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

The wind outside Chang'an seemed a few degrees colder than before.

The scroll filled with clauses lay quietly on the ground, its corner pressed down by a piece of gravel. The black words on white paper looked to Zheng Tong like a death warrant.

He reached out his hand, trembling, as if to take it, but then pulled it back as if he had been burned.

"Your Highness...Your Highness..."

Zheng Tong raised his head, his old face contorted in a grimace, his cloudy eyes filled with pleading. "Could you... perhaps change the terms? This land is the legacy left by our ancestors! If we hand it all over, how can we face our forefathers after we die?"

"face?"

Li Chengqian chuckled and leaned forward slightly, as if looking at a fool who hadn't woken up yet.

"Old Zheng, haven't you figured out the situation yet?"

"Now you're all pigs and sheep waiting to be slaughtered, begging me, the butcher, to spare your lives. Have you ever seen a pig haggle with a butcher on the chopping block, asking for two ounces less meat?"

He stretched out his finger and pointed at the document from a distance.

"Ancestral legacy? Don't be ridiculous."

"Don't you have any idea how you acquired this land? By force and robbery, by forcing women into prostitution, by taking advantage of famine years to drive down prices and seize land... How many innocent souls are buried beneath every acre of land?"

"I've already shown respect to your ancestors by not ordering the Imperial Guards to dig up your graves and count your bones."

These words were spoken bluntly and brutally.

The dozens of branch leaders behind Zheng Tong were all ashen-faced, their heads bowed, not daring to even breathe loudly.

They knew the prince was telling the truth.

The wealth of aristocratic families is built on the blood and tears of countless ordinary people.

"What about the private soldiers?"

A steward from the Lu family mustered his courage and asked, "If we dismiss the guards and servants, what if we get robbed...?"

"By thief?"

Li Chengqian chuckled, pointed to the rows of menacing Imperial Guards behind him, and then to Li Shimin, who was still wiping his sword on the city wall.

"In the Tang Dynasty, the biggest 'thief' has already been beheaded by my father, the Emperor."

"As long as you behave yourselves honestly, the laws of the Tang Dynasty will naturally protect you. Or perhaps..."

Li Chengqian's eyes suddenly turned cold, and his voice was low and ghostly.

"Are you keeping your private armies hoping to one day rise again and launch another 'purge of the court'?"

"I wouldn't dare! This humble subject wouldn't dare!"

The steward was terrified, his head banging against the ground with loud thuds. "This humble subject will disperse immediately! I will burn all indentures! Anyone who dares to keep a private army is a coward!"

"That's right."

Li Chengqian nodded in satisfaction and then pointed to the third point.

"As for this last point, sending the children to school."

"The Royal Academy is a place that countless people would kill to get into. I've reserved a spot for you; that's an honor for you."

"Don't think I don't know how many private tutors you have at home, teaching nothing but useless people who only know classical Chinese and are full of bad ideas."

"Send them to me, and I'll give you a 're-engineering' treatment."

"Learn how to be a person, learn what the 'Core Values ​​of the Tang Dynasty' are. Don't worry, we'll give you a 20% discount on tuition."

This is to completely brainwash... no, to completely educate the next generation of aristocratic families into loyal ministers and generals of the Tang Dynasty!

This would sever the very foundation of the family's spiritual legacy!

Looking at the smiling eight-year-old boy in front of him, Zheng Tong felt a chill run down his spine.

That's too toxic.

After this series of combined attacks, the aristocratic families have no land, no people, and no ideas. Apart from having a surname, what difference is there between them and ordinary people?

This is meant to make them completely indistinguishable from ordinary people!

"What? Haven't decided yet?"

Li Chengqian yawned, looked up at the sky, and said, "The sun is already setting; I need to go back for dinner."

"Shen Lian".

"Your subordinate is here!"

Shen Lian, who had been sharpening his knife the whole time, walked over with his Embroidered Spring Blade in his hand. The blade still bore traces of blood from the previous night, emitting a nauseatingly sweet and pungent smell.

"It seems that the heads of the families still value material possessions more than worldly things."

Li Chengqian stood up, patted his bottom, and said regretfully.

"In that case, let's respect their 'integrity'."

"Send them to Caishikou, so they can keep Cui Mingan and the others company, and at least they can have a mahjong game on their way to the underworld."

"promise!"

Shen Lian sneered and waved his hand. The Imperial Guards behind him pounced on him like wolves and tigers, dragging Zheng Tong toward the city.

"No! Don't kill me!"

The fear of death finally shattered Zheng Tong's last psychological defenses.

What ancestral legacy, what family glory—before the cold blade, all of that is utter bullshit!

"I'll sign! I'll sign!"

Zheng Tong let out a pig-like scream, desperately breaking free from the Imperial Guards' grasp, and scrambled toward the document.

He didn't even have time to find ink; he bit his finger and, trembling, pressed it heavily onto the contract that could bring his family to ruin.

Blood stained the paper and also his desperate eyes.

"I'll sign too! Don't kill me!"

"My Lu family is willing to offer up all our land! Just spare my dog's life!"

"My Wang family will sign too! The child will be sent to the academy tomorrow! No delays whatsoever!"

With the first person taking the lead, the rest fell into place.

Hundreds of aristocratic family officials, who were usually high and mighty, were now rushing towards the documents like middle-aged women scrambling for discounted cabbages at a market.

Cries, pleas for mercy, and vows mingled together.

The scene was both comical and tragic.

With trembling hands, they buried their family's centuries-old glory in exchange for a chance to eke out a living.

Fifteen minutes later.

A thick stack of documents was handed to Li Chengqian.

Each one was covered with countless bloody handprints.

Li Chengqian casually flipped through the pages, looking at the astonishing numbers—tens of thousands of acres of fertile land, thousands of acres of forest, tens of thousands of household slaves…

He smiled.

She smiled exceptionally brightly.

"Tsk tsk tsk, so much land, so much labor force."

"If all of this were distributed to the people, wouldn't the potato production in the Tang Dynasty increase several times over next year?"

He raised his head and looked at Li Shimin, who had been silently watching everything from the city wall, and held the contract high in his hand.

The sunlight cast a long, slender shadow on the boy.

At this moment, he was no longer the lazy, salted prince, but a giant who had personally ended the old era.

"Father!"

Li Chengqian's voice was clear and resonant, carrying a sense of relief and ease.

"nailed it."

"The land annexation that has plagued emperors for hundreds of years has been brute-forced and broken by my son and me today."

He patted the heavy stack of papers, a meaningful smile curving his lips.

"This is the cornerstone of the Tang Dynasty's golden age."

"With this land, let's see who dares to rebel in the future? Who can afford to rebel?"

On the city floor.

Li Shimin leaned against the cold wall, looking at his son who was full of vigor in the sunlight, and his eyes became a little moist.

He recalled the hardships of raising an army in Taiyuan, the bloodshed of the Xuanwu Gate Incident, and the frustration he felt when facing the constraints imposed by powerful families since ascending the throne.

And now.

All of this came to a perfect end in the hands of this eight-year-old child.

"good!"

Li Shimin took a deep breath, his voice slightly choked.

"Issue my decree!"

"Immediately order the Ministry of Revenue to survey the land and distribute it according to the number of adult males!"

"I will ensure that all the people of this land own the land they cultivate!"