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

When the King of Liang returned to the Liang Kingdom, the imperial edict also arrived at the same time.

Upon receiving the imperial edict, Liu Mai was surprised by an unexpected joy.

Liu Bushi looked incredulous. He hadn't expected that in the end, he would only receive a fiefdom of one county. If he had known this would happen, he would have been better off obediently following the court's arrangements. That way, he could have had fiefdoms of six counties like his other brothers, which was already equivalent to a prefecture.

But it's too late to say anything now.

That evening, he cried to the King and Queen of Liang, hoping to exchange his fiefdom with that of his brother Liu Mai, so that he could receive a fiefdom of 29 counties and give one of his counties to Liu Mai.

Based on his experience, he knew that as long as he cried, his father and mother would agree. However, he did not know that this time it was an imperial decree, and the King and Queen had no right to object.

Moreover, on the way back, Han Anguo and several others had clearly explained to him the consequences of his words in court, and now the King of Liang was too busy to take care of himself.

He never knew when an assassin would come and take his life.

Terrified, he scrambled to the palace and pleaded with the Empress Dowager and Emperor Jing of Han, forcing Emperor Jing to allocate him an elite force personally trained by the Wei family.

They were trained by the Prince of Zhongwu himself, and later followed Marquis Wu'an, Wei Yu, into battle, where they were invincible.

Although there were only 3000 people, their fighting strength was comparable to that of tens of thousands of troops.

Of course, it was impossible to give all 3000 men to King Liang, but King Liang did ask for 300 men.

He had to cry for a long time to get this from the Empress Dowager, and he even played the emotional card by bringing up his father, Emperor Wen of Han.

Ultimately, it was out of respect for Emperor Wen of Han and the advice given by the Prince of Liang in court that the Wei family benefited.

After all, as time goes on, the Wei family will definitely become more and more powerful. If all the forces are concentrated in one place, it will definitely arouse the emperor's suspicion.

However, by breaking up the Wei family's power into smaller units and dispersing them across the country, even if the overall strength remains, the family is no longer a unified entity.

Everyone has their own interests, so it's impossible for them to unite.

Of course, this is only on the surface, as it appears to the emperor and other families.

In reality, because Wei Ping is still alive and the small world exists, even if they separate, they are still an inseparable part.

On his way back to Liang, Liu Wu had already encountered several assassination attempts.

Fortunately, he had requested these elite troops in advance, which allowed him to return safely to Liang.

Upon learning all this, Emperor Jing of Han felt a little sorry for his foolish younger brother and gave him another 2 troops from the Liang Kingdom to guard the palace and protect the safety of the King of Liang.

After news spread that King Liu Wu of Liang had accepted the decree of grace, the other feudal lords cursed him as a spineless coward and a traitor, but reluctantly accepted the decree as well.

Suddenly, the imperial court had many more vassal kings, but their strength became much weaker. The imperial court's control over the entire Han Dynasty increased by almost 5%.

This control will continue to increase over time.

In the fifth year of Emperor Jing of Han's reign, Princess Guantao found Consort Li, the mother of Crown Prince Liu Rong.

She wanted to arrange a marriage between herself and Consort Li, and to marry her daughter to Crown Prince Liu Rong.

However, Consort Li scolded her, saying that she was like a toad trying to eat swan meat, and that her son was the crown prince and the future emperor.

Princess Guantao should take a piss and look in the mirror; she doesn't even deserve to.

Princess Guantao, as Emperor Jing's elder sister, often sent beautiful women to the emperor. Consort Li had long harbored resentment towards her, and now that these women had come to her door, she was eager to vent her anger.

Princess Guantao was furious.

Very well, since you, Consort Li, look down on me, then I'll ruin your son's chances of becoming crown prince, and see what you'll have left to be proud of!

After Princess Guantao entered the palace, she embellished the story before the Empress Dowager, causing the Empress Dowager to frown deeply.

Especially Princess Guantao's statement that the crown prince represents the face of the Han dynasty.

If the Crown Prince is tyrannical, how will the world view His Majesty, and how will they view the late Emperor?

Princess Guantao understood Empress Dowager Dou very well; she knew that in Empress Dowager Dou's eyes, nothing was more important than the achievements of her husband, Emperor Wen of Han.

Moreover, there's the matter of her son's reputation.

Empress Dowager Dou sent people to investigate Consort Li's daily behavior.

On the other hand, Princess Kuri felt very satisfied to see that even Princess Guantao was trying to get close to her.

She thought that her son was already the crown prince, but her brothers were still just ordinary people, so she immediately went to Emperor Jing of Han and asked him to grant her brothers the title of marquis.

Emperor Jing of Han, of course, would not agree, and instead made up an excuse to send her away.

It's really hard to tell the difference between the two kings.

That evening, Emperor Jing of Han was summoned to Changxin Palace by Empress Dowager Dou for dinner, and the topic of Consort Li came up at the dinner table.

Under Princess Guantao's covert manipulation, Empress Dowager Dou collected only negative information about Consort Li.

However, even if Princess Guantao hadn't intervened, Empress Dowager Dou wouldn't have received much good news.

After all, ever since her son Liu Rong became the crown prince, Consort Li had become extremely arrogant and looked down on everyone in the harem.

It was common for servants to be beaten and scolded, and for them to be slapped and whipped.

Countless people in the harem hated her to the core.

Princess Guantao simply embellished these events, making Empress Dowager Dou dislike this woman even more.

"Logically, I shouldn't interfere in these matters, but Consort Li is far too arrogant and domineering, looking down on everyone. How can such a person be Empress, or even Empress Dowager?"

"How can someone raised by such an arrogant and domineering person be a qualified ruler?"

"The late emperor loved his people like his own children and was a sage ruler in the hearts of all his subjects. We cannot allow an arrogant crown prince to ruin the late emperor's reputation."

Emperor Jing of Han also mentioned that Consort Li had asked him today to grant her brothers the title of marquis.

Empress Dowager Dou was even angrier, saying, "Back then, Emperor Gaozu, Prince Zhongwu, and many other founding heroes swore an oath on a white horse that no one could be enfeoffed as a marquis without merit, and no one who was not a member of the Liu family could be enfeoffed as a king."

"Even someone as meritorious as King Chung-mu was only posthumously granted the title of king after his death."

"What merit or right does Consort Li's brother have to be granted the title of Marquis?"

"Is it simply because she gave birth to the crown prince?"

"What Mother says is true, and I also gave her a severe scolding."

Emperor Jing of Han said.

"However, apart from Liu Rong, none of the princes have come of age yet. The Han Dynasty still needs a crown prince to stabilize the country."

"Your Majesty, you have sons, why do you need a crown prince to stabilize people's hearts?"

This is different from Emperor Hui, who did not fail to establish a crown prince, but rather had no sons at all!

"If you let him remain the crown prince for even one more day, the late emperor's reputation will be further tarnished. It's better to depose him as soon as possible."

Empress Dowager Dou said angrily.

"Moreover, none of your sons are capable of carrying the banner. Don't you still have your younger brother? Your imperial brother has governed the Liang Kingdom so well that he is more than capable of shouldering the heavy responsibility of the Han dynasty."

"Your subject understands."

Emperor Jing of Han said, his eyes deep and unfathomable.

The Rebellion of the Seven States has been quelled, the King of Liang is no longer of any use, and so is the Empress Dowager.

It's time to sever the Empress Dowager's tentacles in the court.