In the twenty-ninth year of the Jiajing reign, floodwaters swept across Ziyang County.
When Lin Yan, a key engineer responsible for both water conservancy and housing construction in the county, opened his eyes again, he had become a low-ranking clerk in the county office, liable to be pushed forward to take the blame at any moment.
Refugees crowded the eastern gate. Filthy water seeped into the wells, and cases of vomiting and diarrhea kept spreading. The county granary was nearly empty, firewood and medicine were running out, and local gentry and officials all had their own schemes. After binding to the [Stabilize the Foundations of the Realm System], he received no food, silver, or divine weapons out of thin air, only blueprints, data, governance templates, and a practical path he would have to walk himself.
Seal contaminated wells and set up communal kitchens, provide relief through work, repair canals and build dikes, fire bricks and build granaries, audit household registers and reform officialdom... From flooding in one county to the livelihood of an entire prefecture, from post-disaster reconstruction to supply routes along the border, every step required raising funds and food, securing authorization, overcoming resistance, and bearing the cost of failure.
From an insignificant clerk to a great minister who brings order to the realm, Lin Yan seeks no throne. He only wants rivers to run their proper course, granaries to hold surplus grain, and the people to make it through the next year of disaster.
Watch as he uses engineering projects and institutions that can truly be implemented in the Ming Dynasty to revive the land inch by inch and strengthen the foundations of the Great Ming.
