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

As the camera zooms in, these strange people are none other than the arrogant scions of wealthy families from yesterday. They are holding a pile of gold ingots, yet they are being ruthlessly driven away by the owner of a roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) stall.

On a corner of Zhuque Street, the rich aroma of roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) wafts freely in the cold air, making people's mouths water.

Cui Hua, a young master from a collateral branch of the Cui family of Boling, was clutching his emaciated stomach.

He hadn't eaten a single grain of rice all day. His once pampered and handsome face was now ashen, and his eyes were seeing stars from hunger.

With trembling hands, he pulled a heavy, gleaming bare gold ingot from his pocket and slammed it onto the greasy chopping board.

"Boss, give me five roujiamo (Chinese hamburgers), extra meat, and keep the change!"

Cui Hua swallowed hard, puffing out his chest in a self-assured manner, but his unsteady steps betrayed his weakness.

The vendor, who was chopping meat, stopped chopping it with his cleaver.

He glanced sideways at the gold that gleamed wickedly in the sunlight, his face showing not a trace of joy, but rather a deep sense of disgust.

The middle-aged man waved his greasy sleeves impatiently, yelling at Cui Hua as if shooing away flies.

"Get out of here! What kind of lunatic are you? Who are you trying to fool with this piece of junk? Didn't you see the news? Gold is worth the same as scrap iron right now, and the Central Bank of China doesn't even give it a second glance!"

The middle-aged man pointed to the pale green holographic payment code floating next to the cutting board, his tone impatient.

"I only accept Tian Shu Credits. If you don't have any credits, get lost and don't interfere with my business!"

Cui Hua was struck dumb. He stared intently at the flashing payment code, his hand clenching in mid-air, but he couldn't muster any confidence.

Because the moment Datang Digital Treasure was upgraded, all of Cui's family's shared accounts, along with his personal digital ID, were completely frozen by the Tian Shu system's underlying layer for allegedly illegally hiding assets.

Now, his bracelet displays a deathly gray number—zero.

He had a warehouse full of gold, yet he couldn't even afford the most ordinary roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) from a street vendor.

"Uncle, this is real gold, 99% pure! Please, can you trade one for another?"

The once arrogant young master Cui now had to lower his noble head, his voice filled with obvious sobs and pleading.

"Get out of here! Don't get in my way! If you don't leave, I'll call the police and summon the Great Snow Dragon Riders!"

The uncle simply put away the payment code, grabbed a handful of ashes, and poured them onto the cutting board, completely extinguishing Cui Hua's hopes.

On Suzaku Street, this absurd social panorama is playing out wildly in front of every stall.

The young master of the Cui family of Qinghe and the nephew of the head of the Lu family of Fanyang are usually surrounded by a retinue of wealthy and privileged people.

At this moment, they were all scattered on the street corner with disheveled hair, their clothes in disarray, and their expressions filled with fear.

They shivered in the cold wind, clutching the mahogany gold box they once cherished.

Whenever they tried to exchange goods for a bowl of hot soup or a piece of flatbread, they were met with the cold rejection and disdain of ordinary merchants in the Tang Dynasty.

In that instant, class status was completely and ruthlessly reversed.

The common people of the Tang Dynasty held bracelets in their hands, and the green credit points inside were the source of their confidence to stand tall.

They stuffed steaming hot buns into their mouths while giving each other a mocking look, as if watching a monkey show.

He pointed out the state of affairs to these powerful patriarchs who usually rode on his back, and clicked his tongue in admiration.

"Oh, isn't this the second master of the Cui family? He usually doesn't even lift the curtain of his carriage when he goes out, so why is he sniffing around the garbage can today?"

"Serves them right! They hoarded and speculated before, they deserve to go hungry!"

The complaints and laughter of ordinary people rose and fell on Zhuque Street, releasing decades of pent-up frustration in an instant.

This exhilarating feeling of turning the tables and becoming the master of one's own destiny transformed into a tangible wave of sound, utterly crushing the last vestiges of dignity of these "cyber beggars" into the mud.

And beneath the giant dome of the Taiji Hall in the Daming Palace.

Li Shimin was leaning back on a soft couch covered with a white tiger skin, completely disregarding his image.

On the long sandalwood table in front of him were plates of fragrant imperial dishes, including sizzling roasted lamb and chilled lychees that had just been transported from the South China Sea.

The "chairman" of the Tang Dynasty was holding a bowl of thick bird's nest soup and eating it with great relish.

And in front of him was a holographic monitoring screen that spanned the entire hall.

It is being broadcast live in real time through dozens of small windows, showing every famous scene of aristocratic scions in Chang'an City being reduced to beggars.

Watching Cui Hua weep bitterly in front of the roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) stall, and watching Elder Lu fight with wild dogs for half a leftover steamed bun.

Li Shimin could no longer hide the smile in his eyes.

"Haha...hahahaha!"

This emperor, who was unparalleled in history, suddenly put down his golden goblet and slammed his right palm heavily on the long table, causing the bowls and plates on it to clang loudly.

His laughter echoed in the spacious and magnificent hall, carrying a sense of schadenfreude and unbridled joy at having a great revenge.

"What a Midas touch! What a cyber beggar!"

Li Shimin gave a thumbs-up, pointing at the ashen faces of the noble families on the screen. His slightly chubby face was full of pride due to excessive excitement.

"Wang De, look at these old bastards! They used to talk to me in court about 'the law does not favor the noble' and 'the people's livelihood is difficult.' And now? Chengqian merely raised a finger, and they're not even as good as dogs!"

Wang De carefully handed him a wet towel, too shocked to utter a single word.

As the old servant who had accompanied Li Shimin the longest, he was all too aware of the emperor's thoughts at this moment.

This is achieved through absolute technological computing power.

This is a tactic used to physically strip away the world's oldest and most stubborn interest groups overnight, turning them into the lowest strata of society.

This has completely instilled in Li Shimin, his father, an almost pathological dependence on and worship of digital governance.

Li Shimin took the towel and roughly wiped the grease from the corner of his mouth.

His gaze once again fell upon the massively surging core of the Datang Central Credit Point.

The wealth figures above, due to the unilateral and forced liquidation of the family's assets, have accumulated to a terrifying astronomical level that suffocates ordinary people.

This desire for omniscience and control, to take whatever one wants, is like the strongest and most poisonous aged wine.

It thoroughly permeated Li Shimin's imperial soul.

His breathing became heavy again, his dragon eyes widened, and the greed in his eyes, born of the soaring capital, did not dissipate with the destruction of the aristocratic families, but instead began to spread wildly to the unknown territories beyond the borders of the Tang Dynasty.

"The Tian Shu system can monitor the daily consumption of every citizen in the Tang Dynasty, and naturally it can also monitor the flow of all things in the world."

Li Shimin slowly stood up and walked to the slowly rotating holographic globe.

His fingers gently traced a pale blue map marked "Ceuropa Province".

That look in his eyes was like that of a cold god standing high in the sky, looking down on a mortal city.

The wind outside the main hall seemed to be blowing even faster.

The iron curtain of the digital age has already fallen completely to the edge of the horizon on this seemingly comical morning.

The wailing of the aristocratic families was merely an insignificant embellishment in this turbulent era.

Li Shimin stood on the high platform, his finger hovering over the vast forests and factories of Europe, a cold smile on his lips revealing a destructive ambition.

Li Shimin wiped the grease from the corner of his mouth, staring at the screen full of credit points, his eyes gleaming with greed: "Since digital credit is so useful... Wang De, tell me, would it be excessive for me to charge a fee for the air in those foreign provinces?"