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

The sunlight shone on the white jade steps of Taiji Palace, making it somewhat dazzling.

Li Chengqian stood up, his hands, which had been tightly wrapped around Li Shimin's legs, now loosened. He brushed the dust off his sleeves, and the grievance and panic on his face vanished as if by magic.

He slightly raised his chin, and his clear eyes now revealed a disdain that was even more arrogant than Li Shimin's.

"Father, so you, the mighty Heavenly Khan, think you're invincible just because you've conquered a mere part of Asia?"

Li Chengqian sneered, his tone full of mockery.

"So you're already satisfied and want to go to Luoyang to hold your grandson? Your eyelids are even shallower than Granny Wang who sells tofu at the village entrance."

This ruthless and barbed rebuke instantly ignited Li Shimin's already restless imperial pride.

"Nonsense!"

Li Shimin suddenly jumped up, pointed at Li Chengqian's nose, and almost spat in his face.

"I joined the army at the age of fifteen, and have never been defeated in my lifetime of battles! Every inch of this vast Tang Dynasty was won by my soldiers with sword and spear!"

"So what if they're the Turks? So what if they're Goguryeo? Aren't they all kneeling at my feet, acknowledging my subservience and paying tribute?"

He waved his arms angrily, as if he had returned to those days of war and conquest.

"It's not that I don't want to fight! It's that this world is too small! There isn't even a single opponent around who can withstand a single blow from me. Even if I wanted to fight, what would I use? To steal leaves from those uncivilized savages?!"

Li Chengqian secretly chuckled as he watched his father's flushed face as he desperately tried to prove he could still fight.

The fish has taken the bait.

For an emperor with an extreme obsession with collecting and a thirst for conquest, the greatest fear is not a powerful enemy, but the lack of a goal. As long as you paint a sufficiently large and exciting pie in the sky, he can push the Tang Dynasty chariot to the very end of the world.

"Is the world too small?"

Li Chengqian crossed his arms and circled around Li Shimin, his eyes filled with deep mockery.

"Father, do you seem to have some absurd misunderstanding about the word 'all under heaven'?"

He stopped, turned to look at the palace gate in the distance, and snapped his fingers.

"Old Xu!"

"Go to the secret chamber in the East Palace and bring me the 'big sphere' that I drew myself a few days ago."

Li Chengqian's voice became mysterious and deep, carrying an irresistible allure.

"Today, I must give my father, the emperor, and all the other officials a good glimpse into the world."

The ministers standing below the steps looked at each other in bewilderment.

Changsun Wuji and Fang Xuanling exchanged a quick glance, both seeing a hint of surprise and uncertainty in each other's eyes.

What kind of shocking black technology will His Highness the Crown Prince come up with this time?

Ever since they witnessed the red-coated cannons, steam trains, and even the electric lights that could turn night into day, the awe and reverence that the entire court held for this eight-year-old crown prince had reached a mythical level. Now, if Li Chengqian said he could pluck the moon from the sky, probably some people would believe him.

Not long after.

A series of heavy, labored footsteps came from the edge of the square.

There stood Xu Xiao, the Grand Commander of the Eastern Palace Guard, a one-eyed old killer who was known for his ruthless killings and immense strength.

His face was flushed, and he was struggling to hold a huge object that was completely covered by a black cloth in his hands as he walked step by step up the white jade steps.

The thing looked round and plump, about half a person's height, and it was made of some unknown material. It weighed down Xu Xiao so much that his waist bent slightly.

"What is this?"

Li Shimin stared suspiciously at the round ball covered by a black cloth.

He had assumed it was some new type of firearm, or a machine that could spew fire and smoke. But this thing had no gears, no roaring boiler, and not even a trace of gunpowder.

"Your Highness, the items have been retrieved."

Xu Xiao carefully placed the heavy sphere between Li Chengqian and Li Shimin, and took a deep breath.

Li Chengqian stepped forward and grasped a corner of the black cloth.

He didn't rush to reveal the answer, but looked at Li Shimin, a meaningful smile curving his lips.

"Father, you just said that the Tang Dynasty's territory is now invincible, and there is nowhere left to fight."

"Then guess how much space do you think your so-called 'world' would occupy on this sphere?"

Li Shimin frowned, a sudden sense of foreboding rising in his heart.

