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

drop------!!!

The piercing red alarm sounded like a red-hot steel needle.

It plunged headlong into Li Chengqian's beautiful dream.

In his dream, he was about to put a piece of chilled watermelon into his mouth.

I was woken up by this noise.

He sprang up from the canvas beach chair like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

The chair creaked under the strain of standing up too suddenly, nearly falling apart.

The black aviator sunglasses hanging on the bridge of his nose almost flew off.

"Grass!"

Li Chengqian cursed and ripped off his sunglasses.

He held it in mid-air, as if to smash it hard onto the sand.

But he held back.

Because on the holographic screen floating next to them, an outrageous document bearing the seal of the Supreme Chairman was flashing.

Application for Phase I Project of Datang Guanghan Palace Interstellar Real Estate and Lunar Blast Furnace Laying.

Li Chengqian's eyes twitched with anger as he looked at the list of names.

"Build a villa on the moon? And a blast furnace too?!"

He reached out and rubbed his messy hair.

"That old bastard Li Lao Er, does he really think he can fly to the moon just because he got 5 billion in dividends?"

He placed his finger on the screen, just about to click the red "Reject and Physically Shut Down" button.

"Your Highness, I suggest you take a look at the system's backend simulation first."

The emotionless, mechanical synthesized voice of Tian Shu suddenly rang out.

The image on the screen flashed.

It has transformed into a grand economic model of the solar system.

Several blue data lines extend from Earth, connecting to the major craters on the Moon.

"According to the simulation, if the heavy industrial base of the Tang Dynasty were extended to the moon..."

Tian Shu's voice stated it in a flat tone.

"The physical backing of Datang Credit Points will be upgraded from Earth's limited resources to planetary-level resources."

"This will completely extinguish any remaining hope of a comeback for Western capital."

"To achieve absolute physical monopoly."

Li Chengqian's finger stopped in mid-air.

He stared at the few blue data lines on the screen.

I'm annoyed as much as I am.

But by sheer luck, the old man stumbled upon a good idea.

The real economy of the Tang Dynasty is indeed booming right now.

But the Earth's superconducting minerals will eventually run out.

If we could put blast furnaces and mines on the moon.

That's like adding an unbreakable titanium alloy lock to Datang's cyber disk.

Li Chengqian withdrew his finger.

I grabbed a can of room temperature Coke from the side, unzipped it, and took a swig.

The sugar water, which was flat and cloyingly sweet, made him even more irritable.

"OK."

He crushed the empty can and tossed it aside.

"He wants to go to heaven, so I'll send him to heaven."

"However, the Rockets, that slow thing, is just too unbecoming."

Li Chengqian's ten fingers left a trail of afterimages on the holographic keyboard.

"Retrieve the engineering drawings for the [Jianmu] project."

"Open access to the near-Earth orbit anti-gravity engine."

"Supreme command: All engineering mechs of the Great Tang Dynasty shall commence operations immediately."

clack.

Press the Enter key hard.

Outside Chang'an City.

On a large stretch of wasteland along the Wei River.

The fog hadn't lifted yet in the early morning.

Suddenly, the earth began to tremble violently without warning.

It wasn't an earthquake.

Instead, tens of thousands of heavy-duty engines start simultaneously.

Rumble!

From all directions of the Guanzhong Plain.

Tens of thousands of heavy engineering mechs, like a black torrent of steel, roared towards the banks of the Wei River.

The tracks crushed the frozen ground, and the exhaust pipe spewed out thick black smoke.

The earth trembled beneath the feet of these steel behemoths weighing hundreds of tons.

There was no contractor, and no mobilization meeting.

In the cockpits of all the mechs, the highest-level architectural commands directly issued by the Tian Shu system were flashing.

"Lay the foundation!"

A command mech emitted a deep electronic voice.

Thousands of drilling mechs equipped with ultra-fine particle drill bits.

At the same time, he aimed at the rock strata beneath his feet and plunged down hard.

The harsh scraping sound shattered the morning tranquility.

A giant drill bit, tens of meters in diameter, pierced through the earth's crust in just a few minutes.

It extends hundreds of meters underground to the hard basalt layer.

Followed by.

hum-

A strange, low-frequency vibration came from the sky.

Those heavy transport ships of the Tang Dynasty that had just swaggered across the Western battlefields.

Trailing a long plasma tail, it hovered above the wasteland.

The spacecraft's hatch was wide open.

Countless black cables, as thick as water tanks, poured down like a torrential rain.

This is not an ordinary steel cable.

This is carbon nanotube fiber purified using the most advanced technology from Datang.

Its strength is hundreds of times that of the black iron of the old era.

These black cables automatically intertwine and braid in mid-air.

Accompanied by dazzling plasma welding sparks.

A massive black pillar, over 100 meters in diameter, rapidly took shape on the wasteland.

It resembles a roaring black dragon.

It plunged headfirst into the basalt foundation hundreds of meters underground.

On the other end.

It grew wildly towards the endless sky at a terrifying speed visible to the naked eye.

The first space elevator in the Tang Dynasty – "Cyber ​​Building".

Construction has begun.

On the plaza of Taiji Hall.

Li Shimin hadn't even properly put on his dragon robe.

He stood barefoot on the white marble steps.

He tilted his head back, staring intently at the colossal structure rising from the ground outside the city.

A massive black shadow had already covered half of Chang'an City.

"What...what is this thing?"

The old man swallowed, his voice a little dry.

He had assumed the Crown Prince would approve several large carrier rockets.

Unexpectedly, this rebellious son planted a towering pillar in the ground.

"Return to Your Majesty."

Wu Meiniang stood behind him, looking at the tablet in her hand, her tone filled with shock.

"This is the space elevator unlocked by the Tian Shu system."

"Using an anti-gravity field for traction, it will directly reach near-Earth orbit."

"It has a carrying capacity that is more than 100,000 times greater than that of a rocket."

This is a terrifyingly powerful heavy industrial infrastructure construction maniac.

This not only stunned Li Shimin.

Thousands of miles away.

Inside the underground bunker of the Roman Senate.

Those remaining oligarchs who had just signed their contracts of servitude and hadn't yet recovered.

It is being monitored via a damaged satellite.

Looking at the towering black pillar that pierces the clouds on the eastern land.

The coffee cup fell to the ground and shattered.

Everyone slumped in their chairs, trembling.

The sheer terror of being utterly crushed on a physical level shattered their last shred of hope.

Datang.

Above Chang'an City.

Construction of the Jianmu Space Elevator continues at a frenetic pace.

Countless engineering mechs clung to the outside of the pillar, performing high-intensity reinforcement welding.

The blinding blue light of the welding arc flashed thousands of meters in the air.

A tiny cluster of welding sparks.

It broke off from the welding torch nozzle.

Carrying the intense heat, it drifted and slid downwards with the strong winds at high altitude.

Sparks flew across the bustling city that never sleeps.

Crossing Suzaku Avenue.

finally.

They ended up in the darkest slum in the western part of Chang'an, a place where sunlight never shines.