The Convict is a long historical time-travel novel by the online writer Geng Xin. It was serialized on Qidian from February 2009 and completed in February 2010; the online version runs to about 426 chapters and 1.73 million characters, and the first print volume was published by Yanbian People's Publishing House in January 2010. The story begins in the twenty-sixth year of King Zheng of Qin (221 BCE): Liu Kan, an ordinary white-collar worker from the twenty-first century, dies unexpectedly, and his soul travels into the body of a youth by the Si River. The youth's father was a retainer of the Lü family, so this body had grown up close to the Lü sisters since childhood. After his rebirth, Liu Kan comes to know Shen Shiji, Cao Wushang, Tang Li, and others, and also encounters Liu Bang in his youth. He enlists and becomes a soldier in the Qin army; he earns merit by killing the bandit leader Wang Ling, but is imprisoned for rescuing Lü Zhi's elder brother, becoming the "convict" of the title. During his imprisonment he again performs great service and wins the favor of the upper levels of the Qin court, and from then on is drawn into the political vortex on the eve of the Qin Empire's collapse. The novel's appeal lies in "how a modern person climbs up from the very bottom of society": the protagonist must adapt to Qin laws, military system, ranks of nobility, and village order, while constantly examining that era through modern eyes; he must choose between "defending Great Qin" and "contending for the realm," and ultimately moves step by step toward carving out his own territory and fighting for supremacy. The book includes dedicated research on Qin-Han military systems, the various trades and professions, and the Qin twenty-rank nobility system, and is accompanied by reference material such as "A Register of Chu-Han Heroes"; historical figures such as Qin Shi Huang, Liu Bang, Xiang Yu, and Lü Zhi are each given their due. The complete online novel is divided into four parts: "The Hidden Dragon Does Not Act," "The Dragon Appears in the Field," "Dragons Battle in the Wild," and "Now Leaping in the Abyss."
在1990后出生的网络历史文读者心中，庚新是绕不开的名字；而《刑徒》正是他早期“秦汉系列”的代表作之一，与《恶汉》《篡唐》《曹贼》构成一条从秦末延伸到隋唐的创作脉络。 这本书最值得称道的是“考据感”。作者没有把秦末只当成舞台，而是认真写了爵级、兵制、刑徒身份与乡里关系——书名“刑徒”本身就是一种社会身份，主角戴罪立功、由底层向上攀爬的过程，因此有了一种制度性的真实感。与多数同题材作品开局就拥有金手指和势力的写法不同，刘阚的起点是一个被流放的罪徒，读者能清楚看到他每一步的付出代价。 其次是人物的“活气”。作者笔下的秦始皇不是脸谱化的暴君，刘邦也不是一开始就油滑的枭雄；他们随主角的成长而逐渐显影，这种处理让历史人物从教科书里走出来。 需要坦白的是，这是一部诞生于2009年的网络长篇，节奏、感情线以及后期收束都带有那个时代的痕迹，有读者认为结尾略显仓促。但作为一部以秦末为背景的历史穿越小说，它的厚度、格局与考据诚意仍然值得今天的读者翻一翻。
Yanbian People's Publishing House is a publisher known for traditional cultural classics. Its current library contains 55 titles, including the three-volume Records of the Three Kingdoms, the three-volume Book of Han, The Peony Pavilion, Romance of the Western Chamber and Peach Blossom Fan, Compendium of Materia Medica, and Guwen Guanzhi. Its representative authors include Chen Shou, Ban Gu, Li Shizhen, Tang Xianzu, Wu Chucai, Liu Xiang, and Zeng Guofan, whose works form an important part of its author resources. Its publishing focus leans toward historical classics, classical drama, medical materia medica, and classical prose anthologies, with common categories covering Eastern philosophy, folk literature, and inspirational growth. Its overall feature lies in the systematic organization and popular presentation of traditional classics, with attention to complete sets and reading suitability. Due to limited public information, other publishing fields and series details cannot yet be confirmed.
