The Great Zhou dynasty has stood for more than three hundred years. It appears peaceful on the surface, but in reality, the imperial court, the cabinet, old and new aristocratic clans, frontier generals, and hidden forces among the common people all keep one another in check. Every decree issued at court can affect the frontier army's provisions, the salt merchants' ledgers, the clans' farmland, officials' memorials, and enemy cavalry.
After transmigrating, Shen Zhiwei, a modern graduate student in history, became the eldest legitimate son of the Jiangnan Shen family, a newly established official clan whose heir shared his name. He thought that with his father serving as Vice Minister of Revenue, and the Shen family owning estates, salt businesses, and powerful connections in the capital, his official career would be smooth sailing.
But he gradually discovered that his father, whom he revered most, might be no more than a pawn used by the cabinet's second-in-command to absorb the blows;
The lofty grand councilors had to bow before the emperor, while the emperor himself had no choice but to bow to the great clans, the frontier garrisons, and the tides of the age.
Shen Zhiwei went from arrogance, anger, and resentment to learning when to yield, how to bargain, and how to leave himself room to maneuver.
He couldn't make the world perfect. He could only keep it from falling apart.
