In the second year of Chongzhen, Shaanxi suffers a severe drought, Liaodong is under threat, the treasury is empty, and rebel armies are about to rise.
The Ming dynasty is a broken ship, riddled with holes.
Cheng Yuanzhi transmigrates into this world empty-handed, with only one identity: condemned prisoner.
But in his mind lies four hundred years of industrial civilization, and in his arms, the key to changing history.
From improving gunpowder to casting new cannons, from storing grain through military farming to teaching science and engineering, from the walls of Ningyuan Guard to the court in the Forbidden City, he climbs higher one step at a time.
The cannons he builds keep Huang Taiji from invading south for ten years.
The farmland he opens brings a million refugees back to the land.
The people he teaches give the Ming its own engineers.
The Chongzhen Emperor calls him a loyal minister, Wen Tiren calls him a treacherous official, and Huang Taiji calls him a grave threat.
Cheng Yuanzhi says: Your horizons are too narrow.
His goal is to become... the ruler of Earth!
