### Story summary
- **The beginning of humiliation**: As the surrogate son-in-law of the Wang family in Bingzhou, Lin Tao suffered the betrayal of his wife Wang Xuemei and the humiliation of his family. He was even beaten up by bribed officials when he was fighting for peace, and was forced to leave Bingzhou and go to Luoyang to make a living.
- **Twist of fate**: Encountering robbers from Heifeng Village on the way, Lin Tao relied on his wisdom to persuade the robber Zhang Niujiao to surrender, and accidentally rescued Liu Bian, the young emperor of Han Dynasty who was being chased by Dong Zhuo, showing his extraordinary courage and strategy.
- **Early Show of Strength**: Use Liu Bian's identity to trick Dong Zhuo into making Liu Xie the emperor and get a chance to breathe; use distilled wine technology to attract Mi Zhu's investment, establish a preliminary economic foundation and marry Mi Zhen.
- **Talent Gathering**: Save Xu Shu's mother to gain her allegiance; attract Pang Tong and others with his talent in poetry and wine; attract Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and other fierce generals in the name of benevolence and righteousness; treat Huang Zhong's son with medical skills and win the Jingzhou military general group.
- **Power Expansion**: Establish Jingzhou and Soochow base areas, integrate Jiangdong forces through marriage and military means, marry Erqiao to gain support from Jiangdong gentry, and famous generals such as Zhou Yu and Taishi Ci surrender one after another.
- **Foundation of the Dynasty**: After the siege of Luoyang, they conquered Dong Zhuo, Lu Bu and other forces through political marriage, established a scientific examination system to recruit talents such as Zhuge Liang, and formed a seven-way army to start the unification war.
- **The Rise of the Empire**: First pacify the Central Plains, then expand to Annan, Japan and other places, establish a great Chinese dynasty across East Asia, and finally bring all nations to come to the dynasty to realize the unity of the world.
