In the late Jiajing years of the Ming Dynasty, the sea was rough and Japanese pirates and Western colonists were raging in the southeast. In the city of Hangzhou, Lu Yuan, the son of a tea merchant, wanted to obtain fame, but was involved in a huge conspiracy when his family's merchant ship was attacked. After his father died tragically and the family navigation chart "Si Hai Li Zhi" disappeared, he was forced to give up the imperial examination and embark on a difficult and dangerous road to avenge his father and revive the family business.
From the market to the court, from the sea to naval battles, Lu Yuan dealt with Jin Yiwei, Jiangnan aristocratic families, Western explorers and ferocious Japanese pirates. He will meet the love of his life and his old enemy, and in the turbulent current situation, he will gradually uncover a shocking secret that can shake the country. This is an epic intertwined with personal destiny and feelings of family and country. It tells the story of how an ordinary scholar grew up to be a helmsman who cut waves in the wave of the Age of Discovery.
