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

The mornings at the Eastern Palace are always tranquil.

Wrapped in a soft down comforter, Li Chengqian was dreaming of fishing for tuna on a luxury yacht in the Pacific Ocean when suddenly a mournful wailing, as loud as a gong, exploded in his ears.

"Your Highness! This old minister is remonstrating to the death! This is a sign of the nation's downfall!"

Kong Yingda's dry yet penetrating voice forcefully pulled Li Chengqian back from the Pacific Ocean to the Tang Dynasty.

He opened his eyes in frustration.

Before the bed, a large group of elderly men dressed in blue official robes knelt. Leading them was none other than Kong Yingda, the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy and a 32nd-generation descendant of Confucius.

These erudite scholars, each with a bristling beard and bulging eyes, clutched several new books that reeked of pungent ink.

Those few thin sheets of paper felt as heavy as a thousand pounds in their hands.

Li Chengqian rubbed his throbbing temples and sat up from the bed.

"Old Kong."

He yawned and casually grabbed an outer robe to put on.

"This early in the morning, I thought Goguryeo had risen from the dead and returned in force. What good thing are you carrying that makes you want to drag the entire Imperial Academy here to mourn for us?"

With trembling hands, Kong Yingda held a small booklet with the title "Great Tang Pinyin Dictionary" printed on the cover high above his head.

"Your Highness! Look at the streets of Chang'an!"

The old man's eyes were red-rimmed, and his voice was as mournful as a cuckoo crying blood.

"Those peasants, butchers, and porters who were originally illiterate now each have a copy of this so-called 'dictionary' and some kind of 'beginner's physics book'!"

"Three coins a book! Three coins!"

Kong Yingda pounded his chest in anguish.

"Since ancient times, knowledge has been a vital national asset, and it cannot be easily passed on to anyone but renowned scholars and Confucian masters! Books have been so highly valued that they were said to be so expensive that they were sold out in Luoyang!"

"You use those steel monsters that spew black smoke to print 100,000 books a day. You throw the wisdom of sages on the street like rotten cabbages. This is a desecration of culture, a trampling of the millennia-old dignity of Confucianism!"

Listening to Kong Yingda's tearful accusations, Li Chengqian finally understood what these old guys were angry about.

In feudal times, knowledge was the sharpest weapon of the ruling class.

Why were the five surnames and seven clans able to control the imperial court for hundreds of years?

Because they monopolized books and educational channels. Even if a poor family went bankrupt, they still couldn't afford a handwritten copy of the Analects.

But now, Li Chengqian's steam printing press has overturned the table.

A book costs a few coins.

With the pinyin system he created, even an idiot could learn to recognize characters after a month or two of study.

This is tantamount to cutting off the lifeline of these old scholars.

"A disgrace to civility?"

Li Chengqian sneered, got off the bed, and stepped barefoot onto the thick Persian carpet.

"Old Kong, you're really putting a huge accusation on yourself."

He walked up to Kong Yingda and looked down at this group of cultural authorities from the Tang Dynasty.

"Let me ask you this: you've spent your whole life studying the classics and building dams for decades. But when the Yellow River breaches its banks, what can you do besides write a few eulogies and pray to Heaven?"

Kong Yingda was taken aback by the question and blushed as she retorted.

"Flood control is the responsibility of the Ministry of Works, while this old minister is in charge of education; how can they be confused?"

"enlightenment?"

Li Chengqian laughed out loud without any politeness.

"Those so-called learned scholars you've taught can't even solve a few simple calculus problems. My train needs tracks laid, my treasure ship needs wind speed calculations—can you help with that?"

He pointed outside the door.

"Those peasants you look down on, after reading Gu Yin's 'Elementary Physics,' can now adjust the pressure valves of steam engines on construction sites. They can use the machines of the Tang Dynasty to build guns and cannons, and beat the foreign tribes to a pulp."

Tell me, who contributed more to the Tang Dynasty?

An elderly scholar behind Kong Yingda couldn't hold back any longer and stood up to argue his case.

"Your Highness is mistaken!"

"As the sage said, 'The people can be made to follow a path, but they cannot be made to understand it.'"

"Ordinary people only need to know how to farm, pay taxes, and be law-abiding. Nowadays, everyone in the city is literate and their minds are full of all sorts of strange and ingenious tricks."

The old scholar pointed outside with great distress.

"If this continues, who will be willing to toil in the fields from dawn till dusk? Who will perform corvée labor for the imperial court?"

"Once the people become enlightened, their minds become cluttered. If someone with malicious intent were to use those so-called 'physics' to create firearms, wouldn't the world descend into chaos?!"

