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

The candlelight flickered, then was extinguished by a pale little hand.

The interior of Lizheng Hall was instantly plunged into darkness, with only the sound of rain pattering outside the window, like a death knell tolling.

Li Chengqian sat in the darkness, the warmth of the ashes from the note still lingering on his fingertips. The Persian cat, which he usually stroked until its fur was bald, was now huddled in the corner of the roof beam, its fur standing on end, whimpering in the direction of its master, as if the person sitting there was no longer an eight-year-old child, but a ferocious beast ready to devour its prey.

"Old Xu."

Li Chengqian's voice was very soft, so soft it was like a dream, yet it made Xu Xiao, who was standing in the shadows, tense up on his face, which was as bark as an old tree.

"I used to think that although these aristocratic families were a bit greedy and bad, they were still human beings at least."

"I can tolerate their hoarding and speculation, trying to make dirty money. After all, people die for wealth and birds die for food; it's human nature."

"They hired someone to kill me, they wanted my life, but I can tolerate it. After all, it's a power struggle, and everyone has to use their own methods."

Li Chengqian slowly stood up and walked to the window.

Lightning ripped through the night sky, its pale light instantly illuminating his youthful face.

Those eyes, usually sleepy and with a hint of languor, were now deathly cold. There was no anger, no roar, only an indifference that made you feel like you were already dead at first glance.

"But, I shouldn't have done that, I shouldn't have done that."

"They shouldn't have handed the knife to outsiders, letting them stab their own compatriots in the heart."

"Thirty thousand catties of refined iron..."

Li Chengqian reached out and caught the raindrops drifting in from the window; they were icy cold.

"How many scimitars would that require? How many arrowheads would that need to be made?"

"Whose bodies will these weapons, forged from iron, ultimately fall upon? Will they be the soldiers guarding the frontier, or the unarmed civilians of Youzhou and Liangzhou?"

"This is no longer just greed."

Li Chengqian clenched his fist, crushing the rainwater in his palm.

"This is—a beast."

"In this world, there are some bottom lines that must never be crossed. If you cross them, you will die, and die a horrible death."

Xu Xiao, his body hunched over, stepped out of the shadows, and two ghostly green flames ignited in his cloudy old eyes.

As a former ruthless killer, he was all too familiar with that look.

This means the master is truly enraged and is about to unleash a massacre.

"Your Highness, Qinglong's side is ready."

Xu Xiao's voice was hoarse and carried a bloody stench. "With just your order, the Embroidered Uniform Guard can intercept that convoy right now and hang the heads of those in charge on the city wall."

"No rush."

Li Chengqian turned around, his cold expression instantly vanishing, replaced by a nonchalant smile, though this smile carried a chillingly sinister aura.

"If we arrest them now, at most it'll be a smuggling charge, and they'll just get a few heads chopped off. That's too lenient on them."

"What I want is to uproot them completely, to exterminate their entire clan. I would feel like I'm losing even one dog if they were gone."

He walked to the desk, picked up the blueprints of the "Mo Family Mechanical City," and casually tossed them to Xu Xiao.

"Let them go."

"Let that convoy leave the city, let them think they've succeeded, let them lower their guard in their euphoria."

"Then, have Shen Lian lead his men to follow them. I need to know who their contact is, and who is the one who made the connection with the Turks."

"Wait until the moment they make the deal..."

Li Chengqian made an explosion gesture and muttered a soft "Boom!"

"Caught red-handed, with irrefutable evidence."

"Then let's see who dares to plead for them, and who dares to accuse me, Li Chengqian, of being tyrannical!"

"promise!"

Xu Xiao accepted the order, and with a flicker, he disappeared back into the darkness.

Only Li Chengqian remained in the hall.

He looked out the window at the increasingly heavy rain and suddenly felt a little bored.

"Killing is still too crude."

"Since they like playing with iron, then I will show them what a real steel torrent is."

……

The next morning, at Ganlu Palace.

Li Shimin sat on the dragon throne with a worried expression, holding a blunt sword in his hand, sighing repeatedly.

