Chapter 1: Chapter One: Killing a Dog

Autumn of the twelfth year of Chongzhen; this vast land was entering deep winter.

In the Zouma Lane of the officials and gentry in Lueyang City, many disheveled refugees huddled under high walls and deep eaves, waiting to scavenge a mouthful of leftovers from the wealthy households.

Yet a young man sat incongruously beneath a great willow tree at the lane's entrance.

Though his face bore the sallow hue of starvation, his frame was upright and well-proportioned; on an oval face sat a high nose bridge and large, protruding ears, with distinct, deep facial lines, making for a handsome appearance.

Only now, with a withered twig clamped between his teeth and an expression of utter despair, he muttered to himself for quite some time...

"Transmigration... the twelfth year of Chongzhen... the Great Ming Dynasty, hmm, but I don't know history... First, there must be an Emperor named Chongzhen... There should also be... Yue Fei? Wei Zheng? The Yang Family Generals? Zeng Guofan? Wei Xiaobao? Sigh..."

Li You felt bitter frustration; in such a wretched age, how could he break the current predicament of starving to death?

He sifted through his memories; the moment before, he had been in a hospital, worrying whether he had a terminal illness; for that life at the time, it was truly hard to describe.

In his thirties, with no car, no house, and no wife, and to make matters worse, he had inexplicably contracted a strange lung disease, his blood turning green.

The experts said his lungs surviving until now was truly a miracle, because he was unsuited to live in the modern world; they claimed air pollution was too severe, and he was better suited to live in ancient times before the Earth was polluted.

Li You was stunned upon hearing this; wasn't that a terminal illness? Since when did doctors speak so euphemistically?

Li You had long been prepared for death, but he never expected it would come in such a peculiar way; waking up, he found himself transported to the Chongzhen era, inhabiting a Li You of the same name and surname.

Most importantly, his lungs truly no longer hurt, and he felt immense power surging through his entire body.

This body was now nineteen years old; his father was named Li Zhao, a former border soldier of the Ming Dynasty, who had once served as a Squad Leader and Night Scout in the Zhongtun Guard.

After the Ningxia Campaign, Li Zhao felt the military administration was utterly rotten; thus, when Li You was five years old, he simply fled the military registry with his comrade Wu Yicheng's family, escaping to the Binzhou area, where with his father-in-law's help, they used all their savings to purchase fifteen mu of poor land.

Wu Yicheng went to work as a horse groom for the wealthy Zheng family; the two families became neighbors and settled down to live peacefully.

At that time, the world was not yet so chaotic, so Li You received an extremely good education.

Starting at five or six years old, he practiced martial arts with Wu Dading, mastering all the martial skills of both the Li and Wu families, and also took Song Shenxian, the fortune-teller at the village entrance, as his early teacher.

Thus, at a young age, he first showed his talents in the village: in literature, he could sell fortunes, wail at funerals, and perform spirit-medium rituals; in martial arts, he could steal chickens, beat dogs, and fight crickets.

This was certainly a resounding display of being accomplished in both civil and military arts!

"Brother You, you had a fever last night; why have you been muttering to yourself? Did the fever damage your brain?"

A square-faced man walked out from the lane, broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, with eyebrows like black brushes. He was Wu Dading; although two years older than Li You, he had been close to and followed Li You since childhood.

"How could that be? I'm fine." Li You rubbed his face, smiled at him, and asked, "Did you manage to get any food?"

"Heh, don't mention it; these blood-sucking beasts would feed leftovers to dogs rather than give a mouthful to us mud-legs!" Wu Dading cursed bitterly.

He then shook the remaining willow leaves from the tree, squatted down to pick up the withered yellow leaves, stuffed them all into his mouth to eat, and whispered to Li You, "Just now, that group of refugees led by Zhang the One-Eyed occupied the latrine in the back courtyard of that Jail Warden's house, digging for maggots to eat... Should we..."

"Ew... shut up!" Li You couldn't help shivering and said, "If there's meat to eat, why eat maggots?"

"Meat? Where is there meat?"

