Zhou Dazhuang, a special forces company commander, sacrifices himself to clear mines and save his comrades, trading one life for another. When he opens his eyes again, his soul has landed in a chaotic age absent from the history books: the Great Qian.
To the north, Yan cavalry batter at the passes; to the south, Yue has declared independence. At court, a powerful chancellor rules as regent while the empress dowager meddles in state affairs. Beyond the passes, starving corpses litter the land and beacon fires never go out.
He becomes a cannon-fodder military household man beneath Blackstone Pass, branded a "deserter." His father died to a Yan blade, his brother perished guarding the frontier, and two generations of loyal bones have earned him nothing but a beating with a military baton.
While others are still charging into battle on horseback, he drills troops in formation, establishes a staff, and develops volley fire.
While others dismiss gunpowder as a crooked trick, he creates granulated powder, flintlock muskets, and field cannons, one after another.
While others rely on their commanders' personal valor, he turns a starving rabble into an iron army with supply depots and standardized drill manuals.
From military household soldier to squad leader, from centurion to general: Helian Bo, the Yan people's god of war, declares, "His tactics are beyond the reach of ghosts and gods!"
Powerful Chancellor Wang Yanhe: "As long as this beast lives another day, I won't be able to eat or sleep in peace!" Young Emperor Jiang Chengji: "I can entrust my empire to the general."
Liu Xu, playing the qin in the lamplight of a border town; Mu Xuerong, spear in hand amid enemy ranks; Xiao Wanqing, glancing back on the road to her political marriage; Shen Qingdai, sharp-minded among stacks of account books... and the Northern Yan empress, who rode through the palace gates and seized the throne after killing her brother.
Seven women, seven distinct spirits, each entangled with him amid a shattered land.
Amid the clash of arms and charging horses, I will build a new pass with my battered body.
One spear, one army, one dynasty that never existed:
Watch Zhou Dazhuang rise from expendable foot soldier to prince and general, conquer the realm, and become the first warrior of another surname in two hundred years of the Great Qian dynasty!
"In my previous life, I saved one comrade. In this life..."
"I'll protect the entire Great Qian."
