In the middle of the 8th century AD, during the Tianbao period, there was an undercurrent surging under the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty. After an accident, young craftsman Li Mo had engineering knowledge from the future in his mind. He tried to use steam engines to improve agricultural tools, increase mining power, and even create new equipment, hoping to bring changes to this era. However, his invention soon aroused the covetousness of various forces - from local powerful men to court eunuchs, from border generals to royal family members, everyone wanted to take this new power as their own. When the Anshi Rebellion broke out and the mountains and rivers were shattered, Li Mo discovered that personal technological innovation was so insignificant in the face of the giant wheel of history. Some of the machines he spent all his efforts to build were used to make luxurious toys, and some became victims of power struggles. Only a few of them scattered to the south of the Shu region with the fleeing craftsmen. Decades later, when the vassals of the late Tang Dynasty began to use these residual technologies to separate themselves, an era driven by steam quietly sprouted amidst the wars and ruins.
