If you're made a fake emperor, why did you change the country's name?

Inside the palace, Zhao Yu was leisurely sipping tea, listening to the stories of the martial arts world told by the Imperial Guards.

Wei An then whispered a reminder, "Your Majesty, Gan Qing has arrived."

Zhao Yu raised his eyes, nodded, and dismissed the Imperial Guards.

"Announce."

Before long, Gan Qing, leaning on his cane, walked into the hall step by step and bowed respectfully.

"This old minister greets Your Majesty."

Zhao Yu waved his hand.

"Old Gan, please excuse the formalities and take a seat."

After Gan Qing sat down, Zhao Yu put down his teacup and got straight to the point.

"I summoned you here today for no other reason than to tell you something."

Gan Qing's expression turned serious.

"Your Majesty, please speak. This old minister is all ears."

Zhao Yu spoke calmly, uttering a few words.

"The Dong family should be raided."

Gan Qing's aged pupils contracted.

He instantly understood Zhao Yu's intention in summoning him today.

The reason for summoning him to the palace at this time was to make him visible to the powerful families outside.

Let them guess, let them think, let them believe that they were behind the confiscation of the Dong family's property.

This would further intensify the hatred of other families towards the Gan family, forcing them to invest more in recruiting soldiers and making the situation even more chaotic.

Although Gan Qing didn't know what Zhao Yu's backup plan was, he was able to let the five major families recruit soldiers so freely.

But he knew that his Gan family was already inextricably linked with Zhao Yu.

"Your Majesty is wise; the Gan family will fully cooperate!"

Gan Qing didn't ask any further questions and simply bowed in agreement.

Zhao Yu nodded.

"Then you can go now. Don't worry, the Gan family will be fine afterwards."

"This old minister thanks Your Majesty for your great favor!"

Gan Qing, leaning on his cane, slowly left the palace.

After Gan Qing left, Zhao Yu began to make plans.

The plan to raid the Dong family's residence was already decided during the siege of the Wolf Kingdom.

At that time, he issued an edict condemning the Dong family for treason, and ordered the execution of the Dong family members in the capital, with some being killed and others imprisoned in solitary confinement.

Later, the Wolf Kingdom's troops withdrew, and the five major families regained their strength. The complex and intertwined situation forced him to postpone his actions against the Dong family.

Throughout the court, everyone tacitly forgot about the matter.

But now that the right to recruit soldiers has been offered up, the other companies will only compete fiercely for soldiers and expand their strength.

Who would risk having their recruitment rights revoked just to protect the Dong family?

The raid on the Dong family's property not only served as a warning to others, but also caused the five major families to waste time in suspicion and accusations.

Once a person gets busy, their vision becomes limited to their immediate surroundings, leaving them no time to look up and see the true nature of things.

This is the assembly line technique that capitalists in his world are best at.

Although he is just an actor, he worked as a corporate slave on an assembly line before entering the entertainment industry, and he has a deep understanding of this.

By the time they realized what was happening, their backup plans were already in place, ready to carry out massive layoffs at any time!

Zhao Yu rested his chin on his right hand, his brows slightly furrowed.

Now we have a direction, but figuring out exactly how to copy it is a problem.

The Dong family's influence in the imperial court was completely eradicated, but they still had deep roots in the local areas.

A hasty raid on homes could provoke a local backlash, potentially leading to the destruction of local infrastructure and population, which would be a case of good intentions gone wrong.

We need to find someone with enough influence and the ability to command respect.

A figure appeared in Zhao Yu's mind.

The Prince of Zhennan, Qian Zhentian.

That's perfect for him; he might as well use it.

Zhao Yu got up and went outside the palace.

"By imperial decree, depart! Destination—the Prince of Zhennan's Mansion!"

"Your servant obeys!"

……

Meanwhile, at the Li family mansion.

The shadows of several people were reflected in the secret room.

Minister of War Li Chengzhi sat in the main seat. To his left was an elder of the Lu family, and to his right was the newly appointed head of the Zhang family, who was expected to become a powerful clan.

