Chapter 1

"I hereby declare that the 2019 live-fire exercise of the S City Military Academy has now begun!" With the loud voice of the Military Academy's principal and the highest commander of the live-fire exercise coming through the individual communication devices, the Red Army, composed of soon-to-graduate cadets from the Military Academy, and the Blue Army, composed of a certain border defense motorized infantry regiment, began the live-fire exercise in the desert in the north of the Republic. The pride of the Military Academy, these cadets are the future pillars of the Republic's military. At this moment, they are not acting as reserve officers but as ordinary soldiers, fighting on the battlefield against the Blue Army. Liu Yi, a young graduate, is one of them. He thought, "I must make the 2019 graduates proud in today's live-fire exercise. I am the shooting champion of the 2019 class and the top scorer in the cultural exams. Watch me show my prowess today, earn a commendation, and be directly assigned to the main force after graduation." At that moment, Liu Yi felt like Rambo, capable of taking on a hundred men, and he subconsciously tightened his grip on the Type 95 rifle.

"Platoon leader, there's a pre-set machine gun position 50 meters at ten o'clock. Take it out with a grenade," came the platoon leader's order through the earpiece. "Watch me," Liu Yi thought. After crawling forward for over 20 meters, Liu Yi hid behind a large rock and took out the grenade allocated for the exercise. Although the pre-set position was unmanned, it was a live-fire exercise, and to ensure the exercise's effectiveness, the grenades were real, except for the blank cartridges in the rifles. "Why can't the school issue a few of the new grenades? We're still using the old Type 77. I don't even know which year it was produced. I hope it will explode properly," he thought, but his hands didn't stop. He unscrewed the cap, pulled the pin, and was about to throw it when a loud explosion rang in his ears, and everything went dark. His last thought was, "What the hell year was this Type 77 produced? They said it had a three-second delay, but it exploded as soon as I pulled the pin. What bad luck."

"My head hurts so much, where am I?" Liu Yi felt his body couldn't move, his head was splitting, and his eyes wouldn't open. Various memories flashed through his mind: "Liu Yi, born in Wanli 37th year in Taiping Prefecture, South Zhili. My father is Liu Zhaosun, the adopted son of Sichuan General Liu Ting and the commander of Chongqing Thousand-Man Battalion. Liu Yi, quickly destroy the Blue Army's pre-set machine gun position, prepare the grenade..."

"Ahh!" Liu Yi shouted and sat up, a blinding ray of sunlight making him instinctively raise his hand to shield his eyes.

"Master, you're awake! Sir, Master is awake! Master is awake!" "In the military camp, making such a loud noise, what kind of decorum is this! My son, my son is awake."

Liu Yi adjusted to the sunlight, squinting to look around. He was in a military tent, with sunlight shining through the door onto the carpet. Outside, two people were talking; one had a high-pitched voice, the other a rough one. The tent darkened as a man over 1.8 meters tall entered and helped him up, examining him closely.

"Is my son alright?"

At this moment, Liu Yi finally saw the man clearly. He was in his thirties, with a square face, a long beard, a broad nose, and narrow, phoenix-like eyes, somewhat resembling a modern movie star. He wore a Ming dynasty mountain-patterned armor, a large chest plate, a tiger-head belly guard, and a purple cloud belly band, with a helmet topped with a red plume, looking very imposing.

"This is my father," Liu Yi thought, trying to recall the memories in his head. The other person outside also entered, wearing a mandarin jacket, a cotton armor with a few missing copper studs, a red felt hat, and carrying a three-barreled musket, dressed like a soldier.

"Am I really in a different time? How is this even possible?" Liu Yi thought, his ears still ringing.

"Liu Bao, go get a basin of water for Yi to wash. There's still blood on his body." "Yes, sir!" Liu Yi finally remembered to speak to the people in front of him. "Father." Liu Yi called softly, "Where am I? What time is it now?"

"Yi, did you hit your head and lose your mind?" Liu Zhaosun asked with concern. "Today is the third day of the third month of Wanli 47th year. A few days ago, I and the general said farewell to General Yang, and we led the army on the eastern route. Yesterday, we arrived at Kuandian. The mountain road was rugged, and you insisted on riding my Western horse. You never listen when I tell you to practice your horsemanship. Western horses are different from Mongolian horses; they are fierce. Now you've fallen off and hit your head on a rock, losing consciousness and bleeding profusely. I had the military doctor treat you, and you just woke up."

"Father, what did you say? It's the third day of the third month? What are we going to do?"

"Follow the general and General Yang to fight the Jurchens. The four armies are advancing and converging. General Du and General Ma might already be ahead of us," Liu Zhaosun said.

"Are we in Liaodong? The Battle of Sarhu?" Liu Yi asked, surprised.

"What nonsense are you talking, Yi? What Battle of Sarhu? General Du is indeed on the Sarhu route, but the scouts haven't reported any battles with the Jurchens. They must be hiding in Hetuala, afraid to come out. Once our four armies are in place, we will crush them completely. Rest now, I have military affairs to attend to and important matters to discuss with the general." With that, Liu Zhaosun patted Liu Yi's shoulder and walked out of the tent.

