Office worker Shang Ze time-travels to become the least favored sixth prince of the Great Yan Dynasty. He originally wanted to lie flat and be a lazy fish for life, but is constantly given "point-and-dispatch" assignments by his emperor father. Forced to take on one messy task after another such as the Assembly of All Nations, disaster relief and locust control, canal dredging, salt administration reform, and epidemic control, he repeatedly achieves miraculous feats using modern knowledge. Through one game of chess after another against natural disasters, man-made calamities, corrupt officials, and foreign enemies, Shang Ze is thoroughly pushed to the pinnacle of power. He ultimately eliminates internal troubles, pacifies external rebellions, and ascends the throne as emperor. Although he still fails to "lie flat" in this life, he reaps love, family, and unprecedented life meaning in the process of being an "emperor office worker".