"Listen!"

"A dog; you mean kill a dog!"

Wu Dading's eyes instantly flashed with sharp light, but they quickly dimmed again as he said, "A dog, alas; we are now so hungry we look like green-faced ghosts; how can we fight a dog? Along the way while fleeing famine, haven't we seen plenty of dogs eating people?"

"If we cannot overcome them by force, we will outsmart them!" Li You said, taking a yam from his saddlebag and saying, "Use this!"

"You want to use this to lure a dog? Don't talk nonsense!" Wu Dading shook his head like a rattle-drum and said, "No, truly no; this is our only food!"

"A fist-sized lump; if we each eat half, we'll still starve to death; but if we earn a dog, then we can both survive!"

Although Wu Dading was reluctant, he couldn't resist Li You's persuasion; finally, the two found a deserted place and roasted the yam.

When the outside of the yam was no longer too hot, Li You forcefully pulled out several strands of hair and carefully wrapped them around the exterior of the yam, layer by layer.

"What are you doing?"

"Anyone who has eaten roasted yams knows that just because the outside isn't hot to the mouth doesn't mean the inside isn't. Dogs have sharp teeth; one bite will surely pierce through. Wrapping some hair will catch on the dog's teeth, making it very difficult for the dog to release its bite."

"Ah, a good idea... but what if the dog doesn't eat it?"

"Then we each take half?"

Li You of his past life lived in the rural northwest; as a child, he had caught dogs, hunted wolves, and raided bird nests; he had done everything. As long as it was a local dog, it simply couldn't resist the aroma of roasted yam.

"It will work."

"Let's go; lead the way to that less crowded household."

"The Jail Warden Wang's house on the east side of the lane is quite secluded!" Wu Dading said, quickly leading the way ahead.

Li You stuffed the yam into his clothes, picked up a thick stick, quickly followed, and arrived at the back gate of a three-courtyard large compound; here, there were few refugees, mainly because there was a dog hole in the back courtyard.

"The dog hole is here."

"Hmm."

Li You glanced at the dog hole and casually threw the yam onto the ground.

"Will this catch the dog? You're not..." Wu Dading, heartbroken to death, reached out to pick it up.

But before he finished speaking, a black shadow darted out from the dog hole like a sharp arrow, lunging at the yam; the moment it bit down, it screamed as if pricked by needles, shaking its head wildly and frantically trying to spit the yam out, but the more it shook, the tighter the hair on the yam tangled around its teeth.

In an instant, it rolled on the ground in pain, and one of its teeth was knocked out onto the ground.

While Wu Dading was still stunned, Li You had already rushed forward, delivering two solid blows to the dog's head with his stick, then hoisted the black dog onto his shoulder and ran off in a flash.

Such an operation, smooth as flowing clouds and water, completed in one breath; Wu Dading couldn't help but be astonished: when had the honest and steady Li You become so skilled at stealing dogs?

On the dried riverbed, a rich aroma of roasted meat filled the air.

At this moment, the two were eating heartily.

Wu Dading held a hind leg, eating until oil dripped from his mouth, and mumbled unclearly, "It's a pity Song Shenxian isn't here; otherwise he could have enjoyed this fine meal too."

"Mm."

Li You responded, thinking of this Song Shenxian; for years, he had not taught them a single sensible word from the Four Books and Five Classics, always mysteriously teaching them military strategy, the Six Ren divination arts, discussing court and commoner trends, boasting about having once been a private secretary to Lord Yang and Lord Li, and when drunk, often saying that the one who would destroy the Central Plains must be the Eastern Slaves...

The so-called East River and West River take the Sancha River in Liaodong as the boundary; on the east bank lay the slave threat (Jurchens), while on the west bank lay the barbarian threat (Mongols).

These memories left Li You extremely shocked at this moment; although his understanding of history was limited to school textbooks, and he often confused things or jumped channels, unable to distinguish between Ximen Qing and Ximen Bao, he still clearly remembered "Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing."

