Zhao Yong wakes up as a down-on-his-luck commoner in Changshan at the end of the Eastern Han dynasty, and he’s also a blood relative of the Han imperial family.
> His neighbor Zhao Yun practices spear techniques every day and complains that warhorses are too expensive to maintain.
> Zhao Yong draws a horseshoe sketch. “Fit these, and a horse can travel three times as far.”
> Zhao Yun is stunned. “This can bring peace to the realm!”
> When the Yellow Turban Rebellion erupts, Zhao Yong uses horseshoes to gather refugees and build an elite cavalry.
> During the campaign against Dong Zhuo, he presents the horseshoe technology. The warlords hail him as a genius, and the Han emperor personally recognizes him as an imperial uncle.
> He raises horses in Youzhou, smelts iron in Liaodong, and builds ships on the Yangtze. The technology tree quietly begins to light up.
> The flames of Red Cliffs illuminate the Yangtze, while his ironclad ships have already set sail south in secret.
> When Roman warships encounter Han banners on the Mediterranean, the pope trembles and asks, “What kind of monsters have come from the East?”
