The science and engineering PhD Ye Han transmigrates into the body of a poor scholar in ancient times. His whole family has gone into debt to support his studies for the imperial exams.
With the provincial exam fast approaching, he stares blankly at the Four Books and Five Classics, only to awaken the "Investigate Things to Gain Knowledge" System.
The examiners set the topic "On Thunder and Lightning." While everyone else discusses the response between Heaven and humanity, he puts pen to paper and writes "The Principles of Lightning and the Design of Lightning Rods";
The topic is "A Plan for Flood Control." While his classmates prattle about benevolent rule and moral governance, he presents "Fluid Mechanics and a Mathematical Model for Flood-Control Levees."
At the palace exam, the emperor rebukes them furiously: "You dare speak of strange arts and clever devices? How can such things be the Way of the sages?"
Ye Han clasps his hands and replies, "Your Majesty, if I could enable beacon towers on the border to send messages ten miles apart, would that count as the Way of the sages?"
Amid the uproar of the entire court, he takes out a hand-cranked generator and a model telegraph.
