Coming soon.
In a sentence: What would happen if an emperor, raised to max level in a strategy game but convinced he was a tyrant, became Emperor Gaozong of Song? How could he save the Great Song?
I pity you as you dance at midnight, declaring, "A man's heart is iron until death." Let us see you put your skills to the test and mend the rift in the sky. - [Song dynasty. Xin Qiji] He Xin Lang: Tongfu Replies, Using the Previous Rhyme Again
Zhao Yuan was an incompetent ruler, controlled throughout his life by an unseen force.
During his reign, he neglected government, waged wars recklessly, treated human lives as worthless, kept the maritime ban in place, launched massive construction projects, exhausted the people's resources, acted with stubborn arrogance, and indulged in his harem. His countless and monumental misdeeds were beyond reckoning. He embodied every trait of a foolish and tyrannical ruler.
After he was controlled into taking poison and killing himself, Zhao Yuan thought he had finally escaped. But in the blink of an eye, he discovered that he was to take the throne again in a country named Song.
The veteran ministers around him announced with heavy hearts that his father and elder brother had been captured by the Jurchen from the north, and that only he, Zhao Gou, the Ninth Prince, could take charge.
Just as Zhao Yuan despairingly decided to lie flat, thinking that his manipulated life would have to start all over again, he realized that he was no longer being controlled.
A wild flame suddenly blazed in Zhao Yuan's heart. Given another chance, he wanted to be a wise ruler.
Zhao Yuan understood perfectly what it took to be a wise ruler:
Make the nation prosperous and its people well-fed, let them recover and rebuild, and end war through strength;
Ensure harmony between ruler and ministers, accept advice readily, and keep the interference of nobles and royal in-laws at bay.
But with the enemy at the gates, Zhao Yuan donned his armor and took up arms. He once again resorted to the tactics of that unknown force that had controlled him: waging reckless wars, exploiting the people's labor, and personally leading the army into battle. He relied on ministers who favored war and the nobility, mobilizing the nation's resources to fight the Jurchen to the death.
Unexpectedly, this way of governing made the Great Song as prosperous and peaceful, with as harmonious a government and people, as he had imagined.
Zhao Yuan couldn't understand how he had become the tyrant the ministers of the Xia Kingdom talked about while he was being controlled.
Dismissed Xia Kingdom minister: With the way you fire a few useless officials and execute a few corrupt officials every month just for fun, the only reason we haven't cursed your family for eighteen generations is that we're afraid of being thrown into prison!
Content warning: Male lead story, with virtually no romance. There are more scenes of the ruler and Yue Fei as sovereign and subject than there are scenes with the harem.
At its heart, this is an alternate-history fantasy about saving the Northern Song and Yue Fei. The Jurchen will be defeated later. Readers fond of the steppe or Jurchen regimes, or their history, may want to steer clear.
Theme: Don't waste your youth, only to end up with gray hair and regrets.
