Chapter Summaries

After being transported into the world of Code Geass, Lin Cuo chose the Great Han Federation as his starting faction and planned to consolidate its power before challenging Britannia. He finished character creation as the young heir of the Hexi Lin Clan, positioned to draw on the family’s western military connections.

• Lin Cuo was pulled into a system after completing his cross-era Paradox game save and learned that his objective was to establish an alliance across multiple worlds.
• He inspected the E.U. and Britannia, rejecting both after seeing the E.U.’s political paralysis and the dangers of Britannia’s imperial family and schemes.
• Lin Cuo chose the Great Han Federation, whose scattered military technology and weak central authority offered a path to reform through the focus to purge the inner court.
• He planned to endure the first 270 days, win over Li Xingke, secure direct military command, and then move against the Great Eunuchs while recruiting capable allies.
• Lin Cuo created a sixteen-year-old character with strong traits and selected the Hexi Lin Clan background, inheriting the Duke of Liang title and influence in Hexi and Anxi.

Lin Cuo began his life in the Great Han Federation as the empress’s betrothed, hoping to build a coalition against the grand eunuchs. A system-generated crisis then revealed that the BETA would invade his territory in 180 days.

• Lin Cuo chose a background that made him the heir to the Hexi Lin Clan and Jiang Lihua’s matrilineal fiancé, though the grand eunuchs still controlled her government.
• The system placed Lin Cuo in his first audience with Jiang Lihua, Li Xingke, Chou Xianglin, and Hong Gu, where they questioned his intentions and Hexi’s overdue military pay.
• The system revealed that it had overlaid the world with MUV-LUV Alternative and that BETA would launch a large-scale invasion in 180 days.
• Lin Cuo saw that the projected landing zone was the Anxi-Kashgar sector, within his nominal sphere of control, and realized that elite machines could not easily stop the BETA.

Lin Cuo won the grand eunuchs’ cautious favor by denouncing Hexi’s rebellious commanders and offering to treat Zhao Hao as his adoptive father. The court assigned him to command the Western Garden Army, though Li Xingke viewed him with open disgust.

• Zhao Hao questioned Lin Cuo about whether he had come to discuss the late emperor’s marriage arrangement or the Hexi Army’s pay.
• Lin Cuo praised the grand eunuchs, blamed Hexi commanders for overstepping their authority, and pledged loyalty to Great Han.
• Lin Cuo offered to honor Zhao Hao as his adoptive father and promised that the Hexi forces would obey the court’s orders.
• The system reported that Zhao Hao and Cheng Zhong were more receptive to Lin Cuo, while Tong Lun remained suspicious.
• Zhao Hao proposed appointing Lin Cuo Commandant of the Army in the Western Garden Army, and Jiang Lihua approved the appointment.

Lin Cuo accepted an acting command in the Western Garden Army and secretly began a purge plan against the high eunuchs, though the timetable fell short of the coming BETA invasion. After the audience, he broke down before Jiang Lihua and claimed he grieved for the Han and its endangered western frontier, leaving Li Xingke skeptical of his performance.

• Lin Cuo accepted the restricted post of acting Commandant of the Guards, gaining access to Western Garden Army records and a training battalion.
• Lin Cuo began the purge plan against the High Eunuch Committee, which was estimated to take 210 days despite only 180 days remaining before the BETA invasion.
• Zhao Hao and the high eunuchs left after promising part of the Hexi army's pay and delivery of the command seal and military records.
• Li Xingke, Hong Gu, and Chou Xianglin confronted Lin Cuo over his apparent submission to the high eunuchs while Jiang Lihua watched in disappointment.
• Lin Cuo knelt and wept as he condemned the court's infighting and voiced concern for the western frontier; Jiang Lihua questioned his earlier praise of Zhao Hao, and Lin Cuo admitted it had been for Zhao's ears.
• Li Xingke returned his sword to its sheath but accused Lin Cuo of using tears to cover his fawning toward the high eunuchs.

