"Your Majesty... this..."
Zheng Mao wanted nothing more than to take back what he had just said.
Steady? This is even more extreme than when you wanted to clear Xiahou Xuan's name!
Great Wei spent nearly thirty years suppressing the Imperial Clan. Can you simply let them loose at a word?
Do you think the ministers at court will agree?
Zheng Mao almost blurted out, "Wishful thinking."
Zheng Mao's position differed from that of Wang Xiang, Chen Qian, and the others. He belonged to the self-preservation camp. All he wanted was to live in peace without getting dragged into these struggles.
He had finally escaped Sima Shi's whirlpool, only for the emperor to throw an even larger whirlpool at him.
Anything involving the Imperial Clan was bound to be utterly thankless work.
Almost no one wanted to see a powerful Imperial Clan.
A powerful Imperial Clan would suppress the power of the Great Clans. The Sima Family had done just that: to suppress those great families and local magnates, they had lavishly enfeoffed their imperial relatives and vested them with great authority. Those princes had indeed wielded considerable power in their territories, but the moment turmoil struck the court, the War of the Eight Princes had followed...
Zheng Mao said earnestly, "Your Majesty was born into the Imperial Clan, and I understand your compassion for them. But Your Majesty, you are now the emperor of all under Heaven, not a prince of Great Wei."
"I know you have different views on Emperor Wen's policies, but why does Your Majesty think Emperor Wen wished to implement them?"
Cao Mao replied earnestly, "He curbed the eunuchs to prevent another Ten Regular Attendants, curbed the princes to prevent another Rebellion of the Seven States, and used the Zhongzheng System to return the power