A Capable Minister of the Late Tang: Supporting the Emperor Above, Crushing the Warlords Below

During the Dashun era of Emperor Zhaozong of Tang, warlords carved up the empire, and Chang'an was sinking into decline.

Ye Xuan, a young man from the 21st century, transmigrated into the body of Shen Ciyuan, the son of a wealthy merchant in Hedong. Watching his family crumble amid the chaos of war, he resolved to use modern ingenuity to fight for a chance at survival. He reformed the salt and iron trades to replenish the treasury, used gunpowder and fortification techniques to intimidate the military governors, and even rescued the young emperor Li Ye from an assassination attempt on Zhuque Avenue. At court, the ruler and his minister joined forces to plot their moves: they would use commercial warfare to cut off the warlords' sources of wealth and open new avenues for taxation through maritime trade. Economics from a thousand years in the future became the remedy that kept the Tang dynasty alive.

In the martial world, Yan Ningyu, young master of the Caobang, disguised herself as a man while commanding thirteen waterways. At a flower fair in Luoyang, she exposed the illicit salt Shen Ciyuan was transporting with a single stroke of her sword, only for him to see through her disguise in turn. From a bloody salt-pool massacre to missing grain shipments, the two went from suspicion to working together, tearing open the vast web of powerful clans devouring the empire, one trade route and blade at a time.

He was a lone soul from another world, using concrete to build the backbone of an empire.

She was a warrior forged in chaos, cutting through the clouds of conspiracy with her sword.

When court intrigues collide with the fires of the martial world, the salt and iron ledgers conceal more than unimaginable wealth. They also reveal a deadly tumor festering for a century.

In an age when the empire teeters on the brink of collapse,

a transmigrator uses economics to reignite the glories of the Tang,

while a warrior of the martial world washes the stars bright with blood.

This is a desperate gamble against fate:

the stakes are life and love,

and the most brilliant sunset and dawn in the history of China.

◆ Modern business strategy versus an ancient power struggle

◆ An emperor and his ministers join forces to reform the empire, while martial-world heroes and heroines break the deadlock and weave a web of their own

◆ A legendary tale that overturns history by striking at its economic lifelines