Late Ming Flames of War: Lord of Blackwind Stronghold

Liu Xing, a modern street tough, is killed in a fight with a thief and wakes up in the late Ming dynasty as Liu Xing, the landlord’s son in Liu Village. During three months of pampered living, he gets used to the luxuries even as he watches starving corpses pile up during the famine. His instinctive compassion as a man of humble origins is repeatedly torn against the cold indifference of his landlord family. Liu Xing secretly opens a soup kitchen and saves hundreds of refugees with thick porridge made from wild vegetables. But County Magistrate Wang Kun sets his sights on him, accusing him of “gathering vagrants and plotting rebellion.” First he demands ten thousand shi of grain as a bribe. When Liu Xing refuses, he fabricates a charge of colluding with bandits. Soldiers raid the Liu residence at night. Liu Xing sees his father’s legs smashed by blows from clubs and his mother dragged away, striking the wall and coughing up blood. The grain stored in the cellar is looted, and three household servants are hacked to death. Faithful servant Li Ergou hides Liu Xing beneath the corpses, helping him escape into the wilderness with ten jin of hidden grain and a woodcutter’s knife.