Chapter 1 Looking Back on a Hundred Years

  Boom

  A bright lightning bolt came down from the sky, illuminating the night sky, and raindrops fell. In a small bar on the outskirts of Beijing, Li Ming, who looked slightly frail, was drinking alone.

  When he found that there was no more wine in front of him, he raised his head and looked at the bar with eyes that had already turned red. Said the first sentence after coming here: "Ah buddy, bring me some wine."

  "Sir, you've had too much to drink, do you need me to call your friend to come pick you up?"

  "What? Afraid I won't pay?" Li Ming slapped his wallet on the table: "I just want wine."

  "Sir, you've really had too much to drink, I think you should head home."

  "Home? Gone. I'm the only one left in this city." Li Ming buried his head on the table. Just that afternoon, his girlfriend of eight years, whom he had met in college and was planning to marry, had left him and moved into an old man's house.

  "It's been eight years, and eight years of feelings can't compare to the temptation of money. I don't have any money, and I'm not very capable either. But I gave you everything I had, trusted you, and spoiled you. My conscience is clear towards myself, and it's clear towards you too." Li Ming walked out alone, shaking his head, as the heavy rain poured down outside.

  "Sir, your wallet."

  "Thank you."

  A torrent of rain poured down on Li Ming, and the icy water seemed to clear his mind. Yeah, it's been four years since graduation, and he was still just a small mechanical engineer, with only a few thousand yuan per month, barely enough to make ends meet. His girlfriend's words before she left were still echoing in his ears: "You can't even earn much money, you can't afford a house, do you want me to spend the rest of my life living in a rental apartment with you? He's an old man, but he can give me what I want, and when I'm feeling down, he'll protect me like a hero. What about you? Can your small frame fight against anyone?"

  The words still linger in my ears, "I also want to be a hero, I also want to become rich, the ideal is too full, reality is too bony." Li Ming's face was unclear whether it was rain or tears: "I swear, this is my first and last time crying for a woman."

  "Rumble" was another flash of lightning, only Li Ming did not notice that this flash of lightning was rushing towards his direction.

  "Ow, my head hurts so much. Looks like I drank too much last night." In front of me is a bright yellow mosquito net, although it's not the same as the one I use. Outside, there are various exquisite furnishings, a wooden structure house, with an ancient charm that comes naturally. It's obviously a wealthy family, who else would still be using wood to build houses these days?

  "It wouldn't be that some kind-hearted rich woman picked me up and brought me home last night, would it?" Li Ming slowly sat up, thinking in his mind.

  The creaky door was pushed open, and in front of Li Ming appeared an old man wearing a large hat and a long gown. When he sat up, the old man turned his head with a quacking voice and said: "Your Majesty has awakened." Behind him, a braid of hair came into view.

  Li Ming slowly reached behind his head and felt another braid, pulling it with all his might. "Damn, this is really f**king ridiculous!" This was Li Ming's last conscious thought before he passed out again.

  When Li Ming woke up again, he had no choice but to accept the reality. Although it was a very cliché thing to happen to him after crossing over, he still had to acknowledge it. The room was full of people, and there was only one elegant and refined woman sitting in front of him. However, his current mood was not good. It's said that emperors have beauties at their beck and call, but the woman sitting in front of him now, holding his hand and crying, looked really sorry to say the least. What made him even angrier was that people called her the Empress.

  "The empress mustn't cry, am I not fine? What's going on?" Li Ming sat up and gently comforted the empress, although he had no idea who she was.

  "Your Majesty, you were drenched in the heavy rain a few days ago and fell ill. You have been unconscious for three days now. Just woke up quickly. Rest in bed. The dragon body is important."

  "It doesn't matter, I'll just go for a walk, I'm not that fragile."

  In the courtyard, the cold of winter has not yet passed, but the trees have already turned green. Li Ming walked slowly, looking at the most Chinese-style courtyard, and sighed: "It's still good in ancient times, the sky is blue, the water is clear, and the air still has a earthy scent."

  "Your Majesty, what's wrong with you, such words?"

  "It's nothing, what day is today? Be more specific."

  "Today is the fourth day of the second month in the eighteenth year of Guangxu..."

  "What, Guangxu 18 years, 1894!" It's not just a surprise, it's the end of the Qing dynasty, something every Chinese knows. Two years later, the First Sino-Japanese War made China thoroughly become a semi-colony, and various foreign powers sucked the blood from China's body, especially Japan, which grew strong on China's flesh and blood, and then wanted to swallow China whole with an even bigger appetite.

