Hidden Paths Through Ming History: The Way to Survive Concealed in the Records

Others transmigrate and fight for the throne. Lin Jian transmigrates into the late Ming as a down-and-out palace guard, and refuses to become emperor.

He builds power plants, lays railways, and smelts steel, making the Ming Industrial Bureau grander than the Grand Secretariat. Zhu Youlang wants power? Fine, the Forbidden City is yours, along with its eunuchs and palace maids. You can have all the pineapples from Taiwan and sugar from Huaiyang you want, just keep your hands off the memorials and stay away from court sessions.

The Prince of Chu owns eight hundred thousand mu of fertile land? Put him to work in a coal mine! Gentry who collude with foreign enemies? Send them off to build railways! Zheng Jing, entrenched in Taiwan? Throw him into the Keelung coal mines to chew coal slag! Dutch ironclads? Blast them straight back to the South Seas!

Later, the Japanese saw my Dingyuan battleship and, terrified, loaded tons of sulfur onto their ships. The East India Company's merchant vessels spotted my flag and turned tail in the night, fleeing faster than rabbits. The king of Joseon voluntarily gave up his royal title, begging and pleading to become the "Honorary Chairman of Joseon."

Someone asked why I didn't want to be emperor. I pointed to the railway stretching across the land beneath our feet and smiled: only one person can sit on the Dragon Throne. The enduring foundation built by industry is what truly wins the hearts of all under heaven.

Lin Jian, a tactical expert from Kunming, knows the course of every mountain and hidden river in the southwest. After an unexpected transmigration, he enters the fray armed with geographical knowledge from the future, all to help the God of War Li Dingguo escape a hopeless situation.

He doesn't rely on an absurd golden finger, only on a soldier's courage and meticulous research into the region's geography. He crosses Guangxi and heads straight into Yunnan, escorting the Yongli Emperor to Kunming to establish his capital.

He protects the Ming dynasty's last loyalist with a hidden escape route long since buried. But every step of the way must be carved out with blood and tactics.

Lin Jian, a special forces soldier from Kunming, is fascinated by the history of the Southern Ming and knows the geography of the southwestern mountains and rivers inside out.

One day, he entered the Tongling Grand Canyon and...