The Torn Green Robe

I transmigrated into the Tang dynasty as the prince with the most infamous cuckold’s crown: Li Mao, Prince of Shou.

When I woke, my mother had just been buried, and my father’s imperial edict arrived at the same time: Prince Zhong was to be named crown prince.

In the mourning hall, the courtiers’ gazes scraped over me like knives, some pitying, some gleeful. I knew what would happen next. In three months, my consort, Yang Yuhuan, would catch my father’s eye. History would give me the nickname “Cuckold Prince,” and I would vanish without a trace.

But they didn’t know I had studied this period of history.

That very night, I told Yuhuan, “Starting tomorrow, pretend to be ill and stay inside.” She asked why. I only said, “Trust me.”

The next day, I knelt in the throne hall and asked to be granted a remote border town so I could farm.

The entire court laughed at my foolishness. My father was delighted and rewarded me with a godforsaken patch of land in Youzhou.

They thought I had accepted my fate.

But they didn’t know that in three months, Turkic cavalry would reach the border; in three years, the An Lushan Rebellion would erupt; and in thirty years, the frustrated prince they mocked would command an army of two hundred thousand Black Armored Guards and stand atop Chang’an’s city wall, watching envoys from every kingdom come to pay tribute.

My first step was to grow a dynasty from that barren patch of land.

Though my green robe is torn, I will reunite the realm. In this life, I will rewrite everyone’s fate.