Novels like That Year, That Blade, That World of Rivers and Lakes, That Imperial Court
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as That Year, That Blade, That World of Rivers and Lakes, That Imperial Court, best match first.
- 1 The Commoner Emperor 寒门布衣天子 A modern special forces soldier transmigrates to an alternate dynasty. Starting out as a penniless fool, he uses his modern knowledge as a golden finger to build his strength step by step. He does everything he can to give the poor people of the realm a better life. As a result, he incurs the wrath of the imperial house and the powerful, and is suppressed and hunted. In response, he establishes his own regime and eventually reclaims the Great Hua realm. He wipes out the surrounding barbarians, c 426Reads7.1Score—Shelves
- 2 The Chronicle of the Ming Restoration 回明争霸录 In troubled times, the most meaningful way to survive is to fight for supremacy. With the sword in your hand and a fine steed beneath you, conquer as you please. Blood runs through your hair, and corpses lie beneath your horse's hooves. Raise your arms and cry, "This is my realm!" 217Reads—Score—Shelves
- 3 My Entire Family Fell in Battle, Turning Me into a Poisonous Strategist: The Empress Urges Me to Be Good 满门战死化身毒士：女帝劝我善良 Zhao Yu transmigrates into the Great Qin Prince of Pingxi, who died in a brothel while having sex with a prostitute! He thought he would get to live the carefree life of a spoiled young master, but instead, everyone in the Prince of Pingxi’s household had been killed in battle. Now wielding great power, he is coveted by countless people and finds himself in extreme danger. Ten regional princes want him dead. The Empress’s intentions are unclear... With the ten regional princes hemming him in, Zh 130Reads6.4Score—Shelves
- 4 Back to Jiuzhou to Seize the Heavens 回到九州去夺天 [Alternate history + rise of a foot soldier + brainy power struggles] While watching a meteor shower, he was struck by a meteorite and transmigrated into the body of a low-ranking soldier in another world who shared his name. Ji Yang was completely bewildered! The realm is divided into nine provinces, and the various states are locked in endless warfare. What is there to fear? Who but me can unite the nine provinces? In this otherworld, he rises from a humble foot soldier to become ruler of the 13Reads—Score—Shelves
- 5 The Brute Who Flips the Table 掀桌子的莽夫 Man is born evil. If the rules people create did not constrain human nature from the moment a baby is born, then humans would be the most terrifying beasts in this world. As for good and evil, just follow your heart. If you don't know what your heart is, it's that voice within you that speaks without a second thought! 99Reads8.0Score—Shelves
- 6 Building an Empire from Liangzhou! 从凉州建立霸业！ Ma Xie’an is reborn in another world as a young master from a minor family in the Great Zhou dynasty. Since he is not the legitimate eldest son, he has no chance of inheriting the family headship, so he uses his family’s connections to go to Liangzhou. After years of bloody battles and campaigns, he gradually gains control of a border city. When a rebellion breaks out, he swiftly leads his army to take Dunhuang, then uses it as a base to seize control of Liangzhou. Later, the imperial court appo 171Reads6.9Score—Shelves
- 7 The Emperor Beyond the Mountains 山那边的皇帝 Liu Feng's soul transmigrates into the Qing dynasty, where he becomes the foolish son of a landowner. He thinks he's finally going to enjoy the comfortable life of a rich landlord, but it turns out his father has no interest in being a landlord and decides to proclaim himself emperor instead. Liu Feng is forced onto the path of rebellion. People talk about sons who cause trouble for their fathers, but who knew fathers could cause trouble for their sons? From a backwater mountain village, an empe 511Reads5.0Score113Shelves
- 8 Reborn as the Ruler of a Fallen Kingdom 重生之亡国之君 Xiao Lin was a mercenary commander in his previous life. He died during a mission and transmigrated into the body of an ancient emperor whose kingdom had fallen. In this troubled empire, beset on all sides, he is hunted down by rival factions... Through relentless effort, he establishes a foothold, fights to survive, and reclaims the imperial throne! Alternate history + transmigration + reborn 9Reads—Score—Shelves
