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

"After the news of the young prince's death came, my father had not eaten for several days, and he vomited up everything he ate."

"I couldn't sleep day or night. I would burst into tears as soon as I closed my eyes, feeling that I had failed the trust placed in me by the ancestors of the Wei family."

Wei An explained to the emperor.

"We specifically consulted the three branches of the Wei family because the worry in his heart suggests that his days are numbered."

Emperor Huang of Han searched for spies planted in the Wei family by previous emperors and obtained the same information as Wei An.

This made him even more panicked. If the current Marquis of Yan were to die of anger because of his absurd behavior, then he would have no hope of redemption.

Emperor Huang of Han sent all kinds of rare and precious medicinal materials from the palace to the Marquis of Yan's residence and ordered that a good doctor be found throughout the country to treat him.

Unfortunately, it was all in vain.

Left with no other choice, Emperor Huang of Han ordered a one-year tax exemption for the entire country to pray for the Marquis of Yan, thereby expressing his remorse and his desire to retain and value the Wei family.

He then wanted to invite Wei An to take up the position of Grand Minister of Agriculture, but Wei An refused on the grounds that his father was seriously ill and needed to be cared for at his bedside.

The Han Dynasty governed the country with filial piety, so even if Emperor Huang of Han was dissatisfied, he could only grit his teeth and give up on inviting Wei An into the court.

"The court is in turmoil, and the people are not at peace. I beg Your Highness to consider the well-being of the people and recommend a suitable person from the Wei family to temporarily assume the position of Grand Minister of Agriculture."

This is a second-best option. As long as a member of the Wei family is willing to take up the official position, even if it is not the Marquis of Yan or his heir, it can stabilize people's hearts.

Faced with Emperor Huang's moral blackmail, Wei An sneered inwardly.

Now you know you regret it? What were you doing before?!

Still playing moral blackmail? What do you think we've been doing all these years of strengthening our influence over the local area?

They don't really think we care about these things, do they? That's hilarious.

Wei An was not a magnanimous person; he minored in the Gongyang School, the one that advocated great revanchism.

Despite all efforts, the Wei family could not be persuaded to return, and Emperor Huang of Han even considered carrying thorns on his back to apologize.

In the end, I gave up.

He had already seen through the Wei family's determination and felt that this wouldn't bring them back, so it wasn't worth losing face again.

Emperor Huang of Han blamed the Zhao sisters for the murder of his son, banished them to the cold palace, and demoted all members of the Zhao family.

During this period, he did not visit the Zhao Feiyan sisters even once at the Jiaofang Palace.

Later, Ban Jieyu was promoted to Empress, and if the child in her womb was a prince, he would be made Crown Prince.

At the same time, he began to promote members of the Ban family in large numbers in order to continuously weaken the power of the Wang family.

The promotion of members of the royal family from collateral branches caused conflict between the main royal line and the collateral branches.

After that, Emperor Huang of Han spent his days dealing with state affairs, busy from morning till night.

Realizing that his biggest flaw was his lack of offspring, he began to favor different concubines, hoping that one of them could become pregnant again and give birth to a prince.

In order to maintain the stability of the court and prevent its collapse, Emperor Huang of Han only made some minor adjustments to avoid provoke the royal family and undermine the fragile stability of the court.

With Emperor Huang of Han's anticipation, Ban Jieyu's child was finally born, but unfortunately it was a girl.

In the fifteenth year of Emperor Huang of Han's reign, relying on political means awakened from his bloodline and the legitimacy of the emperor, Emperor Huang of Han still managed to wrest back a considerable amount of power from Wang Mang.

His biggest problem remained unresolved: the Wei family still hadn't returned to the imperial court, and he still had no son.

Moreover, that year he discovered that his body, due to the absurdity of the previous years and the arduous work of the past two years, might not last more than a few years.

This discovery filled him with dread. The court was still unstable, and he had no son. What would become of the future of the Han Dynasty?

Emperor Huang of Han invited the Imperial Clan Minister to discuss the matter of adoption with him.

After going through all the members of the royal family who were closely related to Emperor Huang of Han, only two names were ultimately chosen.

One was Liu Xin, the son of Liu Kang, the younger brother of Emperor Huang of Han, who had a reputation for virtue in his fiefdom.

The other was Liu Xing, Emperor Huang's half-brother, who was Emperor Huang's closest blood relative.

Emperor Huang of Han directly appointed Liu Xin because Liu Xin had a reputation for virtue, which was extremely beneficial to consolidating his position.

Liu Xing's reputation was not good; he was uneducated and dissolute.

After discussing with the Imperial Clan Court, Emperor Huang of Han issued an edict to adopt Liu Xin and make him the Crown Prince.

A child was chosen from a nearby branch and adopted into Liu Kang's family to take over the ancestral worship for Liu Kang's branch in place of Liu Xin.

With the position of Crown Prince settled, the court indeed became much more stable.

After all, Liu Xin had a good reputation, and many ministers felt that things would be better after the crown prince ascended the throne in two more years.

In the eighteenth year of Emperor Huang of Han, Grand Marshal Wang Gen fell seriously ill and recommended Wang Mang to succeed him as Grand Marshal.

He was rejected by Emperor Huang of Han.

This was the perfect opportunity that Emperor Huang of Han had been waiting for to weaken the royal family.

He refused Wang Mang's offer to replace him as Grand Marshal, citing the fact that the Wang family had served two consecutive terms as Grand Marshal.

The appointment of the Imperial Censor as Grand Marshal completely dismantled the alliance.

In an effort to ruin Wang Mang's reputation, Emperor Huang of Han appointed Wang Mang as Imperial Censor.

If Wang Mang were to take action against his court officials, he would make enemies of many of them and would be unable to consolidate his power.

If he doesn't act, it will damage his reputation; his actions will be inconsistent with his reputation, enough to destroy it.

After all, people can't stand seeing saints make mistakes.

But he didn't realize that his actions were tolling his own death knell.

Wang Mang was not someone to be trifled with.

In recent years, facing suppression from Emperor Huang of Han, he has been suffering defeats on the surface, but in reality, he is learning from the Wei family and breaking up his power into smaller, more scattered units in the shadows.

Emperor Huang of Han appointed him as Imperial Censor, which suited his wishes perfectly.

He had long disliked some of the corrupt officials in the court. How could the country be governed well with such people around?

Using his position as Imperial Censor, Wang Mang quickly launched several major cases, removing some incompetent officials from the dynasty.

The imperial court is now almost completely clean and tidy.

Although they each have their own shortcomings, at least they are all able to do practical things for the people.

Having amassed sufficient power and purged the court, Wang Mang began preparing to directly overthrow the emperor.

He still held a deadly sword in his hand, the truth behind the death of the son of Emperor Huang of Han.

Everyone still believes that the child was killed by the Zhao sisters.

Under Wang Mang's arrangement, the Zhao sisters died quietly in the palace.

The palace maid who was delivering food "coincidentally" stumbled upon them and discovered the secret hidden by the Zhao sisters.

That was what happened that afternoon, which the Zhao sisters wrote in blood to prove their innocence.

The contents of this blood oath quickly spread throughout the imperial harem with the help of those who were interested.

It is common knowledge that there are no secrets in the imperial harem.

The contents of this blood-written letter quickly spread throughout Chang'an.