A disastrous start? No, this is my path to godhood!
I wake up to find myself a condemned exile in the early Song dynasty. A ruined shack, a sick mother, and a future in tatters. As a trained physician in traditional Chinese medicine with a master's in finance, I smile.
A place of exile? It's my beginner's village!
I gather herbs and practice medicine to build a foundation; issue jiaozi banknotes to restore the financial system, introduce movable-type printing, and spread education.
While foreigners still use gold, copper, and iron coins, I've already adopted the gold standard, binding the interests of the Great Song's powerful families tightly to my own.
After an amnesty sends me back to the capital, my childhood sweetheart has become an imperial consort. I pass the civil service exams and do business under an assumed name, with trade routes reaching Liao, Dali, Tibet, and Japan.
I use a Ponzi scheme to wreck the Liao economy, and make Li Yuanhao, future ruler of Western Xia, run up debts until he sells himself into slavery and becomes the sharpest blade in my service.
When the infant swapped in the “Civet Cat for the Crown Prince” plot ascends the throne, I retire at the height of my success, taking my fleet south across the seas to earn gold from Arabia and Europe.
I don't seek to overthrow the dynasty. I just want the world to run by my rules!
