[Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, history, Qing dynasty, farming]
The Tianjing Incident of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom drenches the court in blood, leaving a vacuum of power where hidden currents surge.
Xiao Chen transmigrates into this chaotic era, becoming Xiao Qirong, the incompetent, cowardly Prince of Jing whom Hong Xiuquan uses as a pawn to keep the various factions in check. He has no troops and no power.
Weeds choke the prince's residence, the grain will last only half a month, his guards are disloyal, the Heavenly King’s suspicion hangs over him like a blade, Qing troops besiege the city, and factions clash within its walls.
From the start, he is trapped in a desperate situation. Xiao Chen knows how history will unfold and possesses both a modern perspective and political acumen.
He feigns cowardice to avoid disaster, while secretly planting spies, winning hearts, and stockpiling provisions.
He seizes the chance to shine during a plague outbreak and the defense of the city, using modern tactics to repel the Qing army and win over fierce fighters from humble backgrounds and down-and-out strategists.
Caught between Li Xiucheng and Chen Yucheng, he maneuvers between the two, joining forces with former followers of the Wing King to establish a three-way balance of power in Tianjing.
Seeing through the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's corruption and refusing to become a speck of dust in history, he makes Anhui his base, promotes land cultivation, develops military industries, reforms the bureaucracy, wins the people's support, and strengthens his army, gradually escaping the vortex of Tianjing.
From surviving in the prince's residence to reforming Anhui, from contending for the Two Huai regions to taking control of Tianjing, and then fighting foreign powers and launching a northern expedition into the Central Plains,
Xiao Chen, as Prince Jing, stirs the winds of a chaotic age, determined to rewrite the fate of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and, amid a broken land, establish a truly peaceful and prosperous age.
