After transmigrating to the Western Han Dynasty, with no System or golden finger, he is reborn as the infant imperial grandson Liu Bingyi at the end of the Witchcraft Gu Disaster. At five, he is cast out onto the streets, where he mingles with the underworld, endures every hardship life can offer, and sees through the ways of officialdom. From prisoner to commoner, from a carefree wanderer to an unexpected emperor, he lies low and advances step by step amid powerful ministers and turbulent court politics. He outlives Huo Guang, settles accounts with the Huo clan, and takes imperial power into his own hands. He lightens taxes and corvee labor, reforms officialdom, and ushers in the Zhaoxuan Restoration. He defeats the Xiongnu in the north, pacifies the Qiang in the west, and establishes the Protectorate of the Western Regions, expanding the frontier by thousands of miles and bringing the surrounding tribes to heel. This is the legendary life of the only emperor in Chinese history to have been imprisoned: a man who rose from the dust to reach the pinnacle of a golden age.
