Restoring the Ming Dynasty, Starting at Sarhu

This feels like the most realistic historical time-travel novel I've read so far. Other novels about time travel feel rather contrived; the protagonist is surrounded by loyal ministers and righteous men, immediately unlocks advanced technology, and jumps straight from the feudal era to the industrial age. Wars are fought smoothly, with everything going in one fell swoop.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Wei Zhongxian and his cronies were certainly not good people, and the Donglin Party was no better. When a country is about to perish, there will inevitably be evil spirits. Given the bureaucratic system of the Ming Dynasty, if all the officials were executed, there would definitely be innocent people among them.

The Ming Dynasty was beyond saving at that point. At best, some outstanding figures might emerge, extending its lifespan by one or two generations. The best solution was for the Ming Dynasty to collapse and for new rules to be established. Otherwise, with those corrupt officials, the Jiangnan region, the maritime merchants, and the military garrisons, any attempt to change them would essentially…

Cough cough, things are about to get rich... With Wei Zhongxian's help, he'll at least be a governor-general over three border regions... Historically, at least during Wei Zhongxian's reign, the Ming army's pay was still being paid. But by Chongzhen's time, they were broke. What's the use of a wise ruler if he can't manage finances and is easily fooled by the Donglin Party? How can a government with such a powerful civil service not perish? Corrupt officials are everywhere.

The late Ming Dynasty was an era of competition for inferiority; any random regional military governor during the late Tang Dynasty could easily defeat the Later Jin.

The struggle between two lines, however, reveals a remarkably sophisticated method of division and disintegration: from incentive bonuses to piece-rate wages, and then to the promotion of the capable and the demotion of the incompetent. The restorationists are not fools; they divide and conquer, creating a climate of fear and strife beneath the guise of stability.

The fall of the Ming Dynasty, along with the Song and Qing Dynasties, is an inevitable historical trend. Any dynasty that is dominated by Confucianism will not last more than three hundred years. During the Great Zhou Dynasty, Confucianism only occupied a small space in classrooms, which is why the Great Zhou lasted for eight hundred years.

The author presents readers with the most valiant and courageous armies of the late Ming Dynasty, such as the White Banner Army, Qi Jiguang's Army, and the Liaodong Garrison, hoping that the Kaiyuan Army will inherit the military spirit of these powerful armies, infuse it with the organization and discipline of a modern army, and be sublimated in its repeated bloody battles against the Tartars.

I've read 300 chapters and it's generally a good book. I won't nitpick the details (personally, I think Jin Yuji is quite toxic in some parts).

The fall of the Ming Dynasty was not a military issue, so why do so many people believe that defeating and destroying the Manchus would solve the problem?!