Shen Yan, a modern graduate student in history, is helping catalog the site of a Song Dynasty shipwreck when a bronze seal engraved with a strange star chart unexpectedly sends his soul back to the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Northern Song. He becomes a scholar from a once-prosperous family that has fallen on hard times in Hangzhou. The Great Song appears to enjoy peace and prosperity, with flourishing commerce and music everywhere, but beneath the surface it is beset by deep-rooted crises: bloated bureaucracy and armies, and growing threats along the borders.
With no superpowers or golden finger, Shen Yan relies solely on his solid historical knowledge and his far-sighted, modern perspective. He starts with small businesses to secure his own livelihood, then gradually ventures into public welfare, commerce, and technology. He improves farming tools, streamlines trade routes, and proposes reforms, unwittingly stirring the currents of his age. From a nobody on the banks of the Qiantang River to a pillar of the imperial court, he witnesses and takes part in the ups and downs of the Qingli Reforms. Through clashes and cooperation with renowned officials such as Fan Zhongyan and Ouyang Xiu, he tries to bring about change through gentle means and make up for the regrets of history. In the end, without overturning the foundations of the age, he lays a steadier path forward for this great dynasty, prosperous in letters but weak in arms.
