Blazing Tang: From Border Army Foot Soldier to Ruler of a Peaceful Age

The An Lushan Rebellion is over, but the prosperous Tang still lies dead and cold.

Tibet presses at the borders, eunuchs hold sway, regional warlords carve up the realm, and millions wander as refugees. The golden age is like sun-baked earth, golden on the surface but barren beneath.

Li Zheng, a modern special forces veteran, transmigrates in an explosion into the body of a low-ranking squad leader in the Shuofang Army in the second year of the Dali era.

The moment he opens his eyes, he is at the executioner's block.

To stay alive, he hurls a jar of gunpowder and blasts open a path to survival.

To defend the frontier, he uses battlefield simulations to defeat cavalry with infantry.

To feed his troops, he reclaims wasteland for military farms and trades salt permits on the futures market, bleeding the gentry dry.

To claim the realm, he marries a merchant's daughter to take charge of the finances, marries a princess to gain legitimacy, and turns refugees into an iron army.

Over thirty years, he saves loyal ministers, kills eunuchs, swallows up the warlords, subdues Tibet, crushes the rebel armies, and personally escorts the last old Tang emperor from the imperial steps.

Historians condemn him as a usurper, while the people call him the “Son of Heaven Who Brings Peace.”

As the first light of the new empire rises, Li Zheng stands atop Chang'an's city wall and says just one thing to his countless subjects:

“From now on, no one in this realm will have to kneel for peace.”

This is the story of a man who turned ruins into a realm over thirty years,

and the story of a blade, a heart, and a flame that rekindled the Tang.