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

However, despite the absurdity of Yang Guang's order, the court officials did not panic as they had before.

The reason is simple: this time, Yang Guang's order touched the bottom line of a family.

This family is the Wei family.

The Wei family's bottom line is the people's livelihood. Since the rise of the Wei family during the reign of Emperor Gaozu of Han, no one has dared to disregard the people's livelihood.

Whether they were aristocratic families or royalty, a sword hung over their heads, constantly watching to prevent them from wantonly plundering the people.

More than eight hundred years later, an emperor was finally ready to test the might of the Wei family, and all the court officials and noble families were waiting for the Wei family's reaction.

It's a pity that the current Prince of Yan didn't come to court, otherwise the situation would have been even more ridiculous.

However, the fact that the Prince of Yan did not attend court does not mean that the Wei family had no influence in the court.

Minister of Civil Affairs Yang Wensi stepped forward and said, “Your Majesty, according to the policy established by the late Emperor, all conscripted people must be provided with sufficient provisions and compensation; otherwise, they shall not be allowed to be conscripted for corvée labor.”

"I urge Your Majesty to rescind your order."

These were all problems that the Ministry of Revenue needed to solve, and it was within Yang Guang's expectations that the Minister of Revenue would oppose them.

Yang Guang never expected that the first person to stand up for Yang Wensi would be his confidant, Yu Shiji.

This was his most trusted strategist besides Zhang Wei. Back then, when he went to Liangzhou, he stayed in Luoyang to sow discord between Yang Yong and the emperor and empress, making him look good in front of the emperor and empress. All of these things were done by Yu Shiji.

Without Yu Shiji, his struggle for the throne would not have been so simple. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Yu Shiji was the greatest contributor to his path to becoming emperor.

After he ascended the throne, he directly promoted Yu Shiji to the position of Grand Secretary of the Secretariat, giving him control of one-third of the prime ministership, and placed great trust in him.

But now Yu Shiji has actually stood up and led the opposition against him!

This was something Yang Guang never expected.

What Yang Guang didn't expect was yet to come.

Yang Su, the Chamberlain of the Secretariat, also stepped forward to support Yu Shiji.

The position of Minister of the Ministry of Personnel was vacant. The Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel was Su Wei, and the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel was Pei Ju.

Pei Ju also stood up to support Yu Shiji, opposing the direct conscription of laborers and even more so opposing the requirement for people to bring their own dry rations.

Among the six ministers, Pei Yun, Minister of Justice; Yuwen Shu, Minister of War; Niu Hong, Minister of Personnel; Wang Shao, Minister of Rites; and Changsun Ping, Minister of Works, all stood up to oppose Yang Guang.

The eldest son of the imperial clan, Prince Yang Lin, also stood up to oppose Yang Guang. All of these people had direct or indirect close ties with the Wei family.

Yu Shiji, Pei Ju, and Pei Yun also studied under the Prince of Yan. Their success today is also due to the help of the Wei family.

Yang Wensi, the Minister of Revenue, was a direct descendant of the Wei family; otherwise, he would not have been able to hold such a position, which was closely related to the livelihood of the people.

Needless to say, the Ministry of Works was staffed mostly by officials from the Gongshu School or the Mohist School, both of which were loyal followers of the Wei family.

The other officials also had intricate connections with the Wei family.

Now, Yang Wensi, who implicitly represents the Wei family in the imperial court, stepped forward to lead the charge, and other Wei family disciples followed suit. Seeing the general trend, the ministers of various departments, who were more aware of the Wei family's strength than Yang Guang, also spoke out in support.

Then all the officials in the court started to follow suit, and in the end, only Zhang Wei was still standing there blankly.

He couldn't kneel down to beg for mercy because this was originally an agreement between him and Yang Guang.

If he dared to betray Yang Guang at this time, Yang Guang could kill him.

"Yang Wensi, you were just an ordinary vice minister in the previous dynasty. It was I who promoted you to the position of minister of the six ministries, a position of great power and influence. Yet you led the way in betraying me!"

"Shiji, we've known each other for over 20 years, and I've always considered you a confidant. Why are you leading the rebellion against me?"

"Pei Ju, Pei Yun, and the other two, I've always considered you friends, and you actually stabbed me in the back?"

Yang Guang looked at them one by one. After he ascended the throne, he replaced all the high-ranking officials in the court with his own people. Only a few old ministers who had supported him in the previous dynasty remained in high positions and held great power.

But now, the higher the position he promotes, the more opposed he becomes; his opposition is fierce.

Was Yang Guang so unworthy of being trusted?

"Your Majesty, I am not rebelling against you; I simply do not wish for you to make the same mistake again."

Yu Shiji looked up at Yang Guang and felt that Yang Guang had become a different person since he ascended the throne.

The previous Yang Guang was not like this. The previous Yang Guang was exceptionally talented, humbly accepted advice, and had lofty ambitions.

However, after ascending the throne, Yang Guang became deaf to advice. He still had lofty ambitions but no willingness to submit. He was ambitious, stubborn, and self-willed.

"Very well, very well, you don't want me to make the same mistake again."

Yang Guang sneered twice. He had only just ascended the throne and had not yet reached the point of being so stubborn. Faced with the resistance of the entire court, he could not act arbitrarily.

"Yang Wensi, I have decided to conscript these 1500 million people."

"But we can do it your way, with the Ministry of Civil Affairs responsible for transporting the provisions and distributing the compensation."

"Zhang Wei, you keep a close watch on this matter. If anyone dares to embezzle grain or compensation, kill them without mercy, and the Minister will be punished the same."

"Dismiss the court."

After returning home, Yang Guang became increasingly angry and began to think about how to establish his authority in the court.

Suddenly, he arrived at the hall that recorded the founding heroes. There were many portraits of the founding heroes in the hall. One of them was eight feet tall, holding two bronze hammers, with round eyes and a majestic appearance.

"If two rows of such valiant warriors stood on either side of the court, would anyone dare to oppose me?"

As Yang Guang thought this, a slight smile crept onto his lips. He decided to select 3000 tall and strong men from across the country, equip each with two golden maces, and dress them in golden armor. The sight of them would inspire awe in all the civil and military officials in the court.

Anyone who dares to disobey his orders will have their head smashed into a bloody mess by the Golden Gourd Warriors with their twin hammers.

Let's see who dares to oppose him then!

Without hesitation, Yang Guang issued an edict to select candidates from the army, requiring them to be over eight feet tall, weigh over 200 jin (approximately 100 catties), possess immense natural strength, and be able to easily wield a giant hammer.

Although these requirements are extremely high, the generals and soldiers who followed Yang Jian in conquering the country are still there. These are the most elite soldiers in the country. It would be easy to select three thousand suitable people from among them.

Yang Guang then ordered the Ministry of Works to specially craft chainmail for these people, consisting of rings the size of fingernails, with layers upon layers of scales on the surface. The entire set of armor weighed 25 kilograms.

Although the two golden gourds were not made of pure gold, each one weighed 10 kilograms, and the two of them weighed 20 kilograms.

All of it together, the equipment alone weighs 45 kilograms!

Yang Guang assembled these men and trained them day and night, providing them with meat and plenty of oil every day. In just one year, he trained a group of burly, golden-armored warriors.

He was just waiting for an opportunity to show the court officials the power of the golden mace in the hands of this golden mace warrior!