At the end of the Spring and Autumn period, Qi prepares to attack Lu. When Confucius asks, "Why do none of you step forward?" Zigong rises to the challenge. With a single diplomatic mission, he saves Lu, throws Qi into chaos, defeats Wu, strengthens Jin, and makes Yue a hegemon, earning his place in history. Yet the historical records only say, "The five states each underwent changes." Beneath those nine characters lie the death of Wu Zixu, thirty thousand corpses at Ailing, and the fates of Ya Yu and Wen Zhong, none of them accounted for.
Shen Yan, a modern emergency physician, transmigrates to 512 BC. Upon arrival, he witnesses a convict named Mo die saving him, and takes Mo as his surname. He establishes three ironclad rules: never alter the grand course of history, change only how people die, never when, and leave no plans in writing. For forty years, he uses a pot of boiling water, strips of cloth in three colors, and a coded version of the Book of Songs to save people in the margins of history. He saves Ya Yu, Xi Shi, Wen Zhong, and Prince You of Wu, yet the records continue to say that they "died." He figures out how to make gunpowder, then burns the formula. He spends eleven years trying and failing to produce penicillin. In the end, he introduces the stone mill, seed drill, well-salt extraction, and stirrups to Qin, adding just one line: "This will be useful six hundred years from now."
Zigong is the greatest strategist in the light, saving states and the Way. He is the greatest strategist in the shadows, saving lives, without a single word in the histories.
