Great Ming: Rebel Chief, Starting by Beheading the Border Troops

In the second year of the Chongzhen era, Huang Taiji leads the Eight Banners through the pass, and the capital is in peril. The border troops of the Yansui garrison are ordered to rush to the capital's aid, but General Wu Zimian withholds their pay and sells off their warhorses, leaving the soldiers so hungry they chew on grass roots. He even plans to copy an old trick from Jizhou: lure them to the training grounds and wipe them out in one fell swoop. Jiang Han transmigrates as a low-ranking border soldier. Seeing the hopeless situation, he steels himself: better to rebel than wait to die.

Books hidden in fish bellies, fox calls by the bonfires, green flames as warnings: Jiang Han uses every classic tactic of peasant uprisings. Two thousand border soldiers charge toward the central camp, eyes bloodshot and slogans shaking the heavens: "Give us our pay! Kill Wu the Dog! Let's go home!" Wu Zimian holds out inside a human shield formation, protected by his retainers. At Jiang Han's command, they drag over a crouching tiger cannon to blast the formation. Shao Yong fires a rapid volley of arrows, piercing the man sent to deliver the horses. Duan Xiaoqi, riddled with arrows, still uses his body to shield a horse, charging into the formation like a man drenched in blood.

Li Xuan steals a horse and flees north. Before Wu Zimian can finish cursing, he is surrounded and killed. Jiang Han stands amid the ruins lit by flames, blood dripping from his blade, while thousands of border soldiers roar behind him. The Ming Dynasty is near its end, and the barbarians beyond the pass are watching hungrily. He has no intention of joining the Prince of Yan's rebellion. He will be the one to change the world himself.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.