Building a New Era’s Underworld with the Emperors

The blurb is provisional and may undergo major revisions later, but the core premise will stay the same.

The emperors meet and get to know one another in the underworld, working together to build a better afterlife (not really).

The kings, nobles, ministers, and generals closed their eyes and sank into a blissful dream.

They thought they could go on enjoying the same privileged lives they had in life, only in another world.

But then they were hit with a devastating revelation.

Building the underworld starts with you and me.

The underworld will assign you a house, but you have to handle the renovations and furnishings yourself.

The emperors, who had never known what it meant to have nothing but bare walls, were speechless...

You buried those grave goods yourselves. You can't expect underworld staff to sort them out for you. Of course you have to haul them to the storeroom yourself.

Terracotta warriors are terracotta warriors. They won't turn into real people and do your work for you. What's more, you'll have to make room for them yourselves.

The First Emperor was buried beneath a flood of terracotta warriors.

The Han emperors laughed at his misfortune. They had pottery figurines buried with them too, but at least theirs were small.

They laughed and laughed until tears streamed down their faces.

And to top it all off, they had to clear land, grow vegetables, and dig wells. What a miserable life.

The emperors' only hobby was waiting by the River of Forgetfulness for loyal ministers and valiant generals to arrive. Well, mostly so they could recruit them as laborers.

Then countless emperors saw their beloved ministers arrive in pieces and let out a furious roar from the depths of their souls: "You little brat! I'm not done with you!"

Another peaceful day in the underworld.

A junior underworld official thought to himself, beaming.

As living standards and productivity in the underworld continued to improve, more and more souls chose not to reincarnate.

Seeing the underworld grow increasingly crowded, a certain martial-minded Han emperor eagerly advised the King of Hell: "With so many talented generals at our disposal, why not just conquer the Netherworld next door? When it comes to territory, more is better."

The King of Hell: ...

P.S. This is expected to be a very long novel. It will probably start in the pre-Qin era, perhaps with Duke Xiao of Qin?

Then it will continue through the end of the Ming dynasty, though not every generation will be covered in detail. The dynasties I like will get more attention, and I may use some time-skipping tricks.

I haven't decided whether to write about the Qing dynasty. The late Qing and modern era can't really be written about, which would make it rather pointless, not really. I'll think it over some more.

Theme: I love farming, and I love building things from the ground up.