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

Chang'an City.

At the grand court assembly in Weiyang Palace, Emperor Wu of Han was receiving the imperial guards who had been sent as envoys to the Nanyue Kingdom.

"Why did you return to the Han Dynasty alone, along with the chief and deputy envoys of the mission?"

Emperor Wu of Han asked.

"I deserve to die ten thousand times!"

The imperial guard bowed respectfully.

"What crime have you committed?"

"Your Majesty, I have failed to protect the chief envoy and the deputy envoy, and have failed in your trust. I beg Your Majesty to punish me."

The voice of the Imperial Guard Sun Yi was filled with remorse, which evoked pity in those who heard it.

"What's wrong with the chief envoy and the deputy envoy? Is there anyone in the world who dares to harm the envoys of the Han Dynasty? Is the blood of the Xiongnu not enough of a warning to them?!"

Emperor Wu of Han was furious.

"Your Majesty, the mission's initial phase went smoothly. The King of Nanyue was overjoyed and deeply apprehensive upon learning of the imperial edict. He bathed and fasted for three days before respectfully receiving the edict. When he learned that he had the opportunity to join the Great Han and receive the Emperor's grace, he was moved to tears and decided to sign a treaty, entrusting the military and political affairs of Nanyue to the Great Han so that the people of Nanyue could also enjoy more of the Great Han's glory."

After Sun Yi finished speaking, he also presented the credentials signed at that time.

Those in the court, including Emperor Wu of Han, nodded in satisfaction. This King of Nanyue was indeed sensible. As for the process, it didn't matter. This imperial guard, as a member of the delegation, was telling the truth, and there was also a letter of state as proof.

With this in place, the affairs of Nanyue were legally considered internal affairs of the Han Dynasty.

"However, there were barbarians in Nanyue named Lü Jia and Lü Shao who intended to dominate Nanyue and establish their own kingdoms. They even assassinated the King of Nanyue in the street, and on the day of the King's burial, they surrounded the palace and cruelly killed the King's only prince and queen."

"None of the important civil and military officials of Nanyue and members of the Han delegation who mourned the King of Nanyue in the royal palace escaped."

"I escaped with my life because I was guarding the embassy and did not enter the palace. I should have killed the rebels to prove my loyalty, but in order to report the affairs of the Southern Yue Kingdom to the court and let the world know the inhumane acts of the Lü clan traitors, I chose to live and go north."

Sun Yi's eyes were red and his face was covered in tears, which moved Emperor Wu of Han.

He personally walked down the steps, helped Sun Yi up, and glanced at the court.

"The traitor Lü Jia rebelled, murdered the king and killed the empress; his crimes are heinous."

This statement officially characterized the incident as a rebellion by traitors within the country.

"Your Majesty, I am willing to lead troops south to capture the traitor!"

Wei Lu stepped forward and volunteered.

This was the first internal rebellion during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han. The rebels had to be defeated with overwhelming force to demonstrate the inviolability of the Han Dynasty.

Therefore, Emperor Wu of Han selected five generals: Marquis of Wu'an Wei Lu, General Fubo Lu Bode, Marquis of Changping Wei Qing, General Lou Chuan Yang Pu, and Marquis Chiyi He Yi, to lead five armies south.

To ensure speed, Emperor Wu of Han did not use the central army, but instead mobilized troops from the southern provinces to quell the rebellion.

The weather in the southern Yue region is extremely hot, and it is still possible to march and wage war even in winter.

Therefore, before the end of Emperor Wu of Han's 15th year, Lü Jia and Lü Shao, the protagonists of this rebellion, were brought before Emperor Wu of Han.

The battle wasn't particularly intense; it was rather uneventful.

Emperor Wu of Han summoned all the envoys in Chang'an, announced Lü Jia's crimes, executed the Han envoys, exterminated Lü Jia's nine clans, abolished the Nanyue Kingdom, and established nine commanderies.

The Nanyue people killed the Han envoy and slaughtered them, dividing the region into nine commanderies!

This claim was spread by the envoys to the Western Continent and the far west, becoming the basis for the arrogance of later Han envoys.

You constantly threaten the emperor of the other side. The Southern Yue killed the Han envoy and slaughtered the people, dividing the territory into nine commanderies. How many commanderies do you think your country can be divided into?

That was incredibly arrogant.

This trend originated with Wei Yu, developed during the reign of An Guo Shao Ji, and was further promoted by many Han envoys such as Fu Jiezi, Ban Chao, Chang Hui, and Feng Fengshi.

