A Northern Burmese Hostage in 1885: Forging a Global Empire

When he transmigrated into the eldest legitimate grandson of the Mong Hkon sawbwa in northern Burma in 1885, he was being held prisoner in the Mandalay Palace, his body covered in whip marks.

British artillery was already pounding the city walls. On the last night before surrendering, King Thibaw of Burma pushed two princesses toward him. “Take them away. The princesses must not fall into British hands.”

Thirteen years in a cage had brought him not freedom, but an even bigger game.

When he left the palace, he carried three things: a commission from the British army, two princesses from a fallen kingdom, and a mind from the 21st century. In that mind were complete industrial process diagrams, the exact dates of every world war, and the perfect moments to buy in during every economic crisis.

In three years, he reclaimed the sawbwa’s power. In five, he established the Kingdom of Mong Hkon. After that, he moved faster and faster: swallowing Siam, occupying Indochina, reaching the Indian Ocean, seizing East Africa during World War I, buying up half the industrial age during the Great Depression, and taking Australia and the South Seas in World War II.

In 1946, an atomic bomb detonated in the desert of Mozambique. The young man who had emerged from the Mandalay prison had become the founding emperor of the Central South Empire, which spanned four continents. His reign title was Zhaowu.

Some said he owed it all to luck. He said, “I simply saw the answers ahead of time.”

Eighty-one years later, on his sickbed, Emperor Zhaowu told his heir, “Tell Beijing that the machine tools we sent to help build their factories were Lin Yuan’s final assignment.”

To the end of his life, no one ever knew who “Lin Yuan” was.

[No System, no cheat powers, just rigorous historical speculation. Expect plenty of intense battle scenes. Blood pressure warning.]