The land controlled by the Sui Dynasty exists largely isolated from the rest of the continent of Tian, surrounded by the various mountains and oceans.

The civilization, beginning on the basin of the Hejiang river, with national geographical features separating it from the world, see themselves as the only civilization.

It shares similar rise as much of the other civilizations on the Tian continent, beginning as a hunter-gatherer society governed by a form of a primitive society of egalitarianism, without the existence of a system of class, primarily due to the lack of any surplus.

As hunter-gatherers, women had equal power to their male counterparts, while participating in the majority of labour along with their role of childbirth.

Nearly twelve thousand years ago the original hunter-gatherers had begun to form into tribal societies as the agricultural practice was popularised, while constantly at war with their rivals, along with the unpredictable floods of Hejiang, it was a period of great suffering.

It was at this point that the Lu tribe had managed to subdue the Black river by building the first dams, due to this, agriculture became stabilised, resulting in a much larger population compared to their neighbours. As a result of this, the Lu tribe manage conquered much of their neighbours, establishing the state of Lu, the first centralised government.

As the Lu state rose, it brought with it an economic system dependent on organised labour in servitude toward the head of state, in a form of proto slavery.

The first ruler of Lu, possessing immeasurable amounts of land and wealth within his hands, with his power situated throughout the Hejiang river basin. The second ruler was known for the expansion of the system of dams constructed by his ancestors, as he aged, he resigned his position as monarch toward his most capable son.

Afterwards, the crown had passed through twenty-six other descendants, with the last infamous for his incapability while orchestrating in public orgies among those within his court.

Outraged by this, a general serving the monarch revolted, claiming that the Lu monarch had lost the favour of heaven, he proclaimed the beginning of the state of Zhao, which followed a similar model of economic as the Lu State.

The Zhao state had brought forward a bronze age for its civilization, and the beginning of an era of prosperity, lasting more than four thousand years, the longest any dynasty had ruled, as they claimed themselves the son of heaven, directly tying themselves to the prosperity of the nation.

Yet the system of heaven’s favour ultimately brought the Zhao Dynasty’s fall. The last ruler of the Zhao state was known to cannibalise captured enemies, and ironically, had lost his powers in a similar manner to how they had gained it in the first place.

The new dynasty, ruled by the Yan clan, had changed from the centralised form of governance reliant on proto slaves that had administered the two earlier dynasties, instead bring a form of feudalism where serfs were tied to their lands, while possessing a variation different from the Far Eastern system, as the noble’s power was not passed hereditarily, but instead granted by the monarch. It was also the beginning of the use of iron in the land occupied nowadays by Sui, which brought a new era of agricultural development.

As time passed, imperial power gradually declined, until the capital had become the only territory controlled by the central government, while the monarch had become a largely ceremonial figure.

The lack of decentralised power had brought a period of constant warfare among the feudal subjects, who gradually declared their authority away from the state of Yan, ultimately, more than forty states were embroidered in constant warfare, lasting more than five hundred years.

Yet surprisingly, the population had never stopped growing during this time, with agricultural advances bring any nation not currently engaging in strife a massive population boom.

During this time, the serfs had gained their freedom, and begin to stop paying taxes to local lords, and instead toward the increasingly centralised imperial government.

Eventually, power began to centralise into five massive states, each able to field hundreds of thousands of men. Shockingly the weakest state, originating from the uncultivated lands of modern-day Huxi, had conquered the four other rivalling nations and was the first ruler to declare himself the emperor.

Under this era of rule, feudalism was entirely abolished, the possessing of private property and land was encouraged. The land was given out to accomplished bureaucrats, and became non-hereditary, during this time, the titles of nobles became largely symbolic and almost unanimous with bureaucrats.

The new empire, known as the Zui Dynasty, had lasted for six hundred years bring forth a golden age, during those times, the empire had developed countless schools of thought, brought forward technological advancements, the introduction of a universal measurement of weight, a universal coinage system, expansion of the empire to the banks of the Mingjiang River and a grand population of eighty million.

All this was overseen at the ancient capital of Dongjing, built next to Hejiang, which had soon become the centre of the booming empire, acting as the economic, cultural, and political centre. Due to this, Dongjing had grown to possess had a population of six hundred thousand.

The inhabitants of the territories ruled by Zui would begin to develop a strong cultural identity toward the empire and began to call themselves the Zui people, after the ruling dynasty.

