The Eastern Han Dynasty’s Greatest Engineer

Li Hua, a surgeon, woke up to find himself a country doctor during the Jianwu era of the Eastern Han dynasty.

He lived in a mud-brick house, ate millet still in its husks, and there wasn't even a decent toilet in the village.

Fortunately, he still had his modern medical skills and a mind full of industrial knowledge.

One day, he met a middle-aged man by a stream who claimed to be a kinsman of the Han imperial house.

The man asked him, “If you were put in charge of a county, what would you do?”

Li Hua gave a few casual answers.

After a long silence, the man handed him a Vermilion Bird jade pendant.

Only later did he learn that the man who kept dropping by for meals, learning to cook, and asking how to farm

was Liu Xiu, courtesy name Wenshu,

the emperor of the Han dynasty.

From salt refining and steelmaking to steam locomotives, from papermaking and printing to ocean-going fleets...

Liu Xiu said, “I want a Han dynasty more powerful than any before it.”

Li Hua said, “Then I'll build Your Majesty an industrial age.”