Late Ming: Starting with a Tempered Hoe

In the spring of the third year of Chongzhen's reign, a severe drought strikes Shandong, cracking the earth beneath the fields.

Lin Yan, an engineering materials science student, wakes to find himself transmigrated into a destitute scholar in Linjia'ao, Laizhou Prefecture. With a leaky, run-down blacksmith's shop and his young sister to care for, he struggles to survive in the end-of-the-world days of the late Ming.

The aftermath of the Jisi Incident has yet to settle. Later Jin watches hungrily from beyond the passes, the garrisons' weapons lie rusting and their defenses have fallen into ruin. Refugees roam everywhere, and human life is worth no more than grass.

Others who transmigrate to the late Ming rush to make firearms in secret and raise private armies, eager to carve out territory and crown themselves kings. Lin Yan, however, holds fast to the Ming's laws on ironworking, never yielding an inch. From village blacksmith to father of modern industry,

he builds his life on rules and strengthens the nation with technology.

In the chaos of the late Ming, this is the righteous path of a craftsman rising without taking shortcuts.