Liu Feng, a modern graduate student in history, transmigrates by accident to the fourth year of Yonghui under Emperor Gaozong of Tang, becoming Li Feng, the palace’s neglected Third Prince.
Wu Zetian has only just entered the palace and has yet to seize power, while nobles from the Guanlong clans, including Changsun Wuji, control the government. With his foresight into the course of history and knowledge spanning a thousand years, Li Feng makes a name for himself by improving the palace’s charcoal stoves and water clocks, catching Gaozong’s attention.
He is sent away to serve as assistant county magistrate in Lantian, where he starts from the bottom. He dredges old canals, improves farming tools, and promotes new agricultural methods, increasing the county’s grain yield by forty percent. He founds a trading company to amass wealth, opens mills, and establishes trade routes. He secretly discovers a jade mine, builds an economic base, recruits talented men from humble families, and assembles a team of his own.
Amid major historical events such as the struggle over the empress’s appointment and purges at court, Li Feng deftly navigates between Wu Zetian, Changsun Wuji, Li Ji, and the other factions, appearing obedient while making secret plans. First enfeoffed as Prince of Shu, he develops Bashu. Then he is made Prince of Jin and charged with building the northern defenses. He establishes a new army, forging an elite force with modern ideas.
In Gaozong’s later years, Wu Zetian’s power reaches its height. As the emperor’s uncle, Li Feng joins forces with those loyal to the Li house. Drawing on the economic, military, and talent base he has built over the years, he gradually takes control of the government while ensuring the nation does not split apart. In the end, he is appointed Crown Prince’s younger brother and heir. After Wu Zetian’s death, he ascends the throne and introduces constitutional-monarchy-style reforms, bringing the Tang Dynasty into an unprecedented age of prosperity.
