The Turmoil of Min

After Wang Yanzheng, the Prince of Jianzhou of the Min Kingdom, defeated the armies of Fuzhou and Wuyue during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, he embarked on a series of reforms with no System or golden finger.

He reformed land taxes, abolished poll taxes and corvée labor entirely, reclaimed private farmland and introduced a land-contract system, revamped commercial tax regulations, and welcomed farmers from elsewhere, causing the population to surge;

He used modern ideas about commerce to build the Jiandong Economic Zone, introduced commercial housing sales, built roads on a grand scale, and experimented with paper currency, causing the economy to boom;

He established new schools and military academies to train elite troops, introduced military reforms, and greatly increased the army’s combat strength;

He comprehensively fortified mountain passes, strongholds, and cities to keep Jianzhou secure, while developing mineral resources and stockpiling grain. He also seized Taiwan as a strategic rear base, ensuring the army’s supply lines were secure.

As the ancients often said, “When the right moment comes, the winds and clouds will rise.” The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms was an age of endless strife. Wang Yanxi of the Min Kingdom ruled tyrannically, while Jianzhou’s population, economy, military strength, and logistics had all reached their peak. The Min Kingdom should never have been controlled by a brutal tyrant. It was time for the winds and clouds to rise once more and bring peace back to the land.