In 1918, the warlords in the north and south separated their regimes, and the world was in chaos. Lin Muyun, a military theorist who returned from abroad, cherished the ideal of building a modern army, but was severely slapped in the face by reality - what he inherited was just a run-down militia with less than 300 soldiers who could not even pay military salaries.
To make matters worse, three thousand elite soldiers under the command of Ma Hongtu, the largest local warlord, are eager to annex this territory. Charlatan Zhao Banxian took the opportunity to incite the villagers and spread the rumor that "there will be evil stars coming from the sky", making Lin Muyun the target of public criticism.
Everyone thought that this scholar who could only talk on paper would not survive three months. However, Lin Muyun used an "empty city strategy" to lure the enemy into a trap, using ten scouts to pretend to be two thousand reinforcements, and using the rumors created by the terrain to scare off Ma Hongtu's vanguard.
But this is just the beginning. The real chess game has just been laid. The Beiyang government, foreign forces, local warlords, local gentry, all forces are like wolves and tigers. Lin Muyun must use his wits to find a way out in this deadly game.
He wants to prove that in this troubled world, ideals are not a burden, but the strongest weapon.
