Deposed? I couldn't be happier! I wouldn't even be a dog to the crown prince.

Once the gears of the Tang Dynasty start turning, there is no possibility of them stopping.

A year has passed since that Mid-Autumn Festival night when envoys from all nations knelt and wept.

During that year, the people of Chang'an seemed to have collectively experienced an extremely unreal dream, yet they truly woke up in paradise.

Early in the morning, Old Man Wang, who lives in the southern part of Chang'an City, opened his door.

Unlike previous winters when he would shiver in the cold wind wearing a worn-out, drafty linen coat, he comfortably tightened his thick, soft cotton overcoat, which only cost twenty coins.

"Honey, turn the stove down a bit. The new biogas pipe is burning too fast. Don't let it boil the mutton soup we made last night dry."

Old Wang shouted into the house.

"Okay! You'd better hurry up and get to work, don't miss that 'bus'!"

Old Wang happily picked up a cloth bag containing flatbread and dried meat and walked out of the alley.

At the end of a wide, flat cement street.

An enormous wooden wagon, with iron wheels underneath, pulled by two tall horses, and emitting faint white steam from its roof, slowly came to a stop at a roadside bus stop, making a crisp clanging sound.

This is a "horse-drawn tram" created by the Donggong Chamber of Commerce.

Although electricity cannot currently power such a massive vehicle, Li Chengqian utilized railway tracks to greatly reduce friction, allowing two horses to easily pull hundreds of people.

"Ding-dong!"

Old Wang skillfully pulled a shiny copper coin from his pocket and tossed it into the iron box next to the car door.

He found a seat by the window and sat down.

Looking at the street scene rushing past the car window, Old Wang sighed contentedly.

In the past, it would take him more than an hour to walk to work in the north of the city, leaving him exhausted. Now, riding this thing, he can get there in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, and it only costs one coin!

In this day and age, this is a travel experience on a completely different level.

Moreover, it's not just travel that's being downgraded.

When he finished work and went home in the evening, Old Wang no longer needed to fumble in the dark to light that pungent, cheap oil lamp like before.

His son works in the Ministry of Works, and as a perk, his family had already had electricity installed in advance.

With just a flick of the finger, you can flip that magical switch on the wall.

With a "snap".

The entire room was instantly illuminated as if it were daytime.

Then, after a satisfying and thorough rest on that pristine white ceramic toilet, you pull the cord and are clean and tidy.

Such days are unbearable for ordinary people.

Two years ago, even the current Grand Duke or Prime Minister wouldn't have dared to do this in their wildest dreams!

The extreme abundance of material goods brought about a complete upheaval in the lifestyle of the Tang Dynasty people.

Because the Tang Dynasty's ocean-going fleet and land army were frantically harvesting resources abroad. Cattle and sheep from the Western Regions, ginseng from Goguryeo, and silver from Japan poured into Chang'an like a flood bursting its banks.

Meat is now cheaper than vegetables in Chang'an.

Meat was a staple at every meal in ordinary households. Spices that were once sold at exorbitant prices by Roman and Persian merchants were now casually tossed into stews by Tang Dynasty housewives without a second thought.

In stark contrast were the vassal states surrounding the Tang Dynasty.

Geumseong, the capital of Silla.

King Kim Deok-man of Silla sat in the empty palace, looking at a bowl of thin, watery rice porridge in front of him, feeling like crying but unable to shed a tear.

"Your Majesty, there is not a single tael of silver left in the national treasury."

The old prime minister knelt on the ground, his face pale and emaciated from hunger, tears streaming down his face.

"Our raw silk and linen are simply unsellable. The cloth woven by the machines of the Tang Dynasty is not only better than ours, but it's also only half the price!"

"Now all the young and middle-aged men in the country are working as long-term laborers in the cotton fields of Tang Dynasty merchants, exchanging those pitiful vouchers for food."

"Our Silla... is now a dead name only!"

Kindeman gave a bitter laugh and waved his hand weakly.

rebel?

What can they use to rebel?

Not to mention the cannons of the Tang Dynasty that could spew thunder from the sky.

Even the people of Silla now regard the Tang Dynasty as their own father. If the Tang Dynasty were to cut off the supply of food and salt, the starving people of Silla would be able to raze the royal palace to the ground without the Tang Dynasty even needing to send troops.

This is the horror of economic colonialism.

They kill without drawing blood, and they even drain you of the strength to resist.

And in the heart of the Tang Dynasty, within the Eastern Palace.

The abundance of material goods did not stop Li Chengqian from his restless and ambitious pace.

When granaries are full, people know etiquette; when food and clothing are plentiful, people know honor and shame.

Li Chengqian knew that once the people were fed and clothed, if they weren't given something to do on a spiritual level, it would create a lot of unnecessary trouble.

Therefore, he turned his attention to education.

"As always, if you want to turn cattle and horses into obedient engineers, you have to teach them to read first."

Li Chengqian lay in a rocking chair, sipping chilled plum juice, while giving new instructions to Wu Meiniang beside him.

"Use our newly developed steam printing press."

"Print out all those books, like the 'Thousand Character Classic,' 'Elementary Arithmetic,' and 'Basic Physics,' for me!"

"Keep costs to a minimum, even if it means losing money, so that every butcher and rickshaw puller in Chang'an has a copy!"

As Wu Zetian listened to this extremely radical universal education plan, her large eyes shone with admiration.

This is a groundbreaking move to break the centuries-old absolute monopoly of knowledge held by powerful families!

Less than half a month.

The atmosphere in the streets and alleys of Chang'an suddenly changed.

If you buy a meat pie in the West Market, you can see that butcher with a face full of scars, chopping meat while intently flipping through a book called "Lever Principle and Pulley System Application".

When you go to a teahouse, the burly men next to you, who are picking their toes, are no longer discussing which brothel has the prettiest girls, but rather "ten ways to improve the sealing of steam engine cylinders".

This fervent atmosphere of nationwide literacy campaigns and intense competition in science and engineering plunged the common people of the Tang Dynasty into an unprecedented intellectual awakening.

however.

This extremely harmonious and prosperous scene deeply stung the nerves of another group of people in the court.

"Your Highness! You mustn't!"

That morning, Li Chengqian was still asleep.

The gates of the East Palace were almost broken down by a group of white-haired old men.

Kong Yingda, the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, led more than a dozen of the most outstanding Confucian scholars of the Tang Dynasty, and rushed to Li Chengqian's bedside in extreme anger and even despair.

Kong Yingda held up an extremely cheap, poorly printed copy of the "Great Tang Pinyin Dictionary," his beard trembling violently.

"Your Highness! You are destroying the foundation of Confucianism that has stood for thousands of years!"