Shen Ze time-travels to the Ming Dynasty. As soon as he wakes up, he encounters the Gu family coming to break off their engagement. Refusing compensation silver, he takes the initiative to break the engagement and makes a vow. Relying on a plain-language essay, he stages a comeback to pass the imperial provincial examination as a juren, all the way advancing to the capital for the metropolitan examination and placing top as the top scholar (zhuangyuan). At the palace examination, he strongly advocates opening maritime trade, later studies firearms in the Hanlin Academy, improves bird-guns, creates the three-stage firing tactic, endures the crisis of a gun explosion and the criticism of the imperial court, and wholeheartedly crafts new-style firearms to safeguard the Ming Dynasty's rivers and mountains with firearms.