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

With the help of the Wei family's vast influence, Wei Du quickly found evidence that Hong Gong and Shi Xian had tampered with the flood control materials.

They had long coveted this money and had acquired a large number of manufacturers that produced dam stones in advance.

Many of these were stone suppliers who had provided materials during the previous cleanup of the Zhuohe River. After coercing and bribing these suppliers, the authorities ordered them to produce substandard stone to mix with the standard stone.

Subsequently, through their underhanded manipulation, those who had been in charge of purchasing stone were unable to take up their posts for various reasons, and Wei Du once again assigned personnel to take charge of the matter.

This gave them the opportunity to place their own people inside, either as commanders or deputies.

Then they arranged for these people to purchase their products, which contained substandard stone, at high prices.

Finally, they sent people to arrest the family members of those responsible for inspecting the stone materials, and then coerced them to turn a blind eye when inspecting the stone materials.

This series of events, with each step ensuring they were thoroughly satiated, created a massive network of vested interests.

Among them were disciples and followers of the Wei family, as well as other top families, nobles, and relatives of the imperial family.

Even many members of the Liu clan were involved, either directly participating or accepting bribes and turning a blind eye.

This purchase enriched all the high-ranking officials and nobles, but it was the ordinary people living along the Zhuohe River who suffered the loss.

Their land, their safety, will be tested at all times.

No one can say for sure that a major flood might one day take away their homes, their fields, and their lives.

After learning about this from Wei Du, Wei Ming and the other members of the Wei family were furious.

The Wei family was the ones leading the effort to control the floods. If something goes wrong in the future, wouldn't that cause the Wei family's fortune to decline even further?

This is the very foundation of the Wei family!

These people deserve to die.

Some members of the Wei family, like Wei Du, truly placed the common people in the highest position.

But it's impossible for everyone to be like that. Most of the Wei family members help the people for the benefit of the Wei family, in order to gain more ancestral fortune.

But the sage judges by actions, not by intentions.

The entire Wei Group's power was mobilized, with the aim of finding out who was involved as quickly as possible and then eliminating them one by one.

The power unleashed by the Wei family was astonishing, even shocking Emperor Xuan of Han.

After investigating the matter thoroughly, Wei Du began to arrest people one by one.

Those with a rank of less than 2000 shi were directly confiscated and imprisoned, while those with a rank of more than 2000 shi had their residences directly sealed off by the army.

Then Wei Du went in to search them one by one, leaving these powerful and influential people angry but unable to speak out.

Especially after Wei Du discovered that evidence, they began to threaten Wei Du's personal safety.

Among them, the most deeply involved were the maternal relatives and eunuchs.

Hong Gong's face turned red with anger as he watched Wei Du conduct a thorough search of his residence.

"Wei Du, how dare you!"

"How dare you search my residence!"

"Do you know that I am His Majesty's most trusted eunuch? With just a few words in His Majesty's ear, I can wipe out your entire Wei family!"

Hong Gong pointed at Wei Du and began to curse.

When Wei Du saw the gold and silver treasures, he knew that the damned eunuch Hong Gong had amassed a fortune by exploiting the people.

The person he was searching with was named Tian Yannian, but he did not appear under his real identity.

This was a ruthless man, the most audacious corrupt official during the reign of Emperor Zhao of Han.

The most infamous instance of corruption occurred several years ago at the funeral of Emperor Zhao of Han after his death.

The funeral of Emperor Zhao of Han cost more than several billion, and this guy embezzled a third of it.

Surprisingly, no one noticed, including the Liu imperial family's influence and the Wei family's influence; they were all kept in the dark.

If they hadn't happened to run into Wei Qing, who was also strolling out of the Calabash World, this person would have really gotten away with it.

Realizing that this person was also a talented individual who could play a significant role in finding corrupt officials in the future, the Wei family did not make the matter public but instead brought him under their wing.

He was required not to embezzle funds or grain that concerned the people.

As for the money that high-ranking officials squandered, it would be better if Tian Yannian embezzled it rather than let those unscrupulous merchants profit from it. Some of it would even be sent to the Wei family and then distributed to various places to help the people.

In order to quickly find evidence of these corrupt officials' embezzlement, they directly dispatched Tian Yannian.

No one knows better than him how to embezzle, how to hide money, and how to conceal evidence.

With Tian Yannian's help, evidence of Hong Gong's embezzlement of water control funds was quickly found.

With this evidence, Wei Du could even have Hong Gong executed right here and now.

After all, this was only the beginning of the late Western Han Dynasty, and the power of eunuchs was just beginning to rise, which was nothing compared to the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Hong Gong, now the most powerful eunuch, derives all his power from Emperor Xuan of Han.

His official rank was not high, only 600 shi (a unit of grain).

According to Emperor Xuan of Han's order, he could directly execute anyone with a salary of less than 2000 shi (a unit of grain measure).

Hong Gong's identity happened to be among them.

Moreover, this guy is barking like a dog without any sense of reason, and even dares to threaten him with the Wei family.

Seeing the materials in his hand crumble at the slightest touch, Wei Du's killing intent surged to its peak.

Seeing Wei Du's hand on the sword, Hong Gong remained arrogant. He didn't believe Wei Du would dare to kill him and continued to shout.

"You'd better let me go, then give me all this money back safely, send me 10 taels of gold as an apology, and kowtow to me, and I'll forgive you."

"bass!"

A red line appeared on Hong Gong's neck, then gradually expanded, oozing blood.

Hong Gong covered his neck with his hands, staring wide-eyed at Wei Du: "You, you actually dare to..."

"A scourge to the country and its people, they deserve to die!"

Wei Du spat on Hong Gong, took out a clean cloth, wiped the sword, and casually threw the soiled cloth onto Hong Gong.

"Let's go, to the next one."

News of Hong Gong's death had not yet reached Shi Xian's residence.

Shi Xian paced anxiously back and forth in the room, terrified that Wei Du, that madman, would actually dare to raid his home.

According to the information he received, this madman is currently ransacking Hong Gong's house.

His residence was patrolled by imperial guards, and no one was allowed to leave the residence.

He had already tried every means to get the message out, requesting Emperor Xuan of Han to stop Wei Du, that madman.

Emperor Xuan of Han was stopped by Wei Ming in the palace. Wei Ming chatted with Emperor Xuan about everything under the sun, including the topic of longevity, which the emperor was most interested in.

Beforehand, Wei Ming asked Emperor Xuan of Han to instruct that no one should disturb him.

This meant that news from outside the palace never reached Emperor Xuan of Han's ears.

By the time Emperor Xuan of Han received the news, the schemes outside the palace would have already been completed, and it would be too late for him to stop them.