Modern military history researcher Pei Zhao transmigrates into the Great Liang and takes his deposed elder brother's place as the live-in son-in-law of the Marquis of Zhenbei's household, becoming the capital's laughingstock. His new wife, Xie Mingyuan, treats him coldly in public, but in secret, the two stand together with three thousand veteran dead-soldiers. At court, Crown Prince Zhao Chengjue uses their marriage to seize military power, while Han Lie, leader of the dead-soldiers, investigates an old case from the northern frontier. Pei Zhao turns the tables with strategies in food supply, commerce, military affairs, and politics. Rising from a discarded pawn, he joins forces with Xie Mingyuan to topple the great clans and imperial power.
