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

"Your Majesty, please allow me to retire and return to my hometown."

The Imperial Clan Head and these ministers insisted on paying homage to the Dao.

"If you retire and return to your hometowns, I will exterminate your entire clan!"

Emperor Huang of Han threatened that he had no other choice, and that Wang Mang had blocked his way out.

There's only one path left to take.

Several veteran ministers looked at Emperor Huang of Han in disbelief. They had been loyal to him before, and it was precisely because of their help that Emperor Huang was able to seize power in the court.

They just wanted to retire and return to their hometown, but Emperor Huang of Han wanted to kill them.

They were truly blind; they thought that Emperor Huang of Han had really grown up since that incident.

They even dreamt of assisting His Majesty in becoming a wise and benevolent ruler.

They still hoped for a wise ruler and virtuous ministers, leaving behind a beautiful story in history.

Looking back now, it's really laughable.

Is His Majesty truly a descendant of Emperor Taizong Wen?!

How could the benevolent Emperor Taizong have such cruel descendants?

"This old minister understands."

"This old minister takes his leave."

Zongzheng slowly put his official robes back on and led the ministers out of the palace.

He was already heartbroken. Since the emperor disagreed, so be it.

He squandered the kindness Emperor Xuan had shown him. In the final days of Emperor Xuan's reign, the emperor had held his hand and entrusted the entire imperial family to him.

He had no face to go to the underworld to meet Emperor Xuan.

After returning home, Zongzheng locked himself in his room, and his hair turned white overnight.

The next day, he fell ill from worry and died at home without spitting out a mouthful of blood.

For a moment, everyone in the Imperial Party felt a sense of shared sorrow.

Emperor Huang of Han was so angry that he smashed many of his beloved things, cursed Zongzheng as an old scoundrel, and forgot all the things Zongzheng had done for him.

His ability to seize power from Wang Mang was almost entirely due to the support of the Imperial Clan Court.

He didn't even attend the funeral of the Imperial Clan Head, nor did he receive the posthumous honors that should have been given to important officials after their deaths.

Emperor Huang of Han was beyond caring about anything else; he ordered a thorough investigation into the source of the information and prohibited its dissemination.

If even the slightest clue is found, the entire family will be executed.

But it was too late; the news had already spread beyond Chang'an.

Once the news leaves Chang'an, they will no longer be under his control.

The news gradually spread throughout the entire Han Dynasty.

Wang Mang, all of this was done by Wang Mang!

Emperor Huang of Han mobilized all available resources to remove all of Wang Mang's official positions and titles.

They sent him back to his hometown.

Even though Emperor Huang of Han tried his best, he was unable to kill Wang Mang.

At this time, there were hundreds of ministers who wrote petitions to plead Wang Mang's case, and more than half of the students at the Imperial Academy also wrote petitions to the court to plead their case.

This made Emperor Huang of Han even more aware of Wang Mang's great reputation, and his determination to expel Wang Mang became even stronger.

After the news broke, Emperor Huang of Han felt that everyone was looking at him with strange eyes.

He began to become extremely suspicious and no longer trusted anyone.

The eunuchs and palace maids who served him were often beaten to death.

He also frequently dreamed that his son came to take his life.

In the nineteenth year of Emperor Huang of Han's reign, a eunuch was killed by Emperor Huang for trying to tuck the emperor in while he was asleep. The emperor mistook him for an assassin and killed him with a sword.

The next day, Emperor Huang of Han decreed that since he might kill people in his dreams, no one was allowed to come within three zhang (approximately 10 meters) of him while he slept.

This eunuch had a younger brother named Zhao Chong, who was a wandering knight-errant in the Zhao region.

In order to avenge his brother, Zhao Chong castrated himself and went to the palace, where he secured a position that many eunuchs were unwilling to take.

A junior eunuch in charge of Emperor Huang of Han's nighttime daily life.

On this day, while Emperor Hanhuang was fast asleep, Zhao Chong slowly took out his hidden dagger and slit the emperor's throat.

This emperor, who reigned for a full nineteen years, ended his life in such an absurd manner.

