Three Kingdoms: Cao Cao's Steampunk Empire

Chen Yuan, a chemical plant technician, dozed off during overtime. When he opened his eyes, he had become Cao Cao, pursued by two hundred of Dong Zhuo's cavalry. All he had on him were a few packets of saltpeter and sulfur used for alchemy. He changed the proportions, set fire to the road through Hangu Pass, and not one of his pursuers made it back. From that night on, the Three Kingdoms played by different rules: fields were reclaimed in Qingzhou, crossbows forged from fine steel, and the fire at Guandu burned not only Wuchao's grain but Yuan Shao's empire. The realm was united. But he wanted more. Steam engines began to turn, railways stretched out from Xuchang, treasure ships sailed to the Southern Seas, and cowpox vaccination reached every household. The man denounced as Cao the Traitor carried a chaotic age into an entirely different era. In the year his hair turned white, he returned to the fields and left behind one sentence: “When the rice is ripe, someone must keep planting it.”