The Turbulent Five Dynasties: I, Li Shimin, Will Restore the Golden Age of the Tang

In the twenty-third year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin breathed his last on his sickbed. When he opened his eyes again, he had not returned to Chang'an or taken the Dragon Throne. Instead, he had become a teenage descendant of the Tang imperial clan in the early years of Later Liang. The Tang Dynasty was gone, and belonging to its imperial house was a death sentence. Later Liang was hunting down the remnants of the old Tang, warlords were fighting one another, and refugees filled the land. Beside a grain cart, a child was kicked into the mud over half a piece of hard bread. Once the supreme commander of the Imperial Guard, he now had no troops, no food, and no claim to power. He couldn't even shout, "How dare you!" But the army's banners were about to fall, the grain carts were about to be lost, and the defeated soldiers were ready to scatter. Li Shimin forced his wounded body to its feet. His first order was not to restore the Tang or proclaim himself emperor. It was: "Archers, onto the carts! Infantry, hold the left! The grain carts are not to leave." From seizing command of a defeated army to abolishing the relay stations and establishing registers; from a squad of seventeen to fortified villages, county seats, and regional strongholds; starting with a grain cart, a grain ledger, and one military code, he would answer a question anew amid the chaos of the Five Dynasties: Why did the Tang fall? And how should the realm survive? Zhu Wen, Li Cunxu, Yelu Abaoji, Guo Wei, Chai Rong, and Zhao Kuangyin were no ordinary men. Li Shimin would not rely on foreknowledge from a later age or the empty prestige of the old Tang. With battlefield judgment, the support of the people, and a rebuilt system of governance, he would fight his way out of the mud and forge a new realm, one step at a time. This time, he would do more than raise the Tang back up. He would build a realm that could never again give rise to the chaos of the late Tang.