In the last years of the Dakang Dynasty, the government was corrupt and the people were in dire straits. The protagonist, Ma Mingyuan, was originally an inconspicuous ninth-grade official in the capital, but he was forced into exile due to a political storm. On the surface, he is gentle and polite, but in fact he is thoughtful and possessive. On his way into exile, he took a mysterious "Reform Book" with him. This book allowed him to see the loopholes and optimal reform plans of any system. Ma Mingyuan started as an exile. He first displayed his talents in a border town, rectified the government, developed the economy, and gradually gathered people's hearts. He was encircled and suppressed by various forces: suppression by local powerful, plunder by bandits, chased by the court's hawks and dogs, and the conspiracy of a charlatan who called himself "Tianji Taoist". Faced with many obstacles, Ma Ming worked step by step, from governing a town to controlling a state, and finally returned to the capital to use iron-fisted reforms to end the old order. But the bigger crisis has just begun...
