[No System + Rise from humble beginnings + political intrigue and conquest + multiple heroines + beating the Qing dynasty senseless in the late Ming]
In the seventh year of the Chongzhen reign, the land was in chaos.
Drought and locusts ravaged the northwest, bandits roamed everywhere, and the Ming dynasty teetered on the brink of collapse.
The impoverished scholar Zhu Shaoyou was a distant, penniless relative of the Prince of Qin. With nowhere else to turn, he headed to the Qin Prince's residence in Xi'an to beg for a livelihood.
But on the way, he passed Black Cloud Stronghold and was seized by a pair of stunning twin bandit women, who dragged him up the mountain to serve as their strategist!
From that day on, a scholar entered a bandit den, and a warlord rose amid the chaos.
He reforms the stronghold, trains soldiers and builds fortifications, takes in refugees, repels bandits, resists the government, and suppresses mutinous troops!
Starting from a Black Mountain bandit camp on the verge of destruction, he fights his way out of Guanzhong, pacifies the northwest, and stands toe-to-toe with the Qing cavalry!
He saves a collapsing empire and rebuilds the mighty Ming!
Beautiful and worth reading