungrateful, so he gave Du Zhou a look.

Du Zhou immediately understood, and the next day news spread that Gongsun He and his son had died in prison because they could not withstand the torture.

Afterwards, Du Zhou sent people to raid the entire Gongsun family.

It even implicated Princess Yangshi, Princess Zhuyi, and the Wei family.

Because of the Wei family's intervention, Emperor Wu of Han was not blinded by witchcraft.

Remaining rational, he realized something was amiss. How did this matter involve the Wei family?

At most, it involves Princess Yangshi.

Emperor Wu of Han's political acumen alerted him to something amiss. After reviewing the events, he discovered that more than one force was involved.

And it's very well hidden.

So they decided to play along and see who was really behind it all.

Emperor Wu of Han remained calm and observed the progress of events silently.

Then it was discovered that almost the entire Wei family's power had been involved.

He instantly realized that this was a conspiracy against the crown prince.

Since it was aimed at the crown prince, Emperor Wu of Han had a direction.

So he sent someone to investigate secretly, and to Emperor Wu of Han’s surprise, he found very little information.

Their hands and feet were frighteningly clean and efficient.

This made him realize that this force was not as simple as he thought; it was not just the Fifth Prince's faction, but also a large number of other forces mixed in.

This attracted the utmost attention of Emperor Wu of Han.

He first intervened to save the Wei family after Empress Wei Zifu pleaded on his behalf.

However, the Wei family's power was greatly diminished as a result, which was Emperor Wu of Han's intention: to avoid alerting the enemy.

In the following period, Emperor Wu of Han discovered that some female sorcerers had entered the harem and were teaching some of the concubines and beauties witchcraft.

They were to be allowed to use witchcraft to curse the other concubines, just as they had cursed Lady Li in the past.

During the investigation, Emperor Wu of Han also discovered that many people were cursing him.

Emperor Wu of Han was furious.

A thorough investigation of the entire harem revealed the deaths of hundreds of concubines and palace maids, as well as ministers and guards implicated in the case.

For a while afterward, things seemed to calm down because of the killing.

Emperor Wu of Han decided to deliberately lure the snake out of its hole.