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

In just half a month, signs for "Datang Xinhua Bookstore" sprang up like mushrooms after rain in every market and neighborhood of Chang'an.

Not only in Chang'an, but also on the official roads leading to Luoyang and Yangzhou, hundreds of large carts bearing the seals of the Eastern Palace, laden with newly printed books, were transported daily to all corners of the Tang Dynasty under the escort of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

What was pressed out of those wheel tracks was not just dust, but the very foundation upon which aristocratic families had relied for survival for centuries.

The "Five Classics: Correct Meanings," once priceless, is now the most sought-after item on the street vendors' shoulders; historical books that were once only accessible to the sons of noble families are now readily available even to soldiers guarding the city gates during their breaks, who can pull out a copy and read a couple of passages with great interest.

Knowledge, once a noble plaything locked in a gilded cage, has for the first time entered the homes of ordinary people in such a crude and cheap way.

……

The Zheng family of Xingyang had a separate courtyard library in Beijing.

This place was once a sacred place in the hearts of all the scholars in Chang'an.

In the past, countless impoverished students had to fawn over the Zheng family's gatekeeper and even sign indentured servitude for three to five years just to get a whiff of ink fragrance in order to enter this building and copy a single scroll.

But now?

"Cough cough..."

Zheng An, the head of a collateral branch of the Zheng family, pushed open the heavy nanmu wood door, stirring up a cloud of choking dust.

The setting sun slanted in through the window, illuminating the mahogany bookshelves that filled an entire wall. The books on the shelves were piled up like mountains—bamboo slips, silk scrolls, and handwritten scrolls—each scroll once priceless, each scroll once the capital by which the Zheng family held sway over the imperial court.

But at this moment, it's as quiet as a tomb.

"Where are they? Where have they all gone?"

Zheng An shouted in frustration, his voice echoing in the empty library, sounding particularly desolate.

After a long while, an old servant emerged from the corner, his body hunched over, holding a broom in his hand, his face full of bitterness.

"Master, please stop calling. There's no one here."

"Nobody's here? Where are the scholars who were responsible for copying the books? Where are the students who came to study? Where did they all go?" Zheng An stared wide-eyed, asking incredulously, "Isn't today the first day of the month? Isn't it the day the library is open to the public?"

In the past, the threshold of this bookstore would be worn down by the crowds on the first and fifteenth of the lunar month. Why can't we see even a ghost today?

The old servant sighed and pointed outside the door.

"Sir, are you really unaware or pretending? Everyone's run away."

"ran away? Where did they go?"

"Go...go to line up to buy books."

The old servant swallowed hard and carefully pulled out a small booklet, no bigger than the palm of his hand, from his pocket. The cover had three large, square characters printed on it: "The Thousand Character Classic".

"Master, look, this is what I just picked up on the street. I heard that Xinhua Bookstore was having a promotion: buy two copies of the Analects and get one copy of the Thousand Character Classic for free."

"Those scholars said that these royally printed books have clear characters, clean white paper, and even punctuation marks, making them much easier to read than our handwritten copies. The key is... they're cheap!"

"Only ten coins! Ten coins can buy a brand new book. Who would want to come here and be treated like a servant?"

Zheng An snatched the book "Thousand Character Classic" from Zheng An, his hands trembling.

He opened it and saw that the neat type and the clean white paper were like a series of loud slaps to his face.

"This...this was printed by that rebellious son?"

He turned around abruptly and looked at the rows of books behind him that he had once been so proud of.

Those yellowed bamboo slips and those illegible handwritten copies looked so old and decayed in the setting sun, even carrying a nauseating musty smell.

Just half a month ago, these books were the lifeblood of the Zheng family, priceless treasures.

But now, they've become waste paper.

Worthless scrap paper!

"Master! Master, something terrible has happened!"

Just as Zheng Anru was struck by lightning, the butler rushed in in a panic, forgetting to even step over the threshold, and tripped and fell flat on his face.

"What is it now?!" Zheng An roared.

"Those retainers we employed, and those dozen or so talented scholars we were preparing to send to take the imperial examinations... they all just... just now came to resign!"

