This is both a farming article and an imperial examination article; it has infrastructure, power, and the rudiments of a struggle for hegemony in troubled times, but it is essentially a work about "choice."
In an era when life is at stake, some people choose to escape, some choose to seek refuge, and some choose to take advantage of the situation. And Xu Ning chose the most difficult path - to stay and hold on, so that the land under his feet and the people on it could survive.
From a canal to a city, from a boy who almost froze to death to a parent, the core of the story has never changed: true strength is not to hold power, but to stand where you should be and do what you can do.
