Good news: My name is Lin Yuan. I transmigrated to the Tang Dynasty as a six-year-old child, served under four emperors, became the tutor to three generations of rulers, and rose to power over the entire court.
Bad news: Every scheme and move I make is being livestreamed in real time by the “sky screen” to Emperor Taizong Li Shimin in the Zhenguan era!
Lin Yuan had hoped to retire in peace and enjoy life in a prosperous age.
During Emperor Gaozong’s reign, Lin Yuan took a light sip of tea. Ten years of planning made the calamity of Wu Zhou replacing the Tang vanish before it could take shape.
Lin Yuan: “Your Majesty, whether a hen crows at dawn depends only on Heaven’s will and human affairs. I ask that you make Lady Wu Zhaoyi empress.”
Li Zhi: “My dear minister, your sense of justice does you credit!”
Wu Meiniang: “What exactly is Lord Lin up to?”
Late in the Kaiyuan era, An Lushan amassed troops and grew arrogant, his wolfish ambitions plain to see.
One secret letter from Lin Yuan set thirty years of careful preparation in motion, snuffing out the spark of the An Lushan Rebellion before it could ignite.
An Lushan: “You old fox Lin Yuan! How could you know what’s in my heart?!”
Lin Yuan: “A military governor of three circuits? Nothing but a walking corpse in its grave.”
He served four emperors and single-handedly held the heavens up. He broke the aristocratic clans’ monopoly and opened a path for the poor; reclaimed thousands of miles in the Western Regions and secured a century of peace in the north. In the end, he made the Tang Dynasty revered across the four seas, with every nation paying tribute, and brought about a magnificent age unlike any before!
Meanwhile, on the other side of the sky screen, the Zhenguan court was already in an uproar.
Li Shimin:
“What a Lin Yuan! What a pillar of white jade holding up the heavens!”
“So that’s how Lady Wu can be put to use? That scoundrel An Lushan must be executed!”
“Quick! Find that Lin Yuan for me! Not one of my ministers can hold a candle to him! He must be my chancellor! I’ll build an unprecedented age of peace with him!”
A nearby attendant quietly reminded him: “Your Majesty... Lin Yuan is only six years old this year.”
