The immortal of the Tang Dynasty, but the game starts at Xuanwu Gate?

In mid-May, Li Shimin had already approved the system and procedures submitted by Chen Huai'an and others regarding the production, approval, and sale of refined salt by officials.

Without hesitation, Chen Huai'an invited people from various prominent families over one by one, or visited them in person.

First was Zheng Yuanzhu, and then Cui Shanwei of the Cui clan of Qinghe.

In just a few days, Chen Huai'an not only visited all the major figures of the five surnames and seven clans in Chang'an, but also did not spare anyone from other aristocratic families.

That day, Chen Huai'an found Cui Gan: "Haha, Vice Minister Cui, how have you been? Speaking of which, we are both officials appointed by the court and colleagues. We should visit each other more often."

"You're too kind, Duke Anguo..." Cui Gan said politely. "Come, please come into the mansion for a cup of tea."

"Alright, alright," Chen Huai'an readily agreed. "Then I'll gladly accept your offer and thank you for your trouble."

"What are you saying, Duke Anguo? Please come in..."

After that, Chen Huai'an kept chatting with Cui Gan about random things, as if he had only come to contact him today and had nothing else to do.

Even when Cui Gan tried to say something else, Chen Huai'an glossed over it.

Finally, Cui Gan twitched the corners of his mouth, unable to bear it any longer: "Don't think I don't know what you're up to. You came to see me today, but we didn't talk about anything serious at all."

"I suppose it's been the same when you visited other people's homes these past few days."

"What are you trying to do? Make Cui Xuan and the others worry?"

Chen Huai'an smiled and said, "How could you think of me like that, Vice Minister Cui? I just wanted to get to know all of you colleagues better. After all, we'll be in contact quite a bit in the future, so it's good to get to know each other."

"Heh heh." Cui Gan gave a forced smile. "If the Duke of Anguo says so, then so be it."

"But I can tell you, we really have no interest in salt. You should talk to Cui Xuan, or someone else."

"You want us to fight amongst ourselves? That's impossible."

"Really?" Chen Huai'an raised an eyebrow. "What if I really gave it to you?"

Even if you gave it to me, I wouldn't answer...

"Thirty percent!"

Cui Gan's words caught in his throat, and he fell silent.

Thirty percent...

What does 30% mean?

In the future, 30% of the salt produced by the Ministry of Works and the government will be supplied to them, and the remaining 70% will be divided among the many powerful families. The profits involved will be an unimaginable figure.

To reiterate, the people of the Tang Dynasty only lacked grain; salt was not actually that scarce.

But it's different outside. This kind of refined salt would be incredibly expensive outside!

No one could resist such a temptation, not even Cui Gan, but his second wife.

Cui Gan took a deep breath, his expression turning somewhat grim: "Do you really think we're fools? If you're willing to give it, we can easily make a deal with the eldest son's family. What's wrong with giving them this portion of the profits privately?"

"Is that so?" Chen Huai'an said meaningfully, "But you alone, from the second branch of the Cui family, took 30%. Do you think the other aristocratic families would be willing to do that?"

"You mean you want to secretly divide these benefits among the eldest son's family? Putting aside what you can get from the eldest son's family, your second son's family is destined to be targeted by other aristocratic families."

"Minister Cui, are the people behind you really willing to give up such a huge benefit in exchange for something we don't even know what it is, and then have to endure the targeting of other aristocratic families?"

"..."

After a long silence, Cui Gan sighed and said, "You're really ruthless. A blatant, overt scheme, isn't it?"

"If we really wanted to, what would you do? Don't forget, even though we live in separate houses, we still share the same ancestor and are one family!"

"Since you're all part of the same organization, why don't you share the same interests?" Chen Huai'an asked calmly, "The eldest branch of the Cui family controls the salt, while your second branch has none, or rather, very little—so little that it's negligible, isn't it?"

"When interests are divided, is your whole... truly intact?"

"And another thing," Chen Huai'an said meaningfully, "I think that since you told me that if I dared to give you 30% of the salt profits, you could secretly distribute it to the eldest son's family, that already proves that you won't distribute it."

"If you really wanted to divide it up, you wouldn't have told me, because this is an internal distribution within your Cui family, and telling me is completely unnecessary."

Cui Gan gave him a deep look: "Duke Anguo, what do you want?"

A smile appeared on Chen Huai'an's face: "Zheng Gong also asked me this question before. Now I'll ask you again, shall I?"

"Zheng Yuanzhu?" Cui Gan nodded, not surprised. "He was talking to you about papermaking?"

"Okay, go ahead."

Chen Huai'an, resting his chin on his hand, said, "Support my reform of the imperial examination system! The Ministry of Revenue should conduct a thorough investigation of land and population!"

Cui Gan's expression changed drastically: "Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

"Don't even think about it. If that's the price, please leave. You can give your 30% of the profits to whomever you want; I'm not involved!"

Chen Huai'an's heart sank; he hadn't expected Cui Gan's reaction to be so strong.

He had mentioned the reform of the imperial examination system to Zheng Yuanzhu before, but the latter, as a scholar of classical studies, did not seem to care too much about it, which shows that the aristocratic families had already accepted his proposal to promote students from poor families.

We are prepared to compromise on this matter.

Since the Zheng family can accept it, Chen Huai'an doesn't believe the Cui family can't.

Now that Cui Gan has reacted so strongly, the problem can only lie in the Ministry of Revenue's subsequent investigation into population and land.

Chen Huai'an raised his hand to signal him not to rush: "Minister Cui, there's no need to be anxious. If there are problems, we can solve them; if there are disagreements, we can talk about them."

"I don't think my request is excessive. The imperial examination system should be improved. As the Minister of Revenue, I need to understand the population, household registration, and land ownership of the entire country. Isn't this my duty?"

"Is it too much for me to only ask that Vice Minister Cui support me in fulfilling my duties?"

Cui Gan said in a deep voice, "Reform the imperial examination system? Reform it however you want, what does it have to do with me?"

"As for supporting you in fulfilling your duties? That's your responsibility. I'm a Gentleman Attendant at the Palace Gate, not the Minister of Revenue; I have no jurisdiction over that!"

"There's no need to care."

Chen Huai'an frowned slightly.

Cui Gan's meaning was already very clear: reforming the imperial examination system was acceptable, but a thorough investigation of the population and land was absolutely out of the question.

This made Chen Huai'an realize that the land and the hidden population might be the bottom line that the powerful families could not cross.

In reality, Cui Gan was also feeling bitter inside, as this was an absolutely unacceptable condition for his Cui family.

If it were before, we could at least try to negotiate, but not now.

Because of Chen Huai'an's series of actions, they ended up with almost nothing left but the land and medicinal herbs.

Now Chen Huai'an wants to get involved in land sales, which they see as a way to gradually erode their resources.

How could Cui Gan accept this?

"..."