- 9 Troubled Times: I Have a Mount & Blade World 乱世：我有一个骑砍世界 Lin Chen transmigrates to an ancient world that exists outside of history. He is captured by bandits as soon as he arrives. Fortunately, he discovers that he has a Mount and Blade world of his own. Anything in the Mount and Blade world, from goods to soldiers, can be transferred to his side. Lin Chen keeps recruiting and upgrading soldiers in the game, carving out a place for himself amid the chaos. The Great Zhou emperor: “Surrender now and I might spare your life!” Lin Chen: “I command a milli 1.1kReads7.6Score102Shelves
- 10 Martial God Slays Immortals 武神伐仙 In the third year of Guanghan, unrest erupted across the northern frontier and the realm fell into turmoil. A fallen heir took up a three-foot saber, marched beyond the nine frontier passes, slew enemy chiefs, pacified the realm, brought peace to the people, and crushed threats within and without. 2.1kReads8.6Score168Shelves
- 11 Transmigrated to Ancient Times Amid Famine, I Play the Divine Con Man and Lead a Rebellion! 穿越灾荒古代，我当神棍来造反！ Zhang Xuan transmigrates to the end of a dynasty, into an ancient world ravaged by famine. A terrible drought. He fails the imperial examinations. His parents die building a palace, his elder brother disappears while working on the imperial tomb, and his younger sister is forced to become a maid. Corrupt officials run rampant, while landlords and local tyrants grind the people down. If the court leaves us no way to live, then we'll overthrow it! I, Zhang Xuan, have received Heaven's guidance. To 62Reads5.9Score—Shelves
- 12 In the Daye Era, I Stand Up to Er Feng and Found a Han Dynasty 人在大业，硬刚二凤立个汉 In the fourth year of the Daye era, the Grand Canal connected north and south. Luoyang, the eastern capital, flourished like never before, and the myriad nations of the Western Regions came to pay tribute. The current emperor was even revered as a sage khagan, and the empire’s power had reached unprecedented heights. A young man from Jiangnan, known as Jinu, left his small town and saw the heroes and great men of the world, the mighty clans across the realm, and the countless common folk swept a 8Reads—Score—Shelves
- 13 The Northern Wastelands in a Chaotic Age 乱世北荒 An alternate-history power fantasy with a slow build, this novel focuses on romance, beauty, warfare, and bloodshed... One nation falls, and ten thousand nations rise. After the ancient empire that unified the Northern Wasteland continent collapsed a thousand years ago, a thousand years of chaos began, as princes, nobles, heroes, warlords, and feudal lords all vied for supremacy. War and slaughter became the continent's eternal refrain, leaving the land devastated and its people in misery. Yet e 29Reads—Score—Shelves
- 14 Emperor Chen Wu, Ruler of All Under Heaven 横行天下之陈武大帝 In an age when powerful clans controlled the path to office, how could a lowly soldier born to a poor family change his fate? He endures twists and turns, wagering his life in the struggle. What will become of him in the end? 315Reads6.3Score102Shelves
- 15 The Splendor of the Great Sui 大隋风流 [Entry in the January 2020 Silver Ticket Contest] Zhang Lang transmigrates to the end of the Sui dynasty and uses his knowledge from the future to build an elite, iron-blooded army far ahead of its time. It sweeps across the battlefields, brutally changing the course of history. Iron hooves trample the land, and seas of blood engulf the world. When the dust finally settles, a completely different empire rises in the east! 3.7kReads8.5Score241Shelves
- 16 Draw Your Blade! 请，拔刀！ He is the useless Crown Prince of the Great Xia Empire. His royal brothers want him dead, foreign enemies want him dead, and even the beauties of the realm want him dead. To stay alive, he gives up the throne, builds an invincible army, and creates a paradise beyond the mortal world. The people call him the Great Emperor of Cangzhou! —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 17 Devouring the Frontier 吞疆 [Jianghu + political intrigue + battlefield] A country boy from a small town, living in a turbulent age, does whatever it takes to survive and gradually rises to the throne of a great warlord! From then on, he dominates the Nine Provinces and devours vast territories! 36Reads—Score—Shelves
