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

After Liu Ju came to power, he did not divide the Wei-Huo clique as he had promised Emperor Wu of Han.

Instead, they continued to trust them.

The large-scale promotion of people from the Wei-Huo clique, coupled with the Wei family's deliberate concessions, allowed them to occupy many important positions in the imperial court.

The Wei family's concession made some people think that the Wei family was nothing special and that they still had to obediently make way for them.

As a result, he became even more arrogant and disdainful of others.

This is precisely why the competition between the Wei Group and the Huo Group has become even more intense.

Although the emperor, empress dowager, and Huo Qubing suppressed the rebellion, the hearts of the people could not be suppressed.

In particular, Empress Dowager Wei Zifu was unable to interfere in politics, Wei Qing had already passed away, and Huo Qubing was still alive.

Even if Huo Qubing had no intention of squeezing out or dealing with the Wei Group, his very existence gave the Huo Group a significant advantage.

Compared to him, the current pillars of the Wei Group are no match.

This led to the Huo Group beginning to squeeze the Wei family's position, and some of the Huo Group's generals openly mocked the Wei Group's generals.

The tension between the two families escalated.

Due to the deliberate cover-up by some people, these competitions were not reported to higher levels.

In order to consolidate their position, the Wei family even prepared to align themselves with the Wei family.

They wanted to form an alliance with the Wei family to jointly deal with the Huo family.

However, the Wei family refused, as they were not prepared to participate in the struggle between Wei and Huo.

Left with no other option, the Wei family had to rally other forces dissatisfied with the Huo Group to fight against them together.

In the second year of Emperor Zhao of Han's reign, Liu Jin was made crown prince, Huo Qubing was appointed general, and Huo Guang was promoted to chancellor.

The Huo family's power reached its zenith.

Huo Qubing therefore approached Liu Ju multiple times, hoping to rescind his decision.

It would be enough if either of the two brothers were in the central government.

The two men, one a civil official and the other a military officer, held the highest official positions. If it weren't for Wei Zhong, who could be compared to them, they would have truly usurped the emperor's power.

But Liu Ju just smiled and said he believed in Huo Qubing and his brother.

Even Empress Wei Zifu couldn't help but want to teach Liu Ju a lesson, but Liu Ju still wouldn't listen.

Instead, they directly issued an imperial edict to bestow titles upon him.

Huo Qubing's son, Huo Yu, was even directly promoted to the rank of General of the Central Army, a high-ranking official with a salary of 2000 shi (a unit of grain).

This shows just how favored the Huo family was.

It was precisely because of this that the Huo family, relying on the power of Huo Guang and Huo Qubing, became arrogant, domineering, and extravagant.

According to legend, the wives of Huo Yu and Huo Guang had embroidered cushions on their carriage seats, their carriages were plated with thick gold, and their wheels were wrapped in several layers of precious animal fur. Their clothes were worn only once and never worn again.

The ministers in the court dared not submit memorials, because all memorials had to go through Prime Minister Huo Guang.

Huo Yu even dared to openly mock the Wei family, unaware that the Wei family had stood in the court for so many years, far surpassing the Huo family, a newly emerging family.

They never took the Huo family seriously, nor did they ever consider them an opponent.

Only those top families of the Han Dynasty knew just how terrifying the Wei family was!

That was a family that even Emperor Wu of Han, who held immense power, never dared to touch in his entire life.

Even on his deathbed, when he wanted to take action, he was still concerned about the impact on the world.

Fearing widespread chaos and the potential collapse of the Liu family's dynasty, they decided to abandon their rule.

The Wei family is invincible; their superior seeds and various farming methods have ensured their continued success.

Not to mention that the Wei family now holds the power to study the classics and the right to interpret their meaning.

In the third year of Emperor Zhao of Han's reign, Huo Guang and the Grand Master of Ceremonies Shangguan Jie had a major conflict over the rewards and honors bestowed upon meritorious officials of the court.

The two sides began to clash.

Shangguan Jie impeached members of the Huo clan multiple times, resulting in the Huo clan losing many high-ranking officials.

