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

Feng Qiao'er understood why Chen Huai'an was telling her this; he was telling her that the path of aristocratic families could be learned from, but it should never be followed.

Otherwise, the Feng family will suffer the same fate in the future.

The only thing to be happy about is that the Feng family is at least on the right track. As long as they don't act like the Five Clans and Seven Noble Families, with arrogance and a monopoly, their situation will definitely be better than that of the Five Clans and Seven Noble Families.

"Huai'an, do you mean we should be like the Yan family?" Feng Zhidai asked.

Chen Huai'an was somewhat relieved that his slow-witted brother-in-law had finally realized what was going on and explained, "I didn't mean for you to be like the Yan family; their methods don't apply to you."

"To put it bluntly, you can't possibly reach the level of the Yan family. After all, they really rely entirely on their government salary and secondly on the land they were granted to cultivate. Their life is too poor."

"Can your Feng family do that?"

Feng Zhidai was speechless; in this regard, probably no one understood it better than him.

How could the Feng family possibly do that? Putting everything else aside, the number of servants in the Feng family alone is astonishing.

From frugality to luxury is easy, from luxury to frugality.

They can't learn the Yan family's methods.

"Actually, whether you are poor or not is not important at all," Chen Huai'an said patiently. "As long as you don't cross the two bottom lines I mentioned above, no one will say anything if you live a wealthy life."

"But if you take the money you're entitled to, you also have to bear certain responsibilities."

Feng Qiao'er pondered, "Does it mean not disobeying His Majesty and not targeting the common people?"

"That's right!" Chen Huai'an sighed. "In fact, if you read history books carefully, you will find that even if you were corrupt as an official, as long as it wasn't excessive and you did your job well, most emperors would turn a blind eye."

"If you wield a certain amount of power, it's not unacceptable for you to defy His Majesty to a certain extent."

"However, if you go against the people and don't treat them like human beings, the only outcome will be death."

"No matter how powerful a dynasty is, or how glorious a family is, it will still be torn apart by angry people."

"There are just far too many examples like this."

The Feng siblings remained silent.

They agreed with what Chen Huai'an said.

The two of them were not illiterate, and besides, history books were essential reading for scholars. How could they not know those bloody examples in history?

We don't even need to look far ahead; right now there's the Zheng family, the Lu family, and a little further back, there's the Sui Dynasty.

How powerful and wealthy the Sui Dynasty was back then.

Isn't it over as soon as it's said?

Even without Li Shimin, there was still a powerful figure like Dou Jiande.

"Speaking of which..." Feng Zhidai seemed to have a question he wanted to ask, but didn't know how to start.

Chen Huai'an casually said, "We're all family, no need to beat around the bush."

Feng Zhidai relaxed and asked the question that had been on his mind: "There's something I really couldn't understand before."

"Your Majesty controls the armies of the realm; why should you be pressured by a few powerful families and have your actions restricted everywhere?"

"Later, my father told me that governing the country cannot be separated from aristocratic families, otherwise the country would be in chaos."

"Now, you are slaughtering people from aristocratic families. You even faked your death and uprooted all the people from both families who were in the court. So far, the number of people killed has reached two thousand."

"It seems like nothing much has gone wrong in the world."

Why is that?

Chen Huai'an smiled and said, "This is a very interesting question, and also the most complicated one. If you are interested, I can tell you about it."

"Please speak." Feng Zhidai said seriously. After the canal transport between the Central Plains and Lingnan was opened up, the Feng family was considered one of the prominent families. Therefore, he really wanted to know the answers to these questions.

"First, regarding your question about why His Majesty controlled the military forces of the realm and why he didn't just kill the powerful families," Chen Huai'an paused, seemingly considering how to phrase it, "Feng Bo has already provided the answer to this."

"Take your Feng family as an example. Even if the Grand Canal between the Central Plains and Lingnan is opened up, if His Majesty wants to govern Lingnan and collect taxes peacefully, won't he have to rely on your Feng family?"

"I guess so." Feng Zhidai hesitated for a moment, but still admitted it.

He knew the truth in his heart, but it was difficult to admit to such a problem. However, he remembered Chen Huai'an saying that everyone here was one of their own, so he admitted it.

"Then why does His Majesty insist on relying on your Feng family to govern Lingnan?" Chen Huai'an asked.

Feng Qiao'er immediately replied, "Because the Feng family's position in Lingnan is irreplaceable, my father has at least 20,000 elite troops under his command, and given some time, he can also produce 50,000 elite troops."

"Moreover, the Feng family has been operating in Lingnan for more than one generation, with deep roots and a very high reputation."

"Good." Chen Huai'an praised, "Well said. This is why His Majesty wants to use your Feng family to govern Lingnan."

"So, looking at it from another perspective, or from another person's standpoint, if you were in that position, what would your attitude be towards the Feng family?"

One sentence silenced the Feng siblings completely.

They weren't unaware of the answer, nor were they unable to provide it.

On the contrary, they dare not speak precisely because they know the answer.

If they were emperors, facing a powerful family like the Feng family, who were local tyrants and controlled troops, they would inevitably need to rely on them to govern the region, but at the same time, they would also have to be extremely wary of them and even target them.

"It seems you've thought it through," Chen Huai'an said with a faint smile. "This is the relationship between the emperor and the powerful families. The emperor needs to rely on the powerful families to govern the country, but he must also be wary of and guard against them."

"If possible, we should do everything we can to weaken and target them."

"Of course." Chen Huai'an changed the subject. "I'm not saying that the emperor and the aristocratic families are necessarily locked in a life-or-death struggle. In the Tang Dynasty, there are too many aristocratic families, big and small. Let's not even talk about the Yan family and the Kong family. Look at all those aristocratic families in the north and south. Which one has suffered from His Majesty's full-scale targeting?"

"No, right?"

The Feng siblings were no longer newcomers to Chang'an; they had already gained considerable knowledge about many things in the Central Plains.

Feng Qiao'er replied, "Basically no. His Majesty is mostly cautious. Only those who go a little too far will be targeted by His Majesty."

"See, that's how it is." Chen Huai'an blew on the hot tea. "Under normal circumstances, the relationship between the emperor and the aristocratic families is very complicated, but as long as you cooperate, don't go too far, and don't act recklessly, the emperor won't have nothing better to do than target you."

"The five surnames and seven clans are different; their actions can no longer be described as merely 'jumping around happily'."

"They're courting death!"

"..."