Reclaiming Vast Fertile Lands – And You Want Me to Bow to the Court?

Exiled to the southern frontier and poisoned by the fourth prince on the very day of his transmigration, ninth-rank garrison commander Shen Changming finds himself staring down a hopeless start—but he does not panic. While the empire dismisses the southern wilds as a pestilent swamp of miasma and venomous creatures, Shen sees endless arable land, rich copper and iron deposits, and a golden waterway for trade. He digs canals to drain the marshes, turning wasteland into granaries; he smelts iron and casts muskets, forcing local chieftains to their knees. What was once a penal colony becomes a promised land that refugees from the central plains scramble to enter. The imperial court denounces him as a separatist warlord yet sends envoys to demand grain reserves; the great clans scheme to destroy him while salivating over his iron trade. Years later, as civil war engulfs the empire, the emperor and his entire court journey south to beg for peace and offer Shen the highest ministerial post. But standing on the prairie with a lion lounging at his feet, Shen laughs coldly: "Your dynasty's fate? None of my business. My ambition spans the universe. All troops, fix your sights on the stars and the seas!"