After writing for many years, this is the first time I’ve had a book go live on the first day of the month, and I almost messed it up.
I thought it was going to be at noon tomorrow, but it turns out I was wrong—VIP access opened right after midnight.
I’m honestly a bit embarrassed.
"The Sword of the Late Jin" has been performing quite well among the new releases, consistently holding the top spot on the charts.
This is all thanks to your support, and I’m truly grateful.
The protagonist of this book comes from an exceptionally low background, which is quite rare even among the time-traveling protagonists of the Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties era.
I once considered giving him a noble family background, but in the end, I decided against it.
As I mentioned in the book, the scholar-official class was a politically privileged group, making up only about 1% of the population.
Broadly speaking, this class included the great aristocratic families, the lesser scholar-officials, and the "cold door" families.
Don’t look down on the "cold door," though—they still held political privileges.
Even if some of them were poor, they faced no systemic or legal barriers when it came to holding office.
In this regard, they were even more powerful than many local strongmen who relied on their private armies.
In the past, I’ve read many web novels set in the Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the protagonists were almost always from aristocratic families, or at least from the branches of major clans or the "cold door."
I wanted to write something different—a protagonist who represents the 99%.
During the Wei and Jin periods, was it the romanticized elegance or the harsh struggle for survival that truly represented the social reality of the time? Everyone has their own opinion and preferences, so I won’t elaborate further.
In any case, the protagonist of this book starts from an extremely low position, with his only strengths being his martial skills and military strategy.
The War of the Eight Princes was a unique historical moment.
If it had happened twenty years earlier, opportunities for those at the bottom would have been scarce.
If it had happened a few decades later, the same would be true.
This was the only window of opportunity.
This is also the main reason why I originally planned to write about the Later Yan period but then decided to move the timeline significantly earlier.
Without this adjustment, it would have been nearly impossible for the protagonist to rise.
The window of opportunity would have passed.
The book has now reached 260,000 words, and I’m sure you’ve noticed that the story hasn’t fully expanded yet, and new territories haven’t been unlocked.
So far, the protagonist has only been wandering around Luoyang, a city that doesn’t feel much like the Great Jin, with limited exposure to the world.
He hasn’t truly thrown himself into the turbulent struggle for dominance, nor has he interacted with more social classes or gained a deeper understanding of the country.
His life is monotonous, filled with nothing but schemes, killings, and women.
In the future, the story will gradually expand to include territory management, alliances, military campaigns, political reforms, and social ideologies.
My long-time readers know that I don’t write with an outline.
In the past, when submitting manuscripts, I had to include an outline, but now it’s not required, so I don’t even bother with a fake one.
Everything is improvised as I go, with only a general direction in mind.
This means that the characters in the book have a certain degree of autonomy.
They aren’t entirely controlled by me, the author.
Everything has to be logical and reasonable.
The most power I have as the author is to choose a path for the protagonist when he reaches a crossroads.
That’s about it.
I won’t say much more.
Thank you all for your support.
Right after midnight, I’ll release five chapters as a gesture of gratitude.
When I wake up tomorrow, there should be more, depending on how fast I can write.
I’ve taken the day off, so we’ll see.
Lastly, I hope you’ll all subscribe enthusiastically, especially for the first VIP chapter (Chapter 84).
And don’t forget to vote with your monthly tickets.
Thank you!
(End of Chapter)