After Emperor Huang of Han died, his 16-year-old son, Liu Xin, ascended the throne and became known as Emperor Ai of Han.

In the first year of Emperor Ai of Han's reign, Empress Dowager Wang Zhengjun was honored as Grand Empress Dowager.

In an effort to win back popular support, the new emperor personally visited the residence of the Marquis of Yan to invite a direct descendant of the Wei family to serve as an official in the court.

Wei Lun appeared to be on his last breath, and with that last bit of life, he issued a death order to the entire Wei family in his capacity as the current Marquis of Yan and head of the Wei family.

The Wei family is forbidden from entering the imperial court for 30 years.

Why 30 years? Because he has not yet found a Liu Xiu like the First Ancestor described.

Therefore, Liu Xiu must have been born in the next few years. If he were born any later, he would not have been able to compete with Wang Mang.

It is highly likely that he will be born in the next two years, and 30 years will be enough time for him to grow up.

By then, the situation in the world will be clear, and the Wei family can place their bets again.

Seeing that the plan to invite the Wei family to serve had fallen through, Emperor Ai of Han had no choice but to give up.

In order to win over the hearts of the people and prove that he was different from the late emperor.

Emperor Ai of Han bestowed upon members of the imperial clan within five degrees of kinship four horses and a certain amount of wine and meat upon each of them.

Elders and people of filial piety in various places were given cloth, money and grain.

Tax reductions will be implemented in some areas with poor weather conditions.

He ordered the Court of Justice to re-interrogate the prisoners in the imperial prison, to redress the wrongful convictions and miscarriages of justice from the reign of Emperor Huang of Han, and to grant them sufficient compensation.

In the imperial court, he adopted the Daoist principle of non-action, listened to the opinions of various schools of thought, and stabilized the political situation.

Under the rule of this 16-year-old emperor, the chaos of the previous dynasty began to disappear, the court began to operate in an orderly manner, and the people began to recuperate.

In the second year of Emperor Ai of Han's reign, Emperor Ai established his wife, Lady Fu, as empress and honored her as Empress Dowager Gong.

The purpose of bestowing titles upon the Fu family was to have them replace the Wang family.

Wang Mang stayed at home and devoted himself to reading, as if his ambitions had vanished, and he focused solely on studying the classics.

But in reality, he was just waiting, waiting for the young emperor to slip up, waiting for the people of the world to lose faith in him.

He was well-versed in history, and with the Wei family's refusal to serve as evidence, he knew that the time was coming soon.

In the third year of Emperor Ai of Han's reign, Emperor Ai began to take action against the royal family.

He set the fiefdom of Empress Dowager Fu to be equal to that of the Grand Empress Dowager, and then, in order to appease the Grand Empress Dowager, he bestowed the title of Prince Kuang upon her.

A few months later, Wang Kuang was found guilty of a crime and was forced to be demoted to a commoner, losing all his official positions and titles.

After that, the Wang family members were kicked out of the court one by one.

In the fourth year of Emperor Ai of Han, the time had finally come for Wang Mang and others.

There was a prince's attendant named Dong Xian who served in the court and was quite handsome, and was deeply favored by Emperor Ai of Han.

Emperor Ai of Han appointed him as a Gentleman of the Yellow Gate, and within three months he was promoted several ranks, successively serving as Imperial Son-in-Law Commandant and Attendant-in-Ordinary.

Dong Xian's father was also promoted to Grand Master of the Palace.

We travel together in the same vehicle and sleep together in the same room.

In one month, Emperor Ai of Han bestowed upon Dong Xian over 100 million coins as a reward, which shocked the entire country.

Shortly after this, a solar eclipse occurred.

Members of the Wang clan in the court, along with students from the Imperial Academy, praised Wang Mang's merits and demanded that Emperor Ai of Han punish Dong Xian.

The Empress Dowager also issued an edict reprimanding the emperor. In order to protect Dong Xian, Emperor Ai of Han had no choice but to allow Wang Mang to return to the court and continue to serve as Grand Marshal.