Lin Cuo persuaded Jiang Lihua that she should be able to leave the palace and promised to take her to see Luoyang. He then placed Li Xingke in charge of a military liaison role, leaving the wary general with a command token and new authority.

• Lin Cuo reflected on Li Xingke’s loyalty and military ability, then asked Jiang Lihua whether she wanted to leave the palace and see Luoyang.
• Jiang Lihua said she wanted to go, and Lin Cuo promised to take her once he cleared the people abusing their positions.
• Lin Cuo criticized Li Xingke for waiting for ideal circumstances instead of acting against Zhao Hao, and said he had accepted disgraceful work to advance their cause.
• Lin Cuo gave Li Xingke a command token recognized by troops in Hexi and Anxi, allowing him to rally them in an emergency.
• At Lin Cuo’s request, Jiang Lihua authorized Li Xingke to revise drill manuals and use the token for urgent military contact; Li Xingke accepted despite his increased suspicion of Lin Cuo.

Lin Cuo tasked Li Xingke with assessing and reforming the West Garden Training Camp, then considered how to use his new military authority to prepare against the BETA and Zhao Hao. He began weighing a strategy that combined the lessons of past power struggles instead of choosing only one approach.

• Lin Cuo placed the West Garden Training Camp under Li Xingke’s temporary management and asked him to assess its troops and propose changes by that night.
• Li Xingke accepted the work after Lin Cuo promised to take responsibility, then instructed Chou Xianglin to review correspondence and forbade anyone from using the military tally to mobilize troops before Hexi’s situation was clear.
• Lin Cuo realized he needed to connect the Adeptus Custodes, the armies outside the capital, and Jiang Lihua before his preparation time ran out and the BETA arrived.
• Lin Cuo recalled past advice about the crisis in late Han Luoyang and wondered whether he could combine the approaches rather than choose just one.

Lin Cuo planned to remove the grand eunuchs and secure control of Luoyang by combining a palace takeover with the entry of Hexi troops, using Jiang Lihua’s legitimacy to authorize his moves. He left Li Xingke responsible for turning the loosely formed military plan into concrete arrangements.

• Lin Cuo decided to secure the palace, eliminate Zhao Hao and the other leading grand eunuchs, and bring outside troops into the capital under Jiang Lihua’s authority.
• Lin Cuo asked Li Xingke how confidently Hexi forces could enter Luoyang and take control of military orders without alerting the provincial armies.
• Li Xingke identified missing details in Lin Cuo’s plan, including troop strength, deployment pretext, railway dispatching, military pay, and defenses.
• Lin Cuo assigned Li Xingke to prepare the military arrangements, including contingencies for commanders who refused Jiang Lihua’s edict.
• Lin Cuo argued that Li Xingke was the most trustworthy commander Jiang Lihua had, and Li Xingke did not immediately reject the assignment.

Lin Cuo explained his plan to bring his former Hexi troops into Luoyang under Jiang Lihua’s authority, then examined a national focus path for rebuilding central military control before the BETA invasion. He left with a strategy that also pursued military modernization and Tianzhu autonomy, while the system warned that the coup could still unravel.

• Lin Cuo argued that Jiang Lihua lacked real sovereign power, and told her that summoning his former Hexi troops need not lead to fighting if they planned carefully.
• The system established a three-pronged strategy to secure the palace, bring Hexi forces into Luoyang under imperial edict, and strip disobedient military district commanders of their commands, estimating 175 days to prepare.
• Lin Cuo reviewed the national focus tree, which offered routes to command the armies in the emperor’s name, rebuild the Western Garden Army, and unify military command before the BETA invasion in 180 days.
• The system warned that Hexi troops might not be personally loyal to the Lin, that Li Xingke would refuse orders against Jiang Lihua’s wishes, and that leaks or local warlords could derail the plan.
• Lin Cuo considered Tianzhu autonomy negotiations and inviting the Rakshata Design Bureau to improve the federation’s KMFs, while planning to address Li Xingke’s health so he could keep serving as a general.

