Lin Yan, a Peking University PhD in Qin and Han history, unexpectedly transmigrates into the forced labor camps at Mount Li in the thirty-fifth year of the First Emperor’s reign. He is trapped in a desperate situation from the start, but is saved by the Qin Emperor Assistance System. His mission is to extend the First Emperor’s life and unify East and Central Asia. If he succeeds, he can return home; if he fails, he will be trapped forever in the Qin dynasty.
Armed with a millennium of historical knowledge and an understanding of Qin laws and strategy, he uses modern medicine to save laborers and make a name for himself. At the Xianyang Medical Bureau, he exposes the alchemists’ scams and outwits the treacherous Zhao Gao. He earns Li Si’s admiration, wins the favor of the Meng clan, and guides Fusu into becoming a worthy heir.
He establishes performance reviews and reforms officialdom, improves irrigation and promotes farming, upgrades weapons and trains cavalry. With modern knowledge, he fills the gaps in Qin institutions. He defeats the Xiongnu in the north and takes the Hetao region, campaigns south against the Baiyue and opens up Lingnan, expands west into the Western Regions and opens the Silk Road, then crosses east to Korea and establishes it as a vassal state. Rising step by step from a forced laborer, he is enfeoffed as the Marquis of Qinxu and becomes the First Emperor’s trusted aide, both minister and friend.
He navigates court intrigue with ease and plans battlefield campaigns to secure victory from a thousand miles away. He leads the Qin dynasty through internal and external crises, creating a flourishing empire to which all nations pay tribute. When the First Emperor reaches the age of sixty and the mission is complete, a ten-mile farewell procession sees him off at Ba Bridge. He uses the Qin jade to open a passage through time and space and return to the modern era, leaving behind bamboo slips that record his legend, and a unique memory of the Qin dynasty’s golden age, preserved across a thousand years.
