After the remonstrants finished reading the Donglin history that Lin Chen had fabricated, they gathered together just as Lin Chen had expected, except for Wei Zheng!
In ancient times, no matter how talented one was, if they were not born into a noble family, they would be looked down upon by others. Wei Zheng was obviously not born into a noble family.
It was because he became Li Jiancheng's customer that he had everything he had after that. He was nothing.
Therefore, Wei Zheng had already slept soundly. It was unknown if he was broad-minded or if he felt something.
As for the other five families and seven Wangs, they knew each other very well. It was unknown how they communicated in private, so at about 9:30, when the normal ancient people were already asleep, they all gathered in Cui Siwen's room.
Cui Siwen, as the representative of the Cui family, was naturally the leader.
The reason why he didn't sit at the front of the meeting room was purely because he didn't understand the situation and didn't want to attract so much attention. In the end, he couldn't help but jump out.
The Five Surnames and Seven Wangs were only the largest aristocratic families in the Tang Empire, but that didn't mean that there weren't other powerful aristocratic families in the Tang Empire. It was just that their heritage wasn't as deep as the Five Surnames and Seven Wangs.
Therefore, the twelve remonstrants who came this time, other than Wei Zheng, represented twelve families, not seven.
Li Shiming had intentionally sent the representatives of the twelve families.
After the twelve of them knelt on the woolen blanket in Cui Siwen's room according to the custom of the Great Tang, they looked at each other in silence. No one wanted to speak first.
Although everyone had their own plans, they were not willing to be the one to stand out.
"Ahem…"
After a long time, Cui Siwen coughed and said,""My fellow colleagues, what do you think of Donglin…the Republic?”
"Immortal Nation!"
"It's not polite!"
"We are not on the same path!"
"Hard to say…"
“……”
Cui Siwen stared at them one by one. After being stared at by Cui Siwen, everyone could only say a short sentence.
Cui Siwen was furious. What nonsense were these guys talking about?
Only the words 'not on the same path', had some practical content.
"Everyone, since you are willing to come to my room, you know what you are thinking!
I, Cui Siwen, will tell you the truth. If I were a commoner, I would also like Donglin!
However, we are not!" Cui Siwen concluded with a solemn expression.
On the other side, Lin Chen rubbed his chin and nodded when he heard Cui Siwen's words.
Lin Chen thought about it. He didn't have any grudges against the aristocratic families, but he wanted to kill them.
Rather than saying that he was influenced by history, it was better to say that he was different from their views on how to conduct themselves.
And the aristocratic families probably had the same mentality towards him!
Hearing Cui Siwen's words, the other eleven nodded slightly, their expressions solemn.
" Li Zewu, your Longxi Li Family…" Cui Siwen said in a completely different tone.
Li Zewu's expression changed slightly when he was called out. He said indifferently,"There are only thousand-year-old aristocratic families, not thousand-year-old dynasties!”
Li Zewu's words clearly indicated that he and Li Shiming were not on the same side.
In fact, that was indeed the case!
Back when Li Yuan raised his army, the Li Clan of Longxi had helped him a lot. However, after Li Yuan became the Emperor, he treated the Li Clan fairly. Although it was not very fair, he still treated them as close relatives. In the Imperial Family, there were many kings who did nothing.
However, when it came to Li Shiming, the Li Consortium naturally wouldn't help him because he had been against Li Yuan.
Li Shimin had pulled a bunch of 'lowlifes' like Cheng Yaojin from the Wagang Stronghold to start a rebellion. After winning, he had reduced the Li Consortium's rewards by quite a bit. It seemed like he wanted to separate the Imperial Family from the Li Consortium, which naturally made the Li Consortium very unhappy.
Cui Siwen nodded and continued," My five surnames and seven Wangs control almost all the resources in the world, be it salt, iron, grain, silver, copper, or cloth!
Even the most important cultural heritage is in the hands of our aristocratic families. Of course, the greatest cultural heritage is the Kong family!
However, the Kong family is too proud and isn't on our side.
Everyone had seen the current situation in Donglin Country.
Once they are on Li Shi Min's side, what else can we control?”
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