Chronicles of the Late Ming: Li Yan Reborn

After reading A Three-Hundred-Year Memorial to the Jiashen Rebellion, especially the section on Li Yan, I couldn't help but mourn his death. Li Yan was a far-sighted man with political insight and a talent for propaganda. His death was a disaster for the Dashun army.

This novel begins with the death of King Chuang Li Zicheng at Jiugong Mountain, leaving the remnants of his forces without a leader.

What if Li Yan had lived? This is where transmigration comes in. He gathers the remnants of the Dashun army, advances into the Dabie Mountains, occupies Huguang, allies with the Southern Ming, develops production, casts cannons, and trains troops, all in the hope of rising again...

After Li Zicheng's death, the remnants of the Dashun army still had more than 300,000 soldiers. If a far-sighted leader with political and military knowledge had stepped forward to take command, they would never have been at such a loss during the later struggle to ally with the Ming against the Qing. For example, the remnants of the much smaller Daxi army achieved great things in the later anti-Qing struggle because they had strong leadership and made Yunnan their base.

If Li Yan had lived, the remnants of the Dashun army might have found an exceptionally capable leader, with firm leadership and a unified core bringing all its divisions together. They might well have been able to fight the Qing.

The outcome of the war against the Qing for control of the Central Plains would have been hard to predict. But the Dashun army would have gained a chance to recover, bringing earth-shaking changes to the later resistance against the Qing. Perhaps history itself would have changed...