Lin Han, a 25-year-old modern archaeology graduate student, is examining the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum in Nanjing when he accidentally touches a stone stele carved with strange runes. He transmigrates to Zhongli, Haozhou, in the fourth year of the Zhizheng era under the Yuan dynasty (1344). The Yuan dynasty is nearing its end: the Yellow River has burst its banks, famine and disease are rampant, ethnic tensions are escalating, and the White Lotus sect is stirring in secret among the people. The Red Turban Rebellion is still seven years away. Zhu Yuanzhang is merely an illiterate poor boy from Haozhou, with his family shattered and his home lost. The protagonist hopes to change history, but every effort he makes ultimately leads, through a twist of fate, to Zhu Yuanzhang ascending the throne.
