In the dusk in Xiguo, Chang'an, a secret workshop is brewing power that can subvert the times.
Li Yunxiao, a soul from the future, with a map of knowledge that spans thousands of years, planted the first seed of "investigation of things" in the Tang Dynasty during the Zhenguan period. When the improved waterwheel turned, it not only irrigated the farmland, but also aroused the jealousy of the bureaucrats of the Ministry of Industry; the moment the curved shaft plow cut through the land, it plowed open the granary hoarded by the landlord, which also reflected the farmers' thoughts imprisoned by superstition.
When the Turkic envoy used the Thousand Jin Cauldron and Sun Shadow Calculation to make things difficult for the court, he used the lever principle and trigonometric functions to build up the dignity of the Tang Dynasty; the popular Fu Nu approached with poison in her arms, but in his words of "all living beings are equal", I understood a belief that was more important than imperial power. From the thunder of movable type printing in the imperial examination room, to the roar of steamships at the Yellow River pier, from the saltpeter ice making at the Zhongnan Mountain Rain Prayer Ceremony, to the wine still in the hands of the Persian princess - every one of his inventions is a huge stone thrown into the old era.
This is an epic of the Tang Dynasty about "studying things to gain knowledge": amidst the denunciations of the nobles for their "expert and obscene skills", the interrogations of Taoist priests for "violating the way of heaven", between the bloodshed in the palace and the wars at the border, Li Yunxiao used gears as his bones and arithmetic as his soul, letting the glimmer of science penetrate the fog of history, and finally merged into a prairie fire that changed the destiny of China.
When the morning bell in Chang'an resonates with the sound of machinery running, a new era belonging to craftsmen, farmers, students and Silk Road merchants is slowly unfolding in his hands.
