In the second year of Chongzhen's reign, Lu Yuan, a scholar from the capital during the Ming dynasty, transmigrates into the past and awakens the "Education Strengthens the Nation" System. But his students' average aptitude makes it hard to earn points. While holding forth at a teahouse and criticizing current affairs, he happens upon the young Chongzhen, traveling incognito under the alias Wang Wu. Lu Yuan's remark, "The root of the Ming's problems lies in its system," jolts the emperor awake. It not only shakes the nation's fortunes and earns him System rewards, but also lets him use heuristic teaching to explain the underlying causes of bloated imperial clans, a broken tax system, and corrupt officials. Lu Yuan decides to abandon traditional Confucian learning and teach Chongzhen and the students at his private school practical subjects like mathematics, physics, and chemistry. By cultivating talent and exchanging points for black technology such as the steam engine, he hopes to save the dynasty from disaster and embark on a path to rescue the nation through education.
