I Sat Up on My Deathbed, Only to Learn I Was the Traitor

Cao Di, a man from Earth, transmigrated into the body of Emperor Wu of Wei and found himself with an unbelievably lucky start from the very beginning. In the final years of the Great Wei, war raged across the land and warlords carved out their own territories. As rebels laid siege to the capital, Emperor Zhaozong of Wei set fire to the imperial palace and threw himself into the flames. With his dying breath, he passed the throne to his only son, Cao Di, who took the imperial title Emperor Wu of Wei. While Cao Di was fleeing to the southern borderlands, Yuan Lang, the chief minister, enthroned Zhaozong’s cousin, Prince of Jin Cao Jie, as the new emperor of Great Wei. The Wu family, a powerful clan in Jiangnan, denounced Yuan Lang as a usurper and installed Prince of Chu Cao Li as emperor. The Liu family, a powerful clan in western Shu, denounced the Yuan and Wu families for throwing the court into chaos and installed Prince of Shu Cao Xin as the new emperor. Before long, Great Wei was split into three. Each regime ruled independently, all striving to prove to the world that it alone was the legitimate one. To eliminate the final threat, Northern Wei, Southern Wei, and Western Wei agreed to a temporary truce and decided to deal with the young emperor who had escaped the palace: Emperor Wu of Wei, Cao Di, whom Emperor Zhaozong had named as his successor. As Cao Di fled, he was stunned to realize that he had somehow become the rebel. All he could do was spread his hands in resignation. Well then, rebels had their own way of doing things! Years later, Emperor Wu of Wei, Cao Di, rode across the vast grasslands north of the Tianshan Mountains, herding tens of thousands of sheep. He peed into the Tigris River to declare the land part of Great Wei, while a fleet of ships so vast it blotted out the sky swept through the Nanyang nations that refused to submit to the imperial order. After charging in with a flurry of wild punches, Cao Di was stunned to discover that Great Wei had become the world’s sole superpower. Conquering the world was never my intention. I just wanted to rule a corner of the world as a bandit king, but you stole my empire and then went too far by refusing to let me be a bandit king. You asked for it!