The Great Rebel at the End of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 001 Apocalypse

Zhou Lun was dressed in a coarse cloth short brown outfit, with a bamboo basket on his shoulder, a jujube wood stick in his hand, a wood-chopping knife on one side of his waist, and a water bag hanging on the other.

His hair was tied in a bun, his face was tanned a dark red by the scorching sun, and the beads of sweat on his forehead glistened in the sunlight.

The mountain path beneath his feet was rugged and uneven, filled with loose stones and clods of earth, yet he walked as if on flat ground, his steps steady as if he had measured the terrain. He jogged down the mountain rhythmically, much faster than the average person.

Judging by his attire and his capable demeanor, he seemed no different from any other young farmer from the local area. But in reality, Zhou Lun came from over four hundred years in the future; he was a time traveler from the 21st century.

Zhou Lun was the founder of a high-tech company. Riding the wave of the rise of AI, he successfully sold the company in his early thirties, achieving financial freedom at a young age.

After retiring, this former company boss became fascinated with hiking. With plenty of time and money at his disposal, Zhou Lun traveled to famous mountains and rivers both at home and abroad over the years. With his professional skills and captivating videos, he unexpectedly transformed into an outdoor influencer with millions of followers.

With his growing reputation in the industry, he made many friends. A friendly outdoor club owner warmly invited him to lead a trek along the Aotai Trail. For Zhou Lun, a seasoned hiker who had climbed Mount Everest, this route was a piece of cake. He readily agreed and led the team on their journey.

However, accidents always happen unexpectedly. Just as the trip was about to come to a successful conclusion, Zhou Lun, while trying to pull a teammate who had fallen, himself plunged off a cliff. After a scream, the world went dark.

When he woke up again, he found that he had not gone to the underworld, but was lying on a wooden bed covered with dry grass, covered with a thin, faded blanket, and a strange but concerned face was looking down at him.

The person who rescued him was a young farmer from a village at the foot of the mountain. When he found Zhou Lun, he was unconscious at the foot of the mountain, his equipment and belongings were nowhere to be found, and his clothes were tattered. The farmer found that he was still breathing, so he kindly carried him back.

Zhou Lun slept for two days at the farmer's house before slowly waking up. Through conversation, he learned a shocking truth.

In September of the seventh year of the Tianqi reign of the Ming Dynasty, in a poor little village more than fifty li west of Bao'an County, Yan'an Prefecture, Shaanxi Province.

The Aotai Line stretches from Taibai Mountain in the east to Aoshan Mountain in the west, a distance of over 500 kilometers from this place. But since such a bizarre event as crossing it has already occurred, the drastic changes in time, space, and location seem not so difficult to accept. Perhaps I stumbled upon a legendary wormhole when I fell; this explanation, though absurd, is the only reason I can convince myself of.

After calming down, Zhou Lun fabricated a backstory when questioned by his savior.

He said he was a Han Chinese whose ancestors had fled to the Western Regions due to war. After his parents died, he traveled alone eastward to find his roots in order to fulfill their last wish. He trekked for more than half a year to reach this place, but eventually fell off a cliff due to exhaustion.

Thanks to his extensive travel experience, he described the customs and landscapes of the Western Regions in great detail, without a single flaw. As for the inappropriate short hair and clothing, he claimed they were European customs that came from the Western Regions. While this explanation had many loopholes upon closer examination, it was convincing enough to the villagers of that era who were largely isolated from information.

Moreover, Zhou Lun, after his transmigration, became much younger than before, looking like he was seventeen or eighteen years old. Given the handsome young man before him, whose speech was tinged with Mandarin and who claimed to be from the Jianghuai region, everything seemed perfectly logical.

The savior was named Li Shouyi, in his early twenties. His parents had both passed away, and he was still observing mourning for his parents and had not yet married. He made a living by tending a few acres of meager land.

His ancestors had served as border soldiers and passed down excellent archery skills. During the off-season, they would go up the mountain to hunt and exchange their earnings for food and money to supplement their family income. It was on his way into the mountains that he happened to save Zhou Lun.

Li Shouyi was a generous and righteous man, and he was highly respected in the village. Since he had rescued the man, he was not suspicious. As long as Zhou Lun was not a Mongol, he was willing to take him in out of loyalty.

And so, Zhou Lun stayed temporarily at Li Shouyi's house. Li Shouyi treated him extremely well, not only taking meticulous care of him but also arranging for a doctor to treat him. After Zhou Lun woke up, Li Shouyi patiently told him many of the rules of the Ming Dynasty, reminding him that traveling east rashly was extremely risky.

It was from Li Shouyi that Zhou Lun learned that in the Ming Dynasty, it was impossible for ordinary people to move freely. The strict household registration system divided people into scholars, farmers, artisans, soldiers, civilians, and so on, each with its own designated place.

If one were to leave their hometown for more than a hundred miles, they needed a travel permit issued by the government, which would detail their name, place of origin, age, physical characteristics, reason for travel, destination, and travel period, and would be stamped with a half-seal for verification. Traveling without a permit, according to the "Great Ming Code," was punishable by eighty strokes of the cane for minor offenses, three years of penal servitude for serious offenses, and even hanging.

