The Tang Dynasty's Splendid Rivers and Mountains

In the third year of Tianbao, the High Tang sun was setting, its glory burning bright. A modern archaeology professor, Pei Zhao, is thrown into the Tang dynasty after a car accident and becomes a poor scholar from Puzhou who has failed the imperial examinations three years in a row. His mother is gravely ill, his land has been seized, the aristocratic clans look down on him, and his chances of passing the exams are gone. So what? His mind holds the entire history of the Tang dynasty, along with countless unearthed classics and lost documents! He predicts the exam topics for the prefectural tests and wins instant fame. He debates Confucian classics at the Imperial Academy and verbally spars with the assembled scholars. His essays predict unrest on the frontier, shocking the emperor! A single imperial decree betroths him to Xie Lingyuan, the legitimate daughter of a noble mansion in Chang’an. All of Chang’an is waiting to see how this poor scholar will be crushed by the sharp-tongued, unhinged young lady. On their wedding night, she guards the bed with a dagger, staring at him coldly. “Take one more step, and blood will stain the wedding curtains.” Pei Zhao smiles, tosses aside his folding fan, and leans against the doorframe. “You’re more fun when you’re fierce, my lady. It suits this mouth of mine that argues with the whole world.” The court is swept into turmoil. Aristocratic clans vie for power, imperial in-laws meddle in politics, frontier commanders eye the throne, and currents churn beneath the prosperous age. He’s fiercely protective: anyone who lays a hand on the people around him will pay a hundredfold. She’s consumed by obsession: anyone who harms the people she cares about will face a fight to the death. From bickering enemies to comrades in arms, from a poor scholar to a chancellor for the ages. Taking history as his guide and his pen as a blade, he carves out a path to defy fate amid the rivers and mountains of the High Tang. When the flames of war finally rise across the land, he will already have built a Great Wall stretching for thousands of miles to defend it!