After transmigrating to the Tang dynasty, Li Tao finds himself a prince whose name appears nowhere in the history books. Wanting no part in the struggle for the throne, he only hopes to leave Chang’an as soon as possible. But his father, Li Shimin, won’t allow it, and his eldest brother, Li Chengqian, does everything he can to make him stay. With no choice, Li Tao remains, though the standard of living in the Tang dynasty is truly hard to bear.
The food is bad, so Li Tao writes his own recipes and tracks down the ingredients himself. The wine is undrinkable, so he brews and distills his own. There’s nothing to do after dinner, so he copies a few songs and gets some beautiful women to sing them. There are no movies or stage plays, so he writes some himself and has people rehearse and perform them...
Gradually, Li Tao realizes that life here isn’t so bad after all.
But when the Turkic cavalry appears outside Chang’an, when Li Shimin personally joins the fight, when Crown Prince Li Chengqian is gravely wounded and near death, and when Tang generals such as Cheng Yaojin, Qin Qiong, Yuchi Gong, Zhangsun Wuji, Zhang Liang, and Li Jing take the field despite their injuries, Li Tao finally panics. He also realizes at last that this Tang dynasty isn’t the one he knows from history. This is clearly a Tang dynasty in a parallel universe! He’s in deep trouble. First, he has to figure out how to survive...
