The Chronicle of Ming Chong

[No golden finger + transmigration + ordinary protagonist + historical realism + hardship + mechanics + chemistry + business...]

Transmigrating as Chongzhen, he starts with nothing but a dilapidated post station.

Hu Zheng, an engineer, transmigrates into the late Ming with no System or cheat, only a head full of knowledge about physics, chemistry, and mechanics, along with a set of measuring tools he brought with him. On his very first day, a corrupt official has him beaten and makes things difficult for him. The post station is broke, starving refugees fill the land, and the magistrate's aide is scheming to strip the place bare.

He earns respect with the Pharaoh's Serpent firework, makes his first fortune producing soap and refining glycerin, then boosts grain yields with compost and gathers the refugees. He recruits skilled craftsmen and builds blast furnaces, mass-producing glass and cement before developing rifled muskets, water-powered forging hammers, and an entire coal-chemicals industry.

The Shanxi merchant family Fan grows jealous of his formulas, frantically copies them, and blocks the trade routes. Corrupt officials come one after another to demand bribes and conduct searches. Kong Youde rebels and massacres villages, while Qing armies invade every year to raid and pillage. Qin Hao builds the impregnable city of Dinghai and establishes a complete industrial chain to monopolize northern trade. He allies with Sun Chengzong, Lu Xiangsheng, and Johann Adam Schall von Bell, turning their support to his advantage.

With the Ming on the brink of collapse, he sends civilians overseas in waves to give them a chance at survival. He holds the lonely city, bringing firearms and chemical industries to their limits as he withstands the Eight Banners' iron cavalry encircling him!