Li Ye, an archaeological researcher from Xi'an, accidentally transmigrates to the height of the Tang dynasty in the twenty-first year of the Kaiyuan era while excavating the Daming Palace ruins. Chang'an is flourishing, with envoys from every nation paying tribute, but beneath the golden age, land consolidation is gathering momentum, the fubing military system is on the verge of collapse, and the seeds of the An Lushan Rebellion have already been sown.
A spoiled young scion of a collateral branch of the imperial family, Li Ye draws attention with a stunning poem, then presents his “Land Equalization Reform Plan.” He uses “fish-scale cadastral maps” to clarify land ownership and the “curved-shaft plow” to boost agriculture, overcoming the obstruction of powerful nobles and strengthening the foundations of the Tang dynasty.
With a keen eye for talent, he recruits the yet-unheralded Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi as his trusted allies. He creates a new fubing system with “three fields and three forms of training,” forges Tang crossbows, and drills elite troops, turning scattered farmers into a disciplined fighting force. From reorganizing Guanzhong to developing the Western Regions, from suppressing border threats to sailing overseas, Li Ye uses strategic insight far ahead of his time to lead the Tang dynasty away from its destined collapse in the An Lushan Rebellion. The fame of the “Heavenly Khan” spreads across Eurasia, and the Tang banners eventually fly across the four corners of the vast seas, forging the legend of an Eastern empire spanning the world.
This is an epic of reform, war, and glory, following a modern soul as he uses strategy to rewrite history and iron and blood to reshape the world on the stage of the High Tang, bringing the light of Chinese civilization to the entire medieval world.
Is it cool? So smooth