Three Kingdoms: From County Magistrate to Ruler of the World

Lin Mu, a gaming fanatic, unexpectedly enters the fully immersive Three Kingdoms war game, Kingdoms at War. From the start, he faces hellish difficulty: Longbian County in Jiaozhou has fewer than seven thousand people, only three hundred county soldiers armed with bamboo spears, and enough grain in its storehouses for just three months. To make matters worse, his immediate superior, the Administrator of Jiaozhi, covets his achievements, Liu Zhang of Yizhou eyes him warily, and the warlords of the Central Plains don’t take him seriously at all. Everyone thinks he’s just there to make up the numbers. Until Lin Mu brings out the curved-shaft plow, salt-drying techniques, and blast-furnace ironmaking... Until talented men like Shi Xie, Huang Gai, and Bu Zhi join him one after another... Until eight hundred of Huang Gai’s soldiers rout three thousand county troops... Until Longbian County becomes Jiaozhou’s most prosperous trading hub... Only then do the warlords of the Central Plains realize: when did a fierce tiger emerge in Jiaozhou? Cao Cao sends a letter to win him over, Liu Bei writes to ask for help, and Sun Quan dispatches an envoy to propose a marriage alliance. Lin Mu lays the three letters on the table and smiles. “Let them fight a little longer. I need another two years to build up my strength.” Two years later, Lin Mu marches north and takes Jingzhou in one battle, then conquers Yizhou in another. Five years later, the Three Kingdoms become two rival powers. Seven years later, the realm is unified. On his deathbed, Cao Cao sighs, “I spent my life at war. My greatest mistake was failing to notice that little county magistrate in Jiaozhou back then.” Liu Bei takes Zhuge Liang’s hand. “If I’d known Lin Mu had such ambition, I should have allied with him back then.” Sun Quan gazes at the fleet covering the Yangtze like a vast shadow and falls silent for a long while. “Pass the throne to my son. This war can’t be won.” Yet what no one expects is that, on the day the realm is unified, Lin Mu stands atop the walls of the imperial palace in Luoyang...