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

"Brother, where is Minglu?"

Li Zhi's clear eyes lit up instantly, and he gripped Li Chengqian's fingers tightly, his face full of anticipation.

Li Chengqian smiled slightly.

He led the young boy, who would leave a significant mark on future history but whose fate would be drastically altered by his own time travel, straight to the globe in the center of the study, which had been worn smooth and polished by Li Shimin.

On this globe, the map of the Tang Dynasty has been painted a dazzling crimson. Meanwhile, the countries surrounding the Tang Dynasty that have been economically colonized or militarily crushed are painted a slightly lighter pink.

Only in the far west, on that fragmented land enveloped by the azure ocean, remains a glaringly gray expanse.

"Zhi Nu, look here."

Li Chengqian gently flicked the globe with his slender fingers.

The sphere rotated, traversing the vast Asian continent, crossing the desert where Persia and the Abbasid Caliphate were locked in a bloody battle, and finally came to rest in a boot-shaped region surrounded by an inland sea.

"This sea is called the Mediterranean Sea."

"North of the sea, this continent is called Europa, which is what we commonly refer to as Europe."

Li Chengqian's voice rang out in the quiet study, carrying a condescending scrutiny and a hint of mockery.

"Here once stood an empire as vast as the Han Dynasty, called Rome."

"But those are all outdated."

Li Chengqian tapped the area on the globe called "Frank".

"The people here are living in an age of ignorance and darkness."

"Many of them never bathe in their entire lives, believing that bathing will attract demons. Their king and nobles, for a tiny piece of land, wear heavy tin cans every day, carry rusty iron swords, and fight in the mud like thugs at the village entrance."

Li Chengqian lowered his head, looking at Li Zhi's eyes, which were gradually widening.

"They don't have papermaking, so they write on parchment; they don't have gunpowder, so they think lightning is the wrath of God."

"And the most ridiculous thing is..."

A sly smile crept across Li Chengqian's lips, a smile brimming with a sense of cultural superiority over the unknown civilization.

"The minds of all of them are controlled by an old man who calls himself the 'Pope.' That old man can make those kings who are fighting in groups kneel down and kiss the tips of his shoes with just a tattered scripture."

Li Zhi was stunned.

Although he was only six years old, he grew up in the highly civilized Tang Dynasty, which was even undergoing a period of industrial transformation.

flush toilets, steam trains, telegraph machines, red-coated cannons...

These things were common sense to him.

Hearing that there were actually barbarians in the world who didn't bathe and fought each other with iron swords, his naive worldview was greatly shocked.

"Big brother, they...they're so pitiful!"

Li Zhi swallowed hard, his little face filled with disbelief.

"Pitiful?"

Li Chengqian snorted coldly and reached out to ruffle Li Zhi's two high-piled buns.

"That's because they've never seen the world!"

"Zhi Nu, your elder brother just tested you. You're quick-witted, kid. You know how to use your power to intimidate others and how to use economic means to buy at rock-bottom prices."

"It's such a waste of talent to keep him in Chang'an arguing with those old fogies."

Li Chengqian suddenly pressed his hand on the map of Europe, his eyes flashing with a chilling aggression.

"Big brother has made up his mind."

"Since the people of this land are so fond of worshipping gods and listening to the Pope."

"Then I'll allocate you five of the latest all-steel armored treasure ships, along with ten thousand elite Shenji Battalion soldiers armed to the teeth and carrying breech-loading rifles."

"You bring this fleet, along with the glass, silk, and spices of the Tang Dynasty, and that authorization letter from the 'Royal Bank of the Tang Dynasty'."

Li Chengqian stared at Li Zhi and said, word by word.

"Go to this land called Europe."

"Smash their ridiculous castle with cannons! Buy all their mines and land with silver notes!"

"Go there and become a true 'god' for them!"

"Go and be the 'Pope' of those unwashed barbarians! Be their king!"

These words were like a spark thrown into a pile of dry wood.

This instantly ignited the insane ambition that belonged to the Li Tang royal family deep within Li Zhi!

Five massive steel ships that can withstand even the waves!

