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

"Never mind, I shouldn't have told you all this."

Li Shimin turned his head away; he had no penchant for masochism.

Wei Zheng and his group were all beaten and fled in panic by Chen Huai'an. How could he possibly fight alone?

"Sometimes, I really didn't want the conflict with them to escalate to this point in the past two years," Li Shimin sighed. "But who could have imagined that such good news would be leaked?"

"So what if it's leaked?" Chen Huai'an didn't care. "It was bound to happen eventually anyway. What's done is done, there's no point in saying anything more."

"Why don't we think about how to solve this?"

There's a saying that goes, "Risk always accompanies opportunity; who knows what the final outcome will be?"

"Hmm." Li Shimin nodded slightly. "Let's return to the Eastern Palace. Things have come to this point; it's time to discuss this properly."

"Otherwise... this year, let alone sending troops to the Eastern Turks, dealing with the locust plague will be a problem."

Chen Huai'an nodded, having no objections.

The carriage slowly drove away, leaving only two tracks left by its wheels.

Meanwhile, the news of Chen Huai'an's meeting with Yan Shigu naturally came to the attention of those who were watching him.

Today is destined to be an eventful day.

"..."

The next day, Chen Huai'an sat in the backyard again, fishing quietly. This time he was not in a hurry, and he was the only one in the backyard.

It seems to be waiting for something.

Sure enough, not long after, Zheng Yuanzhu came to visit again.

This time, Zheng Yuanzhu didn't get any tea; he only had a small stool next to Chen Huai'an.

Zheng Yuanzhu didn't pay attention to any of this. He walked over and sat down to watch Chen Huai'an fish.

After a moment, he turned his head and asked, "Didn't you put any bait on it?"

Chen Huai'an: "..."

It's not very harmful, but extremely insulting!

Chen Huai'an looked somewhat uneasy, but pretended to be calm and said, "Fishing isn't necessarily about catching fish; it's about fishing for a state of mind."

"Lord Zheng, you're getting impatient."

Zheng Yuanzhu remained silent for a moment before saying, "It's not that I'm in a hurry, but it seems you've made an unwise choice."

"The day before yesterday, I wasn't threatening you, it was just a friendly reminder, and it certainly didn't mean it was about the Zheng family."

"There really was no need to come to this."

"A well-intentioned reminder?" Chen Huai'an couldn't help but laugh. "So, I should thank Master Zheng?"

Zheng Yuanzhu didn't respond, but instead said, "Actually, you should understand that if we cooperate, we will support what you want to do. Last time you said that tea should only contain tea, and you shouldn't add any random things."

"I personally agree with this view, but many times, we are not in control of our own destiny."

Chen Huai'an said he understood.

This is like land consolidation.

As long as land is privatized and can be bought and sold, it will inevitably lead to mergers and acquisitions.

Mergers and acquisitions are not always proactive; they can also be passive.

Because of the existence of privileged classes, they do not have to pay taxes.

Sometimes, people would even voluntarily hand over their land to those who did not have to pay taxes.

This is why the problem of land annexation is so unsolvable. Whether it is voluntary or involuntary annexation, the amount of land in the hands of ordinary people is destined to decrease, and this is irreversible.

Zheng Yuanzhu spoke again: "If you really intend to do this, then many things will develop in a very bad direction."

"I know a little about the locust plague. The Tang Dynasty... can't afford any more trouble."

"Are you trying to scare me?" Chen Huai'an sneered. "What? Do you think I'm easily frightened?"

Zheng Yuanzhu shook his head. "I'm not trying to scare you, but I'm just stating a fact. You shouldn't be the kind of person who cares about saving face. If the balance is really broken..."

"Then our previous cooperation may be affected."

"I've heard about the locust plague. The Tang Dynasty can't afford any more damage."

"What the Tang Dynasty needs now is stability!"

Chen Huai'an said thoughtfully, "Oh, you mean that if I choose to be your enemy, then the cooperation will end?"

"You think I'm afraid?"

The system of government-owned production, government approval, and commercial sales has its advantages, but it also has its disadvantages.

If the powerful families don't buy his salt, he'll have to sell it himself, which will inevitably cause a sharp drop in the national treasury's revenue in the short term.

There are so many projects waiting to be restarted, the locust plague requires a lot of supplies to deal with, and there's also the matter of sending troops to the East Turkestan.

Everything requires money and supplies!

And all of these, to some extent, were provided by aristocratic families.

The imperial court itself did not have sales channels, and the system of "official production, official approval, and commercial sales" allowed the imperial court to skip this step.

This also made the imperial court somewhat dependent on aristocratic families.

Of course, aristocratic families rely on more.

If the cooperation is severed, the aristocratic families will suffer even greater losses.

"This isn't a matter of being afraid or not," Zheng Yuanzhu continued to persuade. "I've been emphasizing that we don't need to fight to the death, do we?"

"Otherwise, everyone will feel bad, so why bother?"

"Isn't it good to cooperate and achieve a win-win situation for everyone?"

"Zheng Gong still doesn't understand!" Chen Huai'an felt a little bored. "I told you all long ago that a good tea is the best on its own. It doesn't need any flavoring, otherwise it will only ruin its original taste."

"Actually, I did intend to cooperate with you at first, but maybe the Zheng family is used to being domineering, or maybe you don't take me seriously, so I'm too lazy to talk to you about any grand principles."

"All that's left of your centuries-old traditions is arrogance."

"I don't work with arrogant people, so please leave. I already have someone suitable."

Zheng Yuanzhu's gaze turned serious: "You mean the Yan family?"

"Excuse my bluntness, but what you're doing might harm the Yan family."

"Who told you it was the Yan family?" Chen Huai'an chuckled. "See? Still arrogant, huh?"

"Even you, a self-proclaimed neutral member of the Zheng family, inevitably reveal this disgusting nature deep down."

"Forget it, I can't be bothered to talk to you. You don't deserve to listen!"

I should have more guests later.

Having said that, Zheng Yuanzhu could only shake his head helplessly, bid farewell, and leave.

Before leaving, he looked back, somewhat puzzled.

Are there more guests?

Zheng Yuanzhu walked along, frowning in deep thought.

Could it be... that Chen Huai'an's chosen partner is really not the Yan family?

As soon as the idea popped into his head, Zheng Yuanzhu immediately rejected it.

impossible!

Chen Huai'an was bluffing him; the person he wanted to cooperate with was probably the Yan family.

After all, there weren't many families qualified to participate in the Tang Dynasty.

"..."

Not long after Zheng Yuanzhu left, a person Chen Huai'an knew quite well came to visit.

He looked at Chen Huai'an fishing and smiled, "Duke Anguo, I think...we can have a good chat!"

"Of course!" Chen Huai'an was not surprised at all when he saw the person who came.

"Yunyan, serve the tea!"

"..."