Zhang Kui, a retired instructor of modern special forces, encountered a rare thunderstorm during a field survival training and accidentally traveled to the war-torn Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (the period of the last emperor of the Later Liang Dynasty). When he woke up, he became a refugee soldier being hunted by the enemy. He only had a rusty scimitar and half a piece of moldy cake in his pocket.
Relying on modern fighting skills, tactical thinking and basic engineering knowledge, Zhang Kui escaped from death in a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, but found that in this era, "the emperor will do it only if he has strong soldiers and horses", and the lives of the people are like straw. In order to survive, and to protect the orphans, veterans and other vulnerable groups he met on the way, he was forced to take up arms. Starting from forming a small refugee escort, he gradually worked his way through the cracks of the feudal regime.
He improved weapons, trained new soldiers, built water conservancy, promoted simple agricultural techniques, and used modern concepts to break the inherent patterns of ancient warfare and governance. However, he also attracted suspicion and pursuit because of his "alien" status. On the one hand, there is the struggle between forces such as the Later Liang, the Later Tang, and Wu Yue, and on the other hand, there is the collision between the old forces and new ideas within the country. Can Zhang Kui finally break out of the troubled times and establish a regime where the people can live a stable life? This is a passionate epic about survival, struggle, ideals and choices.