Lin Cuo unlocked a system feature that let him deploy a real military formation and summoned the experienced Western Garden Provisional Mixed Armored Training Regiment. While the camp checked the soldiers’ suspiciously complete records, Lin Cuo climbed into a Gao Hai mech to test it.

• Lin Cuo unlocked the cross-era save inheritance module and spent fifty political power to deploy his old save’s Prussian 1st Armored Division as the Western Garden Provisional Mixed Armored Training Regiment.
• More than twelve hundred soldiers arrived at the northern camp with official transfer documents and verifiable local identities, though nobody remembered issuing their orders.
• Li Xingke ordered Chou Xianglin and Hong Gu to verify the new arrivals and test their military skills.
• Lin Cuo inspected the soldiers’ records, then went to the testing ground and climbed into a TQ-19 Gao Hai mech.
• Lin Cuo activated the Gao Hai and enjoyed piloting it despite its cramped, hot cockpit and primitive systems.

Lin Cuo test-drove a Gao Hai and discovered how badly the Western Garden Army was underfunded and equipped. The Federation’s systems had buried military resources beneath layers of administrative deductions, leaving soldiers and machines neglected while separatism gained strength.

• Lin Cuo drove a Gao Hai at high speed, nearly losing control until he lowered its rear stabilizers.
• Li Xingke demanded that Lin Cuo leave the testing ground, and Lin Cuo stopped the machine and climbed out.
• A report describing Lin Cuo’s equipment testing reached Tong Lun, Zhao Hao, and Cheng Zhong, who considered his behavior harmless and approved modest testing funds.
• Li Xingke handed Lin Cuo the military payroll report, revealing overdue pay, missing equipment, and far fewer operational Gao Hai units than the roster claimed.
• Chou Xianglin showed Lin Cuo the Western Garden Adeptus Custodes ledger and explained how officials and contractors took most military allocations.
• The system revealed that nested administrative deductions and procedural incentives had left the Federation’s military underfunded while separatist forces gained strength.

Lin Cuo discovered that the Duke of Liang’s estate profited from soldiers’ unpaid wages and saw a system focus tree for restructuring the family’s assets. He froze the military-pay notes and began selling the estate’s luxuries to raise money for the nation.

• Lin Cuo examined the Duke of Liang’s holdings and found that the estate owned notes built from soldiers’ deferred pay.
• Lin Cuo traced the notes’ history and learned that the Lin family had bought them at a steep discount, following a long tradition of state borrowing from the wealthy.
• The system revealed three asset-restructuring paths, including a focus to sell the family estate’s luxuries and contribute the proceeds to the nation.
• Lin Cuo froze the military-pay acceptance notes and selected [Sell Off Luxuries], which required selling more than sixty percent of the estate’s nonstrategic luxury assets.
• Lin Cuo decided to sell the Lin Family Garden, valuable horses, and the estate’s art, jewelry, furniture, and other luxury goods.

Lin Cuo used a lavish banquet at Zhao Hao’s residence to present himself as a pleasure-loving ally of the chief eunuchs and complain that his new military post gave him little real authority. He offered the eunuchs valuable family assets while hinting that he expected a more powerful appointment, and Tong Lun cautioned that promoting him again so soon would be difficult to justify.

• Lin Cuo celebrated his appointment at Zhao Hao’s banquet, accepting the chief eunuchs’ patronage and openly calling Zhao Hao his adoptive father.
• Tong Lun asked why Li Xingke was absent, and Lin Cuo complained that Li Xingke had taken charge of the Western Garden’s military rolls and training without consulting him.
• Lin Cuo suggested killing Li Xingke, but Gao Hai, Xia Wang, and Cai Lishi argued that the army and the court’s standing made that too dangerous.
• Lin Cuo declared that his Commandant of the Army post lacked authority over actual troops and presented payment drafts and transfer certificates for valuable family assets.
• Zhao Hao recognized the political value of Lin Cuo’s open alignment with the chief eunuchs, while Tong Lun warned that another promotion would come too quickly.