- 18 A Game of Mountains and Rivers: Schemes in Troubled Times 山河弈：乱世谋 They say poor families produce no great men? Then you haven't met someone truly ruthless. Ling Ce, a graduate student in history, opens his eyes to find himself a low-ranking official from a poor family on the northern frontier, beaten to death. He has studied the Twenty-Four Histories, witnessed the rise and fall of dynasties, and mastered the art of political scheming. As sandstorms rise on the northern frontier, he uses brilliant tactics to defeat his enemies and secure his footing amid mount 43Reads—Score—Shelves
- 19 Rising to Power in Troubled Times 乱世登龙 History is a book, and I, too, can be the one to write it: through treachery and intrigue, through clashing blades and charging steeds. I will bring this chaotic age to an end, and usher in a golden age of my own! Where the smoke of war rises, an emperor is born! 14Reads—Score—Shelves
- 20 The System Crashed After I Left Behind Twenty Thousand Elite Troops! 留下两万精兵后，系统崩了！ (From the start + claiming kingship + carving out a domain + war) Reborn as an illegitimate son of a marquis's household? The good news: he has the System transmigrators are supposed to get! The bad news: the System has crashed! Luckily, before crashing, the System left him twenty thousand elite troops. The only problem is that they can only be activated once he reaches Liaodong. He heads straight north to Liaodong, leads his army to conquer Goguryeo, declares himself king and establishes a regi 16.8kReads6.7Score924Shelves
- 21 It Starts with a Mercenary Army 从仆从军开始 [Revenge for a massacred clan + building a faction + ruthless campaigns + civil and military leaders, ensemble cast, conquest, war] A prince's residence wiped out. A boy who fought desperately to escape, yet still died. A soul that happened to enter his body. Hunted down, his family slaughtered, betrayed by those he trusted, imprisoned, conscripted, caught in a brutal massacre, his beloved killed, the people slaughtered, his brothers turned against him. Bearing the hatred of a hundred thousand p 769Reads7.8Score102Shelves
- 22 Ode to Great Yan 大燕赋 (Alternate history + ensemble cast + love of country and family + three generations of a family + court intrigue + bloody battlefields) At the end of the Wei dynasty, warlords carved up the realm and foreign tribes ravaged the land. Amid the chaos, the Yan kingdom rose to power. Gao Ce, eldest legitimate grandson of Gao Yi, founding emperor of Great Yan, was born with double pupils and destined for greatness. Raised in the imperial family, he was lazy by nature and spent his days indulging in hu 2.7kReads7.3Score161Shelves
- 23 A Hegemony for the Ages 千秋霸业 A true man born between Heaven and Earth should have ambition enough to swallow the world! The sun and moon lose their light, the natural order is overturned, and the Southern Liang and Northern Wei divide the realm between them! This is an age shared by ambitious schemers and master plotters, when heroes and warlords rise one after another! 3kReads8.0Score167Shelves
- 24 A Foundation in Troubled Times 乱世基业 The empire is in chaos. Kings carve up the land, wars rage across the realm, western barbarians wait like tigers poised to pounce, and the cavalry of the steppe tribes runs rampant... The hundred tribes of the mountains raised a lone soul from another world. Now he has emerged into a land blanketed in the smoke of war. He guards the frontier, launches surprise attacks on barbarian camps, develops the wilderness, fights the steppe cavalry, clashes with foreign tribes, and matches wits with kings. 2.4kReads8.6Score153Shelves
- 25 Transmigrated into a Condemned Prisoner, I Slaughter Nations to Earn Military Status 穿越变死囚，为获军籍杀遍诸国 [Historical ancient setting, from the start, alternate history, history, food, transmigration, no System, funny and lighthearted] What do you do after transmigrating into an execution scene? Chen An: “What doesn’t kill me will eventually be killed by me. Well, my legs are just a little shaky!” The emperors of the various kingdoms: “What? He’s coming to destroy us just for a bite to eat?” Chen An: “A hellish start. To stay alive, I’ll kill, kill, kill...” The generals: “Long live the Emperor! Lon 1.9kReads8.8Score242Shelves
