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

Before the echo of the Cui family head's roar had faded, the area in front of the headquarters of the Tang Dynasty Central Bank in Chang'an was already packed with people, with a dark mass of assassins and shopkeepers carrying boxes of gold and surging in.

The once wide and tidy Zhuque Avenue was completely blocked by a dense crowd within a minute, and even the maintenance openings of the fiber optic cable ducts creaked underfoot. Countless assassins secretly raised by aristocratic families shed their night clothes, put on ordinary hempen shorts and tunics, and pushed heavy wheelbarrows, leaving bloody mud tracks on the bluestone slabs.

The wheel bearings screeched under the strain, the horses reared wildly under the whip, and the foam spurting from their mouths even splashed onto the holographic riot shield of the traffic police on duty by the roadside.

"Get out of the way! All of you, get out of my way! The Cui family is withdrawing cash on official business. Anyone who dares to obstruct us will be beaten to death on the spot!"

The head steward of the powerful family, with a hoarse voice and bulging veins on his forehead, was extremely angry. His fleshy face was completely distorted. He waved a large stack of physical certificates stamped with bright red seals and charged forward recklessly with the burly men behind him, knocking several ordinary people passing by into the drainage ditch.

Behind these assassins and the shopkeeper were thousands of heavy camphor wood chests.

The copper locks collided with each other during the violent shaking, producing a series of dull, metallic sounds that could suffocate any greedy person.

"This...this is going to empty out the central bank of the Tang Dynasty?"

The citizens of Chang'an who were watching were stunned.

As they watched the seemingly endless, black dragon-like procession carrying gold, the flatbreads stuffed in their mouths fell to the ground with a thud, and they forgot to even pick them up.

A middleman who usually deals in leather goods in the West Market stared wide-eyed, his fingertips digging into his colleague's.

"They've gone mad! These powerful clans have truly gone mad; they've even brought out their life savings!"

Just then, the blinding blood-red warning lights began flashing wildly without warning on the lintel of the central bank headquarters.

"Beep—beep—beep—"

A piercing electronic buzzer instantly tore through the cacophony of sounds, striking everyone's eardrums and bringing a sense of apocalyptic tension. The riot doors of the Tang Dynasty Central Bank headquarters, crafted from synthetic metal, automatically slid down halfway in that instant, the cold, metallic click of the lock sending a chill down the spines of the elite family assassins at the forefront.

The Snow Dragon Cavalry officer in charge of maintaining order frowned.

He suddenly pulled the bolt of the high-frequency vibrating spear in his hand.

"Step back! All those withdrawing funds, line up in order! Anyone who dares to cross the warning line will be executed on the spot for endangering the empire's financial security!"

The soldiers stepped forward.

The heavy power armor slammed onto the floor with a terrifying metallic roar, and dangerous, eerie blue arcs of electricity flowed across the holographic riot shield.

Faced with the despair of their collapsing wealth, these powerful figures had long since lost their minds.

"Kill me? I have an exchange document from the reign of the retired emperor! The laws of the Tang Dynasty clearly state that it's redeemable upon presentation of the document! If you don't give me the gold today, we'll smash down this door!"

"That's right! Without gold, the Tang Dynasty's central bank is nothing but a brothel that swindles money!"

"Smash it! Get our hard-earned money back!"

The shouts, the cracking of whips, and the resounding crash of heavy boxes hitting the steps blended together into a symphony of chaos.

The madness born from the complete overturning of their interests turned these servants, who normally feared the army like tigers, into ferocious demons. They moved forward inch by inch like a tide, desperately trying to hold back the cold steel shields of the Great Snow Dragon Riders with their flesh and blood. In the shoving, several managers had their crowns knocked off, their hair disheveled as they screamed in the crowd.

Meanwhile, in the massive underground control room of the central bank headquarters, which is isolated from the outside world.

The temperature here is excessively low.

