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

Wu Meiniang took the heavy book, and a chilling sneer appeared on her beautiful face.

That smile was no longer the gentle one she usually wore when serving the Crown Prince, but a cold, metallic quality unique to a top hunter. She casually gathered her loose black hair over her shoulders, turned and walked out of the Crown Prince's Palace. The heavy palace gates slowly opened behind her, emitting a dull rumble, as if clearing the way for this god of war who was about to enter the fray.

The atmosphere inside the Taiji Hall was so oppressive it was suffocating.

The air was thick with a musty smell, a mixture of sweat and anxiety. The high-ranking officials of the Tang Dynasty were gathered around the enormous holographic display screen, their faces ashen as they watched the ever-expanding, eerie green light. Li Shimin's Zhongshan suit collar was ripped open; he gripped the edge of the control panel tightly, his eyes bloodshot and almost dripping with blood, looking like a volcano ready to erupt at any moment.

"Tap, tap, tap—"

A series of rhythmic, crisp impacts suddenly came from outside the hall.

It was the sound of hard-soled, high-heeled leather boots stepping on the hard white marble floor tiles. Each sound seemed to precisely strike the rhythm of everyone's heartbeats, carrying an undeniable sense of aggression. Changsun Wuji and Fang Xuanling, who had been huddled together arguing in hushed tones, suddenly turned around, their gazes piercing through the thick clouds of smoke and looking toward the entrance of the main hall.

Wu Meiniang walked into the palace against the blinding morning light.

Today she wore a sleek, dark purple fitted long dress with tight sleeves, and her specially made high-heeled leather boots tapped on the floor with a chilling, menacing sound. Ignoring the astonished, angry, or hesitant glances of the old ministers, she walked straight past the kneeling eunuchs and headed to the central control panel.

"The empress dowager must not interfere in politics! Wu, who gave you permission to enter the Taiji Hall?" An old minister instinctively shouted, but his voice trembled with fear the moment he met Wu Meiniang's cold phoenix eyes.

Wu Meiniang ignored him, and simply stretched out her slender, fair hand to take out a pure gold medal from her waist.

At the center of the gold medal, the seal of the Grand President of the Tang Dynasty Royal Chamber of Commerce gleamed with a cruel light under the eerie green curtain.

"His Highness has ordered that I take full command of this battle."

Her clear, cold voice echoed throughout the hall, each word like an icicle falling to the ground. She walked to Li Shimin's side, bowed slightly, her movements elegant yet carrying the aloofness of a superior. Li Shimin looked at the gold medal in her hand, then at the large, black leather book in her arms. His previously irritable gaze narrowed slightly, then he gave a heavy, cold snort and stepped aside from the main seat.

Wu Zetian instantly took control of the control panel.

Her hands moved like birds in flight, dancing wildly across the holographic panel. The book "Macroeconomics" lay open beside her; she didn't even turn the pages, as if the complex financial logic was already etched into her very bones.

"Issue my order: First, the Cabinet shall immediately sign an execution order to announce a temporary punitive stamp duty of 0.5% on the shipping sector."

Wu Zetian spoke extremely quickly and with such clarity that it was unnerving.

"Those short sellers want to close their positions and pay off their debts? Fine. But with every trade, I'll cut off five-fifths of their flesh and blood. This cut will not only hurt them, but will also make them unable to run due to excessive blood loss."

Fang Xuanling, listening nearby, shuddered. Fifty percent? How much was the Tang Dynasty's commercial tax in the past? This was clearly a barbed wire fence erected at the exit of the stock market, trapping those short-selling families in a meat grinder.

"Step two."

Wu Zetian's voice remained chillingly cold as she pointed her finger at the core database of the Tang Dynasty's central bank.

"Activate the backdoor in the system's depths, the one His Highness personally implanted. Under the pretext of 'anti-money laundering and preventing threats to imperial security,' instantly freeze all cross-border accounts with unknown sources of funds. Regardless of whether the Cui family or Charlie from the European branch are behind this money, as long as they haven't had a chance to spit out their chips, this money will remain in Chang'an's fund pool forever due to the physical blockade."

A cruel smile curved her lips, and the oppressive aura of her cunning made even the breathing in the hall become much quieter.

"As for the third step..."

Wu Zetian turned her head and looked at the head of the news department who was huddled in the corner, her eyes sharp as swords.

"Immediately spread the news to all provinces around the world through all of the Tang Dynasty's quantum communication satellites. Say that the Tang Dynasty's royal scientific expedition team has discovered a super open-pit gold mine with reserves of more than 100,000 tons deep in the South American jungle. Not only that, have all the media publish those few composite holographic photos. I want the whole world to see the golden light covering the mountains and plains."

The head of the news department was stunned: "President... this is fake good news! What if it gets exposed later..."

"Expose it?" Wu Meiniang let out a contemptuous sneer. "By the time they realize it's just a false illusion, their corpses will already be feeding the fish at the bottom of the financial sea. What the market needs now is the confidence of madmen, not the honesty of saints."

This ruthless, manipulative approach, devouring people without spitting out the bones, wove a global net in just ten minutes.

Standing beside the control panel, Changsun Wuji felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave. His eyes, which were always filled with scheming, were fixed on Wu Meiniang's profile, his fingertips trembling uncontrollably from excessive fear.

He used to think that Wu Zetian was nothing more than a clever plaything by Li Chengqian's side.

But now, watching her manipulate the masses in the blink of an eye, watching her use the entire empire's credit assets as fuel for a game, he truly realized that this woman possessed a ruling gene that was purer than Li Shimin's and more ruthless than Li Chengqian's.

Fang Xuanling also fell silent. Looking into Wu Meiniang's phoenix eyes, which controlled billions of dollars in wealth yet didn't even tremble, he felt a chill that went straight to his bones.

This meticulously planned scheme, this indifference to human lives—what kind of woman is this, a concubine in a harem? She is clearly a cyber empress, clad in stunning beauty and wielding a blood-red scythe. The financial acumen she displayed in those ten minutes caused these old foxes, who had spent their lives scheming in the court, to lower their proud heads in shame and fear.

The red alarm lights inside the main hall were still flashing wildly, but due to Wu Zetian's calm commands, they gradually developed a deathly rhythm.

That was the rhythm of the rope tightening on the gallows.

Time passed second by second.

Inside the main hall, a piece of sandalwood burned out in the incense burner, and the last wisp of smoke twisted and dissipated in the air.

Wu Meiniang finally stopped her frantic movements. She straightened up, the hem of her purple dress swaying slightly due to the intense fluctuations in her aura. She tilted her head slightly, her gaze passing over the silent civil and military officials, over the furrowed brows of Li Shimin, and finally settling on the huge holographic clock on the wall.

Her eyes shone with an astonishing light in that instant, revealing a fanatical intensity as if she were about to witness destruction.

Her long, slender, and rounded fingertips, radiating a murderous aura, hovered steadily above the red button in the center of the control panel, the button that signified the immediate issuance of all commands and the commencement of the final battle.

Her fingertips were less than three millimeters away from the button, yet she remained as steady as a stone sculpture that had never been sculpted.

Wu Meiniang slowly raised her head, glanced at the trembling crowd in the hall, and spoke slowly, each word like a death sentence.

"Ten seconds until the market opens this afternoon."