Qin Official

Qin Official is a historical time-travel novel by Qiyue Xinfan, serialized on Qidian from January 4, 2018 to July 22, 2019, comprising 1,034 chapters and roughly 3.36 million characters. The protagonist was inspired by the "Heifu wooden slips" unearthed in 1975 from a Qin tomb at Shuihudi in Yunmeng, Hubei—the earliest surviving physical example of a family letter in China, written by Heifu, an ordinary soldier of the state of Qin. The author has the soul of a modern police academy graduate inhabit this small figure who left no surname and who in all likelihood died long ago in battle, returning him to that land in the twentieth year of King Zheng of Qin.\n\nThe novel begins at the very bottom, with the rank of "rank-and-file soldier": relying on his familiarity with Qin law, his insight into human affairs, and the cracks in that great era, Heifu climbs upward to avoid dying in a ditch and to take control of his own fate. He starts by earning minor merit catching thieves and is granted the rank of Gongshi, serves as a pavilion chief, accumulates military merit in the army, and is drawn into real historical events—Qin's conquest of the six states, the northern campaigns against the Xiongnu, the southern expedition against the Baiyue—sharing the stage with figures such as Neishi Teng, Xiao He, and Cao Shen, until he reaches the highest offices. When Qin Shi Huang dies and the realm is on the verge of division, he, as a Qin official, must choose between fanning the flames and turning the tide.\n\nThe book's greatest distinction is that it bases itself on excavated documents such as the Shuihudi Qin slips, portraying Qin as an institutional machine driven by statutes, the military merit rank system, household registration, and administrative governance, rather than a simple "tyranny" label; the protagonist has no system, no harem, and rarely any cheat-like advantage—his rise depends on understanding the rules and maneuvering within them. The work was selected for the National Library of China's 2020 collection and the first batch of the National Press and Publication Administration's "Excellent Realistic and Historical-themed Online Literature Publishing Project."