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

"hiss!"

"etc!"

Dai Zhou instantly understood some of the issues, but precisely because he understood them, he felt a sense of absurdity for a moment.

"You mean... the Li family of Zhao County, they're offering a pledge of allegiance?"

"They want to sacrifice the Zheng family to solidify their own position, expand their influence, and gain His Majesty's trust?"

"Yes." Chen Huai'an sighed, "I suddenly figured this out last night."

"That's why I said they'll only make the first choice."

"Similarly, the Lu family and the Cui family of Qinghe, seeing that everyone has made a move, will definitely not choose to fight back, but will instead attack the Zheng family together."

"Because this is the optimal solution!"

Du Ruhui exclaimed in surprise, "Once the Li family of Zhao County, the Wang family of Taiyuan, and the Cui family of Boling make their move, along with us and all the clans large and small in the north and south, let alone whether we can resist them, even if we do, it will be completely meaningless."

"You can withstand it for a while, but not forever."

"Therefore, the best solution is to join the hunt together and divide up the Zheng family's property!"

The hall was completely silent.

There were no fools present. As soon as Chen Huai'an uttered the words "pledge of allegiance," they instantly understood what the Zhao County Li family was planning.

I now understand just how ruthless these people really are!

Even the Zheng family, which also belonged to one of the five surnames, was sold off without hesitation, without even blinking an eye.

You have to understand, there are already countless marriages within their ranks, and the relationships are incredibly complex!

Li Shimin sat on the dragon throne, remaining silent for a long time before letting out a soft sigh in his heart.

In reality, no one understood better than him just how ruthless the powerful families were.

When the Taiyuan uprising took place, what did the Li family rely on? Wasn't it these powerful families from Guanzhong and Shandong who provided money, grain, and manpower behind the scenes?

Without the support of these people, it's hard to say whether the Li family could have conquered this world.

It is precisely for this reason that the status of these five surnames and seven noble families remained so revered and so deeply rooted after the founding of the Tang Dynasty.

But it was precisely because of this that he became even more wary.

"So..." Li Shimin said coldly, "My thought is to support them!"

"If they want to offer a pledge of allegiance, then let them!"

"We are the ones who sit back and watch the tigers fight. As long as we keep the overall direction in mind, the Zheng family... won't cause too much trouble."

"If they're smart, they'll probably get off the table on their own, unless they really want to be destroyed!"

Du Ruhui hesitated for a moment: "Are you confident?"

"These things have to be done quickly, otherwise things might change!"

Chen Huai'an replied, "You ask me if I'm confident, I can't answer that, after all, I'm not the one who's going to do it."

"But I think the five surnames and seven clans are not a monolithic entity. They may have a lot of dirt on each other. Since the Li family of Zhao County dared to bring it up, it means they are confident."

"The dirty and tiring work is their own business, it's none of our concern!"

"However..." Chen Huai'an hesitated, "before that, we must make thorough preparations to avoid any unexpected situations."

Li Shimin's expression brightened: "You have another way?"

"What kind of crazy idea do you have? Hurry up and tell me, what time is it?"

Stop keeping me in suspense.

Chen Huai'an: "..."

"What do you mean I'm keeping you in suspense?" he couldn't help but say. "You didn't even ask me!"

"Alright, alright, hurry up and tell me," Li Shimin urged. "Speak quickly, and after you're done, I'll find you a few more martial arts masters, okay?"

"...Alright." Chen Huai'an twitched the corners of his mouth, met everyone's gaze, and slowly spoke, "As everyone knows, we originally had a balance with the aristocratic families. We cooperated to make money. They supported my implementation of the new imperial examination system. I did not pursue the unification of Confucian classics. We lived in peace and harmony."

"The reason for all this is that His Majesty possesses something that could drastically impact the price of books throughout the land. Once it's revealed, the current price of books could immediately drop to a few hundred coins, or even lower!"

Upon hearing this, everyone was shocked.

They all looked at Li Shimin, their eyes conveying the same message.

You're still hiding such a good thing?

Li Shimin's eye twitched, but he didn't say anything.

Chen Huai'an continued, "But some time ago, the news was somehow leaked, which made the aristocratic families restless, and this balance was naturally broken."

"Of course, that's not the point. The point is, what His Majesty possesses is called movable type printing, and I'll explain the details later!"

"This product was already slated for release, so there's no need to hide it anymore!"

"The preparations I'm about to talk about are also related to this!"

"Oh?" Li Shimin's interest was piqued. "What do you want to use movable type printing for?"

"What I want to do is..." Chen Huai'an said, enunciating each word clearly, "to place the reputations of aristocratic families, officials, and nobles entirely in the hands of the imperial court!"

Upon hearing this, the ministers in the hall displayed various expressions.

Is movable type printing really that amazing?

How could the reputation of powerful families, officials, and nobles be placed entirely in the hands of the imperial court?

How is that possible?

Li Shimin was confused: "What do you mean?"

Chen Huai'an asked with a smile, "Your Majesty, others may not understand the specific functions of movable type printing, but surely Your Majesty does?"

"If it's just printing a single book, its effect is not as good as woodblock printing, but if it's printing different content, movable type printing is much more useful."

"I would like to ask Your Majesty a question. Currently, the court does not have a unified channel for information dissemination. Decrees from the court, appointments and removals of officials, and border war reports all rely on the private transmission among the protégés and former officials of aristocratic families and clans."

"They can embellish, distort, and even fabricate rumors to incite local areas, while the imperial court often reacts too late."

"However, now that the cost of papermaking has dropped dramatically and printing efficiency has increased significantly, we can easily produce a monthly report of the Zhenguan court, which we will call the court report to the outside world."

"We can publish some of the policies that the court is going to implement and tell the people of the world why we are doing this, what the significance of doing this is, and what benefits it will bring them."

"Also, after dealing with an official, we can tell the people why they were punished—whether it was for embezzlement, bribery, or abuse of power for personal gain?"

Chen Huai'an spoke eloquently: "What do aristocratic families care about most? Their reputation!"

"As soon as such a court report appears, we stipulate that teachers of each village school and village head must read aloud the contents of the monthly court report on people's livelihood and law in public at the market on the first day of each month, and this will be included in the performance evaluation of state and county officials."

"In this way, even illiterate people can know the contents of the court gazette."

"Isn't one's reputation in the hands of the imperial court?"

"All verified cases of corruption, land annexation, and exploitation of the people, regardless of their social status, will be published in the newspaper with their names clearly stated, and the charges and punishments will be made public."

"Who isn't afraid?"

The Xiande Hall was completely silent; you could hear a pin drop.

Everyone felt a chill run down their spines.

Although Chen Huai'an was smiling, they felt that he was no different from the King of Hell!

"..."