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

"Distinguish the authenticity of the imperial edict? Li Jue, what do you mean by that?"

A scion of a noble family, his face ashen, knew what Li Jue meant, but how could this be? This imperial edict was definitely issued by Liu Xie in Chang'an, and all the procedures were followed; it could be fake.

Are all the people in Chang'an City useless?

"It doesn't mean anything."

Li Jue sat on his tall horse, holding a Han sword in one hand and a riding whip in the other.

"I just wanted to ask you learned scholars, do you know how to distinguish the authenticity of an imperial seal?"

After saying that, Li Jue threw over a scroll of imperial edict.

Is the imperial seal real or fake?!

These scions of wealthy families were completely clueless; they had no idea what this was all about.

"Brother Du, your family has studied law for generations. Do you know how to distinguish a genuine imperial seal from a fake one?"

Someone looked at Du Rui, who took the imperial edict and examined the copied markings on it in detail.

He once asked his grandfather out of curiosity, and his grandfather told him about the dozens of anti-counterfeiting marks on the imperial seal.

He compared them one by one and found that most of them matched.

There's only one small detail that doesn't match.

But this isn't an essay; this is the Imperial Seal, the most sacred artifact of the entire Han Dynasty, a symbol of the Han's legitimacy.

Even the slightest mistake can be fatal.

If even one small detail doesn't match, it means the mark is fake.

Falsely conveying an imperial edict is a capital offense!

No, no, that's not right.

The imperial edict was indeed issued by the emperor, but the jade seal in Liu Xie's hand was actually a fake!

Where is the real imperial seal?

Without a doubt, it was with Dong Zhuo.

Du Rui felt a chill run down his spine; he knew things were heading in the worst possible direction for them.

Their most powerful weapon against Dong Zhuo was made of paper, which broke at the slightest touch.

It's not that they didn't have people who could tell the difference between a real and fake imperial seal; it's just that nobody would bother to do that.

Since the founding of the Han Dynasty, even the most audacious person has never done anything so defying the heavens.

The emperor personally issued the decree, personally stamped it with the imperial seal, and personally promulgated the edict throughout the land.

Who would believe that the imperial seal in the emperor's hands was actually fake? Even the emperor himself didn't know that his imperial seal had been switched.

That's an imperial seal, not a toy.

Why don't you just lose yourself?

The late emperor was so powerful, yet his two sons were both utterly useless!

Can you believe this?

"Tell me quickly, Brother Du, this imperial edict must be real!"

The person next to him urged.

Du Rui's face was extremely ugly. He threw the imperial edict in his hand to the ground and said, "The imperial seal is fake."

"What! How is that possible!"

"This is an imperial edict personally issued by His Majesty; how could it be fake!"

"The imperial edict has already been publicly issued throughout the land; who would be so bold as to switch it out?!"

"Yes, Brother Du, are you sure you're not mistaken?"

The noise around them was like a boiling pot, chattering and making Du Rui's head ache.

"There should be a blank space facing left on the imperial seal, but it faces right here. You can see for yourselves if you don't believe me."

Du Rui rubbed his temples. Since the imperial edict was fake, their fate was already predictable.

"It really is facing right, Brother Du, are you mistaken?"

The people around him still couldn't believe it and kept refuting him.

Li Jue sat on his horse, watching everything unfold before him as if he were watching a grand opera.

You know what, this is much more exciting than a major drama.

"Gentlemen, let's fight to the death!"

Du Rui drew his sword. Dong Zhuo had only one attitude towards aristocratic families: kill.

They had no reason to surrender; no matter what they chose, they were doomed.

The others gradually calmed down, and suddenly one of them ran up to Li Jue and knelt down.

"General Li, spare my life! I am willing to surrender! I am willing to surrender!"

"I didn't want to come. My family forced me to. I'm willing to abandon darkness and embrace the light!"

"Oh? Which company are you from?"

Li Jue asked with a smile.

"Chang Jia, Chang Liang, Hanoi".

Chang Liang said with a forced smile.

"oh."

Li Jue drew out the last syllable, "Never heard of it."

"No matter if you are from the Chang family of Hanoi or the Yang family, which has produced four generations of high-ranking officials, there is only one ending."

Li Jue slapped Chang Liang's face with the whip. "That's death."

"All soldiers, listen to my command!"

Li Jue ignored the idiot and decapitated him with a single stroke of his sword. "Kill!"

On one side was Dong Jun, as fierce as tigers, and on the other side was the aristocratic army, which had no will to fight. The battle was completely one-sided, and the aristocratic army immediately knelt down and surrendered.

They were merely troops under the command of aristocratic families, not members of those families themselves.

Dong Zhuo did not intend to exterminate these people; it would be good to bring them back to work as atonement.

With the manpower of these aristocratic families, Dong Zhuo pacified the area in less than two hours.

Realizing the situation was dire, Cao Cao immediately ordered a retreat and organized a defense at their camp.

"Cao Cao, hurry and rescue them!"

Some of the old men who remained in the rear shouted at Cao Cao.

The members of their family were all in Dong Jun's camp.

"There's a trap ahead; if we go forward, we'll all fall in too."

"Without this large army, Dong Zhuo can march eastward without any scruples, and there will be no one in the world who can stop him."

"Which is more important, the lives of a few members of your family or the life and death of your entire family? You choose."

Cao Cao's words made the old men's faces stiffen. They were all half-buried in the ground, and their only hope was that their families could continue to exist.

Dong Zhuo must absolutely not move east!

"Cao Cao, did you already know something? Otherwise, why didn't you go up?"

Some elders from powerful families dared not blame everything on Dong Zhuo, and instead pointed the finger at Cao Cao.

"I'd like to, but you'd have to agree, wouldn't you?"

"In the beginning, we were the ones fighting on the front lines. It was you who saw the potential for profit, drove us off, and rushed in your own way."

"I also want to thank you. If it weren't for your selflessness, we would be the ones in this mess now."

"Thanks!"

Cao Cao said sincerely.

The old man clutched his chest and spat out a mouthful of blood. His own grandson was on the battlefield and, unable to bear such a blow, collapsed to the ground.

"Where's the medic? Where's the medic?"

Cao Cao feigned concern and said, "I still need to organize the defense, so I won't chat with you all for now."

"Goodbye."

After completely overwhelming the allied forces of the powerful clans, Dong Zhuo tacitly backed down and continued to maintain the old borders.

The news that the imperial edict and seal were fake was also spread throughout the country under Li Ru's manipulation.

This completely turned the aristocratic families' plans into a joke.

Even worse off was Liu Xie, whose legitimacy to the throne was questioned.

The Luoyang court seized this opportunity to launch a massive attack on him, saying that he was a good-for-nothing who couldn't even protect the Imperial Seal and was not worthy of inheriting the throne.

The promises made to him by the powerful families were not fulfilled. Whether it was financial and food support, or political advocacy to force Liu Bian to abdicate, none of them were delivered.

He sent someone to inquire, only to find that Yuan Ji had already disappeared. The only thing Shakya left him with was the words, "Since Your Majesty failed to fulfill our demands, the contract is naturally invalid."