Qin Yi was once an imperial tutor and strategist with power over the court, but after being betrayed, he was sentenced to death by poisoned wine. Reborn ten years before his death, in the tenth year of the Chongzhen reign, he awakens in the body of a young general with the same name, who has just fallen from favor in a palace power struggle. The Ming dynasty is beset by internal and external threats, but has not yet completely collapsed, giving him a slim chance to turn the tide. He pits his wits against the harem, powerful eunuchs, and court officials who betrayed him in his previous life, while facing the Manchus poised beyond the frontier and the peasant uprisings raging across the Central Plains. Torn between the desire for revenge and the duty to save the people, he must contend with the forces of the harem consorts, court ministers, and frontier generals, who will do anything to protect their power. If his revenge fails, he will die again and lose everything. Newly arrived at court and short on strength, he has only a limited time to overthrow the old powers before reaching the point at which he died in his previous life. The betrayal he suffered left him deeply suspicious of others. Though he strives for revenge after being reborn, when he succeeds, he discovers that the dynasty has already been left in ruins by the struggle for power.
