Alchemy in the Ming Dynasty: This Chemistry PhD Is Draining the Treasury

Name: Shen Yan

Identity: PhD in materials chemistry from a top university, specializing in inorganic purification, fine chemicals, metallurgical catalysis, mineral analysis, and the recreation of ancient technologies

Personality: Extremely rational, profit-driven, meticulous, measured in his use of violence, no bleeding heart, exceptionally well-versed in the rules, and adept at exploiting loopholes of the era

Time of transmigration: 1630, the third year of the Chongzhen reign. The Ming Dynasty has not yet collapsed, but its treasury is empty, its bureaucracy is rotten, its technology primitive, and the court desperately needs to save both its finances and its people.

Identity after transmigration: A low-ranking ninth-grade warehouse official in the Ministry of Revenue in the capital, overseeing the treasury's minor clerks. He is at the very bottom of the hierarchy, has virtually no rights, and is ideally placed to access the treasury's core ledgers and inventory.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.