At the very back sat an elder of the Dong family.

With all four factions gathered, the atmosphere was somewhat tense.

Li Chengzhi picked up his teacup, gently blew away the foam, and spoke first.

"Gentlemen, I have invited you all here today to discuss two main matters."

"First, although the young emperor has granted the power to recruit soldiers, the distribution of official positions in various towns is chaotic. Each of our families has its own people to some extent. If this continues, it will not be conducive to the efficiency of recruiting soldiers. We must set some rules."

No sooner had the words been spoken than the Dong family elder at the end of the table spoke up.

"This is easy to handle!"

His Majesty only required that each town have no fewer than ten thousand soldiers, he didn't say that more couldn't be recruited. In my opinion, each household should recruit according to its own ability, whoever has the ability can recruit more!

Upon hearing this, Li Chengzhi, the Lu family elder, and the Zhang family patriarch all paused for a moment.

The three exchanged a knowing glance.

The Dong family has now lost all its power in the court, and its influence has fallen to the bottom of the five major families.

Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't be long before the Dong family was squeezed out of the ranks of top-tier aristocratic families.

However, the acquisition of the right to recruit soldiers led the Dong family to take a gamble and use recruitment to reverse the decline.

But everyone here is a cunning old fox, so why would they sacrifice their own interests to benefit the Dong family?

What if the Dong family goes too far and causes everyone's right to recruit soldiers to be taken back?

Moreover, the decline of the Dong family makes them a tempting target!

"Elder Dong is mistaken."

Li Chengzhi put down his teacup with a soft sound, and looked at the other person with a forced smile.

"Although the young emperor is young and acts somewhat naively, if we recruit too many soldiers, I'm afraid no one will tolerate it."

"Furthermore, His Majesty has clearly decreed that all government affairs must be carried out without neglect. If we recruit all these people into the army, who will do the work when there is a need for government affairs?"

The elder of the Dong family changed his expression, realizing that his plan had failed, but he was still unwilling to give up.

"What's so difficult about that? At worst, when an order comes down, we can just have the soldiers step in first, right?"

"No!"

The Lu family elder slowly shook his head, stroked his beard, and spoke slowly and deliberately.

"Having finally obtained the right to recruit soldiers, the most urgent task is to strengthen our own power as quickly as possible. If we let soldiers handle administrative affairs, wouldn't that be putting the cart before the horse?"

"What we need is an army capable of standing up to the young emperor, not a bunch of lowly commoners who can only do menial tasks!"

These few words of refusal made the atmosphere heavy.

The Dong family elder sighed deeply, knowing in his heart that his plan was completely hopeless.

All that's left is to try and salvage some scraps.

Over the next hour, the major families engaged in fierce arguments and power struggles for their own interests.

Ultimately, a set of regulations was finalized.

In towns where each family has its own power, each family can recruit 5,000 soldiers, with the remaining slots shared equally among the smaller families they are affiliated with.

In towns where the Gan family holds influence, they compete based on their own abilities, but when there is a need for political affairs, they must put aside their fighting and jointly send troops to resolve the issue, so as not to affect the overall situation.

With the rules settled, the atmosphere in the secret room immediately eased, and everyone's faces showed satisfied smiles.

Although the elders of the Dong family did not get what they wanted, they managed to preserve their core base, and their expressions improved somewhat.

He spoke with a mocking tone.

"To be honest, I originally thought that the young emperor was very powerful when the Wolf Kingdom besieged the city, but now it seems that he only relied on the power of cannons."

"That's right!"

The elder of the Lu family stroked his beard and laughed heartily.

"That little emperor's only skill is ingenious things like cannons; when it comes to using his brain, isn't he just sitting on top of us, unable to move?"

Li Chengzhi took a sip of tea, slowly put down the teacup, and said:

"No matter what, this kind of emperor is the best outcome for us."

They not only helped us protect our country, but also personally handed us the reins of power.

When the time is right...

He didn't finish his sentence, but instead gave everyone a meaningful look.

Inside the secret room, bursts of knowing laughter erupted.