The Spirit of Zheng Zhuang

Zheng Zhuang, a young man from the modern era, is a descendant of the Zheng clan who has returned to his hometown to pay respects to his ancestors. He bows once to Duke Huan, twice to Duke Wu, and a third time before the tablet of Zheng Zhuanggong, the great ancestor. To his astonishment, his soul transmigrates to the Spring and Autumn period, inhabiting the body of Ji Wusheng, the Crown Prince of Zheng, who has just been poisoned by his younger brother. Deep within the palace, his birth mother despises him, his younger brother usurps power, and ministers plot together. In the vast Eastern Palace, he is all alone. As the rightful Crown Prince, he faces deadly danger at every turn and survives by the narrowest of margins. Drawing on the wisdom of a millennium from the future, he lies low and conceals his strength, secretly trains a force of loyal fighters, plants spies, improves farming tools, and invents looms. He enriches the state through farming and weaving, and strengthens its armies through political machinations. He earns the unwavering support of Ying Kaoshu and Gongzi Lü in matters of state, while Princess Zhen, Yin Mulan, and Gao Qumi pledge their lives to follow him in battle. When Gongshu Duan launches a rebellion and lays siege to the palace, he springs his trap in one fell swoop, crushes the revolt with decisive force, purges the treacherous ministers, and ascends the throne. At home, he reforms government and educates the people; abroad, he contends for supremacy and outmaneuvers the feudal lords. He defeats the Rong and Di in the north and breaks Song and Wei in the south. At the Battle of Xu Ge, he shoots the Son of Heaven in the shoulder, shattering the Zhou king’s thousand-year myth and rising to become the first hegemon of the Spring and Autumn period. From a descendant of the future to a hegemon of the Spring and Autumn period; from a discarded prince in the inner palace to a ruler for the ages. As a man who transmigrated from another time, he rewrites the fate of Zheng, builds a glorious hegemony, and makes his name immortal in the history books: Zheng Zhuanggong.