Liu Yi was now fully awake. He had somehow traveled back to the late Ming dynasty. In military school, every time the teacher mentioned the late Ming, especially the classic battles, Liu Yi would always shake his head in regret. If Li Zicheng hadn't captured Beijing, if Emperor Chongzhen had ordered a southern retreat, even if he had sent the crown prince to Nanjing, if warlords like Zuo Liangyu, He Ronglong, and Wu Sangui hadn't defected or fled, if the gentry hadn't drained the country's resources, if Kong Youde hadn't surrendered to the Qing and brought his artillery to the Qing, leading to the rapid advancement of Qing artillery and the loss of Ming military advantages, if there hadn't been the factional struggles of the eunuchs and the Donglin Party, which led to the downfall of the Ming, how could the brilliant Han civilization have been destroyed and mutilated? How could our ancestors have suffered so much? The population of the late Ming was over 100 million, and the wars, plagues, and famines caused by the Jurchen invasion resulted in a population loss comparable to the Sino-Japanese War. This was a great calamity for China.

Once, the Song dynasty fell to the Mongols, and the nomadic civilization conquered the agrarian civilization. The people were divided into four classes, and the country experienced a chaotic and unfortunate century. But the establishment of the Ming dynasty brought back the Han spirit. Even during the Tumu Crisis, they preferred to replace the emperor rather than cede territory, which was much more resolute than the Qing's frequent cessions and indemnities. However, this brilliant civilization disappeared into history, and the subsequent era saw a stagnation in China's technological and economic development, leading to poverty and weakness. The Opium War, the First Sino-Japanese War, the Second Sino-Japanese War, and even the Russo-Japanese War, which took place on Chinese soil, all contributed to the suffering of the Chinese people. Liu Yi had visited the Nanjing Massacre Memorial several times, each time with a heavy heart. He lamented the misfortune and the lack of resistance.

The modern history of the Chinese nation is a history of blood and tears. It wasn't until the founding of the People's Republic of China by the Communist Party that China began to catch up, achieving remarkable progress despite centuries of poverty and weakness. However, in 2019, China was still behind Western countries, and the United States and its allies in the Asia-Pacific region were suppressing China with the First Island Chain. If the Ming dynasty hadn't fallen, perhaps all of this could have been rewritten. By the late Ming, the economy was entering a capitalist stage, and the political system was separating the power of the prime minister from the emperor, potentially leading to a modern democratic cabinet system. Militarily, the Ming were using a large number of firearms, leading the world. After the fall of the Ming, China regressed to the age of cold weapons, and the cannons used in the Opium War were still the red-barreled cannons cast during the late Ming and early Qing. It was truly tragic.

Liu Yi thought, "Now that heaven has thrown me into the late Ming, if I can do something, even if it's just saving one life, it will prove that my time travel has value. I will do something, even if it means dying again. I must do something."

As he was thinking, Liu Bao returned with the water. "Master, wash up. I was worried all night after you fell off the horse. I only managed to clean the blood from your face, but not from your body. Let me help you." "No, I can do it myself. Liu Bao, you can rest." "This..." "It's fine, go." "Alright, Master, I'll be outside if you need me." Liu Bao pulled the curtain and left the tent.

Liu Yi finally came to his senses. Looking at his reflection in the water, he saw a ten-year-old boy with a square face, narrow, phoenix-like eyes, a high nose, and thick lips, but with fair skin. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and recalled that today was the third day of the third month of Wanli 47th year. The body he was in was also named Liu Yi, born in Wanli 37th year, and was now ten years old. His father was Liu Zhaosun, the adopted son of General Liu Ting. When Liu Ting was fighting in Korea, Liu Yi's father, being from the same hometown as Admiral Chen Lin, was taken by Chen Lin to serve as a flag bearer on his ship at the age of fifteen. Liu Ting, upon meeting him, liked him and asked Chen Lin to give him as an adopted son. When Liu Ting was appointed to the Nanjing training ground, Liu Yi's father followed him and met his mother, Wang, from Taiping Prefecture. Liu Yi's mother died in childbirth, and his father, busy with military campaigns, had not remarried. At home in Taiping Prefecture, only an old servant managed the household.

Without a mother, Liu Yi grew up in the military camp, learning gun skills from the military instructors. At ten years old, he could already perform the Qi family's spear techniques well. His daily life in the camp was managed by Liu Zhaosun's personal guards, Liu Bao and Liu Jin. Due to his early training and genetic inheritance, despite his young age, he was nearly five feet tall (about 1.6 meters in modern terms), though a bit thin, with well-developed muscles from regular training. This time, he accompanied the army to Liaodong to fight the Jurchens.

Liu Zhaosun believed that with the vast number of troops and generals, the four armies advancing and converging, and the nation's elite, there was no reason for the Ming army to lose. He wanted his son to gain experience, not to fight but to observe and learn, so he could inherit his legacy when he grew up.

Thinking about this, Liu Yi was startled. "I've really traveled back in time. The soul of the excellent graduate from the future's Military Academy, Liu Yi, has merged with the soul of Liu Zhaosun's ten-year-old son. It's the third day of the third month, and the Battle of Sarhu in the late Wanli period has already begun. Du Song and Ma Lin's forces have probably been annihilated." The Battle of Sarhu was a classic example of a smaller force defeating a larger one, and Liu Yi was very familiar with it from his studies.

He wrung out the towel and wiped his face, thinking, "Tomorrow is the fourth day of the third month. The Later Jin forces should have already set an ambush at Abudari Ridge. It's afternoon now, and the troops are resting in Kuandian. I must immediately inform my father. I can't die again after just arriving in the Ming dynasty." He quickly washed up, changed into the clean clothes Liu Bao had brought, and, as he was still young and had no official position in the army, wore a simple outfit and rushed out of the tent. Liu Bao shouted, "Master! Master! Where are you going? Slow down!" and chased after Liu Yi, holding his broken felt hat.