Sign-In for Mighty Generals: I Build a Nation on the Frontier

Chen Xu died.

He died late at night, working overtime, in the few blank seconds as the elevator plummeted.

When he opened his eyes again, he had become a little boy in the mountains, alone and guarding his late father’s new grave, so hungry he was dizzy.

Fortunately, he had a System: every week, he could sign in to receive a military general from Chinese history.

In the first week, he signed in Wang Erniu. A third-rate nobody, strong enough to lift a giant cauldron, with an appetite to match.

In the second week, Li San. A third-rate nobody, weak and frail, but skilled at weaving straw sandals.

In the third week, Han Wu. A third-rate nobody, born to a family of hunters, able to shoot a hare eighty paces away.

In the fourth week, Zheng Da. A third-rate general, a veteran of twenty years in the army, who taught him how to stand, move, and thrust.

In the fifth week, Zhou Hu. A second-rate general, a border-army captain who defeated three hundred Turks with a hundred cavalrymen.

In the sixth week, Qin Wu. A first-rate general and the heir to a military family, who defeated three hundred bandits with fifty men.

In the seventh week, Zuo Tiancheng. A first-rate general, formerly a commandant, brave in battle and peerless at mounted archery.

In the eighth week, Liu Wu. A third-rate general and carpenter, skilled at building bed crossbows and catapults.

One after another, they were all nobodies from the margins of history books: forgotten defeated generals, disillusioned men, and poor souls frozen to death in ruined temples.

But here, by Chen Xu’s side, they found names, homes, and reasons to keep living.

From a child in a lonely village to the master of dozens of generals; from barely surviving in the mountains to guarding the northern frontier; from fleeing the ravages of war to founding a nation and proclaiming himself emperor...

This is a story about surviving.

It is also the story of a group of little people growing stronger, bit by bit, in a grand age.