Zhou Lun was secretly shocked upon hearing this. Wasn't this the ancient "letter of introduction"? He had come all this way "in the dark," which was an incredible stroke of luck.

"Brother, now that you're here, feel free to stay."

Li Shouyi patted him on the shoulder, his tone sincere: "The travel permit can't be rushed. Let's find a way to register your household first, save up some travel expenses, and then we can discuss it further. This place is more than a thousand miles from Jianghuai, and the east is not like the Three Qin regions. The further east you go, the more people there are, and the stricter the checkpoints become. Without any credentials or money on you, how will you get through?"

Zhou Lun was extremely grateful and settled down there, claiming to be Li Shouyi's cousin.

The villagers were simple and honest, and they respected Li Shouyi's character. Besides, they were all related in the village, so everyone turned a blind eye. The two spent a lot of time together and, finding they were kindred spirits, decided to become sworn brothers, thus becoming one family.

A few days ago, Li Shouyi used his connections to finally get Zhou Lun's household registration sorted out.

With his identity confirmed, Zhou Lun had hope for a travel permit. However, he didn't plan to leave immediately. As his elder brother had said, the biggest problem was the travel expenses, given the long journey. Li Shouyi's few acres of meager land barely provided enough to eat after taxes, relying entirely on hunting in the mountains for a supplement. Now, with Zhou Lun added to the family's diet, life was even more difficult; where would they find the extra money for travel expenses?

Making money has become the top priority. Zhou Lun has a wealth of modern knowledge, but he is limited by the times and technology and has nowhere to use it. He can only rely on his excellent wilderness survival experience to follow Li Shouyi into the mountains to hunt and collect herbs, and then carry them to the county town to exchange for a few copper coins.

After several months of hard work, he had managed to save a mere few hundred coins, but this was far from enough to cover the travel expenses to Jianghuai. Moreover, Zhou Lun planned to take Li Shouyi with him, which would make the shortfall even greater.

On September 30th of the seventh year of the Tianqi reign, which was half a month after Zhou Lun's time travel, the carpenter emperor Tianqi passed away.

The news reached this remote mountain village more than a month later. Shortly after, the edict announcing the new emperor's ascension to the throne was posted at the entrance of the county town, and the reign title was set as Chongzhen.

Even though Zhou Lun wasn't a history major, he knew what the name "Chongzhen" meant: according to the course of history, the world was about to descend into chaos.

Moreover, the weather in Shaanxi has been extremely erratic these past two years. Since last autumn, rain and snow have been rare, and this spring and into summer, not a drop of rain has fallen. Winters have been unusually cold, followed by scorching heat in the spring, leaving crops withered and lifeless in the fields. If this drought continues, with no harvest, how will the people survive? The thought of the ensuing displacement of people and the devastation of war sends chills down Zhou Lun's spine. He understands the course of history, but he is powerless to reverse it.

The only way out is to leave this place as soon as possible, take my elder brother and head east to escape to the Jianghuai region, or even the more prosperous Jiangnan region.

Only by going there could he temporarily escape the famine and then make a long-term plan to find a way to survive overseas and avoid the war in the Central Plains. This was the best way to live that he could think of at the moment.

After running for more than half an hour, Zhou Lun slowed down when he reached a gentle slope. He took off the water pouch from his waist and took a small sip. The water had an earthy taste and wasn't very palatable, but he was glad to have water at all.

The nearby streams have long since dried up, and the water level of the larger river in the distance has also dropped sharply. Many wells in the village are no longer flowing and need to be dug deeper. If this continues, even drinking water for people and livestock will become a problem, let alone irrigating crops.

He glanced back at the bamboo basket behind him, which contained only a small portion of herbs and a wild rabbit he had just caught.

The prolonged drought had shrunk the medicinal herbs in the mountains, making prey increasingly scarce. Zhou Lun knew he couldn't wait any longer; even if he didn't have enough money, he had to set off as soon as possible.

He was determined to confront his elder brother tonight and persuade him to come along, no matter what. If that didn't work, he would suggest selling their few acres of land, using the money and food sparingly, and combining that with hunting and gathering herbs along the way, the two of them should have a chance to make it all the way to Jiangnan.

As he pondered how to persuade Li Shouyi, he unknowingly reached the foot of the mountain and headed towards the village along the path. When he was still two or three miles from the village entrance, a familiar figure spotted him in the distance and ran towards him.

"Lun-ge'er! You're finally back!" Wang Tie-niu was panting heavily, with a layer of fine sweat on his forehead.

"Brother Tie Niu!" Zhou Lun recognized him and a smile appeared on his face. He was about to jokingly ask if he had guessed that he had caught a wild rabbit today and was planning to enjoy it together that evening when he noticed that Wang Tie Niu's expression seemed off. His honest face was scrunched up, and his eyes were full of anxiety.

"What's wrong with you?" Zhou Lun's heart skipped a beat.

"Quick! Go back now!" Wang Tieniu grabbed his wrist with surprising strength: "Brother Shouyi is in trouble!"

"What?!"

Zhou Lun's smile froze instantly. Without saying a word, he shook off Wang Tieniu's hand and turned to run wildly into the village.