This time, Bai Xiaowen showed no mercy.
In the fourth month of the second year of Taishi, Prince of Yan returned to Ye Capital after a great victory.
That very day, he issued a royal edict, ordering Geng Ji, Wei Huang, Jin Yi, and the others to have their three clans exterminated, all of them executed at the Execution Grounds.
This was also meant to establish his authority and pave the way for his ascension as emperor.
Sure enough, the ministers were terrified and wary, and no one dared say a word.
Dong Zhao and Hua Xin jointly submitted a memorial, declaring that the Prince of Yan's "virtue spread across the four quarters, and his benevolence reached all things." Even Tang Yao and Yu Shun fell short of him. After deliberation among the ministers, they hoped that the Han Emperor would follow the example of Yao and Shun and yield the realm and its altars of state to the Prince of Yan. He could still retain the blessing of peace and tranquility, and the whole world would rejoice.
The emperor was horrified and wept, claiming that he had committed no evil or error and could not bear to abandon the ancestral realm and its foundations.
Hua Xin led two men, Li Fu and Xu Zhi, forward to answer: "Your Majesty may question these two men, and you will then know the will of Heaven."
Li Fu said, "Since the Prince of Yan ascended the throne, qilins have been born and phoenixes have appeared. Yellow dragons have manifested, auspicious grain has flourished, and sweet dew has descended. Your Majesty, these are auspicious signs bestowed by Heaven, proving that the Prince of Yan should replace the Yan Han."
Xu Zhi then said that he was in charge of the Office of Celestial