After spending three years grinding away at Empire Restoration Simulator, overworked office worker Lin Yue opens his eyes to find himself as Zhao Heng, emperor of the Great Qi, beset by troubles at home and abroad. The treasury is so empty even mice would starve, rebel refugees are closing in on Tong Pass, northern barbarian cavalry menace the borders, and factional strife at court shows no sign of ending. Fortunately, he still remembers every fiscal strategy, military technology tree, and political intrigue quest from the game! He fills the treasury with a “national bond plan,” stabilizes the refugees with sweet potato farming, and trains a new army with improved flintlock guns. Along the way, he unexpectedly finds himself entangled in three romances tied to the fate of the empire: a Jurchen princess negotiating border trade, a Persian princess bringing technology from the Silk Road, and a powerful nobleman's only daughter who helps him implement new policies. Armed with the game's wisdom and standing on the brink of national ruin, can Zhao Heng break free of a “Chongzhen-style” fate and lead the Great Qi through its darkest hour to a rebirth, perhaps even ushering in an Eastern industrial dawn?
The plot has ups and downs and is quite interesting.