  In 1874, the Qing government took advantage of the virtual victory in the Sino-French War to win a precious decade of development time. The Beiyang Fleet and Hanyang Iron Works were also established during this period. The Westernization Movement also reached its peak during this period. Unfortunately, the idea of "Chinese learning as the body, Western learning as the application" was used to maintain feudal autocratic rule by utilizing certain advantages of Western capitalism through administrative protection, market monopoly, and suppression of private enterprises. Within state-run enterprises, authoritarian management methods were implemented, resulting in inefficiency and low productivity. Government-established enterprises received financial subsidies, leading to corruption and severe waste. At the same time, the Westernization Movement was hindered and sabotaged by conservative forces everywhere. The Sino-Japanese War turned the so-called "Tongzhi Restoration" into a joke.

  At that time, China's surface had a powerful and sharp naval fleet, the world's sixth and Asia's first. But Li Ming knew this was just superficial. The Sino-Japanese War two years later completely exposed the Qing dynasty's last weakness, from then on the country was no longer a country. For the next fifty years, there was no dignity, hundreds of millions of lives were lost, and it was still trapped within the First Island Chain.

  "Your Majesty?"

  "It's nothing, just a bit of chaos in my mind, I'll be fine after some quiet time." Li Ming's gaze met Long Yu's, and he gave her a slight smile to express his gratitude. Although it was only a slight movement of the corner of his mouth, Long Yu had already sensed it, which was rare in the past 5 years. Her eyebrows slightly raised, feeling extremely pleased with the emperor's softened attitude towards her - at this moment, she had forgotten the emperor's icy coldness towards her for the past 5 years.

  As the empress, she was not favored and did not have much prestige in the palace, nor did she win the favor of Empress Dowager Cixi. On ordinary days when meeting with other imperial consorts and princesses, she also didn't have much authority. This time, being able to stay by the emperor's side was still due to the empress dowager's request.

  "The slave knocks and asks for the emperor's safety." A reddish-brown-faced, high-cheekboned, puffy-eyed, big-nosed old eunuch knelt down at the door.

  "No need to be polite, who are you?" He couldn't see his face clearly, and even if he could, Li Ming wouldn't recognize anyone anyway. Others who had crossed over could bring their memories with them after crossing over, but he didn't remember anything.

  "This is Li Lianying." The old eunuch responded with a sentence that surprised Guangxu.

  "Hey, Li Lianying, Li Xiangda! Mr. Li, please get up quickly." Guangxu hastily took a few steps forward and made a gesture of supporting someone with his hands in the air.

  Who is Li Lianying? During the late Qing dynasty, he was a powerful eunuch who served as the chief manager of the imperial household. He was known as "Jiū Qiān Suì" (Nine Thousand Years) and was feared by all for his immense power and influence. His original name was Li Jinxi, but it was changed to Lianying by Empress Dowager Cixi. For decades, Cixi's attendants came and went, but only two people remained by her side: An Dehai and Li Lianying. Li Lianying was extremely intelligent and understood how to maintain a good relationship with his masters and subordinates. He not only learned to cater to Cixi's tastes and preferences but also knew when to be cautious and careful. As Cixi's power grew, so did Li Lianying's reputation and status. By the time he was 31 years old, he had already become a respected figure in the imperial court, equal in rank to the chief eunuch of the palace. His epitaph reads: "He treated his superiors with respect and his subordinates with kindness; for many years, he never relaxed his efforts." This was indeed the secret to Li Lianying's success. However, despite being favored by Cixi, Li Lianying never managed to leave her side and become the chief eunuch of the palace. Whether it was because Cixi did not want him to or because someone intervened, we can only speculate.

  "The Old Buddha heard that Your Majesty has awakened and had me come over to pay respects."

  "Thanks, Li Gonggong. Please go back and report to Father first." Li Ming paused: "This... I just woke up, my body is still weak, I haven't been able to pay respects to Father yet. If this person is ill, it's really..." Calling a woman 'Father', Li Ming didn't understand the reasoning behind it.

  "He's just being reasonable."

  "I'm a bit tired, I want to be alone for a while. Don't let anyone else follow me in, and get me some paper and pen, preferably the Western-style hard pen and a blank notebook with binding." After finishing speaking, he ignored everyone else and walked into the room by himself.

  China was the world's largest economy for nearly two thousand years prior to this, but by the 1890s it had been surpassed by the United States. The exact year in which China's GDP was exceeded by that of the US is 1895, the year in which the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed between China and Japan. From 1840 onward, China, as the world's largest economy, suffered a series of defeats in foreign wars, with its territory shrinking and international influence declining. China lost about 12% of its territory. In any sense, late Qing China was not a strong country but a weak one that had been invaded many times, ceded territories and paid indemnities, and was a semi-colonial state lacking full sovereignty.

  When Li Ming closed the door, he looked at this hundred-year-old building alone. "Well, since heaven has given me a chance to come back again, let me do my best in this position. Then I will not let the Chinese people experience that kind of suffering again. Maybe I don't have such great abilities, but I will try my best to fight for a broad living space for the Chinese people." Li Ming thought silently and said to himself: "Li Ming is already dead, now alive is Guangxu Ai Xin Jueluo Zaitian."