The Exploitation of the Works of Nature: A Knowledge Revolution and the Restructuring of Power

In the thirty-seventh year of the Jinghe era, Su Yan, a low-ranking clerk in the Ministry of Works, transmigrated with the memories of a modern library and discovered that this world's power structure was impregnable. The emperor, aristocratic clans, and military families divided the realm among themselves, leaving those at the bottom no hope of rising. Just as he was preparing to use modern knowledge to break the deadlock, he realized this was a “two-way transmigration”: a copy of The Prince lay unmistakably in the chief councilor's study; a world map hung in a renowned general's tent on the frontier; and even the emperor's favorite concubine was secretly memorizing the periodic table. It turned out that when a “knowledge rift” tore through time and space a hundred years ago, fragments of knowledge had trickled into this world. The powerful secretly formed the “Heavenly Secrets Pavilion,” monopolizing these “otherworldly arts” to strengthen their rule. Su Yan's advantage as a transmigrator vanished. He was up against a group of ancient elites who possessed incomplete modern knowledge and had twisted it into a tool of control. Should he join this game of knowledge monopoly and become another privileged ruler? Or make knowledge available to all and spark a revolution that would overturn everything? Su Yan chose a third path: introducing “standardization” at court, spreading the “scientific method” among the people, and bringing a “staff officer system” to the army... He wasn't bringing new knowledge, but an unprecedented “way to organize and spread knowledge.” As ancient political intrigue met modern management, thousand-year-old clans encountered organizational behavior, and traditional warfare clashed with systems theory, an ultimate reconstruction of the nature of power began. Su Yan gradually discovered that the greatest secret wasn't knowledge itself, but the truth behind the “knowledge rift” of a century ago. That event was directly connected to a forbidden secret buried deep in the imperial bloodline.