Lin Cuo traded an unsuccessful bid for Upper Army Commandant for appointment as acting Northern Army Zhonghou, gaining authority to audit personnel and pay and propose joint army reequipment. He arrived at the Northern Army offices to find its five commanders formally respectful but hostile to the eunuch-backed Duke of Liang.

• Lin Cuo demanded the post of Upper Army Commandant, prompting the eunuchs to consider how his ambition could serve their interests.
• The eunuch council appointed Lin Cuo acting Northern Army Zhonghou while keeping him as Commandant of the Army, with authority over audits and joint military reforms.
• Lin Cuo accepted the post gratefully, and system notifications showed that only eleven percent of the Northern Army obeyed him while hereditary military nobles viewed him extremely poorly.
• News of the banquet spread through the Northern Army, including Lin Cuo's alliance with Zhao Hao and his failed bid for Upper Army Commandant.
• Lin Cuo arrived at the Northern Army offices, where the five school commanders greeted him with flawless but emotionless salutes.

Lin Cuo began his new post as Northern Army Central Commandant by demanding its original financial records and confronting officers over suspected corruption. After detaining Dou Huaijin for assault and exposing several units’ questionable accounts, he ordered an investigation into them all.

• Lin Cuo assessed the Five Commandants and demanded military pay, equipment, freight, supply, and procurement records from the past three years.
• The Yueqi Colonel's Quartermaster Aide objected to Lin Cuo's request, but Lin Cuo insisted on seeing the original ledgers and singled out contracts with Henei Guangcheng Machinery Firm.
• Dou Huaijin criticized Lin Cuo's appointment and urged him to resign, so Lin Cuo punched him and ordered the guards to detain him after the fight.
• Lin Cuo accused Dou Huaijin of approving pay for ninety-four absent soldiers and revealed suspected overcharging, false maintenance funds, and missing ammunition records across several commands.
• Lin Cuo ordered investigations into the commands and challenged the officers to put their objections to Zhao Hao's orders in writing.

Lin Cuo used the system’s Northern Army Officer Corps Purge procedures to suspend and detain officers across the Five Northern Army Schools and freeze suspected assets. By the time retired generals realized what was happening, the purge had taken hold, and they decided to appeal to His Majesty.

• Lin Cuo confirmed the purge resolution and received procedures for suspending officers, securing records, and taking over key posts.
• Lin Cuo ordered the Western Garden Provisional Mixed Training Regiment to secure the Northern Army office, archives, radio center, and arsenal while detaining officers and restricting movement.
• Lin Cuo sought help from the Luoyang Police Department, Railway Dispatch Bureau, and banks to detain implicated officers, stop private rail carriages, and freeze suspicious accounts.
• The Dou family and other officers’ families learned that their assets and businesses were being sealed as the investigation spread.
• By afternoon, seventy-nine officers of field grade or above had been detained, more than a hundred suspended, and four of the Five Schools’ commanding officers had lost authority to sign deployment orders.
• Retired Northern Army officers recognized the purge as an action backed by the inner court and resolved to see His Majesty.

Jiang Lihua ordered that the detained officers be treated fairly, while Lin Cuo continued his sweeping investigation into the Northern Army under the Grand Eunuch Council’s authority. The chapter ended with Lin Cuo discovering that even highly capable officers were marked as risks because of their influence over the army.

• Old Madam Dou and other petitioners appealed to Jiang Lihua, who ordered discipline for Lin Cuo’s assault, investigations into stolen military pay, no unauthorized killings or guilt by association, and medical care for the injured.
• Li Xingke explained to Chou Xianglin why a sudden palace intervention could look like a mutiny to Jiang Lihua, who had grown up among the Chief Eunuchs.
• The Grand Eunuch Council reviewed reports showing that Lin Cuo had detained its own associates and replaced guards at the Western Garden Army Arsenal, while its members feared they could no longer publicly rein him in.
• Zhao Hao sent Lin Cuo an order forbidding unauthorized killings and collective punishment, and Lin Cuo agreed to those limits while arguing that proceeding with the finalized list did not expand the scope.
• Lin Cuo’s paperwork repeatedly praised Zhao Hao and the other eunuchs as he continued the arrests, leaving them unable to openly oppose him.
• Lin Cuo found several capable officers among the detainees, including a combat veteran, but the system had flagged them as risks because they could mobilize units across the Northern Army.

