Volume One, Chapter One: Transmigration—He Became the Most Downtrodden Crown Prince of the Great Tang
Li Ruoyu was jolted awake, feeling as though the world was spinning. Slowly, he sat up and realized he was in a luxurious carriage, which was rattling violently over a pothole-ridden dirt road.
The pounding of hooves and the creaking of the axle mingled together, making his head ache as if it would split open.
“Where am I?” he murmured, rubbing his temples. His mind still lingered on the memory of being publicly berated by the project manager in the cafeteria not long ago.
All because of a minor miscalculation with the materials, the fiery-tempered project manager had lashed out at him in front of everyone, even threatening, “Make this mistake again, and you can pack your bags and leave!”
It wasn’t the first time he’d been scolded; every week he had to endure several humiliating reprimands. Worse still, the project manager’s wife, who oversaw the general affairs department, frequently made trouble for him. Seeing both husband and wife disliked him, the colleagues in the project department followed suit, showing him little kindness, often mocking him.
He came from a remote rural area, had no connections, and no one to help him—everything depended on himself. Because he didn’t know how to play politics or flatter, and stubbornly stuck to principles, despite graduating from a top university, at twenty-eight, after six years of toil on construction sites, he was still a lowly technician at the very bottom.
Stifled—more suffocating than wearing a heavy quilt in midsummer!
Whenever he was scolded, he consoled himself, “Just endure a little longer. When I finally climb up, I’ll repay every slight in full!” Then, fuming, he’d return to his dorm and sleep.
“Your Highness, you’re awake?” A gentle voice sounded.
Li Ruoyu then noticed another person in the carriage—a woman dressed in splendid Tang attire, her beautiful face marked by fatigue, her belly swollen with pregnancy, her eyes full of concern.
Your Highness? Li Ruoyu glanced around in confusion; there was no third person in the carriage. Was he the one being addressed as Your Highness? Was this a dream?
He pinched himself experimentally—it hurt.
He looked at the Tang broadsword with its black scabbard beside him, a style he recognized. Apart from that, everything was utterly unfamiliar. Even the woman was a stranger.
“Where is this?” he asked.
“Your Highness, the eunuch just reported that we’ve passed Xingping County. Ahead, in a little over twenty li, is Mawei Post Station,” the woman replied.
Mawei Post Station? Li Ruoyu’s heart skipped a beat; he remembered it as the place where Lady Yang met her tragic end. He was intimately familiar with this chapter of Tang history.
Carriage, Tang attire, eunuchs, Mawei Post Station—these clues crashed over him, and suddenly he realized: he had merely fallen asleep, and his soul had crossed over!
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In the fifteenth year of Tianbao under Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, on June 14th—July 15th, 756 AD—Li Ruoyu, a modern construction worker, found himself transmigrated into the body of Li Heng, Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty.
At this moment, the An Lushan Rebellion had raged for half a year. The rebel forces swept through the land like a flood, capturing cities, burning, killing, looting, with officials surrendering en masse, the populace suffering terribly—parents eating their children, scorched earth for a thousand li.
After the fall of Luoyang, the valiant generals Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing were wrongly executed at Tong Pass, and the Tang defense line retreated again and again.
The elderly General Geshu Han, crippled by a stroke, was pressured by twelve imperial edicts from Emperor Xuanzong to lead 200,000 new troops out for a decisive battle, only to be routed by Cui Qianyou’s 20,000 elite soldiers at the Xi Plain of Lingbao, finally defeated and driven to suicide.
With the loss of Tong Pass, Emperor Xuanzong declared in court that he would personally lead the army. That same night, he secretly left the capital through the North Inner Yanqiu Gate, accompanied by some princes and grandsons, as well as Yang Guozhong, Wei Jiansu, Wei Fangjin, and a handful of officials, guarded by Chen Xuanli’s Left Dragon Martial Guard, all fleeing toward Sichuan.
It was their second day in flight.
Li Ruoyu struggled to merge the Crown Prince Li Heng’s memories with his own, adapting to this forty-five-year-old body.
In ancient times, forty-five was no longer young. At this point, Li Heng’s eldest grandson, Li Shi—later Emperor Dezong of Tang—was already fourteen, while Li Heng himself was still regarded as a “boy” by the court.
