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

Wu Zetian's words, "Close the net," instantly ignited a faint flame of greed in Li Shimin's previously dim eyes.

He suddenly straightened up in his chair.

In a millisecond, the sharp glint of a capitalist emperor re-emerged in those dragon eyes that had been unfocused by lingering fear.

"Close the net? Meiniang, what do you mean by that?"

The old man leaned forward eagerly.

He slapped his large hand on the dragon table, making a dull sound.

At this moment, the atmosphere in the hall underwent a subtle chemical change due to the introduction of the topic of wealth.

The fear that had been weighing on the hearts of the court officials was replaced in an instant by an instinctive, speculative frenzy.

Everyone stared wide-eyed.

He stared intently at the virtual projection of Wu Zetian, which was faintly emitting a blue spectrum.

Changsun Wuji didn't even bother to wipe the wine stains off his robe.

He lost his composure and brought his chubby face close to the screen on the secondary control panel.

"Director Wu, the entire network just experienced a power outage, and the trading platform completely shut down. Even the buy and sell sequences have turned into a white line."

Given this dead end, how could our national treasury possibly siphon off any profits?

His small eyes were filled with the doubts typical of a shrewd businessman, and his breathing became heavy with tension.

"Lord Changsun, when it comes to finance, it's about timing differences, but even more so about information differences."

Wu Meiniang turned her head slightly, her fair face showing a proud look of certainty.

With a gentle dab of her ten fingers on the virtual screen, a complex intraday trading chart shimmering with countless golden highlights popped up instantly.

"In the last second before the power outage, the TianShu system forcibly dragged the civilian network segment into the sandbox."

In that one ten-thousandth of a millisecond of downtime, I, in the name of the highest legal entity of the Central Bank of the Great Tang Dynasty, placed a massive number of buy orders on the global stock market to buy at the bottom.

When all the court officials saw the order numbers on the chart, they were all shocked and gasped.

That was a terrifying sum that could drain the entire annual tax revenue of the Tang Dynasty.

"You...you're insane! That's the national treasury's principal!"

Fang Xuanling swayed, his face turned pale, and he looked at Wu Meiniang as if she were a madman who had bet the entire Tang Dynasty on gambling.

"Lord Fang, if I weren't insane, why would those rats hiding in the gutter bite the hook?"

Wu Zetian chuckled softly, her phoenix eyes flashing with the icy coldness characteristic of a financial queen.

"At that time, those foreign speculative funds thought that the Tian Shu system was doomed and were frantically dumping shares and shorting it."

Not only did I absorb all their sell orders, but I also used my special privileges to forcibly lock the margin ratios of those short-selling accounts at the brink of liquidation.

This extreme buying spree on the eve of the network's destruction is a cyber gamble that leaves no way out for the opponent.

As the network was fully restored within that minute, the news that the crisis was completely over spread around the world instantly via the wristband.

The Tang Dynasty stock market, which had originally fallen into a deep abyss.

Within that millisecond, a near-nuclear-explosive retaliatory backlash erupted.

That long green line representing the credit points of the Tang Dynasty.

It surged vertically upwards at an utterly unreasonable and terrifying speed, completely shattering the defenses of those short-selling institutions.

What made these financial giants even more desperate was the physical breach of the Chang'an underground passage by the Great Snow Dragon.

The ancient families of Fanyang Lu and Qinghe Cui participated in the rebellion.

All their hidden assets and physical gold bars, buried deep underground and used as the underlying support of the dark web, were forcibly confiscated by the treasury's advanced code in that instant.

In an instant, the vast wealth of these powerful clans became the most solid asset injection into the Datang mega-cap.

"Breaking news! North American market settlement complete! Short-selling speculative funds have been completely liquidated!"

"Report! The short-selling accounts in Jiangnan Province have been liquidated, and a total of 30 million taels of silver have been recovered!"

The mechanical beeping on the secondary control panel sounded like the crisp sound of counting money, filling the hall with a dense chorus.

Because of the chaos on the dark web, the Tang Dynasty's treasury not only did not lose a single penny, but also took advantage of Li Chengqian's absolute advantage in pulling the internet cable to reap huge profits from a wave of global speculative capital that was shorting the market.

"Haha! Great! That was a good steal!"

Li Shimin was so happy he couldn't stop smiling. He jumped up from the dragon throne, completely disregarding the dignity of being the emperor.

He looked at the rapidly increasing balance of available treasury credits on his wristband.

His face was etched with the extreme excitement of making a fortune.

"These rats in the gutter always think Chengqian's code is inanimate, but they don't realize that every line of symbols that kid uses is a scalpel specifically designed to squeeze money out of them!"

The old man's earlier dejection and lingering fear vanished.

With a wave of his hand, he directly typed a line of appropriation instructions bearing the royal seal onto the main control panel of the Dragon Case.

"Wang De! Respond to the transoceanic hotline to Hawaii!"

Immediately allocate ten times... no, fifty times the amount of the profits earned this time to the Crown Prince for a huge vacation!

"Let him bask in the sun over there, buy me plenty of fat lobsters, and absolutely do not return to Chang'an to bother me while I'm handing out red envelopes unless it's absolutely necessary!"

The Taiji Hall was restored to its previous festive atmosphere of New Year's Eve.

The ministers raised their glasses, their faces flushed with the sudden wealth of the national treasury.

Everyone drank the fine wine in large gulps, and the bone-chilling cold caused by the power outage earlier vanished without a trace as a large amount of credits were spent.

As long as the Tang Dynasty's fortunes continue to rise, these shareholders can continue to sit in this palace and enjoy the dividends of the era.

But thousands of miles away.

On that tranquil white sand beach in Hawaii, bathed in moonlight.

The once quiet main control room of the Eastern Palace was suddenly filled with a series of high-level transfer notification sounds.

"Beep—The unlimited credit limit granted by the Royal Court to the Central Bank of the Great Tang Dynasty has been credited to your account."

Li Chengqian was lying on a soft chair, the sea breeze blowing through his short hair, bringing with it a slightly salty dampness.

He raised his left hand listlessly and made a light sweeping motion in the air.

Looking at the long, countless zeros in the center of his vision, which were specially approved by Li Shimin himself.

The resentment that had been building up in his clear eyes because his vacation had been interrupted was finally eased somewhat by the arrival of the money.

"The old man is quite generous this time. Considering this public fund, I won't bother with his breathing tax."

Li Chengqian smacked his lips lazily and casually reached into the ice bucket next to him and pulled out a glass of freshly chilled cola.

He reached over and pulled the dark aviator sunglasses next to the recliner, expertly slinging them over his nose.

She sank her entire body deep into the soft, comfortable beach chair.

"Your Highness, the remaining shares of the powerful families in Chang'an are already being liquidated. Should we take this opportunity to take over their businesses as well?"

The holographic projection of Wu Zetian bowed slightly on the other side of the screen, her eyes flashing with the cruelty of capitalism.

"Real industry? That stuff is too tiring, it doesn't fit my salted fish aesthetic."

Li Chengqian took a sip of the cool liquid and let out a satisfied sigh.

On a Hawaiian beach, Li Chengqian looked at the long string of zeros that had appeared in his account, put on his sunglasses with satisfaction, and lay down: "That's more like it. However, we've already squeezed every last drop of profit from the real economy. After my vacation, we'll have to find a new 'field of韭菜' (a metaphor for exploiting the wealthy and powerful) for those families who still have some spare cash."