Reborn: I Introduced Performance Reviews at the Ming Dynasty Border

Late in the Tianqi era, in northern Shaanxi. Shen Wang woke in a ruined temple, with seven corpses around him and blood still trickling from the back of his head. He had transmigrated into the body of a hereditary company commander, responsible for forty-one soldiers while drawing ghost salaries for a hundred and twenty. His sword was rusted, and his bowstring was snapped. Fortunately, in his previous life, he had worked in management. He would farm to meet performance targets and kill enemies to hit his KPIs. Refugees would become his recruits, and the Mongols his trading partners. While the Later Jin and the Ming fought to the death in Liaodong, he quietly spent ten years growing buckwheat in the Hetao region. By the time the realm descended into chaos, his troops were already well trained and his granaries full. All he had to do was wait for his moment. He established the separation of powers, introduced equal land distribution and abolished slavery, and promoted practical learning to launch an industrial revolution. Then, after reaching the pinnacle of power, he chose a path no founding ruler had ever taken: He returned power to the system, not to bloodlines. Many years later, a stele stood beside the buckwheat fields of Yanhe Fort: A company commander lies buried here. He made sure everyone in the realm had food to eat.