This is the real reason why these great scholars were panicking.

The policy of keeping the people ignorant was the optimal solution for emperors throughout history to consolidate their rule.

Keeping the people ignorant and busy prevents them from having the energy to think about how to overthrow the rulers.

Now, Li Chengqian is not only feeding them, but also forcibly cramming knowledge into their heads. In the eyes of traditional politicians, this is tantamount to planting a time bomb for themselves.

Li Chengqian listened quietly to the old scholar's words.

He wasn't furious; he just suddenly felt sorry for these people.

Their vision was confined to the small world of the imperial court and books. They simply couldn't comprehend how terrifying the margin for error an empire could tolerate when its productivity achieved a leap across dimensions.

"Old Xu."

Li Chengqian called out softly.

Xu Xiao, who had been waiting outside the door, slipped in like a ghost.

"Your Highness."

"Go and pour a cup of hot tea for the gentlemen to cool them down."

Li Chengqian walked to the desk and casually picked up a copy of the Tang Dynasty Dictionary that was not yet bound.

He turned around and flicked his wrist.

"Snapped!"

The thick dictionary slammed precisely and forcefully onto the blue brick in front of Kong Yingda.

The paper flew everywhere, making a crisp sound.

Kong Yingda was startled and looked up at Li Chengqian, a hint of fear flashing in his eyes.

"Afraid that the people will become intelligent and rebel?"

Li Chengqian rested his hands on the desk, leaning slightly forward.

His deep, abyss-like eyes emanated an extreme domineering aura that looked down upon the past and present and regarded the world as nothing.

"Old Kong, today I'll teach you what absolute self-confidence really means."

He pointed out the window to the arsenal that spewed black smoke day and night, symbolizing the highest industrial power of the Tang Dynasty.

"Do you really think that a peasant who's read a few books and knows a little bit about the basics can defeat my Divine Machine Battalion with a hoe and a kitchen knife?"

"My train can transport 30,000 Snow Dragon Riders to any corner of the Tang Dynasty in half a day."

"My red cannon can raze a city to the ground in the time it takes for an incense stick to burn."

Li Chengqian's voice grew louder and louder, striking the hearts of every great Confucian scholar like a heavy hammer.

"I am not afraid of them becoming smarter."

"I'm going to force them to become smarter!"

"The future journey of the Great Tang Dynasty lies in the vast universe. What I need are countless captains who can steer steel behemoths, engineers who can operate steam engines, and navigators who can decipher star charts!"

He coldly surveyed the Confucian scholars kneeling on the ground, speechless with shock.

"Only the weak need to use ignorance to control the people."

"And my Great Tang..."

Li Chengqian stood up straight, and an aura of imperial power emanated from him that made everyone willingly submit.

"We have enough strength to crush any clever person who tries to challenge the rules."

A deathly silence fell over the Taiji Hall.

Kong Yingda stared blankly at the dictionary on the ground. He suddenly realized that the so-called "great way of governing the country" that he had adhered to all his life was now gone.

Compared to this eight-year-old boy, they seemed so pale and powerless, so insignificant.

"Your Highness..."

Kong Yingda's voice seemed to age ten years in an instant as he shakily picked up the dictionary.

"This old minister...understands."

Li Chengqian did not feel particularly happy as he watched the group of elderly scholars leave dejectedly.

He knew that a change in mindset was not something that could be achieved overnight.

Providing education to the general public is only the first step.

He wanted to completely bind all the people of the Tang Dynasty, and even all the foreign tribes in the world, to his wildly running imperial war chariot.

We also need a powerful weapon that can completely control them mentally.

Li Chengqian sat back down in the rocking chair and beckoned to Wu Meiniang beside him with his finger.

"Meiniang, have you finished that thing I asked you to find those old craftsmen in the Ministry of Works to work on?"

Wu Zetian immediately pulled out a huge sheet of paper from her sleeve, which smelled strongly of ink.

Excitement shone in her big eyes.

"Your Highness, the test print is complete. As per your instructions, the typesetting and proofreading were completed at the fastest possible speed."

Li Chengqian took the paper.

Although the paper was rough, the writing on it was clearly visible. At the very top, four large, eye-catching characters were printed.

[Datang Daily]

"very good."

Li Chengqian looked at the provocative headline on the front page of the newspaper and smiled with satisfaction.

"Starting tomorrow."

"I want this thing to appear in every teahouse, tavern, and even outhouse in Chang'an."

"I will make sure that from now on, public opinion in the Tang Dynasty will only listen to my voice."