How vast was the territory of the Tang Dynasty? It stretched from Liaodong in the east to the Protectorate of the Western Regions in the west, from Lingnan in the south to the Gobi Desert in the north. In Li Shimin's mind, the Tang Dynasty was the center of the world, occupying seven or eight tenths of the land.

"Stop with the pretense! My Great Tang Dynasty has a vast territory, naturally covering most of the world!" Li Shimin said, forcing a smile.

"Most of it?"

Li Chengqian chuckled lightly, his tone full of undisguised mockery.

"Splash—!"

He suddenly ripped off the black cloth.

A massive sphere, forged from the finest cast iron and covered with exquisite tanned sheepskin, was displayed prominently before the Tang emperor and his ministers.

It was a globe.

A "world map" of this era, meticulously crafted by top Mohist artisans under the personal guidance of Li Chengqian, based on system data, and taking half a month to complete.

The plaza of the Taiji Hall fell into a deathly silence.

Whether it was Li Shimin or the entire court of officials, they all stared blankly at the colorful sphere as if they had been frozen in place.

"What... what kind of strange-looking geomantic map is this?"

Wei Zheng stared wide-eyed, trying hard to find familiar cities and mountains in the map.

"Why...why is the earth round?!"

Fang Xuanling was so shocked that he took half a step back, which completely overturned the ancient people's traditional worldview of "a round heaven and a square earth".

Li Chengqian ignored their shock.

He reached out and gently turned the brass axis of the globe.

"Squeak—"

The enormous sphere began to slowly rotate, and vast expanses of blue ocean and colorful landmasses flashed alternately before everyone's eyes.

"Father, look!"

Li Chengqian pressed down on the spinning globe and pointed to a section painted a striking red.

"This is the Tang Dynasty that you are so proud of, invincible under heaven."

Li Shimin looked in the direction his son was pointing.

Instantly, intense horror and disbelief surged in those deep dragon eyes.

On the surface of that enormous sphere.

That red area, although it looks quite large, even spans a large portion of the land.

However, compared to the vast, unknown continents surrounding it, painted in other colors, and compared to the azure ocean that covers almost the entire surface of the sphere...

Datang.

This was a super empire that he had always believed to control most of the world.

On this sphere, it appears so... isolated in a corner.

It's not even a third of the area!

"This...this is impossible!"

Li Shimin lunged forward, gripping the edge of the globe tightly with both hands. His breathing became rapid, and his face flushed red, as if his faith had been subjected to some extreme desecration.

"What are those gray areas out there?! Where did those landmasses, which are much larger than the Tang Dynasty, come from?!"

His voice trembled as he pointed to the vast continents on the globe, labeled "America" ​​and "Africa".

It wasn't just him.

Changsun Wuji, Cheng Yaojin, and others also gathered around. Their minds were buzzing as they looked at the completely unfamiliar coastline and mountains.

"That is the real world, Father."

Seeing his father's utterly shattered worldview, Li Chengqian finally felt relieved.

He knew that this drastic measure had completely shattered the shackles of Li Shimin's ambition, which had been bound by the phrase "peace throughout the land."

"Do you think that by conquering the Western Regions and Goguryeo, you've reached the end of the world?"

Li Chengqian's finger slid lightly across the globe, across the turbulent Pacific Ocean, and finally stopped forcefully on a vast continent that resembled two huge triangles connected together.

He raised his head, meeting Li Shimin's burning, even somewhat crazed, gaze.

"Father, look here."

"This place is called Indion, or America."

"Beneath this land lies more gold than all the soil of the Tang Dynasty combined. The natives here have never even seen iron tools; they even hunt in the jungle with wooden spears."

Li Chengqian's voice was like the whisper of a demon, fatally enticing the deepest desire for conquest within the Tang emperor on this early autumn morning.

"Moreover, there are miraculous crops here that can increase the population of the Tang Dynasty tenfold."

"If you retire now, you can go to Luoyang and be a grandson."

"Then this new world, overflowing with gold and readily available, will probably end up benefiting someone else."

Li Chengqian looked at Li Shimin's chest, which was beginning to heave rapidly, and a sly smile crept onto his lips.

"Father, do you still want to go to Luoyang to take care of the children?"