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

Taiji Palace, Imperial Study.

This palace, which once symbolized the highest classical power of the Tang Dynasty, has long since been completely rewritten by the tide of industry and information technology.

The once ornate mahogany pillars are now wrapped with thick, black insulated cables. In the corner where a bronze incense burner once stood, four enormous central servers, each as tall as a person, now rise to the floor. The cooling fans hum softly, and the eerie blue indicator lights flash alternately in the shadows, making them resemble colossal steel beasts frantically consuming data.

In the center of the room, Li Shimin sat behind a large pure steel desk crafted by top artisans.

Decades have passed, but the merciless passage of time hasn't shaving a single hair off this man. He still maintains the peak physique of someone in their early twenties, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, and his bulging muscles make his dark gold modern fitted dragon robe stand out perfectly.

But if you look closely into his eyes, you can catch a glimpse of the deep despair of a "century-old working class" deep within those clear pupils.

"Crackling and popping—"

Li Shimin's once powerful hands, capable of drawing a bow with a draw weight of three stones, were now frantically typing on a row of specially made mechanical keyboards at a dazzling speed.

"Those idiots in the South American Governor's Office! Why is the purchase price of rubber raw materials three percent higher than last month? Do they think the Pacific Ocean is too wide for my intercontinental missiles to reach?"

While cursing and swearing, Li Shimin pressed the Enter key heavily, sending an electronic version of the memorial annotated "Nonsense, rewrite immediately" back through the internal network.

The person standing to the side serving him was no longer the Wang De who always hunched over back back, but Wang De's great-grandson, Little Wang Gonggong.

Holding a stack of paper reports that had just come out of the laser printer and still smelled of warm ink, Eunuch Wang nervously approached the imperial desk.

"Your Majesty, this is the preliminary analysis map of global meteorological satellites for this period, just sent by the Meteorological Agency. Also, there's the budget request for the expansion of the heavy factory from Prince Li Tai in North America, and the train scheduling plan for the Trans-Siberian Railway. Please take a look..."

"What are you looking at! Just leave it there!"

Li Shimin abruptly pushed aside the keyboard in front of him, and angrily dug his hands into his thick, black hair, tearing at it forcefully.

He looked at the mountain of printed papers on his desk, then looked up at the three huge LCD screens in front of him, where the global stock market index, port throughput, and the messy emails from various provinces were scrolling and jumping around.

At that moment, the psychological defenses of the Great Tang Khan finally cracked with a dangerous sound.

"When will this ever end?!"

Li Shimin suddenly stood up, kicked over the mahogany armchair next to him, and let out a deafening wail of despair.

The roar pierced through the thickened soundproof glass of the Imperial Study, echoing for a long time in the square above the Taiji Palace. The Imperial Guards, who had just changed shifts, shuddered, nearly accidentally discharging their semi-automatic rifles.

"Your Majesty, please calm down! Your Majesty, please take care of your health!" The eunuch Wang was so frightened that he knelt down on the ground with a thud and skillfully picked up the documents from the ground.

"Take care of your health? I'm strong enough to kill three tigers at Mount Li! What's there to take care of!"

Li Shimin was like a ferocious beast trapped in an iron cage, pacing back and forth in the spacious imperial study, his leather boots clattering on the floor.

"The Tang Dynasty is too big! You bunch of brats have made it so big that I have to manage everything in every corner of the earth!"

He slammed his hand on the steel desk, making the coffee cup on it jump.

"The barbarians in Europe are protesting long working hours, unions in North America are demanding higher wages, and the drilling platform in the Middle Eastern provinces is leaking oil and they're asking me for funding. Even at the newly conquered lunar base in Tranquility, those astronauts are complaining that there's no braised pork in their food!"

He pointed at the constantly flickering screens, his fingers trembling.

"Am I the only one doing all the work in the world? Where is my cabinet? Where is my prime minister?"

The eunuch, Little Wang, knelt on the ground, swallowed hard, and whispered a reminder.

"Your Majesty, Chancellor Fang and the others retired honorably thirty years ago. Now, the cabinet is filled with their great-grandchildren. You complained that they were too slow and that they hadn't experienced the harsh realities of the Zhenguan era, so you sent them all to work on the Sahara Canal half a year ago."

Li Shimin was speechless for a moment, his handsome face turning red.

He walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, braced his hands on the bulletproof glass, and gasped for breath.

Outside the window, the sky over Chang'an was a clear, deep blue. A four-engine wide-body airliner, painted with a black and gold dragon flag, gracefully traversed the sky, leaving a long white contrail, preparing to land at the international airport outside the city.

Looking at the passenger plane that symbolized the ultimate prosperity and technology of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin's eyes suddenly reddened.

That was a feeling of being wronged, a genuine feeling of being wronged.

"Back when I was conquering the world, all I wanted was to be a wise ruler, to ensure that the people had enough to eat and a roof over their heads to shelter them from the wind and rain."

Li Shimin's voice had a strong nasal tone, making him sound like a wronged young man.

"Later, that rebellious son Chengqian gave me that damned magic potion. I thought it was a blessing from heaven, allowing me to enjoy this beautiful land forever and be a peaceful emperor. But who knew it was all a trap!"

He stretched out his hands, looking at his perfect palms that were full of explosive power and had no calluses, and tears welled up in his eyes.

"A hundred years! Almost a hundred years! My great-grandson is old enough to run errands, and my great-great-grandson is already taking mecha piloting tests!"

