A Real Prince, but Also the Founding Emperor

Wei Yuan was the founder of the Great Yin dynasty, known to history as Emperor Shengwu.

At the age of twenty-nine, he brought an end to more than a century of chaos, unified the land, renamed the dynasty Yin, and established the Wucheng era.

During his eighteen years on the throne, he governed with diligence and gave the people time to recover, ushering in the prosperous era known as the Wucheng Restoration.

Knowing his end was near, he wrote an edict naming his carefully groomed kinsman, Wei Yu, as his successor.

Before closing his eyes, he imagined the magnificent dynasty he had built lasting for generations upon generations.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw a land both familiar and strange.

He had arrived in the Great Yin of 173 years later. The emperor on the throne was his seventh-generation descendant, whose era name was Tianhe. The people called him Emperor Tianhe.

And Wei Yuan had become the son his seventh-generation descendant had recently found and brought back from among the common people.

The Great Yin dynasty, not yet two hundred years old, was now on the verge of collapse.

Corrupt ministers held power, and the court was mired in filth.

The land was divided, with rebels proclaiming themselves emperors.

Foreign invaders had crossed the borders, and the frontier had long run red with blood.

He watched the people suffer and heard them talking about the absurd, immoral rule of emperors from generations past.

His hands itched. He wanted to storm the palace at once and beat his descendant, who had squandered the family legacy, until he spun like a top.

Emperor Tianhe's child, who had been living among the common people, was to be brought back.

At the same time, the struggle for the throne at court had reached a stalemate, and everyone wondered what the appearance of an adult prince would do to the political landscape.

As rumors swirled outside, Emperor Tianhe was receiving his newly discovered son. Looking at the thin young man standing below the steps without kneeling, he was about to fly into a rage.

Then he met a pair of eyes so cold they seemed ready to kill him.

Later historians studying the history of the Yin dynasty would offer many different assessments of its eighth emperor, Emperor Zhaowu.

He imprisoned his father and brothers, staged a coup, and used the cruelest methods to eliminate his rivals, leaving the former court and palace awash in blood. He was a tyrant.

But there was no denying that he was also the one who prolonged the life of the Great Yin dynasty, whose fate had been hanging by a thread.

Theme: Strive to protect the family legacy.