He looked at the pregnant woman in the carriage—Zhang Liangdi, the future Empress Zhang—a woman who shared both hardship and ambition with Li Heng, a woman full of cunning and insatiable lust for power.
Crown Prince: second only to one, above all others. He had finally climbed to the top! And soon, he would become the new master of Great Tang!
For a moment, Li Ruoyu was ecstatic.
Yet he knew that the Tang Dynasty, under Emperor Xuanzong—who styled himself brilliant and mighty but was actually stubborn and senile—was now broken, impoverished, and plagued by warlords. This mess would ultimately fall to him to resolve.
But he was not worried. Though an engineering graduate accustomed to CAD and BIM software, he was deeply passionate about history, especially Tang history, and had studied it thoroughly—his knowledge rivaling that of history graduate students from top universities.
Now, unexpectedly transmigrated to Tang, his research would finally serve a purpose. He was a modern man holding the script—surely he could govern this ancient empire, making it the most prosperous, vibrant, and attractive dynasty in history!
“Your Highness.” As Li Heng fell into contemplation, a voice called from outside.
He lifted the curtain—it was Li Fuguo, the chief eunuch of the Crown Prince’s household.
Li Fuguo was well-known to him—a eunuch ennobled as a prince. In history, only three eunuchs were granted princely titles: Zong Ai of Northern Wei, Tong Guan of Northern Song, and Li Fuguo.
At this time, Li Fuguo was still consolidating his power, presenting himself as loyal and trustworthy.
“What is it?”
“Your Highness, General Chen Xuanli requests an audience.”
Chen Xuanli? Li Ruoyu’s heart tightened—the General of the Left Dragon Martial Guard, the emperor’s most trusted commander of the imperial army. For what purpose was he coming now?
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The commander of the imperial guards secretly meeting the Crown Prince? He pondered this—history books never mentioned such a thing!
Suddenly, he recalled that as the convoy neared Mawei Post Station, the imperial guards would grow restless, rumors would abound, and mutiny could erupt at any moment.
A myriad of thoughts collided in his mind.
Li Longji, the emperor, was obsessed with controlling power. In the twenty-fifth year of Kaiyuan, Consort Wu orchestrated the downfall of Crown Prince Li Ying by accusing him of plotting rebellion, resulting in the infamous “Three Princes Slain in a Day”—Li Ying, Prince of E, and Prince of Guang all perished.
Li Mao—the son Consort Wu sought to elevate—was Yang Guifei’s former husband.
Later, Li Longji chose Li Heng as Crown Prince, but having seized power through a coup, he guarded against the Crown Prince more tightly than against thieves. Li Heng had been Crown Prince for eighteen years, always a mere mascot, suppressed by Prime Minister Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong.
Now, with his own throne threatened, Li Longji might well suspect: unrest among the guards was stirred up by Crown Prince Li Heng, whose aim was to usurp him!
Disaster! Chen Xuanli’s appearance could only bode ill. Perhaps he had come with orders from Li Longji to deliver death!
Such was the nature of power struggles. Li Longji, now desperate and insecure, trusted no one—least of all his Crown Prince, the heir apparent. Eliminating the Crown Prince, the greatest threat, would secure his throne.
As the saying goes, before repelling external enemies, internal stability must be ensured. At this point, Li Longji had no ambition for conquest, but he certainly might wish for internal security.
Ruined! To die just after crossing over—what now? He was only twenty-eight, in his prime, unmarried, never promoted, what a bitter fate!
Li Ruoyu felt aggrieved—his previous life was stifling, and this body was as well! Truly, Li Heng was the most oppressed Crown Prince of Great Tang!
What to do?
Could he resign himself to a muddled, ignoble death?
No! He absolutely could not die! Hadn’t he always wanted to climb higher? Now a Crown Prince, just a step away from the throne—what a lofty position!
All the humiliations of his previous life could be thoroughly washed away if he just preserved his place as Crown Prince!
He believed that, with his knowledge of history, he would have a chance to persuade Chen Xuanli, to convince Li Longji, and thus turn fate in his favor! He had read the script—this was his golden finger!
Since that was so, what was there to fear?
With this thought, he calmly said to Li Fuguo, “Let Chen Xuanli come in.”