"What?!"

Zheng An felt a wave of dizziness wash over him, nearly fainting. "Have they gone mad? Without my Zheng family, how will they smooth things over? How will they pass the imperial examinations?"

"They said..." the butler said with a mournful face, "They said that His Highness the Crown Prince opened a 'Royal Academy' in the Eastern Palace, which not only exempts students from tuition and fees, but also provides room and board, and even awards scholarships to those who do well on exams."

"Furthermore, the Crown Prince has said that from now on, the imperial examinations will not consider family background or the number of candidates submitted, only their scores! Whoever scores the highest will become an official!"

"Those talented men said... that it's better to be a human in the Crown Prince's palace than a dog in our household!"

boom--!

Zheng An collapsed to the ground, the Thousand Character Classic slipping from his hand and covering his deathly pale face.

Salaries are drawn from the bottom of the pot.

This is a complete and utter disruption of the supply chain!

The reason why powerful families are so influential is that they control the channels for talent advancement. If a child from a poor family wants to get ahead, he or she must attach himself or she to these powerful families and become their lackeys.

But now, Li Chengqian has made books worthless and made the imperial examination fair (although it's just a temporary promise). Why would those poor students still care about aristocratic families?

Without these scholars as henchmen, what are the aristocratic families left?

What's left is a bunch of unwanted, broken books and a bunch of good-for-nothing kids who only know how to eat, drink, and have fun?

"It's over... The world of the Tang Dynasty has truly changed."

Zheng An's eyes were vacant as he muttered to himself.

He seemed to see the towering Zheng family tree, its roots severed and it collapsed with a crash amidst the laughter and chatter of that eight-year-old boy.

……

As night fell over Chang'an, some families rejoiced while others grieved.

In an inconspicuous courtyard in the west of the city, the lights were dim.

The few remaining clan leaders from the five surnames and seven clans huddled together in the small main room like a pack of stray dogs.

The room was filled with things.

It wasn't gold or silver jewelry, but bundles and boxes of handwritten books. Those were the last possessions of each family, and the wealth they were once most proud of.

At this moment, these books are like a pile of rotten cabbages that no one cares about, carelessly piled up in a corner to gather dust.

"Brother Wang, how are things on your end?"

The head of the Lu family had a hoarse voice, sunken eyes, and looked as if he had aged more than ten years.

"Don't even mention it."

The head of the Wang family gave a wry smile, picked up a scroll of bamboo slips, and casually tossed it into the brazier to warm himself.

"I lowered the price to fifty coins, but still no one bought it. Those peasants would rather queue up at the bookstore to buy the prince's books than even glance at my ancient book."

"They said... they thought my book smelled musty and that my handwriting was too ugly."

"Ugly handwriting?!"

The head of the Wang family was so angry that he crushed the wine cup in his hand. "This is the handwriting of a great calligrapher from the previous dynasty! What do they know!"

Whether you understand it or not is no longer important.

Zheng An sat in the corner, clutching the Thousand Character Classic he had picked up, his eyes filled with despair.

"The important thing is that the prince turned books into cabbages. Cabbages are everywhere, so who would treasure rotten leaves?"

"We lost."

"We lost because we were too arrogant, too greedy, and also... too stupid."

The room fell into a deathly silence.

Only the crackling sound of the bamboo slips burning in the brazier seemed to be singing a final elegy for the glory of this thousand-year-old family.

There was a time when they thought they were the players in the game, and the emperor was nothing more than a pawn in their hands.

But now they realize that the eight-year-old child had no intention of playing chess with them at all.

He simply overturned the chessboard.

I also gave each of them a boxed lunch.

"Do we... have any chance of survival?"

After a long silence, a weak voice broke the silence.

The group exchanged glances, and in each other's eyes they saw deep despair and fear.

Money is gone, food is gone, salt is gone, and now even the last vestige of our cultural foundation is gone.

What else can they use to fight that monster?

"That's all."

Zheng An closed his eyes, and two streams of tears slid down his deeply lined cheeks.

"This time... it's really over..."