In the winter of the twelfth year of Jianyuan, Hou Bang, a poor scholar, froze and starved to death in a ruined temple. As a spirit, he watched in horror as Ye City fell and his homeland was swallowed up. He regretted having strategic brilliance but being sidelined by the great clans, resented being made a scapegoat by a prince, and mourned the death of his mentor and brothers on the battlefield.
When he opened his eyes again, he was back in the afternoon three years earlier when he had bought half a volume of an unknown military text. Memories of his past life surged back, transforming him from a scholar who only knew how to talk about war on paper into a strategist with a heart of iron. He held forth in taverns while secretly setting his plans in motion: saving an upright minor official, befriending fallen heroes, and accurately predicting rebellions and natural disasters. Among low-ranking scholars and military officers, he earned a reputation for seeing everything before it happened.
The Langya Wang clan and other powerful families saw him as a threat, while the second prince, Xiao Jingyan, wanted to make him a pawn. Hou Bang danced on the edge of a blade, using the factions around him to pave his way while taking care not to let them control him. He relied on his memories of his past life and the damaged military text, and also received secret help from the mysterious Xie Qingyi. When Xie Qingyi revealed her identity as a member of the Xie clan of Chen Commandery, family interests and personal feelings made the situation even more complicated.
War fires flare again on the northern frontier, as the crisis in Ye City coincides with a power struggle in Jiankang. Amid pressure from the great clans, the princes’ suspicions, and the threat of the northern horsemen, Hou Bang must build his strength. He must save Ye City, protect his mentor and defend the people, while also making his enemies from his past life pay their blood debt. With half a ruined book, fearless resolve, and a mind full of schemes, he vows to rise from a poor scholar dismissed as a general on paper to become a pillar of the nation, and rewrite that tragic ending with his own hands.
