Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2649: Still Vigorous in Old Age (33.0)
“That’s right, they won’t take the blame.” Xia Chen snorted. “Those big families talk about family precepts and ancestral teachings all the time, but sometimes they really do inhuman things. You may not have done many of them, but I have truly experienced it firsthand.”

“I understand what you mean.” Song Yaojia nodded to Xia Chen. “Those people will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. Even though their hands are stained with blood, they pretend it has nothing to do with them. They are truly despicable and hypocritical.”

"Just like Master Falian, his status is useful to them, and they won't easily give it up, but they also won't get too close, otherwise it wouldn't fit their image. Similarly, if they get too close, they might not be able to extricate themselves from any trouble, which is something they can't allow. Therefore, Master Falian can only come into contact with the fringe members of those major families. Perhaps he could meet with the head of a branch family, who could do so under the guise of the head of the main family. Master Falian himself probably knows very well what the intricacies are. So, his later preference for doing business with the Empress Dowager rather than benefiting from the influence of aristocratic families is probably partly due to this reason, right?"

"They're all shrewd people, just different levels of shrewdness, whether they're old or young. Although the little prince is clever, he's still far from being a match for a powerful family with deep roots, whose emotions are completely unreadable." Chu Han sneered. "These powerful families prioritize their own interests above all else. So, as long as their interests aren't touched and they aren't seriously harmed, they're happy to let the mudskipper prince act as the scapegoat against Great Xia, while they themselves fan the flames from behind."

“That’s not surprising at all. They’ve done this kind of thing more than once or twice. Didn’t they do it when the previous dynasty was still in power?” Shen Cha looked at Shen Haolin. “Back then, when the Shen family left Xijing City, wasn’t it them who were behind it?” Seeing Shen Haolin nod, indicating that this was the case, she sneered and said, “Back then, several military families were either forced to leave or demoted from the capital. It was all related to them, wasn’t it?”

"I know that too," Chu Han snorted. "However, I heard it from my brother. They want the military power in the hands of the military families, but how is that possible? That's the lifeblood of a military family. Once the military power is handed over, the entire family, including their own confidants, will be at their mercy."

“Who can argue with that!” Shen Cha sighed heavily. “Back then, they instigated minor aristocratic families to create all sorts of trouble, even using officials from opposing camps to constantly impeach and petition.” She looked at Chu Han and said, “Just like the Jing Prince’s Mansion back then, many military families couldn’t bear the harassment and simply rebelled and left Xijing City. So when my great-uncle mentioned the Jing Prince’s Mansion’s plight, I immediately thought of this. What they did was truly…”

"Skilled at it?" Seeing Shen Cha nod, Chu Han smiled. "That's exactly right. They controlled the court for hundreds of years, and their methods were endless. This is just a small trick they used to eliminate dissidents. Actually, to be honest, you haven't really witnessed their methods yet. The founding emperor's ban on aristocratic families entering officialdom was very wise. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been long before Great Xia became like the previous dynasty, where everything we did was subject to the control of aristocratic families."

“Yes!” Shen Cha sighed. “This method is really good. It may not eliminate future troubles, but it at least reduces a lot of problems.” She looked at Chu Han. “Actually, I also want to say that their approach is extremely despicable.”

"People in the imperial court can't survive if they're too clean; they can't even survive a day that way," Chu Han sighed. "They have no choice. Not to mention behemoths like the Wang and Xie families, even a small aristocratic family like the Ning family has several hundred people in total. For the sake of those few hundred people, they have to fight tooth and nail to keep themselves standing."

“That’s true.” Shen Cha nodded. “Those methods are already commonplace for them. If anything happens, they know what to do without even thinking.”

"That's right, they're all instincts ingrained in our bones."

“That’s right.” Chu Han nodded and said, “On the surface, they respect the little prince, but in reality, he’s just a tool they use to cause trouble and create obstacles for the new dynasty. If what the little prince does has the same effect as what they want, they’ll get involved; if it harms their interests or makes them easy to expose, then they won’t care.”

"How many times did my great-uncle interact with Master Falian?"

"If you really think about it, it's not that many times, maybe seven or eight, but there were three or four times I almost caught him, really just a hair's breadth away." Chu Han sighed and said, "I told you all, I chased someone all the way to the border, right?" "Yes!" Xue Ruitian looked at Chu Han curiously and said, "Grand Uncle, tell me more about it?"

"About thirty years ago? I don't remember very clearly." Chu Han thought for a moment, looked at the children who were deep in thought, and laughed, "Don't think about it. At that time, the oldest of you, Haolin, hadn't even been born yet."

"No way? So early?"

"It was indeed very early." Seeing the children smile sheepishly, Chu Han continued, "Back then, your fathers and mothers were still very young and not yet married. Xiao Shen and Xiao Xue were just greenhorns. It must have been their first time coming to the border with Lao Shen and Lao Xue, and they saw a dilapidated border town struggling to survive. Those two little guys..." He smiled helplessly and said, "stood under that city gate and cried for a long time, making the people in the city think they were lost, that they couldn't find their parents. Just then, I was right in front of them, and with a lot of coaxing and cajoling, I managed to drag one of them out of the city and back to the main tent."

"I can't believe such a thing exists." Xue Ruitian looked at Shen Cha, then at Shen Haolin. "I've never heard of it before."

"This is probably their biggest embarrassing moment. Don't tell me you don't know, even your mothers probably don't know." Chu Han shook his head helplessly. "The second time I came to the border to arrest someone, the two of them cornered me in a small room and begged me not to tell anyone about this."

"You agreed?"

"How could I refuse?" Chu Han nodded. "But they only begged me not to tell your mother, not that they couldn't tell you."

"You're really amazing." Xue Ruitian gave Chu Han a thumbs up. "But were the city gates really that dilapidated back then?"

"Very run-down." Chu Han looked at them. "You should remember what this place looked like when you were little, right?"

“I remember.” Xue Ruitian nodded, stroking his chin. “Those two city gates, north and south, are dilapidated. Forget about whether the Liao and Jin can break in; even a heavy snowfall could crush those two city gates.”

“That’s right.” Chu Han nodded, paused for a moment, and said, “The city gate you see has actually been repaired many times.”