He Shen 1983: The Rise of a Power Broker

In 1799, Heshen was sentenced by the Jiaqing Emperor to hang himself with a white silk cord in a water dungeon, but unexpectedly transmigrated to Beijing in 1983. Once the most powerful man in the imperial court, this “Second Emperor” now faced China at the dawn of reform and opening up. Armed with his knowledge of history and political savvy, he began an extraordinary comeback across time and space.

When he first arrived in the modern era, Heshen awoke in a dilapidated City God temple and discovered he had taken over the body of an unemployed young man named Wang Jianguo. He quickly mastered modern concepts like ration coupons and ten-thousand-yuan households, then used the policy windfalls of 1983 to build a business empire, starting with reselling fertilizer and taking over township enterprises. Meanwhile, he secretly activated the Corrupt Official System, completing historical tasks such as collecting antiques and manipulating the stock market to exchange for ancient political skills, which he used to pull off one surprise after another in modern business battles.

In public, Heshen invested in special economic zones as a “patriotic entrepreneur,” sponsored scientific research, and even helped shape the computer industry. In private, he contended with foreign capital, used information asymmetries to avoid legal risks, and weathered the crackdown campaign. More troubling still, he discovered that his journey through time was no accident: the soul of the Jiaqing Emperor had also possessed a modern official, and the two began a power struggle spanning time and space.

As Heshen’s business empire expanded across the globe, his true identity gradually came to light. Facing the penalties of modern law and the call of his historical mission, he had to choose between “becoming the richest man” and “rewriting history.”