Li Shimin suddenly turned around and roared at the empty dome.

"But what about me? I'm still reviewing memorials! From bamboo slips to paper, from paper to keyboard screen! My empire may last for a thousand generations, but my youth has been completely wasted in this room!"

Grandpa Wang lay on the ground, not daring to breathe.

He had seen far too many emperors complaining about their long lives since childhood. There were always a few days each month when His Majesty would fall into this deep spiritual questioning, doubting the meaning of life.

"No, I can't take it anymore."

Li Shimin took a deep breath, and a resolute determination to destroy everything suddenly burst forth in his eyes.

"Go, deliver the decree to me! I want to abdicate! I want to pass the throne to another! I want to go surfing in Hawaii, I want to dig dirt on the moon! Let whoever wants to be this damn emperor have it!"

He strode to the red secure telephone that connected directly to the East Palace and grabbed the receiver.

"Bring the Crown Prince to me! Make that rebellious son Li Chengqian come and take over the throne right now!"

A brief busy tone came from the other end of the phone. This was followed by the slightly flustered voice of a palace attendant.

"Your Majesty, His Highness the Crown Prince... he is not in the inner palace. We just heard that he was summoned from Taiji Palace, and he has already gone there."

"He's smart to know his place!"

Li Shimin slammed the phone down and snorted coldly.

He turned and sat back in the huge boss's chair, starting to plan how to give that unfilial son a good scolding and then completely dump this mess on him without leaving a second to waste.

"When he arrives, I'll smash this imperial seal in his face. I'll lock the gates, then immediately take a helicopter and leave. Anyone who dares to stop me, I'll exterminate their entire family!"

Just as Li Shimin was wildly envisioning his wonderful retirement life,

The heavy rosewood and steel-inlaid door of the Imperial Study creaked open slowly from the outside with a tooth-grinding sound.

"Father...cough cough cough...your son has come to pay his respects."

An old, hoarse voice, as if it would fall apart with a gust of wind, weakly drifted in through the crack in the door.

Li Shimin's anger and prepared speech froze instantly in his throat the moment he saw the figure outside the door, as if he had been doused with liquid nitrogen.

Li Chengqian was wearing a thick fur-lined mink hat to keep warm, wrapped in three layers of thick cashmere coat, and leaning on a cane carved from sandalwood with a dragon head.

His hair was as white and sparse as withered grass, his face was wrinkled so deep that it could trap a mosquito, and his back was hunched so low that it was almost parallel to the ground.

With each step, the dragon-headed cane echoed tremulously on the marble floor. This was accompanied by a heart-wrenching cough, as if the cane was about to cough up its own lungs.

"Oh dear, slow down, Xu Xiao, help me up slowly. My old bones really can't withstand the evil winds outside."

Beside him, Xu Xiao, who was also white-haired and looked very old, was carefully supporting Li Chengqian's arm.

The two of them, like unearthed artifacts just dug out of the ground, shakily moved into the imperial study, which was filled with modern technology.

Li Shimin's eyes widened.

He looked at his son, who was almost old and frail, and then looked down at his own bulging chest muscles.

In that instant, the jade seal he was about to throw became stuck firmly in his hand, and he couldn't throw it away no matter what.

"Chengqian? You... how come you've aged so much?"

Li Shimin's voice was weak. Although he knew this kid hadn't taken any elixir of immortality, and that birth, aging, sickness, and death were the natural order of things, the last time they met, this kid at least looked like a robust middle-aged man. How could it be that in just a few days, he seemed to be half-buried in the ground?

Li Chengqian stopped and struggled to lift his face, which was covered with age spots.

Hidden in those murky eyes was a hint of mockery and cunning that would never be noticed.

He released Xu Xiao's hand, his hands trembling as he tried to kneel and bow to Li Shimin.

"thump!"

His legs buckled, and Li Chengqian collapsed onto the expensive carpet, letting out a painful groan.

"Ouch! My hip joint!"

"Quickly! Help the prince up!"

Li Shimin was now completely panicked. He leaped up from his chair, all traces of the abdication he had displayed moments before.

He rushed over in three strides, scooped Li Chengqian up from the ground, and placed him on the softest sofa like a rare treasure.

"You unfilial son, no, Chengqian, how come your body is so severely weakened?"

Looking at his son's fragile appearance, Li Shimin's anger turned into bitterness.

Li Chengqian leaned back on the sofa, panting heavily, with murky tears sliding down his cheeks.

"Father, I am old and don't have many years left to live. I am not fortunate enough to share the burden of this Tang Dynasty with you."

Li Chengqian gripped Li Shimin's young and strong hand tightly, his tone sincere and sorrowful.

"I just heard that Father Emperor wants to abdicate... cough cough! Father Emperor, you must not act rashly! With my frail body, even if I were to sit on the dragon throne, I fear I wouldn't last more than three days. If the ruler is young and the country is in turmoil, the foundation that our Great Tang Dynasty has painstakingly built will be destroyed in an instant!"

Li Shimin felt a sharp pang in his heart as he looked at his son, who was on his deathbed yet still devoted to the country.

He grasped Li Chengqian's withered hand in return, gritted his teeth, and a resolute glint flashed in his eyes.

"Stop talking. I'm not backing down. I'll just keep going."

Li Chengqian coughed twice, a glint of light flashing in the corner of his eye.

"Father, are you sure you mean it?"