When I Was in Hongwu, I Started by Rebelling Against the Party

Transported to the tumultuous early years of the Ming Dynasty's Hongwu era, a young man documents his bizarre, harrowing, and darkly humorous survival journey through a series of increasingly chaotic journal entries. Believed by his father to be as dim-witted as a pig, his early years are spent failing at basic education and disastrously attempting modern inventions like white sugar, glass, and gunpowder. But as the years progress, survival demands adaptation. Transitioning from a perceived failure to a hardened military man, he accidentally proves to be a tactical genius within the ranks. By the twentieth year of Hongwu, however, the geopolitical reality crashes down around him: he is trapped serving in Lan Yu's formidable army, entangled with dangerous political factions, and burdened by a lethal family background. Now, armed with wit, grit, and historical foresight, he must navigate the ruthless paranoia of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang's reign just to see another day.