The flames of the An Lushan Rebellion had yet to die out when Li Mingyuan brought irrigation channels and rice seeds to the lands of Huaixi, sowing hope. In an age of warring military governors, he wielded waterworks as a blade and farming as armor, bringing the Huaixi canals from north to south and filling the Central Plains with green fields of Champa rice. From Hebei to Hexi, wherever the waters flowed, hoes took the place of weapons. When the rice heads bowed low, the people’s hearts joined together into a Great Wall. This is no epic of kings and nobles, but a story of perseverance in every bowl of porridge and every meal. The secret to pacifying all under heaven, it turns out, lies in the new rice held in the hands of the people.