The automatic circulating fan above my head hummed softly, but it couldn't dispel the suffocating smell of engine oil and despair in the air.

At this moment, Lao Lu, the financial director of Datang, was standing in front of the main control panel.

His usually impeccably dressed, purplish-red official robes were now completely soaked with sweat, clinging limply to his back.

His hands were pressed tightly against the edge of the worktable.

He had exerted too much force, and his thick knuckles had turned a pale white due to severe ischemia, with even the crevices under his fingernails showing traces of red.

Old Lu raised his head slightly, his small eyes, which usually held a shrewd, worldly air, now wide open in shock.

His eyeballs were covered with terrifying, spiderweb-like blood vessels.

His lips trembled violently, and even the meticulously trimmed beard on his chin quivered.

Before him, the massive physical storage holographic scale presented a visual effect that evoked despair.

The red bars represent gold reserves.

It was plummeting downwards at a speed visible to the naked eye and enough to make one's scalp crawl.

The numbers were jumping so fast that they even left illusory afterimages on the screen.

Ten million strings of cash... eight million strings of cash... five million strings of cash...

"Director Lu, the Western Branch reports that their physical vault is empty, and members of the powerful family are blocking the entrance with crates, smashing the windows!"

"Report! An urgent message has arrived from the South Water Province: thirteen major local businesses have jointly withdrawn funds. Our cash flow can only last for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn!"

"The Tian Shu system has alerted you that the current exchange request has exceeded the hardware processing limit, and the coolant temperature is exceeding the limit!"

The operators' terrified screams rang out in Lao Lu's ears like a series of thunderclaps.

Old Lu felt a buzzing in his head.

A flush of blood rushed up his neck from the sudden spike in blood pressure, and he felt the dark blue screen in front of him begin to show double images.

Conventional methods?

Should we summon the Great Snow Dragon Riders to kill people?

No, that won't do. Those people outside have genuine receipts.

If the Tang Dynasty's central bank were to refuse to redeem its currency today, the entire credit system that the Tang Dynasty had just established would collapse in a second due to panic. Paper money would become worthless, and Tian Shu credit points would become a laughable piece of data. At that time, the people of the whole world would be so angry that they would overthrow the imperial power.

This is an open conspiracy.

This was the hard-won blow of the old aristocratic families, accumulated over hundreds of years, to wipe out their entire family line under the Tang Dynasty system.

Old Lu's hands trembled as he tried to pull out a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his sweat, but his hands shook so badly that the handkerchief fell directly into the gap of the control panel.

He stared at the reserve line, which was beginning to flash a dangerous red light, and his mental defenses completely collapsed in that instant.

He knew that, in the face of this unprecedented financial tsunami, he, the so-called financial director, was nothing more than a bookkeeper who knew how to do the math.

"Where is His Majesty? Has there been any response from the Taiji Palace?"

Old Lu looked at his adjutant beside him with a hoarse voice, his tone clearly choked with sobs, as if pleading for help.

"His Majesty said... His Majesty said that Lady Wu is in charge of the trading, and he is preparing to go to Europe to collect taxes. He said you should figure it out yourself..."

The adjutant was also pale-faced, his head bowed low in despair.

"It's over... The Tang Dynasty is doomed..."

Old Lu's face was ashen as he stared at the pale green scale bar that was already approaching the lowest warning line.

He suddenly realized that in this world, there was only one person left who could pull them out of this hell made of gold.

Although that rebellious son is currently sunbathing on a beach across the ocean.

Old Lu took a deep breath, as if trying to squeeze out every last bit of air from his lungs.

He ignored the horrified looks from the operators around him.

Amidst the red glow filling the hall and the piercing alarm, this high-ranking official of the Tang Dynasty suddenly lost his balance and his legs gave way.

Looking at the nearly empty red line in the reserve warehouse, Old Lu knelt down with a thud and shakily grabbed the transoceanic holographic secure phone that connected directly to Hawaii.