The Entrepreneur of the Zhenguan Era

In the third year of the Zhenguan era, a severe drought struck. Li Mo, a modern-day corporate drone, transmigrated into Chang’an with nothing to his name. He brewed the Tang Dynasty’s first cup of honey goat milk tea, only to cross paths with Li Shimin, who was traveling incognito. His casual mention of food delivery and a new accounting method happened to solve the emperor’s fiscal crisis, and Li Mo was exceptionally appointed as a Master of Ingenious Arts and opened the Zhenguan Curiosities Pavilion.

He broke the monopoly on maltose by making frost sugar, sparked a hygiene revolution with soap, and transformed city life by improving sanitation. Using modern ideas to build industry, he struck hard at the thousand-year-old interests of the Five Great Clans and Seven Prominent Houses. Branded a “demon,” he faced a commercial siege, supply blockades, and repeated impeachments at court.

Fortunately, Su Yuechan, daughter of an imperial merchant, gave him her all; the fierce general Pei Xingjian stood up for him; and forward-thinking young men like Wei Shuyu became his allies. The admiration of the beautiful women in his life, including Princesses Changle and Gaoyang, Fang Zhilan, and Du Qingwan, warmed his heart, but also concealed political dangers. Behind the great clans stood a conservative elder of the imperial house, who saw Li Mo as the greatest threat to ancestral law and wanted him eliminated.

Wielding his advantage in information as a blade and modern thinking as a shield, Li Mo adapted management knowledge and mathematical principles to the Tang Dynasty and spread them widely. He trained new craftsmen, built an early industrial supply chain, and quietly developed machinery. Under the protection of imperial power and amid the great clans’ relentless attacks, he proceeded with caution, transforming himself from a penniless street dweller into an industrial magnate of the Zhenguan era.

In the end, Li Mo made a grand Zhenguan industrial exposition the stage for a final showdown with the conservative forces. He faced them with tangible improvements in national strength and people’s livelihoods. Through industry, he carved a new path for the Tang Dynasty, sowed the seeds of science and manufacturing, and rewrote the course of Zhenguan history with his own hands!