Chinese Generals Summoning System

Chapter 1: Traveling Through Turbulent Times

“Growl—” “Brother, Niuniu is so hungry!” “Hang in there, Niuniu. Dad and Uncle Tie will be back soon, and then you’ll have something to eat! Niuniu, have a sip of water first!” Inside the main hall of an abandoned temple, a gaunt, sallow-faced boy of about fifteen or sixteen sat on a pile of dry grass. He untied a bamboo tube from his waist, pulled off the lid, and fed it to a seven- oronline multiplayer game was undergoing a system update. Out of boredom, Liu Ji randomly clicked on a strategy-based browser game. But the moment he brought up the game screen, his computer monitor—which had cost over 10,000 yuan to set up—suddenly exploded for no apparent reason. Liu Ji felt a brief darkness before his eyes, and when he opened them again, he had become the Liu Ji of this world. Liu Ji in this world was incredibly unlucky. He wasn’t sick or suffering from any misfortune—he was just a bit hungry—when, while he was asleep, someone had usurped his body, allowing a shut-in named Liu Ji from another timeline to take over his body and plunder all his memories. The memories of this world’s Liu Ji didn’t simply merge with those of the otaku Liu Ji; instead, they existed in his mind like a backup, and he could access these preserved memories at any time. These preserved memories allowed Liu Ji to immediately confirm that he had become part of the legion of time-travelers. His name remained the same, and he was more than a decade younger—though his identity in this world was rather humble: a 16-year-old disaster refugee currently fleeing with his father and younger sister! By reviewing the memories of the original teenage Liu Ji, the “homebody” Liu Ji gained a general understanding of this world. It resembled ancient China—the language spoken was Chinese, and the characters used were traditional Chinese—but it was definitely not any specific Chinese dynasty. In fact, Liu Ji was certain that this world was not on Earth at all; otherwise, two moons would not appear in the sky at the same time at night! The country Liu Ji currently found himself in was called the Great Jin Dynasty. Established over 400 years ago, it boasted a vast territory stretching thousands of li from north to south and east to west. It had once been the most powerful nation in the eastern part of this world, but, as is often the case, its glory had given way to decline. Over the past decade or so, a series of natural disasters has left the Great Jin Dynasty’s treasury depleted. Rebellions have raged across the land, and the border troops stationed along the frontiers have struggled even to put food on the table. Large numbers of border troops have deserted, fleeing to the heartland of the Great Jin Dynasty to live under assumed identities; some have even gone so far as to become bandits roaming the countryside. These roving bandits have become the Great Jin Dynasty’s greatest scourge. Across the realm, their numbers range from as few as several dozen to as many as tens of thousands; they roam the land committing every conceivable atrocity, ravaging the Great Jin Dynasty’s territory like a swarm of locusts. At this time, the number of roving bandits in the Great Jin Dynasty numbered at least several million—and this figure accounts only for the able-bodied men among them. If one includes the elderly, children, and women who were forced to join them, the total number would increase severalfold. Moreover, as the situation in the Great Jin Dynasty grows increasingly turbulent, the number of roving bandits continues to rise rapidly. To make matters worse, various nomadic tribes from the north took advantage of the Great Jin Dynasty’s weakened border defenses to launch large-scale invasions, plundering wealth and capturing people. For the citizens of the Great Jin Dynasty taken captive by these nomads, the best-case scenario was to become slaves; for women, the fate was even more tragic. Of the Great Jin Dynasty’s twenty-four prefectures, many areas in the northern prefectures of Qian, Pi, Qin, and Xiang had already become hunting grounds for the northern nomadic tribes. Many key border strongholds were virtually defenceless, and some had even fallen into the hands of foreign invaders. It could be said that the Great Jin Dynasty was teetering on the brink of collapse, its rule hanging by a thread. There were hundreds of nomadic tribes on the northern grasslands of the Great Jin Dynasty, collectively referred to by the dynasty as “Hu.” Liu Ji’s hometown, Wan Prefecture, was spared the ravages of Hu cavalry because it was separated from the northern nomads’ grasslands by Qian Prefecture. However, Wan Prefecture had suffered three consecutive years of severe drought. Liu Ji’s family was considered a small landowner in the area and possessed some wealth; even after three years of crop failure, they had not yet reached the point of starvation. Unfortunately, a band of marauders numbering tens of thousands suddenly raided Liu Ji’s hometown. His father, Liu Hao,had no choice but to take Liu Ji, his younger sister Liu Niuniu, and their loyal servant Liu Tie, abandoning their estate in Pingyuan County, Dongchang Commandery, Wan Prefecture. They joined the stream of refugees and began fleeing southward toward Yong Prefecture. If they had remained in their hometown, not only would they have lost their estate, but their very lives would have been in danger—unless the Liu family had joined the bandits themselves. Liu Ji’s mother, Chen Min, had passed away from illness a few years earlier. However, her family still held some influence in Qi County, Changping Commandery, Yongzhou. Furthermore, since Yongzhou was located in the central region of the Great Jin Dynasty, although it had also suffered some effects from drought in recent years, the local people were still barely managing to survive. Therefore, with no other options left, Liu Hao decided to take Liu Ji and his sister to seek temporary refuge with his late wife’s family. Each prefecture of the Great Jin Dynasty was divided into several or more than a dozen commanderies, and each commandery was further subdivided into several counties. Prefectures, commanderies, and counties together formed the three administrative levels of the Great Jin Dynasty. However, the Liu Ji family’s journey southward was far from easy. Along the way, previous groups of refugees had already consumed nearly all available food; in some places, even the tree bark had been stripped bare. Moreover, they faced threats from marauding bandits and local outlaws, and even had to be wary of other groups of refugees. Originally, this group of refugees numbered more than 70 people, all from Liu Ji’s village—many of whom were tenant farmers from his household. Yet, less than two months into their flight, before they had even left the borders of Wan Prefecture, their numbers had already dwindled by more than half. Virtually all these losses were caused by a small band of marauders. Their food supplies had long since run out. If it weren’t for Liu Hao, Liu Tie, and a few other able-bodied men hunting along the way, this group of disaster refugees might have starved to death long ago. However, there wasn’t much game to be found along the route; in the past two days, Liu Ji had eaten only a few small pieces of rabbit meat, which together probably didn’t even weigh eight liang. Even with that meager amount of meat, Liu Ji was still one of the two people in the group who had received the most rabbit meat; the other was Liu Niuniu. After all, Liu Ji and Liu Niuniu’s father, Liu Hao, had been elected as the leader of this group of refugees. Liu Ji rubbed his hollow stomach, a gloomy expression spreading across his face. In his original life, he had been a shut-in who just ate and waited to die. He had no idea which deity he’d offended to get himself stuck here. Being here was one thing, but couldn’t he at least have been given a more prestigious status? “Young Master Liu, you… you must come and see! Old Xu… Old Xu doesn’t look good!” A middle-aged woman inside the temple’s main hall suddenly shouted frantically to Liu Ji. Liu Ji turned his head and saw Old Xu, the village carpenter, lying beside the fire. His eyes were tightly shut, and his face was deathly pale. Beside him stood a flustered middle-aged woman named Wang Jinfeng, a widow from the village. Since arriving in this world, Liu Ji hadn’t been entirely unfamiliar with the sight of the dead, but he’d always just glanced at them from a distance before stepping back. However, at that moment, he was practically the only able-bodied man in the hall. Gritting his teeth, he set his little sister, Liu Niuniu, down on the dry grass. “Niuniu, I’m going to check on Grandpa Xu. Just sit here and don’t move.” “Brother, I’m scared. Is Grandpa Xu dead?” “Don’t be afraid—I’m here! Grandpa Xu might just… have fallen asleep from hunger.” Liu Ji walked over to Old Xu the carpenter and probed his nostrils with his finger. Just as Liu Ji had expected, there was no breath. Yet a look of utter shock spread across his face. Just as he placed his finger beneath Old Xu’s nostrils, a voice suddenly echoed in his mind. “Absorbed 1 Soul Point!” “The Chinese Warlord Summoning System has officially activated!”