I Won’t Be Emperor

The tenth year of Chongzhen's reign. The empire teetered on the brink of collapse, and blood soaked the Central Plains. Zeng Huayan, a transmigrator, crawled out of a mass grave outside Luoyang. First, he had to survive. Then he had to help a group of people survive. He served as a rebel under Luo Rucai, trained local gentry militia, fought the Later Jin and pursued rebels alongside Sun Chuanting, and even formed an alliance with Li Zicheng... After more than a decade of war, Dorgon was in Shenyang, enthroning his nephew Fulin as emperor; Li Zicheng had taken Beijing and made himself emperor; Zhang Xianzhong had gone to Chengdu and made himself emperor; Zhu Yousong had fled to Nanjing and made himself emperor... Zeng Huayan said, “I won't be emperor, and neither will any of you.” It was time to give the people of this land a different way to live... Standing atop Mount Tai, he looked back on the road behind him. Where could he turn his gaze to behold the realm? Across the realm, a thousand miles of warfires blaze. Take up the Wu hook sword and forge it into a pillar that holds up the heavens. Await the day peace returns and fish and dragons dance, as cuckoos cry blood-red tears among a thousand blossoming trees.