Bandits? I Thought We Were the Royal Imperial Guard!

In the final years of the Dayuan Dynasty, the realm is in chaos and warlords carve up the land.

Modern military enthusiast Chu Zheng transmigrates into the body of a bandit chief on the frontier of Shuozhou. The moment he opens his eyes, he faces certain defeat: a bigger bandit gang is about to absorb his own.

To steady his men, Chu Zheng picks up a fake jade pendant someone has dropped on the ground and forcibly brainwashes his illiterate bandits: "The truth is, I'm the current emperor's eldest son, lost among the common folk! You're not bandits, you're the imperial guard, the Heavenly Strategy Guards!"

He expects his men to laugh at him. Instead, these burly northwesterners believe every word and immediately kneel, shouting, "Long live the prince!"

And so, the whole world takes a bizarre turn.

A band of thugs who should be robbing and pillaging puts on "heavy armor" hammered out of scrap iron by blacksmiths, raises a crooked banner reading "Heavenly Strategy," and descends the mountain shouting, "Restore the Dayuan Dynasty!"

They throw lime in battle, kick their enemies in the crotch, steal warhorses, and eat raw meat. With the most thuggish tactics, they rout the elite regular troops of every warlord.

The allied warlords collapse: "Since when do imperial guards fight like this?!"

A top strategist questions his own sanity: "This army has no rules whatsoever, yet always strikes the enemy's weak points. Chu Zheng must be a genius for the ages!"

Chu Zheng thinks, "As long as you shout the right slogans, even bandits can pass for a regular army."