The Illustrious Chancellor

Xu Shoucheng, Xu Aji. Modern man Li Yun accidentally travels back to the Wanli era of the Ming dynasty and finds himself in the body of a country boy. But fate won’t let him live a quiet life.

To claim his right to inherit, he must pass the county-level civil service examination.

To keep his family’s property from being swallowed up, he must pass the provincial examination.

To avoid being crushed by the machinery of factional strife, he must earn a place on the imperial examination rolls.

The cruel turns of fate force him deeper and deeper into the Ming bureaucracy, a place that devours people and leaves not even their bones behind.

This is the bureaucracy of the Wanli era: a place where people oppose everything without regard for right or wrong; where it is kill or be killed, with no middle ground; where the surface is all song and dance, despite crises within and enemies abroad; and where the Donglin, Chu, Zhe, Qi, Xuan, and eunuch factions fight to the death for power.

Aji treads on thin ice, every step a peril, but amid layer upon layer of fog, he must carve out a clear path to a brighter world.