Crusade

Crusade is a long-form historical time-travel novel by the online author Yan Wujiu, now complete, with the proofread full text circulating online running to roughly 1.7 million Chinese characters. The story begins in 348 CE—the fourth year of the Yonghe era under the Eastern Jin in Jiangzuo, and the fourteenth year of the Jianwu era under the Later Zhao in the Central Plains. By this time, the Later Zhao founded by the Jie people Shi Le and Shi Hu is already showing signs of collapse: Shi Hu is aged, the turmoil of Crown Prince Shi Xuan has not yet subsided, and beneath the surface the Central Plains seethes with hidden currents as ambitious men in all directions eye their chance. The protagonist, Shi Qing, was originally a medical intern. After traveling to this chaotic age where human life is cheap and ritual and order have collapsed, he puts down the scalpel and takes up the sword. He does not force modern technology upon the era; instead, relying on his understanding of cold-weapon warfare, his judgment of situations, and his grasp of human nature, he maneuvers among the various factions, gradually carving out a place for himself from among irregularly titled officers and ragged refugee soldiers, and is drawn into the chain of upheavals surrounding the collapse of the Later Zhao. The work describes itself as "no technology tree climbing, no democracy satellite launches," focusing instead on concrete deductions of troop deployment, logistics and supply lines, morale and the hearts of soldiers, and the cruel face of human relations in a chaotic age—the book repeatedly poses the self-examination of "acting with great benevolence and compassion while doing the work of slaughter." The title "Fa" carries the sense of striking and punitive expedition, and also implies that every war in this chaotic age is a felling of human lives. The book is not extremely long, moves at a tight pace, and concludes with a bloody battle and coda around the Baigou River, bearing a distinctly cold, grim, and sorrowful character.