Three Kingdoms: Lu Bu Claims the Empire

A modern self-help guru wakes up in the Three Kingdoms era as Lü Bu, the man reviled as a “barbarian bastard from the borderlands.” From the start, Dong Zhuo humiliates him. But Lü Bu rejects the historical path of being branded a “slave to three masters.” Using a secret imperial edict as his pretext, he draws his sword and kills Dong Zhuo, then uses the name of “loyal servant of the Han” to cow the generals of Xiliang and seize control of Luoyang’s military command in short order. After that, he establishes his reputation with peerless martial prowess, crushing skulls with his bare hands and killing with flying swords, while winning hearts with the principles of success: he treats Zhang Liao and Gao Shun with heartfelt trust, balances favor and discipline with Hua Xiong, and champions a policy of “judging by merit, not birth,” breaking the aristocratic clans’ monopoly on power. By then, the eighteen warlords are still gathering at Suanzao, but Lü Bu already controls Luoyang’s central government and has entered the contest for supremacy ahead of them. He must rewrite the defeats of famous battles like Hulao Pass and Xuzhou, use the emperor to command the warlords amid a whirlpool of political schemes, and win both a harem of beauties and an empire. He will forge a path from “borderland warrior” to “hegemon of the Three Kingdoms,” making the name “Lü Fengxian” a banner for the rise of common-born men and a legend that inspires fear in the warlords.