The Poor Scholar Sage: I Conquer the World with Poetry and Books

In a fictional dynasty where social classes are rigidly entrenched, Gu Chen, the male lead and a lowly household servant, unexpectedly awakens a talent for cultivating “righteous virtue” in a life-or-death crisis. He is neither reborn nor someone who transmigrated, yet he possesses insight and strategic ability far beyond his era, thanks to his fusion of modern knowledge. Playing the fool to outwit his enemies, he escapes the depths of a powerful family’s mansion and enters the official academy, where he engages in fierce resource battles and intellectual showdowns against the corrupt aristocratic clans that control access to knowledge. Centering his approach on “investigating things to gain knowledge,” Gu Chen incorporates modern mathematics, physics, and economics into Confucian thought, founding an entirely new school of thought and igniting a wave of reform that transforms the age. He and the heroine, Su Qingwei, a female scholar at the Imperial College, grow close and fall in love. Joining forces, they maneuver carefully through the imperial court and the martial world, ultimately crushing the shadowy group led by hypocritical Confucian scholars. With the decayed old world utterly overwhelmed, Gu Chen achieves the highest sanctity in the Confucian Way through his own efforts and ushers in peace for all generations.