The Most Ferocious Startup Team in History

Core Concept

Using the official historical timeline as the backbone and anecdotes from unofficial histories and folk legends as the flesh, this story recounts the century of upheaval from the rise to the fall of the Yuan dynasty in a witty, humorous style. It depicts both the schemes and campaigns of emperors and generals and the everyday joys and sorrows of ordinary people, bringing to life a dynasty that has been misunderstood yet is rich in legend.

Target Style

Lighthearted without distorting history, accessible without being vulgar, balancing historical rigor with the pleasures of fiction. The narrative pacing takes inspiration from Those Things in the Ming Dynasty, while incorporating the distinctive cultural traditions of the steppe peoples.

Opening

If someone asked which was the most formidable “startup team” in five thousand years of history, what would you say?

The answer has to be the Mongol cavalry.

The founder of this team was Temujin, better known as Genghis Khan, and his start was hellishly difficult.

In 1162, Temujin was born on the banks of the Onon River on the Mongolian steppe. At birth, the baby clutched a blood clot in his right hand, much like the curved saber worn at a steppe warrior’s waist. His father, Yesugei, had just won a battle, so he named his son after a captive.

No one could have imagined that one day this name would make all of Eurasia tremble.