I Guarded the Frontier for Eight Years, and Now the Emperor Begs Me to Take the Throne

Zhao Ding transmigrated to Great Qian and became the Prince of Yan, tasked with guarding the frontier. He had no grand ambitions: he didn’t want to conquer the world or become emperor, since he was afraid he’d get himself killed too soon. All he wanted was to be a carefree local ruler in his own fief. He could walk his dog, tend his flowers, flirt with his maids, and make a few repeating crossbows and cannons to protect himself. He’d complain to the court about how poor he was while building up his domain on the side. And so, eight years later, outside Great Qian’s borders, towers rose from the ground, and cannons stood atop the city walls. The concrete walls stood thirty meters tall, and the extra-wide military roads could fit eight carriages abreast. Countless defensive nets crisscrossed the land below. Just as his fief had become impregnable, Zhao Ding was finally satisfied and stopped building. That was when the emperor arrived. The emperor said, “Well, well! I told you to guard the frontier, and you built yourself a fortress of war? And you kept complaining about being poor, but how come your warehouses have more silver than the imperial treasury?”