During the Upheaval of Yongjia and the chaos of the Five Barbarians, the Central Plains became a living hell. The Jie’s horrific practice of treating people as “two-legged sheep” and the Xianbei’s slaughter and looting left Han Chinese families struggling to survive from one day to the next.
Chen Xuan’s soul transmigrated into a desolate village in the Western Jin dynasty, where he became the headman of a dilapidated settlement with barely more than twenty households. With corpses scattered across the land and barbarian cavalry surrounding them, he unexpectedly activated a Daily Sign-in System. Starting by exchanging a pound of potato seeds to provide enough food, he gradually led the villagers in reclaiming wasteland, making farm tools, and forming a militia.
Amid the chaos, he held fast to the principle of “stockpile grain, build high walls, and take the throne only when the time is right.” He sheltered refugees, recruited talented people, and united nearby Han villages into an alliance against the barbarians. In his dealings with barbarian powers such as Shi Le and Murong Huang, he repeatedly devised brilliant strategies to repel powerful enemies. All the while, he had to manage the internal balance of power between Xie An and Ran Min, while facing the bloody onslaught of the barbarian cavalry. With iron will and ingenuity, he built a “Han Chinese stronghold” beneath the trampling hooves of the Five Barbarians.
This is not a power fantasy about one man having it all handed to him. It is about a group of Han Chinese banding together to survive against all odds: refugees overwhelmed with gratitude after being rescued, soldiers singing defiant laments as they die in battle, and the struggles for influence that test people’s hearts. Chen Xuan is protecting more than a single fortress. He is defending the Han people’s lineage and civilization, carving out a place for the descendants of Yan and Huang to survive in the darkest of times.
