Defying Fate: I Save the Great Song with a Fragmented Scroll

During the Chongning era of the Great Song, the realm is at peace on the surface, but undercurrents surge beneath it. Xiao Yan is reborn as a fifteen-year-old boy. In his previous life, he was a general who died for his country at the end of the Jingkang era, and he witnessed the land fall to ruin, carrying his grief in his heart.

Political struggles at court are brewing, and the fires of war are about to ignite on the frontier. The lands of Yan and Yun have not been lost, and famed generals still live. He longs to defy fate and change his destiny, but alone, he can hardly turn the tide.

By chance, he acquires a golden finger: a damaged copy of The Exploitation of the Works of Nature appears in his sea of consciousness. He can read only one page a day, and must put its teachings into practice to unlock more. Only by changing the course of events can he restore the book.

Each page contains a different skill: a formula for gunpowder, a battle formation, a mechanical device, or a secret of city defenses. He knows what the future holds and commands ingenious techniques unknown to those who came before.

With this knowledge, he curbs the powerful, presents battle plans, and reforms border defenses, quietly turning the court's fortunes around. While others are still vying for fame in the imperial examinations, he is already laying plans for the realm.

The first firearms ring out, the cavalry is reformed, military academies are established, and powerful eunuchs tremble in fear. When the Jin army presses against the borders, he joins forces with a visitor from another world and finally turns back the tide.

Though this body is frail, he swears to change the fate of the Great Song. The humiliation of Jingkang will never happen again. Yan and Yun will be restored, the land will know peace, and his name will live on in history.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people or events is coincidental. Do not imitate.