[Historical + satisfying revenge + frontier army + transmigration]
Shen Yi has one very simple ambition in life: to laze around in the Peach Spring Trade Market he built himself, cuddling feisty young beauties, tearing into fragrant lamb legs, and keeping his head down to stay alive as a carefree young general.
The three biggest pleasure districts are his happy place. He’s a master of eating, drinking, and having fun. The greater good of the nation? Nothing beats a hot drink.
But the rotten court of the Great Jing Dynasty refuses to let him live in peace. The civil officials and eunuch faction in the capital are too busy fighting for power and betraying the country, secretly conspiring with the Golden Wolves beyond the border. With a hundred thousand cavalry at the frontier, they mean to sacrifice the Zhenshuo Army and hundreds of thousands of people along the border.
The veteran soldiers who have guarded the frontier for generations have nowhere to turn with their pleas. His comrades, starving and freezing, are driven to desperation. The Peach Spring Trade Market Shen Yi built with his own hands has become a living hell, and the court has forced Li Qingcang, Marquis of Zhenshuo and the frontier’s pillar, into a dead end.
The sky is falling. The court has abandoned the people of the border, and every path to survival has been cut off.
At last, the scoundrel who used to grin and joke, always thinking of ways to slack off and have fun, grips his blade.
Not for loyalty to the emperor, not for the sake of the country, but for the brothers beside him who would lay down their lives for him, for a meal that lets them live another day, and so they won’t die unjustly beneath the Golden Wolves’ curved blades.
From a low-ranking soldier who just drifted through life, he is forced to become a battle-hardened frontier warrior. He fights corrupt officials, foils conspiracies, and takes command of the Zhenshuo Army, using his streetwise cunning and iron-fisted methods to wage war against the decaying Jing court.
As the Central Plains descend into chaos and the realm falls apart, Shen Yi leads the Zhenshuo Army to repel foreign invaders, pacify refugees, protect the border folk, and win the people’s hearts. From a frontier warlord, he is swept along by the tide of history, step by step, to the very top.
At last, with the people’s support, he claims the throne and founds a dynasty. Looking back on his journey, Shen Yi can’t help but sigh:
“I only built a trade market. How did you end up making me emperor? You’ve made my life so hard!”
