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

Two more days passed. During this time, the various families were arguing endlessly, and Li Shimin was also trying his best to win over the other powerful families.

But as things stand, things haven't gotten to the worst yet. The people of the five surnames and seven clans haven't gone to their wits' end or done anything irrational.

Firstly, the Cui family of Boling held sway over the system; secondly, the new imperial examination system did not abolish the old system, retaining the Mingjing subject, which still accounted for 50% of the admitted students.

Moreover, the cooperation between the Boling Cui clan and Chen Huai'an gave others hope.

For various reasons, the five surnames and seven clans had not actually reached the point of despair and making a desperate gamble.

However, this is only temporary; the conflict is merely accumulating, not being resolved.

If this situation is allowed to continue, the conflict will only intensify over time.

On this day, a debate was unfolding within the Wang family of Taiyuan.

Wang Gui sighed, "When it comes to understanding Chen Huai'an, I'm afraid none of you here can compare to me. I was his colleague for a very long time."

"Back when we were working under Li Jiancheng, Wei Ting and I looked down on him and Wei Zheng to some extent because their various suggestions sounded so absurd and illogical."

"The night before the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Chen Huai'an sternly pointed out that His Majesty would take a desperate gamble and warned Li Jiancheng not to be careless, but none of us took it to heart at the time."

"As you have seen, Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji died, the retired emperor was sidelined, and His Majesty controlled the military forces of the realm."

"Looking back now, many of Chen Huai'an's suggestions were actually correct; it's just that we didn't understand them at the time because we weren't on the same level at all."

"That's why I've always told you, during the Zhenguan era, not to try to oppose His Majesty or Chen Huai'an."

Wang Yu nodded slightly in agreement.

Wang Yu, courtesy name Changhong, was from Qixian County, Taiyuan. He was the son of Wang Bing, the governor of Bingzhou during the Northern Zhou Dynasty. He married Princess Tongan, the younger sister of Li Yuan, and was a formal relative by marriage to the Li Tang imperial family.

"Our royal family never intended to oppose them. After all, from a broader perspective, our royal family is different from other families and needs to rely on the royal family."

"There's absolutely no need to go against it."

"But..." Wang Yu paused for a moment, then said, "The unification of Confucian classics and the implementation of the new imperial examination system will have a tremendous impact on us..."

Wang Bingzhi of the Wang family in Qi County, Wang Renbiao, son of Wang Yu, chimed in: "I know what you want to say. We should not oppose Li Shimin and Chen Huai'an for now. That's what we thought before, and that's what we think now."

"You want to get involved, to participate in the system of unifying the classics and the examination system, so that the royal family can be protected from too much influence and become the rule-makers."

"But two days ago, although our Wang family did not argue with Chen Huai'an, we still contributed when it came time to vote."

"Even you didn't raise your hand."

"Would Chen Huai'an be willing to let us participate? And would His Majesty be willing?"

Wang Gui was speechless for a moment.

Indeed, the day before yesterday, almost all of them from the five surnames and seven clans expressed their support, which was enough to overpower the Guanlong Group before the Cui family betrayed them.

They didn't argue with Chen Huai'an, but their silence in standing with the aristocratic families spoke volumes.

The reality is that he was about to be promoted to Attendant-in-Ordinary, but now he has been forcibly stopped.

This position will likely be replaced by Du Ruhui, Wei Zheng, or Xiao Yu.

Wang Ji, a representative of the Longmen Wang clan's branch and a scholarly family, slowly shook his head: "That's not how it works."

"All you see are the risks, you see that our five clans and seven noble families are being targeted from all sides. But if you put yourself in Chen Huai'an's shoes, would he really be willing to go this far?"

"Ask yourselves honestly, if you were Chen Huai'an, would you have been willing to engage in such a fierce conflict with the Five Clans and Seven Noble Families during such a sensitive period if the Zheng family, a bunch of fools, hadn't gone and disrupted the balance?"

"Chen Huai'an and His Majesty's demands are very simple: they want stability, peace throughout the land, and the submission of all foreign tribes!"

"For this, Chen Huai'an has actually made quite a few compromises, hasn't he?"

As soon as Wang Ji spoke, the room fell silent, and even Wang Gui listened attentively.

Wang Ji, courtesy name Wugong, sobriquet Donggaozi, was a native of Longmen, Jiangzhou. He was the younger brother of Wang Tong, a great Confucian scholar at the end of the Sui Dynasty, and enjoyed a very high reputation among the gentry and literati circles in Chang'an.

In Chang'an, there were four people in charge of the Wang family.

Wang Gui was a core leader in the imperial court; Wang Yu was a senior member of the imperial family; and Wang Renbiao was a powerful representative in the local area.

Secondly, there is Wang Ji, who represents the literary tradition of the literati.

Of the four, Wang Yu and Wang Ji were of higher seniority.

But Wang Ji clearly had a higher prestige, which was not only reflected in the outside literary circles, but also within the Wang family.

To put it simply, Wen Yanbo, Du Yan (Du Ruhui's uncle), and Xue Shou, who are currently in the court, are all students of Wang Tong, Wang Ji's elder brother.

At the same time, he is also the heir to the Wang family's cultural heritage.

"So, what do you think?" Wang Gui asked solemnly.

Wang Ji said calmly, "Actually, our Shandong gentry are now caught in a very interesting situation with the Guanlong Group."

"With the implementation of a series of policies by Chen Huai'an and Li Shimin, as well as the support of Du Ruhui, Fang Xuanling, the Yan family, and others, we believe that we have been targeted like never before."

"Moreover, Li Shimin is indeed impeccable as an emperor, having already taken control of the army. But what about Chen Huai'an? This man is incredibly cunning; no one knows how many tricks he has up his sleeve."

"We feel our opponents are too strong, but if we think about it carefully, don't Chen Huai'an and his team feel the same way?"

"How many years have these five surnames and seven clans been rooted in the Central Plains? Don't they know how deep their foundation is?"

"That's why Chen Huai'an never actually overturned the table completely. He said he wanted to break down the concept of social class, but he only mentioned it briefly and then nothing more, didn't he?"

Wang Renbiao suddenly realized: "You mean, Chen Huai'an is just giving us a warning?"

"Yes." Wang Ji nodded. "Why did he only give us a warning?"

"Because he knows he absolutely cannot do that, at least not now, otherwise the pressure will drive us to despair."

"At that time, the situation that no one wants to see will happen."

"So, here's where the interesting part comes in."

At this point, Wang Ji chuckled and said, "Both sides think the other is too strong, and neither dares to make a move."

"We want to cooperate and get involved. Is it possible that Chen Huai'an is also waiting for us to come to him seeking cooperation, and to work with us?"

"..."