After Placing Sixth in the Imperial Exams, I Pulled Out a Flintlock

Chen Xiao, a history PhD who dies suddenly after staying up all night, opens his eyes as a six-year-old child in the Great Xia Dynasty. A System? Got one! A plagiarist? You bet! He only means to use the System’s little perks to copy a few poems and improve the family’s meals, enjoying a leisurely childhood in ancient times to make up for his miserable life as a workaholic in his previous life. Isn’t a life of lounging around just wonderful? But the world won’t leave him in peace. When he is eleven, political infighting brings disaster down on his family. His father, a scholar, is thrown in prison, and the family is ruined in an instant. The once-learned household is reduced to a mother and child, alone and battered by the storm. “Lie flat? I’ll be lucky to stay alive!” Looking at his mother, who has cried herself unconscious, Chen Xiao clenches his little fists. System, push me to the absolute limit! Reciting Tang poetry and Song lyrics from memory? That’s just an appetizer! Mastering the classics and policy essays? Basic stuff! One year! Six top honors in the imperial exams! A top scholar at twelve! He saves his father in the imperial palace and overturns the unjust case! The Great Xia is shaken, and the name of the Star of Literature descended from heaven spreads across the land! Chen Xiao: Can I go back to lounging around now? Martial System unlocked! The waters of the imperial court run deeper than the history books say. Great clans surround him, danger lurks everywhere, and even the emperor can barely protect himself. “Peace and stability? They’re a joke in a feudal dynasty!” Knowing the cycles of history, Chen Xiao smiles. Better to rely on yourself than others. The only truth is what lies within firing range! In his left hand, System black technology: flintlock designs, secret steelmaking methods, high-yield grain varieties… With his right, he quietly amasses wealth: his trading houses spread across Jiangnan, and silver piles up like mountains. In secret, a fleet from another age sails toward a deserted island overseas. Steel mills roar, and firearms production lines begin to turn! “Since you refuse to be reasonable… this humble scholar knows a little something about throwing punches.”