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

This hand is too small.

So small that it could barely grasp a corner of Li Chengqian's white fox fur coat.

Li Chengqian lowered his head and looked at Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Zhi, who was described in history as "weak and gentle" but secretly pushed the Tang Dynasty to its peak.

At this time, Li Zhi was just a child who had just lost his baby teeth.

He wore an exquisite small brocade robe, and his hair was styled in two high buns. His fair and delicate face, which looked as if you could pinch water out of it, revealed a stubbornness that was far beyond his years.

"You want to go too?"

Li Chengqian put down the plum juice in his hand and looked at the little radish with great interest.

"Third Brother Li Ke went to Dongsheng Prefecture to reclaim wasteland and plant potatoes. He had to compete with the savages for territory."

"Fourth Brother Li Tai went to Beiting to do hard labor. He had to repair railways and tinker with generators every day in the freezing cold."

Li Chengqian reached out and pinched Li Zhi's chubby cheeks, his tone teasing.

"With your small frame, what can you do there? Show those barbarians how to breastfeed?"

"Big brother!"

Li Zhi felt a little pain from being pinched, but stubbornly didn't pull away. His face flushed red, and he retorted in a childish but unusually firm tone.

"Third and fourth brothers can share the burdens of eldest brother, and so can Zhinu!"

"I know I'm young and not as strong as my older brothers. But I don't want to stay in Chang'an and be a useless prince who only knows how to walk his birds and fight crickets."

He loosened Li Chengqian's robe, took a step back solemnly, and bowed with his hands clasped.

"I also want to defend a piece of territory for the Tang Dynasty!"

These words, coming from a child, made Li Chengqian look at him with new respect.

As expected of Li Shimin's son, his deep-seated desire for power and to achieve great deeds cannot be hidden.

In the original history, Li Zhi was placed on the throne by Changsun Wuji because his two elder brothers failed in their struggle for succession. But now, thanks to the existence of Li Chengqian, this "superpowered" figure, the position of Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty is as secure as Mount Tai. Those princes who should have been fighting tooth and nail in the Taiji Palace have all been lured to various parts of the world by him with the promise of "global fiefdoms".

This is absolutely the best outcome for the internal stability of the Tang Dynasty.

"They certainly have high aspirations."

Li Chengqian lay back down in the rocking chair, his gaze becoming somewhat profound.

"However, I don't give away fiefdoms for free."

"Since you want to go out, then I'll test you."

Li Chengqian casually pulled out a copy of the "Top Secret Internal Reference of the Protectorate of the Western Regions" that had been delivered a few days ago from the stone table next to him and threw it in front of Li Zhi.

"Look at this. Persia was utterly defeated by the Arabs, and that Roman envoy named Marcellus was crying and begging me to send troops every day at the Court of State Ceremonies."

"If I were to entrust this territory to you, how do you think the Tang Dynasty should handle the mess left by these three families?"

This is way beyond the curriculum for a five or six-year-old child.

Even those prime ministers who had spent half their lives navigating the complexities of geopolitics had to carefully deduce the intricacies of the situation.

Even Wu Meiniang, standing to the side, couldn't help but frown slightly, feeling that His Highness was deliberately making things difficult for the young prince.

However, Li Zhi did not back down in the slightest.

He struggled to lift the file, which was longer than his arm, and began to read it word by word.

At first, he frowned.

But gradually, a startlingly wise light began to shine in those clear, large eyes.

After a while.

Li Zhi put down the scroll, raised his head, and his childish voice rang out in the back garden, yet it was resounding.

"Brother, I think that our Tang Dynasty shouldn't help any of them."

A hint of surprise flashed in Li Chengqian's eyes. "Oh? Tell me your reasons."

"Although the Arabs are fierce, they are currently on a roll. If we send troops directly, although we can win, it will be a waste of resources and manpower, which is unwise."

Li Zhi, mimicking an adult, put his hands behind his back and analyzed the situation in a childish voice.

"The Persians have already been crippled; they're hopeless. Helping them would be a bottomless pit."

"As for Rome... they just want to use our Tang Dynasty as a shield, to use our sword to kill the Arabs."

Li Zhi walked up to Li Chengqian and confidently extended three short, chubby fingers.

"So, Zhinu thinks..."

"Our Great Tang should stand by and watch, letting these three families fight like dogs in the west, the more brutal the better!"

"When they are exhausted from fighting and their treasury is empty."

A cunning smile, almost identical to that of Li Chengqian, suddenly appeared on Li Zhi's delicately sculpted face.

