I Just Wanted to Lie Flat, but the Emperor Forced Me to Back the Crown Prince

[Not a Power Fantasy]+ [Alternate History]+ [No System]

(No technological inventions: the ancients lacked the productive capacity for that. Nitpickers and armchair experts who use history for clickbait, stay away.)

Shenzhou. The previous dynasty has fallen, heroes rise from every quarter, and the realm is in chaos.

“Waaah, waaah.”

Amid an infant's cries, Gu Chengning was born.

At Huining City, Gu Sheng was directing the defense.

“Report, General! Madam has given birth to a son.”

Gu Sheng wiped the blood from his face, overcome with excitement.

“Hahaha! I, Gu Ziming, have an heir! Your Highness, Brother Heng, today I, Gu Sheng, swear on my life that I will never surrender!”

Twenty years later, at the Marquis of Huining's residence in Yongning, the capital.

“My lord, I hear a new courtesan has arrived at Wangchun Tower. Would you like to go see her?”

“My lord, a new gambling house has just opened in Yiyang Ward. Would you like to try it out?”

“Good. The gambling house this afternoon, the brothel tonight.”

“Father, I would never marry a wastrel like Gu Chengning.”

“What? Liu Qian'er refuses to marry me? Duke Xu wants to break off the engagement? Isn't that a slap in my face?”

Gu Chengning lost both parents at a young age. His father died in battle, and his mother was murdered.

For his father's achievements, he was made Marquis of Huining, with a fief of two thousand households and six hundred households in direct possession.

“You scoundrel, you good-for-nothing! Your father was so brave. How could he have a wastrel like you for a son? Not a single official in court is willing to marry his daughter to you. Do you want to leave Brother Sheng and the Gu family without an heir? You're driving me mad!”

“Your Majesty, I never intended that. I was hoping to marry eight or ten wives someday and give my parents a whole crowd of grandchildren and granddaughters.”

“Like hell you will! Get out of my sight!”