In the final years of the Tianqi era of the Great Chen, a mini ice age ravages the land. Refugees and starving corpses stretch for miles, foreign barbarian cavalry watches hungrily from beyond the borders, corrupt eunuchs hold sway in the imperial city, and officials and gentry hide their farmland to evade taxes. The three-hundred-year-old empire slides toward utter ruin. Lu Chengyao transmigrates as Prince Xin, the last ruler of the dynasty, and spends ten years patiently laying his plans. Instead of simply confiscating estates and manufacturing guns, he secretly sows the seeds of change among ruined temples, mines, and military fortresses with advanced ideas, founding the underground organization known as the Blazing Plains Society.
After ascending the throne, he appears before the court as a timid, frail emperor, allowing the powerful eunuch Cao Dexian and the great officials of the Donghua faction to manipulate him. But in the shadows, the entire court of censorial officials, the commanders of the imperial guards, and even the adopted son of the old eunuch who attends the empress dowager all stand at attention and salute him in private, respectfully addressing him as "Mentor."
With foreign invaders besieging the capital and powerful parasites eating away at the empire from within, the officials urge him to retreat south and preserve what remains of his rule. Lu Chengyao draws his blade, cuts off his hair in place of his head, and stands before the altar of state, shouting, "The emperor guards the gates of the realm; the ruler dies with the state! Send my secret order: the entire Blazing Plains army is to rise in rebellion. Follow me and crush the old world!"
Empty! Empty! Empty! Any similarity is purely coincidental.