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

"Boom—!"

The nanmu gate of the Cui family of Boling, which had been passed down for hundreds of years, was violently pushed open.

Dai Zhou took the lead, like a hungry wolf smelling meat, leading a group of Ministry of Revenue officials with green eyes, howling as they rushed into this deep mansion that even the prime minister had to present a formal letter of invitation to enter.

"Seal it off! Seal it all off!"

"Not even a fly is allowed to escape! Those are flies from the national treasury!"

Dai Zhou waved the seal in his hand, spitting as he spoke.

The Cui family mansion was now devoid of its former elegance and arrogance. Servants and servants knelt on the ground, trembling with fear.

"Your Excellency! We've found it! The cellar has been found!"

A foreman stumbled over, his face contorted with shock. "In the back garden! Under the rockery! A huge... a huge hole!"

"Quick! Lead the way!"

Dai Zhou lifted the hem of his official robe and ran faster than a rabbit.

When the group arrived at the back garden, they saw that the huge Taihu stone rockery had been knocked down, revealing a dark hole underneath.

"Several million strings of cash?"

Dai Zhou snapped out of his shock, scoffed, and said with a fanatical glint in his eyes, "Young man, you underestimate the foundation of a thousand-year-old family."

He strode into the depths of the cellar, where hundreds of locked large mahogany chests were placed.

"Guards! Smash it open!"

"Clang! Clang!"

As the Imperial Guards violently broke down the boxes, the lids were pried open one by one.

That instant.

The golden light, silver light, and glittering jewels intertwined to form a dazzling sea of ​​light, almost blinding everyone's eyes.

No longer moldy copper coins, but ingots of gold and silver!

There was also a fist-sized luminous pearl, a red coral half the height of a person, and a complete set of Hetian jade artifacts...

"My goodness..."

Dai Zhou felt his heart pounding in his chest. Trembling, he reached out and touched the cold gold ingot. After confirming it wasn't a hallucination, he suddenly turned around and let out a piercing roar.

"An abacus! Quickly, bring me an abacus!"

"Get to work, all of you! Not a single copper coin can be wrong! This all belongs to His Majesty! It all belongs to the Great Tang!"

More than a hundred accountants sat on the ground, each with a small mountain of books piled up in front of them.

"Crackling and popping—"

The clinking of the abacus beads instantly resounded throughout the entire cellar, the sound so dense it was like a torrential downpour pounding on banana leaves, or the clanging of swords and the thunder of clashing spears on a battlefield.

Dai Zhou took to the abacus himself, his withered fingers flying across the board so fast that only afterimages could be seen.

"Fifty thousand taels of gold... deposited!"

"Three hundred thousand taels of silver... deposited!"

"Ten bushels of pearls...into the tent!"

As the numbers continued to accumulate, large beads of sweat appeared on Dai Zhou's forehead, and his breathing became increasingly rapid.

Too much.

It's too much.

This is not just confiscating property; it's clearly emptying out half of the wealth of the Tang Dynasty!

Sudden.

"Snapped!"

A crisp sound rang out amidst the dense clatter of abacuses.

The old rosewood abacus in Dai Zhou's hand, which he had used for twenty years, broke in the middle because he turned the lever too fast and too hard!

The abacus beads clattered and rolled all over the floor.

Dai Zhou was stunned.

He stared blankly at the abacus broken in two in his hand for a moment, then suddenly jumped up, grabbing his hair and shouting:

"Requisition all the carriages in Chang'an! Bring all those idle officials from the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Works, and even the Ministry of Rites to me... no, bring them all here!"

"All night! All night tonight!"

"If this money isn't all transported, I won't die in peace!"

……

One hour later.

On Zhuque Avenue, a strange scene appeared that the people of Chang'an would never forget.

One after another, four-wheeled carriages (Li Chengqian's modified version) formed an endless long line, slowly driving out from the mansions of various noble families.

The wheels creaked heavily on the bluestone slabs, leaving deep ruts in the ground.

Each vehicle was packed full, covered with tarpaulins, yet it still couldn't conceal the heart-pounding "opulence" of its cargo.

"My God! Was all of this confiscated from the Cui family's house?"

"I heard that the trucks transporting money were lined up for three miles!"

"How much blood have those damned aristocratic families sucked from us?!"

The people lined both sides of the street, pointing and whispering, their eyes filled with shock, but even more so with anger.

I only knew that aristocratic families were rich before, but who would have thought that they were this rich?

Every gold and silver ingot, every string of copper coins, is not only stained with the stench of money, but also with the blood, sweat, and tears of these ordinary people!

"Well done!"

Someone in the crowd shouted out.

"Good job! Let's take all this hard-earned money and put it into the national treasury! Won't we be able to pay less tax in the future?"

"Of course! His Highness the Crown Prince is benevolent; he will certainly think of us!"

Cheers erupted everywhere as the people watched the cartloads of wealth being transported to the palace, as if it were their own happy occasion.

……

Taiji Palace, Ganlu Hall.

Li Shimin was pacing back and forth in the hall, holding a teacup.

Although he pretended to be calm on the surface, his frequent glances toward the door betrayed his inner anxiety.

"Why aren't they back yet?"

"They've been gone all afternoon. Is that old man Dai Zhou obsessed with money?"

Li Shimin muttered something, picked up his teacup, and took a sip.

This is a newly harvested pre-Qingming Longjing tea from this spring. It has a wonderful aroma and is usually his favorite, but today it tastes bland and tasteless.

Just then.

Wang De rushed in, panting, carrying a thick, brick-like account book.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"

Wang De was running so fast that he tripped over the threshold and almost dropped the account book.

"He's back! Minister Dai is back!"

"This is...this is the preliminary review list!"

Li Shimin's eyes lit up, and he slammed the teacup down on the table, almost snatching the account book away.

"Quickly! Let me see!"

He took a deep breath and turned to the first page.

I only glanced at it.

Li Shimin's hand trembled slightly.

That was the Cui family's cash balance.

"Five...five million strings of cash?!"

Li Shimin rubbed his eyes, thinking he was seeing things.

You should know that in the early years of the Zhenguan era, how much was the national treasury's annual revenue?

He swallowed hard and continued flipping through the pages.

The Lu family... three million strings of cash.

The Zheng family...four million strings of cash.

The Wang family...

As the pages turned, astronomical figures struck Li Shimin's heart like heavy hammer blows.

Besides cash, there's something even more frightening coming up.

Shop contracts in Chang'an City: 800 shops.

Land deeds for fertile fields in Guanzhong: 50,000 hectares.

And then there were the warehouses piled high with silk, porcelain, and antiques…

There were even boxes and boxes of usurious loan receipts!

The more Li Shimin looked, the more alarmed and angry he became, and the more his hands trembled.

When he turned to the last page and saw the total sum.

boom--!

It felt like a firework exploded in my mind.

He froze, his mouth slightly open, his eyes fixed on the spot.

"This...this..."

Li Shimin subconsciously wanted to pick up his teacup and take a sip of water to calm his nerves.

His hand reached towards the table and touched the teacup.

However, my hands were shaking so badly.

"Snap—!"

Before he could even bring the white jade teacup to his lips, it slipped from his hand and shattered on the gold-brick floor.

A crisp cracking sound echoed in the silent hall.

But Li Shimin didn't even glance down at it.

He just stared intently at the ledger, letting out a low growl like that of a wild beast.

"Wealthy enough to rival a nation..."

"This is true wealth that rivals that of a nation!"

"I, the emperor... am actually less wealthy than one of these noble families' dogs?!"