Upper-upper

Needs All Under Heaven - Merit Rank 1 is the top of China's celestial bureaucracy. Play any vassal under Celestial government with high Learning (or design one). Then it's the scholar's life: join every Examination you can (Capital Examinations first), always take the Merit-granting options, and run the Study scheme between them. Once you land a governorship, Military governors should recruit men-at-arms while civil ones build and raise tax income - both feed passive Merit - and hosting Examinations and Inspections tops it up. The wiki's own words: it will take quite a while, so be patient. Grand Governor is this plus one more step, so consider going straight through.