Reborn at the Border: I Rise to Power by Taking a Wife from the Government

Wu Qingying, the empress of the Great Qian Dynasty, falls victim to a treacherous plot. The throne changes hands, and she is forced to live among the common people. The Qiang barbarians repeatedly raid the Great Qian's borders, while other enemy nations watch like tigers ready to pounce. The dynasty is beset by internal and external crises, and the people are plunged into misery.

That same year, Lu Ming, a poor student, transmigrates and is reborn as a young scholar named Lu Ming in Bazi Village, Nanchong County, in the Southern Commandery of the Great Qian Dynasty. From the start, he marries the empress, who is living among the common people. His original Lu family is a collection of oddballs: they play favorites and are spiteful, and they are dead set on making Lu Ming take his older brother Lu Yang's place in the army. Through a twist of fate, Lu Ming joins the military. With the empress secretly backing him, he begins resisting the Qiang barbarian invasion in Nanchong County.

During this time, Lu Ming reforms Nanchong County, vigorously develops agriculture, breeds new seeds, invents fertilizer to boost yields, improves ironworking, and develops firearms to strengthen the army. He kills so many Qiang barbarians that they no longer dare set foot across the border. The people enjoy plenty of food and clothing, and come to love him dearly.

Lu Ming keeps recruiting and expanding his forces, rising from an ordinary soldier to a powerful frontier official with a massive army at his command.

Several years later, the Great Qian Dynasty falls into chaos. Rebels surround the imperial capital, and the dynasty teeters on the brink of collapse. Ordered to march and put down the rebellion, Lu Ming looks up at the empress waiting for rescue atop the city wall and is horrified to discover that the wife who has shared every hardship with him is none other than the reigning empress...