Lin Yi, a top student in his final year of high school on Blue Star, wakes up having transmigrated to the sixth year of the Zhenguan era, as Li Shimin’s illegitimate son. His mother dies after being wrongfully accused, leaving him in an awkward position in the palace: the emperor is cold toward him, the princes see him as a threat, and only Empress Zhangsun secretly protects him.
Fortunately, he is bound to the “Civilization Engine” System, which provides a library of texts, analytical assistance, and technical blueprints. He has no interest in palace intrigue and is in no hurry to acknowledge his father. Instead, he starts by improving farm tools, revolutionizing papermaking, and founding Chongwen Hall, winning the people’s support with knowledge from a far more advanced age. When Li Shimin asks what he wants, he replies, “I want everyone in the Tang Dynasty to have enough to eat.”
But his game board stretches beyond Chang’an. Caught between the princes’ struggle for the throne, the aristocratic clans closing in, and the Turks invading the frontier, Li Yi makes Longxi his base. He reclaims land and trains troops, implementing new policies and turning a barren region into a model of reform. He refuses to become crown prince and refuses to rebel, but presents Li Shimin with the “Eternal Law,” a fundamental charter that limits imperial power and establishes a council of state.
Father and son go from suspicion to confrontation, and finally reconcile at Li Shimin’s sickbed. After Li Shimin’s death, Li Yi voluntarily gives up his military power and devotes his life’s work to Chongwen Hall. Decades later, the scholars he nurtured are scattered across the realm, and institutional reforms have taken root. Before he dies, he tells his students, “Civilization means ordinary people can live without having to kneel.”
The histories record: Li Yi, Taizong’s illegitimate son, reformer, scientist, and educator. He never became emperor, yet he changed the course of a thousand years.
