When Zhou Che, an engineering PhD well versed in machinery and institutions, and Lin Wei, a history prodigy skilled in human nature and strategy, transmigrate to the end of the Qin dynasty as a pair of unknown refugee siblings, they know history textbooks are about to be torn to shreds.
Facing Xiang Yu, whose ambition could swallow mountains and rivers, and Liu Bang, who patiently waits for destiny to favor him, the two modern souls make the craziest choice of all: No pledging allegiance, no serving as advisers. We want the realm for ourselves, under the Zhou and Lin names!
Zhou Che’s workshop turns out steel crossbows, gunpowder, and codes of law beyond their time. In Lin Wei’s war room, a web of political intrigue runs on a mix of dark arts of influence and organizational behavior. They reorganize the army with “performance reviews,” build a business empire through “limited liability companies,” and compete for the spark of civilization with “compulsory education.”
Yet their true adversaries are not merely the warlords of history. Xiang Yu’s “lifting the cauldron,” with strength enough to move mountains, is no mere feat of brute force. Liu Bang’s “destiny’s chosen,” surviving one desperate situation after another, seems to have mysterious fortune on his side… The very foundations of this world appear to be entwined with a metaphysical code called “destiny.”
When the shadow of a prophecy scholar appears behind Liu Bang, and a secret military killing formation manifests before Xiang Yu’s troops, the two transmigrators finally realize they are up against an entire old age bolstered by mysterious powers!
This is a supreme battle between the absolute rationality of engineering thought and the ancient fatalism of heavenly destiny. Will gunpowder tear apart the lies of the gods, or will they be swallowed once more by the tides of history?
The two transmigrators join forces on this land soaked in glory and blood, using the stars and the sea as their map to open a new era for humankind!
