Rising to Power in Jingxiang During the Five Dynasties

Xiao Jin, a top modern history student, suddenly finds his soul transported to Xiangzhou in 880 AD, where he becomes its governor at the age of just twenty-six. Eight chi tall, or around 1.8 meters, with a face as handsome as jade and an elegant bearing, he awes the officials and military commanders of the entire province as soon as he takes office. At this time, Huang Chao’s forces are approaching Tong Pass, and the Tang dynasty is on the brink of collapse. Warlords are carving up the land, refugees are everywhere, and an age of chaos has begun. Drawing on the knowledge of a thousand years in the future and wielding the art of war of Sun Wu, Xiao Jin takes in refugees, reforms the bureaucracy, builds a powerful army, and develops agriculture and commerce, turning Xiangzhou into a stronghold in the Jianghan region. Beyond its borders, he repels Huang Chao’s rebels and navigates the rival warlords, rising step by step from governor of Xiangzhou to a powerful warlord who commands the respect of all under heaven in the late Tang. With an iron hand, he pacifies Jing and Chu; with strategy and cunning, he dominates the Central Plains. In this turbulent age, he fights to protect the people under his care while carving out his own path to supremacy in the dying Tang dynasty, ultimately becoming a great ruler who ends the divisions of the Five Dynasties.