I'll Repair My Own Empire!

[This story is complete! The first few chapters set up the background and may feel somewhat heavy and serious, but the overall tone is lighthearted. Feel free to skip the early chapters if that's not your thing.]

[I've revised this story many times. Please support the official release. It means a lot to me. Thank you so much!]

Transmigrate into a young emperor surrounded by ruthless wolves?

The great clans: Shall we make you a puppet, Your Majesty?

The common people: We can't afford food / we've got waterborne parasites / refugees are on the move too / people are being kidnapped again...

The neighboring Zhou Dynasty and Yan Kingdom: Hey, mind if I take a little? (Come to mooch off you.)

The Imperial Seal kindly reminds you: This world will face a severe drought and extreme cold in seven years. Please prepare accordingly.

Xian Xingzhang: ? Is this a joke? Who put me on hell mode!

A hellish start, but with a golden finger.

The Imperial Seal, like an encyclopedia, glows enticingly.

With knowledge of everything and the ability to see people's desires, Xian Xingzhang is determined to be the emperor!

The serious introduction: The Southern Dynasty is riddled with corruption, commoners have no prospects, famine is widespread, and the people are suffering. Facing troubles at home and abroad after transmigrating into an emperor who ascended the throne at a young age, what can she do?

This country is rotten to its very roots.

Facing such a country, Xian Xingzhang says she isn't here to sit on the dragon throne. She's here to flip the table!

She is willing to recognize talent in anyone who can help this country, whether they are palace maids, eunuchs, people from humble backgrounds, or even beggars.

A talented woman trapped in her home, her ambitions reduced to a joke; a stunning young man treated as a pawn, with no control over whether he lives or dies; a lowly eunuch sold into the palace at birth; a proud and unruly scholar who thinks highly of himself, only to fall from grace overnight... Fate is fickle. They thought they had already seen where their lives were headed, but no one expected her, high as the moon, to pull them up. From then on, they would rise like deadwood returning to life, achieving fame and success.

She will reclaim power, develop water conservancy, reform the salt and iron industries, improve crops, and combat waterborne parasites... She wants everyone on this land, all those who have suffered and been bent beneath the weight of hardship, to stand tall again and never despair. She wants the rivers and seas to be clear and peaceful, and famine to be a thing of the past!

[The protagonist, Xian Xingzhang, appears gentle and authoritative, mysterious and wise, but inside she enjoys a little mischief. She's good at putting on an act, not a genius but willing to learn, and an ordinary person.]

[Warning: Long story. The beginning is a little slow to warm up, with the nation-building starting around Chapter 30.]

P.S. 1. The empress is not a female supremacist. Her bloodline is unusual and allows men to become pregnant.

2. The male lead is Tai Guhuai. He has a somewhat more prominent romantic storyline with the protagonist.

3. There is a harem, but it doesn't get much attention and usually serves the plot.

4. A little political maneuvering, with the focus on nation-building. The beginning is a little slow to warm up, and she reclaims some powers. Most of the story focuses on nation-building, and the ending sees her reunite the realm.

5. The protagonist, Xian Xingzhang, has no romantic storyline in the traditional sense. She may like certain people, but she only loves her power and her people.

6. This is a fictional world inspired by the late Eastern Han Dynasty. The level of technological development is roughly the same, but the historical facts are fictionalized.

7. The protagonist isn't traditionally good and kind. She's very good at using people, can be ruthless when necessary, and is a born politician.

[My next book is now available. Please give it a try!]

A Female Beastfolk Says She Can

People who don't wear clothes are usually considered perverts, and that's only in the best-case scenario.

In reality, most people would call the police or post them online with tags like "bizarre" and "absurd."

But Xian Li, who finds herself in this situation, can only cover her eyes weakly.

There are so many handsome men and beautiful women in front of her!

If they weren't half-naked, with little leather skirts barely concealing what's underneath, she might even stare without blinking.

Above her, beastfolk with soft, springy ears dance, their long, thin furry tails swaying.

Below her, an unknown meat soup, flecked with blood, floats by.

Xian Li: ...

Xian Li throws her head back and howls.

If arriving in a primitive world was already bad luck, then becoming a lion beastfolk, and a female beastfolk with a congenital deficiency at that, is even worse.

Xian Li: "God is a girl!"

Heaven, this is so unfair!

