Li Xiucheng's Journey to Tianjing: Rebuilding China

Lin Feng, a modern graduate student in history, unexpectedly transmigrates to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in 1860 and becomes Li Xiucheng, the Prince of Ying, at the height of his fame. Though the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has briefly caught its breath after its second victory over the Jiangnan Camp, the Tianjing Incident has already shaken it to its foundations. Hong Xiuquan is lost in religion and suspicious of anyone outside his clan; the Hong family rules with a heavy hand and throws the government into chaos; the alliance between Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng, the kingdom's "twin stars," is secretly fracturing. Meanwhile, the Qing court's Xiang Army is eyeing Anqing, the Huai Army is taking shape in Shanghai, and the great powers are waiting for a chance to profit. The already chaotic game of power teeters on the brink of collapse. Knowing how the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will fall, Lin Feng refuses to repeat the mistakes of history. In Li Xiucheng's name, he first stabilizes the situation, using the eastern campaign into Suzhou and Changzhou to build up provisions, funds, and military power, while reforming the tax system to win the people of Jiangnan. At the same time, he proceeds cautiously through the maelstrom of palace intrigue in Tianjing, navigating between the Hong clan and Hong Rengan and exploiting the undercurrents of the defense of Anqing to divide his opponents. He also secretly contacts the Heaven and Earth Society, gathers the remnants of Chen Yucheng's forces, forms a new rifle corps, and even engages the great powers in diplomatic maneuvering. When Hong Xiuquan's suspicion becomes a blade aimed at stripping him of his military command, and Tianjing's dwindling food supplies turn into a trap for eliminating his rivals, Lin Feng resolutely casts off the mask of a "loyal minister of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom." In the name of "driving out the barbarians, restoring Han rule, and saving the people from suffering," he raises the banner of the Han Restoration Army. He breaks up the Xiang Army alliance, crushes the Huai Army and foreign rifle corps, and leads his forces north to strike directly at the capital, bringing Qing rule to an end. He then curbs the power of regional commanders and consolidates his own authority, introduces new reforms, recovers the frontiers, and builds up coastal defenses. Amid the ruins of China, he uses a transmigrator's foresight and political cunning to forge a wholly different path to unifying the realm and make amends for a history shattered by war.