I, Li Shimin, Transmigrate Through China's Dynasties of Foolish Emperors

During the Tang Dynasty, in the thirteenth year of the Zhenguan era, Emperor Taizong Li Shimin was taking a midday nap. Who could have imagined that when he woke, he would find himself at the Terrace of the Deer, where King Zhou of Shang was about to burn himself to death? If a renowned sage ruler from history was going to transmigrate, shouldn’t he have become Qin Shi Huang or Emperor Wu of Han? What on earth was King Zhou doing here?

Starting at the very end of King Zhou’s reign, Li Shimin turns the tables against all odds. Not only does he survive, he restores the Shang Dynasty... Think that’s the end of it? No, this is only the beginning. The fates of other doomed rulers, including Liu Shan, the Last Ruler of Later Shu, and Emperor Huizong of Song, are waiting for him too.

It turns out he has entered a time-looping game called “Imperial Tribulation,” developed by Li Jiancheng. After the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Li Jiancheng’s soul refused to enter the cycle of reincarnation. He spent five thousand years gathering the stories of every ruler who met a tragic end, all so Li Shimin could experience one “Imperial Tribulation” after another.

Without Wei Zheng, Fang Xuanling, Zhangsun Wuji, or the twenty-four meritorious officials of the Lingyan Pavilion, Li Shimin instead unleashes the nature of the God of War that his role as emperor had held back. Transmigrating into the role of Emperor Huizong of Song, he turns the Song Dynasty into the Tang Dynasty. When he gets the version featuring the Guangxu Emperor, he changes the course of late Qing history as well.

While Li Shimin roams through five thousand years of history, Li Jiancheng returns to the Tang Dynasty in spirit, but cannot activate time. The Tang Dynasty in the real world remains forever fixed in the thirteenth year of Zhenguan.

In the end, Li Jiancheng gives up his revenge and ends the cycle.

But after clearing five thousand years of Imperial Tribulations, Li Shimin triumphantly returns to his own fate, only to discover that his very own Imperial Tribulation is just beginning.