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

The news spread like a plague with wings—no, it was more like a timely rain after a long drought—and instantly irrigated the parched land of Chang'an.

The court assembly at Taiji Hall hadn't even ended yet, and the entrance to the newly opened "Datang Xinhua Bookstore" on Zhuque Avenue was already packed with people. This shop originally belonged to the Cui family of Qinghe, but it had been raided and confiscated the night before, and Li Chengqian had the sign put up overnight.

It wasn't just scholars who came; there were also peddlers, barefoot children, and even old men with canes. Even those who were illiterate were so captivated by the legend of "ten coins a book" that they insisted on seeing the wonder for themselves.

For ordinary people in this era, books are like the moon in the sky, enshrined on the desks of noble families, divine objects they could never touch in their lifetimes. But now, someone is telling them that the moon has fallen to earth, and it's cheaper than a pancake.

"The door is open! The door is open!"

With the sound of a gong, the bookstore's doors burst open.

There were no firecrackers or lion dances, only the overwhelming, rich scent of ink that brought tears to one's eyes.

Behind the counter, stacks of brand-new copies of the Analects, Mencius, and the Great Learning were piled up as high as a city wall. Several imperial guards stood by, swords at their sides, maintaining order, but their eyes no longer held their usual grimness; instead, they revealed a sense of fascination.

A emaciated scholar, dressed in a patched long gown, shakily squeezed to the front. He clutched ten polished copper coins tightly in his hand, which were probably his food money for half a month.

"Shopkeeper...shopkeeper," the scholar's voice trembled like a leaf in the wind, "is it really...really ten coins a book?"

The person in charge of selling books was a young eunuch transferred from the Eastern Palace. He grinned, revealing a set of white teeth, and casually pulled out a copy of the Analects of Confucius, still warm from the ink, from behind him, and slammed it on the counter.

"His Highness the Crown Prince said, honest and fair, ten coins a book! If it's fake, you can smash this shop to pieces!"

The scholar, as if struck by lightning, shakily laid out the copper coins on the counter, then carefully picked up the book with his hands covered in chilblains.

The paper is slightly yellow, yet it is tough and thick; the handwriting is neat and legible, as if carved with a knife and axe.

He turned to the first page, and seeing the familiar phrase "to learn and practice what one has learned," tears streamed down his face. He dared not cry out loud, afraid that his tears would wet the book, which was more precious than his life, so he could only bite his lip tightly and let out a mournful sob.

In the past, he knelt at the gate of the Wang family for three days and three nights in order to borrow books, only to be beaten by the servants and told, "A peasant like you doesn't deserve to study."

But now, he owns his own book with just ten copper coins!

"It's really...it's true!"

The scholar suddenly turned around, holding the book high in his hand, and roared at the dark mass of people behind him, his voice cracking.

"Ten coins! Just ten coins! We can go to school now! We can go to school now!"

boom--!

The crowd erupted in chaos.

It was a kind of madness that erupted after being suppressed for thousands of years and discriminated against for countless generations.

"Give me one! No, give me a whole set!"

"I have money! I sold the chickens at home, and I'm going to buy books for my child!"

"Don't push! I'll fight anyone who pushes me! This is my lifeline!"

Countless hands waved copper coins, and countless eyes burned with the flames of desire. This wasn't buying things; it was scrambling for a ticket to change their destiny.

Those Confucian scholars who had been incited by the aristocratic families to lament the "disgrace of civilization" at the Confucius Temple were now mixed in with the crowd. Holding cheap books they had bought from bookstores, they looked at the exquisite printing and, thinking about how foolish they had been used as pawns by the aristocratic families, their faces turned red with shame.

What do you mean by "disrespectful to civility"?

fart!

The greatest civilization is to ensure that everyone in the world has access to books!

The aristocratic families used books as chains to lock the throats of the poor; the crown prince used books as keys to open the gates to heaven for them!

"We've been scammed! Those old dogs from the aristocratic families have ruined us!"

A young student suddenly ripped off his headscarf and threw it to the ground, roaring with red eyes, "What kind of noble family spirit is this? It's all a cannibalistic business! His Highness the Crown Prince is the one who truly cares about us!"

"Yes! His Highness the Crown Prince is our savior!"

"Without Your Highness, we'd be destined to be slaves to aristocratic families for the rest of our lives!"

Someone started it, and the crowd that was originally packed in front of the bookstore suddenly shrank down like wheat being harvested.

Tens of thousands of students and ordinary people knelt down heavily in the direction of the East Palace of the Imperial Palace.

"Long live His Highness the Crown Prince! Long live His Highness! Long live His Highness!"

The sound coalesced into a torrent, shaking the walls of Chang'an and terrifying the spies from the powerful families hiding in the shadows.

However, even a cornered dog will jump over a wall, let alone these aristocratic families whose ancestral graves have been dug up.

Just as everyone was filled with gratitude, dozens of burly men wielding wooden sticks and with menacing faces suddenly rushed in from the perimeter of the crowd. They were thugs hired at great expense by the remnants of the powerful families, and their orders were to smash the shop!

"Get out of the way! This book is made by witchcraft! Reading it will ruin your eyes!"

The burly, scarred man leading the group brandished a stick to disperse the crowd, shouting, "The prince is using sorcery to bewitch people! This bookstore is a cult! Smash it!"

Normally, the people would have run away in fear at the sight of these vicious thugs.

But today is different.

The thin scholar had just bought the book and was holding it protectively in his arms like a child. When he saw the stick being smashed towards the bookstore sign, a wild, savage light suddenly flashed in his previously cloudy eyes.

"Dare to smash the Crown Prince's bookstore? Dare to block our path?"

The scholar let out a piercing scream, and with a sudden burst of strength, he lunged forward and bit the scarred man's wrist, refusing to let go even in death.

"Let's see who dares to make a move!"

"Those are our books! They are our lives!"

"Fight them! Kill these lackeys of the powerful families!"

A stone stirred up a thousand waves.

The scholars who were originally powerless were now all enraged. They stuffed their books into their clothes, grabbed bricks and rotten vegetable leaves from the roadside, and even took off the soles of their shoes, and rushed towards the gang of thugs like madmen.

Those dozens of thugs had never seen anything like this before.

They're the ones who usually bully scholars, but today these scholars are even more vicious than bandits.

Before the Imperial Guards could even make a move, these dozens of thugs, who called themselves "the tyrants of Chang'an," were instantly submerged in the vast ocean of the angry people's war. Screams rose and fell, and even bone fragments were crushed by the furious students.

A moment later.

All that remained on the ground was a pile of bruised, swollen, and groaning flesh.

The scholar who had struck first wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, straightened his torn clothes, and bowed respectfully again towards the direction of the Eastern Palace.

His eyes were frighteningly bright; they were the light of hope.

"Gentlemen, the sky has fallen for the aristocratic families."

An old man nearby picked up the book from the ground, dusted it off, and said in a trembling voice, "Yes, it collapsed. From now on, this Tang Dynasty belongs to us poor folks."

"Go! Go home and study! Don't let His Highness's painstaking efforts go to waste!"

"Yes! Study! Pass the imperial examinations! Serve His Highness!"