Lin Cuo gave Zhao Hao the Northern Army’s recovered illicit assets and persuaded him to support the purchase of a KMF research institute and several Gao Hai factories. Zhao Hao approved the acquisitions, leaving Lin Cuo positioned to build military ties with Britannia and pursue Princess Cornelia.

• Lin Cuo set aside emergency funds for the Northern Army and delivered the remaining recovered assets to Zhao Hao, presenting them as a mark of loyalty.
• Lin Cuo told Zhao Hao he wanted to court Britannia’s Princess Cornelia and planned to build a KMF research institute and acquire Gao Hai factories to win her attention.
• Lin Cuo explained that he had sold much of his property and planned to mortgage his railway shares and salt-transport dividends to finance the purchases.
• Zhao Hao saw the acquisitions as a way to connect the Federation with Cornelia’s faction and approved Lin Cuo’s plan.
• Zhao Hao tasked Cheng Zhong with pressuring the banks and Cai Lishi with coordinating imports and contracts, and the asset disposals were completed in six days.

Lin Cuo took over the Luoyang High-Load KMF Joint Testing Institute and three factories, paid workers and engineers to return, and inspected the powerful but unsafe Shen Hu. After finding the factories crippled by incompatible Gao Hai designs and canceled orders, he ordered standardized parts and an ejectable cockpit, with funding due within days.

• Lin Cuo paid overdue wages, restored engineers’ patent rights, and offered resettlement pay, bringing most of the institute’s former local staff back.
• Lin Cuo inspected the Shen Hu and learned it approached eighth-generation performance but could incapacitate pilots and was not ready for mass production.
• Lin Cuo learned that the Indian engineering team had left after a dispute over technology ownership, though most unit test data remained.
• Lin Cuo found incompatible Gao Hai frames, unused parts, and canceled orders at the factories, even as frontline units lacked machines.
• Lin Cuo ordered the factories to standardize Gao Hai components and build prototypes, prioritizing an ejectable cockpit and promising funds within three days.

Lin Cuo reorganized the Northern Army by paying its soldiers, promoting overlooked officers, and restoring Gao Hai units, then returned to the palace and took the sleepy Jiang Lihua for a walk on his shoulders. Jiang Lihua asked him to take her outside and to install an Escape Pod in a Gao Hai, and Lin Cuo agreed.

• Lin Cuo used seized assets, bank financing, and standardized repair parts to increase the number of deployable Gao Hai units and win support from newly promoted Northern Army personnel.
• Lin Cuo sent redeemable notes backed by seized assets to Zhao Hao's residence as compensation for overseeing the army's reorganization.
• Lin Cuo returned to the palace late and found Jiang Lihua waiting; he promised to take her for a walk after she reminded him that he had promised before.
• Lin Cuo helped Jiang Lihua put on her shoes, then carried her on his shoulders around the covered walkway while the attendants followed.
• Jiang Lihua asked Lin Cuo whether he would take her outside and let her see a Gao Hai; he promised he would and agreed to install an Escape Pod.

Lin Cuo cheered Jiang Lihua up by showing her a rainbow made from signal flares over the Forbidden City, then brought her back to the bedchamber and helped ease her sore feet. As Jiang Lihua fell asleep happy, Lin Cuo promised to take her outside at dawn and kill a few people for her entertainment.

• Lin Cuo ordered officers to bring colored signal flares and set up launch tubes in the square.
• Lin Cuo carried Jiang Lihua outside and showed her the flares forming a rainbow across the night sky.
• Lin Cuo brought the tired Jiang Lihua back to her bedchamber and removed her shoes and socks.
• Lin Cuo massaged Jiang Lihua's feet until she relaxed and fell asleep.
• Lin Cuo promised the sleeping Jiang Lihua that he would go outside at dawn and kill a few people.