The Mohist Giant: I Dug Wells in the Western Regions and Became King is set amid the upheaval of the Western Regions during the Han-Xiongnu struggle for supremacy, and tells the legendary story of Zhao Ling, a Mohist heir. Unlike traditional military tales, the protagonist relies on mechanical engineering and strategy to create an original legend that makes up 85% of the story within a historical framework.
The novel unfolds through three interwoven storylines. Zhao Ling takes control of the Khotan jade mines and Yanqi salt lakes to wage an economic war along the Silk Road, dismantling the Xiongnu trade network by cutting off silk supplies and burning counterfeit coin workshops. He also promotes the fusion of the Central Plains calendar with the Western Regions’ “Twelve-Animal Calendar,” ultimately bringing about the promulgation of the Western Regions Han Calendar. Meanwhile, his improved double-shaft plow sparks an agricultural revolution in the Western Regions, while Mohist innovations such as repeating crossbow carts and tunnel warfare run throughout the battles.
From escorting a Western Regions merchant caravan and encountering the Sand Scorpion Gang, to devising a two-pronged strategy to persuade the King of Zhuri to surrender, and then the Han crossbow’s three volleys and elephant cavalry’s charge at the Battle of Cheshi, the story is full of twists and turns. Aisha’s royal secret letter, Aimu’s Golden Man of the Sacrifice to Heaven, and Princess Jieyou’s bilingual debate make the relationships between the characters all the more complex. In the end, the mechanical blueprints Zhao Ling entrusts to others on his deathbed leave a spark of technological knowledge that crosses civilizations, composing an epic of power, faith, and cultural fusion in the Western Regions.
