In 1898, Han Zheng, a military industry expert, transmigrates to Weihaiwei and becomes a ruined fishing village wastrel who has squandered his family's fortune, fallen into opium addiction, and even signed a contract to sell his own wife.
Creditors surround his home, his wife is driven to attempt suicide, and he has just three days to come up with forty taels of silver.
Everyone expects to see his corpse washed out to sea. But Han Zheng, his body broken from withdrawal, ventures alone into Dead Man's Reef, a place no one dares approach. He reads the tides, hunts sea cucumbers, and catches yellow croaker. One piece of premium fish maw earns him sixty taels in cash!
He throws the silver in their faces and burns the contract. This is only the beginning.
From buying and selling seafood to building an ocean-going fleet, from a ruined fishing village to a modern shipyard, from a single blacksmith's shop to a secret military factory, Han Zheng will use the limited materials and techniques of the late Qing to build guns, cannons, and warships for China.
Zhou Laohu wants to cut off his livelihood, local merchant guilds want to swallow his business, foreign trading houses want to seize his harbor, and powerful Qing officials want to take away his military command.
Han Zheng says only one thing:
“Let's get the job in front of us done first. Then we can talk about the world.”
In this life, he will not only ensure that his wife can live with dignity, but also make sure that the people of this land never have to kneel to beg for survival again!
The opening is full of contrast, the rhythm is refreshing, the main plot is advanced easily, and there is no superfluous plot. The more I watch, the more I get hooked, and I look forward to a bigger plot explosion in the future!