An alternate-history novel featuring an ensemble cast, one female lead, and no System.
The protagonist has no golden finger and won't mindlessly launch an Industrial Revolution. The focus shifts to the ensemble cast in the middle and later portions. The early chapters are rather rushed and rough around the edges, so readers are advised to start reading closely from Chapter 20. The pace picks up from there.
After an unexpected transmigration, he finds himself in the body of Tan Qixian's second son, whose father has been condemned as a “traitor.” Exiled to Siberia from the start, Tan Tianye believes his life is already over. He never expects this to be the beginning of his bid to reshape an entire empire.
He establishes trade routes across the permafrost and uses his wits to survive. He fights for his life beneath Cossack sabers and wins respect through courage. He joins an explorer on a voyage to the ends of the world, a place absent even from the empire's maps, and to a new continent full of opportunity.
As court politics shift, the aging hero, Viceroy Zuo, extends a helping hand. From the snowy northern frontier to the deserts of the Western Regions, Tan Tianye stands with the pillars of Da Qi, mastering the art of governing the nation and securing peace, and achieving feats beyond compare.
Now he has returned to the heart of the empire's power. Once a convict in exile, he is now a court official. Faced with the greatest upheaval the world has seen in a century, and the new ruler on the Dragon Throne, how will he choose his path amid the rushing tides of history?
This book is also known as New Qi: 1796.
