In the first year of the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty dug the Grand Canal against the public opinion. Millions of civilians were buried in the Sui Embankment. The father of Qin Hao, the son of a Cao worker, died tragically at the knife of Yang Xuangan, Yang Su's adopted son, because he exposed the supervisor's embezzlement of grain and grass. Young Qin Hao carries the "Secret Records of Water Transport" left behind by his father - this book contains the secrets of the canal waterway and the Cao Gang's "Water Dividing Sword Technique". It has become the focus of contention between powerful officials in the Sui court, evil factions and anti-Sui forces.
In order to avenge his father, Qin Hao fled the rivers and lakes, and was protected by a master of the Cao Gang who risked his life. Later, he met Li Mi of Wagang Village and learned the "Water Wave Sword", transforming from an ignorant boy into a knight with a budding edge. While dealing with the Sui army elites controlled by Yang Su and the evil faction "Blackwater Alliance" behind Pei Yun, he went deep into the whirlpool of the late Sui Dynasty: he fought with the Wagang army in Liaodong to fight against the "tyrannical rule" of Goguryeo warriors and the Yuwen clan; he sneaked into Jiangdu Dragon Boat to expose the power-seizing conspiracy behind Yang Guang's parade; and finally joined forces with Dou Jiande, Wang Shichong and other anti-kings to march to Jiangdu to confront Yu Wenji, who killed the king and usurped the throne.
The work takes the construction of the Grand Canal in the late Sui Dynasty as the background, and interweaves the intrigues of the court (Yang Guang is fatuous, Yang Su is dictatorial, and the Yuwen clan is ambitious) with the grievances and grievances of the rivers and lakes (the chivalry of the Cao Gang, the evil poison of the Blackwater League, and the heroes of Wagang Village). Qin Hao's road to revenge is also the epitome of the people's transformation from forbearance to rise in the late Sui Dynasty - the bloody blade on the Sui embankment not only slashed at the enemy, but also split open the corrupt foundation of the Sui Dynasty. Finally, in the afterglow of Jiangdu, he witnessed the collapse of a dynasty and the inheritance of the chivalrous spirit.
