Chapter 805: Thank You All for Your Support

Thank you all for your support.

The Little Soldier has resumed updates. I saw some readers asking why Old Ox hasn't spoken. I originally planned to say something at the grand finale, but seeing readers' questions, I'm posting this ahead of time.

Actually, on the other hand, I didn't quite know what to say. Perhaps when I first started writing Little Soldier, I never imagined it would turn out like this. A book written and written, unexpectedly spanning six years, with four of those years spent on hiatus. Any words would... In any case, I'm grateful that so many readers have remained steadfast and never abandoned it. While it makes me rejoice in Little Soldier's charm, it also fills me with shame. I, the author, have been truly unworthy of my role.

Six years — a vast stretch of time. A child could have grown old enough to run errands by now. Even the landscape of Qidian has undergone tremendous changes. My own editors have changed several times over. The only one who still feels familiar now is Ruili.

Let me share with readers my state of mind while writing. At first, there was great passion. As I wrote and wrote, I grew weary of it, then exhausted. When utterly exhausted, I didn't want to move at all — truly, not a single motion. Yet after being idle for a long time, I felt reluctant to let go. Readers' expectations are part of it. The novel I posted is, after all, the crystallization of my own heart's blood. There have been material gains, but more so, it is a spiritual treasure, with ideals and aspirations contained within. Perhaps many authors who write historical fiction share this feeling — it's not solely for material gain, but more about enjoying the sublimation of spirit and ideals.

But then, after writing for a while, I'd grow weary again, then exhausted again, and then the cycle would repeat — regret, then longing once more...

I don't know about others, but I've discovered I have severe obsessive-compulsive disorder and procrastination. When the OCD kicks in, I revise every passage seven or eight times over until I'm utterly drained. When the procrastination hits, I don't want to move at all, don't want to look at anything, don't want to deal with anything — I just want to laze about.

Sigh. I hope I can change these bad habits in the future.

As for the completion and update issues of Little Soldier that everyone is concerned about — I have made up my mind. It will definitely be completed this month! This karmic thread must be brought to an end.

After Little Soldier is finished, I will also release a new book. I reserved the title for this book early last year and signed the contract last July. The contract was mailed back long ago, but to this day it still hasn't been released. Sigh.

Let me say a few words about the new book here as well. It's a rigorous historical transmigration novel similar to Little Soldier, telling the story of events from the late Ming to the Southern Ming period. The protagonist, like Wang Dou, is a figure who turns the tide, preventing the tragedies of Yangzhou and other places.

For this book, I made special trips to investigate the geography, terrain, culture, and local conditions of multiple provinces and cities, including Shandong, Henan, Jiangsu, Anhui, Shanxi, Hebei, Beijing, and Inner Mongolia. The focus was on Ming-era Fengyang Prefecture and Huai'an Prefecture — and of course, I did some sightseeing along the way.

The magnificent rivers and mountains of our country are truly a delight to the heart and eye. I hope in the future I can visit places like Shaanxi and Gansu to have some fun.

Here, let me mention the new book's title and synopsis. Anyway, the title was reserved long ago, so I'm not afraid of someone else snatching it.

Continuing the Southern Ming

Synopsis:

"The August Ming unified the seas and lands, surpassing the Three Dynasties and outstripping Han and Tang, reaching the ends of heaven and the limits of earth, where none were not subjects and handmaidens..."

In the sixth year of the Xuande reign of the Great Ming, Zheng He led his fleet on his seventh voyage to the Western Oceans. He once proudly proclaimed thus on the stele of the "Record of the Celestial Consort's Efficacious Response." At that time, the Great Ming's national power was at its zenith.

Yet by the final years of the Chongzhen reign, the great edifice was about to collapse, the empire on the verge of destruction. The shadow of an age of chaos loomed over the hearts of every commoner.

Barbarian invaders ran rampant, roving bandits wreaked havoc, natural disasters and man-made calamities abounded, and the starved dead lay strewn across the wilderness. Civilization was on the brink of annihilation, and no hope could be seen ahead. Since the Five Barbarians brought chaos to China and the Mongol Yuan invaded, the Chinese civilization was once again about to descend into a dark, bottomless abyss. It was precisely in this autumn of the fourteenth year of the Chongzhen reign that a soul from a later age accidentally arrived in the Great Ming, among the dying famine refugees north of the Huai River... (~^~)