Li Yan, a modern young man, travels through time and becomes the foolish emperor of the Great Xia dynasty, who is obsessed with the Turkic empress while imperial power has fallen into others' hands. After awakening, he ruthlessly purges the court, executes Turkic relatives by marriage and treacherous officials, appoints Han Shizhong to important positions, wins Luo Cien over, and implements new policies to fill the imperial treasury. The Turkic female khan, Yelü Yu, disguises herself as an envoy and enters Great Xia to test him, but is impressed by Li Yan's clever schemes and stays by his side. Li Yan builds a powerful army equipped with firearms and suppresses the palace coup launched by Regent Huo Yi and the deposed empress Yelü Yun. He personally leads a great army on a northern expedition, decisively defeats the rebellious Turkic minister Wanyan Gou, and, with the help of the Yelü sisters, advances straight toward the Turkic royal court.