Transmigrated into a Time of Turmoil: I Build a Powerful Southwest Kingdom Ruled by an Empress

[No CP] Su Lingyu, who studied civil engineering and public administration, transmigrated to the chaotic final years of the Dayong Dynasty.

The dynasty was collapsing. The warlord Xiao Zhi occupied the old capital, held the young emperor hostage, and used imperial edicts to command the lords of the realm in the emperor's name. The Central Plains were consumed by war, and refugees fled in every direction.

After a series of hardships, Su Lingyu escaped to the plague-ridden, mountain-ringed region of Qian in the southwest. The area was ruled by numerous tusi chieftains, its old officials were corrupt and brutal, and its roads were treacherous, but it also contained fertile land and rich mineral deposits.

Without a heaven-defying golden finger, she gathered displaced civilians and established a foothold in an abandoned military settlement. She fought epidemics, reclaimed wasteland, carved roads through the mountains, brought river valleys and basins under one administration, and promoted trade and integration among the local tribes.

The southwest grew steadily more prosperous. Then an imperial edict from Xiao Zhi arrived, demanding tribute and troops, and ordering her to bow in submission. Defying the edict would make her a rebel; obeying would reduce her to a pawn.

A secret edict calling for the emperor's rescue stirred the flames of war across the land, and the Central Plains' armies advanced on the mountain passes. Su Lingyu navigated the rival powers, defending her territory with the natural barriers of the mountains and using mineral wealth and trade to forge alliances and outmaneuver her rivals.

She did not seek to conquer the Central Plains. She only wanted to protect the people under her rule. Deep among the countless mountains, she built a prosperous and peaceful southern realm amid the chaos.

But the wheel of fate kept turning, and she ultimately became the founding empress of a new dynasty.