Li Che, a modern-day mineral exploration specialist, travels through time to the Great Qing Dynasty. Right from the start, the Crown Prince frames him in a witchcraft conspiracy, forcing him to take his own life by smashing his head against a pillar in the imperial palace. Instead, Li Che plays along and fakes his death to escape. He accepts the Ninggu Commandery fiefdom in the bitterly cold lands beyond the frontier as his place of exile, leading an army of a thousand convicted criminals into the wilderness. Armed with modern knowledge, he recruits extraordinary talents, brings down powerful aristocratic families, eradicates the bandits of Mount Mangdang, stands up to the Crown Prince, and joins forces with Prince Yan to acquire warhorses. Amid the mountains and rivers of the northern frontier, he builds a formidable army from nothing, transforming from a discarded prince whom anyone could bully into a ruthless warlord commanding the northern border in a chaotic age.