This sword is standard issue equipment for the Xuanjia Army. Yesterday, during training at the drill ground, it was broken by a soldier who used too much force.

"What kind of junk is this?"

Li Shimin threw the broken sword to the ground with a loud clang. "What are those people in the Ministry of Works good for? They allocate so much money every year, and all they produce is this kind of garbage?"

Minister of Works Duan Lun knelt on the ground, his back soaked with cold sweat.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me!"

Duan Lun, with a mournful face, said, "It's not that we haven't tried our best, it's just that... good iron is really hard to come by!"

"Although our Tang Dynasty's iron smelting technology was inherited from the Han Dynasty, the process of refining steel was time-consuming and labor-intensive, resulting in extremely low output. If we wanted to equip the army on a large scale, we could only use this kind of ordinary cast steel."

"Moreover...moreover, there's a severe shortage of refined iron on the market recently, causing prices to skyrocket. Even the most skilled cooks in the Ministry of Works can't cook without rice!"

"Excuses! All excuses!"

Li Shimin was so angry that his beard trembled. "Why are the Turks' scimitars so sharp? Did their iron fall from the sky?"

"I don't care! What I want is a good knife that can cut off a Turk's neck, not this kind of firewood stick that dulls after a couple of slashes!"

"If you can't produce good weapons, I'll melt down your entire Ministry of Works for iron smelting!"

Duan Lun was so frightened that he trembled all over and didn't dare to lift his head.

That's simply asking the impossible!

The smelting technology has been passed down for hundreds of years; how can it be changed so easily? Unless Lao Tzu himself appears and gives us an alchemy furnace, that would be more likely.

Just when the emperor and his ministers were deadlocked and the atmosphere was extremely awkward.

A light footstep, accompanied by that familiar, irritating voice, came from outside the hall.

"Oh dear, Father, why are you so angry so early in the morning?"

"Are you looking for someone to vent your anger on? How about I tell you a joke to cool you down?"

Upon hearing this voice, Li Shimin's temples throbbed.

Looking up, he saw Li Chengqian.

Today, this unfilial son was dressed in a smart outfit, with the cuffs tightly rolled up and his feet in fast boots. He looked quite energetic, if you didn't look at the half-eaten cucumber he was holding.

What are you doing here?

Li Shimin glared at him irritably. "I'm annoyed right now and don't have time to listen to your nonsense. If you want to upset me, come another day."

"Tsk, Father, you're really hurting my feelings."

Li Chengqian took a bite of cucumber with a "crunch," walked over to Duan Lun, and helped the poor Minister of Works up.

"Lord Duan, the ground is cold. Don't kneel and hurt your knees. Otherwise, no one will be able to do the work in the Ministry of Works, and Father will blame me again."

Duan Lun was moved to tears and gave the prince a look that said, "The Crown Prince is benevolent."

Li Chengqian picked up the broken knife from the ground, pinched the blade between two fingers, and applied a little force.

"Snapped!"

The already chipped blade was broken off like a piece of a pastry.

"It's definitely garbage."

Li Chengqian shook his head and casually threw the fragment into the wastepaper basket next to him. "I wouldn't even want to use this kind of junk to cut vegetables."

"You!" Li Shimin was furious. "Did you come here just to laugh at me?"

"No, no."

Li Chengqian stuffed the remaining cucumber into his mouth, clapped his hands, and revealed a mysterious smile on his face.

He walked up to Li Shimin's desk, placed his hands on the table, leaned forward, and his eyes gleamed with a glint of "troublemaking."

"Father, didn't you complain that the knife was no good? Didn't you complain that there wasn't enough iron?"

"Your Majesty, I recently tinkered with some little gadgets in that abandoned manor outside the city."

"While I wouldn't dare call it Laozi's alchemy furnace, compared to the Ministry of Works..."

He glanced at Duan Lun and retorted mercilessly.

"That's the difference between a grandfather and his grandson."

"How is it, Father?"

Li Chengqian raised an eyebrow, his tone full of seduction.

"Want to come with me and see for yourself? The scene... I guarantee it'll be a hundred times more exciting than fireworks during Chinese New Year!"