Dragon's Roar Across the Heavens: The Battle for the Throne

Synopsis: Xie Yan, the least-favored prince of the Great Zhou Dynasty, is kicked by his father the emperor to the desolate northern frontier to serve as a lowly prince of a commandery. He thinks he'll spend the rest of his life coasting along, but who would have guessed the northern frontier is rich in iron ore, with horse ranches stretching as far as the eye can see? Even more amusingly, those grassland barbarians who are always causing trouble at the border have started calling him the "Eagle of the Grasslands"... On the day he returns to the capital, the civil and military officials watch the cavalry behind this "useless" prince and nearly collapse with fear.

Highlights: Face-slapping wish fulfillment + infrastructure building and farming + multiple female leads; the male lead plays the pig to eat the tiger, rising from a good-for-nothing to a figure of immense power at court; fast-paced, with a big payoff in every chapter.