The Special Forces Sniper Who Went Back to the Late Qing

This is a historical military novel about time travel to the late Qing by the web novelist Dong Yifang. The protagonist, Li Zhen, is a modern special forces sniper who accidentally returns to the late Qing, an era on the eve of the Second Opium War, beset by internal troubles and foreign threats. With extraordinary marksmanship and a complete modern special-operations doctrine, he quickly gains a foothold in an age when cold and firearms were used side by side, the court was weak, and foreign powers pressed in on every side. The novel follows the protagonist's military campaigns in the north: he first wins merit through sniping and special tactics, then turns his sights to a larger picture—putting down the Taiping Rebellion, resisting the invasion of the British and French powers, and striving to reverse the late Qing's record of repeated defeats abroad. Beyond the battlefield, the book also shows him promoting industrial construction and introducing capital and technology with a vision beyond his time, trying to breathe new life into a decaying empire, thwart the powers' designs on China, and restore national prestige. The whole book runs on the brisk rhythm of "a gun in hand, the world is mine," offering tense standoffs and long-range kills as well as military training, court intrigue, and sweeping change, blending military fantasy with patriotic feeling. A long-running work serialized on 17K, it is one of the more influential and widely read late-Qing time-travel novels, suited to readers interested in late Qing history and military imagination.