It was also during this period that Emperor Wu of Han uttered those incredibly domineering words: "Han is the ancestor of the world, holding the power of life and death, controlling the fate of the entire realm. Those in danger hope for peace, and those in chaos hope for order."

That is, the Han Dynasty was the suzerain of all nations under heaven, and had the mission of conquering all directions, helping the weak and quelling rebellions, and thus had a natural legitimacy to wage war against foreign powers.

......

In the 16th year of Emperor Wu of Han's reign, Consort Wei Zifu became pregnant again.

After Wei Shou's diagnosis, it was confirmed that this was a prince, and also the first son of Emperor Wu of Han, who named him Liu Ju.

In high spirits, Emperor Wu of Han immediately made Wei Zifu his empress. After having a son, she devoted more energy to governing the Han Dynasty.

Under Emperor Wu of Han's vigorous efforts, the Han Dynasty successively pacified the Western Qiang, Eastern Yue, Min Yue, Southwestern Yi, Wuheng, and Fuyu regimes or ethnic groups, incorporating present-day eastern Qinghai, the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, and Northeast China into its territory.

Apart from the Western Regions, the frozen lands of the north, and the undeveloped primeval forests of the southwest, the entire prosperous land of Zhongzhou fell under the rule of the Han Dynasty. Moreover, it was not the kind of rule where all nations paid tribute, but rather a real territory, and the Han Dynasty reached its zenith.

It was amidst this grand atmosphere that Emperor Wu of Han decided to conquer the Western Regions, further compressing the living space of the Western Xiongnu.

Zhang Qian was dispatched to the westernmost countries of the Western Regions, such as Jingjue, Shache, and Gumo, to open up the Silk Road. A large number of Han merchants began to travel and trade between the Han Dynasty and the Western Regions, bringing grapes and other crops from the Western Regions to the Han Dynasty.

In the 18th year of Emperor Wu of Han, the King of Fule in the Western Regions, believing himself to be thousands of miles away from the Han Dynasty and protected by the Western Xiongnu's Tongpu Commandant, became arrogant and domineering, intercepting Han merchants and killing and plundering them.

Two months later, Han Commandant Xu Xiangru led 20 Han soldiers to Fule Kingdom. Passing through Wusun, he rode straight into the Wusun capital, found the Wusun king, and asked him directly, "King Fule killed Han merchants and plundered Han people. Was Wusun involved in this?"

The King of Wusun, trembling, hurriedly offered his explanation.

"In that case, why not send troops to help me eliminate the traitors?"

After Han Colonel Xu Xiangru finished speaking, the King of Wusun immediately dispatched 20,000 soldiers to Xu Xiangru's command.

During the march, Xu Xiangru felt that the Wusun soldiers were too slow because they didn't have horses, so he led 20 Han soldiers ahead and let the Wusun soldiers follow behind.

Xu Xiangru led his 20 soldiers and rushed into the capital of Fule with lightning speed. Fule had tens of thousands of civilians and thousands of soldiers. When they discovered that it was the Han army, no one dared to move. All the troops and nobles surrendered without resistance.

Xu Xiangru and his mere 21 men entered the palace with ease, as if it were empty, captured King Fule and his harem, and killed the country's rebellious prime minister.

In just four hours, Xu Xiangru conquered the entire Fule Kingdom, taking control of the royal palace, city gates, and treasury.

At this time, the 20,000 troops of Wusun had not yet arrived, so Xu Xiangru led his troops to rest in the palace for a few days.

When the Wusun army arrived, they kidnapped all the people of Fule and brought them back to Yumen Pass, leaving the entire Fule Kingdom virtually empty.

The phrase "twenty men conquered a thousand states and destroyed a country" appears only briefly in later historical records: "He beheaded them, destroyed their country, annihilated their state, and captured their subjects and brought them back to Yumen Pass."

When Emperor Wu of Han learned of this, he enfeoffed him as the Marquis of Chengfu.

Even on his deathbed, King Fule was still hoping that the Western Xiongnu would come to his aid. Although the Western Xiongnu were not as miserable as the Northern Xiongnu, they were still utterly defeated by the army led by Wei happy.

Boasting and fighting against the Western Regions is fine, but going head-to-head with the Han Dynasty for the sake of the insignificant King Fule is out of the question.

They still have to lick their wounds in the north.

It was this incident that dramatically elevated the status of Han Dynasty merchants in the Western Regions. When traveling in the Western Regions, the countries they were in cared about their safety even more than the merchants themselves.

They were afraid that some foolish bandit might attack the Han envoy, causing the Han to pin the blame on them.