The day Lu Chen transmigrated into the position of an Assistant Hundred-Household Officer in the Northern Garrison Command, he was so broke that even his flying-fish uniform was secondhand, though his saber was sharp.
A System was bound to his mind. It gave him no martial arts and didn't pour inner energy into him. Instead, it opened with a life-or-death mission.
"Before March 1644, establish an effectively controlled territory, command an army of fifty thousand, and secure a population of two hundred thousand. Fail, and you will be erased."
He counted it out on his fingers: two and a half years. From a low-ranking officer scrounging for food in a prison to commanding fifty thousand men. That was insane.
His superiors sent him to Hanzhong to investigate a military payroll case. He set out from Beijing with three subordinates.
Zhao Tianhu rules Hanzhong with an iron fist? Take him down. Li Zicheng's rebel bandits come to seize the grain? Wipe them out. The Chongzhen Emperor calls on the realm to come to the capital's aid? Hanzhong comes first. He has to stabilize it before anything else.
But two and a half years went by faster than expected. Li Zicheng captured Beijing, the Qing army entered the Pass, and the Southern Ming was still caught up in internal strife. The whole realm had turned into a complete mess.
Lu Chen ran a hand over his sword hilt.
"If this world won't let people live, then don't blame me for flipping the table."
From a Jin Yi Wei officer to the founding emperor, there are no shortcuts on this road, only bloodshed at the blade's edge.
No torturing the protagonist, no saintly do-gooder, thrilling from start to finish.
The author shamelessly gives a five-star review [plus one on bookshelf]