Prologue

  In June 2010, a mountain village in Qina Town, Yongsheng County, Lijiang City, Yunnan Province.

  Night, with a cool breeze blowing through the rustling leaves of the trees, also blew across Zhu Yongxing's hot face. Looking up at the night sky, the sparkling stars twinkled with moving brilliance in the vast expanse of the universe, and the known and unknown insects sang sentimental songs in the grass and tree crevices. The fragrance of wildflowers and grass wafted through the air, dense yet refreshing and intoxicating, and this quiet night made people feel a sense of beauty.

  Zhu Yongxing comfortably shifted his buttocks, and the bamboo chair beneath him creaked in response. He let out a long sigh and said in a hushed tone: "Considering you've taken me on this trip and treated me to so much good food, I won't hold it against you for spouting nonsense, ruining my reputation, and shaking my confidence. Hmm, when you have time, come visit my old home, and I'll treat you well. That way, we'll be even!"

  "Cut!" Zhu Yongxing's old friend Li Changqi didn't even bother to move his body, gave Zhu Yongxing a disdainful look and said with a curled lip: "Still not convinced? What I said in the book review section were all golden words, hoping you'd turn back from the brink of disaster and thoroughly reform your ways. Otherwise, your book will either be a eunuch or a flop, wasting time for nothing."

  "If you don't use a golden finger, and don't use some high-tech tricks, then that's just being kicked in the head by a donkey!" Zhu Yongxing glared with his eyes wide open, arguing strongly: "Many cross-throughs aren't written like this, it's just you nitpicking blindly, making me lose all confidence, and turning a good novel into a eunuch."

  "No destruction, no construction. Only when the pain is certain can one write a masterpiece." Li Changqi looked up at the sky with his eyes seemingly closed but not quite, and said slowly: "The greatest golden finger of a traverser is to grasp and predict future history. If you don't work hard on this, you'll fall into a cliché by messing around with things like mini-guns, losing sight of what's truly important."

  Mention the Mini Gun, Zhu Yongxing suddenly came to life. In order to write this Ming Dynasty's time-travel novel, he had looked up a large amount of information, both domestic and foreign, scientific and social, and still didn't believe it was inferior to this guy.

  "What's wrong with the Mini Gun?" Zhu Yongxing said with a flourish, "You didn't read my book carefully, those grounds and reasons are not sufficient? It's not like I came up with it out of thin air."

  "What's your basis and reason, is it copied from others?" Li Changqi teased: "What about the history of 1476 spiral rifled guns, as for Minie balls, just change the shape of the bullet to a pointed cylinder or even cut out annular grooves on the cylindrical part, and apply lubricant to smooth the barrel and seal the air."

  "Is it possible in theory?" Zhu Yongxing's tone was somewhat lacking in confidence.

  "Uh, theoretically it's feasible, but that can only produce a handful of luxury goods, and cannot be popularized for use." Li Changqi raised his hand to stop Zhu Yongxing from making a rebuttal, continuing: "Not to mention the issue of rifling, let's just talk about one limiting factor in ancient industrial production - precision. Without basic measuring tools like vernier calipers or micrometers, even if you have enough skilled craftsmen, I'm afraid the parameters of the gun barrels produced would not be completely identical? And wouldn't the Minié balls also need to be diverse?"

  "Hah, in an absolute sense, there doesn't exist any identical matter in the universe!" Zhu Yongxing said with a silly smile.

  Li Changqi smiled and said, "The equipment of any weapon, especially firearms, is closely related to the industrialization level of the entire society. Some technologies and inventions may involve thought processes, but behind them lies the overall industrialization level. Just like in chemistry, laboratory methods and industrial production are two different things."

  Zhu Yongxing is not a person who would stubbornly refuse to admit his mistakes, and by pushing himself down, it means he has already acknowledged the opinions or suggestions made by Li Changqi. Now that Li Changqi has further elaborated on this point, Zhu naturally has gained an even deeper understanding.

  Let's talk about that Li Changqi's father handmade firearm. The gun barrel wasn't made from seamless steel pipes used for water supply, but rather high-pressure seamless pipes used in power plants. The tail end was heated and flattened, then fixed to the wooden stock with screws. Overall, it's a flintlock structure. It looks simple, and many parts are easy to obtain. But if this were ancient times, just making that gun barrel would require a skilled craftsman to spend a lot of time and effort, and its durability might not even be as good as the seamless steel pipes readily available today.

  "In the past, these inventions and creations are all too familiar. Of course, if conditions permit, it's not impossible to get some advanced weapons. However, ancient times were different from now, and equipment was not the decisive factor in war. Even during the Anti-Japanese War, spiritual atomic bombs still worked. Li Jing didn't have any high-end weapons, but he could still command his troops to defeat famous generals and shock the world."

  "The legend of 'Li Jingwang' has been passed down for generations in the Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Guangxi regions, especially in Yunnan. To this day, the people of Yunnan still regard Li Dingguo as the backbone of Yunnan (the people of Yunnan worship Zhuge Liang and Li Dingguo the most)! During the late Qing dynasty revolution, revolutionaries such as Cai E still took Li Dingguo as their model. Zhang Binglin once said: 'I hope my fellow Yunnanese will not forget Li Dingguo!'"

