Zhang Fei's joking remark drew a few dry chuckles, then silence.
After all, everyone present lived in an age of chaos. Precisely because of that, they could not help but yearn for a true age of peace.
Before this, the civil and military officials each had their own explanations for how the Great Han had fallen to its current state.
Some blamed Cao Cao's ambition.
Some pointed to Dong Zhuo's tyranny.
Others traced it back to the Ten Attendants or the Yellow Turbans.
The bolder ones even laid responsibility at the feet of Emperors Huan and Ling themselves.
But now, a colossal presence had emerged before them—something called the aristocratic clans.
It had been nurtured by the Han, and in the end, it devoured the Han whole.
Above it, sons and grandsons of nobility feasted and reveled in towering halls.
Below it, the common people—bones picked clean—sank into misery and wailing.
Liu Bei could not help asking quietly,
"If we, as shown on the light screen, had not failed… would this poison that lingered for centuries still have come to pass?"
Zhuge Liang wanted to nod.
But in the end, he shook his head.
Emperor Guangwu of the Later Han had certainly understood—and personally suffered—the harm caused by the great clans. Otherwise, there would have been no abolishing of empresses, deposing of crown princes, and so many painful compromises. From Guangwu's perspective, he had already done the best he could.
Liu Bei, however, showed no sign of discouragement. He looked at the glowing screen, confidence clear in his eyes.
"I don't have Kongming's foresight to worry about centuries hence. But if I can defeat the Cao bandit, then no matter what, this world will surely be better than that of Wei and Jin."
Zhuge Liang smiled and clasped his hands.
"Liang is willing to follow my lord—pacify the realm, restrain the powerful, and enlighten the people, so this poison will not linger for a hundred years."
Pang Tong, feeling a twinge of envy, stepped forward as well.
"Tong is willing to follow my lord—offering strategies and wisdom, exterminating the rats of Jiangdong, and punishing the traitors who usurped the Han!"
Zhang Fei scratched his head, struggled for a moment, then gave up.
"Big brother… same here!"
Li Shimin followed the narrative on the light screen back to its source, then fell silent.
"So… it all comes down to examinations without anonymity?"
Without anonymity, practices like circulation of essays flourished. And when it came to connections and resources, impoverished scholars were never a match for the great clans.
The aristocratic families dragged the civil service examination—praised so highly by later generations—into a battlefield they knew well, and utterly crushed the commoners who stood against them.
They helped bring about the collapse of the Tang.
And when the Tang finally fell, it buried them as well.
What troubled Li Shimin most was the factionalism born of these practices.
"So this is the relationship of 'patron' and 'disciple.'"
He savored the words, then sneered.
"From powerful families, to noble houses, to aristocratic clans—do they mean to rule the realm alongside me?"
"If they do not die, my heart will never be at peace!"
Empress Zhangsun gently patted the back of Li Shimin's hand, urging him not to get too worked up—lest his old headaches flare up again.
Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui were utterly unsurprised. To them, the emperor had already been through a storm of emotional highs and lows today. If something landed in his palm now, he would not hesitate to crush it.
Besides, the light screen had already said this was the period when the great clans were weakening—a perfect time to strike.
Still…
The two exchanged a quiet glance.
Among the Five Clans and Seven Great Houses… wasn't the Longxi Li one of them?
Wei Zheng, on the other hand, felt a chill like icy wind rushing straight through him. He stood frozen in place.
Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui stepped forward together.
Both were senior ministers, perfectly in sync without words. With the emperor speaking this plainly, anonymizing the examinations was already a done deal.
They volunteered to draft the new examination regulations themselves.
Li Shiji and Yuchi Jingde also declared that if the great clans dared to stir up trouble, they would gladly lead troops to suppress them.
Li Shimin waved a hand, unconcerned.
Let them cause trouble. That would only make things easier.
Afterward, he mocked his own descendant once more.
"If Li Linfu truly believed those words, then he was a fool."
"If he saw through the deception but did nothing, then he was a mediocre ruler!"
There was an even worse possibility—one Li Shimin did not voice:
that the emperor saw the deception, yet dared not act because the chancellor's power was too great.
That thought only darkened his mood further. The history of the late Tang felt like a tightening rope, binding him hand and foot.
When the name Huang Chao finally appeared on the screen, Li Shimin's expression turned icy.
The Jin aristocracy committed crimes and birthed the War of the Eight Princes and the Disaster of Yongjia.
The Tang aristocracy committed crimes—and birthed Huang Chao, who wiped them out.
Had they learned nothing at all?
The light screen continued:
[ Lightscreen]
[The aristocratic clans of the Tang gradually adapted to the examination system. In turn, the examinations completed their final transformation of the clans.
They developed a system centered on one key idea: the capital is supreme.
Whether forming factions, circulating essays, fixing examination outcomes, or simply sitting for the exams themselves—living in the capital was always more convenient than remaining in the provinces.
Through this process, Tang aristocrats developed three defining traits: centralization, urbanization, and demilitarization.
The great clans of the Han and Jin had been "dual households"—rural estates generated wealth, while residences in the capital converted that wealth into power. Their true strength lay in land, tenant farmers, retainers, and private troops.
But to adapt to the examinations, Tang aristocrats gradually abandoned their ancestral homelands and clustered along the Chang'an–Luoyang corridor.
After succeeding in the examinations, they transitioned from local powerholders into central bureaucrats.
At the same time, the long-standing practice of officials not governing their home regions weakened their control over rural estates. As land systems collapsed and volunteer armies rose, freed servants found better options than serving declining estates. The clans' private forces shrank even further.
Thus, when Huang Chao entered Chang'an, he found it shockingly easy to wipe out the aristocracy in one sweep.
Their demilitarization left them with virtually no ability to resist.
In the end, the lesson was simple: after centuries, the powerful had not changed at all.
From Liu Yuan to Shi Le, from Liu Yu to Hou Jing, from Huang Chao to Zhu Wen—these grave-diggers were all forced into existence by the elite themselves.
In that sense, the aristocracy should almost thank Huang Chao—for breaking this grotesque cycle at last.
After all—
When Huang Chao comes, what does the common man fear?
High and low alike end up in the same pot.]