Ashes of the Realm

In the final years of the Tianqi era of the Great Jing Dynasty, the court's authority crumbles, noble families dominate state affairs, imperial power exists in name only, and scholars from humble backgrounds never have a chance to rise. Shen Xu, once a renowned genius from a poor family in the capital, was framed by top noble families, charged with the grave crime of colluding with the enemy, his entire family exiled, his scholarly honors stripped, and he was tattooed and reduced to a lowly servant, enduring humiliation from all. At the bottom of despair, with no one to save him, he could only endure and bide his time, hiding his sharpness and feigning foolishness. The once sincere scholar washed away his innocence and softness, seeing through all the dirty rules of the court and the tangled interests of the noble families. After three years of hiding, he returns to the capital in one day. He sheds his scholarly naivety and comes back with a deep, restrained cunning, using his broken body to set up extraordinary schemes, leveraging the chaos of the times to break the century-old monopoly of the noble families. Step by step he calculates, layer by layer he breaks the game, stirring up storms in the treacherous court, balancing powerful ministers, overturning old rules, and reshaping the court's order. He seeks no empty fame or fleeting profit, only to carve a path for the humble, to set right the chaotic world and restore the court's discipline, and with a commoner's body, to wield control over the vast realm of Great Jing. — Description from novelcodex.orgFull novel: Ashes of the Realm — read the rest free on N​o⁠v​e⁠l​C⁠o​d⁠e​x⁠.​o⁠r​g⁠