Ten thousand Divine Machine Battalion soldiers, each capable of hitting a target from a hundred paces away!

Armed with these weapons that allow for overwhelming attacks, how can they possibly subdue a group of barbarians who have never even seen gunpowder?

This isn't going to war; it's clearly a max-level character going to the newbie village to slaughter them!

Li Zhi's breathing became rapid.

His fair face flushed red with excitement, and his eyes were fixed on the land on the globe.

It was as if he could already see himself wearing a magnificent dragon robe, standing atop a huge church.

below.

Countless golden-haired, blue-eyed kings and knights crawled at his feet like ants, kissing his little boots made of Tang Dynasty silk with the most humble posture.

"Big brother!"

Li Zhi could no longer suppress his inner fervor. He suddenly flung his robes and knelt heavily before Li Chengqian with a thud.

He puffed out his small chest, his voice trembling slightly with excitement, yet exuding an undeniable royal aura.

"Thank you for your kindness, Brother!"

"Your Majesty, I will immediately return to pack our bags and muster our troops!"

"Your subject swears!"

Li Zhi pointed to the Mediterranean Sea on the globe and, gritting his teeth, made the grandest vow of his life.

"Within a year, I, your humble brother, will ensure that all the barbarians in that land learn to speak the official language of the Tang Dynasty and use the copper coins of the Tang Dynasty!"

"Your Majesty, I wish to take that... Mediterranean..."

"Let it become our Li family's foot bath basin!"

Looking at Li Zhi, who seemed to be on steroids and couldn't wait to sprout wings and fly to Europe to wreak havoc.

Li Chengqian smiled with satisfaction.

He reached out and pulled Li Zhi up from the ground, patting the dust off his clothes.

"It's good to have that ambition, but when you get there, use your brain more and your knife less. We, the people of the Great Tang, are going there to spread civilization, understand?"

Li Chengqian's words were grand and dignified, but the exchange of glances between the two was filled with a cunning and scheming that only they could understand.

"Your Majesty understands! War is too expensive; if it can be bought with silver notes, we will not waste a single bullet!"

Li Zhi understood immediately and obediently bowed.

"Alright, go ahead. Go talk to Fourth Brother and see if he's willing to send you a batch of the latest steam pumps from Beiting. There are probably quite a few coal mines there, don't waste them."

Li Chengqian waved his hand.

Li Zhi rushed out of the study like a gust of wind, overjoyed.

Wu Meiniang stood aside, watching the young prince's almost frantic back view, and secretly clicked her tongue in amazement.

She turned her head and looked at Li Chengqian, who had fallen back into the rocking chair and was resting with his eyes closed.

"Your Highness... are you really so comfortable letting the young prince go to such a far place alone?"

"What are you worried about?"

Li Chengqian closed his eyes, a lazy smile playing on his lips.

"That kid's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve. With those ten thousand Divine Machine Battalion members, in an era when even matches didn't exist, he could walk all over the place and no one would dare stop him."

Li Chengqian stretched comfortably, his bones making a "crack" sound.

"The third son went to America to farm, the fourth son is doing scientific research in Beiting, and now the ninth son has gone to Europe to become the Pope."

"Plus, there are those other members of the imperial family who are always causing trouble in Chang'an."

Li Chengqian suddenly opened his eyes, his deep gaze flashing with an arrogance that seemed to suggest he was in control of the world.

"I need to write a memorial to the throne."

"Find something for Father to do."

"Meiniang, grind the ink."

Wu Meiniang quickly stepped forward and skillfully ground Huizhou ink in the sandalwood inkstone.

Li Chengqian sat up, picked up a wolf-hair brush, and wrote four large characters in a flowing, elegant style on the precious Chengxintang paper.

[Global partitioning].

"Since the territory of the Tang Dynasty can no longer contain the Li family's energetic descendants."

Li Chengqian sneered, his pen moving across the paper like a dragon.

"Then I'll scatter them like beans, covering every corner of this globe!"

"Let them take with them the guns and cannons of the Tang Dynasty, the machines of the Tang Dynasty, and the silver notes of the Tang Dynasty."

"Go and paint this world entirely in the colors of the Tang Dynasty!"