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

"In order to help each family establish a firm foothold in the newly established fiefdom more quickly, if necessary, the Wei family will send its members to serve as vassals in the newly established fiefdom."

"The Wei family won't force you, so if you want them, you'll need to go to the Wei family in person to ask them."

Wang Mang's words put Emperor Ping of Han at ease. As long as the Wei family members were willing to go out, whether as ministers or to establish their own fiefdoms, it was fine, as long as they didn't hinder his grand plan within the country.

Other powerful noble families began to ponder why the Wei family was unwilling to establish a fiefdom.

And whether they should ask the Wei family for help when they go out.

Having the help of the Wei family has many advantages, whether it's establishing the country's political system, building an army to protect the country, or recruiting people from the Han Dynasty to the fiefdom.

However, there is also the risk that the entire fiefdom could be annexed.

Now they could understand the love-hate relationship that the emperors of the Han Dynasty had towards the Wei family.

Ultimately, it was the reputation of the Wei family over the years that came into play. If the Wei family wanted to do this, wouldn't the Han Dynasty be better than their country?

Anyone who isn't a fool would abandon the mighty Han Dynasty and choose their miserable new fiefdom.

That means there are too many monks and not enough porridge.

How many members does the Wei family have? And how many aristocratic families want to go out and establish their own states? If the land is divided, can each family get one or two?

Moreover, the Wei family could not send all their children abroad. Since they were not prepared to go out and establish their own fiefdoms, the Han Dynasty was the Wei family's stronghold.

We definitely need to leave enough people in the Wei family.

"May I ask, Prime Minister, how were the first batch of slots determined? What were the criteria? When will the next batch of slots be allocated, and what will be the evaluation standards?"

One minister, relying on the support of the entire group of meritorious officials from the early Han Dynasty, boldly asked the question.

"If a family wants to establish a fiefdom abroad, the imperial court will definitely invest a lot of resources, but even more so, the family itself will have to invest. Therefore, the family must have the ability to establish itself abroad and cannot rely on the Han Dynasty for everything. Otherwise, what is the point of the fiefdom's existence?"

"Therefore, among the first three fiefdoms, the Wang family and the Shi family are the most powerful families besides the Wei family. The lineage of Prince Jing of Zhongshan is the most populous lineage of the royal family, and can provide a large number of its own people to fill the grassroots level of the country."

"It would also allow us to transplant the entire political system of the Zhongshan Kingdom and quickly establish a court."

The Wang family has been powerful for decades, starting to wield power during the later years of Emperor Xuan's reign. They have held sway over five emperors: Emperor Xuan, Emperor Jing, Emperor Huang, Emperor Ai, and Emperor Ping. Their power is absolute. The current prime minister and empress dowager are both from the Wang family, undoubtedly occupying one of the positions.

It was obvious at a glance that Prince Jing of Zhongshan was a member of the royal family who was sent to lead the way, and it was perfectly legitimate for the royal family to occupy the quota. Even if the first batch was all members of the royal family, it would still be reasonable.

The only ones they can compare to are historians.

It's just that the historians usually keep a low profile, but when they compared them and shared information, they discovered that the historians were hiding their true abilities so deeply!

The historians actually rose to prominence earlier than the royal family.

The family's history can be traced back to the Western Zhou Dynasty; they were a family that served as historians after the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty.

The rise of the Han Dynasty can be traced back to the late period of Emperor Wu of Han. Shi Jia, as the maternal relative of Emperor Zhao of Han who was then the crown prince, and Shi Liangdi, as the biological mother of the eldest son of Emperor Zhao of Han Liu Ju, had a high probability that this eldest son would become the new crown prince when the crown princess could not give birth to children.

Historians began to rise to prominence from that time onward.

However, the Shi family was not as arrogant and domineering as other maternal relatives. As a family that has been passed down for thousands of years, the Shi family relied on stability.

Historians are very clear about their own position: they are the foundation of the new emperor's power, but they will not participate in the power struggle.

As long as they serve as the foundation of the emperor's power, they will not be feared, nor will anyone dare to touch them, because touching them would be tantamount to touching the emperor's last core strength, which would bring about the emperor's full-scale counterattack.

Historians have followed this pattern throughout the reigns of Emperor Zhao and Emperor Xuan of Han.

He held only the power to guard the emperor's personal guards and appoint and dismiss his close associates, making him extremely noble and privileged.

However, they remain completely detached from positions involving specific powers, such as leading troops in battle, planning government affairs, and executing government policies.

Such an attitude is appreciated by any emperor, which is why both Emperor Zhao and Emperor Xuan of Han were extremely close to historians.

Relying on their power to recommend people close to the emperor, and by currying favor with everyone, the Shi family had many families indebted to them, making them too embarrassed to oppose them.

Until the reigns of Emperor Jing and Emperor Huang of Han, it served as the emperor's last guarantee of power. Even when the Wei family was targeting the emperor, they did not deal with them, but instead left them to the emperor as the last force to protect himself.

He would do whatever the emperor told him to do, and he would absolutely not do anything he was forbidden from doing.

This resulted in even the somewhat incompetent emperors, Emperor Jing and Emperor Huang, still enjoying the emperor's deep trust.

Even during the reigns of Emperor Ai and Emperor Ping of Han, historians still existed as a protective force for the emperor. The historians, who were most adept at playing both sides, even invested in Wang Mang early on. Wang Mang's principal wife was the eldest daughter of the current head of the historian family.

A family that has enjoyed illustrious and noble lineage for seven consecutive dynasties—is this the true value of a family that has survived for a thousand years since the Western Zhou Dynasty?!

The ministers in the court were shocked, as the historian had always been regarded as a junior colleague by their side.

Now the little guy has transformed into a prehistoric giant crocodile, which is terrifying.

Is passing down the tradition of farming and scholarship really that powerful?!

During the Western Han Dynasty, the tradition of passing down knowledge and farming through generations was not very popular. It only became popular in the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the Western Han Dynasty, it was more common to confer titles based on military merit, and then to transition from military to civil service.

Now they need to seriously study how to pass down the family tradition of farming and reading.

When you take it all in this way, even historians who have accumulated knowledge across seven dynasties can't compare.

"When will the second batch of border closures begin?"

After there were no objections to the selection, another minister asked a question.

"Ten years later, ten years is enough time for all the problems that occurred during the period of annexation to be fully exposed, and then the Han Dynasty can begin to annex many countries."

"The second batch of fiefdoms will consist of 9 slots for members of the royal family and 9 slots for members of aristocratic families."

Ten years is acceptable.

There are so many things to prepare for closing the country off, and now everyone is preparing these things, which has led to a situation where there are too many people and not enough resources.

Give them another 10 years, that's enough time for them to be ready.

As for who these nine spots belong to, they almost all know.

The families of founding heroes Xiao He, Zhou Bo, and Han Xin, and the Wei, Huo, and Dou families, which were powerful relatives of the emperor.

Therefore, they only had three spots to fight for.

Everyone present is an opponent!