The Great Ming's First Builder

Architectural engineer Lin Chengjing travels back to the 24th year of Hongwu, becoming a concubine-born son of Liang国公 Lan Yu. He knows nothing of power struggles or history, only that Lan Yu will likely die in two years and his family will be implicated in the Lan Yu case. To survive, he relies on his construction skills, starting with repairing side courtyards, modifying stables, organizing warehouses, and fire prevention, gradually showing his value to Lan Yu, Crown Prince Zhu Biao, and Zhu Yuanzhang. But he soon realizes that saving the Lan family requires not just persuading Lan Yu to yield, but giving Zhu Yuanzhang a bigger answer: the Great Ming need not only fight internally; the world is vast, with food, silver, spices, land at sea, and new territories to settle meritorious officials, princes, and surplus population. Thus, he uses construction, shipbuilding, ports, military granaries, sea charts, and ocean supply systems to push the Great Ming from internal strife to overseas expansion. Meanwhile, he takes in women overlooked by the era—craftswomen, female doctors, Hu girls, Japanese women, Nanyang merchant women, Kunlun women, and foreign princesses—to build his own family and overseas team.