In the third year of the Chongzhen reign, Liaodong was in ruins, bandits ran rampant, and the Little Ice Age swept across the Central Plains. The Great Ming stood on the brink of collapse, with the catastrophe of China’s fall close at hand!
Wang Xiao, a modern soul, transmigrated into the body of a low-ranking officer in a border garrison in the late Ming. From the start, he was on the verge of being slaughtered by mutinous troops, with his military household scattered and desperate. Then the Iron-Blooded Chinese Empire-Building System suddenly awakened!
The beginner’s gift package was fully stocked from the start: fifty elite personal infantrymen, a complete set of light and heavy weapons for a German World War II infantry platoon, fifty thousand jin of fine grain, ten thousand jin of fresh meat, one hundred thousand taels of silver, and a vast supply of military equipment!
With daily sign-ins, he received everything from provisions and silver to military machinery, the full range of World War II firearms, light and heavy artillery, military engineers, high-yield crops, modern industrial blueprints, and enormous quotas of recruits. Every gift from the System was passed off to outsiders as a blessing from the immortals!
He followed the principle of building high walls, stockpiling grain, and only claiming kingship when the time was right. Rooted in the garrison, he used the System’s supplies to rapidly expand and reorganize his forces, build a powerful army, shelter refugees, wipe out bandits, and repel foreign invaders.
With his knowledge of the future, he repeatedly distinguished himself when Later Jin raiders and Mongol forces invaded. His rank soared, rising steadily from a mere low-ranking officer. After decades of careful work, by the time Chongzhen hanged himself, he had become a first-rank governor overseeing military affairs in five northern provinces.
He secretly built an invincible army. By the end of the Chongzhen reign, he commanded a million regular field troops and two million militia reservists, all equipped with standard World War II weapons. With vast artillery forces at his disposal, he had become the most formidable military and political power of the late Ming.
When Chongzhen hanged himself and Li Zicheng retreated from Shanhai Pass, he seized his moment in history, ambushed the Qing army after its hard-fought battles, and took control of Shanhai Pass in one decisive stroke, permanently cutting off the Manchu route into the pass.