There was a brief interruption, where the ruling emperor was overthrown for ten years before the Zui Dynasty would be once more established. The new Zui Dynasty introduce laissez-faire policies, with taxes becoming reduced to only a thirtieth of a peasants income, while a separate system of property tax was also introduced, targeted primarily toward the upper class of nobles, merchants and bureaucrats.

Yet the empire had ultimately succumbed to a weak emperor, who had foolishly granted nobles autonomy unheard of since the collapse of the Zui dynasty in an attempt to end a massive revolt, caused by a famine that had nearly affected half of their provinces, primarily along Hejiang river.

While the revolt was successfully quelled, the ambitions of the warlords, each with armies loyal to themselves, began to fight among each other, and the emperor had become a pawn in their conflicts.

Finally, after the emperor had succumbed to illness, the most prominent warlords decided to declare themselves the heir of the dragon throne.

During these times, Dongjing had remained the seat of power for the largest warlord of the time, the state of Ji, who eventually conquered the other warring states.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Yet the new dynasty of Ji was short-lived and had collapsed after an assassination killing the emperor and his five sons, leaving no heir.

This had resulted once more in a period of warlordism, while the city of Dongjing and much of the North East was captured by the nomadic barbarians across the Hejiang.

Due to the conquest of the North-East by barbarians, the remainder of the Ji dynasty had attempted to rebuild a similar economic system of government as the old Zui Dynasty. In order to accomplish this, they granted a vast sum of land toward refugees and landlords fleeing from the barbarian invasion.

It was at this time that Longjing was constructed, becoming the cultural, economical, and political centre of the Southern regions of modern-day Sui, bring the Ji, and the subsequent dynasties mass wealth.

The ruler of Longjing at that period was the Yan Dynasty, with its vast wealth, managed to hire a massive army of mercenaries, who conquered it’s warring neighbours while retaking the land occupied by the nomads.

The Yan Dynasty was the first to govern from Longjing, during its reign, it had constructed a massive canal connecting the Mingjiang River to the Hejiang river while passing through Changhe.

Yet the massive project had emptied the treasury of the Yuan Dynasty, leading to an overthrow of the emperor by a general, who had established the Chu dynasty, which maintained a largely similar economic system as the dynasties before it, the only difference being the increase of state-owned enterprise.

Widely considered to be the second golden age since the Zui Dynasty, the Chu had conquered the province of Xuchang across the Yun mountains, while expanding a vast system of tributaries across the nomadic barbarians across Hejiang, with its vast territories, it had also developed sophisticated culture, introduce the first instance of paper currency, the development of new agricultural practices, and brought the population to a staggering one hundred and twenty million.

Similar to the Zui Dynasty, it governed from the seat of Dongjing, which had reached a population of one million.

Ultimately, after three hundred years, the emperor of Chu had become decadent, giving power toward corrupt officials and ambitious generals, leading to a massive revolt led by a foreign general, ultimately leading to the fall of Dongjing and the Northeast and the subsequent massacre of its inhabitants.

While the Chu Dynasty had managed to quell the revolt, much of its territories and tributaries were lost, and nearly ten million dead. As a result of the devastation of the Northeast, which much of the economy of the Chu Dynasty was located in, the Southwest of the empire gradually grew to replace it as the most economically important region of the empire.

While the Chu Dynasty would last two hundred more it had undergone a system of decentralisation, where taxes were at one point even temporarily abolished. During this era, warlordism would once again form, while still not declaring independence, until an official would force the emperor to abdicate, and proclaimed himself the emperor, starting the new Yue Dynasty.

Yet soon, much of the territories of the Central Plains was lost, and the empire once again divided into a group of warring states, as Yue was eventually overthrown by the later Chu, lasting twenty years, before itself becoming overthrown by the later Zui, which had lasted ten years before becoming overthrown by the later Yan.

During this period of political chaos, the seat of power still remained at Dongjing.

Ultimately, the period of turmoil had come to an end by the creation of the state of Liang, which had once again reunited the provinces under the heaven.

Governing away from Dongjing, it’s capital was based in Pingyang, situated near the mouth of Hejiang river, in the province of Jiangxi.

During the reign of Liang, it greatly improved agriculture, allowing the population to boom to two hundred million, along with with the invention of gunpowder, and the discovery of coal power, while coal was used extensively, inventions such as steam engine was never discovered.

