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

In the twenty-third year of Emperor Zhao of Han's reign, Emperor Zhao fell seriously ill.

He ordered the use of all sorts of rare and precious treasures to keep him alive.

He could only rest in peace after the first phase of the taming of the Zhuo River was completely completed.

Emperor Zhao of Han, Liu Ju, decreed that his eldest son, Liu Jin, be made crown prince, with Huo Guang, Zhang Anshi, and Wei Ming serving as regents.

He delegated all government affairs to reduce his energy expenditure and allow himself to live longer.

In the twenty-fourth year of Emperor Wu of Han's reign, the management of the Luo River and the Jing River came to an end.

After the restoration efforts, the Luohe and Jinghe rivers truly transformed this land into fertile soil stretching for thousands of miles.

The entire Guanlong region will not experience floods for hundreds of years.

This governance effort resulted in tens of millions of acres of fertile land being added to the Han Dynasty, greatly alleviating the current population pressure.

More importantly, various irrigation canals are spread throughout the region, and even the once desolate southern desert area has been transformed into fertile land suitable for planting.

With land, the Han Dynasty could relocate a large number of people to this area, completely bringing this region under its rule.

Moreover, the construction of various waterways greatly strengthened Chang'an's control over the surrounding prefectures, allowing the army of Chang'an to quickly reach the surrounding prefectures and counties through these waterways.

This greatly strengthened the central government's control over local areas during the Han Dynasty.

The benefits of the irrigation canals, which have been improved over the past few years, for irrigating farmland have become clear to everyone.

Countless people living in the middle and lower reaches of the Zhuohe River were looking forward to the imperial court's governance reaching their hometowns.

People along the Yangtze River petitioned local officials to also manage the river.

Seeing how many people were saved by this governance, he was destined to leave a most significant mark on history.

Emperor Zhao of Han finally breathed his last.

On his deathbed, he summoned Crown Prince Liu Jin to his side.

"Your Highness, what do you think of the Wei family?"

Emperor Zhao of Han looked quietly at his son, waiting for his answer.

Liu Jin pondered for a while, wondering what Emperor Zhao of Han wanted to achieve by asking this question at this time.

Did Emperor Zhao of Han want him to protect the Wei family, or did he want to eliminate the Wei family?

Liu Jin put himself in the emperor's shoes, thought carefully, and replied.

"The existence of the Wei family is a good thing for both the imperial court and the people."

"But this is not a good thing for the emperor."

Emperor Zhao of Han smiled with satisfaction. His son was born when his position as crown prince was at its most precarious, which contributed to Liu Jin's weak and indecisive character.

He was also somewhat worried that such a personality trait would lead to a further increase in the power of the Wei family.

Now he can finally relax and make the final arrangements.

"The purpose of the Wei family's existence is to enable our Liu family to completely seize imperial power."

"But after several generations, the Liu family's destiny has been deeply ingrained in people's hearts, and we no longer need the Wei family as a weapon."

"However, over the years, not only has our power increased, but the strength of the Wei family has also continued to expand."

"Furthermore, with the Xiongnu on our side, we still need the strength of the Wei family."

"Now the Han Dynasty has unified the Central Plains, and the Xiongnu have been defeated and dare not advance eastward."

"The Wei family has completely lost its reason for existence."

"Unfortunately, over the past century, the Wei family's power has grown to the point that even our Liu family dares not make a move against them."

"Therefore, I can only slowly weaken the Wei family by gradually weakening them, like boiling a frog in lukewarm water."

"This even tried to sow discord between the two branches of the Wei family. I just didn't expect the Yan Marquis's branch to be so militarily capable. Fortunately, my provocation still worked."

"You should do the same after you ascend the throne: continuously weaken the Wei family and reduce their influence."

"However, there's something unsolvable about flood control."

"We are not prepared to exterminate the Wei family. In order to prevent people from saying that our royal family is cruel and ungrateful, we still need to spare one of their descendants."

"Wei Du's lineage is quite good; they only know how to manage floods and pose no threat to our royal family."

Emperor Zhao of Han revealed his entire plan, making no attempt to conceal his desire to eliminate the Wei family.

Liu Jin nodded, keeping Emperor Zhao of Han's words in mind.

After Emperor Zhao of Han confirmed that Liu Jin had kept this matter in mind, he passed away.

Crown Prince Liu Jin ascended the throne before his death, and was historically known as Emperor Xuan of Han.

In the first year of Emperor Xuan of Han, Zhang Anshi, the regent minister left by Emperor Zhao of Han, was removed by Huo Guang because of his differing political views.

In the second year of Emperor Xuan of Han's reign, Huo Guang passed away, leaving only Wei Ming among the three regents.

In the third year of Emperor Xuan of Han's reign, more and more famous ministers from the reigns of Emperor Wu and Emperor Zhao passed away, and the court was filled with almost entirely new faces.

It seems to reflect the end of a glorious era.

Both regents were gone, and the remaining one, Wei Ming, was someone who didn't really manage things.

Without restrictions, Emperor Xuan of Han began to become somewhat decadent.

He began to favor his relatives by marriage and eunuchs.

Emperor Xuan of Han felt that this was also to eliminate the power of the Wei family. The more power the maternal relatives and eunuchs held, the less power the Wei family had.

Moreover, having more ministers in the court who listen to him would also enhance his authority.

He wanted to avoid the fact that some senior officials in the court were always taking advantage of their age and seniority, which annoyed him greatly.

In the fifth year of Emperor Xuan of Han's reign, after five years of recuperation, the Han Dynasty once again accumulated a huge inventory.

Therefore, Wei Du once again petitioned Emperor Xuan of Han to continue managing the Zhuo River.

At this time, Emperor Xuan of Han was not yet completely incompetent and clearly understood how much this governance would benefit his empire.

Emperor Xuan of Han, like his father, fully supported Wei Du's governance. Even his favorite relatives and eunuchs were severely warned by him and were not allowed to interfere in his affairs.

Unfortunately, these relatives of the emperor and eunuchs, who suddenly gained high positions and power, completely disregarded Emperor Xuan's warnings.

They relied on Emperor Xuan's favor. With this favor, even if they really tried to take advantage, Emperor Xuan wouldn't do anything to them.

At most, he'll just be punished with three cups of wine.

But this harvest was enough to make them extremely envious; it was the accumulation of five years during the peak of the entire Han Dynasty.

We also need to factor in the years of accumulated efforts to manage the Zhuohe River that followed.

This is an astronomical figure, and they won't take it all. Just taking a portion would be enough to feed them all until they're overflowing with oil.

The powerful relatives of the emperor and the eunuchs, who had been vying for the emperor's favor, joined forces for the first time, starting by corrupting people at every level of the government and installing their own cronies in positions of power.

He wanted to control all the official positions, including those for procurement, supervision of construction, and management of finances and grain.

Substituting inferior goods for superior ones, buying low and selling high, exaggerating the number of people, colluding with superiors and subordinates, and reporting material losses.

These are all tactics they commonly use.

On this day, when Wei Du was inspecting the river embankment, he noticed that the color of the materials that had been delivered was a bit off.

He had been with these stone bricks day and night for the past five years, and he knew them all too well.

But the color before me was dull and had a rough feel to it.

Wei Du took out a stone brick, then took a hammer from the laborer next to him, and smashed it hard.

The stone bricks cracked open, revealing an interior filled with mud and sand.

Damn!

With such poor quality, and such a large volume of water in the Zhuohe River, it could easily be washed away by a strong flood.

That could lead to a direct breach of the dike, and the people who have placed their trust in the dike will only have one fate.

That means being drowned!