- 26 I Rebelled and Became Emperor in Ancient Rome 我在古罗马造反当皇帝 Lin Chu, a modern mercenary, dies unexpectedly and transmigrates to ancient Rome, where he becomes an abandoned playboy of the Empire. Moved by the tragic plight of Rome's slaves, Lin Chu decides to lead them in rebellion. With The Art of War, the Eight Trigrams Formation, and merciless slaughter, Lin Chu shows the Romans what ancient warfare from the East looks like. 199Reads7.2Score—Shelves
- 27 Returning to Ancient Times to Conquer the Realm 回到古代打江山 Ye Chen, a leading scientist in the field of cosmic technology and a national-level engineer, transmigrates into the Great Yu Dynasty and becomes its emperor. The Great Yu Dynasty faces powerful enemies watching from beyond its borders, while traitors within plot rebellion. Through his own schemes, Ye Chen ultimately executes the treacherous ministers, eliminates the great clans, and sweeps across the land, claiming both the empire and the woman he loves! 112Reads—Score—Shelves
- 28 My Achievements Threatened the Throne, So I Raised the Banner of Rebellion 功高震主，我直接揭竿而起 [Decisive and ruthless] [Feel-good power fantasy] [Tang dynasty] [Struggle for supremacy] Xie Xie transmigrates to the Tang dynasty in the fifth year of Tianbao and is sent to serve in the army on the frontier of Longyou from the start. Fortunately, he activates the [Get Stronger by Killing Enemies] System and fights his way up from an ordinary border soldier to a military governor, commanding hundreds of thousands of troops. Just as he is preparing to lead his army against the Tibetan Empire, L 543Reads8.2Score—Shelves
- 29 The Great Qian Corpse Collector 大乾收尸人 [Alternate history + passionate adventure + war + lighthearted] After transmigrating into the Great Qian dynasty, he became a lowly corpse collector. He had planned to live a quiet life with his beautiful sister-in-law and his simple-minded younger brother, but then the Northern Mang army laid siege to the pass. After finishing his work collecting the dead, he fled for his life! A female general asked him, “Become my adviser and help me save the people from suffering!” A domineering old prince a 647Reads7.8Score108Shelves
- 30 Rising to Rule the World, Starting as a Foot Soldier 从小兵开始称霸天下 Xiao Qi was China's strongest special forces soldier. He died a hero while carrying out an overseas mission, but he wasn't dead after all. He had transmigrated to the Great Zhou dynasty, a realm on the verge of collapse. To stay alive, he rose step by step from a lowly soldier, winning glory for himself along the way. 601Reads8.8Score—Shelves
- 31 A Bandit Village: You Call This a Great Empire? 一个土匪村：你们说是大帝国 Wen Wudi transmigrates and becomes an emperor. Back on Blue Star, he was a nobody, so he thinks this transmigration has worked out pretty well. Just as Wen Wudi is getting ready to admire his vast empire, he realizes something is off. “Prime Minister, how many households does our Great Zhao Empire have these days?” “Your Majesty, under the wise and mighty rule of three generations of great rulers, our Great Zhao now has a total of 236 households,” the prime minister replies proudly. 274Reads7.8Score—Shelves
- 32 Conquering the World 征伐天下 They say Jiangnan is blessed with beautiful scenery. What I see is a gentle Jiangnan breeze bending the Han realm’s back. They say the lands beyond the frontier are blanketed in yellow sand. What I see is the soaring valor of border warriors, their robes stained with blood. I came to this world for no reason at all. I thought I could just lie there and starve to death. But you shared with me half of the only food you had. You told me that as long as I kept living, there would be hope. I thought, 12.6kReads8.4Score1.3kShelves
- 33 I Stop Li Yuan from Becoming Emperor and Snatch the Tang Dynasty for Myself 不让李渊称帝，我截胡李唐江山 [Special Forces King Transmigrates + Power Struggles at the End of the Sui Dynasty + Steals the Tang Dynasty from Li Yuan + Rewrites History + Political Scheming and Hegemonic Ambitions + Warlord Rule in a Chaotic Age + Strategy and Tactics + Unifies the Nine Provinces + Crushes All Rivals + No System + Full of Passion] A special forces king transmigrates into the end of the Sui dynasty: Han Zheng arrives in the midst of chaos! The Sui dynasty's fate is sealed. Its lands are shattered, and warlo 8.4kReads6.8Score828Shelves
- 34 Yang Wei's Adventures 杨伟历险记 Yang Wei started out as a new recruit. He charged fearlessly into battle, earned plenty of merit, and won the hearts and praise of the entire army. The soldiers were willing to follow him through life and death. 5Reads—Score—Shelves