Liang maintained a system of laissez-faire taxation policies, while still maintaining a monopoly on several key industries. Several government works, such as canals and roads were constructed to encourage the reclamation of land for agriculture, as a result, the population grew to one hundred and eighty million.

(Unlike the real-world version of Liang, the Song Dynasty, the land had never become centralised into the hands of private landlords).

Ultimately Liang had fallen to the growing nomad threat in it’s Northeast. The nomadic barbarians had created a vast empire, stretching throughout much of the territories of modern-day Sui and the Northern Empire, while the province of Changtian, had remained independent.

The nomadic empire came as soon as it went, and was soon overthrown after it’s foreign emperor had supposedly lost the favour of heaven due to his pleasures in the observation of animal intercourse with his concubines. (I am not kidding, there was an emperor who took a liking to this, look up Liu Ziye)

This along with his proposal of the massacre the Zui people, seizing their land, and turning it into pastures for the nomads, had led to a massive revolt by the peasants, which after they had driven out the barbarians, gave the imperial throne to the independent ruler of Changtian.

Thus the Sui Dynasty had been founded, relocating their capital away from Xuchang, into the city of Longjing.

During their rule, nearly all sectors of the economy were controlled by the state, granted toward bureaucrats, many of which possessed noble titles. Much of the land controlled by nobles was dedicated to the cultivation of cash crops, which sold luxuriously to the Far Eastern markets and financial much of the state expenditures.

Furthermore, the introduction of new crops, along with the expansion of public works, had led to a population of four hundred million enjoyed by the Sui Dynasty today.

The ancient capital of Dongjing, which had seen the rise and fall of Zui, the conquest of Huxi by the barbarians, the golden age of the Chu Dynasty and the subsequence massacre, the period of political chaos afterwards, the vast nomadic empire, and finally it’s decline during the time of Sui.

The ancient capital of the two golden ages of the Zui people could be considered as a necessity for a person to declare themselves emperor.

Thus, with the conquest of Dongan, Li-Ming will be considered as a major threat to the hegemony of the Sui Dynasty, furthermore, could declare herself to be a rivalling emperor.

Placing down her pen, a thick stack of paper and bamboo slips could be seen beside her.

Rinsing her mouth with a cup of cold tea, Li Ming proceeded to take a bath.

The water seemed rather hot, causing Li Ming’s pale skin to appear slightly red, giving her a sense of vitality, shifting her head, the only thing above the water, she stared toward Tianshan through the window.

Waiting for some time, until the reflection of the red sun could be seen in her black eyes.

Noticing it had become dawn, Li Ming swiftly changed into a pair of black robes. Her hair, still wet, stick alongside the black robe, appearing as if Mingjiang river was painted onto her robes.

Giving off a slight smile different from her usual benevolent smile, she proceeded toward the main administrative wing of the palace. As she entered, various representatives from each county, elected from the collectives along with military officials could be seen sitting in on crude chairs, evidently placed by Li Ming after they had entered the palace.

Chen Ju and Ling Ping had sat at a level slightly elevated above the representatives of the counties, while Liu One similarly sat on an elevated level.

The room itself is divided between the officials within the military, and the counties, separated left and right, while the centre sits a rather lonely chair, behind it, the old imperial throne.

The chair is typically used by the Prime Minister, while the throne had naturally been that of the emperor’s, possessing elegant carvings of dragons and the land under heaven.

Countless princes had become the sole ruler of the empire after sitting on that chair.

The county representatives, who vastly outnumber the officers within the army, looked rather expectantly at Li Ming.

The officers, wearing their military uniform, similarly looked toward Li Ming, remained upon her as she moved toward the throne.

Li Ming herself, looked toward the dragon throne then back toward her hand which did not belong to her, before once again toward the direction of the throne.

Picking up her dress, which greatly resembled that of the one she had worn when she first entered this world inside Xu manor, a strange sigh came out, before her light footsteps could be heard.

Tap, tap, tap, the light footsteps advanced passed the Prime Minister’s chair.

A strand of silver hair dropped toward the throne, before coiling up similar to a dragon.

Li Ming had arrived at the throne.

Staring rather intensely at the carving of the dragon, a long moment passed.

Li Ming turned around in the direction of the officials, before walking away from the throne, toward the lonely chair.

Picking up her dress once again, she had chosen to sit on the Prime Minister’s chair.

There will be no more emperors.