The invention discloses a control method and a first central control device. The control method is characterized in that a linkage rule can be acquired; when a device state of a first intelligent household appliance is changed, a second communication channel is used to acquire the device state of the first intelligent household appliance after the change; based on the device state of the first intelligent household appliance after the change and the linkage rule, a second intelligent household appliance required to be controlled can be determined; based on the synchronization information, the shortest transmission path between the first intelligent household appliance and the second intelligent household appliance can be acquired; the shortest transmission path is the transmission path between the central control devices of the multi-stage control system; and based on the shortest transmission path, the second intelligent household appliance can be controlled.