- 35 When the Wind Rises, the Song Never Ends 风起尽长歌 An alternate history setting. No transmigration, no System, no golden finger, no one-man army. Military affairs take center stage as heroes vie for supremacy. This is a cruel age. From the windblown deserts beyond the frontier to the picturesque, rain-soaked lands south of the Yangtze, people praise the splendor of this great land. Yet it lies barren for thousands of miles, and its people struggle to survive. Everyone is swept up in the tide, rolling inexorably forward. Young men should ride swi 206Reads7.3Score—Shelves
- 36 Your Majesty, Why Are You Rebelling? 陛下你，何故要反 #Court Intrigue, Contending for Supremacy, Alternate History, Strategy, Reform, Outnumbered Victories, Emperor Shen Mu, a programmer from Blue Star, is reborn as the heir to the Prince of Zhennan in the Great Qi Dynasty. All he wants is to be a good-for-nothing who coasts through life, minding his own little patch of the northern frontier. But the young emperor, Zhao Yuanche, declares: "The Prince of Zhennan is now presumed dead, while his heir occupies his position without doing his duty and kn 574Reads8.5Score104Shelves
- 37 Demons in the Apocalypse 末世戏妖 A torrential storm floods a city in the north. The apocalypse begins in a chaotic age! At a ruined relay station, a refugee boy sees a powerful family’s retainer slaughter an old woman. He boldly steps in, taking down more than a dozen elite guards with his bare hands! The legitimate daughter, Lü Ning'er, offers him a lavish betrothal gift and a treasured tempered blade, entrusting her life to him! He possesses peerless martial skills and carries strategies to conquer the world in his heart. He 18Reads8.3Score—Shelves
- 38 I Became the Founding Ancestor of the Sui and Tang Dynasties 我混成了隋唐祖源 No System, no golden finger. Beginning with the Rebellion of the Six Garrisons in the final years of the Northern Wei, witness the heroes of Wuchuan and the shifting tides of the Six Garrisons. Erzhu Rong, Yuwen Tai, Dugu Xin, Gao Huan... One renowned historical figure after another comes together in a magnificent chronicle of the final fifty years of the Northern and Southern Dynasties. 13Reads—Score—Shelves
- 39 The Rise and Fall of the World Are Mine to Rule 天下兴亡我为王 “Chief, you're awake?”… What do you mean, transmigrating here didn't come with a golden finger? What do you mean the government troops are coming to wipe out our stronghold? What do you mean an age of chaos is about to begin? Then there's only one thing to do: step forward, throw myself into the fray, and fight my way through this chaotic age… 43Reads—Score—Shelves
- 40 A Frontier Soldier of Great Mu Marches with Blade in Hand 大穆边卒仗刀行 [Light Martial Arts + Pure Fantasy + War and Political Intrigue + Jianghu] The Mu dynasty united the six kingdoms, bringing the world under one rule. Decades later, the flames of war rise once more. A young border soldier from a frontier fortress sets out to conquer the world… Nine-Rank generals, master scholars, grandmasters, great grandmasters… He reins in his horse and rides with blade in hand, sending armies across the land, dominating the Jianghu with martial might, and changing the very or 6.9kReads8.7Score463Shelves
- 41 Sui-Tang: A Military Household's Rise to Rule the World 隋唐：君临天下，一个军户的逆袭 During the Kaihuang era of the Sui dynasty, Wang Yu was a fool living in Little Wang Village. His parents had both died, and he stood eight and a half feet tall, with a body of iron and an invincible presence. Before his father died, he had served as a squad leader in the Jingzhao Prefecture army. One day, the fool Wang Yu was no longer a fool, and history began to take another unexpected turn... 939Reads7.0Score—Shelves
- 42 A Million Armored Men in Troubled Times, and You Call Them Beggars Scrounging for Food? 乱世带甲百万，你说是流民乞食 [War + passion + history + anti-cliché + no System] Qin Tian, a university graduate, transmigrates into a vagrant in a land torn apart by war. From the start, he’s fighting a wild dog over half a piece of bread. No System, no golden finger, and he can’t even understand what people are saying! Bandits want to sell him, soldiers want to arrest him, and the city is full of starving corpses and danger at every turn. While others endure humiliation, he grabs a shard of pottery and fights back; while 104Reads—Score—Shelves
