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

Li Chengqian's words, "to personally set an example," carried a clear sense of schadenfreude, sending a chill down Li Shimin's spine.

A chill crept up from his tailbone to the back of his head, sending a shiver down the spine of the "Chairman of the Tang Dynasty" who had just been roaring. Li Shimin's dignified, square face instantly contorted with a complex expression. He stared intently at his beaming, unfilial son, his eye muscles twitching uncomfortably.

He knew Li Chengqian too well; whenever this wicked son showed that innocent and harmless smile, the pit was already half-filled with soil.

"Set an example? How do you expect me to set an example?"

Li Shimin lowered his voice, his tone filled with deep wariness. He subconsciously took a half step back, his survival instinct making him want to immediately cut off all communication networks.

"It's very simple."

Li Chengqian slowly approached, his clear eyes gleaming with an almost perverse excitement.

"Didn't you just say those workers were troublemakers? Well then, let them see how the supreme leader of this empire works. Your son has already come up with a slogan for you: 'The Great Tang Never Sleeps, the Emperor Leads the Way!' Let's have an unprecedented global holographic live stream, so that a billion people around the world can see the real daily life of you, the 'Chairman of the Board.'"

Li Shimin originally intended to refuse outright, even planning to smash the tiger tally in his hand directly onto Li Chengqian's forehead. But before he could speak, Li Chengqian precisely threw out the bargaining chip that he couldn't refuse.

"Father, don't be so quick to glare. Every second the blackout in North America lasts, the number in your personal account will shrink by one percentage point. The market is currently in a deep red, and this is the only way to instantly turn public sentiment around. If you don't put on this show and the North American stock market crash continues, I guarantee that your private assets will be completely wiped out before the market closes tomorrow."

In that instant, the air in the hall seemed to freeze as if threatened by Li Chengqian.

Li Shimin's outstretched fingertips froze in mid-air. He recalled the plummeting green curve from earlier, and the mountains of unsold steel. The real pain of his dwindling assets ultimately overwhelmed the last vestige of his dignity as an emperor.

He gritted his teeth and practically forced the word out from between them.

"play!"

And so, over the next three days, the people of the Tang Empire witnessed what a true miracle was.

Through Datang's most advanced quantum communication satellite, the LED screens in every bustling square around the world and the holographic receivers in every household are all forcibly displayed with a single image.

Three o'clock in the morning.

The Imperial Study in the Taiji Hall was still brightly lit in the scene. Li Shimin wore a slightly wrinkled black Zhongshan suit with the collar wide open, his hair disheveled from being scratched. He was hunched over the huge control panel, his eyes bloodshot, his fingers frantically swiping across the virtual screen. The sense of middle-aged decadence caused by excessive fatigue was captured in exquisite detail by the high-definition camera.

"Your Majesty, you should rest. You've been reviewing financial reports for six hours straight." Wang De, off-camera, perfectly presented a bowl of steaming ginseng soup, his voice choked with heartache.

"Rest? What rest?!" Li Shimin said without looking up, his voice hoarse as if it had been rubbed against coarse sandpaper. "The steel quota for North America hasn't been set yet. As a working-class person of the Tang Dynasty, what right do I have to sleep?"

This melodramatic scene, in that very second, precisely struck a chord with everyone, bringing tears to their eyes.

At noon, the live stream switched to lunchtime.

Li Shimin wasn't sitting on that magnificent dragon throne eating a Manchu-Han Imperial Feast. He casually grabbed a cold, dry flatbread, took a big bite, and then stared vaguely at the real-time stock market. His "working day and night for the fate of the Tang Dynasty" attitude was perfectly embodied.

This double psychological blow had a nuclear explosion-level effect in a short period of time.

The workers, who were originally gathered in front of the North American power distribution room with angry faces, all their anger melted away in an instant when they saw the emperor in the holographic projection, who was more tired than them, older than them, and more sleep-deprived than them with sunken eyes.

"So... the Heavenly Khan doesn't even sleep for the sake of the Tang Dynasty?"

An elderly technician looked at the man on the screen eating a cold pancake, and his eyes reddened.

"We went on strike to rest, but His Majesty kept us occupied in the Taiji Hall for three whole days and three nights so we could have work to do!"

The strike subsided miraculously, and the workers spontaneously returned to their posts. Filled with shame and awe, they worked even harder than before.

Meanwhile, those old-fashioned aristocrats who had originally planned to threaten suicide to reject the labor law felt an even more suffocating sense of frustration.

Even the emperor himself was leading the way, working himself to the bone and calling himself a worker. Who would dare to stand up and say that the labor law was wrong? Who would dare to say that the eight-hour workday was too long? Li Shimin stood on the moral high ground, and these capitalists could only swallow flies and sign that draconian law with tears in their eyes.

This silent obedience became the cornerstone for the re-stabilization of the Tang Dynasty's financial order in that very second.

Thick black smoke finally began to billow from the chimneys of North America again. That deep, powerful roar once more echoed across the wasteland. As the power system was restored, the previously lifeless stock market suddenly burst into a blinding red light the instant that golden lightning streaked across the screen.

The index is rising.

As the panic subsided, capital began to pour in. Li Shimin looked at the string of red beads, his body was exhausted and he was swaying, but the corners of his mouth were turned up in a crazy smile because of the extreme increase in wealth.

However, behind this nationwide jubilation and the red glow of the nation's colors...

A coded message, encrypted with the highest level of security and entirely in a dark blue hue, now moved like a venomous snake, silently darting between governors and princes of various provinces in Europe and Asia.

The illusory image of the secret message flashed across those hidden terminals, the cold handwriting carrying an almost resolute killing intent.

"The tyrant has been bewitched and intends to cut off our source of income. We'll join forces to force him to abdicate at tomorrow's shareholders' meeting!"