Huo Guang also repeatedly prevented the Shangguan family from being granted official positions, which deepened the hatred between the two.

In the fourth year of Emperor Zhao of Han, due to serious differences in political views, the Grand Secretary Sang Hongyang and Huo Guang also clashed.

Thus, Sang Hongyang, Shangguan Jie, and Wei Kang joined forces to form an anti-Huo family group.

Also in that year, Emperor Zhao of Han relaxed his suppression of the Liu clan.

This led to the influence of the feudal lords entering the imperial court.

After entering the imperial court, he began to clash with the Huo family in order to occupy more positions.

For a time, the Huo family seemed to be at odds with almost everyone.

In the autumn of the same year, Emperor Zhao of Han appointed Wei Zhen as Grand Commandant, Wei Zhong as Grand Tutor, and Wei Sheng as Grand Master of the Imperial Academy.

At the same time, the next generation of the Wei family was allowed to enter the imperial court.

Wei Ming, the eldest son of the next generation of the Wei family's Yanhou lineage, was appointed as the Langzhongling (a high-ranking official in charge of official duties).

This is a military officer position responsible for guarding the imperial palace.

Wei Yun, the eldest son of the next generation of the Marquis of Wu'an, served as the Minister of Agriculture.

This was an important official position under the Grand Minister of Agriculture, in charge of the imperial court's grain and finances.

More importantly, the Vice Minister of Agriculture was an extremely important official position under the Grand Minister of Agriculture, controlling half of the Grand Minister of Agriculture's power.

Wei Ming, as the head of the main branch, appears to be a Physician, a close advisor to the emperor, and extremely distinguished.

In reality, this official position only controlled the imperial palace guards and had no influence over anything else, so it didn't have much power.

As for nobility, even among the Liu family, apart from the emperor's lineage, none could rival the nobility of the Wei family.

Emperor Zhao of Han finally revealed his true colors; this was his strategy of checks and balances.

Completely different from Emperor Wu of Han.

Emperor Wu of Han's system of checks and balances was a system of checks and balances between two groups, supporting one while opposing the other.

However, Emperor Zhao of Han, Liu Ju, believed that this was too risky.

If one group collapses suddenly, another one could easily become too powerful to control.

This directly leads to infighting among multiple forces, with each intertwined with the other.

Even after the Wei family split up, he was still not at ease, allowing the two core branches of the Wei family to occupy each other's territories.

The intention was to incite conflict between the two companies.

In this way, even if a faction is too incompetent and is the first to be eliminated, it will not affect the balance of the court.

The Wei family will no longer be united, which has accelerated the division within the Wei family.

At the same time, envoys were dispatched to strengthen ties with the Western Regions, leaving another significant mark on Han history.

One of them was the Pingluo Supervisor who raised horses for Emperor Zhao of Han, who was equivalent to the Bi Ma Wen (弼马温) in the human world.

On that day, news came from the Western Regions that Loulan and the Xiongnu seemed to be colluding, and that Han Dynasty caravans had been robbed by the Xiongnu multiple times within Loulan territory.

Some in the court suspected that Loulan and the Xiongnu were colluding. Loulan coveted the treasures of the Han Dynasty's caravans but dared not act on them, so they used the Xiongnu to rob the Han Dynasty's caravans.

Therefore, he took the initiative to request Emperor Zhao of Han to go on a mission to question the King of Loulan.

This person's name is Fu Jiezi.

After arriving in Loulan, Fu Jiezi did not immediately read out the imperial edict.

Instead, he questioned the King of Loulan as an envoy, and the King of Loulan naturally denied it to the death.

So Fu Jiezi disregarded everything and, taking advantage of the Loulan King's banquet, approached the Loulan King under the pretext of offering him a toast.

Then he took out the dagger he was carrying and cut off the head of the King of Loulan.

Upon seeing their king killed, the soldiers of Loulan surrounded the entire palace.

"Do not act, for action will lead to the destruction of the nation!"

Fu Jiezi said domineeringly.