I Can Take His Place

Who taught you to write this introduction? It almost made me die laughing.

I want to say this: can Sun Ce compare to Zhao Kuangyin? Are you kidding me? Even Zhao Kuangyin couldn't defeat the protagonist, so how could Sun Ce possibly win?

It's actually passable, but a large part of the story about Cao Cao and Yuan Shao ignores the historical fact that Yuan Shao was the number one warlord in the land. It's written as if Cao Cao was about to unify the north and was invincible, which is really uncomfortable to watch. It's important to remember that during the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao had 20,000 troops against Yuan Shao's 100,000.

In my opinion, what truly eliminated aristocratic politics was the imperial examination system. It gave ordinary people, or those from different aristocratic backgrounds, upward mobility. Before the emperor, there was no choice but to rely on aristocratic families, otherwise, governance of the lower classes would be impossible.

Your writing is getting worse and worse; your skill level keeps declining. When you wrote *1592* and *The Legend of the Condor Heroes*, it was considered excellent. Your writing about Lanfang and Xuande was alright, but what are you writing now? Abstract plot, incredibly padded—it's a complete mess compared to your earlier work.

Actually, the story about Sun Quan is quite well-written, but it has two major problems: 1. The pace is too fast; Liu Bei and others are all dead, and there's not enough space to write too much. 2. The reason is that too few readers in the real-world book community like the Wu Kingdom; they mostly prefer Wei or Shu. The fact that Liu Bei dies so early in the story might be unacceptable to them.

That book, *The Chronicles of Heroes in the Late Eastern Han Dynasty*, was truly excellent; I still can't forget it. It's the most unforgettable and moving book I've read in recent years. The series of events after his ascension to the throne brought tears to my eyes. Since then, I haven't been able to find such a touching novel about the late Eastern Han Dynasty.

Although both Taishi Ci and Lu Xun were positioned to provide timely rescues, knowing that the protagonist intended to win people's hearts through this tactic, this method still...

The beginning was so brilliant, how did it suddenly go downhill? There were two successful examples before, "The Hero" and "Liu Bei," so why did it get worse and worse later on? Or is it that the genre is limiting you? Maybe for your next book, you could change the dynasty? The Spring and Autumn Period, the Warring States Period, the Sui and Tang Dynasties, or even the Song and Ming Dynasties would be fine.

The author's writing style has declined significantly recently. His earlier works, *Wanli 1592* and *The Chronicles of a Hero at the End of the Eastern Han Dynasty*, were his peak. *Xuande* and *Lanfang* are also readable, but I haven't read *Qiming*. This one is really difficult to read. 😠