(A Farmer in the Turmoil of Spring and Autumn) Shen Yan, a transmigrated refugee, crawls out of a pile of corpses. He establishes systems and lays down rules.
Another transmigrator, Lin Zhou, silently hands him a sharpened wooden stick. He digs canals, builds cities, and forges weapons.
Liu Zhu, missing a finger; Old Zheng, with an arm gone; Uncle Fu, who guards the grain; Ji Yao, who can read; Shigen, brave but simple-minded; and Er Lai'er, who's afraid of dying. They start in a ruined temple, dividing the land, digging canals, and driving back King Beichen.
But the war isn't over.
Ahead, the fierce general Qin Lie will lead the main army in a head-on clash with the lords' allied forces. Vanguard Zhao Meng will be the first to charge the enemy walls. General Huo Qing will declare, "Women can defend their homes and country too," and lead a force of female soldiers. Naval commander Han Lang will cut off the enemy's supply route on the Yellow River.
Civil official Su Xuan will manage grain and taxes for tens of thousands, ensuring the front lines never run short of food. Strategist Jiang Zhe will use the Thirty-Six Stratagems to turn the enemy's alliances against one another. Academician Kong Wen will establish civil service examinations so even poor children can become officials. Head of the Imperial Medical Academy Hua Qing will hold the final line against a plague. The iron-faced censor will sentence Shen Yan's old comrade to exile, showing no mercy in the application of the law. Diplomat Gongsun Ce will hold back a hundred thousand troops with nothing but his words at the lords' alliance summit.
There is also the craftsman Old Tie, the young soldier Lin Xiaoman, the mute girl, and Beigong, son of King Beichen...
King Beichen is dead, Hei Sha is dead, and Wang Shun has been driven out. But the State of Zheng has arrived, the State of Jin has arrived, and so have the allied forces of the lords.
They go from one village to one town, and from one town to one city. When hoes can no longer stop iron cavalry, they forge blades, build walls, and train soldiers.
This isn't the story of one person's rise against the odds. It's the story of a group of people, two pairs of hands, three generations, and a system, refusing to live on their knees amid the turmoil of Spring and Autumn.
