The Crane Returns to Liangshan to Fight the Jin

Shen Chuan was a graduate student specializing in Song dynasty history. As he gazed at Auspicious Cranes in the museum, a crane in the painting captured his soul with a single glance. When he opened his eyes again, he had become Zhao Ji, Prince Duan, with only three days left before he would ascend the throne.

The System activated, binding him to a pocket dimension where a points shop offered firearms blueprints, high-yield seeds, and legendary military manuals. Every time he changed a historical figure's fate, his points earned a massive multiplier.

In two years, he secured his hold on the throne. Outwardly, he obeyed Empress Dowager Xiang; behind the scenes, he purged corrupt officials, assembled a capable team for the crown prince, and had a divine physician concoct a fake-death pill. Then he took a Blood-Returning Pill, faked his death, and disappeared into the martial world.

At Liangshan Marsh, he killed Wang Lun with a single shot, persuaded Wu Yong with the original Water Margin, and outfitted his men in uniforms and rifles as he trained a new army. The day the Jin army marched south, the Liangshan army's banners flew in the wind outside Bianliang.

From an artistic emperor to the lord of Liangshan, from a ruler of a fallen nation to its savior: the crane in the painting turned its head and asked him, “Didn't you say you could do better?”

It took him his entire life to answer.