- 43 A Great Famine in Daqian from the Start: I Grow Crops to Build a Rich Nation 开局大乾饥荒，我靠种田富可敌国 He transmigrates to ancient times and finds himself in the middle of a three-year famine from the start: a thousand miles of scorched earth, with people driven to eat their own children! The powerful hoard goods and treat human lives as worthless. Just when all hope seems lost, Lin Yuan, a top agricultural university graduate, smiles. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, curved plows... While everyone else is gnawing on tree bark, his granaries are already overflowing! “What? The court wants to requisition 13Reads—Score—Shelves
- 44 Glorious Great Tang: Granting Fiefs and Bestowing Lands 煌煌大唐：分茅胙土 [Alternate late Tang setting + warlords and kingdoms + geopolitical intrigue + martial world] The realm is in turmoil, and imperial authority is fading; The world is collapsing, and the people are suffering; Life is fickle, and good and evil are hard to tell apart. Prince of Jin Li Xuan, have you forgotten the great ambition of the Tang emperors and the sages of China’s generations past: to unite the realm? Unify the nine provinces, bring the four corners together, and restore the achievements o 8Reads—Score—Shelves
- 45 The Border City Crossbowman 边城游弩手 (Note: A traditional alternate-history novel, with no System and no wish-fulfillment.) A war to conquer a nation, fought by nobodies rising to prominence. A struggle for power full of ingenious schemes. The empire falls apart, and the chaos of war rises once more. A corrupt and twisted Confucian regime, powerful clans seizing land, warlords entrenched in their own territories, and barbarians watching hungrily from the sidelines. Clashing ideologies, rigid class divisions, a turbulent political l 665Reads8.9Score—Shelves
- 46 He Stole the Princess Consort and Teased the Empress, and You Call Him a Coward? 抢了王妃戏皇后，你说他胆子小？ When Lin Xi woke up, he found two pieces of news waiting for him. One good, one bad. The good news was that he had become the heir to the Prince of Beiliang's household. His father commanded an army of three hundred thousand and was arguably the greatest dad in the world. The bad news was that the moment he stepped outside, he discovered that the old schemer had sent him to the imperial capital to serve as a hostage. Lin Xi: “Wait a minute! Three hundred thousand troops? How dare you call me a h 3.5kReads8.4Score252Shelves
- 47 The Iron-Blooded Warriors of the Frontier Army 边军之铁血悍卒 Hunter boy Xu Xiao shoots an arrow through the smoke of war on the northern frontier and rises from a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood! His long saber shatters enemy formations, his cavalry rides through the snow, and he charges into battle again and again, slaying generals and seizing their banners! His brothers entrust their lives to one another, building a Great Wall of flesh and blood! When the 100,000-strong Jinzhang army thunders against the pass, watch as this battle-hardened god of 1.9kReads6.8Score163Shelves
- 48 I Just Want to Live. Is That Wrong? 我只想活着，有错吗？ I Just Want to Live. Is That Wrong? 16Reads—Score—Shelves
- 49 The Fake Commandant 冒牌校尉 Yang Chen was an ordinary frontier soldier with no power, influence, or connections. Thanks to his extraordinary tolerance for alcohol, his superior temporarily assigned him to pose as an officer at a special banquet. But war broke out without warning. After narrowly escaping death, Yang Chen decided to keep up the act, using his assumed officer identity to raise a force and repel foreign enemies amid the chaos. He earned one distinction after another, and so began Yang Chen's turbulent, legenda 1.3kReads7.5Score103Shelves
- 50 The Realm Under the Regional Commanders 天下节度 In the eighth year of Tianfu under the Great Zhou dynasty. That year, Su Yu transmigrates to an unfamiliar era where feudal lords carve up the land, military governors rule their own domains, the common people live in misery, and uprisings erupt across the realm. To survive these chaotic times, he takes on the great clans, defeats local tyrants, builds a new army, establishes new laws, and introduces new institutions. Step by step, he rises to the top and founds a brand-new dynasty. Note: No Sys 1.3kReads7.2Score100Shelves
