The Great Ambition of Dayong: From Hostage to Emperor for the Ages

In the final years of the Dayong dynasty, the court was in chaos. Powerful ministers held the emperor hostage, provincial governors ruled their own territories, and the northern tribes watered their horses at the Great Wall.

When Shen Yan opened his eyes, he had become the son of a disgraced official, exiled to the northern frontier and about to be sacrificed to rally the troops.

At the moment a blade pressed against his throat, the "Imperial Ambition System" suddenly awakened in his mind: a catalog of forces, battle simulations, and points toward supremacy. The entire game of the realm lay before him.

But the System only gave him answers. It wouldn’t make his moves for him.

So he used fire to defeat the northern tribes and decoys to drive back the enemy, clawing his first chance at survival out of a pile of corpses.

He spared the enemy general Yan Zhao, gathered loyal veterans, recognized a brilliant strategist from a humble family, and recruited a wandering female doctor.

Beneath Yanmen Pass, he established the foundation of "Yunzhong," turning refugees into a new army and the frontier garrison into the starting point of his rise to power.

When a summons from the court arrived, he entered the capital with his beloved and his loyal followers, making his moves calmly under the noses of the powerful ministers.

From hostage to prince of a different surname, from frontier general to emperor: this is a comeback forged with strategy as its sword and human hearts as its game board.

The women at his side are not all delicate beauties, and the realm has never let down a ruthless man.