When a soul from the modern era enters the Northern Sea chancellor's residence in the third year of Jian'an, Kong Beihai, dismissed by history as “a man of little talent and grand ambitions,” is destined to follow a very different path.
Thirty-nine-year-old Kong Rong stares at the account books frozen stiff on his desk and listens to the refugees wailing outside the city. Two souls weigh upon his heart: the proud, unyielding spirit of a scion of the Kong clan, and the struggle of someone who knows what fate holds yet refuses to accept it. He knows the ending history has recorded for him, that he “brought disaster upon himself through his arrogance.” He also knows the blades flashing as Guan Hai lays siege to the city, the deadly threat of Cao Cao lurking nearby, and the bloodshed as the warlords battle for supremacy.
He opens the government granaries, trading silk for grain; sends Taishi Ci to break through the encirclement and seek reinforcements; allies with Liu Bei to fight the Yellow Turbans; and gathers refugees to train them to defend the city. The Northern Sea chancellor, once content to discuss the classics and debate the Way, begins to survey this chaotic world with the perspective of a thousand years in the future. He must uphold the Kong school's noble principles while taking up arms to protect the people. He must survive between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, and use the wisdom that made him the foremost of the “Seven Scholars of Jian'an” to forge a path to unifying the realm in the late Han, where bones lie exposed in the wilderness. This will be a road to unity worthy of Kong Beihai alone.
Snow falls on Ju County, and a dragon roars over the Northern Sea. When the refined scholar grips his sword, and a doomed minister rewrites his fate, this bitter winter will witness a different legend of the late Han.
First time writing, please bear with me.