What's wrong with her, anyway?

She's only a little frail and just barely an adult.

Why should she have to eat relief rations?

After more than ten days of eating nothing but meat of unknown origin with a bloody smell, she's had enough!

She doesn't care anymore. Even if people get suspicious, she has to eat something fit for human beings.

So Xian Li shakes off her gloom, gathers all kinds of fruits, wild vegetables, and spices... Then, taking advantage of the beastfolk's not-so-bright minds, she sweet-talks them into clearing land and digging holes for her.

As they slowly get to taste all kinds of delicious food, the tribe's people go from looking at her with pity, to confusion, and then to admiration.

Xian Li says nothing and just keeps clearing land, farming, and raising livestock.

The lion tribe has always been small and unsociable. Yet, from some point onward, it turns the tables, defeats all its rivals, and rises to become the overlord of the grasslands and forests.

It not only takes in many unusual beastfolk, but also opens its arms wide to accept weak tribes seeking refuge, from gray herons to gray mice and marsh snakes.

Xian Li, a female beastfolk, gradually becomes the unquestioned leader of the lion tribe.

When other tribes ask, "Can a female beastfolk really be your leader?"

Xian Li: "I can."

Her people: "She can!"

Tigers are the lions' least favorite, so when Da Hu is driven out of his tribe by his stepfather and collapses, badly injured, outside the lion tribe, he has already given up hope.

It doesn't matter if he dies. He has no future anyway.

But...

"He's a tiger. Once he grows up, he'll be bigger than us and have incredible explosive power. We're so short on manpower. Of course we can't let him go. I mean, we should take him in."

And that's how he's picked up and made into labor for the lion tribe.

Da Hu has always been a man of few words. He's grateful to the lion tribe, and to the female beastfolk who spoke up for him.

So he can't help wanting to stay close to her.

His tiger genes gradually kick in, making him the tallest and strongest beastfolk in the lion tribe, even rivaling the leader of the tiger tribe.

"I can be your slave," he says, bowing to Xian Li in submission.

"But we don't need slaves here."

Xian Li refuses.

She doesn't need a slave, but she could use a fine weapon who can charge into battle and help her turn her tribe into a nation.

Looking into Da Hu's dim eyes, she speaks as if granting him a favor.

"But you can be my warrior. Would you like that?"

Da Hu makes an eternal vow.

"With the gods as my witness, in life I am your blade and axe, and in death I will protect your neck!"

The Seahorse Young Master and the Lowborn

[A melodramatic story in a fictional setting, with a level of technological development roughly equivalent to medieval Europe. Racial differences are minimal because of beastfolk genes.]

In Percival's eyes:

Young masters are glamorous.

Lowborn people are crude and insignificant.

Percival has always taken that for granted.

But he discovers that this lowly person is, in a certain sense,

more noble than he is...?

Because the young master is a young master with seahorse genes.

He's not human.

Male seahorses are the ones who get pregnant.

How pitiful, this "young master" everyone has designated to give birth.

Meanwhile, the lowborn are free.

Even though she's a poor nobody whose disappearance wouldn't matter to anyone, she has the freedom he longs for but can never have.

The young master wants to use her to escape, so he puts on a long-running act.

But as he keeps acting, he realizes that something in his left chest is truly beating for her.

As for Xian Ling...

She transmigrates to a strange planet and ends up surviving by scavenging for trash. One day, she's suddenly brought to the most luxurious family in the Upper City.

Xian Ling: "Well, let's go with it for now." She shrugs helplessly.

Xian Ling has never believed that good luck would come her way.

Facing the young master, who pretends to be kind and innocent in front of her,

she originally only intends to play along for a bit and get a pass into the upper class. Nothing else matters.

But how did it happen that the young master seems to have acted himself into the role?

She doesn't mind having another boyfriend.

As long as...

Her ex-boyfriend, who got dumped without warning and has been looking for her ever since; her ex-ex-boyfriend, who she took money from but pretended they were torn apart by their families; her current boyfriend, the young master's cousin, whom he has always envied, and a truly pure white jasmine flower; and the toxic gentleman who used to be her boss and whom she now keeps dangling...

As long as they don't all show up at once.

That should work... right?

See the announcement for details. Please give these stories a try!

Theme: Everyone is born with the chance to make something of themselves.