"Our Great Tang Dynasty will once again appear as a 'savior'."

"We won't use the red-clothed cannons, we'll just use the 'vouchers' you invented, brother, and cheap cotton cloth and iron pots."

"Let's go straight for their bottom line and buy up all their mineral resources, ports, and even their people at bargain prices!"

"Let them serve our Tang Dynasty like cattle and horses for generations to come, and still be grateful to us!"

silence.

A deathly silence fell over the back garden of the Eastern Palace.

Wu Meiniang nearly dropped the plate she was holding. She stared incredulously at the little boy who was barely taller than her shoulder.

How could a child come up with such a treacherous and shameless economic colonial tactic?!

Li Chengqian was stunned for a full three seconds.

Then, he slapped his thigh and burst into unrestrained laughter.

"Hahaha! Good! What a dog-eat-dog fight!"

Li Chengqian looked at Li Zhi with satisfaction.

No wonder he's destined to be a cunning emperor who can completely suppress Wu Zetian. His political acumen and talent for economic warfare make him a born capitalist!

It would be a loss for all of humanity if this kid didn't go and wreak havoc on Europe!

"Good lad, I knew I hadn't misjudged you."

Li Chengqian stood up and affectionately ruffled Li Zhi's two high-piled hair buns.

"Since you have this scheming mind and this ambition."

"Then today, I'll show you the right path."

Li Chengqian took Li Zhi's soft little hand and led him into the study.

In the very center of the study stood the enormous globe, which had been worn smooth and polished by Li Shimin.

Li Chengqian spun the globe, his finger passing over the territories of Persia and the Abbasid Caliphate, finally landing heavily on a broken continent surrounded by the ocean.

"Zhi Nu, look here."

Li Chengqian's voice became deep and seductive.

"This place is called Europe. At this time, the people here are still living in the dark and ignorant Middle Ages."

"In many of their countries, people don't even have the habit of taking a bath. For a few barren pieces of land and their beliefs, they fight in the mud every day with rusty iron swords."

"They didn't know what gunpowder was, let alone had ever seen a steam engine."

Li Chengqian squatted down and looked directly into Li Zhi's eyes, which were gleaming with ambition.

"Brother, I'm giving you ten thousand Shenji Battalion soldiers equipped with breech-loading rifles."

"I'll give you five more Ming Dynasty treasure ships fully loaded with industrial products from the Tang Dynasty."

"Go to this land."

A sneer of arrogance curled at the corner of Li Chengqian's mouth.

"Go and teach them what true civilization is, what true divinity is."

"How about you become their... 'Pope'?"

Upon hearing this description, Li Zhi's breathing instantly became rapid.

Although he was still young, he knew that his older brother was giving him a new world with infinite possibilities.

"Big brother!"

Li Zhi suddenly knelt on the ground, his small body standing straight, his voice loud and clear.

"Your subject obeys!"

"Your Majesty, I will surely turn that land called Europe into the most obedient sheepfold of the Tang Dynasty! And turn that Mediterranean into the Li family's foot bath!"

Seeing Li Zhi's energetic appearance, Li Chengqian nodded with satisfaction.

Get it done.

They fooled another one.

These princes of the Tang Dynasty are all incredibly useful.

Scatter them all over the world, let them expand their territories and frantically accumulate political achievements. And I, I only need to sit in a rocking chair in Chang'an, comfortably collecting taxes from all over the world.

This is the true enjoyment of an emperor.

Get up.

Li Chengqian helped Li Zhi up.

"Tomorrow I will go and talk to my father, and ask him to bestow upon you the title of 'King of Europe'."

"When you get there, remember to build a few more ports, so that if your brother wants to go on vacation, he'll have a place to stay."

Li Zhi nodded emphatically, his youthful face filled with anticipation for the future.

He seemed to already see himself wearing a dragon robe, standing on European soil, receiving the worship of all nations.

"Don't worry, brother, Zhinu will definitely not bring shame to the Tang Dynasty!"

After seeing off the excited Li Zhi, Li Chengqian stretched and lay back down in the rocking chair.

"Meiniang, grind the ink."

Li Chengqian closed his eyes and casually gave the order.

"I need to write a memorial to the throne to give my father something to do."

Wu Meiniang obediently walked to the desk, and while grinding ink, she asked curiously:

"Your Highness, what kind of memorial do you intend to write?"

A wicked smile crept across Li Chengqian's lips.

"Draft a... 'Great Tang Global Feudal Plan'."

"I will scatter all those royal descendants of the Li family who are causing trouble in Chang'an every day to every corner of this globe!"