After the Ming Dynasty came the Great Qing, with their queues; Song Shenxian was no time-traveler, yet he truly possessed far-sighted vision.

It is a pity that in the ninth year of Chongzhen, he suddenly left Binzhou, claiming to have gone to Kaifeng, and has been heard of no more since.

These treasured memories, especially Song Shenxian's sighs of regret over court and commoner politics at the time, have undoubtedly become a priceless treasure for Li You now; it is a pity that the historical knowledge from textbooks was mostly forgotten after more than ten years, otherwise he could have activated the God's-eye view.

Because he discovered that the "goods" within the original body's memories were not merely abundant; besides some fortune-telling and miscellaneous learning, a string of names popped out...

"Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youjian, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, Hong Chengchou, Lu Xiangsheng, Yang Sichang, Nurhaci, Huang Taiji, Wu Sangui... Eh, didn't this Wu Sangui star in 'The Deer and the Cauldron'? So he was actually a high official of the Ming? Then how did he become a Qing prince? Hmm, this traitor deserves to be shot by a volley of guns!"

"Brother You, what are you thinking? I'm talking to you." Suddenly, Wu Dading interrupted his thoughts.

"Nothing much, what did you just say?"

"Have you not noticed how few people are in the city today?"

"What has happened?"

"I heard that yesterday many refugees who had committed minor offenses were all arrested by Yamen Runners; it is said they will be beheaded at the Southern Gate!"

"Tomorrow? What crime did they commit?"

Li You was startled; although he did not know history and lacked the God's-eye view, he had already merged with the memories of this era.

As the saying goes, "human life concerns heaven"; executing prisoners requires review by the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner, with reports submitted layer by layer upward, culminating in final approval signed by the Son of Heaven and issued to the Ministry of Justice before execution can take place.

But with the Great Ming already in chaotic times, after the seventh year of Chongzhen, people were being killed in every region throughout all four seasons; why would they still need layered upward reporting?

"What crime could they have committed? Isn't it just these birds using heads to raise their hats?"

Wu Dading spoke: "Between the fifth and sixth months, the Great King of the West rose again in Gucheng; 'Cao Cao' Luo Yucail and 'Passing Star' Zhang Tianlin stationed troops in Xingshan and Yuan'an..."

"There are rumors that Zhang Xianzhong's eldest son, Zhang Sihu, with the support of the 'Yao Huang Bandits' Yuan Tao, entered Xixiang from Taiping and Zhenba long ago, secretly moving eastward all the way; most likely heading toward Mian County and Lueyang. By then, they fear a inside-outside collusion with the bandit Xian... Premier Xiong is so distressed he has his head on fire, and the reward posted is extremely heavy!"

"So they arrested refugees... killing the innocent to claim merit?"

"Yes, it was that bad idea given by the scholar Li Youyin who just arrived in Qingjian County; he even suggested stuffing a bandit chief's head inside."

Wu Dading sniffed and laughed: "Do you know why I remember this filthy wretch? His name is very similar to yours, just with one extra character."

Li You licked his lips, suddenly losing his appetite, watching Wu Dading eat the dog meat until only two testicles remained.

Wu Dading patted his belly, picked up the testicles on his finger, and carelessly said: "Damn it, if I can just have another good meal tomorrow, what does it matter if I'm dragged off to be beheaded..."

Before he finished speaking, suddenly a huge crowd of Yamen Runners surged from around the riverbed; in the blink of an eye, they swarmed and surrounded them tightly.

A bear-like child of about ten years old leaped out from the crowd; seeing the two dog testicles held on Wu Dading's finger, he immediately became so angry that he rolled on the ground crying and making a scene...

"My Black General was fine this morning, now he's been eaten until only a pair of testicles remains... Father, Father! Kill these two bastards! Quick, quick, kill these two mud-legs!"

"Zhong'er, get up quickly."

A middle-aged scholar emerged from the crowd; he was precisely the Jail Warden of Lueyang County. He glanced askance at Li You and Wu Dading and snorted: "These two are remnants of the bandit Xian; seize them! Tomorrow, behead them along with the other bandits!"