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

Under the auspices of the imperial court, they decided to launch a ruthless attack and wipe out all the families that refused to surrender.

Only those families with deep ties to them and who made significant contributions to the court's suppression of the rebellion were spared.

All the resources of these eliminated families will be divided among the remaining aristocratic families, becoming their accumulation for future fiefdoms.

After agreeing on a code word, these aristocratic families began to transmit the message into the city through their respective channels.

The powerful families and clans within the city had made preparations long ago, occupying the city gates and key locations such as granaries and armories.

During the military conference held the next day, the head of the Wang family in Xixian suggested taking the initiative to strike while the imperial army was exhausted from its long march. They should wait in comfort and catch the imperial army off guard, thus demoralizing them.

At the same time, he volunteered to lead his family's troops as the vanguard.

Some powerful families lacked deep foundations and knowledge of military strategy, but they knew that as long as they opposed the other side, they were absolutely right, since they were all rebels and scheming against each other.

These powerful families all refused, claiming that the Wang family had already done a great service by making the suggestion, and that the fighting aspect should be left to them.

Using this pretext, they kicked out the Wang family and several other families that had initially agreed, and then assembled a seemingly elite army of 10, and under the cover of night, attacked the imperial army.

These 10 troops were all elites personally recruited by them, purely their own people. After all, they were well-rested and ready to reap the rewards of their labor. They were not willing to give up such an obvious opportunity to reap the rewards of their labor to those peasants.

However, all their actions had already been reported to the imperial army, including which families were involved, how many troops each had, who the commanding generals were, what their personalities were, and when and from which gate they departed.

Which family is involved in the conflict and is deliberately causing chaos; when the cities in the rear are planning to make their move; when they plan to open the city gates; the tampered armor and weapons; and finally, when the laxatives added to the food will take effect.

The 10-strong army that was about to leave was arranged in a very clear manner, ensuring that they would die without even knowing how they died.

After setting out, the 10-strong army headed straight for the imperial army's camp, which was not yet fully constructed.

The 10-strong army charged in one wave, and the camps they had built were even more vulnerable. The 10-strong army charged straight in.

"Oh no, General, there's no one here."

Some soldiers stormed into the tent, only to find it empty.

Realizing something was wrong, they quickly reported it to their commander.

"This is bad, a trap! Retreat!"

The commander was no fool either. He had sensed something was wrong with the resistance he was receiving. These were the elite troops of the imperial court. Even if they had been traveling for days and were exhausted, their will to resist could not be so weak.

Is there anyone in the tent now? This is definitely a trap.

The 10-strong army hastily retreated.

The offense went well, and everyone was in high spirits as they were winning.

However, once they discovered it was a trap, the army's weakness of fighting independently became apparent.

You want to leave, and I want to leave too. Why should I let you go?

Especially after the Han army lit the flammable material, when their lives were in danger, who cared who you were?

Anyone who blocks my escape route will die!

These rebels began fighting amongst themselves for a route to escape.

Those families who had already pledged allegiance to the imperial court, led by the Li family of Qingshui, were left at the very back of the army.

Once the rebels had all entered, they blocked the camp gates, and any soldiers who tried to escape were killed.

Only after the main force had fought its way out did they slowly retreat, clearing the way back to the city.

They had no time to settle scores later. Even though they all realized something was wrong, they could only run wildly back along the route they were forced to flee.

The imperial army and the surrendered troops hung close behind them, constantly reaping the lives of those soldiers hanging at the very back.

The rebels finally managed to escape back to the city, but of the original 10 troops, less than 2 remained.

They quickly ordered the city gates to be opened so they could enter.

However, they found that the city gates remained closed for a long time.

At this time, the imperial army was about to arrive, and the few remaining powerful families cursed loudly.

Finally, one of the sharp-eyed observers noticed that the flags on the city walls had changed and reverted to the flags of the Han Dynasty.

Their escape route was cut off.

But if they tried to escape, the imperial army was right behind them.

They can't escape anywhere.

When the imperial army arrived, they had no choice but to surrender.

After the battle reports from these two routes reached the capital, Emperor Ping of Han became quite haggard.

My face, which is just over 30 years old, has developed quite a few wrinkles.

He greatly underestimated the power of the Wei and Wang families; he never expected that the rebellions he instigated would be so ineffective.

The extraordinary performance of the Wei family on the battlefield, in particular, filled him with immense fear.

Is the Wei family about to seize power? After enduring for 200 years, the Wei family has finally reached its breaking point.

No wonder the Wei family was so unwilling to grant fiefdoms; what they wanted was the entire Han Dynasty!

How could those barbarian lands outside the Central Plains compare to the land of the Han Dynasty?

If the Wei family really harbors rebellious intentions, what hope does he have left?

I doubt that anyone in the entire world, from top to bottom, would object to this!

Even the princes of the Liu family probably wouldn't dare to utter a word. As long as the Wei family showed the slightest hint that they would let them off the hook, they would rush to support the Wei family's ascension to the throne.

This is the reputation that the Wei family has built up over 200 years!

Even though Emperor Ping of Han was the emperor of the Han Dynasty, he felt powerless in the face of news that the Wei family might rebel.

Many forces in Chang'an City that were affiliated with the Wei family were celebrating their newfound power. The Wei family was destined for greatness, and now that the weather was getting colder, the Duke of Yan should put on an extra robe.

Wei An quickly refuted the rumors, claiming that Wei Xian had only inherited the martial prowess of the first ancestor and that the so-called Mandate of Heaven was not to be taken seriously. He said that the claim was a deliberate angle chosen to weaken the rebels' will to resist.

I understand, I understand.

These ministers all acted as if they knew everything, which left Wei An feeling quite helpless. What did they know?

It's obvious they misunderstood; he wasn't playing hard to get.

With the help of these ministers, many unusual phenomena similar to those that occurred at the time of Wei An's birth soon appeared in Chang'an.

Then, when these ministers mentioned it to each other, they would tacitly exchange a few words, all of which were false and coincidental.

It was the wind that caused the clouds in the sky to take the shape of a dragon; the stone unearthed from the Wei family's ancestral land resembled a unicorn by chance; and the water of the Zhuhe River became clear because of the Wei family's management.

The appearance of dragon-shaped clouds, unicorn stones, and clear turbid river water is definitely not because a sage was born.

Those are all superstitions, and they should be avoided.