The Humble-Born Top Scholar: It All Begins with Marrying a Minister's Guilty Daughter

In his previous life, Shen Jiming completed a combined bachelor's and master's degree in engineering at a top-tier 985 university, earned a doctorate in Chinese language and literature at the same institution, and stayed on as a professor, advancing at every turn. Before turning forty, he was on the verge of becoming an associate professor. When he opens his eyes again, he has become one of the so-called “poor gentry” of Qingxi County in the Great Zhou Dynasty. The “poor gentry” are the families of impoverished scholars. And first and foremost, they must be scholars. So although the Shen family is considered poor gentry, its main branch is still a powerful force in the county. Shen Jiming's branch, however, is a branch of a branch. In the eyes of the main branch's descendants, it was an insignificant family whose name they might not even remember. But when the family originally intended to marry into by the senior branch was imprisoned for a crime, Shen Jiming's predecessor was saddled with the troublesome task of taking over their marriage contract to wed the daughter of a convicted official. No matter. He'll handle it. He tops all three examinations and earns the Sixfold Laureate, then helps put the new ruler on the throne. He becomes the youngest chief minister in Great Zhou and also serves as Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince. He clears his wife's family's old grievances and reopens long-buried cases involving old friends. He curbs the powerful, equalizes taxes and corvée, audits the population registers, sets rules for grain transport, fills the granaries, repairs breaches in the rivers, builds embankments, dredges waterways, and restores the military farms. He quells the floods in the south, pacifies pirates in the east, drives out the tribes in the west, and holds back the nomads in the north. He secures the dynasty's foundations, brings peace to the realm, and saves the empire from collapse! “Shen Jiming, His Majesty has bestowed upon you a gold seal and purple sash, a python robe and jade belt, the title of Grandee of Splendid Happiness, the rank of Pillar of State, and the posts of Grand Tutor and Grand Preceptor to the Crown Prince. You have been appointed Director of the Secretariat, Commander of All Forces Within and Without the Capital, and Grandee of the Palace Secretariat, and granted the imperial yellow axe. You may be announced without your name being called, enter court without hurrying, wear your sword and shoes into the throne hall, receive the Nine Bestowments, be ennobled as a duke, and draw the revenues of ten thousand households. What more could you possibly want?” “This minister wants command of all the armies under Heaven.”