When the Left Wise King returned to the royal court with less than 5,000 remaining soldiers, he angered the Chanyu, who immediately wanted to punish the Left Wise King.

The Left Wise King then recounted the entire battle and his suspicions to the Chanyu, who was momentarily hesitant.

Listening to the Left Wise King's description, the old Chanyu looked doubtful: "Is what you said true?"

"It's absolutely true, Great Chanyu. If someone hadn't leaked our whereabouts, how could those traitors have known our purpose so clearly?"

Seeing that the Chanyu still didn't quite believe him, he hurriedly said again, "Chanyu, as you know, those traitors have already defected to the Han people. Perhaps that Mr. Han is a spy they sent!"

After hearing what the Left Wise King said, the Chanyu also began to have some doubts and looked at a servant beside him.

"Go and fetch Mr. Han!"

"promise!"

Before long, the guard rushed back, his face hurried: "Great Chanyu, Mr. Han has disappeared!"

"What?! That despicable Han Chinese!"

The Great Chanyu immediately stood up and roared, "This traitor, pursue him immediately, regardless of his life!"

Upon seeing this, the Left Wise King let out a soft breath.

Meanwhile, Mr. Han, who had escaped from the Xiongnu royal court, headed northeast towards the territory of the western Xianbei. In his view, Tan Shihuai, who was able to unite the western Xianbei, might be a powerful ruler worth seeking refuge with.

The chaos on the grasslands clearly did not affect the Han Dynasty court.

Since Liu Hong purged the eunuch clique, many self-proclaimed upright officials began to vie for power and profit, and unanimously began to ostracize those corrupt officials who had served under eunuchs and imperial relatives.

In the Deyang Palace, Liu Hong stared grimly at the resignations of the corrupt officials on the table.

Although these officials had served eunuchs and imperial relatives, they had not committed any illegal or disorderly acts, and many of them were capable and pragmatic individuals; they simply wanted to become officials.

That's why Liu Hong kept them to balance the court, but now they've become the target of attacks by some people with ulterior motives, which makes Liu Hong very angry.

"An imperial edict was issued to the Ministry of Personnel to reject all of these people's resignation petitions."

"promise!"

Zhang Rang accepted the order and left in a hurry, while Zhong Yao and Xi Zhicai, who were standing to the side, looked at Liu Hong's gloomy face and felt disdain for those so-called "pure stream" people.

"Yang Qing, go and investigate thoroughly. Select a few of the most vocal individuals and find out their family backgrounds, including the people behind them."

"Since he wants to be the first to stick his neck out, then I'll see how tough his head is..."

Liu Hong narrowed his eyes slightly, his voice carrying a hint of coldness.

"promise!"

Yang Qiu responded loudly and then left Deyang Palace with a murderous aura.

Watching Yang Qiu leave, Zhong Yao felt a pang of anxiety. The Han Dynasty had just begun to stabilize, and those people were already eager to jump out and vie for power. If this trend wasn't stopped, the consequences would be no less severe than those caused by the eunuchs seizing power.

Liu Hong pondered for a moment, then looked at Zhao Zhong beside him and said in a deep voice, "Summon Zheng Xuan, the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, and Cai Yong, a Doctor, to an audience."

"promise"

"And...please also invite the Grand Tutor and the Minister of Works!"

Zhao Zhongying left, and Liu Hong looked at Zhong Yao beside him and said in a deep voice, "Yuan Chang, go to the Ministry of Personnel and tell them to just focus on their work. I will not cut off my own limbs!"

"promise!"

Zhong Yao naturally knew who "they" referred to. This group of "public critics" attacked people indiscriminately, and even people from humble backgrounds such as Tian Feng and Ju Shou, who were promoted by Liu Hongxin, were attacked to varying degrees.

This is the real reason why Liu Hong is so angry.

The reason the emperor sent him to deliver the message was to tell those powerful families that he would value both noble and commoner families, simply to see if they would side with him.

This was clearly a tactic of the emperor to divide and win over the enemy, but Zhong Yao did not see anything wrong with it.

Those who benefit from the status quo, like the Zhong and Xun families, will naturally stand firmly on the emperor's side, while those who are out of touch with reality will not.

Zhong Yao couldn't help but let out a cold laugh.

Nowadays, apart from Yin Xun, the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, most of the officials in the Secretariat come from humble backgrounds. They are undoubtedly the most loyal supporters of the emperor and the foundation upon which Liu Hong was able to quickly seize power.

Upon learning of Liu Hong's care and concern for them, Tian Feng and the others were deeply moved.

Soon, Chen Fan, Hu Guang, Zheng Xuan, and Cai Yong arrived at Deyang Palace.

"Gentlemen, please be seated!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

After everyone was seated, Liu Hong first looked at Zheng Xuan, who was the Imperial Academy Chancellor.

"The students of the Imperial Academy are all rare pillars of society, and I will certainly entrust them with important responsibilities in the future. They should be focusing on their studies and governing the country, but now they are discussing matters on the spot and attacking court officials at will. Isn't this putting the cart before the horse?"

The emperor's words made Zheng Xuan look somewhat ashamed. Originally, since the eunuchs were in power, he had devoted himself to studying and never concerned himself with politics.

Later, upon learning that the emperor had executed the eunuchs, he accepted the summons and became the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, devoting himself wholeheartedly to teaching.

He was quite annoyed that his students would be used in this way: "Your Majesty, rest assured, I will discipline them strictly when I return. If any of them do not repent, I will expel them from the Imperial Academy."

"good!"

Liu Hong nodded, then looked at Chen Fan and said, “Back then, when the eunuchs seized power, many people united to resist, but they were imprisoned by the Party Prohibitions. After I ascended the throne, I lifted the Party Prohibitions, but many people still identify themselves as partisans. I think this is not good.”

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