  Li Changqi is also a fan, having stayed up all night to watch. As his roommate, Zhu Yongxing naturally understands this. They say that onlookers see most of the game, and Li's comments benefited Zhu greatly. Seeing that he had mentioned his hometown hero idol, Li Changqi's eyes lit up, and his spirit was lifted.

  No one is perfect, Li Dingguo also made mistakes and had personal motives, but overall, Li Dingguo was the most talented and morally upright hero among the figures of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties! Although he has passed away, his legacy remains, inspiring future generations and earning their admiration is Li Dingguo's unwavering national spirit in resisting the Qing dynasty and his unyielding determination to fight despite adversity.

  Zhu Yongxing put aside the small self-esteem and dissatisfaction in his heart, and talked more and more enthusiastically with Li Changqi until midnight. It wasn't until Li Changqi repeatedly reminded him that they would be going into the mountains tomorrow to experience the fun of hunting that Zhu Yongxing stopped talking and went back to his room to sleep.

  With an excited heart, Zhu Yongxing finally fell asleep, but he never expected that tomorrow's hunting trip would not be a fun experience, but the beginning of his new life. Unthinkable experiences and arduous pioneering were waiting for him.

  I am a divider

  February 2, 1659 (Shunzhi 16th year, Yongli 13th year), Burma's Eight Tracts region.

  Since Sun Keshuang launched a rebellion and surrendered to the Qing two years ago, the Qing court took advantage of the internal strife of the Southern Ming dynasty and dispatched three armies to march into the southwest, aiming to wipe out Guizhou and Yunnan in one fell swoop. After Li Dingguo put down Sun Keshuang's rebellion, he made a wrong move, not only failing to deploy troops in time to counter the Qing army's inevitable attack, but also recalling veteran generals from the front line to "rectify" internal affairs, thus severely weakening the defense forces along the border with the Qing dynasty. As a result, the Southern Ming army retreated step by step, and its defenses collapsed rapidly.

  Until recently, the Qing army occupied Kunming, and more than a thousand civil and military officials of the Yongli Small Court had long since fled in a panic. They retreated from Yongchang Prefecture (now Baoshan City, Yunnan) to the Pan Da Tusi, then from Bu Ling to Tong Tie Guan (referring to Tong Bi Guan and Tie Bi Guan), and finally disarmed themselves before the Mian Guan border and fled into Burmese territory.

  On February 2, the King of Burma sent four passenger ships to the riverbank to welcome them. Due to the small size of the boats, Emperor Yongli selected 646 attendants to follow the three palaces by waterway southward; some officials even hired their own boats at their own expense to follow along; the remaining over 900 people were protected by General Pan Shiren and others who rode horses ahead on land to rush to Ava City in Burma.

  Nature has just gone through a storm of thunder and lightning, strong winds and loud rains, seemingly exhausted to the extreme. The dense forest is motionless, as if panting and gasping for breath. The air is cool but almost solidified. The rain-soaked forest seems to have become a solid block, with overlapping leaves hanging down, dripping with water droplets.

  A team of several hundred people is trekking south on the muddy forest path, their faces tired and disheartened. The Crown Prince of Min, Zhu Yongxing, riding a horse, looked listless and didn't even bother to lift his hand to brush away the branches that kept falling in front of him, only slightly bowing his head when there were larger tree trunks.

  After drifting for several years, this royal family member had fled from Wugang in Hunan to Guilin in Guangxi, then from Guangxi to Guizhou, and finally from Guizhou to Kunming, before eventually taking refuge in a foreign land. The reasons were either the Qing army's relentless pursuit forcing him to flee in disarray, or being manipulated by powerful ministers with no control over his own life, or suffering at the hands of marauding soldiers until he could bear it no more. The sorrow of the emperor and royal family in the late dynasty lay in their fate being like fallen leaves in the wind, completely beyond their own control, a desolate feeling that Xinshouzi deeply empathized with.

  The future is uncertain, where can one find a place to settle? Although they have entered Burma, it does not mean that they will finally be at peace. The Yongli Emperor and his ministers thought that by fleeing to a foreign country and living in hiding, the Qing dynasty would spare them and they could live in safety. However, Zhu Yunguang's heart was filled with faint worries. If Li and Guo's troops were defeated while still in Yunnan Province, Burma is a small country, dare it resist the Qing army and protect the imperial court? It's likely that they will be captured and handed over to the Qing in order to seek peace.

  Thinking of this, Zhu Yongxing let out a light sigh. Worrying was useless; he could only take things one step at a time. He hoped that Li Jinwang and Shen Wu would be able to defeat the Qing army, so that even if the imperial court was in a foreign land, it would still have something to rely on.

  The trees grew more sparse, and the group walked onto a road on a cliff, below which was a surging river, with the sound of rushing water entering their ears.

  Suddenly, a monkey flew over Zhu Yongxing's head, letting out a sharp whistle. Zhu Yongxing was startled, but his horse was frightened and let out a loud neigh, raising its front hooves high into the air before taking off in a mad gallop. The wind whistled past Zhu Yongxing's ears as he shouted and hugged the horse's neck tightly, watching as trees and rocks seemed to split apart miraculously in front of him before quickly reassembling behind him. Ahead, a cliff appeared, and the rapidly running horse couldn't stop its momentum, suddenly tumbling downwards...