The Five Dynasties: Starting from a County

The Five Dynasties were a time of turmoil, with warlords separatist rule, heavy taxes, and people displaced. Li Zeping, a county official who is familiar with the rise and fall of later generations, was forced to take over a small coastal county that was on the verge of collapse when the county magistrate died, the granary was bottomed out, and the rebel army closed in on the city. A system that can provide agricultural resources and technical blueprints as the vassal population grows is his only reliance, but it cannot help him farm and build weapons, and it cannot make people surrender out of thin air. Starting from three porridge relief pots, Li Zeping checked the grain register, resettled the refugees, organized mutual aid production, opened up wasteland and built canals, developed fisheries, worked with craftsmen to improve agricultural tools, and established grassroots organizations during the war. He not only has to deal with powerful people, subordinates and old accounts and exploitation, but also has to deal with superiors' grain levy and pressure from the army. Every step of growth in food, land, population, and force is accompanied by new contradictions. When a poor county that was at the mercy of others gradually acquired granaries, workshops, an army and a common order, Li Zeping finally understood: What can truly gain a foothold in troubled times is never a magical thing sent from heaven, but to make more and more people believe that they can live their lives together again.