Novel summary: Li Ming, a modern retired soldier, travels back to the late Ming Dynasty and starts out as a border soldier on the verge of starvation. With knowledge beyond his time, he improved ordnance and reclaimed wasteland. He rose to prominence in the Battle of Salhu and recruited refugees to form a private army. Faced with the corrupt court, the fierce Hou Jin, and the ravages of rogue bandits, he used Liaodong as his foundation, implemented new policies internally, resisted powerful enemies externally, and gradually encroached on the world. He surrendered Li Zicheng, defeated Dorgon, annihilated Zhang Xianzhong, and finally ascended the throne in Nanjing and proclaimed himself emperor. He changed the Yuan Dynasty to "Xinghua" and created a new dynasty that integrated Eastern and Western technology and benefited the world. The whole book shows the protagonist's struggle and growth in political intrigue, war, and people's livelihood, and paints a magnificent picture of the changes in the late Ming Dynasty.
