A laboratory accident hurls modern engineering PhD Li Zhe into the bustling world of the Kaiyuan era, where he takes over the body of Li Mingyuan, a poor scholar. Chang'an is magnificent before his eyes, yet beneath its splendor lie the dangers of frequent floods and land concentration. Armed with a technological perspective and systems thinking a thousand years ahead of his time, Li Mingyuan takes the principle of “investigating things to gain knowledge” as his creed. Starting as a county lieutenant in Chang'an, he improves irrigation, solves an unsolved case, and presents three strategies to strengthen the nation. His extraordinary talent for “developing the wonders of nature” shakes the imperial court. He earns the admiration of the renowned minister Zhang Yue and catches Emperor Xuanzong's attention.
He establishes the Institute of Heavenly Craft, bringing together gifted artisans. The crucible steel method gives Tang swords a razor-sharp edge; improved gunpowder thunders across battlefields; and the first rudimentary steam engine wheezes to life in the workshops. The new Divine Strategy Army sweeps across the northern frontier with firearms and discipline. Armed with compasses and rigid sails, Tang treasure ships conquer towering waves and extend the Silk Road to the Persian Gulf, their military might aimed at the walls of Byzantium.
Yet beneath the golden age, danger lurks everywhere. The treachery of powerful minister Li Linfu, An Lushan's swelling ambition, and the Crown Prince's wariness of the chancellors' power intertwine into a deadly web.
