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

"Brother Changyuan, these people have gone mad!"

"The bottom line of the court no longer exists. Several of my children have died as a result of assassination attempts by this group."

"I've heard that many members of the Wei family have also been murdered?"

Li Longji spoke slowly.

Wei Mai nodded. "They died for the righteous path, and they died a worthy death. I believe their spirits in heaven will not blame me, their clan leader."

Li Longji: "..."

Li Longji swallowed back what he wanted to say because of Wei Mai's words.

Even a foreigner is willing to risk his life for your cause, and even if he is assassinated, his own people are willing to sacrifice themselves for justice.

As the emperor, isn't it unreasonable for you to back down?

"Brother Changyuan, to be frank, I'm not able to hold on much longer."

"The fact that so many families have been raided and wiped out is enough to deter the world."

"I think that's enough."

"The people are in a state of panic and their hearts are unsettled. Many government agencies in various places have been paralyzed, and people's livelihoods have been affected."

"If the fighting continues, even more people will be affected, and it will be a losing proposition."

Li Longji reigned for many years, and though he appeared kind, he was ruthless at heart. Even though he felt somewhat embarrassed, he didn't take it to heart at all.

He even sacrificed several of his sons for this, feeling he owed Wei Mai nothing.

Wei Mai stared intently at Li Longji, and in the instant Li Longji felt a pang of panic, he lowered his head.

"Since Your Majesty has made up your mind, I will obey your decree."

"However, these powerful families probably don't want to continue fighting like this anymore. Your Majesty can make them pay the price."

"The deaths of these princes and princesses cannot be left unresolved."

Li Longji never expected that even at this point, the Wei family would still be considering his future.

Isn't he going a bit too far, being so wary of the Wei family?

The idea only existed in Li Longji's mind for a few seconds before disappearing.

He decided to test the waters as Wei Mai had suggested.

Let's see if these powerful families are willing to pay the price for this.

Wei Mai walked out of the palace, turned around, and looked at the magnificent palace that shone brightly in the sunlight.

With its red bricks and green tiles, carved beams and painted rafters, it is magnificent and awe-inspiring.

"Oh!"

Wei Mai chuckled softly, his resolve in his heart growing even stronger.

Perhaps only when the common people, whom this emperor regards as ants, trample over the imperial city will His Majesty the Emperor be able to truly acknowledge his subjects.

Perhaps only when these millions of ordinary people trample over the gates of noble families will they be able to lower their proud heads.

Just wait, that day is not far off.

In Luoyang, in that same dark little house.

These people were clearly losing their composure; the air was thick with tension.

"Is Your Majesty not prepared to give up?"

"In the past few days, six more families have been uprooted, including even a large clan like the Wang family of Luoyang, which has a history of hundreds of years."

"So many families have been brutally murdered, their centuries-old traditions destroyed in an instant."

An old man felt a sense of shared sorrow, for his family had also been involved in the plot to murder the prince. The entire family that had been involved with them had been executed, and the blood was still flowing in the East Street of Luoyang.

Are they next?

"Increase the effort!"

"His Majesty is currently staying deep within the palace and not venturing out, so we have no way to make a move. However, the princes' residences are far less heavily guarded than the imperial palace. If we spare no expense to wipe out Li Longji's entire lineage, I don't believe he can withstand it!"

An elderly man with white hair and beard, clearly the leader, roared as he sat in a grand chair.

His family was wiped out by the enraged Li Longji because of their involvement in the assassination attempt.

Almost all the escape routes that had been arranged in advance before the assassination were found. At its peak, the entire family had thousands of direct and collateral relatives, but now only a handful of them are still alive.

Furthermore, Li Longji also confiscated their family's millennia-long accumulation to enrich his own private treasury.

The hatred between him and Li Longji was higher than the sky and deeper than the sea, and could not be resolved.

He also wanted Li Longji to experience the pain of losing his own child!

"Thump~ thump~~ thump~~ thump~~ thump~~ thump."

Several knocks of varying lengths sounded on the door, making the group of old men tense.

"Don't worry, they're one of us."

An elderly man sitting at the head of the table was completely shrouded in shadow.

A hoarse voice came from his throat, "Come in."

A well-dressed, imposing middle-aged man walked in.

He went to the old man at the head of the table and whispered a few words in a voice that only the two of them could hear.

The old man's pupils contracted, but because his entire body was in shadow, no one else noticed the instantaneous change in his expression.

"I understand, you may leave."

The old man waved his hand, a barely perceptible unease in his voice.

The middle-aged man nodded slightly and turned to leave.

"etc."

The old man, whose entire family had been beheaded by Li Longji in the East Market of Luoyang, stood up and blocked the middle-aged man's path.

"Nephew, we're all in this together now, so please speak frankly."

"Yeah, what time is it? It's not good to keep information to yourself."

Everyone echoed this sentiment, though some expressed dissatisfaction.

What kind of time is this? Keeping the news to yourself is just too unfair.

The old man tapped the table a few times, and upon hearing the familiar rhythm, a strange look flashed in the eyes of several people present.

"You can go out now."

The old man spoke to his son.

This time, no one stopped them; everyone stared intently at the elderly man sitting at the head of the table.

"News has just come from the palace that His Majesty has summoned Wei Mai."

Wei Mai!

Everyone's expression changed. "What did they say to each other?"

Someone immediately asked anxiously.

The others were just as curious and waited for the old man to give them an answer.

"have no idea."

The old man finally uttered three words: "How could we possibly know the details of the conversation between His Majesty and this man?"

Everyone fell silent. Although the words were harsh, they were indeed true.

Not to mention that their power in the palace has been repeatedly purged due to their assassination attempts on Li Longji, and is no longer what it once was.

Even at their peak, the conversations between these two were impossible to overhear unless they intentionally did so.

After discussing their next move for a while and agreeing on the personnel they would each send out, they all dispersed.

Half an hour later, in a secluded courtyard quite far from here, several elderly people with white hair sat together.

If the person whose entire family was executed saw these people, he would be surprised to find that they were the same people who had just sat down together to discuss matters not long ago.

Moreover, these are all families that have not yet been discovered or whose branches are only involved, and whose family strength still exists.

And sitting at the head of the table was none other than Zheng Tai, the famous head of the Xingyang Zheng family.