She, Yuwen Man, was the first empress of the Great Xia Empire.
From the very first day she sat on the Dragon Throne, she became a puppet in every sense of the word.
She had planned to muddle through and wait for death, but then a sudden mutiny came along, and she could not even remain a puppet...
When she reclaimed the throne once more, the world still refused to accept her.
In this age of rival warlords, the weakest empress somehow stumbled into a huge windfall right under everyone's noses.
If ruling the realm could be called a windfall...
Shattered walls, corpses strewn across the land, people driven to utter misery...
War had brought the highest imperial authority, but it had also left the land littered with bones.
Yuwen Man sat upright, with Wen Tai, newly granted the title of "Lord of the Imperial Surname," at her side. Outside the hall stood rows of soldiers, loyal to the death, while below the steps a crowd of ministers waited in fear and trepidation.
Those ministers had once knelt before her, then slandered her without restraint... Now, just to make a living, they could only tremble as they bowed to the empress once more.
Fortunately, the empress had other things on her mind.
For she was the emperor, and had no way back: advance and live, retreat and die!
Miracles would not happen again and again!
She had to restore order and discipline.
She had to bring the refugees home and make crops grow again in the abandoned fields.
She had to wield her sword and drive out the jackals and tigers occupying the Central Plains...
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